The Independent Girl (Sample)

Prologue

Prologue

"It can't be her," Akash told himself, feeling a crack form in the thick layers of protection built around his heart. He observed the elegant young woman sitting with a handsome man in a suit, talking with ease and smiling in between. It was difficult to see her features as she sat in the opposite far corner of the dining area. Her hair was neatly set in an expert French knot. She wore a classic gray skirt that reached a few inches above her knees and a jacket over a white blouse. Sandhya was way too shy to wear short skirts, he remembered.

But that was the Sandhya that he thought he knew, he recalled with a jolt. The agony in his eyes switched to rage.

He saw her walking towards him with her companion. She was only ten feet away from him now. For a split second, her eyes shifted and landed on him. Her brown eyes constricted as soon as they met his pitch-black eyes; her step halted for a split second, after which she walked normally as she held the man's arm and disappeared into the elevator.

Akash froze in his seat. He sat staring at the now closed elevator door and felt as if life had closed its doors upon him. There was no question about it. It was her.

It was a few seconds before he regained his senses and wondered if he should follow her. He held himself from rising from his seat for a few more seconds. His frustration built up with each passing second and then he snapped. He shot up, not bothering about Vivek or the client, took the stairs and entered the lobby. He searched for her around the lobby, then walked out onto the street and looked around. There was no trace of her. Slowly, he walked back to the lobby area and sat on the sofa. It wouldn't be difficult to track her down. He pulled out his cell phone and then halted. What was he doing? Why now? There was a reason why he had not searched for her earlier. That reason was still valid. Wasn't it obvious that she had moved on with her life? She seemed to be leading an expensive lifestyle. Maybe she had married or was in a relationship with a rich person. His heart constricted at the thought. He walked back up to the dining area.

~

Her eyes unconsciously roamed beyond Phillip towards the rest of the people in the dining area, the tasteful décor, the waiter taking orders, and then rested back on Phillip, all within a second.

She was looking at Phillip but her mind was not hearing what he was saying. The whole room turned white and there was only Phillip and a certain person who had just entered the room from the elevator. She had not looked at him carefully and was not even sure if it was him, but she did not have the courage to look again and confirm her doubts.

Her outer self still projected the image of a confident woman but inside, a storm raged. She tried her best to conceal her rapidly beating heart and her shaking hands. After about a minute, she glanced again towards where he had settled himself with two other men. It seemed to be him, but she was so far away.

Was he looking in her direction now? She quickly averted her gaze from him and tried to look only at Phillip and talk sensibly. Thankfully, they had already discussed the major topics. She recited the usual pleasantries that wind up a meeting as her brain frantically tried to figure out how she should handle the situation. She had to walk towards him to reach the elevators. Should she confirm that it was him? What if he recognized her? What if he stopped her? She decided that she would not look at him. So what if it was him? It should not matter anymore. She had moved on with her life; there was no way that she would let him impact her life now. She was finally happy and content with her life. No. She did not care if it was him or not.

The meeting ended and Sandhya got up with a firm decision. She walked confidently with Phillip, trying her best not to look at Akash. As she approached his table though, her eyes automatically shifted to where he was, as if wanting to take a quick snapshot of him, hoping that he wasn't looking at her.

As soon as her eyes landed on him, a shrill ran through her body. It was the same face, the face that she had tried to remember countless times, the face that she had tried to erase from her mind countless times. Those black eyes were on her, their coldness still intact, still piercing through her as they used to. She quickly looked away and hoped that no one noticed her reaction. She held Phillip's arm for support as her chest tightened and she found it difficult to breathe. As soon as they were in the elevator, she noticed the surprised look on Phillip's face. She removed her hold on him, apologized and told him that she was feeling dizzy. Phillip offered her a ride home but she refused, saying that she would take a cab. Sandhya bid good-bye to Phillip, got in a cab and gave the driver her home address. She would not be able to handle changing two trains to go home today.

She looked at her trembling hands; she could see the blood pounding through the veins on her wrist. "Damn! I should not care! I should not react this way!" she screamed within herself in frustration.

She looked out of the window in order to distract herself. To her dismay, she caught the view of the sun setting over the Arabian Sea. She shut her eyes tight and looked away. She was able to get away from a lot of things but sunsets were something that she still hated. 

*******************************************************************************************

/***Authors Note***/

"The Independent Girl" was published on JUNE 20th 2016!!!

Links to purchase:

https://www.amazon.com/Independent-Girl-Sneha-K-ebook/dp/B01GUSEPMO/ https://www.amazon.in/Independent-Girl-Sneha-K-ebook/dp/B01GUSEPMO/ https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/643119

https://itunes.apple.com/fr/book/the-independent-girl/id1121906593?l=en&mt=11 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-independent-girl-sneha-k/1119160004?ean=2940152772036 https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-independent-girl-1

Note that I will only be posting a limited number of chapters here on wattpad for you to sample.

********************************************************************************************