An official matter episode 5

Every day was hectic for Ruhi and her entire team. Lunch time was the only time when the entire team got some minutes of leisure before heading to work. There were back to back calls on updates regarding the software development. In between these, there were quite a few times when Shobhit wanted some time to be with Ruhi to talk to her. Kirti had observed this. Ruhi too looked forward to talking to Shobhit, specifically, because she knew Shobhit read Vikram Kumar.

Today, at the desk, Kirti looked at Ruhi and said, ‘ Ruhi, I wanted to ask you a personal question. Can I?’ Ruhi replied nonchalantly, while busy working on something, ‘Sure! Go ahead.’ Kirti continued ‘ Are you in a relationship? I mean do you have someone special in your life?’ Ruhi stopped her work, looked at Kirti and said, ‘ Hmm. You know what, even if I tell you, I am not sure you will believe me.’ Kirti asked with a perplexed note, ‘ Why? Why wouldn’t I believe you?’. Ruhi replied with a smile, ‘ Because I feel, no one will believe me when I say I never had any real relationship.’ Kirti said, ‘ What do you mean by a real relationship? I mean all relationships are real.’ Ruhi laughed and said, ‘ Yes, all relationships are real barring mine. I was always in a virtual relationship.’ Kirti stared at Ruhi and said, ‘ I did not get it. Virtual? Are you talking about Vikram Kumar/Vishaaka Khatri? I mean, you seriously cannot like an author, rather love an author, an author whom you have never met.’ Ruhi laughed and said, ‘ That’s one funny attribute in me. My problem is I never liked any guy I met in my entire life time. Maybe I am more into the romantic era of the 18th century, where, you find love in escape from reality and you want to live in a world of imagination. As a child I read a lot of Wordsworth, Keats, and so on. But, when I grew up, Vikram Kumar stole my heart. Unfortunately Vikram Kumar turned out to be a lady. Or else I would still be in love with the hope that maybe I will get to grow old with him. I regret following his page. Had I not known that Vikram Kumar was a lady, maybe I would have still lived in my world of imagination. Best part about this world is, I am happy and I don’t have to leave my dad and go to a new place.’ Kirti nodded and with a serious note she said, ‘ Hmm. But, what if someone liked you, maybe loved you and if that guy is nice, what are the chances of you getting attracted to that guy?’ Ruhi giggled and said, ‘ These are temporary, fleeting feelings Kirti. I am in my 30s now. I have seen my friends in relationships. Before love blooms everything is rosy, they give you attention, they give you time, however the moment you say yes to that relationship and become girlfriend or for that matter wife, the love fades off. No attention, no time. I don’t like that. I want to feel important. Hence I love this world of imagination. I don’t want to get out of it. Unless the boy is Vikram Kumar, I am not saying yes to any relationship. And Vikram Kumar is Vishaaka Khatri, so you know my answer.’ Saying that Ruhi smiled again and got back to work.

Just then Shobhit came and said, ‘ Kirti, can we have the testing done by 5 pm today? I have to leave a little early.’ Kirti looked at Shobhit, smiled and said, ‘ I can do it now if you wish. I mean I wouldn’t want you to be late for your date.’ Saying that Kirti winked. Shobhit patted Kirti’s head and said, ‘I wish I had one. By the way, I am going early because I have to pick up my car from the garage. If I don’t leave early, I wouldn’t get any cabs today because there is some road closure near my home. Ruhi turned around while seated on the revolving chair and leaning her back on the backrest, she looked at Shobhit and said, ‘ I will drop you to the garage. I am leaving early today. Don’t bother booking a cab.’ Shobhit looked at Ruhi with twinkle in his eyes and said, ‘ Hope it’s not trouble for you?’. Ruhi said, ‘ We need to discuss Vikram Kumar. What can be a better occasion than this? I will leave at 6. Join me.’ Shobhit smiled and said, ‘ Sure!’

Just then Mohit came out of his cabin. He saw Shobhit, Ruhi and Kirti at Ruhi and Kirti’s cubicle. He went ahead to tell them something. Today he was wearing a sky blue full sleeve shirt, a pair of cool chino trousers and business casual brown shoes. When he approached the team, the girls stared at him. He looked handsome. He was never dressed this coolly before. He looked at Shobhit and said, ‘ I have to go for a meeting now. You can look at the updates from Jonathan from home itself. You are leaving early isn’t it?’ Shobhit smiled and said, ‘ Yes. I will take care of that.’ Mohit then told Kirti, ‘ Once the testing is done, send me the mail with the installation steps.’ Kirti nodded. Then he looked at Ruhi and said, ‘ You have the entire gamut of work load of moving the data from the current environment to the new one. It will take time. I will appreciate if you leave for home early and take up that work from home. I hope you wouldn’t stay back to finish your work from office.’ Kirti almost giggled at Mohit’s blunt words. Ruhi wanted to say, ‘ I can take care of myself, it’s none of your business’, but , instead, she said, ‘ Yes Mohit.’

After Mohit left, Shobhit too left. Kirti looked at Ruhi and said, ‘ Mohit never comes dressed this way. There must be something important. He looks so handsome.’ Ruhi replied with a suspicious note, ‘ You are right. The khadoos looked handsome today.’ Kirti then nudged Ruhi and said, ‘ Let’s peep from the window and see if we can see if there is someone to meet him.’ Both the girls rushed to the window. Mohit was there near his car talking to someone. That someone was one beautiful lady. She was wearing a plain, knee length straight cut pink skirt with a satin black top and black stilettos. Her long curls of straight hair glistened in the sun. Kirti then said, ‘ That’s Ragini’. Ruhi looked at Kirti and said, ‘Who is Ragini?’. Kirti chuckled and said, ‘ Mohit’s girl friend. She has come here several times. Ruhi looked surprised and said, ‘That Khadoos has a girl friend?’ Kirti laughed and said, ‘ Yes. He has.’

Come evening, in the car, Ruhi told Shobhit, ‘So, what were you telling about Vikram Kumar the other day? We never got a chance to speak about it.’ Shobhit looked at Ruhi and said, ‘ Well I like Romit. I like Rhea too. However, the love story of Romit and Rhea shouldn’t have ended the way it ended in the book.’ Ruhi was stunned. This was what she too had felt about the story. Ruhi then said, ‘ Yes, right. Even I felt the same. Our views are so similar. But why did you say you never read books when I asked this question to everyone the other day.’ Shobhit said, ‘ Umm, I never talked about any hobby of mine to anyone before. If all of a sudden I start talking about it, there are chances people might think I am talking about it now, because you asked me.’ Saying that Shobhit kept on looking at Ruhi. Ruhi did not find that answer credible. Shobhit then said, ‘A tale of love was really nice. Paarth and Dhwani came together.’ Ruhi just said, ‘Hmm.’ Through out the drive, Shobhit kept on saying things which Ruhi had always felt for Vikram Kumar’s stories. How did he know so much? Ruhi was perplexed. After dropping Shobhit at the garage, Ruhi went home. Before getting back to her office work, she checked Vikram Kumar’s page again. The new book was on its way. It will be released in some time. She posted a comment ‘ Can’t wait’. After that, she got back to work. However, somehow she could not focus on her work. Some questions were bothering her. One was Shobhit’s views about the stories of Vikram Kumar and the other was…., yes, the other question was super silly. She shouldn’t be thinking about it, yet she was thinking. What was she thinking? She couldn’t accept it. She tried to divert her mind. She took her phone and looked at Vikram Kumar’s page. There was a like from Vikram Kumar/ Vishaaka Khatri on her comment. This had never happened before. Back to back likes on her comments. But, this was not the question that was bothering her. What was bothering her was Ragini. Yes, Ragini………. Why? She did not know.

To be continued………