Chapter 9

Advika Laghari

8 years before:

I was groaning in my bed from morning due to heavy fever and headache when dad entered inside my room to check up on me before leaving to the hospital.

"How is my girl today?" Dad asked, taking a seat beside me on the bed and placing the thermometer in my mouth gently.

"Worse" I muttered by closing my eyes painfully since they are burning due to high temperature in the body.

"Don't worry. You will be fine. It's just a flu." He said patting my head affectionately before placing the tablets on the nightstand.

"I asked Hredhaan to come over and take care of you while I am gone. He might be here within 20 minutes. So you can rest." He said with a gentle smile by placing a kiss on my forehead and getting up to leave.

I only nodded my head in agreement before I remembered something.

"And your food?" I asked, trying to get up.

"Don't bother." He said pushing me again to fall back and covering me in sheets again.

"I asked one of my colleagues to bring the box for me. You just rest and take care ok." He said sternly that I nodded my head in agreement with a smile.

He too smiled back and left the room by closing the door of my room.

After sometime I heard some sounds downstairs and knew that Hred has come home as dad said previously. I smiled to myself before drifting off to sleep again.

Someone was shaking my shoulders repeatedly that I muttered incoherent words for them to stop assaulting and disturbing my beautiful slumber.

"Get up chimpu…" Said Hred while shaking my shoulders that I grunted and turned another side to sleep again.

"Come on.. Get up Vika. You need to eat and take the tablets" He said with a loud voice that I groaned and opened my eyes slowly but painfully with a string of curses on the way.

"What the fuck Hred.. You just woke me up from my sleep you know" I complained while glaring at him from my position.

"I know that very well and you can take your revenge for that after getting some energy into your system. Now get up" He said with a playful tone while helping me to sit up straight on the bed with the support of the headboard of the bed.

"You are dead later in my hands Hred" I warned him beforehand that he smirked at me knowingly.

"I know that Chimpu. Now open your mouth" He said, placing the spoon in front of my mouth. I slowly opened it for him, so that he could feed me the soup he made.

He prepared the chicken soup with a lot of vegetables and a glass of juice while I fell asleep when he came to my home.

He takes care of me like I am his only daughter and he is my mom. He can be all silly, playboy, irritating, nasty fellow and even a sadist but when it comes to my health he instantly becomes my caretaker and bodyguard.

He is my best friend I could ever ask for. And I am glad that I met him on my way to life.

"From next time make sure to tell me that you have fallen sick. So that I can take care of you instead of worrying uncle" He said with a concerned tone that my heart melted at his statement.

I just nodded my head in agreement without uttering anything.

"I got scared that something might have happened to you. Don't ever do that to me again. Whatever you do or however sick you might have fallen. Please just call me or message me to intimate about your wherebouts from making me go crazy about your safety." He said with an emotional look on his face that I silently hugged him in return by placing my head on his shoulder.

"I promise" I said and closed my eyes by feeling the comfort and peacefulness in his arms.

"Now enough of this drama. Open up" He said smiling and asking me to open my mouth again. I chuckled, knowing how awkward he becomes when it comes to sentiments and smiled to myself thinking about it.

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Present:

"They might be here within ten minutes." Confirmed Kashvi after talking to his secretary.

I nodded my head with a half state of mind because all my focus was on the person who will be here within ten minutes and I don't know how to react.

I am going to see my best friend after 8 years and everything has changed from then. Even I have changed a lot.

I even know that he is a married person with a child now. He is happily settled with his family and running this prestegious company which is one of the best. So, yes a lot has been changed in these past 8 years.

I totally ignored him at that time which made our friendship break into pieces before his wife entered his life again.

I wantedly did that to make our friendship break. So if he accuses me after all these years then I will more than welcome it with the open arms of mine to take it. Because after all I was the reason for his pain. I may not rebuild our friendship but I can least take back the blame which is originally mine.

"Are you sure that you will be able to face him after all these years of ignoring him?" Asked Kashvi with a concerned look while watching me intently.

"Don't worry about me. I can deal with him. Make sure that this meeting goes well" I said after composing myself and getting ready to face him directly.

"Ok. As you say" She said before leaving the cabin.

Get it together Advi. You can do it. Just make sure to behave like he is just a client and nothing else. Don't show your face feelings to him. And everything will be fine.

I pep talked myself when one of the juniors entered the office with a stack of files that were still untouched and incomplete.

I immediately rose from my seat making her stand still in fear and throw all the files on the floor. This made my frustration rise even more.

"What the hell is all this Komal? I asked you to complete this task yesterday. But I can still see that you didn't do it." I said with an edge to my tone by placing my hands on the table with a force that she flinched back a little.

Scary mouses… I scoffed with a distaste.

"I.. I am.. I am sorr.. sorry mam. I tried to complete it but it was a load of work. But I will complete it by today" she shuttered in between her words while explaining to me.

"When did you logout yesterday?" I asked, raising my voice that she started shivering in her place.

"At 7.00 PM mam" she answered with great difficulty while looking at the ground.

"So that means you didn't spend even a minute extra to complete your task" I said with a cold tone that her eyes became saucers in an instant.

"No.. I mean… I had some… work at home…" she prolonged like she didn't know what to explain further. This made me even more angry.

"Enough of your excuses. This is the last chance for you. If I see any more pending files on your table at the end of the day then you can pack your things and leave the office permanently" I said with a serious voice that she started crying and shivering while nodding her head in agreement.

"Now get out" I said with a finality in my tone that she immediately picked all the files from the ground and scurried away from my sight.

Always the lazy one. One hell of a headache to me because of this type who doesn't understand the word urgent.

I was feeling frustrated when Praneel came and said that they have come and are waiting in the meeting room for me.

This news alone made my mood turn 180 degrees in a matter of seconds. I was all frustrated before but now immediately I became tense with an unknown emotion that I didn't experience in these past 8 years.

God, I will go crazy with all these thoughts and thinking a lot in this short span of time.

He alone has the capacity to turn my mood upside down in seconds and he once again entered my life without giving any warning to intimate me.

Now I can't even imagine how my life is going to turn at this point and this is making me even more frustrated. Because I like to keep everything pre planned before even entering into that kind of situation. And now I don't know anything about how to react or how to approach.

I pushed my bothering thoughts at the back of my mind and replaced my neutral and expression less face instead.

I need to get a grip on myself because I didn't want them to know that seeing them after all these years is really creating many emotions in my heart even though that's exactly happening at present.

When I reached the entrance of the door, my heart started beating so fast that I feared it might come out at any moment.

I took a deep breath before opening the door and entered inside with a neutral look on my face.

But my breath shook and my steps faltered the moment my eyes landed on my best friend whom I haven't seen in these past 8 years.

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