SwaSan FanFic (TOL)

CHAPTER 10

Pawan was stunned.......And Sanskar swore when the water splashed onto his face.
Though he jerked his face away, few drops of water fell on his blazer too. He wiped his face and took a step towards her furiously
'Have you gone crazy? .......' he shouted
'I have not gone crazy...You are the one who is out of your senses..' Swara yelled back
'You.....' He was about to take hold of her but before he could say anything more to this hellcat, a female voice called out his name loudly

'Sanskar...' He stopped midway and all of them turned back to see a stunning girl in jeans and jacket walking towards Sanskar with a trolley and designer bag. She hugged him and deposited a loud kiss on his cheek. Sanskar put an arm around her and steadied her. He looked back at Swara with all the hatred he could muster up.

Swara could not make out if he recognized her but she was sure that he was back to his senses and sober. She recognized the girl as the one she saw with him in the lobby of the hotel last week. Swara turned away from them and tried to clear the mess that their broken luggage had created. Pawan helped her out and their cab arrived. Swara was aware of Sanskar glaring at her but she gave a damn. She did not bother to look at them as she got inside the cab. Pawan was amused by her reaction and he teased her about it.

Sanskar was fuming as he drove to Mrinal's house from the airport. The bloody nerve of her........ Has nobody spanked her when she was young....He didn't recognize her when he almost hit her with his car. He was slightly inebriated from the amount of alcohol he had and miscalculated the distance between the footpath and the car. It was dark too so he didn't see the scattered luggage. He was shaken from the near miss. When he got down and reached her, he realised it was Swara Bose but it not register too well in his brain. Only when she tossed the water at him, did he come to his full senses. He still felt pounding anger at her audacity.

Mrinal kept chatting about her trip to Mumbai. She was a wildlife photographer and very good at her work. She was working for Neo Science Geography Channel and currently based at Kolkata to do a web series on the Sunder bans man eaters. Sanskar met her during a conference in Dubai. They got on well and he admired her for her work. They kept meeting after the conference whenever they were free and wherever they chanced upon. Sanskar offered her a job at one of his channels. She was still thinking about it.

They reached her apartment and she compelled him to come in and share a cup of coffee with her. Her apartment was situated at one of the upscale suburbs of Kolkata.

Sanskar looked around the room which was overflowing with trophies and pictures of wild life. He settled down on the couch, leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Immediately a pair of big accusing eyes, spitting fury at him glittered behind his closed eyes. He would teach Swara Bose a good lesson one of these days. Those were his last thoughts before he fell into a deep slumber.

When Mrinal came in with a tray of coffee and some biscuits, she was surprised to see a sound asleep Sanskar. He was lying on the couch with his head rested on its arm. She removed his shoes and got a blanket to cover him up. She sat in the opposite couch, sipping her coffee and watching him sleep. God, how she loved him......

Swara was sound asleep the minute she touched her pillow. She was not even aware of her mother brushing a kiss on her forehead. It was only at 9am when Dida woke her up that she opened her eyes. The dewy morning light was brightening the room when Dida pulled the curtains away.

'Dida.... please... don't do it.. I want to sleep more...' Swara pleaded like a baby
'It is 9 am. Don't you have to go for work? And your dadi has been howling to the whole baadi for last ten minutes about your picture in the newspaper' Dida and Dadi were always finding opportunities to pull each other's legs
'My picture???? Where? At the airport?' she asked wide awake to know her picture was in the paper.
'Arrey nahi shona... Remember your concert was covered by that Bengali and Hindi daily? They have written about it and there is a picture of you with the band.'
'Oh.......'

Inside the bathroom, all the events of the past days came rushing back. The uppermost thought was her clash with Sanskar Maheshwari at the airport last night. What went wrong with her? For god's sake, he was Ragini's brother in law. How could she behave so rudely with him? Yes, it was wrong of him to offer money and not having the courtesy to say sorry. But who was she to throw water at him? Sometimes she baffled herself with such crazy actions. Her dida and mother always scolded her for letting her temper go to her head.One of the days,she was going pay the price.

She took out the shawl; she had got for her dida. The town where the hotel was situated was famous for hand woven shawls. Dida was thrilled and happy
'Shona... this is so nice.. Your first gift with your own money...' She exclaimed and kissed her emotionally.
Swara was happy to be home though she loved the trip and what it taught her. But home was home.

He dismantled every piece of the gun and polished it carefully. He lost a golden chance to scare the hell out of that man. His boss was going to be angry with him. It was all because of that girl and the fight she had with him. The man was drunk and if he had given a shot, he would not have recognized or known what happened. Due to that girl, all his plans were spoilt. Given a chance,he would have shot the girl for letting his golden opportunity fall flat.Now he had to wait again for another chance.

Sanskar reached his office and marched ahead to his cabin without noticing anyone.His head was still throbbing after the amount of alcohol he had last night. When he woke up in the morning, the first thought that struck him was the nasty encounter with Swara at the airport..And only then did he notice that he was in Mrinal's house.. God! How the hell did he end up there? He did not wake Mrinal but just left a thank you note near the couch. He reached home and only after three cups of black coffee did his headache abate a bit. On top of it, the Bengali daily had a picture of Swara and her band. He could not read what was written because it was in Bengali.
'That is Swara's boyfriend.' Laksh said from behind. Immediately Sanskar threw the paper on the table and turned around to see that Laksh had crept up silently.
'How do you know?' Though he wanted to be disinterested, he could not help himself from asking.
'She told me.His name is Hridoy. They have been in a relationship for some time.' Laksh seemed to take great pleasure in informing him about it. Sanskar kept quiet. If he asked anything more, he knew they would end up in fight and Laksh was waiting for such a chance. Thankfully, it was time for him to leave for office.

Now as he reached his cabin, a group of his people followed him with various queries, schedule and appointments. His secretary reminded him that he was supposed to visit SM24 office. He completed his meetings with them and left for SM24 News Corporation. In spite of a busy schedule, he could not get rid of thoughts of Swara Bose. If she was in a relationship with that long haired clown,where does Laksh fit in? Was he wrong about them? Is it only Laksh involved? Was it one sided? Is Laksh misleading him?

There was a flurry of activity at SM24 because big boss Sanskar Maheshwari was paying a visit there. Sanskar usually visited all his offices at least once a month. If needed twice a month. This kept everyone on their toes and there was less complacency from his team of employees.

After the regular round of meetings, he called on his special team who were doing the feature on the refugees and the camp. Ashutosh, Viren, and Alex assembled at the conference room for the meeting. They described their experience at the refugee camp and updated him about the feature. And they also presented an unedited short film on what they saw and interviewed.They had also added Swara's piece of presentation to it.

Sanskar was impressed with their work
'How did you manage CM's footage?' he asked
Viren explained about their mad rush to the airport from the railway station and his subsequent chase to her house.
'Good job guys...I am sure the feature will come out well. Viren, make sure to include the cabinet Minister's contribution and his take on it. He was the one to moot this idea. If you want, take a trip to New Delhi for the interview.' He advised

The meeting got over and a number of documents needed his signatures. But Viren was not finished
'Sanskar, we have a new intern in the team. She is really good and hard working. She has a thumb on the current scenario and we want to keep her with this assignment till it gets over.'
Ashutosh acceded and said 'Yes she is good and we should confirm her appointment.' In the mean time, the contracts of all interns were brought in and he had to peruse them before they were made final
'I asked Manish to sign them.' Sanskar reminded the manager
'Yes sir, he did but he also wanted you to take a look at them.'

So Sanskar went through each contract and by the time the fifth document appeared, he was called by the Advertising team for a discussion. It was almost 5 in the evening when the discussion got over. He went back to the conference room and proceeded to finish the perusal of trainee contracts. He finished signing one and took out the next.

The name SWARA BOSE leapt out at him. He stared at the name and photo pasted on it. Swara Bose looked back at him with her big eyes, like a witch coming back to haunt him. He went through the document and realized that she was right here in his grasp and under his thumb. A slow wicked smile lit up his face. The manager and two other executives who were sitting in front of him gave him a confused look. He signed rest of the papers and wound up his meeting fast.
'Call all interns. I want to have a word with them.' He instructed the manager.

Alone at last, he walked back to the huge window that overlooked the Maidan. His mind was working overtime. When the manager walked in with the interns, he was standing at the window with his back and his hands in his pockets. None of them were aware that his pulses had quickened with excitement at the meeting. He slowly turned around. There were seven of them standing. Three girls and four boys but Swara Bose was not there. He was disappointed by her absence.

'Sir one of the boys is still reporting from the field so he is not here and one of the girls is on leave.' He explained
'Why is she on leave?' he asked irritated
'Sir, she had gone to refugee camp with Viren and team so the team gave her a holiday.'
So she was the one Viren and Ashutosh were talking about, Sanskar thought. He talked to other interns asking about their reasons for joining journalism and apprised them of the rules and goals of SM24. After they left, he sat on the high backed chair, leaned his head and closed his eyes.. The image of Swara flinging water at him flashed. He opened his eyes and laughed out loud..

WELCOME TO HELL, Swara Bose...

You are well and truly trapped...........

There is no escape for you from Sanskar Maheshwari now...
.
How lucky was he that he did not have to search for an opportunity to teach her a lesson. It fell right into his lap. He raised both his hands and placed them behind his head. He could not stop chuckling at his good fortune.

Dida and Swara were having tea when she asked
'Swara aaj kyon chutti hai?'
'Chutti nahi dida...Travel ke baad ek din chutti dete hai.' She poured tea in the cups for both of them and handed one cup to dida.
'Hmmm.... Meri shona abhi se shine kar rahi hai..' She said proudly
'Awww dida.....' They were enjoying the tea with their banter when Sharmishta walked in...
'Yeh kya ho raha hai...Dono milke mujhe alag kar dete ho..' she complained and made a face at both of them
'Maaaaaa.....'Swara jumped out of the bed and hugged her...'I have an off today so I was asking dida what we should do'
'Wow..toh mein bhi chutti le rahi hoon aur hum kahin chalte hai.' She announced excitedly
'Shomi... pehle apni kadoos saas se toh pooch...' Dida teased her about her mother in law
'Ma.. I will tackle that. Get ready. I will call my shop and inform.'

Swara had a great day with her mother and dida. They shopped at the mall to buy new clothes for Swara. Sharmishta wanted to buy dresses for Swara as she had joined new job. So after shopping, they had lunch at the mall and proceeded to watch a movie. It was late evening when they reached back home.
The sky was getting dark and a storm was brewing. Swara rejoiced looking at the darkening clouds. The tropical summer would be finally over. A fiery storm was on its way...

PRECAP

Swara comes to know her new boss......What has Sanskar planned for Swara?
Thus began the battle of SwaSan ..........Like a tempest, their destiny takes them to an unknown world of desire,feelings and emotions.