Thank you so much for another "Century" It certainly means more to me than VK's 140 and Rohit's unbeatable 150* #IndVsWI

Here goes another chapter.

P.S. This story will take chotu chotu leaps in between, kindly follow the timeline. In this Chapter we have taken a 10 days leap, it will be clear as you read. Just make sure to notice that.

Finally, Have a Happy Read!

They say, "One moment is all it takes to change your life forever."

I chose to be a silent non-believer of such clićhe philosophical quotes, until I'd the most unexpected collision with that "one moment" in my life.

One freaking split of a second, one freaking glimpse of a gorgeous face behind the hood of a grey jacket on one fine morning, and that was it.

10 days down the line and the changes in my life are almost tangible.

I won't be surprised if my senses won't hesitate in crediting all these changes to the two pairs of charismatic orbs and magically smiling faces, which are unsurprisingly splitting images of each other. A chance finding, A fortunate stroke of Serendipity in the black and white canvas of my life.

My mornings will start with the prospect of filling my avid vision with the soothing picture of her smiling face, while my nights will end by replaying the blissful glimpses I'd steal of her, throughout the day. Many times I'd convince myself to drive early to the office, would wait inside my parked car, only to catch a sight of her descending from the employee's van.

Since the last 10 days, starting from Avni's first day of joining, we have more or less fallen into a set of routine which happened on its own without our conscious efforts. Being obligated by different work commitments that demand us on different floors of the same building, it's only a wishful thinking to have her around much. Lunch hour is the only save for the day.

Avni would simply rush to collect Aahana from her Day-Care for lunch and would arrive cafeteria obviously little late, as usual having no chairs left empty for the two of them. Except for the ones that they are occupying since day one, that's in my table.

And the man who used to find solace in silence has now started to seek his happiness in the little chitter-chatter of this mother-daughter duo, much to his own surprise. They are so full of life that they can make anyone- including me- believe it's worth living it than just breathing it away.

Aahana would gesture me to come near her speaking range, only to whisper some funny remarks about the middle-aged counter server with pot-belly, like 'Petu-Uncle' and some other things about random people, and I'd find it hard to stifle my laugh while she'd simply roll in the chair with her giggles.

If only the little gal knows that she's in the audible range of her mother too even with her whispers, she'd be saved from the reprimanding glare that Avni regards her with. Then Avni's stern gaze will slightly shift towards me, coated with flecks of authoritativeness as if to chide me for playing along with Aahana's jokes. And I can trust my heart to stop beating, to have her look at me like that forever.

Despite inheriting the indistinguishable features of her mother especially her eyes and smile, Aahana is way too different from her in her outlook, mannerism, taste and attitude. She is an ebullient and effervescent kid wearing her little confidence and naughtiness like the sleeve of her dress, on the other hand, Avni is calm, composed, calculative, reticent, and mostly hid herself behind her shell.

She would make mischiefs and fun around while Avni would silently eat from her regular Indian Platter keeping a permanent side glance at the sparky kid, who is considerate enough to not harm anybody's sentiments with her little mischiefs.

Many a time Aahana would demand to carry out the stuff that adults do with ease, on her own, and would find it amusing and enthralling. Just like sipping a spoonful of hot soup, collecting their Platter from the counter, looking for the number of their order etc. Her babyish innocence is transcendent. Avni would sincerely encourage her enthusiasm with a warm smile.

Her tiny fist, trembling with the weight of crockery soup spoon would sometime end up spilling the liquid content on her dress and this little fairy would sweetly pout in disappointment, looking at her mother. A simple reassuring blink along with a dab of cleaning tissue over the stain from Avni would set her pout into an enchanting smile in no time.

She would run her tiny hands over Avni's face in pure affection and grant her with tiny kisses on both of Avni's cheeks, which would lift up with an enormous grin that is reserved for only a few of her closest persons. I would be left hoping and craving for a day to bless my life when I might be privileged with one such smile from her.

These two are the cutest things to observe and know. Avni is certainly one among those rare mothers who make parenting look as easy as walking on a straight surface. She leaves me at loss of words with the way she handles her child singlehandedly. Not that I had any doubt, but she is the Best Mother I have come across. The mere reflection of which can be seen in the sorted and mature human being her lil girl is turning into.

I have much more respect and admiration for This Woman than I can ever explain in my words.

I find it hard to register since when The 'Breather' hour from the haste of my fastly running life, has turned into The 'Breath' of my life, without which I feel myself to be sinking. Just by having these two around.

However, today is definitely not one of those lucky days for me. Since Avni is on leave for some of her personal reason which I'm curious as hell to know. The little hitch in my breath was barely missable when yesterday she had subtly let me know about her non-availability for the day, although she was not at all bound to tell me.

It's the first lunch I'm spending alone after Avni's joining and I can't help but miss the two similar-looking diamonds who have dazzled my life like anything.

My favourite cupcake doesn't satisfy my sweet-cravings without earning each of its bites after an onerous fork-fight with my Princess. The chef-made meal is insipid without having it tasted by Avni followed by her few sprinkles of salt in it. The incoherent happy clatters around me started to suffocate me. The day seems dull with lack of sunshine and there is this prominent feeling of emptiness in my chest.

It shouldn't come as a surprise to me if later in the evening I'll find myself hovering around her building where she is temporarily sharing a small flat with her friend named Anjali Trivedi. Just like the way I did twice, last weekend.

In my defence, those two days of weekend were plain torture and I couldn't restrain myself from intimidating the staff member in digging out her residential address. Although that was embarrassing beyond my comprehension but somethings are just out of our logical control and this was one such thing for me.

Presently, despite my assured knowledge of her inevitable absence, my heart is hopelessly pinning its conviction on some sort of intuition that she'll come. Definitely and Certainly! I can't help but chuckle at my own contradictory feelings and notions.

Finding no joy in the elusively garnished plate in my table with surrounding empty chairs, I huffed and slid it away from me and resorted to drink my grumpiness along with the sips from the cup of my latte.

As I settle my expecting gaze towards the entrance of cafeteria, and as the bitter liquid obscured the bitterness in my mood for a bit, my unruly thoughts took me back to the day when I had met Avni and Aahana for the first time in this same place.

The numbness that I had felt after assuming about her marital status was life-threatening. I felt as though my shoulders are carrying the whole weight of the Universe and would succumb anytime. Until she uttered that lifesaving word, "Miss"

"Miss Avni Pareikh"

The one-worded prefix with her name effortlessly lifted off the whole weight from my heart and I felt like an air-filled balloon in no time. As if, she is a "Miss" and not a "Mrs" was the only information at that time that could prolong my life by at least 10 years.

If I'm being true to myself, I had heaved a visible sigh of relief and in turn, embarrassed myself when I found her frowning at my unusual expressions. Nevertheless, the information was too precious to give my life for, let alone being embarrassed for a few seconds.

Though initially, we had started with immense formalities even in addressing each other, I'm more than pleased to arrive at least at first-name calling in the last few days. Consequently, I'm Neil for her and she's Avni for me. And if my ears aren't ageing, my name sounds just like a melody when it wheezes past her mouth with oh so ease.

I recall, once losing myself in counting the times she would say Neil in one hour, and just when I was smiling foolishly at the memory, my squinting gaze catches on a little hint of pink behind the glassy doors of cafeteria and I immediately knew to whom that belongs.

"Mr Handsome." sounded like an excited squeal before my Princess plucked her tiny hand out of Avni's grip and came flying to my outstretched waiting arms. She hugged me as tightly as her petite frame can allow. When my gaze lifted to meet the woman in sea-green silk saree who happened to hijack most of my thoughts, she was returning a warm acknowledging smile and I feel all my crankiness dissolve like salt in water.

I just knew in the hearts of my heart, that she'll come.

The two of them settle themselves in their usual chairs. Aahana had already declared her claim on the cupcake and I chuckled at her eagerness. Avni, however, was frowning in between the lunch plate that was untouched and me.

"Neil!" She pinned me with an accusatory glare and I dare not blink in fear of losing the little self-display of her authority over me. This is her yet another way of caring, I'm well aware of that tone by now.
"Were you planning to skip the meal and go on just with the coffee? Don't you know how disastrous that can be for your digestive tract?"

And there my body swelled up with a strange sense of belonging so much so that my reply came as a breathless gasp, "I.. I.. don't feel like eating. There was no one to share and I can't risk becoming another 'Petu Uncle' with that much amount of food."

Avni rolled her eyes as that was the most stupid thing she has heard but my lil Princess burst out laughing and even fist-bumped me.

Avni pulled her chair closer, placing the plate in between us, she began tearing a small piece of chapati, dipped it in gravy and popped it in her mouth. I eyed her in a daze for more minutes than I can remember, presumably with my parted mouth. "Common Neil, lunch time is about to end in few minutes. Let's finish this fast."

Just like that, we started to share our first meal together and I'm filled with so many unnamed feelings. Is this the same feeling of having a family, that Bebe usually talks about?

Moments later, a call on her phone had taken her away from the table. The absence of typical twinkle in her eyes let me assume that she is certainly not talking to some close family person, like her mother.

I immediately felt an overwhelming sense of protectiveness towards her and was filled with an extreme desire to know what's going on with her. If there is any trouble that I can help her with?

I tried my best to spell it out through Princess by even tricking her with an extra cupcake, but the little girl was genuinely unaware of anything that could raise warning signals. I'm left with countless assumptions of my own.

"What is it Avni? You'll have to share it with me."

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So, how was it.? 😃

Just out of curiosity, how many of you are expecting an Office Romance from this story?

Any guesses of what's coming next.? Hint: There is this big unexpected turn this story is going to take. 😉😉

I can already see so many questions and confusions floating around but hey it's just 2-3 chapters. Have Patience! Everything will be answered.

Don't forget to drop down ur reviews about this update.