Fear

The man nodded in acknowledgement, walked gracefully to his chair; then turned to Sagrika and smiled. She gave a quick smile in return as he pulled out the chair and sat down. Arjun was still confused by the whole thing: what was his school principal doing in this city, what was going on because of which Maenu hadn’t told him earlier who they were going to meet- so many questions were emerging one after another, but he didn't have the answers to any of them.

Sagrika broke the silence, saying “Let’s just order something, we have a complete hour on our hands. Sir, what would you like to have?”

“For God's sake, Sagrika! How many times do I have to tell you that I am not your teacher anymore, call me uncle!” He chided her playfully.

Sagrika grinned, “And whose fault is that? Whenever I used to call you ‘uncle’ in school out of habit, you were the one who always snubbed me! You used to tell me that you were our English teacher, not my uncle. So thanks to you, now I can't help it!”