Swara woke up with a jerk. She was sweating badly as her chest raised and fall because of heavy breathing.

She looked here and there, then jumped from her bed and run toward a room, opened the door slowly, looked toward her two kids and sighed.

"bad dream..." Swara whispered to herself.

She closed the door slowly and looked at the wall clock. It stuck at five in the morning. She shook her head and tied her long black hair in a bun that was coming down to her waist.

Swara did ablution and prayed Fajr prayer, then started cleaning the house, set the breakfast table and looked at the wall clock. It struck half-past six. She went to the kid's room. A smile appeared on her lips by just looking at them. She sat beside a 7-year-old boy.

"sunny wake-up," Swara said and caressed his forehead.

"let me sleep..." sunny murmured in sleep.

"Wake up, otherwise you will get late for school," Swara said and made him sit gently. Sunny made faces and went toward the washroom.

Swara moved toward another bed of a small girl of about 3 years who was sleeping peacefully, covering herself in a pink blanket. Swara placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Pari wake up..."

Pari opened her eyes with a smile and jumped into her lap.

"good morning aunty..." Pari said in her sweet melodious voice.

"Morning, now get down, we have to hurry"

She picked her up in arms and took her to her room. Swara bathed her, made her wear clothes, tied her hair in a ponytail and made her run outside.

"Sunny... come fast, how much time you will take?" Swara shouted while going back to the kitchen.

Sunny came there running. She watched him and giggled. He was standing with messy hair and his shirt was in his hand.

"Help!..." He gave her puppy dog eyes. Swara made him wear the shirt and combed his hair.

"You are a big boy now... Still can't wear a shirt."

"Aunty... I am trying to learn how to wear this shirt... trust me, I will learn it soon." Sunny said in an assuring tone. She laughed a little and pulled his cheek.

"Now finish your breakfast,"

She gave him bread after putting jam on it and a full glass of milk, and then made Pari eat breakfast with her hands.

"come fast....bus came"

She made them wear bags and put water bottles around their necks.

"Sunny, finish your lunch today," Swara said, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Aunty! don't kiss me. It's a girly thing," Sunny said in an irritated voice and rubbed the place where she kissed.

Swara shook her head, then kissed Pari. She kissed her back, and both ran outside. Swara looked at the clock and hit her palm on her forehead.

"Oh, God!..7:10"

She ran toward her room, hurriedly, opened her bun, made simple bread and put dupatta around her neck... Picked some files, keys, mobile, purse and rushed outside, locked the house and walked toward the main road.

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

Swara stepped out of a taxi in front of her office and looked at the sky-tall building. She saw a shining title at the top of it 'MAHESWARI INDUSTRY'. She sighed and went inside.

"Good morning Miss rose, "Swara greeted a lady in her 60s

"Morning Swara."

"Sir came?"

"Not yet,"

"Thank God," Swara muttered and walked toward the elevator.

After reaching the top floor, she stepped out and directly went to her boss' cabin, opened the door, put files on the giant glass table, arranged the things in order, opened the curtains and went toward her cabin which was right beside it.

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

A black BMW stopped in front of the office. A man stepped out of the car. He was watching his phone and walked through a long corridor without looking at anyone. Everyone stood up from their seats as he passed. He went to his cabin, sat on his chair, then moved his eyes off from his phone and looked at the table as scanning everything, then looked at curtains and a satisfied look appeared on his face. He picked up a file from the table and started going through it.

After Some Time

Swara knocked at the door. "Come in," Sanskar said in a stern voice.

"Allah! he seems angry, please help me," she entered inside praying continuously.

"Good morning sir, your medicines," Swara said in a steady voice.

Sanskar nodded without looking at her, took the medicines. She was about to turn, but Sanskar stopped her.

"Miss Swara!" Sanskar said in his usual stern voice. her B.P dropped with 200 speed.

"Yes, sir!.."

"Find a rented house for me to shift today,"

"Any problem, sir?" Swara said in a concerned voice.

Sanskar finally looked up at her face with heated eyes. He crossed his arms around his chest.

"Do I need to give you an explanation, miss Swara?" Sanskar said in an a heated tone. Swara felt her throat drying out because of his stony gaze.

"Sorry, sir,"

"It's the time when I lose my job...." Swara cried in mind. Sanskar narrowed his eyes at her.

"Do I need to give you an invitation to leave my cabin?" he said in a sharp tone.

"What?"

"Get back to work," Sanskar said in a little loud voice.

Swara nodded vigorously and escaped from there quickly and the first thing she did after entering her cabin was to drink a full glass of water to make her throat wet.

"This fear of getting fired will take my life one day," Swara hit herself on the head, sat on the chair, and started doing her work.

AT NIGHT

She contacted almost every company to arrange a house, but they were not ready to give a luxury house in this short period.

"Another rejection," Swara muttered and put the receiver on her forehead. Sanskar entered her cabin. Swara hurried to get up.

"Have you arranged the house?" Sanskar asked, without moving sight from the screen.

"Sir no...no one is ready to give house?" Swara said, stammering nervously.

Sanskar looked at her with a jerk. Swara wondered why his neck didn't break.

"Is arranging a house tough job, Miss Bose?"

"sir it's a festival season, therefore hotels and houses are...." Swara said, feeling bad for herself at his taunt.

"I don't want to listen to your lame excuses, just arrange a house in 15 minutes, otherwise type a resignation letter. I don't want a useless person in my office," Sanskar said after stopping her from speaking with his raised hand and left from there.

***********

"Last choice!" Swara picked the receiver with a shivering hand and dialled the number.

"Allah, please save my job," Swara pleaded.

"Hello!"

"This is Bahria real estate... How can I help you?" A masculine voice touched her ear.

"Hello! I want to book a five-star house,"

"Sure, miss... Can you please tell me the date when you want the house ready and for how long?"

"Today and for a month,"

"Umm...today? ma'am, I am sorry but houses are full because of seasonal festivals in the city. We are very sorry for the inconvenience, but all five-star houses are booked months before. Sorry!" the manager said in a professional voice and cut the call.

Swara looked at the receiver wistfully, then put it back and started typing the resignation letter with teary eyes and walked toward Sanskar's cabin.

She looked at her cabin, where she worked for almost eight months. She took a deep breath... Rubbed her tears and walked inside, after knocking.

Sanskar was sitting in his chair. He glanced at her, then at the letter in her hands. His face turned dark due to anger.

"Sir! this letter."

"Keep it on the table...."

To Be continued.....