When Randhir opened his eyes, after what seemed to be an endless night, Sanyukta was gone. His eyes rolled everywhere, neither her nor her belongings were nowhere to be seen in his flat.. “Missing her already?” his heart giggled.. “Shut up..!” he said in a kadoos tone and jumped from the sofa.. By the time, he reached office it was almost close to 10. He was an hour late from his usual schedule.      His eyes, scanned through her cabin while passing by.. She wasn’t there as well. He tried hard to hide the disappointment and failed in the process. He occupied his chair, with a sense of dismay. He tried hard not to call her, he never wanted her to sense the “sudden unusual” feeling he had for her.. But his hand hardly cared.. It grabbed his cellphone from his pocket and dialed her number.. She picked it up in the third ring “Dash.. Where are you?” he screamed.. “Don’t you know that you should be here even before me? You are my assistant Damn it!” he deliberately sounded rude, just to hide his so called “unusual feeling”

“Sir I am already here.. I just came out to pick a file from the store room.. I ll be back in a while..” she sounded more polite than usual.. That sudden “Sir” in her tone, sounded genuine.. “Be here in 5” he dropped the call.. She hurried to her desk, after picking the file in a haste. The lift had to broke down only at that instant.. She cursed her fate.. 2 mins had already gone by.. She chose the chairs and slid through them in a jiffy.. By the time, she reached her room’s door, she was fighting hard to breathe.. “Sir I am here..!” she announced.. Randhir looked up at her.. Her forehead was totally covered by sweat, it felt as if she had taken a second bath of the day.. “Sir I went for this file. Its necessary for your meeting today..” she handed it over to him and quickly slid into her seat.. She was kind of looking very calm and composed today, his rudeness didn’t seem to have done anything to her.. Randhir’s lips automatically curved into a smile. Sanyukta caught him smiling at her, she did return the smile wherein his ego refused to give in.. He turned the other side, as he didn’t want to take the risk of meeting her eyes again. “I ll be back from the meeting.. Take care of the other stuff” he ordered with that kadoos face again and left his desk.

Sanyukta couldn’t help smiling, she gazed at him until he closed the door and followed his shadow until her eyes could reach.. She could see his secret smile.. “Strange” she mumbled.. Without Randhir, the cabin seemed isolated. Not that she missed his rudeness, but his presence always meant “Someone was there atleast to hate me”.. She tried hard and finally succeeded in shifting her focus from Randhir. It was quite a long meeting that lasted almost 4 hours. Randhir came out of the conference room at around 2 PM. He was dead hungry. He rushed into his cabin, looking for some water. He ordered Sanyukta to bring him some coffee.. “Dash.. Go and get me some coffee.. Strong, without sugar..”  He realized that Sanyukta wasn’t there when he finished.. “Now where the hell has she vanished.. ?” he wondered.. Door to his cabin opened at the same time.. “Sir.. Sorry to disturb you.. I want you to meet this person waiting outside..” she pointed at a girl standing outside the cabin.. The girl, looked pretty poor, may be in her early 20’s. He leaned sideways to take a better look at her.. Randhir’s brows met each other.. He seemed perplexed.. “Who is she?” he  queried..

“Sir.. Her name is Rita.. She belongs to a very poor family..I met her outside our office, while going for lunch. She approached me for help and seemed very genuine to me.. Pathetic part is, she is suffering from a dangerous disease.. She is hoping for some help sir.. I have donated something on my behalf. I wish even you could help her on our company’s behalf.. It isn’t an age to die. Please sir..” Sanyukta pleaded.. “What’s her problem?” Randhir asked.. “She is suffering from Blood Cancer” Sanyukta replied.. The moment she said that, Randhir’s past came flashing before his eyes.. “Randhir I am dying of Blood cancer.. Don’t try to save me..” Samyukta’s voice , the words he had trusted once, kept echoing in his ears.. He would hear that every night, every damn night.. He had been cursed with that voice. Every night, once the lights go off, he would hear her giggles and cries. Sanyukta had no idea what she was doing to him, where she was taking him to. Randhir’s eyes turned red.. He clenched his fists in anger.. “Get her inside..” he hissed.. “Sir?” Sanyukta couldn’t hear him.. “Get her insideeee..” he roared.. Sanyukta signaled the girl to get inside, having failed to notice Randhir’s changing behavior.

The girl entered the room and stood infront of Randhir.. “Meine sab bata diya hai.. Tum bhi explain kar do.. He will definitely help..” Sanyukta explained her..  “Dash.. You wait outside.. I ll handle this..” Randhir howled after scanning her from tip to toe.. Sanyukta left the room, smiling… Randhir’s eyes were fixed on the apple knife that was lying on his table, while she explained her sad long story.. “Sir I am dying.. Doctors say they need to make certain operations to save me.. But it requires huge amount of money..” she started.. “Randhir mujhe bachane ki koshish mat karna.. I don’t want you to waste money on me.. Please don’t..” Samyukta’s voice ruffled in his ears.. Rita continued “They say it requires almost 40 to 50 lakhs for the operation.. Aapse jo hoga aap kijiye.. Aapke marzi par madad zaroor kijiyega sir..” she pleaded.. Randhir caught hold of the knife, and proceeded towards her  “Of course, With pleasure..” he smirked..

TO BE CONTINUED.. Hereby, I complete my promise to post CF updates back to back.. Hope you guys enjoyed reading it.. Do leave your precious comments.. I will be more than happy to get your feedback on my works.. Thanks once again for all the love and support.. Do visit my FB page - https://m.facebook.com/aishwaryaravipage?ref=bookmark to interact with me.. Love you all #Ash