niv13508

"The art of smiling is not a rocket science; it's just a reflex action to what you feel. Try it's not that hard, Arnav."
 
He smiled again at the memory;  Seven years, was long enough to forget someone, not that the memory of the person haunted him or tortured him in anyway, he is just amused by himself to relive the memory ever so naturally every time he found himself helping someone.  
"Ram Singh" he greeted as he reached the parking place of the airport.
 
"Hello sir how was your flight?" the driver spoke reaching out to his luggage.
 
"It was good, I would have hailed a cab, you shouldn't have come" he said going around the SUV and settling himself behind the wheel.
 
"Oh, I was strictly instructed not to allow you to drive at this time of the night sir---" he said hesitantly looking at Arnav settled behind the wheel already.
 
"Then your Maam shouldn't have sent you Ram singh, the taxi would have served that purpose, don't you think? Now shut up and take the place beside me or you can choose to stay here for the rest of the night, and oh! I might just deduct your one day pay if you choose to stay by the way" he said and smirked.
 
Ram Singh visibly cursed his boss under his breath. He slowed down his car as they neared the building with both of their gazes fixed to the white image above them and finally the car halted just below the building. Sensing the car stop, Ram Singh turned his head to look at his boss as a reflex action. "Sir, I was just kidding; you are not thinking to go up there, are you?"
He asked swallowing hard as he could see Arnav just ignoring him and his glance fixed to that image.
 
Arnav stepped out of his car all the way looking up at her and stood facing the ridiculously tall building, his face bent behind in an attempt to take a clear look at the white image. He tugged his hands in his pockets and continued to observe her. The white gown looked oversized for her petite body, it looked more like a hospital gown, her legs stood long and straight on the very thin wall; he noticed there wasn't a shiver nor a tremble in the way she stood there, her posture almost looked relaxed and his lips parted registering the view that spoke volumes to him, but somehow nothing made sense. He felt a sudden pull and he swallowed hard processing the unknown fear creeping up his nerves.His legs on their own accord made their way into the building completely ignoring the repeated calls from his driver. The doors of the elevator wide opened into the top most floor and then he walked around to find the stair case leading to the terrace. He wasn't rushing, he wasn't running nor was in a panic state, he was just walking as if in a trance" He could see her from behind, her petite body from within the loose gown showing curves blended in her form in perfect places, as the mid-night breeze blew her gown from the inner side.There was some kind of familiarity with her.Making sure, she acknowledged him so that he wouldn't startle her; ."May be you should jump and take a look to see what it feels like?" he said seeing her withdrawing her hands and tugging them in front of her. The rest of the stance in her body still seemed relaxed and as expected by him, she wasn't startled.
 "I'm not gonna jump stranger, you can go back to whatever you were doing before you decided to save me" she said 
"You are not gonna jump?" he definitely did guess that "Well, sorry to disappoint you Stranger, but I'm not jumping" she stated bringing her palms over her hands and rubbing against the cold breeze.
 "I'm glad, I wonder why stand like that if you have no intention to jump though"
 "Dangerous, isn't it?" "Standing at this height several meters above the ground, that little feeling you get when you stand here dominates every other misery of your life; 
Just when he reached the bottom of the steps  his legs halted at the entrance as the white bundle rushed down in front of his eyes landing with a thud on the ground:he recognize her kushi

Entwined fate

Yes, he had to give up his role of international acquisition in his company and hand over to one of his assistants, and instead take up the local Mumbai operations, however despite everything he found it all worth it. Giving up on his travelling zeal was suddenly worth it as well for reasons unknown. He just had this urge to know what happened with her and what got her into this mess, again for reasons unknown. There was also this sudden fear of apprehension and reluctance to find out what might have happened with her"for reasons unknown.


He found himself in-taking sharp deep breath and halted the inner debate finally opening the file in his hand;


He skipped the basic information which was almost repetitive and quickly moved to the later pages. He flipped a page glancing at her physical details, when a photograph from the file dropped on the table beneath his hands. His eyes swerved to the picture and he caught the glimpse of a smiling girl, looking completely like a woman unlike the one in his own long-lost memory and a much matured one. He held the picture in his hand and observed it closely. She was standing with two other girls in what looked like a corporate surroundings--she was in her casual attire, wearing a pale colored kudthi and jeans; her hair was let loose and was bordering her face on either side and her smile---- he took a moment to closely observe it, the smile was aloof and almost blank.


"Smile isn't just from the lips Arnav, if you think of smiling in your heart; it reaches the eyes which causes your lips to curve up into that adoring gesture; smile suits your face, you should do it more often----"


Her own definition of smile is what exactly lacking in the picture. Her lips were smiling, her eyes weren't. He let out a small bitter laugh at the irony of it all. What had life done to her?


He put the picture back into the page where it belonged, carefully re-fixing it using the glue-stick on his table. He then flipped to the page next, where a piece of written information awaited him.


chapter 6