TUM MILE

Chapter 11

Swara was sitting in the cab. Snow covered roads with circular turns were beyond beautiful. The valleys, being decorated by small and large waterfalls, the mist, everything was divine. She wanted to capture all the beauty in her heart.

Sanskar was looking at the beauty too. But his heart was busy in the memories of the past. He remembered how he saw Kavita in the snowfall, trembling in the cold. How he offered his own jacket to her! But he did not know why, the face of Kavita was being replaced with Swara every time! There was a huge difference in their personalities. Kavita, a simple girl, with no strong ambitions and wanted just a small sweet family for herself. Her whole life was her family and her fiance, who was Sanskar's batchmate. On the other hand, there was Swara! Humble, gentle yet she had a fire inside her which erupted whenever someone tried to touch her self respect. She loved her family and her career, both a lot!

Yes Sanskar subconsciously started comparing both of them. Not that he doubted either Swara's choice of career or Kavita's choice of stay at home girl, he just couldn't come to the terms that after falling for a girl like Kavita, how could he fall in love with her opposite!

Suddenly, he felt a jerk.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Nothing sir! Maybe the tire got punctured." Replied the driver.

As the driver started to mend the puncture, Sanskar stepped outside. Cold wind was playing a soothing effect on him. He smiled at the valleys. Nature calmed him down of his thoughts and hid mind was getting lost in the white snow covered valleys.

Suddenly, he turned around to find a car passing by. He though his mind was playing tricks when he saw Swara sitting in that.

You started  hallucinating again, mind reprimanded heart.

I am lost in beauty of manali, why you always blame me! As if she can't come to Manali! Heart scolded mind too

And then, Sanskar saw the car getting stopped. The lights of reverse gear were switched on and car started reversing.

"Dr. Bose?" Sanskar said as she saw Swara.

"May I help you?" Swara asked, "It's quite cold in here!"

"No issues! It will take only 10 minutes!" Sanskar tried to say .

"Sir! Around 2 hours!" Driver informed Sanskar.

"Mr. Maheshwari! Taking help will not count in unprofessional attitude. But reaching late to your destination will surely count in!"

Swara's words made Sanskar speechless. He had to agree as it was already 1:30 in noon and meeting was going to start around 3:30. So he sat in the car.

Trying to break the awkward silence, he asked, "You here?"

"There was a conference. Ram sir asked me to attend it on his behalf!" Swara replied.

"Ohh!" Sanskar thought Swara would ask another question, but she was, well, she was Swara! Even if she got an idea of Sanskar's feelings, even if she thought highly of him, she won't talk to someone who was rude to her without any reason. He needed to apologise to her.

For a moment, Sanskar thought of saying sorry, but he couldn't! He knew anything like that would lead to something which he wants from the bottom of his heart, but his guilt was not allowing him.

Journey was awkward yet peaceful.

"Your hotle?" Swara asked.

"Umm! Hotel woodsvila in!" Sanskar replied.

With a shock, Swara looked at Sanskar and then said, "Same hotel driver bhaiya!"

What was destiny planning!
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