𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴

• 11 •

Munna also agreed with him this time, "Haan yaar, agar aisa kuchh hua toh tum dono pe baat aayegi. Kafi problems ho sakti hai..."

Pandit joined, "Haan, aur tu toh kisi tarah baat handle kar lega, par Naina... Log doubt karne lagenge uspe... Tujhe pata hai na society kaisi hai humari... Kuchh bhi galat ho, sabse pehle character par baat aati hai... Woh deal nhi kar payegi inn sabse."

Sameer countered, "Tum log faltu mein tension de rahe ho. Abhi aisa kuchh nahi ho sakta. Pandit maine tujhse pehle bhi boli thi yeh baat. Mujhe toh yeh samajh nhi aa raha ki tu uski itni side kyu le raha hai?"

Pandit rebuked, "Kyuki tujhe toh kuchh dikhai hi nhi deta na. Tujhe kaha kuchh samajh mein aata hai. Abhi meri baatein tujhe bekar lag rhi hai, baad mein zaroor pata chalega tujhe ki main sahi bol raha tha..."

Their tone had changed from that of friendly to cold. Had it not been Munna to jump between them, they would have probably ended up fighting with each other.

After a minute, Pandit began, "Sameer, hum dost hai tere. Bhala hi chahte hai tera. Sach se bhaagke kuchh bhi nhi hoga... And don't even think to say ki tu aisa nahi kar raha hai, hum bachpan se jaante hai tujhe..."

Munna also said, "Haan yaar. Ek baar sochke dekh iss baare mein. Hum mein se koi usey thik se nahi jaanta par Nanaji ne kuchh soch samajhkar hi yeh sab kiya hoga. Iss baare mein sochna zaroor."

Sameer sighed out loud, "Hmm... Main dekhta hu iss baare mein kya karna hai..."

They had talked for another hour telling each other about the stats of their companies and advising each other some techniques and strategies which would be beneficial in order to ease their work.

While thinking about it, he didn't realise when he had reached the wide-open balcony. He gazed down at the humongous traffic jam and found himself correlating with it. His life too had become complicated and tangled just like that impassable traffic jam for which he couldn't do anything but wait. To wait for things to get cleared on their own, for his mind to be calm enough to deal with the situation. Everything would happen the way it's supposed to.

He checked his wristwatch, half an hour still left for the meeting. Keeping a hold on his thoughts, he made his way towards the conference room where some of the employees, including Naina, had already gathered. By reading their tense faces, he inferred something was wrong. One of them came forward and told him that the projector wasn't able to read the Pendrive in which the presentation had been transferred. Sameer frowned at this sudden glitch as he himself had made sure that the pen drive was working properly, but this didn't worry him. He had left a copy saved in his laptop.

Before he could go to his cabin room, Aarav came rushing in and told him that the guests had arrived. He contemplated for a moment before asking Naina to bring his laptop. Without caring to say anything, she scurried out of the room while Sameer went accompanied Aarav to welcome his guests.

They entered just in time of the meeting. Sameer saw Aarav connecting his laptop with the projector and inferred that Naina had just brought it. What took her so much time? Dismissing his thoughts, he pulled his focused on the meeting. All of the members got settled in their respective positions and the meeting proceeded. Sameer welcomed the guests and began with thanking them for the proposal.

Everything was going well. They were on the verge of trading it off until something happened. Something drastic. A picture of Sameer with Naina in his arms got displayed on the screen. It had been clicked from an angle such that it showed more than what happened. Both of them were shocked to the core.