Destined (A Virushka Romance)

3. A Rather Awkward Meeting

Reborn. Virat read it aloud as he looked at the name of the NGO. It was inscribed on a marble slab next to the entrance of the NGO.

He smiled a little. Reborn. Such a beautiful name it was. Even he was reborn. He wasn't the same person before like he is now. He has changed. For the better, of course.

Virat didn't harbour any kind of remorse in his heart for the fact that he wasn't his old self anymore. Infact, he was grateful for the circumstances which led him to change. If it weren't for those, he would have been his old pathetic self. Pathetic in the sense that he would still have been full of himself, caring only about himself and others. But, for his own as well as everyone else's sake, Virat was a different person now. A 'good' different.

He checked the time on his watch. It was 5pm. Virat mentally patted himself for achieving the feat of not being late for the nth time. His record of never being late for anything was kept intact. At least for now...

Virat was too lost in his own thoughts probably because he didn't notice the girl who came and stood before him. It was only when she cleared her throat that he came out of his trance and noticed her.

The girl didn't say anything and simply smiled at him. Virat smiled too. He was expecting her to recognize him but by the quizzical look on her face it seemed as if she didn't recognize him.

"Hey! I am Virat." Virat introduced himself as he extended his hand towards the girl for a handshake.

The girl took a minute before responding. She looked at the extended hand of Virat once and then back at his face again. A minute later, the girl extended her shaking hand for the handshake.

"Hey! I am Anushka." The girl introduced herself with a nervous smile. Gone was that radiating smile.

After that rather 'awkward' handshake and introduction, the two of them ended the conversation. Anushka guided Virat to where the office of Mr Rajiv Sharma was. None of them said anything throughout the way. Virat decided it would be best not to strike a conversation thereafter considering how nervous she was a few minutes back.

Anushka on the other hand was thankful to Virat as he refrained himself from asking anything more to her. The degree of awkwardness between the two of them could have escalated quickly if they wouldn't have stopped talking. But, what she didn't forget to do is to mentally pat herself for at least trying to make the situation less awkward from her side by putting an effort to shake her hand with Virat.

It was a five minutes walk from the entrance to Rajiv Sharma's office. As they walked through the corridor, Virat glanced a look at all the other rooms. The rooms had sliding glass doors. So, everything that was there inside those rooms was clearly visible from the outside. It was not that there were some secretly kept things inside those rooms. One was a playroom for the kids. Another one was a classroom. Probably the young kids are taught there.

Virat quickly glanced at Anushka once. She was walking at a few metres ahead of him. Is she a worker of the NGO? Does she live here? Where is she from originally? He had a few questions in his mind about her but decided against voicing it out.

Anushka who was walking ahead of Virat was unaware of whatever was going on in Virat's mind. She was lost in her own thoughts to be exact. She was thinking if Virat, just like the other celebrities, was here for his own publicity or did he wanted to people of the NGO for real. It wasn't that she was worried regarding his intentions of visiting NGO. In fact, she hardly cared. She was here to do what was asked. So, what was the point of thinking about that guy called Virat who was more of a stranger to her?

As the two of them reached the end of the corridor, they saw Rajiv's office. The door of his office room, unlike the other rooms was made of wood. There was a plate on the door with Rajiv Sharma's name and designation written on it.