And Mondays were never the same | Short Story Part 5

And the story continues :)
In case you missed reading the previous one, Read Part 4 first, and then read this one!

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Rhea’s face had clearly lost its colour. It was as fixated as a stone. It felt as if someone had banged her head against the wall and now the world was spinning. She could hear Rohan’s words like “Rhea”, “Hello?”, “Delhi”, “Engagement” and “Next week”, but she was not able to make sense out of them. Not anymore.

She looked at her phone and mumbled, “I have to take this call. Let’s catch up some other time” and got up. Rohan was a bit taken aback at the sudden change of her mood and asked, “But what about your lunch?”

“Think I just lost my appetite”, said Rhea, looking straight into his eyes and marched her way out of the canteen. In the middle of all the chaos, people running from one counter to another and other happily bitching about their bosses and colleagues, Rohan felt left out. A thought ached his heart, but he couldn’t pin point what that thought was.

Rhea left early from work, without saying him good-bye, which otherwise was their daily ritual. That night, she didn’t respond to any of Rohan’s WhatsApp messages either. While all her flatmates were already sound asleep, Rhea was wide awake even at 2 am, tossing and turning endlessly.

She logged on to her Facebook account and saw it in her newsfeed. Rohan Sharma was travelling to Delhi. “This sucks. I so freaking hate this! Enjoy your engagement with whoever this Jethmalani is. Huh.” Rhea grumbled under her breath.    

One week passed, and there was no update from Rohan neither on Facebook, nor on WhatsApp. Not that Rhea was stalking him or anything, but a part of her did want to know what he was up to. She did want a sneak peek into his life.

She engrossed herself in work and soon the thoughts about Rohan got replaced with the data that audit team had been requesting for, one after the other. “Such a bugger the audit guys are!” said Rhea to her team mate, who in turn agreed with a smirk and a nod.

The next day being Friday, Rhea decided to slip into her favourite denims and a clinging, yet well fitted top that proudly talked volumes about her slender figure. She walked in early for she had plans of leaving early too. It was one of those days when she had strong impromptu bouts of shopping and then she absolutely had to go window shopping that very day. Rhea decided Shoppers Stop was the destination that would quench all her desires.

Just before she settled in her workstation at 9:15am, she habitually glanced at Rohan’s side of the floor. This had become almost natural for her. To come to her workstation, keep her stuff, and glance at his desk, before getting started for the day.

“Ah. Still empty” she said. The thoughts came rushing to her about how easily Rohan had forgotten about her. That he didn’t even acknowledge the couple of updates she had put up on Facebook. And that he is “taken” now. 

And just as she sat on her seat, “Was someone missing me?” fell on her ears, and she jumped back on her toes! She looked around, and there he was, Rohan Sharma standing right behind her, with his forever stunning smile that always made her weak at the knees.

“Hey! You. When did you arrive? I didn’t realize you were standing here.” Heaved Rhea, hoping he had not heard her mumbling while she was peaking her way to his side.

“Long enough to see that you missed me.” Replied Rohan with a rosy tint on both his cheeks.

“Oh please! I did not. Just so you know, the audit team ate my head out, so there was no time for me to Miss You.” crackled Rhea as she looked away hiding her smile under the façade of a neutral face.

“How was your engagement? You went to Delhi, right?” asked Rhea.

“Delhi was awesome. As always. And the engagement was good… Just that it never happened.” Replied Rohan.

“Good. Show me your ring… Wait, What? Engagement never happened? But I do remember you mentioning about getting engaged to the Jethmalani. So what happened now?” asked Rhea wondering what could have possibly happened.

“Um… Let me put it this way. Priya is a great girl. And whichever man she chooses to marry, would be a lucky one. But between us, there was something missing from the start. So I called it off. ”

“Oh I am so sorry. Is everyone okay at home with this decision of yours?”

“Yea… they are. Because the good news is, I found someone else. It’s one from the many profiles that my mother had passed on to me, and I lost my heart to her the minute I saw her picture. Oh so beautiful she is. No words can describe her beauty, and I am not even exaggerating when I say this. She is a strong independent woman and works out of Mumbai only. I might meet her over the weekend.” Said Rohan eagerly.

Rhea’s heart burned with every word Rohan spoke about the new girl. She could feel a hot wave of jealousy rush through her face and arms and legs and her entire aura. Given her zero interaction with Rohan last week, she thought the intensity of her feelings had reduced. But with all the feels now, she realized nothing had changed. And she was still hopelessly in love with a man who was in love with someone else!

On the inside, Rhea left a heavy sigh. But on the outside, she beamed along with Rohan and beckoned on all that he was saying. “Oh that’s lovely! What is her name?” asked Rhea.

“I think it’s too early for me to reveal her identity. Wait till I meet her over the weekend, would be more comfortable to talk after that” replied Rohan.

“Sure. Whatever suits you” said Rhea smiling smugly.

Rohan looked at his workstation, and saw his manager seated already. “I have got to rush. Boss is here. See you! And oh, you are looking so gorgeous!”

Rhea blushed and said “haha... I know. Bye now!” As Rohan paced towards his workstation, Rhea settled back in her seat and peeked from the side of her laptop to watch him go. Just as she was busy gaping at him, Rohan turned back, looked at her and winked. Rhea was caught off-guard and didn’t know how to respond. “Did he just wink? Does this account for flirting? And oh, did he see me check him out?” she asked herself. She just smiled, fixed her eyes on the laptop and didn’t dare move an inch.

Later that night Rhea fell asleep in the living room while watching a movie and got up to her phone ringing. She wiped off her drool and picked up the phone. In a heavy grumpy voice she said “Yes Mumma.”

“Beta ji, I have some good news!” beamed her mother.

“What?”

“Remember Rohan Sharma? The boy whose profile I had sent you a couple of weeks back?”

Hearing the word “Rohan” among the other set of words that her mother said, Rhea got back to her senses. “Ya… What about him?” she asked.

“His family had called. They liked your profile too, and wanted to meet over the weekend to discuss the marriage proposal. Beta ji, Office me kuch baat hui kya? Bolo Bolo” asked her mother teasingly.

Rhea couldn’t believe her mother’s words. Was this for real? Was this actually happening? Given the turn of events in the last couple of weeks, Rhea had given up on anything materializing between the two. But her mother’s words felt like music to her ears!

“So I was the “new girl” he was talking about. Oh my god! So he did know about the marriage proposal! ” Rhea said this to herself, not once not twice, but endlessly repeating it in her head!

Her heart was racing at the speed of a zillion Kilometres per hour and she was loving it. She couldn’t wait to meet Rohan in the arranged marriage set-up, knowing that it in a way was love marriage. Thanking god for making everything finally fall in place.