Saanvika's POV
It's been 2 weeks since my engagement and the fact that I am gonna get married is slowly sinking in my brain and all my fears came up...... All these years, I have never thought of marriage, I always thought of different ways to avoid it, I didn't learn any chores as I was so sure I could avoid it all my life until a few weeks back..... What if I prove to be a terrible wife and daughter-in-law...... What if Alok uncle who loves me as his daughter starts hating me after marriage as I am not perfect? I am so clumsy and don't have any idea of handling a home. Ahh... Numerous what if's flew into my brain making it worse than a mental asylum...... I shook my head and went out to the cafeteria to get some coffee for myself as my head is pounding....... I sat at the corner table facing the windows as it's the most peaceful place in the whole office.
"Mind if I join ??", I heard a voice..... Ohh no, it's my boss..... All I wanted is to be alone..... Why God... Why did you send him here now ??
"Of course not sir, please......", I said smiling politely toward him....... He sat opposite me with his coffee...
"Are you sure, you don't wanna take up the new client ??", he asked me once again
"Yes sir", I answered politely, this is the nth time he is asking me that.
"But Saanvika, he is a very big client, a shareholder of a multi-specialty hospital..... I am offering you this because your client Dr. Rishi only referred our firm to him, so technically the credit goes to you, then why are you rejecting it, you'll be having a salary hike and also get incentives heavily", he asked...
This is what I like the most about him, Although he is very tough and strict, he is not a jealous boss who snatches his team members' credit..... He is a very genuine person and never fails to recognize one's hard work.
"I know sir, but right now, I don't wanna burden myself with more load, also I am getting married in a few months, so will be going on leave soon," I told him, though he already knew about my marriage.
"Saanvika, think about it again and tell me till tomorrow if you are worried about burdening yourself then I am here to help you, don't lose this chance", saying this he left leaving me perplexed......
I don't want to take up this client because Rishi referred it, I don't want to take his favors because I am not sure of his intentions yet..... I know it's been a couple of years since he proposed to me but still, I don't want to risk my self-respect, what if he referred this out of the feelings he had for me ?? And not for my work ?? I'll inform my boss tomorrow about my decision...... I care the least about money..... I have no needs or luxuries so my salary is more than enough for me...... The only expenditure I have is food, transportation, and loan EMI, apart from the amount I donate to the orphanages for their school fees...... Every year, I pay 10 children's school fees, it's my dream to start an orphanage in papa's name, and adopt and educate all the children who are in need...... According to papa, education is as necessary as food, water, shelter, and clothing...... He paid fees to many of his students who couldn't afford them, though we ourselves were in financial crisis...... that's why as soon as I joined the job, I started paying school fees to as many as I can afford, I started with 3 and gradually increased the number...... Maybe one day, I hope I could achieve my dream...... I dispersed my thoughts and walked towards my cabin......
After work, I reached my place, got freshened up, and made some poha as I'm not interested in cooking much...... after having dinner, I thought of calling Bipin Bhai to talk to him for a while, I can't take his anger, though he is wrong this time, I'll talk to him and make him understand..... He can't get angry with his sister for no fault of hers. I'm about to call Bhai but Vihaan's call interrupted me..... Vihaan, At this time ?? It's 10 past 11 at night..... usually, he wouldn't call me this late...... I took his call and talked for a while....... After good 20-30 minutes, we hung up...... this is the longest conversation we had on the phone...... He asked if I am free tomorrow for lunch and I agreed...... These days I talk more freely with Vihaan than ever...... still I need to open up more but don't know why I can't...... Seeing the time, I wished good night to Bipin Bhai on Whatsapp and went to bed..... He replied good night with an annoyed emoji...... I know, I asked if he is free to talk and then after 30 minutes, I messaged him good night..... anyone would be annoyed...... I didn't tell him the reason as I don't want to annoy him more than he already is...
The next day, I started to my office, I talked to ma for about 5 minutes and hung up...... Called Meera and talked to her..... I know she is angry with me..... but thankfully she didn't irritate or offend me..... I reached the office and started with my work...... In the afternoon, I left for the restaurant Vihaan messaged me this morning...... He offered to pick me up but I refused flatly....... He didn't insist much, I think he had some work, otherwise, he wouldn't leave so easily. I clearly told him that this is on me and he agreed unwillingly.
I am waiting for the past 20 min but there is no sign of him, I'm not complaining though, I am passing time by chatting with Meera, Siri di, and Bhai simultaneously..... Bhai sent me some photographs of decoration designs and without actually looking at them, I typed my usual reply, "your wish"..... He got so mad and started scolding me..... I am defending myself when someone startled me suddenly...... I threw my phone on the table and held my heart which is now beating at a high rate....... Vihaan started laughing so hard seeing my face........ and I'm still holding my heart as it started paining a bit...... I had this problem, whenever I hear loud sounds when I'm asleep or suddenly get startled, I feel pain in the chest for a while...... He apologized when I didn't smile at him...... and that cute apology immediately brought a smile to my face..... I shook my head and he sat across me.......
"Sorry for making you wait, I was stuck up with a patient," He told.....
"That's completely fine Vihaan..... It's just 20 minutes...... and I am having a good time chatting with Meera, Bhai, and di", I said.....
"Yeah.... I saw..... You were so indulged in your phone", He said...
"Haha..... I was fighting with Bhai actually, not a serious fight, more of a casual argument", I corrected myself seeing his expression...
"about ??" he said
"Will tell you, but before that let's order, I'm so hungry", I said
"Of course......", he replied with his usual charming smile
We ordered our food and dug in as soon as it arrived..... I'm exploring many good diners in Delhi, all thanks to Vihaan...... I'm making Kabir and Siri di so jealous...... Siri di is literally ready to kill me..... She couldn't find Indian diners near the place she stays, she is craving this from the time she went there and above all this, I keep on tempting her with all these photographs...... When I shared this with Vihaan, he shook his head and called me a kid...... I didn't get offended, in fact, I took it as a compliment.
We are almost done with our food when I received a call from Shanmukh's school, one of the children in the orphanage, I paid the fees for this quarter, then why are they calling me ??
"Um... sorry Vihaan, I have to take this," I said apologetically...... though being this formal is really hard for me...
"That's okay Saanvi, take it," he said with a genuine smile and I reciprocated with a polite smile before answering my phone.
"Hello......", I said
"Miss. Agarwal..... I'm......" she started but I interrupted her...
"Miss. Niranjan Agarwal... ", I corrected and Vihaan gave me an amusement look as if saying 'Are you serious ??', I mentally slapped myself..... Why do I embarrass myself..... but I don't like it when someone calls me Miss. Agarwal without adding papa's name to it...
"Yeah, Miss. Niranjan Agarwal....... I'm Shanmukh's class teacher, Hope you remember me", She said...
"Of course, ma'am, Is everything alright with Shanmukh ??", I asked getting worried as she never called me before....... I talk to her only when I attend his PTA.....
"No ma'am, you need to come to the hospital near our school...... Shanmukh got ill suddenly and we are getting him treated, nothing to worry about, he is fine now, but you need to clear the bills personally and also sign some documents...... I just called to inform you", She said getting me worried.......
"Okay...... I'll call you after 10 minutes, please make me talk to Shanmukh..... and about the bills, I'll come before evening and clear them...... Get him treated well", I said and hung up...
"Is everything alright ?? and who is Shanmukh ??", Vihaan asked...
"Yeah, everything is fine Vihaan...... Um.... about Shanmukh..... he... I.....", I fumbled...... I don't know what to say..... will he accept it ?? Ma and Bhai asked me not to tell him about this as they(Vihaan and his family) may feel it as a burden...... I decided to tell nonetheless, I'm not doing anything wrong, so why should I hide ??
"I am the guardian for Shanmukh, I took up the responsibility of some of the children's education in an orphanage, he is one of them....... but apart from paying their fees, I also try to fill a parent's place in their lives sometimes", I finished looking into my plate..... I'm nervous...... I know it's a good thing but I don't want Vihaan to think that I'm boasting about myself because I'm not..... I don't feel I'm doing a great job though people around me make me feel like that..... I feel it's a basic duty of every individual...
"Wowwww........ I mean Woww....... so nice of you Saanvi, I'm proud of you, not only donating money, but you took their responsibility too....... wonderful", he said and he is genuinely impressed and not faking it.....
"Thank you," I said
"From where did you get this thought ?? I mean most of the people want to do charity, some of us do too but taking up as a responsibility and getting them educated, taking out time for them is a very thoughtful initiative", Vihaan said with amusement.....
"I got this thought after seeing my father, papa used to pay fees to his students and many other children who couldn't afford education...... I still remember that incident which made a great impact on me....... There was a student in papa's college, who didn't pay the examination fee and that day was the last day to pay it, papa got to know about it and he paid the fees by borrowing money from his colleague as he didn't have enough money at that time as We were facing some financial crisis...... My father borrowed money for the first time in his life for his student...... He and ma hate the idea of taking monetary help from anyone even as a loan, but that day, he did, that's the importance someone's education holds for him..... That day I decided, I would provide education to as many children as I could afford and gradually that became my life ambition", I finished and he looked at me as if I'm an alien...
"You really love your father a lot, no ??", He asked me, and that question stopped my brain...... Love ?? I am crazy for him, Love is a very small word for what I have for him...... I shook my head and smiled at him......
"I do, Who doesn't love their father ?? Everyone does...... but you know what Vihaan, I love him more as a person than my father......", I said remembering him...
"I don't know much about him, Whatever I know of him is from you and dad...... He seems to be a very good man......," He said
"Great man" I corrected him...... There is a small difference between being good and great...
Papa isn't just good, he is great....... We continued having our dessert while I started telling about my father, What I like the most about Vihaan is he listens to me very patiently and is genuinely interested in knowing papa, He doesn't fake enthusiasm...
"You know Vihaan, a few months after papa's demise, the student president with some other students came to my house to ask us for papa's photograph, when asked, they told us they wanted to frame it and hang it in the classroom wall, they came after so many days because it took a few months for them to collect the money for the frame....... all are from a very poor background...... Papa's college is a government college and every classroom consists of a photo frame of one or the other famous personality like freedom fighters, national leaders, philanthropists, etc..... But, For the first time, in college history, a classroom witnessed the frame of their beloved teacher...... You know, though management respected papa a lot, they weren't ready to break the rules and tried to convince students that they cannot have papa's frame in the classroom, but the student union almost went on a strike to fulfill their demand..... and finally, the management agreed...... His photo frame is still there in the classroom, I'll take you there once", I said excitedly...
He smiled and nodded, he seemed to be very surprised hearing about all this, hell I myself am shocked when the management called us and asked to stop the students from going on a strike...... ma politely declined saying she doesn't want to involve in college matters...... We never imagined, the students would go to such an extent for papa, Guess we still don't have any idea of how much people adore him.......
"I am so sorry, when I start talking about papa, I don't realize time......" I said as I realized I kept on talking about him..... I don't want other people to get tired and irritated by my non-stop mentioning of papa...... I never realized that the other person might feel that way until Bipin Bhai told me...... I generally don't share about papa with many people, except for my close ones, but the day he told that to me, I stopped sharing about my father with everyone except for my bhabhi and Aarav...... and recently Alok uncle and Vihaan added to my list......
"Don't be sorry Saanvi, It's completely fine, in fact, I'm more interested to know about him. I'm happy that you are sharing your beautiful memories with me, trust me I'll always cherish them", He said making me go in awe..... I blushed a little as I'm not at all used to these types of talks. later we got diverted and talked about different topics, our interests, hobbies, taste in music etc. and we finished lunch, Vihaan took out his card to pay, but I beat him...... He gave me the same look I gave him last time but I shrugged...
"Don't look like that, I already told you, I would pay", I said and he signed as if Zipping his mouth and I giggled...
He insisted to drop me and I agreed as I would go to Shanmukh first and then to the office....... and the hospital he is admitted to is in Vihaan's way only....... He dropped me near the building and went away bidding me bye...... I went inside, checked Shanmukh, cleared the bills, and talked to his teacher who is outside the ward...... Thankfully, there's nothing to worry, the doctor is discharging him in an hour, His teacher promised to have him dropped in the orphanage and I thanked her and left for the office as I'm already so late...... I would have taken Shanmukh with me for a few days till he gets fine completely but the orphanage doesn't permit it, so I had to leave him in their care...