"Rupali!" When Paritosh was informed that a woman was waiting to meet him at the school, even his wildest guess had not been about her. "What a surprise! You should have called..." He shook hands and then sat down from across her.
"I didn't want to trouble you."
"Trouble me?" he smiled, "Appreciate the modesty. But... Anyway. What can I do for you? Actually first things first. When did you arrive? We need to find a suitable accommodation..."
"Don't bother, Prof. Khanna. I have a place in Ranikhet. I have been in the area for a while."
"Oh! I had no idea. Where are you staying?"
"Queen's Meadow Hotel. It's at..."
"I know. It's quite popular with the tourists. So, would you like to see the school? Tomorrow, may be. Students have already left for the day..."
She shifted uneasily and Paritosh stopped.
"You are... you are treating me like a patron..." she bit her lips.
"Well - you are one!" he laughed pleasantly, "You weren't satisfied with your uncle shelling out a little extra, were you? You have singlehandedly raised enough for us to last another year since then."
She stood up abruptly.
"What happened?" he came around to face her.
She rubbed her temple, opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again.
"Rupali. Is everything all right?" he grew concerned.
"Yes. Yes. I am sorry. Thing is, I hadn't come here to boss you around about the money. I didn't think you were aware of my involvement in the fundraising. It took me a long time to gather courage to finally come here and meet you. I had come only in the hope of being useful. But..."
"You want to work here?" he was surprised.
She smiled sadly, "I can see how little faith you have in me about that. I'm sorry for disturbing you. I will leave."
"Wait, Rupali."
But she was nothing if not an expert in running away from him without explanations. Her taxi was waiting and before he could figure out a way of getting her back without creating a scene, she was gone.
Queen's Meadow Hotel, thank God he had asked her about her stay.