No matter where you are in your life, you may regret choosing the wrong love.
You may repent of some bitter deeds you committed in the past.
What is it like if life luckily gave us a second chance? Can those issues be resolved at least then for a better life?
For instance, what about love in middle age?!?!
"Time's up for your seminar!", Nisha reminded Alok. She got up from her chair. He too stood up. She blushed and rushed towards the auditorium. "Sexy! Whenever I am about to tell her the three magical words, something or the other hinders me. Urgh! What a bad fate I have been blissed(bless as bliss) with!", Alok stamped on the milky white-colored tile and applied maximum pressure to close his fist.
As soon as Dr.Alok entered the hall, he shrank his eyes at Nisha. She blushed, bringing her right thumb up and gesturing to him all the very best for his talk. He smiled and nodded. He ascended the stairs to the stage and acknowledged the facilitator who then left through the steps on the other corner of the stage. He held the guys, greeting his audience and reading out the topic as his presentation was projected on the screen.
He used the wireless mouse on the desk to navigate to the next slide. "Let's begin by discussing what the term means." He pointed hither and thither at the audience. "I don't think I must discuss chemotherapy for we must have an idea about it. We aren't in a medical conference to dive deeper though!", said he, at which the listeners grinned and nodded. "What do you understand by augmented reality? How many of you have worked on AR projects before?", he threw questions to kickstart his session.
Hands went up and down once in a couple of minutes throughout his session for he often found a good time to clear doubts. However, Nisha was busy smiling and staring at him. She rested her head on her right hand. She leaned back, wondering, "Saar, why can't you love me then or now? I know the very question is rhetorical yet I want to hear your answer." She wiped her tears, thinking, "I love you, Alok saar." She tightened her left hand around the seat's handle. She swallowed her tears. She gnashed her teeth within herself, wishing, "Divorce Payal and come to me, saar. End of it! Just do it!"
"Yep! Of course, gaming needs reinforcement learning but in the case of healthcare,...", Dr.Alok replied to a listener's query. Nisha smiled to herself. Tears of happiness rolled down her cheeks. "Yep! Of course!", the first two words which Alok said coincidentally just at the right moment made her day! The two exclamations continued echoing within her mind. She observed Alok's lips and blushed how they had kissed her a few moments ago.
"Thanks for listening. Any more doubts?", asked Alok, looking around, as the last slide with the gif of a puppy sitting barking from a basket, 'Thank You!', and wagging its tail, showed up. It brought a smile to the attendees' faces. He winked at Nisha who blushed in return. She nodded and clapped aloud. "Feedbacks, Nisha?", asked Alok, at which Nisha shrank her eyes and shook her head. "Sexy! My wife pretends to like it, I guess."
"My wife!My wife! My wife!", the two words which Alok used to associate Nisha with himself, made her heart squeeze as the yellow smiley ball one pressed for their daily morning exercises. "I have always been your wife in my world without your knowledge. It's the first time I have been your wife", began Nisha, at which the spectators shared blank faces at each other. "So, ideally, it's the first time I will be commenting on my husband's mindblowing research presentation. Why would I miss it?", she revealed.
The audience cheered for her as she stood up and walked toward the stage. She stood beside him and held the mike. "Dr.Alok Sharma, it was a handsome seminar by my handsome gentleman. Loved it! I will see if I can apply AR to my next healthcare project. Thanks for sharing your strategies", commented Nisha. "Sexy! Medam, I know that you didn't listen to a word I uttered. Instead, you were engrossed spotting scars on my face, neck, or hands!Hmmm!", he whispered in her ears. She bulged her eyes, chuckled, and walked back to her seat.
Alok followed her to their seat. The others began filling out the feedback forms shared in their emails as instructed by the facilitator. "An illicit obsession!", screamed a spectator from the third row. He was pointing at the slide put up on the screen with the same title.
"But, there is no presentation right now. Seminars are scheduled to continue after a five-minute feedback session. How is this playing? And what is this?", asked the facilitator, tapping the laptop connected to the desk. She shrugged at the audience. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience and the irrelevance. I don't understand why I am unable to control the presentation. Keys aren't working....", she complained.
Pictures having Payal and Alok together in which the former's face was scratched bitterly or torn out completely were displayed. Nisha began sweating. Her eyes rolled hither and thither recollecting to have locked the very photos in her drawer. Alok's hands went numb seeing Payal's photos all of a sudden so unexpectedly, amid a tech summit! "Isn't it Dr.Alok? Why are his photos displayed out of nowhere?", the attendees looked puzzled at each other.
The next slide played a video capturing a room whose left wall housed Alok's college photos-one in which he hugged his middle-aged pet dog, another where he, wearing a white pant and shirt stood, smiling, and speaking to someone at an orphanage, some other in which he posed in a black suit and others where he stood with his mother, father or elder brother.
"Fuck! Why are my old college photos playing here? My family...", spoke out Alok. He sighed to swallow his tears, at the scene of his father, a fair and slightly plump man in the white suit, patting him for a gold medal in school, and his mother, a lady who always wore a smile on her face and dressed in a sari, feeding him a plate of plain rice mixed with dhal, flashed in front of his eyes.
"Miss you...I hope you have forgiven me. Dad, yes, I was wrong and you, as always, were right", he recollected. He bent and wiped his tears.
Nisha rubbed the back of her neck with her left hand. "My secret store room...How is this recorded? Who went in there? I had secretly hidden the key in my office drawer...What on earth is happening here?", she thought. The recording threw its focus on the next grid of class photos having Alok and Nisha standing together back during their college days. Alok turned towards Nisha who was busy looking at the slide. She began shaking her legs with a great deal of anxiety.
The next frame showcased a tall statue, as tall as Alok, and another, as tall as Nisha simulating the two in suit and sari respectively. They stood on the same base and faced each other. Nisha clung to Alok who hugged her. "Nisha, are the photos and statues yours?", asked Alok. All the spectators' eyes were upon Nisha.
The penultimate frame focused on the couch whose orange cotton cover had a portrait of Alok engraved on it. The last frame concluded by showing the green dustbin filled with dolls simulating Payal's face and a line of red rose bouquets opposite the sofa.
"Alok, Nisha, and who is the other girl?", questioned a curious spectator. "Explain, guys. Did you put this up? But, why? You guys have indeed been disturbing a lot since the very beginning. For god's sake, it's a technical summit. Please!", complaints began emerging from every corner of the auditorium to accuse the two.
"Cool! Let me explain!", intervened a voice, emerging in as the automatic door on the right threw open. A woman with high heels and dressed in a suit walked inside. As she got onto the stage, Nisha exclaimed, "Aashitha!"
"Fuck! Why is this colleague of yours still working here? Didn't you take any action?", asked Alok, patting Nisha's shoulders. Nisha began sobbing. She hugged him and closed her eyes. He frowned at Ashitha who folded her hands and smiled at the two. The scenes of Aashitha pushing Nisha on Alok's car and Alok getting out of his car flashed in front of Alok's eyes. "I wish she indeed died that day. Stalker!", he whispered in Nisha's ears as she hugged him tighter and swallowed her fear. Tears accumulated in her eyes. She gained goosebumps as Ashitha raised her eyebrows.
"Medam, don't worry. I am by your side. Don't you ever worry", supported Alok, massaging Nisha's head gently. Nisha's eyes turned red. Drops of tears rolled to soak Alok's shirt.
Ashitha rubbed her hands. She took onto the mike, "So, guys, I guess you would have inferred from the photos how obsessed Nisha Verma is, with Dr.Alok. It was after extensive observations that I noticed a few points I would love to disclose now. Alok loved Payal back during college. Nisha was completely unaware of her bestie in love with Alok whom she loved one-sidedly."
She chuckled, highlighting at Nisha, "But, she transformed to a psycho desperate to do anything and cross any damn limit to win Alok's love." Ashitha raised her voice, pointed at her senior colleague, and concluded, "She began torturing Payal!"
"What!... What nonsense! Eww, how can one force emotions especially love? But, didn't they tell us that they were married? True...what's true and what's not?...tech summit or a daily soap going on here? What's all this?...", comments began emerging from different perspectives of different spectators assembled there.
A spectacled gentleman, dressed in a grey suit, stood up from the first row. He turned and frowned at Nisha, screwing her, "What's your trainee talking about? Is it true? What's all this drama during our company's first tech summit? Don't you understand the seriousness? I need your explanation."
Alok and Nisha got up from their seats. Nisha raised her eyebrows and shook her head at Aashitha.
"I will explain on behalf of our shocked Nisha", resumed Ashitha. As the elderly managing director pointed his right hand and gestured for her to go on, she justified, "Nisha hated Payal. Her hatred grew in minutes to break all bounds. Did you see how she had made and destroyed dolls with Payal's faces both by herself? Did you also notice how she had picked every photo having Payal and Alok together only to scratch the poor girl's face? She is abnormal..."
Nisha's hands shivered as if she jumped into a pond during winter. Alok tightened her right hand firmly in his left. Nisha sobbed, resting her head on his shirt. He wrapped his right hand around her waist.
"Shut up! It's you who is abnormal", said Alok, interrupting Ashitha. "Sir, she had once threatened to die if Nisha didn't include her in the team. But, the project demanded a better performance. When Nisha refused, see to what extent she has gone to offend her boss. I request you not to club personal and professional stuff."
Nisha released herself from Alok's arms. She looked around and joined her hands. Her face had become exhausted after having shed tears till then. She smiled at Aashitha, complimenting, "Good job! You somehow exposed my weakness. I'm sure every one of us here must have some or the other weakness. Some may be scared of heights while some of the darkness and some others of thunder and lightning. My evil bestie used my true love for Alok just to test his loyalty towards her."
She wiped her tears, declaring, "Yes! My hatred towards Payal is my only weakness. But, I guess unless it impacts my performance at work, it mustn't be pointed out to boycott me."
The director nodded at Alok and Nisha. He gestured for Aashitha to pause. "What's your demand now? Why do you want us to know Nisha's personal affairs?", he asked.
"Nisha is a fucking psycho. She needs psychiatric treatment. I don't want to be working under a mad boss or such a colleague at George healthcare for employees like me would feel insecure around such psychos....", revealed Ashitha.
"Shut up! My Nisha hasn't done anything illicit as you claim", Alok defended Nisha. "My Nisha!My Nisha! My Nisha!", were the only words echoing within Nisha's heart. She rolled her eyeballs hither and thither on Dr.Alok's face filled with wrath at Aashitha.
Will Alok manage to save Nisha's career?
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