Her Mr. Right

Slow down a bit 😅

“I heard someone talking about me behind my back. They feel you are favouring me because... because...” Neha stuttered as she hesitated to voice out the fact that Pawan felt she was favoured because something indecent, something inappropriate is brewing between her and Arjun.

Walking inside her kitchen, Arjun stood beside her as she filtered the tea in a cup, relishing the strong aroma of freshly brewed tea. He had openly appreciated Neha for her hardworking nature, out-of-the-box ideas and efficiency. He wondered if people were jealous of a hardworking young woman being appreciated by a man of almost same age.

Is the society so shallow? He wondered while his brain tried to speculate the reason.

“It doesn’t matter what ‘they’ think of you. What matters is, what do you think about me?” Arjun reasoned trying to tell her that he was not favouring her for any of his personal gains. He respected her too much to do that.

“It matters to me. It matters to me what people think about me. I cannot let them judge me or my character. I live in a society and I want to live respectfully. I don’t want to get judgemental looks when I work in the Federal Bank of India, the place which I can proudly say is my second home.” Neha snapped at him once again.

Arjun sighed. He was glad that she was opening up to him but at the same time, he wondered if she was exaggerating the issue. He could fathom her feelings upon being judged but he wondered, “Who on the earth had questioned her integrity so brutally that she could relate judgemental looks with something that would crush her soul?”

“They will judge you no matter what you do, and how you behave”, Arjun tried to explain only to be snapped again. “I don’t want those judgemental stares so stop nagging”, Neha had said while walking out of the kitchen.

“Is this your first time being judged?”, retorted Arjun only to find her speechless. The painful memories of her parents judging her resurfaced and it was hard for her to not cry.

“Have you done something wrong?”, asked Arjun. Closing her eyes, she mumbled, “It hurts when someone judges us especially when we are not wrong”.

“You are passionate about your work and you deserve appreciation. Those who judge you are simply jealous of you.” He assured her.

“Don’t get affected by these judges, silly girl. Just focus on yourself and yes, the tea is delicious.” Arjun chortled sipping the strongly brewed tea she had made for him.

“It's easier for you to say. I wish you were in my shoes to understand me.” Neha muttered as she remembered Pawan mocking at her character because she had relished the golgappas fed by the man sitting inside her house early in the morning. She wished she could tell him the truth.

“Will you tell me why they feel that I am favouring you? Come on, I need to know this. I want to know the root cause of your issue because seriously, Neha, I can never expect a confident, working woman to act so immaturely.” Arjun muttered scornfully. He was beyond upset at her.

When she did not reply, he got more irritated. Keeping a check on his tone, he could not stop himself to tell the truth. “You yelled at me for the sake of some stupid people. You avoided your morning walks to avoid me. You chose to stand in the jam-packed metro instead of sitting in my car because you wanted to avoid me. Can’t you see, I am simply concerned?”

Neha was done with the conversation. As much as she liked the special treatment inflicted on her, she was not ready for people like Pawan to judge her character. Her parents had already labelled her as a  ‘characterless girl’.

She found solace at her workplace. She did not want herself to be labelled as a slut sleeping around men for the sake of good opportunities at work. She could not control herself and replied angrily. “Yes, I yelled at you because I don’t want you to shower your care and drop cues for gossip. I chose the metro because I don’t want people to say that I am being favoured because I am, you know, .....”