"Hello, I am Ms. Chetra Parikh I will be assisting you for this year's annual Art exhibition." The chubby framed girl with cat framed glasses that rested on her nose which she adjusted time and again, introduced herself. Dressed in a pair of perfect formals, her hair tied in that sleek pony tail that made me wonder how did she got so much time to do that.

And not being long back in her place, I wondered did it still felt horrific to spell out a wrong name, or may be the different ways we could have introduced ourselves yet ended up doing something else.

I smiled at the poor girl who though looked confident, but I could tell the storm that was brewing in her mind. It was then I realized, what might have my boss thought about me. May be worse than what I did right now.

"Chetra, nice to meet you, please take a seat. I will brief you about the project, right now and then take you to your cubicle where you could work."

I said, and as soon as I did, I wonder was I wrong at starting off with the work topic right after meeting for the first time. I could have said so many things. I could have asked so many things.

And the way Chetra asked, "The project?" did I realized my first day as a boss sucked. It sucked as hell.

It was hours later when I had received yet another set of lists to have a go at, when the door of my cabin was knocked as chitra peeped in her body hid behind the door and just the head leaning in.

"Chetra good you are here, come sit." With a small smile on her face she walked inside and sat in front of me.

"So all good?", I asked and bent a bit to open the drawer at the right side of my table, where I mostly kept the things that I would require from time to time.

Pulling out a 20 Rs. Five star I held it out to chetra, as her eyes went wide in shock and slowly her head began to shake in negative.

"I am sorry, in the morning I couldn't welcome you well, I was a bit preoccupied and all...anyways, keep this as a welcome gift, I don't really have anything to give you as off now."

I observed as chetra smiled softly and took the chocolate from me and kept it in front of her on the table.

For a few seconds there was this awkward silence, and then taking it as my clue, I cleared my throat and asked, "So have you always wanted to be here, work at the galleries?"

"I was more of a person who thought my paintings would get up there on the walls, working here is something like making connections."

"So you paint, what do you specialize in?" the curator in me surfaced as the new boss began to fade away. How comical it was, we are all the same, there is always something that we are deep inside all the while you are playing some other role, while you are a boss, you are as well the new intern, while you are a kid, you are you – a teenager trying to be a self dependent person, and then may be an adult who wishes to be a kid and rest away his worries into his elders arms.

For hours we kept on talking about things that chetra had wanted to do, yet fail due to the lack of direction and knowledge. How things are weird, they always do exist in this world; it's just that people need to have knowledge about it.

About an hour or so before we were to sign off for the day, with Chetra and I still engrossed in the lists of paintings that we have received that day, I got a call from the reception.

"Mitali, your paintings have been stocked in the store room, please go and have a look at them so that we could make a note of it." The receptionist asked.

"Yeah, sure I will get back to it right away, thank you."

Setting the receiver back to its place, I smiled at chetra and asked her. "chetra, look these are the list of the paintings that we will be exhibiting, but I want to give the people from who we are asking the paintings and also the people who are coming for the show some mementoes, this will keep on going for three days, so it's your responsibility to come up with something, it could be anything that stands into our budget."

Discussing a few more things out there I stood up and walked towards the store room to have a look at the paintings that had arrived. The sight in front of me was magnificent.

It wasn't always we get to portray the young art, in midst of the wonders of the past. The amount of research the hard work and finally setting that painting up on the walls and curating them for the show is one of a kind feeling.

As I opened yet another painting, this made me go baffled, the perfect strokes of brushes that went from one end to the other, as one man tried to reach the other, their hands stretched out in a prologue longing and expressions, as if sculpted to the immense of perfection. This was the stage where the Italian gods were depicted, when the wars were narrated and when the true struggle for identity had began.

It was quite difficult to get hold of paintings that had been of such a far duration, a few so damaged that it would be difficult to be restored, and some even the experts of the experts failed to restore due the immense amount of detailing.

But that wasn't what I believed, no painting has that level of detailing that can't be reached, but it surely has a story that not all knows about. And if the story is itself unknown how is one to restore that story, how is one able to narrate it once again to the masses.

Noting down the rest of the paintings, I had almost reached the last of the stack of about 10 paintings. Unwrapping the set, I had just turned it around as a gasp left out lips.

"Mitali." Someone called out to me, as my eyes were still captured by the beautiful painting, the sign of the Painter, as familiar as it was, and it made my heart lurch. This was beautiful and painful. A small tear slipped from my eyes which I quickly dabbed away and keeping the painting back in its place, I turned around and answered to the person.

"yes,"

"Mitali, sorry to disturb you but the gallery is about to be closed I will have to close this store room as well." As the peon pointed out to his watch did I realized I had spent most of the evening here, sorting and making notes of the paintings.

"Sorry kaka, I am done here, thank you for reminding me." I said while walking towards him.

"it's not your fault dear, from all these years working here I have understood a few things, there are not many people here who are as crazy for art as you are, but then there is you, Anant sir , your boss Mr. Shukla, and few more, we can see it in their eyes how important art is for them. When you all are here your eyes shine" he said, while mimicking the way a star would twinkle in the sky.

Thanking him once again I walked out of the room and walked towards my cabin. His words still lingering in my thoughts, did we really look that different from the people who worked here?

The possibility of a yes made me feel delightful, I was happy someone knew what these painting and working here meant to me. Till now it was my family, Jai, Shakti Rey and Daksh who knew about it, but now even the people around the tiny little world of mine understood it.

They understood why I loved art.

As I got settled on my chair, my eyes drifted off to the list, quickly skimping through the names, I finally reached to the desire one, the name of the artist being Arundhati Chauhan. In the column right beside was written the name of the first of her paintings that were to be presented – The Tiny feets.

******

"So you still haven't got in contact with any of the three?" Tejal enquired as she sat right opposite to me and Jai, who seemed to be busy in some other world all together.

"I don't really know that is what Naveen and Jai are trying to sell out to me, but I have my best shots on the fact that there is something amiss." I said, and though my reply was to show my irritation, my mind was somehow still orbiting on that particular painting with the title 'THE TINY FEETS.'

"Miatli, do you think it would have been better if you were still at the gallery?" Tejal enquired as she cut out yet another piece of her roti and dipped it into her favourite sabzi whose name I couldn't really recall, but had paneer in it.

"Don't try and be sarcastic, yes I am not really into the mood of talking about the three of them, I am quite pissed off with that topic, right now something else is going on in my mind."

As soon as the words were out, I had the complete attention of Jai as he turned towards me and asked,

"what is it?'

I contemplated for a few minutes, my gaze running all over the interiors of Delhi Darbar, the fine restaurant, its lights that were dimmed in to give a quite romantic and comfortable atmosphere, the number of people who were seated there, most of them suited just the way Jai was, others being the foreigners and many more localities who could actually afford the high prices of the extravagant 4 star hotel.

"I know the ambience is good, now tell us what it is?" Tejal commented her attention seemed to have caught by my words as she had now completely neglected her food, her eyes, ears and attention all on me. And when I looked to my right, it seemed it wasn't just her, but Jai as well.

"I came across yet another paintings of Arundhati Chauhan, the name is the Tiny feets, her paintings are wonderful, I have came across many paintings of hers that have a beautiful aura around them, but this particular painting, it got tears in my eyes."

Each of my words took me back to the numerous paintings of hers. There is always a style that each of the painters have, and all fo them are unique. Arudhati's paintings are special for the expressions that they carry. It's as if the lady wanted to convey all of her feelings through them.

And that's what disturbed me. What was it that she was trying to express this time?

"The latest painting of hers which I am going to exhibit, its of two little children, one boy and the other a girl, by the sea. The boy has held the hands of the girl in a tight grip as he pulls her towards the water, the two of them are smiling beautifully, they look so beautiful, but something seems amiss, the girl is looking right at the painter, while the boy has his whole attention to the water, as if chasing after it."

"Mitali, chill, I told you many times, don't try and find the unknown meaning into the paintings. Sometimes these paintings are what just they are. There is nothing else to them. And it was you who said that the name was two little feets, what could be more to it, other than their innocent childhood or something similar."

But even before I could explain it to her the beautiful setting sun, the small cottage like structure that was shown almost fading away, and the absence of the said tiny feets after which the painting was made, Jai's Phone rang making us all lean back and straighten up as he answered the call.

His expressions seemed a bit amiss as worry itched his features. It took everything in me to not go ahead and enquire him about the situation.

A few more seconds into the conversation I heard him calling out my brother's name, my eyes went off to Tejal who assured me that everything would be alright as she tightly blinked her eyes.

After about agonizing long minutes, Jai finally terminated the call, his expressions serious as that of while announcing someone's death sentence made my fingers run cold. Shakti, Rey, Daksh and finally Veer's faces came into my mind, worried for each one of them.

It was in that few seconds that I realized how many and thousands of thought that ran into my brain, their arrival as quickly and short lived as their departures were.

"what is it Jai?' I finally mustered my courage to ask him.

"It was Naveen, he had met one of Daksh's distant relatives in a meeting he was attending today, and they said he wasn't scheduled to meet them, he is supposed to be here in India, but we are not able to locate him."

A/N

How are you all doing?? I hope great, the year is about to end like can you believe it, there are only 2 weeks i guess not even that much are left now, and this relly scares me. 

i will be done with college this year, and i have no plans for future as off yet. three years ago, i had thought i still had 3 years and now only 3 months or so have left. 

well my mom has to say something on this. 

"I am glad you realized it at least 3 months before and not later on." 

Any which ways, what do you all have to say about this story?? please show some love to them. and 

congratulations to us all,, we made it to 2k reads and 300 votes. this really makes me happy, but i will be even more happier that the story reaches where my other books are before it ends. 

we still have a long way to go, so buckle up, share the story if you have liked it, and do let me know what you all have to say about todays chapter. 

i will really be happy if we reach 50 reads by the next update...for the last chapter as of now had 39 views. do that for me, and you might get an amaizing spoilor or may be a sneak peak?? 

happy reading

lots of love

Yadni Bagwe 

P.S -KuljeetToor_   i surely have something planned out for your date with Daksh.