Author's POV
The room had fallen into a heavy silence, the kind that seemed to amplify every tiny sound. The clock on the wall ticked with deliberate slowness, each second echoing in the stillness.
But that was short lived as a laugh echoed in the room breaking the blanket of silence.
“Oh my kanha ji! Just look at your face Hahahaha.” Shree said between her laughs.
Laksh stood there speechless. Not having any idea of what to do, He was stunned. First Shree was being all serious and laughing…and then realisation hit him.
“You were joking?” Laksh said more like questions, after she stopped laughing.
“Of course duh. First of all, I am not that old that I need to give money to someone as a guest, I should be the one receiving it. And secondly, dude you are from a billionaire family and that too royal. What will you get from my gift money? Armani suit?” Shree replied.
“Seonbae, I thought you were really serious. Well you would have been a great actor if you had chosen an acting career. 𝑳𝒆𝒌𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒉𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒊 𝒂𝒂𝒑𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒉𝒊 𝒌𝒊𝒚𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒎 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒉 𝒎𝒊𝒍 𝒉𝒊 𝒏𝒂𝒉𝒊 𝒑𝒂𝒂𝒕𝒆.” Laksh said with a huge smile.
[But it's good that you didn't choose a career in acting, otherwise we both wouldn't have met.]
“Hmm. 𝑩𝒂𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒉 𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒊 𝒉𝒂𝒊. 𝑺𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒌𝒂𝒉𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒉 𝒆𝒌𝒃𝒂𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒉𝒊 𝒚𝒂𝒉𝒊 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒉𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒌𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒂𝒂𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒌𝒂𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒚𝒂. Reason…Actors life is not easy they need to do exercise, maintain public image and most importantly that 𝒈𝒉𝒂𝒂𝒔𝒑𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒊 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 it's a big no for me.” Shree said with different expression as she told him her struggle story.
[That is true. To tell you the truth, I too had thought the same thing once but later I aborted the plan.]
“Okay now leave all this and this time seriously tell me what would you like to have Seonbae?” Laksh asked more like whining, bowing his head as if he was a waiter of a luxurious restaurant.
Shree giggled at his gesture, “Anything is fine if I get your company in finishing it.” She replied with a sweet smile.
“Okay I will just go and get one of my favourite snacks you will love it.” Laksh said excitedly and exited the room without waiting for any reply.
After a few minutes he came back with a maid behind him with a tray in her hands. The maid placed the tray on the table near the couch and left the room.
Shree was going to eat but retrieved her hand and looked at Laksh, “It's veg. right?” she asked.
“Oh yes it is. You are veg?” Laksh said.
She nodded her head in positive, “Thanks to the Tripathis and Joshis.” she answered with a smile.
They had their snacks with a few silly conversations in between.
After they finished their snacks, a maid came and took the empty tray back with her.
“So now let’s start our work.” Shree said.
“Yes I am so excited.” Laksh said grinning.
“Okay Mr. Excited, now tell me, did you choose any topic for the project?” Shree asked.
“Umm, No.” Laksh answered meekly.
“Ok. That’s fine. Today we won't start our project. Today you will choose a topic.” Shree said.
“But wouldn't that be a waste of time? Why don't you choose a topic and we make a project on that only?” Laksh asked.
“Am I your mentor or you are mine? As a mentor I want you to choose a topic you like, it will excite you to make the project and you will not feel pressured to only submit it but happy to complete it. And don't worry about time, I finished my project in just two days before submission…and I got full marks in it.” Shree explained.
“Wow! Really?” Laksh said with eyes wide.
“𝑴𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒋𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒕 𝒏𝒂𝒉𝒊 𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒊… 𝒂𝒂𝒋𝒌𝒂𝒍. 𝑺𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒊 𝒉𝒊.” Shree said, last words to herself, recalling her promise on Shrikhand.
[I don't lie these days. I have taken an oath.]
“Now start your work.” She said more like a commander giving orders to her team.
“Yes Ma’am.” Laksh said with a salute and started his work.
Laksh started going through his books and wrote some topics he found interested in making projects. He keeps selecting which one is the best and he is most interested in.
Meanwhile, Shree took her phone out and opened the message only to get a tsunami of messages from a certain person whose name she saved as ‘Kittu –the kit-kat chor’.
The messages were like– ‘How is my Luna (his bike)? Did you reach the cafe? Did you park it safely? Did ‘she’ get any scratches while you were parking? You drive safely right? Reached Laksh’s home? Parked my Luna safely? ANSWER ME???? I WANT IT SAFE. ONE SCRATCH ON IT AND BE READY FOR…. WHATEVER I WILL MAKE YOU GO THROUGH…
P.S. :- Please keep it safe🥺.’
Shree just stared at her phone with no expression, she was expecting this.
“𝑲𝒂𝒏𝒉𝒂 𝒋𝒊 𝒂𝒂𝒑𝒏𝒂 𝒌𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒖 𝒌𝒊 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒂𝒅𝒊 𝒖𝒔𝒌𝒊 𝒌𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝑳𝒖𝒏𝒂 𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒊 𝒌𝒂𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒅𝒐, 𝒊𝒕𝒏𝒂 𝒕𝒐𝒉 𝒚𝒆𝒉 𝒂𝒑𝒏𝒊 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒊 𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒊 𝒚𝒂𝒉𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒌 𝒌𝒊 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒌𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒉𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒉𝒊 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒂𝒏 𝒏𝒂𝒉𝒊 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒊 𝒋𝒊𝒕𝒏𝒂 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒋𝒆𝒆𝒗 𝒃𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒌𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒚𝒆 𝒉𝒐 𝒋𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒊.” She thought
[Kanha ji you do me thing, marry this kittu to his dear Luna only. He never gets this stressed in his life, not even before the maths exam but now he is all stressed and in tension because of his nonliving bike.]
Shree signed a heavy breath and replied with a message, “Your dear Luna is totally fit and fine and if you don't stop these messages now then I think you will need to prepare for her funeral.☺️”
“I am done!” Laksh said, his voice full of energy.
“Great, so tell me what topic you chose?” Shree asked, keeping her phone away.
“It’s… The Importance of Micro Insurance and Low income groups.” Laksh replied.
“Oh that’s a great choice. Well done.”
Shree said. “Now from tomorrow we will start our easy work that is making the project. And for today just find more about the topic you choose but not with help from the internet but books.” She added, collecting her stuff.
“It’s already time? It looks like it has been just a few minutes since you arrived.” Laksh said.
“Come let me walk you to the gate.” He said after a pause.
They moved out of his room and went downstairs while having a few chit chats.
“Oh Shree you are leaving already.” Aditi said, also catching the attention of Naina and Sakshi who were just beside her.
“Yeah, actually it’s time for me to leave and if I get late my friend will scold me- I mean she will be worried about me.” Shree said.
“What’s the hurry, come meet us too.” Sakshi said, looking at Shree.
“Hello Aunty ji.” Shree said to both Sakshi and Naina.
“Hello beta, come sit with us for sometime.” Naina said sweetly.
Now Shree didn't want to break her heart by denying so she messaged Rashi about being a little late. (𝑺𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒕)
Shree moved towards them and followed them to the hall and made herself comfortable on the couch with them beside her.
“So Shree tell us about yourself, previous time we didn't even get a chance to know about you.” Sakshi said, smiling at her.
“Sure. So Radhe Radhe I am Shree from the spiritual and beautiful town of Vrindavan. I came here to pursue my MBA degree with my two besties and with Kanha ji’s blessings I may get my job here only.” Shree said standing up smiling at them.
“Woah you are from Vrindavan. You know what, I have a wish to visit Vrindavan once.” Aditi said with a dreamy look, her voice full of excitement.
“Well if you want you can come with me the next time I plan to go there on vacation and in this way you can get a free good tour guide too.” Shree said.
“Really! You know some tour guides too.” Aditi asked.
“Of course I do and that’s me. I know every street of Vrindavan like the back of my palm. And I even worked as a tour guide for many people for years.” She replied with a huge smile, Vrindavan’s name is enough to make her smile.
“You worked for years, Why?” Laksh asked, confused.
“First reason I wanted to earn money and Second reason I just love roaming and telling people about different sites in Vrindavan it feels nice.” Shree answered.
“It must be fun there, tell us more about you and your family.” Sakshi asked.
“Umm. My first family is my Kanha ji. Other than him, I have two best friends, we have been besties since childhood. Then their family is also my family. And most importantly my maiya and all the people of our home.” Shree replied, and a huge smile broke on her remembering her family.
“Maiya? You call your mother maiya, is it common in Vrindavan and what about your father?” Laksh asked.
“Oh no no, Maiya is the caretaker of our home, which is our orphanage. We all in the orphanage call her maiya as she is a mother to us. And I am an orphan so no mother and no father.” Shree replied with a smile, making all of them shocked.
It’s not like she doesn't feel any pain being an orphan of course she does. She also wanted a small family of her own like everyone else. But she just keeps herself happy thinking maybe Kanha ji didn’t want to give her a small family, maybe he wanted to have a huge family which includes her friends, her friends’ families and all the people of her orphanage.
Everyone in the hall was shocked to hear her. They never thought such a bubbly and lively girl was all alone in this world. They weren't able to reply with anything other than looking at her.
In their thoughts no one noticed a figure standing near the doorstep of the mansion who is Adhyansh. He came home early as he needed to do some work in his home office but he didn’t know he would be welcomed like this.
For the first time in his entire life he was regretting something he said and felt an unbearable pain in his heart. He heard everything about Shree and he was feeling guilty for calling her a spoiled brat who just knows how to use her father’s money. He can’t even imagine living her whole life without the love of parents. He just stood there shocked, his heart burnt with the pain of regret and guilt.
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