The backup Bride

EPISODE 42

5/12/2019 ,Thursday - At Chennai, Shiva office.

Shiva's P. O. V:

After few minutes Aparna dozed off on my lap. If she sleeps on my lap, she might get a neck sprain in this position. I slowly replaced her head on the couch and made sure that she doesn't slip down.

In those few silent moments, I was finally able to be close with her without being judged. I moved her tiny hairs on her forehead back into her bun. I patted her head a bit and she nudged closer.

She murmured something and rolled back in the couch. She was so immersed in  the work, that she didn't even celebrate her birthday. She was wearing an over sized blue jacket and track pants.

All of us were stressed about the deadline but this girl took it all upon herself to do this right. I was still not confident. But I didn't want to shake her confidence with my fear.

I was slightly peaceful that my parents understood my tension and let me stay here over night time. I was still in disbelief that they trusted what I told about my project, rather than making fun of me.

I silently moved my chair to my table and started working. The time was close to 11 in the noon. I decided to let Aparna sleep for atleast a good six hours.

Everyone came in after the rain stopped and it was kind of telepathy communication that nobody was ready to disturb Aparna. We continued working till lunch.

Few more rose bouquets made their way into my office. Everything were piled in the pantry.

Though I didn't want to put my energy into the bouquets, I can't take them out of mind. It was really confusing and I couldn't understand why Aparna was rejecting everything. It also made me question if it was because of me.

As the lunch came in, we went out to the dining area. We started eating right away. Shwetha saved a box for Aparna.

" Who is that secret fan boy? " Karthik asked.

" I don't know too. But whoever it is, he is being so consistent. I can't understand why Aparna didn't fall for any of that! " Hari said shaking his head.

I gulped hard hearing his words.

" Think about this in Aparna's shoes! This is stalking! When she doesn't like it, he should stop. And more than being surprised, it would only scare her. " Shweta said and I nodded my head responding to her.

" How much work is done? " Hari asked nervously.

" Close to 50%" I said chewing my food.

" We have four more days, with the speed we are going, we will complete everything " Karthik said.

" Aparna really should take breaks in between! I was really worried on seeing how she pulled two night outs! "Hari said shaking his head in disbelief.

" She was like this all the time " Shwetha said.

" Let's go back inside and start working, or else we would get nice scolding from Aparna for letting her sleep! " Shwetha said and ran back inside the office.

I followed her and walked back inside.

Aparna was sleeping deeply in the couch across my table. I was constantly looking at her and with every minute passing, I was worried about convincing her to sleep again.

A small regret creeped inside my mind that Aparna couldn't even celebrate her birthday properly because of this work.

Everything was going smooth according to the schedule given by the architect madam, who didn't allot time for her sleep.