Kajal stretched her body awaking it from the deep slumber. Rolling on to her tummy, she rested her head on her palms over the pillow , a sweet smile on her lips. She recalled the moments she had spend with Tarun. Life felt beautiful, she was happy that he was taking baby steps towards strengthening their bond. She wanted to him to give her the words she had been looking for soon , waiting to start her life with him was becoming painful for her now. She was not happy about putting Tarun through this test, but she had to. Though he had shown all signs of having a soft corner for her, still she wanted to hear it in words.

She took a deep breath, she had made a mistake before when he approached her for wedding. She had mistaken his politeness to be his liking towards her. She was now aware that Tarun was a calm, polite and well behaved man. It was in his nature to be good with all, this time she wanted to be sure before taking a further plunge.

''Aren't you going to get up today.'' Sheela asked standing at the room door

''I feel lazy mom, will sleep for some more time.'' Kajal replied pulling the duvet over her.

''Sleepy or dreamy?'' Her mother teased

Kajal kept her expressions neutral, ''Mom, let's not derive conclusions as of now. I am not ready for a heart break.'' Sheela lifted her palms in defeat, ''Are you going to work from home.''

''Yes, and if anyone calls over the line number tell them I am not home.'' Sheela nodded and closed the door behind her. Kajal was now regretting sharing her wire-line number with Robin. His calls had increased since last few days and it irritated her. She had never crossed the boundary between them and had maintained a professional friendship, which Robin seemed to have forgotten.

She was avoiding being rude to him till her project ends but with every passing day it was becoming difficult. He would call her for stupid reasons and ask silly questions. Though, all were directed to her work, she felt irritated answering them again and again.

Throwing the duvet off, she quickly moved to freshen up. She ruffled her wet hair to untangle the knocks slowly. Her eyes met that with that of her reflection , she smiled. The small affectionate peck on her forehead came back to her, she still could feel the warmth on the forehead. Kajal touched the soft spot gently, her smile turning into a blush. Lunging at her phone she quickly started typing a message to Tarun, her fingers froze as her mind accused  her of being  desperate. Curling her lower lip she kept the phone aside, she didn't wanted to look desperate. After a minute her phone pinged, it was a watapps message from Tarun. She blinked, was their mind connected or something. She frowned at the contents, it was just 2 question marks. She quickly replied, 'What does that mean?'

'Why didn't you send the message you typed for approx 15 secs?' Her jaw dropped reading his response . Kajal stared at the message for good time, was he expecting her to message him?

'Were you staring at your phone whole night expecting me to message you?' She asked

'yes I was. ' His reply shot the blood to her head, her heart rate increased. She had just joked and he had readily accepted it. She didn't know what to reply now, just then another one popped up, 'Can I get that message now?'

'If you were waiting for my message, why didn't you ping first?' She asked. There was no response for few seconds. The ticks had turned blue , she was wondering if she had asked something offending. Just when she had run out of all conclusions, her phone pinged

'.......I was scared you might feel me getting nosy..' She laughed rolling over the bed, 'you make me appear like some witch.'

'You are too beautiful to be a witch, it's just that....I don't know.' His reply was honest, she smiled staring at it. He was confused and he  accepted it. She liked it, 'What plans for today, you must be ready to leave for work?'

'No, I am working from home?'  That shocked her

'Tarun are you fine?'

'yes, why do you ask?'

'Because you never work from home, I remember you told me once you cannot concentrate anywhere other than office.'

There was a silence again, she kept her eyes on the phone waiting for him to type but he didn't for long. Keeping it aside, she paced her room and then walked out annoyed. Her parents kept their calm noticing the frown on her face. After finishing her breakfast, she quickly went back to her room to check her phone, there was no reply yet, 'Idiot, trying to show his importance.' She decided to ignore and went to her desk to start with her remaining work, her focus only on her phone. When he didn't respond , she got worried. Instead of calling him, she picked her keys and drove off to their apartment.

The absence of security at the reception of Tarun's apartment building made her heart race, she didn't wait for the elevator and ran up the stairs. She was shocked to find a small crowd outside her apartment, she made a small prayer from Tarun's well being. Tearing the people she walked in to find apartment in a mess, ''Tarun!!'' She called out , scared someone might have hurt him. After a minute he walked out, covered in flour and holding a cat in his hands, ''What's all this?''

''Give me a minute.'' With that he marched towards the door, ''Next time keep a check on your cat, it just messed my house.''

''Who asked you to leave the door open? Its your fault don't blame the cat'' The owner of the cat, a middle age woman replied, caressing the pet.

''This is my house, I keep it open or close is none of your business. Next time I see this animal around unattended , I will make sure its out of the complex.'' The manger of the complex intervened warning the woman to check her pet. Tarun locked the door all tired, ''What bought you here?''

''You didn't respond to my message for long, I got worried.'' She replied , a guilty expression on her face

''Sorry, I had left the door unlocked and didn't know when that disastrous animal sneaked in. The falling of utensils made me realise its presence, since then I have running behind it and rest you know.'' She nodded, little embarrassed. ''Thank You!'' Came tarun's soft voice

''Why?''

''For worrying about me.'' He replied, he was glad for being covered in flour or she would have noticed the ruddy colour that ran up his cheeks. ''I will help you clean.'' She offered. He refused, yet she went ahead. Next one hour, she reprimanded him for turning the house into a mess, he tried blaming it on the cat but couldn't. His mind was giving the ideas to mess the apartment frequently giving her the reason to visit him.

Once done, they sat to have a cup of coffee, ''Now reply to my last message, why are you working from home?''

''Truth or a Story?'' he asked, his lips pressed in a thin line.

''Truth Tarun!'' She sounded like a teacher

''I forgot to do the laundry and had nothing left to wear.'' He replied, his eyes lowered.

She gaped at him for a second, ''I will do it.'' Before she could move, he pulled her back with a jerk, ''Its not your job.''

''because we are not together anymore?'' She asked

''We are together, STILL but my clothes are my job. I didn't marry you to wash my dirty clothes.''

''If we would be staying together, I would have done it anyways like I did in that one month.'' She justified

''You shouldn't have. I never stopped you because I didn't wanted you offended but now I want to come clean. Its not right, we are equals.'' He concluded with simple words, she stared at him emotionally. There were many layers of Tarun she hadn't seen, he had a flaw of appreciating physical beauty but he had many other qualities which made him a wonderful soul. Kajal leaned, cupped his cheek and placed a peck, a friendly one ''You are a very good man.''

''Not good enough for you!'' He replied recalling her words from the past

''Tarun, sometimes the best for the world, turns the worst of just one. I don't want any of us to suffer, if I deserve to be happy, so do you. I just want to be sure that we are best for one another and can keep each other happy.''

''I was happy with you...'' he replied his eyes locked with her. Her heart leaped, she quickly moved her eyes away, ''I should leave. I have my second set of assignment to complete.'' He nodded, not having a reason to stop her

''Kajal!'' he called out as she unlocked the door, she turned at looked at him waiting for him to speak, ''I am going to UK for a month, a small project.'' He informed, she didn't know what to feel at that, she wouldn't be able to see him for a month. ''Take care and do well.'' She wished him, turning away, ''Can we go for a dinner before that?'' he finally asked what he had been waiting for since they started chatting.

''Just send me the date and time. I will be ready.'' She walked off without turning back. Tarun did a little dance of victory. His heart was rejoicing understanding the fact that she cared, with heart full of energy he marched to complete his laundry but gave up soon looking at the pile of clothes. Keeping two pairs aside he decided to give the rest to professional services. His mind was just occupied with the dinner date he was going to have with Kajal.

***

''What more details you have on Kajal ?'' Robin asked the private detective he had hired to get the details on Kajal's relationship status.

''I did befriended her husband's friends and got to know it was an arranged match. Their mother's are child hood friends. Also, one of Tarun's friend was head on heels love with him. She even proposed, but Tarun went ahead with his mother's choice.''

''Why are they living apart? Is there something wrong with that Tarun ?'' Robin was curious to know about one fault which help him get rid of the thorn named Tarun.

''No, the guy is really genuine but something happened in Goa. I am not sure what, but that was the reason of Kajal walking out.'' The detective replied

''Any guesses what? '' Robin asked

Not sure, but one of his friends Zenab said that Tarun always had an inclination towards physical beauty. When they met Kajal, it came as a shock to them.'' Robin's veins started burning with rage, Kajal was beautiful, in and out and those who thought her to be not beautiful were blind. He immediately concluded that Tarun didn't deserve Kajal.

''What is the name of the girl who was in love with Tarun?'' Robin asked

''Sejal!''

''Keep meeting them as friends, try to strengthen your bond and try to instigate Sejal against Kajal. Make her believe she is right about everything she thinks about Kajal.'' He ordered the man

''Fine, what about my payment. '' Robin threw an envelope at him. He leaned on to his chair as the man walked out. He though what the man told her, there were 3 people whose emotions if handled in a correct manner would help him in getting Tarun. What he had concluded about Tarun was that he was soft , well behaved man. If Kajal asked him to step aside, he would readily do it for her.  He knew he couldn't control Tarun or Kajal, so he decided to do through Sejal. He had plans of instigating Sejal to a level that she wouldn't mind hurting Kajal, its then he would show how beautiful a love relationship is as compared to loveless one. 

His plan was perfect, the only miscalculation was about Kajal-Tarun's relationship being a loveless one. He didn't knew what they shared was silent yet fierce, it just needed a push to turn the spark into a fire.

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