Letters From A Stranger

nineteen

I was sitting at Blue Mug, patiently waiting for Gaurav to show up. The clock was ticking at a slow rate. Ten minutes went past, and he still never showed. I wasn't going to give up yet, maybe he had trouble sneaking around. Maybe he never received the message from Manit's phone. I kept trying to come up with every excuse I could think of for him.

Before I knew it, two hours have passed by, and he still never showed. Maybe he didn't want to see me like I thought he did. Maybe the letter was all a lie to keep me hooked onto him and crush me even more than what I was.

With a heavy sigh, I got up from my spot and left the coffee shop. I think I was disappointed more in myself, waiting for so long to see if he would show up. I shouldn't be surprised that he didn't, but I was and it hurt.

Trying to clear my head was a work in itself, even with taking my time to get home. Maybe if I start boxing up the things up in my apartment, it will help clear my head.

Four more days and I was moving into my house. It was a surreal feeling to be able to call it a home and a forever home at that.

This was my new start. It wouldn't get me away from Gaurav since I worked for him, but we ignored each other anyways. Once I'm settled in at home, maybe I can find a new job that pays around the same.

.

Today was moving day, and I was pretty excited. Everything was ready to be loaded up and moved to the new house. Manit took the day off today to help me, and I couldn't thank him enough for the help.

I wasn't ready for these two days to go by because Monday meant back to work.

Within these four days, I never heard a word from Gaurav, and I wasn't ready to face him. Was I supposed to go about my day like I didn't try to reach out to him?

Day's like today, I wish I never met him, then it wouldn't be a struggle to get over him. I tried so hard not to think about him while I loaded my things up. Sighing, I forced myself to get back to work. There was a lot I needed to get done.

By noon, everything was almost loaded up in the truck I rented, but I was starving, and I knew Manit was as well.

"Hey, Manit, you hungry?"

"Yeah."

"Want me to order pizza? I'm starving."

"Sounds good baby girl."

Taking time out, I ordered the pizza. While we waited, Manit and I caught up on events. He and Rishav were still going strong, and I couldn't be happier.

Manit also surprised me with accepting my offer to live with me. So tomorrow him and Rishav were moving some of his things over. Manit decided to take time moving his items as he still had a few more days left on his lease.

After we ate, we got back to work on the last of my items and headed over to the new house.

With only one thought in my mind new year, new beginnings.

.

Monday.

The day I return to work.

I can do this; I just need to act like I didn't wait two hours for him to show up.

Now that I lived a little further, I had to leave earlier than normal. What was nice, was my back door had a doggy door for Remy to go through. It'll work for now, but once he gets bigger, I'll have to let him out. The only thing I needed to do was make sure he had enough food and water for the day.

We both got settled into the new house pretty quickly, and by next weekend, Manit will be joining us.

Double-checking to make sure I had everything, I locked up the house and headed for the office.

Thankfully, traffic wasn't busy, and I made it to the office with time to spare. I had to sit in my car and give myself a pep talk.

You can do this, Naina. Just go in, do your job, then go home. You got this.

Inhale, exhale, then go inside.

As I exited my car, I knew I had this in the bag. I could get through the day without a problem.

Walking in with my head held high, I made it to my desk and started work. I had a ton of messages to check on the answering machine from people wanting to set up appointments with Mr. Mehta.

An hour into work the elevator ding went off, I tried not to look, but I had to see if it was him. A part of me was hoping it was him, I wanted him to see that I didn't need him.

There he was walking out of the elevators in all his glory. I wanted him to look up at me, but he didn't. Not even a glance, it was like I didn't exist to him anymore, and that hurt. I made sure not to let it show throughout the day, just in case he comes out and happens to look at me.

I was so into my work that I never noticed when Gaurav left his office or when Shanaya came upstairs.

"Excuse me."

Looking up, Shanaya was standing right in front of me with a glare on her face.

"Sorry, Miss Shanaya. How may I help you?"

She then slammed papers down on my desk. "Yes, give these to Gaurav ASAP and tell him to sign them."

No Sooner the papers were placed down, Shanaya was gone.

Looking down at the papers, I saw it was the marriage license that he needed to sign. It was really happening; he was going to marry her.

Not waiting around for Gaurav to return, I went into his office and placed the papers where I knew he would see them.

Why did it feel like my heart just broke even more?