Tortuous Love

Chapter 9

Jackson was waiting at the curb when we reached the apartment. The company kept a few service apartments in London for such visits.
Jackson accompanied Mr Anand to his suite, while I settled into mine next door to his. Something seemed fishy as Jackson seemed distressed as he was talking to Mr Anand .
I quickly freshened up and went to brief him about tomorrow.
There were a couple of faces I wasn't aware about who sat around Rohit and Jackson sat beside him as they went over the reports over his laptop.
I was waiting for them to finish when my phone began to ring. It was a local number but unknown so I ignored it. But it rang again.
"Answer the damn phone Ananya. " Mr Anand snapped at me.
I quickly excused myself and went to the window.
"Hello.... " strangely no one answered.
I tried a couple more times walking around for better reception but to no avail. Who would be calling me at this ungodly hour!
"Who was it ?" Mr Anand question as he stood behind me .
I gasped as I turned to face him taking a few steps back .
"No one answered. " quickly grabbing my tablet I continued," We should go over the schedule for tomorrow Mr Anand "
"Would you please stop calling me that. Mr Anand reminds me of dad and I'm not that old yet. " he said.
" Okay ..... Rohit ..."my phone started ringing again but before I could answer it Rohit pulled it out of my hand and answered.
"Hello " he said nonchalantly "We'll if you aren't going to answer, stop calling."
Rolling my eyes at his antics I handed him the tablet.
"We begin with our oldest client tomorrow morning, they insisted on meeting you directly and not Jackson."
"Yeah he's an old friend. I am keeping this with me. Why don't you go hit the bed ,we have an early start tomorrow."
"Yeah, well Jackson and I were thinking of grabbing a bite before calling it a day. Good night then. "
He looked at me as I had grown another head.
"At this hour ? "he questioned raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah. Well I need to clear my head and he suggested this cafe near by which is open late."
"Okay. I am hungry as well, let me grab my jacket."
Jackson gave me a look wondering what was happening. Shrugging my shoulders, I started walking towards the door. Most of the other people had left, so it was just the three of us.
It was a short walk to the cafe and the London breeze was just the right remedy for my anxiety.Jackson and Rohit walked were busy discussing another project so I decided to walk ahead.
The place was small and quaint and wasn't very crowded at this hour. As we were at the counter placing our orders I could feel someone watching me. I quickly turned around but there was no one, the streets were dark and I could not seen anyone standing. Maybe I was reading too much into it and deciding to stop being so jittery I went to a table near the window, it overlooked the streets and it was really beautiful and calming.
Rohit sat beside me " You seem better now. You must really like this city."
"Yes, I do. I've had some good memories here. I was here for almost a year before heading back to the states."
Rohit just nodded as Jackson walked in with our coffee.
The same gnawing feeling that someone was watching me resurfaced and I turned back again. Maybe being back here after years was unnerving. Yes, this city had the most beautiful memories but it also had the most painful ones.