"You deserve a relationship where both sides never stop trying."

❛❛「₪」❜❜

Ash's P.O.V.

"Ready hun?" John came in, grinning, and asked.

"Are you out of your senses?" I whispered. His grin immediately turned into a frown.

"Why?" He pouted.

"We are at work. And I am your boss. Stop calling me names."

"Alright ma'am. Despite the fact that we are humans first and thus, we have all the right to fall in love, I will listen to you. Because, you are my boss! And I am at your service, okay boss?" He smirked.

"Shut up and go back to work." I said. sneaking back into the screen.

"What do you mean work?"

I sighed, opening a new tab on my MacBook and searched 'definition of work'.

"Activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result." I read aloud.

"What the hell Ash?"

"Definition of work." I shrugged.

"You nincompoop! I meant that you don't need to work because it is already past 7:30."

"Oh. Hey wait, stop calling me nincompoop in the hotel! We. Are. At. Work!"

"Got you ma'am. Now can you come? We have to talk to your donor remember?"

"Oh yeah right! Well then, wait a minute. I'll wind it up and come."

"Come I'll help." He said, coming towards my desk and putting my stuff in my bag.

After we were done we switched off the lights and left the cabin, and right after that I realised I had forgotten a file.

"Wait. I need to take a file."

I went in to take it, but it was above a high shelf. And even after trying for long I couldn't reach.

"Wait." He said, coming towards the shelf. "Lemme help. Which one?"

"The black one on the top of the pile." He rose on his heels, almost touching me. After around half a minute, he finally got it, and not being able to stand anymore, he almost lost his balance.

"Careful." I said, holding his muscled arms.

"I am fine." He smiled, wrapping his arms around my neck.

"John. Not here."

"Shh." I could see his white teeth glowing in the dark room.

And then he came too close to my face. So I couldn't stop myself, and then we were kissing. Our hands were entangled with each other's bodies.

"Yeah Syra, I will be there in a minute. Just wait near the car." We heard a man's voice.

"Shit." I whispered accidentally.

The lights being off, the man couldn't see us. But he had definitely heard me saying 'shit'.

"Who's that?" I heard him say, as I saw John facepalming.

He turned the lights on. And that was when we realised that we were still entangled. We immediately pulled away.

"Ma'am?" The man said. It was Ryan, I realised. Ryan Sanders. The Project Manager in LUMA.

"Wait, Jonathan? What are you two doing?"

"Uh nothing. He was just helping me with the files. They were too high for me to reach." I lied, smoothly. Wow! Some hidden talent I've got.

"Like that? Entangled with each other?" He said. Well, okay. I should give my skills a thought.

"What do you think we were doing?" John said, carefree.

"Uh- were you two making out?"

"No we-" I said, but I was interrupted by John.

"Yes, we were."

"In the office? Seriously?"

"So you don't have problem with us making out right? Just making out here is the issue?"

"Of course. Why would I have a problem with you two making out?" Ryan shrugged.

"See?" John looked at me. "We are humans after all." He continued, moving out.

I followed him.

"What were you doing here by the way?" I asked Ryan as the three of us walked through the lobby.

"I uh-" He paused to think of an answer. "Oh shit. I had to take a file."

"What file? About the new layout planning?"

"Yeah."

"Here." I said, giving him the black file. "I remembered I was supposed to give it to somebody, but I forgot who." I laughed nervously.

"How were you going to figure out then, ma'am?" He laughed, as he took the file from me.

"I had written it in my notepad." I laughed back. "And please don't call me ma'am."

"We are still inside LUMA." Ryan laughed.

"Hey." John said. "I thought that no-formality thing counted just for me."

Ryan sniffed and asked, "Is the kitchen near by?"

"No why?" I asked.

"If so, I am afraid something's burning." He sniffed again, raising his brows at John.

All of us laughed.

"Don't worry, I can fix burnt food." John said, as we reached outside, where Ryan's car was. We laughed again.

A beautiful lady, stood right beside his car. She had short blonde hair, and green eyes. Damn! That is my favourite eye colour.

"Meet Syra." Ryan introduced her to us. "My girlfriend."

"She is my boss." He told Syra, pointing at me. "Ashleigh Bradbury."

"Hi." We both said as we shook.

"And this is my colleague Jonathan Hunt, who managed to hook up with his boss on his second day of work itself."

"That wasn't necessary." John laughed, shaking her hand.

"I am impressed." Syra laughed.

"Thanks." John laughed, as he bowed.

"So." I said.

"What do you do?"

"Am a Journalist."

"Oh that's great." I smiled.

"Trust me. She is awesome at it." Ryan said, proudly.

"OML no. He is just boasting. ISTG."

"ISTG?" I asked.

"Oh uh- it means, I swear to god."

"Oh." I said, fascinated by the way she was comfortable with using short forms in her regular speech.

"Nevertheless. I'll take your leave for now." Ryan smiled. "We've got a date." He winked.

"Sure. Enjoy your date." John laughed.

"Of course." Ryan whispered.

As they left, John asked me, "Shall we leave?"

"Yup." I smiled.

He offered me his hand and I happily took it.

We went in the car, and as John started driving, he asked me, "You remember his name?"

"Nikhil, I guess."

"Hmm. Never heard this name." He said, scratching his chin.

"He is an Indian."

"Oh. So, do you have his number?"

"Yep."

I took my phone out and searched for his name.

'Nikhil Avasthy.' It read.

"We'll call him once we get home." John said as he looked into my phone and struggled to pronounce the last name.

"Ah-vus-thee." I pronounced it for him and chuckled.

"Ohhhh." He said, stretching that.

"So you remember anything from the time you met him?"

"Yeah. Want me to narrate it?"

"Sure."
.
.
.
.
.

"Nikhil Avasthy. Nikhil Avasthy. Nikhil Avasthy. Nikhil Avasthy. Nikhil Avasthy." I repeated for the millionth time as I stood outside his door, so that I didn't mess up his name.

When convinced, I rung the bell. A man, in his thirties, opened the door. A charming face, with a big smile on it. He looked fit and muscled. Black silky hair, and dark brown eyes.

"Hi. Nikhil Avasthy." He said, extending his hand.

"Ashleigh Bradbury." I shook.

"Come in please." He said, the smile still dancing on his lips.

I went in. He had a beautiful house. Beautiful furniture. Beautiful choices. Whole house painted in pastel colours. A classy choice of everything. But there was still a little mess on the floor.

"Sorry." He said, as I took a seat on the couch. "My wife's not home and my kid is lit-"

Before he could continue we were interrupted by the crying of a small child.

"Papaaaaaaa." The kid cried.

"Shit!" Nikhil said as he rushed in.

I could still hear the kid wailing, until two minutes later, Nikhil came out with his son carried in his arms. The kid's eyes were red, so was his nose. He closed his fists to rub his eyes, and wipe his tears. I chuckled at his cuteness.

Nikhil sat on the opposite couch with his son still in his arms.

"So, what's his name?" I asked.

"Jay." He smiled.

"That's pretty. What does it mean?"

"Jay in hindi means Victory." And he smiled more at that, looking into his son's eyes. The boy is lucky to have such a father. Only if even I could have-

I couldn't think any further.

"Beta. Didi ko hi bolo. (Son, greet the guest.)" He told his son. And I didn't understand a word.

"Chokiiiiii." Jay screamed to him.

"Arre chocolate bhi milegi par pehle hi bolo. (Yes you'll get your chocolate but first greet.)"

"Nahi! (No!)" He yelled.

I just sat there, trying to decipher their words.

"Nahi? (No?)" Nikhil told him.

"Nahi!"

"Thik hai fir main saari choki kha jaata hu. (Fine then I'll eat all your chocolates.)" Nikhil shrugged.

And Jay started crying again. Nikhil facepalmed and looked back to me.

"Sorry." He said.

"No it's not a problem." I smiled, still looking at Jay's crying face.

"Jay ek din mein aur kitni chocoalte khaoge? (Jay how many chocolates do you want to eat in a day?)" Nikhil said.

Amidst all that, I caught the word 'chocolate'. So that's the problem.

"Pleesh papa. (Please dad)" He said.

"Ek last, thik hai? (One last, okay?)"

"Thik hai. (Okay)" Jay smiled.

"Just give me a minute." Nikhil told me as he stood up and went inside. After he came out with a chocolate.

"Yeh lijiye sahab. (Take this sir.)" He said, giving the chocolate to Jay.

"If I talk to him, will he revert or is he too shy?" I asked.

"He will." Nikhil said, as he took his seat. "He loves talking to people. Just that he loves his chocolates more." He sighed, and then laughed. I laughed as well.

"Hey Jay?" I called the little guy who was too busy eating his chocolate.

"Oye, aapko bula rahi hai. (Hey, she is calling you.)" Nikhil said.

Jay lifted his head to look at me. His lips all surrounded with chocolate. "Hi." He squealed.

"Hi Jay. How old are you?" I approached.

"Three." He said. Three? He looks to big to be three years old.

Nikhil sighed. "He is six. Just... bad with counting."

"Oh okay." I laughed and he laughed with me.

*Tring Tring*

"Jao. Mummy ka call aaya. (Go. Mom's calling.)" He spoke in his foreign language again. And he smacked Jay's butt as he went to run in the room.

"So. Let's get back to our talking again?" He said, smiling. He was what we all wanted to be. Always smiling. Always cheerful. He had a smile that never left his face.

"Yeah. Thank you very much for the donation. If it wasn't for you I probably-"

"Nothing would've happened. You know, no matter how bad the situation is, you should always think positive. If you think something wrong is going to be in the future, try looking for a silver lining. And if there is something good happened to you in your past, don't ever try to think of its possible negative ways. Just be like your blood group." He chuckled.

"Wait. How do you know my blood group?"

"How do you possibly think I donated blood?" He laughed.

I smacked my head for my stupidity.

After like twenty seconds of silence I said,"Actually, I had got a bouquet for you. Wait a minute." I stood up. "I forgot them in the car."

I went outside, taking the flowers and went back in. "A small way to thank you."

"I won't deny because I love flowers." He chuckled, taking the bouquet. "But I am still giving the thank you a thought."

And we both laughed.

"But, how did you find me?" I asked.

"I was passing from there. I saw your body lying right there, so I called for an ambulance straight away."

"I- I don't know how to thank you." I said, almost sobbing at the sudden thought of my mother, who had left ne just a week back.

"It's good that you don't. What I did was just humanity Ashleigh, nothing else."

I could not say anything.

"Shit." He said all of a sudden, as if he had realised something.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Stay here. I'll be back in a minute." He stood up and went somewhere deeper into the house.

After a minute of wondering what happened, I saw Nikhil come out. He had a tray with a glass of water and a plate of snacks in his hands.

I realised he forgot to give me those, probably because it was his- currently not here- wife, who would do that. I smiled as he gave a nervous laughter.

"Here." He said, keeping the tray in front of me.

"I'll just go for a glass of water. Not really hungry." I smiled.

"C'mon, a bite of eggs won't mind." He insisted.

Eggs won't mind but . . . scrambled eggs?

"Please?" He said. "You'll love it."

"Alright." I said, taking a bite of the eggs.

Well, they aren't bad but... still don't like scrambled eggs.

After food, I told him, "Alright then. I shall take your leave. It was a pleasure meeting you."

"It was good to see you." He smiled and shook my hand.

"Thank you once again. Really." I smiled, tears welling up in my eyes at thought that if it wasn't for him, I would have probably still be lying there, dead.

"It was a duty. And don't let the tears come out." He said. "Be grateful to life. Not to me."

Until now, I had been looking down. But what he said made me look at him. Grateful to life? Really?

I smiled. Then, he followed me to the outside. "Life plans better things for us. Better than our miseries." He said.
.
.
.
.
.

"Those were the last words between us." I told him. "You know John, I always thought about his words. About what better a thing was planned. Now I get what he meant." I smiled, planting a kiss on his right cheek.

"I am driving. Don't distract me." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh-kayyy." I stretched the word and laughed.

We reached my house and I opened my phone, looking for the name Nikhil Avasthy. We crossed our fingers, hoping he still owned the same phone number.

Someone picked up the phone. "Hello?" We heard a doubtful voice from the other side. The voice, perhaps, was that of a teenager.

"Who am I speaking to?" John asked, his call on speaker.

"Why do you ask?" He said.

"We are willing to speak to Mr. Nikhil Avasthy. Do you happen to know him?" I asked.

"How do you know him?"

"I am Ashleigh Bradbury. Five years back he had do-"

"The one who he donated blood to?" He asked.

"Yes. How'd you-"

"I am Jay. His son."

"Oh hey Jay. Can I speak to him?" I asked.

"He passed away 3 years back. In an accident. Why did you want to talk to him?" Jay said, with a choking voice. It was a shock to hear that. Passed away?

"Did he really pass away?" I asked, still in shock.

"Do you think I would be lying for such a thing?"

"No." I realised.

"Jay, did your father had sudden health changes some time before his death? Look I know I shouldn't be asking you this in such a situation, but can you please tell me? Its really important." John asked.

"Who am I talking to?" Jay asked, confused to hear from John.

"My boyfriend." I said.

"Oh. He was found to be an HIV positive around four months after the blood donation. But he had a car crash three years back. Why do you ask?" I looked at John- who was already looking at me- in shock. We were right.

"I developed it as well. I am an HIV positive now."

"Wait what? Did they not do a blood test?"

"No. It was an emergency."

"I am so sorry. Ashleigh my father would never donate blood if he knew it. I swear."

"I know darling. He seemed a good person. I am so sorry for your loss honey."

"I- I have to go." He said. "Talk to you later."

And he hung up.

"We shouldn't have." I told John.

"We shouldn't have what?"

"We shouldn't have called him. We hurt him." I said, hugging John tightly.

"We didn't do that on purpose Ash." He left a small kiss on my head. "Let's have some food shall we?"

"Hmm." I said.

He broke the hug and stood up, towards the kitchen.

"John?" I said. He looked around. "I can't believe he is no more."

We didn't say anything else. Until two minutes later I said, "Maybe one day even I will become the 'I can't believe this happened' on people's mouth."

"Shh." He said. He cupped my face in his hands. "You will die. But not soon. You will live your life happily. And you'll die peacefully. An old beautiful hot lady."

I laughed, with tears still in my eyes.

"I love you." He said, wiping my tears, with a smile on his face.

"I love you too."

Author's Note

Yo People. (Changed my #INTROish from Heyy Guyz to Yo People. Its temporary tho. I was in a mood XD)

Okay so. Yep I took too much time to update ;^

Suri. 😁

Important:

Okay so Hotstar released the official trailer for Dil Bechara (The Hindi remake of The Fault In Our Stars and the last film of Sushant Singh Rajput). Initially it was supposed to be only for VIP subscribers but now they made it available for all, to celebrate the legacy of Sushi. Let's watch it in his memory guys.

TPWK.
Vreha x