And Mondays were never the same | Short Story Part 3

And the story continues :)

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A new project was announced by the management, which required the Business Operations and the CoE teams to collaborate. Rhea received the calendar request for the brainstorming session scheduled between 6pm to 8pm, today.

“Who keeps meeting at 6 in the evening?’ snapped Rhea. She double clicked on the calendar request to see who all were going to be a part of the discussion. Her manager, another team member, Business Operation Head and the Vice President. The moment she read “Rohan Sharma”, her face lit up!

Now, between the days she realized it was Rohan whose proposal had come for marriage and today, she had not met him. Rohan left the very next day for his field visit to meet the state teams. This was an update that came to her from his Facebook Status update. Oh yea! Did I mention, Rohan and Rhea were now officially “Friends”, thanks to Facebook?

Rhea wanted to have the “Do-you-know-about-the-marriage-proposal?” conversation with him, but now that he was out of town, she had to park the conversation aside until he was back.

He had “liked” a few of her profile pictures, which meant he had thought about her. Which also meant that in spite of having a busy schedule out there meeting the State teams, he cared enough to browse through her profile and probably wanting to know more about her, or so she like to believe.

The notification was never lost. In the safe walls of her house, Rhea broke into a mini dance off with her own self. Her feet moving to the perfect sync of her heart beat. She returned the gesture by hitting the like button on a couple of pictures, from one of his recent expeditions.

Rhea had told her mother that she liked the proposal, and the fact that he works in the very same company! As expected, her mother became super excited on the news and was praying that this would materialize.

At 6’ o clock, Rhea was not the first one to walk in. Her heart started racing when she saw Rohan was already seated there. “Hello Friend!” Rohan beamed, looking eye to eye. “Hello Mr. Sharma! How was your visit?” Rhea managed, while hiding her excitement.

“Oh it was good. Quite an eye opener I must say. How have you been? Any new developments?” Replied Rohan.

Rhea wanted to tell him that she missed him a lot. That the entire week she peeked from her desk at his work station, only to see his vacant side. She realized her urgent desire to hug him and confess all that she felt for him. All the confused emotions that came rattling up whenever he was around. But Rhea settled for, “It’s the same here. Life’s been great. Its nice seeing you after so long.”, with a blush that made her cheeks go red.

“The feeling is mutual”, said Rohan with a mischievous narrowing of his eyes. Their eyes locked for a few seconds, Rhea smiled, fluttered with her laptop and papers and settled for a seat right across him.

Everyone arrived in the next couple of minutes and the meeting began. While the discussion started off on an energetic note with everyone contributing their 2 cents, Rhea noticed Rohan almost zoned out in between. He kept twitching in his seat. Kept looking at his phone irritably. As if something in his phone (and in his head) was making him uncomfortable. She wondered what it could be.

His phone rang once, he muted it. His phone rang the second time, he disconnected the call. But then the third time, he looked at his phone and said, “Sorry guys, I have to take this call” and hurried out of the conference room. Rhea wondered if everything was ok.

As the meeting wrapped up around 8, and everyone walked out calling it a day, Rhea walked over to Rohan’s desk. “Everything ok?” asked Rhea.

“Umm... Yea. All good.”

“Are you sure? You seemed a bit preoccupied during the meeting. And then all those calls you were getting… is everything fine back home?” probed Rhea.

“Actually… It’s my parents. They have been calling me up frantically and asking me to see all the worlds’ random marriage proposals. I simply dislike the very process of going and “seeing” the girl, one after the other. But you know how mothers can be. I have 2 new bio-data complete with girl’s pictures and she want me to have a look at it right now!”

Hearing Rohan’s words, Rhea felt an unfamiliar churn in her stomach. With every passing word, something was stiffening inside. It was clear that he didn’t know a thing about his marriage proposal reaching her and her mother conveying that they liked him. This was her most awkward, confusing yet exciting part of the entire day!

 “I can understand Rohan. Similar situation at my place too. Instead of getting into a fight with your mom, which you know you will never win, why don’t you just agree to skim through the pictures sent? No one is asking you put a finger and finalize immediately. What’s say?”

“Yea… think I am gonna do that. At least I could go to sleep peacefully then!” saying this Rohan unlocked his phone and opened WhatsApp. Rhea felt a sudden pang of anxiety and wanted to vanish immediately. She had not prepared herself for this.  About Rohan opening the possible marriage proposal and finding one of the two girls standing right in front of him! She found herself standing almost frozen, biting her lips.

“Aa… Rohan. I think I should make a move. Pretty late already!” Managed Rhea.

“Oh yes. Of course. I am so sorry. I’ll sort this out in a bit. Thanks for the advice though. Go safe. See you tomorrow.” Said Rohan.

Rhea quickened her steps towards her workstation without looking back at him. While she wanted to leave for home without any further delay, she still had a couple of mails that had to be cleared. She sank in her seat and turned on the “Do not disturb” mode.

As the lights switched off at the far end of the floor, she realized it was 9:10pm. “Enough for the day.” Murmured Rhea to herself after loosing track of time.

As she packed her bag and turned back to leave, she realized Rohan was looking at her from his work station and smiling. “Oh my god. Why is he still in office? Why is he smiling? Was one of the two proposals mine? Has he seen my pictures? Rohan please don’t give me that smile.” Rhea thought to herself.

She smiled back and waved him good bye. Her mobile buzzed as she waited for the lift. Too late for her mother to send any message. She wondered who it could be and opened her message:

 “Good Night Rhea. Thanks again for the advice. Always a pleasure talking to you! Just so you- I went through the pictures, and actually like one of them. ” Said a message from Rohan.    

Rhea blushed to the core. In an almost empty office and empty lift, she made no attempts in hiding her emotions. She was half excited and half confused. More excited and less confused, actually. “Does he mean me?” wondered Rhea with a never ending smile.

“Kya baat hai. So is Sharmaji planning his wedding leaves already? ;)”, played Rhea.

“Hahahaha… May not be a bad idea.” Replied Rohan.

With a wave of emotions surging inside, Rhea replied “Lucky her. Good Night now. See you tomorrow.” And walked her way to the main gate. Nervously giggling and lost in a zillion thoughts.

She had no idea whether Rohan now knew about the proposal or not. But she would get an update soon. Pretty soon. You know how mothers are :)