Live me in you again!!

Amends

'Hey, how have you been?', Ananya asked Virat as he entered her office.

'Fine', he said in a way that she understood he was anything but fine.

Virat positioned himself on the chair and started looking towards the walls once again.
'What is bothering you?', she asked.

'Nothing'

'Then why are you here an hour before your schedule?'

'Should I go?', he said and started to get up.

'No, that's not what I meant. Sit down but you need to talk'

'I love Aarushi', he said instinctively.

'Yes?', Ananya leaned forward in order to understand what he was getting at.

'Do you always wear these clothes? I mean, don't you get bored?', Virat asked her.

'Virat, you were saying something about Aarushi?'

'And don't you ever go out to party and stuff?'

'My life is not the matter of discussion here', she said getting a little irritated.

'What if you die one day like Aarushi did? How many regrets are you gonna have?'

'Virat, you need to shut up', she said her voice getting louder, still holding the poise, though.

'I can sleep with you if you want because I sleep around, you know', he said. 'I sleep around', he reiterated.

'Virat, did anyone say this to you?', she asked holding him tightly. She knew he was on the verge of breaking down. She was herself feeling a little sad to see him like that.

'I didn't love her enough', he said with sadness in his eyes. But the tears deceived him. They didn't come as of yet.

'You loved her more than your own life', she explained it to him.

'Aarushi, I am so tired of all this. Please can we skip dinner today and talk about all this', he said facing towards Ananya.

'Virat, we can talk about anything you want', she said.

'I..I love you, okay and I am sorry about what I said earlier. You don't want kids? We won't have them until you want, okay?', he said.

'Virat, who said to you that you didn't love me. Are you mad at him?', Ananya asked him improvising now.

'Mad at you? No my sweetheart, how can I be mad at you?', he said grasping her hand.

'Virat', Ananya shouted.

'Yes, Ms. Ananya', he said jerking away her hand suddenly as though waking up from a trance.

Ananya saw her hand. It had been held so tightly that she could see some marks on her arms.

'I am really sorry. I knew I would do something stupid. I wouldn't even come now. Should I bring some cream which can give some relief?', Virat said looking at her arm.

'No, Virat. It is okay. All this comes in the package of my job', she said.

'I should leave', Virat said getting up.

'Not before you tell me if you are angry at the person who questioned your love for Aarushi ', she said standing up now.

'No, I am not mad at him. I am just mad at myself for not loving her enough', he answered and started to move towards the door.

'Virat', she held his hand, 'I didn't know Aarushi but I have absolutely no doubt that you loved her more than anyone else who could have loved her', she said.

'I have to go and I am really sorry Ms. Ananya', Virat said slowly freeing his hand from her grip and went outside her office.

Ananya heaved a sigh. She was tired and also a little disappointed that all her efforts had gone into vain. She had failed today and she was not really adapted to deal with failure in a good way. It was no challenge, she didn't know what people even meant by that. A failure was a failure and today was one such day.

'Coffee, ma'am?', a man came in and asked her.

'Yeah, make it black for me today', she said and sat back reading the entire file of Virat. Rahul sir had been kind enough to give her the exact details of what had happened and what he had felt. He had had some sessions before too. She looked closely and realised that he had never really got over it. He had accepted that she had died but he had not left the hope of seeing her again. It was like he was fighting the norms of life and death.

Suddenly her phone rang. She saw the name and cut the phone, and put it on airplane mode.

'Hey', Virat said to Hardik who was just sitting in the common room.

'Hi. I actually wanted to talk to you', he said getting up.

Virat motioned him to sit down and came and sat next to him.
'I am sorry', Hardik said, his head down.

'Hey, it's okay', Virat said lifting his head.

'I didn't mean to...you know...hurt you. I don't know what got into me', he explained himself, his voice getting hoarse.

'I know. And look I am not angry at all. How can I stay angry with my little brother?'

'I am sorry bhaiya', he said.

'C'mon now enough with your sorries', Virat said giving him a hug.

'Thank you', he said.

'Hey, you two love birds', Rohit said watching them all cuddled up.

'Yeah', Hardik said.

'Are we done or are we in for some more entertainment?', he chuckled.

'Don't listen to him', Virat said to Hardik.

'Yeah, now you will forget me', Rohit said to Virat.

'Come let's have lunch together', Virat said shaking his head and smiling.

Rohit was really happy that amends had been made. This was the last thing they had wanted. A fight in the team. Someone left with a grudge. He hadn't known what really had happened but that did not matter now cause things had been sorted for the best.