Unsteady | ✓

Chapter 21 : Bitter Memories

Omkara reached the place promptly at twelve minutes to ten. He inquired at the reception if Gauri was free. Having been given yes for an answer Omkara decided to enter the room. Big deal, if it was some eleven minutes early. The entire weekend's wait had only added to his woe.

He knocked on the door, peeping inside. She was seated on the chair, her arms on the desk and was jotting down something in her diary. She looked towards the door and their eyes met. 

Omkara didn't ask but simply took a step on and shut the door gently. "Hi!"

Gauri didn't even bother to smile and went back to writing; whatever she was. Omkara took a deep breath and looked around.

"Are you mad at me?" He asked as he slowly made his way around the couch to take a seat.

Gauri looked up from the book thoughtfully, "why would I be mad?" She asked throwing a glance his way. "You're early." She pointed out and went back to jotting something.

"Yeah," Omkara said and sat on the couch. She seemed pretty annoyed. After a few minutes Gauri finally got off the chair. She then carried the chair and placed it across from him. 

"You missed Friday on purpose, let's start there." She said wearing her glasses. 

Omkara couldn't help smiling. She looked so cute with those glasses on. 

"Om, give me your glasses!"

"Why would you want them?" Omkara asked his friend bewildered.

"I want to take a nerdy selfie. Come on, hand them over."

Omkara rolled his eyes, but handed his glasses to her. She put them on and pouted, asking, "how do I look?

"Fake nerd!" Omkara said with a smile only to recieve a 'I don't like you' lol from her with a tongue sticking out. She then clicked selfies while his eyes admired her. 

"Omkara?"

"Yeah, yeah" Omkara said looking at her.

Gauri was concerned but didn't show it right away. Omkara zoned out very frequently. "Friday, why did you miss?" She prompted.

"Uh, I had a meeting."

Gauir exhaled sharply and looked at him squarely. "You didn't have a meeting, you rescheduled the meeting so that you would get an excuse to not come here."

Omkara looked down at the floor. "Yeah," he muttered.

"If you're going to keep avoiding this, it won't work."

"I won't..."

"Look up and talk, please," Gauri said, holding onto her patience tightly. Omkara was her weakness. Somehow she lost her sanity, her patience, her grip on her anger way too quickly when it came to him. 

Omkara slowly raised his gaze to meet hers. "I didn't know what to expect."

Gauri waited for him to go on but he said nothing further. "Or you were scared about something?" She asked softly.

The way his eyes looked at her, she knew she was getting close to the pain point.

"I was," the words left his mouth and he looked around distractedly.

"Afraid of what Omkara? That I would..."

Omkara looked at her. "That you would be mad. I didn't tell you a lot of things Gauri. But it's, it's not easy to... that doesn't mean I was never invested in the relationship. I lo--"