On completing her assignment in Hamburg, Rajni makes plans for leaving for India. Her friendship with Agna and Sofia is so close that she will finds it difficult to part their company, though she will part with colleagues in her office without much ado. When she announces that she is leaving for India, all her colleagues plan a good farewell that Rajni will remember always. It was really a memorable event, in which all complimented her in many ways.
When it came to bid farewell to Agna and Sofia, she was emotionally moved and so were they. They both accompanied Rajni to airport and all cried hugging each other before Rajni parted with them. Before parting, Agna and Sofia promised that they would try their best to come to India and have a great time together again.
On reaching Delhi, Rajni reported next day to her company - Bosch at Gurgaon and explained all in detail about the outcome of her assignment in a presentation before members of the Management Board. They were impressed with her assignment work and praised her profusely.
Soon she became fully engaged with her office work as she had been a dedicated employee. Rest of her time was spent with her family members whom she had missed a lot while being away in Germany. She used to like to accompany her family members to different Malls in Gurgoan, Ambience being her favorite one. Life had become sedately comfortable with her family as she was quite happy to have family members with her. But sometimes she used to get a nostalgic feeling of missing Agna and Sofia, which was soon overcome by the proximity of her family and presence of old friends.
Rajni was flowing along with her repetitive routine in her office. But, nonetheless, her enthusiasm was visible in everything she took up to do.
One day as soon as she reached office, MD summoned her to his office and introduced a young man with athletic looks to her as Amit who had joined that day as her senior in the office. She would be working with him in the same department. MD asked her to take Amit along with to familiarize with functions of his department. Doing so took much time as she did it quite meticulously, explaining everything in detail. After it was over to her satisfaction, she took Amit to other departments, introducing him to other employees. She noticed that Amit was affectionately polite to all who were introduced, especially more so with class-4 employees. His ebullience was apparent when he talked to all, which, she could feel, touched them also.
Her daily interactions with Amit were quite comfortable. She found him to be pretty sharp at grasping difficult and complex things. And he has a knack to handle efficiently difficult situations; this quality of him impressed Rajni very much.
Basically, Amit is a person who doesn't like to show off, although he has a couple of assets to brag about. Moreover, he is down-to-earth while dealing with important matters with others. Besides being down-to-earth, he is quite empathetic and understands others well.
His athletic looks attract Rajni much as she herself is a fitness enthusiast. Mostly they used to eat their lunch tiffin together in office during lunch break. Once he confessed to her over lunch that he is a fitness enthusiast and regularly works out in his well equipped home gym. He likes to read on various topics on health and fitness. She also confessed that she too is a fitness enthusiast like him. She has been into it for more than eight years. In fact, this common interest brought both of them closer.
Once evening Rajni was doing some shopping along with her younger brother in Ambience Mall, she suddenly ran into Amit, who was window-shopping all alone. Then he offered that all three have a cup of coffee together in the food court. Rajni readily accepted the offer. Rajni's brother also liked Amit's nature and behavior. And they had a good time together.
Rajni noticed that Amit has a capacity to keep his mental poise in all situations. She never found him losing his temper on anything - even on serious matters. She liked this quality in him and he was, in fact, gaining popularity among employees by its dint.
One day Amit offers that they have a dinner together on the following Sunday, to which Rajni happily agrees. He is also equally happy to have her charming company at dinner. He tells he will inform her about the place they will go, after he decides. He tells her to meet at a place near office, from where they will go to a restaurant to dine. He didn't tell name of the place as he wanted to give her a surprise. She reached at the place on the appointed time. Amit took her in a cab to a nearby restaurant - Yummy Point, which was not classy but ordinary and well maintained.
When they are seated, Amit tells her, "I don't believe in ostentation of any kind and want to lead life realistically. That is why I have brought you here. I have already tried the place and found its food up to the mark. Hope that you like the place and its food."
She says, "The place is quite comfortable and well maintained. But I have yet to taste food to appreciate it."
They order food items of their choice. Rajni notices that Amit hasn't ordered much. She then asks if he is not hungry.
Then he replies, "I don't like to order so much in the beginning. I will order more depending on my need. I do this to avoid any wastage of food, which so many of us do."
She agrees with him, "I also believe that we shouldn't waste any food because so many people go without a square meal a day all over world."
He again says, "It is an abhorrent habit many have. I detest this habit in people."
Then she asks, "Do you detest such people."
He replies, "I don't detest such people but their habit. If they realize that many can be fed with the food wasted by them, they can easily change this awful habit."
Thus their conversation steers from one topic to another. Then they realize that it is nearly 11 PM and they need to go to their homes.
Over dinner, she comes to know that Amit doesn't smoke and believes in teetotalism. He tells her further that he is single and looking for a suitable girl to marry. She is tempted to ask what type of girl he will prefer but somehow avoids asking, leaving it for another appropriate time. They leave after dinner, which was good to satisfaction of both. Then Amit offers to drop her at her home, which she readily agrees to. Outside her residence, they thank each other for such a nice evening and then he leaves to go back.
The same night lying in bed before going to sleep, she feels that as Amit has begun liking her, their friendship is likely to mature into meaningful relationship. She will like it to be so. Suddenly, she goes into a conversation with Inner Self.
Rajni: If this happens, I will make this relationship stand on a solid foothold. I will not hide anything about my past relationship with Sid from him. I will like to be thoroughly honest and sincere before starting a new intimate relationship.
Inner Self: I fully appreciate your viewpoint and advise the same. Don't hide the ugly facts of your relationship with Sid, though you have been successfully able to get rid of him from your life.
Rajni: Thanks for supporting me.
Rajni was happy due to a nice dinner with Amit and she doesn't know when she went into deep sleep while recalling what all transpired between them. Next morning when she got up from a refreshing sleep, thoughts about Amit dominated her mind. With the same feeling, she reached office.
To be continued