"I wake up every morning, do my chores, feel happy that I've finally gotten over you, but the happiness becomes a sad reminder of you."

~•~•~•~•~

Crrrr... Cring... Cring.. Crrr...

'Ugh!', a small hand took a pillow from behind and pushed it over the head, trying in vein to ignore the irritating bell of the alarm.

'What the', fuck!! she said the word mentally and tried to get up from her sided position. But, she felt a small, chubby hand circled around her waist, and when her sleepy vision cleared, her eyes collided with a pair of shining black orbs, staring back at her in admiration.

'Good morning mumma', came a melodious and cute voice, as the face inched closer to peck her nose.

Her heart hammered in her ribcage as some old emotions came flooding back in it. But ignoring the sudden churn in her stomach, she removed the thick black bangs covering the enticing big black eyes, as she whispered in a hoarse sleepy voice,

'Good morning Ms. Rikara.'

Both of them got down from the bed and she put Rikara on the stool before the sink in the bathroom and gave her a toothbrush with a topping of paste. Coming back to her room, she threw open the curtains and jalousies as a dull smoggy light toned her fair skin in ghostly white. Her dazzling smile did no help in uplifting the colloidal curtain of sadness, and her beautiful hazel irises seemed almost chocolate brown in the dark light.

'Good morning, Gauri Trivedi.', she arched her body spirally and stretched her hands wide, yawning like a shark.

Brushing her teeth hastily, she took Rikara out in the balcony. Spreading a yoga mat on the floor, they sat in lotus position facing each other and closed their eyes, breathing in and out deeply, rhythmically.

As per the routine, the newspaper deliverer put the newspaper in the bag hung from the balcony of the second floor, followed by the milkman putting a pouch of  half litre milk. They pressed the bell to let the residents of the apartment know that they had done their duty, and put an official end to Gauri and Rikara's morning meditation.

As the mother-daughter duo settled on the bar of the kitchen, eating their bowls of mixed serials and milk, the sun was finally out, tearing the dusky curtain, and its rays were glistening the wet strands of the hairs of the mother and the daughter. One of the hairs was long waves of rich chocolatey brown, glistening in golden strikes occasionally, and the other one was a messy bush of thick black bangs, emitting a soft brownish glow under the sun.

'Rikara, I may be late tonight. Be a good girl and don't disturb Rhea aunty, okay?'

'Okay mumma.'

Gauri tensely opened the economy page of the newspaper. It showed a huge portrait of Shivaay Singh Oberoi, and beneath it was a news she came to know about at the previous night, from Richa. It read,

Oberoi Empire Takes Over SmarTech:

The actual relief was, Tiwary was coming in Kolkata head office as the new CEO, and there was not a silver of chance to bump into him except the introduction party. But, he would meet the main programmers and members of the board of directors, not a petty leader of the programming software developer team.

But, she couldn't ignore the uneasiness that churned her stomach. Cursing under her breath, she took the phone from Rikara's hand, who was painting a girls hair into different shades of vibgyor.

'Mumma!!', Rikara whined.

'Sorry sweetie, I've saved it, you will finish it later, okay? But right now, I really need the phone. Please?', she made the best puppy face she could.

'Okay okay'.

'Crr.. Crr.. Crr.. Hi Gauri!'

'Eh! Hi Richa'

'Hey! Why is your voice so down? Is the news bothering you?'

'Yeah. How do you know that?'

'I've been your friend since school. I know you bone to bone. Don't worry my fighter girl, you'll get over it!! Be positive! Everything's gonna be just fine!', Richa cheered.

'Thanks Richa, I was really scared for a moment..', Gauri heaved a sigh of relief.

'This is what friends are for, silly! Bye, see you in office!'

'Yeah, bye!'

Gauri closed her eyes and breathed deeply. But shot open her eyes feeling a small palm patting her hair. Rikara whispered with a genuinely concerned face,

'Relax mumma, everything will be fine.'

If only you knew why I'm so scared, Gauri smiled faintly at her daughter, and kissed the palm that was caressing her head. She is always a bit matured than the average kids, 'Now, now, sweetie, let's get ready for the day!'

*****

Seeing Rikara off at the school gate, Gauri revved the engine of her second hand car, hurrying towards the office. Today was the day when the board of directors would announce which teams would shift to the new head office of SmarTech, now, OberoiTech, in Saltlake, sector II.

Running towards her small cabin, she kept on praying to her Shankarji, Please Shankarji, save your little birdie from the bumping to the Oberois, your birdie wants to live, to rear her birdie up in a good woman, not a monster like her father.. You see everything from up there, you know, only you know, how important it is for me to hide from them, especially, him.

The announcement was going to be made at eight O'clock at night. So, after picking Rikara up from her preschool at lunch brake, Gauri asked Rhea, the in charge of thr crèche at night to keep Rikara till nine O'clock. Thankfully, this crèche's schedule was from 9:00 am - 9:00 pm.

*****

'The team leaders' name we're going to announce are the chosen ones for the new office in Saltlake, Sector II. Mr. Anand Varman, Mr. Kaushik Bose, Ms. Gauri Trivedi...', And everything went blur afterwards.

Gauri clawed Richa's hand in her stiffened, sweaty, cold fingers as she felt herself shaking inwardly, 'You'll remain in here, I'll be alone there..'

'Oh come on! Their employee is coming there, not an Oberoi brother! And lastly, stop being so paranoid, Oberois are no plague. Even if any of the brothers was to come, it would be Big Bro or Rudy, there's no way, him, coming here!', Richa whisper yelled.

'I want to believe in your prediction Richa, desperately.', Gauri sighed audibly, exhausted of being scared.

'The leaders named, come here next morning to get details about your new venture. And yes, the day after the next day, there will be an introduction party in the Grand Hayat, you all should be present there', The chairman of the board of directors eyed Gauri's panicked face for a moment and continued staring at her, 'family is allowed.'

Gauri bellowed a raspy breath out, relieved. She was afraid of leaving Rikara alone at night. That was the reason she avoided formal gatherings mostly. Being a single mother with no supportive family was a tough task.

*****

'Om! Think again, you'll have to handle six offices there, two in Kolkata, then Durgapur, Siliguri, Guahati, Shilong. Will you be able to travel almost all over the east and northeast India? In this condition?', Shivaay acted as a perfect brother.

Zipping his large trolley bag, Omkara put his hands on the shoulders of his brothers,
'I know what I'm doing. And travelling will help me settle my mind down, and, I've heard that Kolkata is a nice cultural city, there are some famous galleries too. Maybe, I would start my exhibitions from there. See! Its a win win situation for me, I need this distraction.'

'Wieew (will) you eally(really) leavv (leave) Shweeping(sleeping) beauty?', came Ansh's hurt voice.

'I'm sorry champ, but Om uncle  really needs to go. But don't worry, I'll video call you everyday, okay?', Omkara bent to kiss Ansh's forehead.

'Okay!', Ansh replied happily.

This is kinda entry chapter for Gauri. Sorry, if I bored you.. 😪 😜😓

Happy reading!
With love,
Sarani.