At 4 o'clock Leena, who was dressed in a light green floral saree, got into the car and drove off. A few minutes later, Rajiv, dressed in his usual formals went out in his car. Unknown to them, Ravi had gone to Parvathi's home and both of them took her car on the pretext of going to the movies and drove back to the junction next to Ravi's home and parked it on the roadside. When they spied Rajiv's car, they followed it and the two cars stopped in the parking lot next to the stadium. Leena parked her car and went to Rajiv's car and got into the passenger seat. Ravi and Parvathi exchanged glances and followed Rajiv's car and they found him heading into a very familiar palatial house, the house of Rajiv's friends Srikant and Anjali.

"Who's house is it?" asked Parvathi.

"My dad's friends, Srikant uncle is a businessman and Anjali aunty is a gynecologists. Why are they going there?" said Ravi.

"Is she pregnant?" asked Parvathi.

All the color drained out of Ravi's face, "What the hell! I don't think so, don't give me a heart attack. Besides Anjali aunty doesn't see patients at her home. Maybe they were going to meet Srikant uncle for office work".

"Then why take two cars and then switch?" asked Parvathi.

"I don't know. Wait a minute", Ravi picked up his phone and dialed a number, "Varun, are you home? OK you are not, can you come to the gate of your home and don't tell anyone".

Seeing the questioning glance of Parvathi, he replied, "Srikant uncle's son ,he was a classmate of Abhi. He is outside and will come shortly".

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The door to the home was opened by a beautiful lady with an oval face and delicate manners. She immediately hugged Leena and finally Rajiv had to say, "Anjali, let go. Can we do this inside the house?"

"Get lost you moron, you are the reason I haven't seen my best friend for so long", scowled Anjali as she broke the hug and pulled a laughing Leena into the house.

"I know", said Rajiv and immediately he got a punch on his shoulder from a tall man who came to the door. He had kind features and striking light brown eyes, he closed the door and turned to Leena.

"Its been too long, Leena" and they both shook hands.

"I missed you all, I don't know how I am going to make up for all that", Leena said, her eyes misting.

"We know what happened, its none of your fault. Come sit down, lets have some tea", said Anjali.

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"So I get a thousand rupees if I go home and report to you what is happening", asked a rather thin, tall boy who looked a bit like Anjali.

"Yes", replied Ravi. "But do not tell them we are here".

"I am not an idiot", replied Varun.

Ravi bit his lips.

"Half upfront" Varun said, extending his hand.

Ravi fished out his wallet and took out 500 rupees and handed it over to the boy who promptly went into the house. A few minutes later the boy called Ravi.

"Ravi etta (elder brother), I could not know much. As soon as I entered, I saw the uncle and the lady, she was seated along with my Amma. Amma told me that she was her best friend and then she shooed me off to my room. So I could not hear the rest. What about the rest of the money?" he asked.

Ravi was irritated, "What rest of the money? You did not even tell us much information!"

"The other half is for not telling them that you and your girlfriend are outside the gate", said Varun.

Darn, kids these days, thought Ravi. "Fine, then come downstairs and collect it".

"I am too lazy now, keep it in our mailbox. I will take it out later" said Varun.

Ravi was grumbling as he got out of his car to put the money.

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22 years ago, Bangalore

"Come to the shopping center with me, please....." pleaded Srikant.

"I am not third-wheeling you and Anjali again", said Rajiv, his handsome face in a scowl, he was sitting on his chair with his feet on the table, right next to his bed.

"You will not be third wheeling, you will be fourth-wheeling, Anjali is bringing her flat-mate.

"I don't want to be meeting strange girls, already they don't give me a break at office. Leave me alone on a Sunday", retorted Rajiv.

"Come on, she is a nice girl. Anjali can't leave her in the room all alone, so she is bringing her" said Srikant.

"Then what, leave me with a girl I don't know so that you can go to a hotel?" asked Rajiv, the memory fresh in his mind of his horny flat-mate along with his girlfriend leaving him in the middle of a movie.

"Look, if you ever get a chance to get laid, I will never come in the way. Help a bro out, please", begged Srikant as he pulled Rajiv out of his chair and pushed him into the bathroom to get dressed.

In half an hour they both reached the shopping center, there was a fast food restaurant and Srikant walked to there followed by Rajiv. At a table sat a beaming Anjali with a girl opposite to her dressed in a cute white top and light blue jeans and a curtain of long straight hair. Rajiv could not see her face but he gave a dejected smile and wave to Anjali.

The girl opposite to Anjali turned to face them and she wasn't the kind of person Rajiv was expecting, she was dark, had huge innocent eyes and beautiful full lips.

Srikant sat next to Anjali and said to the girl, "Leena, this is my friend Rajiv. He is an accountant in a software company here and he is trying to get his CA degree".

Rajiv shook hands with her while Srikant introduced her to him, "This is Angel Leena Mathews, she is a software engineer in a company here and prefers to be called Leena".

"Why not Angel?" asked Rajiv.

"When I was young all the kids told me that angels are supposed to be white, and I am not. So they used to tease me", she replied.

"Kids can be mean..... and blind...." muttered Rajiv.

Leena laughed at the compliment and suddenly Rajiv did not feel like taking his eyes off her.

"So you are an accountant? Can I have your card, in case I need any financial advice?" she asked him.

Rajiv fished in his wallet and gave her his card.

The evening was as embarrassing as Rajiv had expected it to be. After eating they all went for a movie and Leena and Rajiv were literally squirming in their seats embarrassed at the PDA shown by the couple. Thankfully Anjali did not feel like ditching Leena to go to a hotel with Srikant, so Rajiv was relieved that he did not get the duty of dropping Leena back to her flat.

*******************************************************************************************

A few days later, Rajiv got a call from an unknown number.

"Hello, who is this?" he asked.

"Hi, this is Leena, Anjali's flat-mate" replied the girl on the other side.

"Oh yeah, how can I help you?" he asked.

"I needed help, I know you are a busy person, so you can charge me. I needed help in filing my tax returns", she said timidly.

Rajiv sighed, he always got these requests from his friends and he always denied it, but he remembered Anjali and Srikant and said, "OK, message me your email id, I will send you the list of documents and forms you need to bring, lets meet at the shopping center cafe this Sunday and go through it".

"Oh thank you very much!!!" squealed Leena, surprising Rajiv with her excitement.

********************************************************************************************

The next Sunday Rajiv was very irritated to go and do taxes of a girl he barely knew. But once he got to the cafe, somehow the girl in the pink top and a smile that looked devilishly beautiful changed his mood.

"No, sit next to me" she said as he began to sit opposite to her. "You tell me what and why to fill each columns".

This was a first for Rajiv, usually his lazy ass friends simply dumped all the documents on him and left without any explanation; the reason for his aversion to doing taxes for friends and acquaintances.

"I want to learn how to do it so that I won't be bothering you later on", she told him.

Rajiv smiled and took her salary statement and said, "I don't think you need to pay any taxes, you are below the slab".

"Oh no, I just turned 21 and inherited some of my mother's properties, so I get income from that as well. That's why I can't do taxes through my office" she said.

"Oh OK", said Rajiv and he went through the documents. Each time Leena would ask him questions and he explained it as well as possible. It took a long time punctuated by coffee and snacks, but by evening it was done.

"So how do I pay you? You spent the entire day doing my taxes", she asked him.

"You don't need to pay me anything, I did it for Anjali's friend", he replied.

"Still I will feel bad that I wasted your entire Sunday. How about I buy you dinner?" she asked.

"Alright", nodded Rajiv. "I will be free next Sunday".

"Alright then", she shook his hand brightly, as a promise.

Rajiv suddenly felt that it was not a wasted day and somehow he felt like looking forward to next Sunday.

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