No matter where you are in your life, you may be regretting choosing the wrong love.
You may repent of some bitter deeds you committed in the past.
What is it like if life luckily gave us a second chance? Can those issues be resolved at least then for a better life?
Dr.Alok switched on the lights and walked inside his cabin. The hexagonal white lights fixed to the ceiling were enough to illuminate the entire room like a bright full moon. He viewed the green board behind his rolling chair. It had a few notices related to the research department pinned to it and surrounded a red crumpled chart displaying his daily timetable. He let his fingers on the third line from the top having Wednesday's classes. "Sexy! Just Cloud Computing elective class at two in the noon!", noted he, leaning back on his cushiony and soft seat. He sighed and closed his eyes for fewer than a minute when he heard a gentle knock on his closed cabin door.
Ishitha, prettily dressed in a black coat on a yellow saree and with her hair left loosely till her shoulders, opened the door and smiled at him. "Sir, are you free to approve the final year project abstracts now?"He opened his eyes, leaned forwards, sat perfectly straight, and nodded at her. She entered, starting her laptop and talking at a higher pace like a jet, "I hope I am not disturbing you, Alok sir. I know you must be tired of handling classes, practicals, and research. But, the Principal announced in the meeting last afternoon to finalize major project titles by tomorrow so that our students can kickstart working on them. At least the literature survey must be completed by the end of the semester."
As she took her seat opposite his, he smiled, accepting, "It's totally fine, Ishitha ma'am. I understand the situation. Seeing the younger generation's innovations is really interesting. It's a brainstorming session rather than a hectic work, I feel!" Ishitha nodded, grinning and complimenting, "Wow! You are very considerate, and unique, sir. I must learn a lot from you!"He nodded, as she displayed an Excel sheet on her laptop.
"Unique!", thought he, recalling the scene of young Nisha shaking him and sobbing, at the lonely canteen back during their college, "Alok, I seriously love you. I love you because you are unique. You are a sweet and disciplined gentleman. Payal is just doing time-pass with you...Trust me! She isn't genuine although she seems to be sweet. She isn't right for you. You and I are made for each other..."He interrupted her, "Stop it, Nisha." He joined his hands, requesting, "Please stop interfering in Payal and my life. How do you know I shouldn't be with her? You are just obsessed with me." He neared her face and frowned at her, warning, "This is your first and last warning, Nisha. And I repeat, bitching about Payal like this behind her back is not only a bad habit but also will never help you achieve my love. I don't love you. Forget me." He walked away at which Nisha caught his hand and repeated, "I love you, Alok. I love you truly from the bottom of my heart. I can't call a random lady my mother. In the same way, I cannot call another guy my love. I love you so so much...Why don't you understand?"
"Sir, why aren't you speaking anything? Don't you think the fifth team's project needs more novelty?", asked Ishitha, at the lost professor. She waved her hands, calling him out repeatedly. He shook his head and gazed at the laptop's screen. He saw the fifth team marked in yellow on the workbook. He asked her, "What! Did we already complete reviewing the first five teams?" She corrected him, rushing, "No, sir! You were in some other world. Where were you?..." He concealed his tears, looking away and grumbling, "Kanpur!"
"What!", exclaimed Ishitha, shrugging at him. "I am sorry, ma'am. I think you speak fast. Can we review relaxedly...slowly?"She chuckled and nodded. They exchanged a few words marking one or two teams in green. A while later, she turned off her laptop as he commented, "Most project works are quite interesting. Students these days, I feel, have more exposure. I would like to encourage the projects selected in green for research. Would you coordinate, project coordinator ma'am?"Ishitha chuckled, agreeing, "Of course, sir!" As she stood up to leave, she remarked to him, "By the way, sir, you are modern."
"Why?", asked he, at which she explained, "In my entire experience, you are the only professor calling me ma'am. The others call me madam-too old-fashioned!" Alok chuckled at her, sharing, "Even if you want me to address you by 'medam', I can't. Excuse me, ma'am!" Ishitha shrugged at him, chuckling back and enquiring, enlarging her eyes and widening her lips, "Why?" The scene of Nisha smiling and calling him out," Alok saar! Come here!", from the other corner of the corridor flashed in his mind. He rushed, with a few stick files in his hands, shouting back, "Coming Nisha medam!" He revealed to his colleague," Because, it's reserved for someone special who won my heart twenty-eight years ago but hardly did I recognize it. Unfortunate me, I made her too unfortunate due to my blunder!"
"Ok!", said Ishitha, dragging it deep and long, guessing in her mind, "This guy must be immersed in the mysterious world of love. I will find her out soon, Alok sir!"She chuckled, mocking, "Your words were like a puzzle, sir. It's fine. Keep your fantasies to yourself." He laughed as she closed the door behind her and left. As he sat back, his mobile sang with Nisha's name on the screen. He picked it up, with no further delay and smiled to himself.
"Hello!", said he, in chorus with her. Meanwhile, she was busy hogging her packed homemade lunch. She sat alone in her cabin, pushing the fried rice with a spoon into her mouth. It was a regular afternoon after the consequences of her client meeting were settled. She began, "Alok, I wanted to talk to you yesterday but you didn't pick up..." Ishitha checked her coat's pockets in the corridor and realized that she had left her phone on Alok's desk. She rushed back and opened the door.
"Nisha medam, you too didn't pick up! I rang you up twice last morning after seeing your missed calls...", he blamed her. Ishitha hid under the shelves at the entrance and overheard him. Meanwhile, Nisha refused, as she ate, "No, I called you first. You were busy. Saar has become big people!"They chuckled over the voice call. She coughed wildly. "Medam, drink water. Stop eating while you talk. What are you doing?", cared the anxious gentleman. Nisha swallowed two mouths of water from her bottle on the table and took a deep breath.
"I am fine, saar! Calm down!", said she, blushing and wondering, "Aww! I didn't know my sweet saar cared so much for me. I wish we always had lunch together." Her smile narrowed, as she recollected, "What's wrong with me? He loved Payal and is now married to Payal. Shit! I shouldn't eye a married man. Let me just get to the point and end it fast." She released her spoon and asked him, "Alok, why did you send my car for immediate servicing that night? Why did you help me? See, I repeat. Payal will feel bad if she learns that we talk. I hope you understand my point..."
"Who is this mystery medam? I need to find out!", observed Ishitha.
Alok smiled, whispering secretly, "Oh, I see! So, medam is disturbed because of Payal. Let me play with Payal’s lie to investigate if she still loves me. I guess she is unmarried, loving me all these years, and is hiding it from me as I said that I was with Payal! I will observe you, medam!" He shook his head, questioning her, "Nisha medam, what do you mean? Are you out of your senses? You had left your car's keys too. Anyone would have robbed it easily. I saved you. You must blis me rather than screwing!"
"Oh! Who Nisha? My friend?", wondered Ishitha. She gave Nisha Verma a missed call. She only heard the engaged tone. She blushed, thinking, "Oh, nice! I will help you guys, don't worry!"
"Blis? Oh, bless! Alok saar!Alok shabhkosh(dictionary)", thought she, smiling and chuckling secretly. She pretended to frown and continue, "It's okay. Let it get lost! It's not your car, right? My car my money my loss my life...why do you care? Don't get closer to me. It's wrong. Remember that you have your wife."
He defended himself, "But, I did like a friend. What did you think?"
She sighed, ignoring him and completing, "Also, don't send me gifts. They were good but it's not the right way to talk to a lady when you are married. Keep away from me!"
As she was about to hang, he diverted, "Hey I have a doubt! Doesn't your keychain say 'A'? Who does it refer to?"
"True!You are going in the right direction, Alok sir. Carry on!", Ishitha encouraged him, in her mind. "Bring it up!", she murmured.
Nisha ate her second spoon of lunch, swallowing and thinking, "Alok saar, how don't you know? I have always loved you. You are the only man in my life although you love someone else." She lied, "My son, Alok." He smiled, leaning forward to the table and tapping the desk with his pen, investigating, "I wanted to ask you something long back. We didn't get to speak much that evening when we met. Anyways, why did you name your son with my name?" Nisha's eyeballs rolled hither and thither; her legs shook under her table.
"Why can't you guess? Dumbo dude this guy! Screw him, Nisha... why did you fall for him?", wondered Ishitha, slamming her forehead and sighing.
"It was my husband, Dhushyanth's choice", managed Nisha, lying again. "Sexy!", commented Alok, thinking, "I first need to find in and out about Dhushyanth. Why do I feel like she made it up? The way her son Alok reacted too wasn't supporting her point. They managed something at first but now I feel there's something beyond what I know." He pretended to say a 'Yes' and agree with her.
"Other pieces of stuff apart. Alok, I called you only to inform you that I am not comfortable with your gifts and I feel you are giving me extra care and attention ever since we met after so many years. Please stop it. I don't know why you are acting so but it will hurt Payal and is unethical. Stop!", concluded she, hanging up. He too hung up. He leaned back on his seat, stretched his legs, and blushed, thinking, "I don't know why but I do care for you. I can't stop it and I am waiting to hear the truth about what you have been feeling for me all these years despite my relationship with Payal. Let me test your love, medam! Gear up!"
"Hi!", greeted Ishitha, appearing from the desk at the entrance. Alok bulged his eyes for a moment as she grabbed her phone and kissed it. "Sir, your Nisha medam is my best friend since our ninth grade. Contact me for any help!" As she smiled and was about to leave, he stood up and requested her, "Hey! Please don't tell her that I am divorced." She turned back and assured him, "I don't talk about college to my friends. I forget things then and there but of course, not your secret. But, you reveal it to her soon. Why do you think a girl will propose to you whom you have portrayed to her as a married man? Although you call it testing, I fear it may not go as you desire. All the best, sir!"
He nodded, agreeing, "I will reveal it soon. But, I want to discover if she still loves me..."
"Why don't you directly ask her?", suggested the wise Ishitha. He shook his head, sharing, "Sometimes, things expressed aren't actually meant. So, I want to analyze her and not just go with her words which may diverge from her true emotions." Ishitha showed him a thumbs-up. She was about to open the door and leave when she turned back at him and questioned, "But, have you ever fallen for her in the first place?"
As he exposed his meek and hesitant eyes as always, in a tough situation, she shrugged, asking, "Why do you want to know about her feelings then? That's why this love and relationships are never my things. I am happy being unmarried and uncommitted all these years!" She grumbled loudly as she barged outside, "Why should you be behind her if you don't love her? Bizzare!"
Whose lie will be caught first-Nisha medam or Alok saar?
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