Too Little...Too Late

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

He pulled out his phone and began dialling, a smile lit his face as the call was answered on the other side.

"Good Morning love, did you sleep well?" he asked. He closed his eyes picturing her blushing profusely.

"I slept well, thank you." she responded. He had never called her. Ever. And now in the space of twenty four hours, she had received two calls from him. She was not sure of how to respond to him. Her heart beat so hard and fast that it sounded like thunder to her.

"Gauri, I am so happy that I found you and that you are okay. Now that I found you, I am finding every moment difficult without you." he told her.

She did not know how to respond to that.

As he had imagined, Gauri blushed ad looked around she clutched the phone with both hands and whispered, "Me too." She said.

"I am coming up to Pune for a few days. I want to see you." he said.

"I am not sure that, that is a good idea. I am at work all day and we will have very little time in the evening. Perhaps we should get to know each other on the phone first. I do not want you to commit to anything before you know that this is what you want for sure. I also don't want to give my mother hope that things are okay and if they don't work out, she will be devastated."

"I know that you think that this is sudden. But it is not. I knew what an idiot I was, the moment I realised that I will never see you again. A part of me died. Because my stupidity did not allow me to understand how important you are to me."

"I don't want us to make another mistake. I don't think that I could live with losing you again." she said.

"That will never happen. I love you, Gauri. You are the most important thing in my life." He said emphatically

"I love you too," she said. She cut the call instantly to shy for any further response from him.

She walked through her room as she picked up her bag and walked to the door. A gentle smile curved her lips her hand trailing almost caressing the wooden balustrades as she dreamily strolled out of the house into the sunshine. She looked up at the sun and smiled deeply, closed her eyes and said thank you to the higher powers.

For the first time in a long while she was really and truly happy. Somehow everything looked brighter. Her short journey to AR offices was uneventful. Her co-workers immediately picked up on her positive vibe. She picked up the designs that Arnav brought to her the previous day and began her work, which seemed to go much faster with the positive vibe around her.

At around midday she was interrupted by the receptionist, Renu, "Hi Gauri, there is a delivery for a Mrs Gauri Omkara Singh Oberoi, I told the delivery guy that the only Gauri here was Gauri Kumari Sharma but..."

"Its okay, Renu. I am on my way." Gauri was surprised as she had never used her married name because of the chaos surrounding her marriage and then Omkara had never accepted her so she did not think it was fitting to adopt the Oberoi name. No one in Pune new her married name.

She went to reception, she looked around for the delivery guy who was now seated in the designated waiting area. He stood as soon as she entered,

"Mrs Oberoi, please sign for this package." He said whilst producing a docile looking box covered in the traditional brown wrapping. She signed and relieved him of the package. She asked no questions not wanting to attract attention to herself as Renu was already straining over the counter to get as much information as she could.

She walked steadily to her office, nodding her hanks to Renu, but not stopping as she was sure that Renu had a thousand questions to ask. She looked at the postmark which read from a local address, which was strange. She turned the package suspiciously this way and that and place it on the desk ready to open it.

She was disturbed by the phone ringing again. She picked it up. "Ms Sharma's office," she answered.

"Hello Gauri, how are you doing?" asked the chirpy voice on the other end.

"Khushi, I am doing well. How are you and our little angel?"

"We are fine. That is not why I called. Arnav told me that your ex-husband paid you a visit yesterday."

"He is not actually my ex-husband, you know. We are still married in the eyes of the law."

"And in your eyes, is he still your husband?"

Gauri paused not knowing how to answer. She knew her friend was very protective of her, after all she had seen Gauri at her worst, when she left Omkara three months ago. It was her friendship with Khushi and Arnav that pulled her out of the depression that she had been sinking into. But she had to be honest with her friend.

"He is my husband Khushi. I know that you don't approve of him, but I love him and he says that he loves me too. I believe him."

"Are you sure that this is what you want? Why did he wait this long? It has been three months."

"I am not really sure Khushi. All I know is that I do have another opportunity for happiness and I do not want to let it pass. He is the only person that I would ever love. If I can get a chance to make it work then I am going to take it."

"Be careful, my friend." Khushi said.

They spoke a few minutes more about more generic stuff. Khushi and Payal were on the manufacturing end of designer frozen meals. Their business was booming. They had just expanded distribution to Canada, United Kingdom and South Africa. So Khushi in her own right was a billionaire, but that did not change the soft hearted person that she was. Her family was still first.

AUTHOR'S NOTE THANK YOU, FOR READING MY STORY. PLEASE TELL ME THAT U ARE ENJOYING IT BY VOTING AND COMMENTING AS THIS IS THE ONLY WAY THAT I WOULD KNOW HOW YOU FEEL

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