Observant Avantika

Kolkata

Manav looked at Drishti and Raunak curiously as they were waiting outside of the office for a long time. They didn't go to meet him for sure. It took him a few minutes to understand they were there for Avantika. Meanwhile Avantika was working on her laptop with gritted teeth. Manav was really a strict boss and working for him was another name for dying because of workload. She didn't even get the chance to go for lunch as there were some presentations and meetings on the upcoming projects.

Suddenly she heard a knock at the door and found Drishti was standing there.

"Are you still working? You have to go to the shooting range. Did you forget? Training just started." 

Though she was talking to her, her eyes were stuck on the huge pile of files.

Avantika smiled bitterly. She was about to forget her own name, let alone the shooting range. Her eyes fell on those files and both of them smiled I'm understanding. 

"Do you have soft copies for these?" Drishti asked with a sigh.

"I have, but…." She wasn't sure what Drishti was up to.

"Don't worry. I can manage these for you." She helped her in packing up and they started for work. 

In the car, Raunak suddenly asked Avantika, "Do you really want to learn shooting?" 

"I didn't want to before. But now I'm eager. I want to kill someone with those bullets." She told in rage that made Drishti and Raunak exchange glances.

"And who is that?" 

"Manav Banarjee. What the hell does he think about himself? He doesn't even think of us as a person. He thinks we are machines to work according to input. I made some minor mistakes in a file and he made me redo that thing eight times."

"Eight times?" Raunak felt that was too much. He thought he was a merciless CEO but now his impression changed.

"Yes, eight times. I mean I also saw dad work as a CEO. Never saw him to torture anyone like that. Dad was right, working for this robotic Manav Banarjee was not my cup of tea. Arghhh! I couldn't even have lunch. I am so pathetic." She didn't notice she told too much.

"So you didn't eat anything?" Drishti sighed and Raunak stopped his car in front of a restaurant. 

"Why didn't Anand come?" She was curious. 

"Because he needed to go to court. Suddenly a lawyer called him and asked to help an innocent suspect. So he went there to help." Drishti explained everything while asking her friends to share Avantika's works. Those jobs were not so hard for them; they used to help themselves while working as interns. They were really cooperative towards themselves. 

"Oh, he's not here." Avantika felt a little disappointed. 

"Are you hurt?" Raunak wanted to find a reason to tease Anand.

"No! I just wanted to ask if I kill Manav Banarjee, will there be only a death sentence? I mean I am about to help the whole Banarjee company's employees, such a virtue it is." She mumbled while digging in.

Raunak and Drishti tried hard to suppress their laughter. Workload was really making her crazy. She was really fed up with Manav. Maybe Amal Mehta never gave her such a load because of her family status. After all, their father's were on business terms. As for Manav, he didn't care about her identity. He didn't even give a damn to Ansh Lahiri. But Drishti was sure, after knowing about Anand's soon to be wife, he would show some mercy.

After the meal, they again started for the shooting range. When Avantika was about to enter, she suddenly stopped. Turning her head, she asked Raunak, "Does Anand have an anthophobia?" 

Raunak faked his cough while listening to her. Anand never shared these to anyone. Raunak was happy that he started to open up to Avantika. That was good news. 

"Did he tell you that?" Drishti asked before Raunak could even react.

"No! I found he used to sneeze a lot and his skin used to turn red everytime he walked in our garden. That night in the restaurant he took us only had plastic but fragrant flowers. I never saw him with flowers, so I was just curious." 

They needed to admit she had a keen observation power. She noticed these details in such a short time.

"Hmm...that's connected to his childhood. I think he will tell you if he becomes comfortable. And don't get mad that he didn't give you flowers." Drishti smiled at her.

"I'm not mad. I understand." She smiled back and entered the office building. When her back disappeared  Raunak suddenly muttered in a low voice, "I wonder how closely she noticed him. Anand is seriously a lucky man." 

But he couldn't get enough time to think about it. Rajiv called him all of a sudden and informed Sanjana and he needed to go to Pune as suddenly Sanjana's parents called them in urgency. They couldn't take Ragini with them as she was having exams. Raunak was really confused why the situation became so urgent. It never happened before. Though he was having a bad feeling about it, he didn't want to dishearten Rajiv.

"What happened?" Drishti asked curiously, noticing his face changed drastically. 

"Rajiv bhai and Sanjana Di are going to Pune. So they asked us to take care of Ragini for a few days." 

"Us? I think they needed to call Deep bhai. Ragini loves Mitali more than me. That girl doesn't like my popularity." 

"No! Bhai told us to take care of her, so we will take her. I think Deep and Mitali need some time together for themselves. They have a lot to talk about." 

Drishti didn't know why this joke made him that serious. But one thing she understood, going to Pune so suddenly was really confusing. Did something bad happen?