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.

I went around checking the work progress of everyone and corrected all minor errors.

By around 3 in the afternoon, Aparna woke up and rubbed her eyes. She instantly looked at the wall clock and gasped loud.

" You! Why didn't you wake me up??? " She shouted at me pulling her hair.

" Do you want to die? " I asked her with a straight face.

She glared at me and wiped off the drool from her face.

" Girl! We need you to work in this firm for the next project too. In this rate, you will go mad! " Karthik said.

Aparna shook her head and walked out to the restroom.

She came back in and looked over the pantry. She rubbed her forehead looking at the pile of bouquets.

" Eat the lunch on your table " Shwetha said to Aparna.

" Yes, ma'am! " Aparna walked back to her worktable with a sad face.

" Please wash up for God's sake! " I said to Aparna controlling my laughter.

She gave me a death glare and started eating.

" Go to my home and wash up, if you can't go to the pg. " Shwetha said.

" Okay " Aparna said.

Aparna walked to me and gave me her drawing files in a pendrive. I started checking them.

" I will book a cab and be back here within an hour " Aparna said to me.

" Why cab? " I asked confused.

" Well, you told me to wash up! " She said raising her hands in defense.

" Oh that " I said and turned back to my screen.

" Yes that! " She said.

" After I finish checking the files, I will drop you and bring you back here. " I said quickly.

" Wait, what, no! " She said confused.

" Go with him, you will save lots of time. " Shwetha said.

Aparna nodded her head in agreement after ten minutes of thinking. She agreed only because she can save some time, and I was slightly disappointed by that.

I finished up the files and Aparna brought her bag. I looked at the piled bouquets, they were all fresh because of the air conditioner, and finally an idea came to my mind.

" Pick up all those flower bouquets! " I said to Aparna.

" Yes, we need to clear this crap " Aparna said and picked up all the bouquets. There were at least 15 bouquets that her hands were filled with the flowers.

The sky had nearly cleared up. I started my bike and I held some flower bouquets in front and she held the remaining with her.

As we drove to the main road, I did see a small tear in Aparna's eyes through my rear view mirror .She was looking at the roses and touched them slowly. She was lying that they were crap.

I stopped my bike in front of the destination and we got down. Aparna looked at me confused.

We stood in front of the special school which I used to visit often with Karthik and Hari. I got Aparna's bag from her and placed it over my bike.

I started unwrapping all the bouquets and took out the flowers separately.

" What are you doing? " She asked and I didn't reply back.

Aparna was puzzled by my actions but I was determined to stay silent. The watchman was also looking at me confused.

I looked at my watch and the back at the closed school gate in front of us.

At 4:15 , the bell rang and the children started walking out.

I ran out to the kids and handed them the flowers one by one. Some were walking out alone while others were accompanied by their parents.

" See that akka in blue jacket, it's her birthday, she wants to give you all roses! " I shouted to the kids.

They also rushed to me to get the roses. The children giggled at me and walked to Aparna and started wishing her. Some were kind enough to hug her.

Soon a crowd of kids were around both me and Aparna. I was struggling to give the roses to everyone. Aparna was laughing and thanking everyone.

I did catch her glances at me few times. She was looking at me with teary eyes, smiling showing all her teeth.

After all the roses were gone, I started my bike and Aparna sat behind me. A huge smile was plastered on her face. Her eyes were light and relieved.

We reached Shwetha's home and I stopped my bike outside.

" Aren't you coming in? " Aparna asked.

I shook my head smiling.

" Okay, wait here! I will be back as soon as I can! " She said and walked away.

I caught her hand and pulled her back swiftly. She stumbled and stood back holding my bike.

I opened my bike seat and took out the small succulent plant.

" Happy birthday! " I said and handed it to her.

" Thank you, wow, this would sit perfectly on my worktable. Why are you giving this now? " She asked.

" I was scared that this would end up in the pantry too! " I said laughing.

She shook her head and started looking at the succulent closer. The pot was exactly the size of her hand and she held it tight.

" I know I looked pathetic today. I couldn't afford all those gifts and I gave them out without even asking you. If I had disappointed you, I am sorry " I said looking away from her.

Suddenly, Aparna pulled me by my collar and she kissed me on my cheek.

Before I could come to my senses, she flew off inside Shwetha's home.

I stood there smiling like an idiot. Maybe, I am not that much pathetic after all.

After some time, Aparna walked out and she ran to me. Her smile was all gone. She was dressed again in another huge jacket. I thought she would at least celebrate her birthday in that.

" Start the bike, I am lagging behind the schedule by two hours! " She said as she sat behind me, as I knew that Architect Aparna was back.

" Didn't you schedule your sleep? " I asked and started my bike.

" I did, after all the work is done " She said.

I drove the bike to my office as fast as I could and Aparna was nagging me all the way.

We reached back to the office around 6 in the evening.

The office atmosphere became more tensed as Aparna went around handing more work to everyone.

Karthik was whining at his laptop and he was looking at me to help him. I shooed him away and signed that Aparna will kill me.

" I will kill both of you! " Aparna said from her place. She wasn't even looking at us.

I turned back to my screen and continued working.

We ordered dinner from outside and Aparna said that she would pay for everything. Hari and Karthik decided to have a huge blast and ordered everything that they wanted to eat.

After we ate, the interns went back to their home. Karthik, Hari and Shwetha went out to fresh up, as we had to stay the night in the office.

I was working in the office with Aparna. It started to rain again.

I relaxed on my chair for a minute and slowly turned to look at Aparna. She was back to her hair bun and was biting a pen between her teeth.

I stood up and was walking back and forth between the tables. My legs were killing me.

After a huge thunder, the power was gone. We had generators running. So I wasn't worried.

" Power went out! " Aparna said.

" Don't worry , we have generators, we can still work! " I said to her.

As I was speaking a heavy noise came out from the generators room and the lights were gone.

" Nice generators! " Aparna said in the dark.

" Don't move. We have the tables lying here and there. " I said to her. She lit up her phone torch and looked at me.

I walked to the pantry and took out the dusty temporary light.

I tried to turn it on, but was disappointed again. I turned on the torch light in my phone.

" You don't have candles here, right?, I don't want to be stuck in another candle light situation with you! " She said.

" Deja vu " I said laughing.

" I call that as candle light curse! " She said.

" Well, Let's hope that we don't get torch light curse now! " I said smirking.

Aparna was looking at me with her jaws dropped to the floor.

Will the torch light curse be better or worse?