Heart 2

Her throat was too heavy to swallow the situation she was going through. Tears may not have lined her eyes, but that was because she was continuously pushing a "That's none of my business" attitude against the feeling of, "This breaks my heart." The ceiling seemed to crush her and the bed seemed to engulf her whole. Her tired warm hands were numb and shivering at the same time. It seemed as if life was betraying her today. 

She questioned herself, "Why the hell did you agree to help Ashish by sleeping in his bed?"

Today was one of the worst days of Garima's life. Life was celebrating April Fool's Day with her, over and over again. And it wasn't funny.

In the morning, when she reached the office well prepared with the presentation, the HR Manager Miss Shetty called her.

"The topic of your presentation has been changed Garima. Did you check my mail? You have got Shashank's topic." She said.

Garima panickily took out her phone to find that the mail had arrived merely an hour ago.

"Is it some April fool's prank? You got me ma'am then." She smiled, though with an apprehension. Her grip on her own bag tightened with the fear that someone else would take the rewards of her hard work.

"You think it's a joke, Garima?" Miss Shetty replied in a shrill voice with a taunting tone.

"Ma'am! If it isn't a joke, it indeed is a joke. I spent a fortnight on this presentation, just to...." Garima argued firmly without raising her volume, but was interrupted.

"Listen Garima! Shashank has already prepared your topic. And his presentation is pretty impressive. You have to do this only. You have two choices- either do as asked or give me in writing that you can't do it. You still have a couple of hours." 

Garima turned to leave in disappointment thinking in her mind, "Oh why not Miss Shetty? Afterall Shashank Shetty happens to be your nephew. His mistakes are bound to be forgiven. Bloody nepotism.... Huh"

"And being a new recruit.." Miss Shetty called from behind, "..it would be fruitful for you to not argue with your seniors. Hope you understand."

Garima was burning in extreme anger. She wanted to throw a resignation at the manager's face but she was helpless. The greed of a better pay had already landed her in this mess of nepotism and gerontocracy. Now the priority was to stay employed, at least to have a better employment record for future.

She worked extremely hard. She worked not for two hours but for 119 minutes and 60 seconds. Consequently, her work was appreciated too but when it came to comparison, Shashank took the crown. This made all appreciations in her name, worthless. Shashank's guiltless face tested her patience and tolerance to the brim. She had never experienced such a cheating in the previous job, all thanks to her then colleague, Ashish. He was one of the most honest, helping, caring and yet the most professional co-workers one could ever have. The day he got to know that she lived in the same building as him, he offered a carpool, but damn punctually. And he thereafter played both the roles, that of a coworker and a neighbour, with the same degree of perfection. He was always available at Garima's first call. But of course, she wouldn't call him today to complaint what happened to her at the new job.

While returning from office, she switched on her phone (which had remained off for almost the whole day to avoid distraction during work). Scores of calls had been missed but she chose to call the one friend, before whom she could pour her heart out without the fear of being judged- Divya. The pain was hard to be consoled. Divya lightened her mood a little though.

"Will see you soon Garry. Have to return your purse too." said Divya.

"Oh nevermind! But yes, I too wanna see you soo badly. Missing you a lot Devu." said Garima, and then with a pause, "Love you too. Bubbye."

As she kept the phone, the driver of the Uber, with a creepy laugh said, "Boyfriend?"

This creepy question would have been dealt with befitting degree of sarcasm, had she not been tired with the unnecessary turn of events since morning. Thus, she scoffed, swallowing all her modernism and feminism, and turned her face towards her phone. A message from Miss Shetty arrived, "Good work. Have some task for you. Will call you shortly. Be ready with your laptop."

"Madam! My battery is going to die. Both phone and laptop." she replied and quickly switched off her phone again.

As she got off the car, she switched on her phone to rate the driver with a remark, "Judge-mental."

Walking towards the door of her house number 307 she thought, "This was the worst that could happen to me on a day of fun and...." Wait. What's that? There hung on the door a big red shiny heart greeting with a note, "Thank you for coming into my life."

She looked around in surprise and curiosity saying, "Is this another prank? I have had enough alrea..."

"I am sorry. It wasn't meant to be a prank." It was Ashish standing behind her. Garima turned around with a jerk. His voice, his words and then the heart greeting combined together now overwhelmed her.

"Garima!..... Hi!... " he sounded too nervous to speak anything, but somehow continued, "I am extremely sorry for disturbing you like this."

"Oh you don't have to be!" She thought in her mind, "if only I could ask you to disturb me every morning by whispering 'good morning' in my ears; by calling me every now and then in the office to tell me how much you love me; by not letting me..."

"So? Can you please sleep in my room?" That was all she heard him say. She missed the whole story behind the request because of her own bizarre imaginations.

"Whhaattt? Why would I sleep in..." She wasn't ready for such an over-reaching request.

"Calm down. Please calm down. It seems you didn't hear me completely. I wanted to tell it to you well in advance but your phone remained off whole day today. Today, I had planned to propose the girl I love. But my room is a mess as always and I returned from office just now. She must be arriving any moment. So, I request you to lend me your house for a day and sleep in my house. Just for tonight, I promise."

Garima stood there stunned. This was heart-breaking. But she could not complaint. Ashish had always been her project partner in the previous job. It was him, who made her realize her potential. It was him, who had brought to light the pay discrimination between him and Garima even on being on the same post. He was more than just a colleague and was the most heartbroken when Garima decided to leave that job for a better one. But he did not, for even once, stop her. So, shouldn't Garima.

"Please do not say a 'no'. It is a very important moment for my life." He requested again while repeatedly ignoring the call that he was getting.

"Oh yes! Sure. Here is the key." said Garima, hiding the heaviness of her throat with a mild cough.

Ashish was happy beyond expression and he quickly picked up the hitherto ignored call saying, "I am extremely extremely sorry. It's 307. Waiting eagerly. See youuu." And then turned to Garima with gratitude, "I don't have words to thank you.....Mine is just latched. Second floor. 217. You must be knowing." 

"Yeah..." She said with mild breathlessness, as she moved away. 217. Second floor, last one in the corridor. She knew it very well. She often used the stairs rather than the lift to steal a look at the corridor.

But today when she was walking through that corridor, it was because life had played another prank on her. As she was unlatching the door, her heart popped a thought. What if beyond the door she had a surprise waiting. A beautiful surprise. A positive April fools' day. But her imaginations hurt her more than reality. She switched on the light and to her extreme disgust, it was all a mess. Littered wrappers and peels, dirty dishes, piled up clothes, dusty floor. She took a deep breath and moved directly towards the bed. She neither had the option nor the willingness to change clothes. She just fell into the bed like a heap of rice.

The bed was extremely uncomfortable. The bedsheet smelled like chips, ketchup and spices. It was more like a dirty dining table cloth. The pillow cover hadn't been washed for ages, as the oil stains had made a layer over the fabric. Garima twisted and turned repeatedly but sleep was nowhere around. The sight of the heaped up dirty clothes on the sofa, the footwears lying stray on the floor, the empty wrappers of chips and biscuits littered here and there, repelled the sleep away from her. This, in addition to the physical and mental exertion was choking her like hell. She was simply waging a war against the thoughts of office, career, love and comfort.

She questioned herself, "Why the hell did you agree to help Ashish by sleeping in his bed?"

As she turned in the bed, she answered herself, "But what could I do? He did not even give me a chance to enter my house." And then with a sigh, she lay straight on her back, looking at the ceiling (which she thought couldn't be dirty but unfortunately there are something called spider webs). She thought in compassion (ignoring the webs... And also the dust laden blades of the fan, somehow), "Never has he ever denied me for anything. How could I say a 'no' on the first thing he asked me? Even though it sort of breaks my heart."

And she turned again to a side, as she tried to wave away all the thoughts.

"But you never asked for such a silly favour, did you?"

"It's okay. He has an important moment at hand"

"What important moment?..huh... And by the way who the hell selects 1st April for proposal?"

"Well. Nothing for me to bother about."

"Really?"

The tussle continued without a conclusion for about an hour. Then, her phone rang. It was Ashish.

"Hey Garima! Thanks a lot yaar. She said yes."

Garima was struck again. As if somebody choke her throat for a moment.

"Hello? Garima??" Ashish thought there was some network problem.

"H....ey...Congrates." Garima replied hiding all the pain and disappointment.

"Why did he need to tell me this?" she thought.

"And you know what? I confessed her that it's not my room. She appreciated your organized house and said that she is willing to see my one. So, you can return to your room Garima. Sorry for the discomfort." He said all in a breath.

And before she could reply on this, Ashish added, "Oh and yes! I shall give your keys tomorrow morning. Won't disturb you anymore today."

"You already have disturbed me enough to spoil my sleep tonight." she thought but just then realized, "Wait. What? Why tomorrow? Can't I take it from you when I come to my room?" she asked.

"Oh I am so sorry. I forgot to inform you. We have come out for ice cream. Your door is latched." Ashish said casually.

"Whaattt? Just latched. That's so irresponsible of you, Ashish!!" she wanted to yell over the call but what she heard a moment later in the background shook her to the core.

"Belgian chocolate chips please." Garima heard the girl saying to the shopkeeper. The girl's voice. It was definitely Divya. No it couldn't be her. Divya knew about Garima's love for Ashish. But the voice was undoubtedly hers.

"Hey! She has a nice voice. What's her name?" Garima asked in a low dubious voice, praying it not to be Divya.

"Thanks Garima." and then with a shy pause Ashish added, "Divya"

Garima broke at this. She could barely control her tears now. She kept the phone and wept in bulk- for the presentation havoc, the comparison with Shashank, the heart-break because of Ashish and now the betrayal by Divya. She wept like little baby. Ashish had hurt her unintentionally, but Divya broke her into pieces. She wept and wept and then took a deep breath and like a mature lady, wiped her tears, got up, took her bag and left the room.

As she walked with the broken heart and a swollen face, her tears adamantly flowed from the corner of the eyes and she aggressively wiped them repeatedly with a stroke of her palm.

"I am fine alone. I don't need anyone. Anyone at all." she pledged to herself

"But how could she do this to me? She was my best friend" and she broke again.

The stairs doesn't seem to end, the corridor had as if acquired infinity.

Moreover, the tussle continued until she opened the door of her house and people from inside shouted, "SURPRIIIIISE"

She was too shocked to stand. She couldn't even shout and was about to fall when Ashish and others ran towards her. She didn't know what happened for the next few minutes. Ashish slowly placed the unconscious Garima in the sofa and Divya came running with a glass of water from the kitchen. Ashish was extremely worried if the surprise was too much for her to withstand. He repeatedly wiped Garima's face with water, every time with a little more love. And finally Garima opened her eyes to find Ashish knelt before her with a "You scared me!" emotional face. Raising her eyes above she saw Divya, Priti, Abhishek, Tarun and Deepak all with an "Oh Thank God!" smiling face. Some were her friends and some Ashish's. 

After she drank some water, Divya explained her, "I am sorry I didn't take your permission before helping Ashish for your surprise proposal."

"MY surprise proposal?" She didn't get it. How could she? She had already gone through so many emotional waves in one day.

"Oh yes! Your surprise proposal. And its all your fault. Why did you leave your purse at my place?" and then with a pause, Divya mischievously continued, "I found your house keys in that and this stimulated me and Ashish to plan this surprise proposal for you. When you came from the office. All of us, except Ashish were already inside your locked house."

"I too wasn't in. You guys had sent me to fetch the ring. Why me only?" Deepak added with frustration.

Not giving a damn to his frustation, Divya added, "Oh yes! He too wasn't here. And here you are. Ashish you may please continue."

Garima was too overwhelmed to say anything. It was like a mild relieving ice pack after a whole day of high fever. With a sigh she said, "Thankfully that dirty room of yours didn't allow me to sleep, otherwise..."

"That was on purpose so messy. I knew a tired Garima would sleep very spontaneously and this was our biggest fear. So I messed it to the highest degree possi....." Ashish was trying to explain while Priti interrupted.

"Okay! Stop boasting of your intelligence, now? You required all of us for the plan, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did. But it was I who pranked you all together by saying that Garima is back in her room too early. I am the smartest. Accept it." Ashish boasted again.

"Okay fine!! You had got us there. But can we just have the proposal moment now?" suggested Tarun.

"Oh yes. We must. C'mon everyone." As Abhishek held the camera setting the frame, The other friends took a seat. 

"That glass of water doesn't look good in the frame." Abhishek said, beckoning Divya smilingly. While Ashish went towards Deepak to fetch the ring, Divya removed the glass kept on the table beside Garima.

Ashish knelt down with the ring box and suddenly noticing Abhishek's camera said, "Why is that focus too much on me? Her reaction is more important."

"Your reaction on her 'Yes' is even more important." said Divya mischievously.

Ashish shyly smiled and then opening the box towards Garima said, "Will you marry me?"

Garima immediately said, "No. Not with this at least." she indicated the ring.

Ashish was worriedly confused. He spontaenously turned the box towards himself and immediately his facial expression resembled a mouse just trapped, a man just fooled. He smiled looking at each one with an expression of, "Arghhhhh."

In place of the ring, the box had a paper with a note, "Say yes, only if you are a fool."

"Okay okay. I am not the smartest." he accepted with an embarrassed smile and added, "Where is the ring?"

"Here." said Garima, and gave him the ring that Divya stealthily gave her while removing the glass of water from the table.

"You too??" Ashish exclaimed with a pleasant yet embarrassed smile.