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“What’s the use of cleaning when, in a few days, you’ll come back and make the whole room messy again?”

He quickly goes to take a bath, and as soon as he comes back, his eyes immediately go to the sofa where she usually sits and works. But not finding her there, he rubs his fingers through his hair and mutters,

“How did I forget that she has gone to her parents’ house? This girl has actually messed up my mind.”

He quickly goes to the dining hall, where Sharda has already started her meal. Ravindra is not there. He quietly sits in his place, and while serving his food, he glances at the seat beside him where Jhankar usually sits. Sharda sees him doing this, so she softly says,

“Sometimes, by living together, you get used to someone’s presence.”

Vikrant suddenly looks at her and wants to nod, but he’s unable to do anything. Sharda starts smiling lightly because she understands very well that this isn’t just a habit—Vikrant has started feeling Jhankar’s presence in his life very deeply, something he would rather not admit right now. And Sharda also doesn’t want to force him to do anything; she’s just waiting for the time when Vikrant will realize it all on his own.

Jhankar is working when her mother comes to her with a glass of milk. She smiles at her, and Chitrali sits beside her and says,

“Jhankar, there's no need to worry so much. I know a lot of money has been spent on Papa’s treatment. Your education loan and the loan for this house are still pending. That’s why you’re working so hard—to repay all this as soon as possible. But in all this, your health is also very important. Why don’t you understand?”

“You also try to understand that once all the loans are cleared quickly, then there will be peace—no tension, no problems of any kind.”

“But the way you are working, I fear you might fall sick with some other problem. You’re not taking proper care of yourself, not getting enough sleep or food. This is not the way to handle it.”

“Look, Mom, I understand everything very well, but you also try to understand, we had so many plans, and everything fell apart suddenly because of Brother’s departure. So, we have to fix that mess. What’s the harm in working a little harder?”

Chitrali shakes her head and leaves after pecking her on the forehead. Jhankar keeps working until late at night. Her eyes instinctively go to her bed, but she doesn’t see Vikrant there.Because of that, she looks carefully at the bed, glances around the room, hits herself on the head playfully, and says,

“You’ve got this freedom after so much difficulty, and here you are looking for a rule book to follow. Just enjoy your freedom…”

Jhankar is extremely tired, so she immediately lies down on her bed and falls asleep shortly after.

~~~

When Jhankar opens her eyes, she looks in front of her and then closes them again because she feels that she is still asleep. She rubs her hands over her eyes to remove any slight blurriness in front of them so that whenever she opens her eyes, she can see everything clearly. But when she opens her eyes again, she is still in her room at her father's house, where she has been trying to convince herself for the last three days that she is in the same room where she spent her childhood, not with Vikrant in his room. She sits quietly and looks at her bed, where there is no trace of Vikrant, but she can feel him around her because she wants to feel him. Why? She has no answer. She inhales deeply as she contemplates her situation.

“By staying with you, I feel like I've gotten used to you. Because of this, whenever I wake up in the morning, I’ve become so used to seeing you that now not seeing you feels a little strange. Anyway, with time, the habit will change again. There’s nothing major in it… My biggest problem, however, is that I don’t like you. Despite that, I can feel you everywhere.”

Jhankar looks at the time on her watch and immediately frees herself as quickly as possible. When she comes out on time, she looks carefully in the car. Even today, Vikrant is not present in the car. So she sits quietly and starts looking outside, keepingher eyes open, because sadness has taken a strange place in her eyes, which makes her vision slightly blurry.

Vikrant is working on his laptop, and a lot of frustration is clearly visible on his face. He is continuously working. There are about three people sitting in front of him who have come to discuss something with him, but since he is busy, they cannot risk disturbing him. So they are letting him work quietly and are sitting comfortably in front. Over the past four days, Vikrant’s mood has fluctuated between positive and negative. Yet, it’s undeniable that if someone offends him, it won’t take him long to react strongly. Due to this, everyone is working very carefully. While working on the laptop, he says to those people,

“Have any of you come here to see how I work? Do you want to publish this article in some magazine?”

“No, sir, you said you would like to discuss the blueprints for Dhanraj Mall yourself, so we’re waiting for you to finish your work; once you’re done, we’ll discuss it properly.”

“So, will all this be discussed sitting here when you know very well that everything should be properly displayed on the projector? Only then can we have a productive discussion. Otherwise, why are you here? Go to the conference room and quickly fix the projector so that the meeting doesn’t take much time.”

“Sure, sir…”

No one wants to put their life in danger by staying there, so they immediately disappear as if they were never there. A boy comes in and places coffee for Vikrant and starts leaving when Vikrant suddenly shouts after seeing him.

“What kind of time is this to bring coffee for me?”

“Sir, five minutes ago you told me you wanted coffee, so I was watching you, and then you said you could drink a cup of coffee whenever you feel like it. Why are you so angry today?”

Vikrant immediately looks at the boy, who is barely 19 years old. His father, who used to work with Vikrant’s father, passed away some time ago. Ravindra has kept this boy here so that he can earn some money and continue his studies. Vikrant enjoys talking to him, so he sits back, tries to recall everything, and still feels moody from the past few days. Lightly touching the bridge of his nose, he says,

“Nothing. I’m just a little too upset. Maybe I said something because of that. Now that you’ve brought the coffee, I’ll drink it. Thank you—and sorry for scolding you.”

Vikrant stands near the big window and starts drinking coffee while watching the view outside. The boy is still standing there, watching him. Vikrant is aware of his presence, but he would rather not say anything to him. But the boy speaks to him with a smile.

“Did you fight with my sister-in-law?”