Fiction
by gleefulblogger

Chasing Dreams: Short Love Story – Part 1

April 3, 2020
21
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“Yes, you can come over by 12:15; I value my time and expect you to meet in 3 hours from now,” Shalini said on the phone looking out of her 12th floor’s office window.

“Thank you for your time and agreeing to meet me in the last minute, Mrs. Khanna” answered a husky voice.

 “Shalini or Miss. Taneja please.” She said looking at the clock with a vague disdain.

“Very well, Miss. Taneja! See you in 2 hours.”

Shalini Taneja, one of the best attorneys in the city, sharpest and smartest in her art. Her name and reputation speak volumes about her work associations. Listed as top corporate lawyers in the country at this young age is an achievement in itself. What looks grandiose from the outside often has many hidden layers; the same is with Shalini’s life.

Her marriage with college sweetheart ended on a bitter-sweet allegations game a few years ago. Bitter as she expected him to understand her life, reasons, and priorities. Sweet because she is free from pretentious life after years of accommodating.

“Shalini, you have an appointment with Saxons Co. founders in 15,” said Leena her secretary cum confidante. She nodded looking at her rose-gold watch gifted by Khetan Sir on her first mammoth win against Miller Coal Mines.

The case that jiggled everyone from the political to economical corridors of this country. The Miller V/s State case brought her from the shadows of Mr. Khatan Daruwala to a front runner legal eagle.

She finished meeting Saxons founding members when Leena gestured towards her watch, a reminder of an upcoming meeting at 12:15 pm. She has never seen Shalini giving appointments to anyone without following the due protocol. This dog-marked entry with no name made her curious to learn about the client.

At 12:10 a tall figure in a grey sleek suave suit walks into the reception and hands over his business card. Carla the receptionist takes a long look at this fetching sharp face smiling back at her, and dials for Leena to inform about the arrival of the next client.

“Please be seated Mr. Kumar, Leena will be here shortly,” Carla said ogling him. ‘He looks like Hrithik Roshan, no-no like Bradly Cooper!’ she thought while smiling at the man sitting in front of her.

Leena was there immediately and took him inside the meeting room. “I am Leena Francis, Mr. Kumar I will take you through the procedures and policies before taking up the next course of discussions with Shalini.” She explained to him, even she was fazed by his suaveness and chauvinism. ‘Who the hell is this man,’ she thought while handing him some documents to read and sign.

She asked him to wait for a few moments before Shalini takes over. He looked around the office, a regular office with some expensive artifacts and a dozen award/winning memorabilia. The upholstery was rich but lacks taste he thought.

An old photograph rather piqued his interest, Mr. Daruwala and his associates all in one frame (one of them was his late father). He was deeply involved in the framed picture when the door swung open and Shalini walked in.

She is an attractive woman is in her early 40s, her sharp features and wavy hair doesn’t tell-a-tale her age. Her plum skirt dress and black peep-toes match with the mahogany furnishings of the room. What a disaster of beauty he thought.

She looks dangerous, like a woman on a mission, “Hello Mr. Kumar, I am Shalini Taneja, how can I help you?” straight to the point.

“Please call me Samar and thank you for meeting me in such a short time.” Samar Kumar is the personification of Indian brain-drain, the best interior designer that India could have, but lost to Spain. He is the only son of one of the founding members of Daruwala & Associates, firm Shalini is handed over to run as Mr. Daruwala’s successor. It was Ketan Daruwala who asked Shalini to meet Samar as soon as possible to help him out with some legal advice.

They discussed the case in length and breadth, Samar was amazed by the command on her game. Ketan uncle was right about her – sharp and blunt!

“So, it’s sorted. Let’s wait until you get a reply from the party, we will discuss the next course after that.” She said taking a long breath to release work-stress.

“This means, I get another chance to meet you, isn’t it?” blurted Samar. She was surprised by this flirty line. It’s been ages since anyone said remotely inviting to her as if the world lost its color after her divorce or did she let life slip away for no reason?

She smiled and buzzed for some refreshments, “Could you please send double espresso for me, would you like to have something Samar?”

“Not today, Thanks! May be some other time when we are not confined in plums and red hues”, he circled the room in one stretched look and come to rest at Shalini. She suddenly felt uncomfortable in her seat and plum skirt dress.

After Samar was gone, Shalini checked out her reflection in the life-size mirror hung in the corridor. Tracing her sleek fingers through hair, cheeks and then to neck when Leena came by – “What’s wrong! Are you okay?”

Shalini straightened her skirt and said, “Yeah, I am fine. Come in my room; let’s get back to some work.” Thanks to the poker face she mastered over the years of a failed marriage, no one can tell what’s happening behind this appealing face.

Thank you for your love and appreciation for this series. I am overwhelmed with the comments and messages over the last two stories. This is my first attempt at romantic fiction and I am looking forward to bringing some more ‘lovey-dovey’ for binge reading.

A – Altering Ego.

B – Bits and Pieces.

Come back tomorrow for the next part of this love story. The post is written as part of #A2ZChallenge & #BlogchatterA2Z.

Quick read short love stories
Copyright

©Dipika Singh. This article is the property of the site’s author. Any unauthorized use or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Dipika Singh (Gleefulblogger). With the right and specific direction to the original content.

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Conflicted Desires – Part 1

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Corn!! Corn!! Corn!!

“Coming!! Stop shrieking early in the morning, Keezo.” Rohini pulled the bag of fresh corn from the refrigerator for her grumpy-in-the-morning parakeet.

“Here, take this and please stay quiet for some time,” she grumbled while keeping the bowl of corn in his cage.

He hopped down the swings and started snacking instantly, Rohini has a love-hate relationship with the Himalayan Parakeet. As much as she loves the silence in life, her son’s annoying pet bird keeps her company throughout the day.

While sipping her morning tea, she checked the day’s work schedule when the doorbell rang. Her florist has arrived with today’s fresh bouquet of sunflowers and carnations.

Hot-maal. Hot-maal. Hot-maal. Keezo shrieked again breaking the solemn silence.

“Madam, your bird is very smart” – quipped the florist with a flirtish smirk.

“Not again, Keezo. You just had corn greedy boy.” Rohini doesn’t like such innuendos, especially from the staff. In response, she glared at the florist and moved away to place the fresh bouquet in the large glass vase on the center table.

Being a career counselor, she has to keep herself updated by reading research papers, books, and documentation on career counseling. She needs to finish her new file, before her first aspiring student arrives, who happens to be from their neighboring vicinity. A grade 11th student aiming for admission to International undergraduate law colleges.

Rohini still has a few hours in hand to finish her groundwork, jot down some notes, and create a questionnaire and list of probable colleges in different international locations.

Her phone rings exactly at 8:00 am and she knows it’s Raunak, her son calling from New York. He shifted last year to pursue his higher education in Management Studies. Rohini lives in a penthouse in Mumbai’s luxurious ultra-rich housing society with her corporate head honcho husband (who is currently based out in Singapore for work), and Keezo, the gusto parakeet.

“Hey, Hot-maal what you doing baby?” Raunak woes his mother with his charming words and carefree style.

“You stop calling me that, your grumpy bird keeps repeating this word the whole day, it is so embarrassing at times, you know.” Rohini has been trying to teach some good words to the bird, but he has a liking only for slang and Raunak’s crassly lingo.

“HE is not wrong, and you know that Ma. Remember all my school friends had a secret crush on you. Come on, take a chill, will ya!!”

“Stop it, and teach him a good word or two. Anyway, how are you, my sunny boy? Hope your fever is down now and you eating well. I told you to stay with me so that I could take care of my baby boy. But you had to leave your mom alone with this crazy bird and your never-at-home father.”

“Keezo my boy, Hoot Hoot, say SEXY! SE_EX_YYYY.” The bird instantly started jumping around hearing Raunak’s voice and butting his beak to and fro.

“Raunak!!! STOP IT! You both are crazy, Oh MY GOD!” Shouted his mom.

These are a few moments of joy she awaits every day eagerly. Her son’s phone call revitalizes her quiet and almost singular life.

Checking the time, she bid goodbye to her son and rushed to study the new files. Keezo kept jumping and muttering gibberish in the background.

The intercom informed her about the early arrival of the client, and she asked her assistant to help them in the room and with the paperwork, meanwhile, Rohini made some last finishes to her presentation.

While entering the counseling room she feels at ease and in her solace. It’s a makeshift office in an unoccupied wing of their penthouse is used as ‘Roh’s Academy.’ An institute designed to help students seeking admission to follow their future dreams. Rohini is passionate about her work, and she feels personal joy when her students are enrolled at good places. Their prospering future is her achievement.

While entering the office, she met with a girl looking timidly around the office and scanning the photos on the wall. Certificates from different colleges, universities, and education institutes around the globe. The proud wall of achievements fills Rohini with a new streak of motivation.

She noticed the girl’s body language, a very important parameter for her to gauge as a counselor, she is petite with beautiful features and a sweet timid smile. The girl was definitely nervous, her sitting position was hunched and her hands were clammy. Anxiety, Rohini knows these are signs of early anxiety, and wonders why an adult is not accompanying her for such an important session. That’s when a man entered the room from the ensuite bathroom.

She looked up to see his face and their eyes collided. He slowly walked; no, he sauntered towards her while keeping his stance attentive. Rohini was momentarily dumbstruck by the man’s sharp features. She somehow is not able to place him in the student counseling room, he can’t be the father, can he? She thought to herself.

To be continued…

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon 2024

Disclaimer – This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this story are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright Notice –

@Dipika Singh Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Dipika Singh (Gleefulblogger) with the right and specific direction to the original content.

conflicted desires short romance story

Conflicted Desires – Part 3

September 1, 2024
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We have embarked on the story of student counselor Rohini, a student’s guardian a very handsome man, Vikram, and a super talkative grumpy parakeet – Keezo. To read the previous part of the story, click here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rohini is forty-five but with her fit body and flawless skin, anyone can take her in her mid-thirties. Probably a benefit of an early marriage and child, she was married at the age of 22 and had Raunak a year after. Married to Kaushal for over two decades now, but she hardly sees him at home these days. He heads an international conglomerate and operates from Hong Kong. His Mumbai trips are getting scarce and are usually filled with business meetings, paperwork, and networking dinners.

It has been like this for the past decade or so, Kaushal had been busy building his career, making a name for himself, and providing for a better life for them. She single-handedly brought up Raunak and built her career as a freelancer student counselor. She has been earning good money through her passion, her dream job as an educator/counselor, but for Kaushal, a position comes with its demands. As a CEO of a multinational organization, a certain level of lifestyle is a must.

That need for accomplishment had become their life’s center character, and they never realized how time slipped from their hands. They are now in their 40s with an empty nest and distance of thousands of miles between them.

“Where have you gone? Your bird is going bonkers calling you – HOT MAAL,” Vikram said from behind breaking the spell of memories blasted from the past. Keezo is jumping like a gymnast in his cage and making wierd sounds.

“I apologize, the staff is on leave and this bird will be the death of me.” she muttered while bringing a bowl of seed mix for the shrieking bird when Vikram asked – “if you do not mind may I talk to your Romeo-bird? I have a thing for exquisite things.” His inferences are clear.

Just the thing she wanted – a client walking in her personal space. But she did not say no, she cannot say no for being a clumsy counselor today. She must keep up with her reputation because one wrong word in the social circle and her image will take a dive.

Feeling a stranger’s presence in her personal space, she advised “Yeah, sure, but let me warn you, Keezo talks a lot and he bites.”

“Don’t worry, I have a trick or two under my sleeve… for tough challenges” he said the last word merely a whisper, if they were not standing so close, she might have missed it.

Walking around the kitchen corner, she waved Vikram towards the sundeck and went to fix a coffee for herself, she thought of offering him too as a professional courtesy. When she looked back to ask Vikram his choice of beverage she found him rubbing Keezo under the beak.

Stunned, by the scene unfolding in front of her, she couldn’t utter a single word. Keezo, never ever allows anyone to touch him except Raunak, not even her. He has bitten the caretaker multiple times, and now they use a thick pair of gloves to clean or feed him. This bird is weird, with a capital W! she thought to herself.

“He is a Himalayan breed of parakeets called – slaty, they are quite rare in other parts of the world and are protected in north-eastern India.” He passed the information with grave confidence. She looked up from the kitchen counter and found Vikram’s eyes hovering over her, his eyes – like molten copper in the sunlight.

Mesmerized by his deep brown irises she could not stop from staring back, when Vikram’s eyes moved to her body. It was a cue for her to move away and she pulled herself up to the fullest height. Chin up and she moved towards the coffee maker pulling out two mugs without asking his preference.

Rohini is taller than an average Indian woman, her 5’7 height with the right proportionate body makes her look young and very attractive. She is aware of her physical charm, as her husband, Kaushal always claimed – ‘even in your good old grey days, you will be a seductress, Roh, and you don’t even have to try.’ Raunak was not wrong on the phone when he mentioned his school and junior college friends had a crush on her.

When he was a kid, he would announce to marry her when he grew up, during family lunches or parties. Everyone laughed it out as a kid’s love for his mother, but he made a habit of calling her with adjectives like – Hot maal, sexy, baby, and so on. He and Keezo are living and breathing embarrassments at times, just like today.

“Do you have this bird’s adoption license and registration number?” questioned Vikram.

“Huh?”

Strolling towards her, he answered, “When you adopt an exotic or Aboriginal species, you need to take a license and register the pet with the local administration. Do you have those documents?” he reiterated with power behind the question.

“Well, I am just a caretaker of this terrorist bird. My son has bought him from his Uttarakhand trip and now he is studying in the US. I need to ask him for these things. But, why are you asking?”

“Because, if you do not have these legal documents, anyone can litigate against you for keeping a wildlife without proper adoption papers. It will be a messy legal battle; I am sure a lady like you will not take such chances.”

“Uh-huh! I must recheck with Raunak, my son. And, when you said lady like me, what did you mean?”

“Smart, classy, beautiful, intelligent, and a woman of few words. I can go on if you wish to,” he answered nonchalantly while looking at his well-clipped nails.

Her eyes moved from his face to his hands, they were big, definitely big with sleek long fingers. Perfectly well-maintained hands. When have men started taking care of their hands, she wondered!

Blush crept to her cheeks and neck when he found her looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Flustered, damn it, he found me checking his hands, she couldn’t be more embarrassed.

Rohini is not used to compliments from strangers, her son is more than enough to shower her with all the explosive adjectives, which he should be using for his girlfriend, ideally. She has a negligible to scarce social circle, her life revolves around her career, home, and a crazy mouthy bird. She is an introvert and prefers her own company over life’s drama.

She is acutely aware of the interest wafting from his side, which is not good. She knows and her instincts are on alert, but this is different, it feels different, somehow she never found herself in the company of such a handsome man.

Her marriage to Kaushal was arranged by their parents, there was no love at first sight when they met. It was more like whatever elders decided, they had to follow back then. Slowly they found the likeliness of each other’s company and when Raunak arrived they immediately became parents from spouses.

It’s not that she had any qualms in the marriage, Kaushal is a supportive and understanding partner, and he had been a great father and a successful business executive. But, his absence is a constant, which is molding her into a shell. She craves for human touch in her life at times, but it never hampered her life, yet!

To be continued…

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon 2024

Disclaimer – This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this story are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright Notice –

@Dipika Singh Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Dipika Singh (Gleefulblogger) with the right and specific direction to the original content.

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