Saanvi pov

As I entered Mr. Raghav's office, he looked at me and said,

"Mam, I am sorry if it may sound rude but I think you should change or even better, have a shower."

I looked at myself. Right, I was drenched with a drink.

"Uhh, is there a shower here by any chance? I don't think I would be comfortable with only changing my clothes." I asked.

Mr. Raghav responded with a yes and showed me the direction. He asked me if had any clothes, and I simply took out the spare clothes from my bag, which I had brought.

The laptop was placed on a seat which was little far from the place it all happened, which made it safe from the damage of getting wet.

I entered the bathroom and placed the clothes aside. And then looked around the bathroom.

Damn! These people have a whole room in the name of bathrooms.

I started my shower and got out of the washroom after 10 mins and then settled in the chair as I knew the people in here would want to talk with the new boss.

And my guess was right. Few seconds later, Mr. Raghav came in with few people who I assumed, were recruits. Then, they asked me questions related to work. And some other like yk, general questions.

Then, I went back home after I had a few talks with other important people in the branch. And many wise and strategic people had been hired by the previous M.D(s) who made my work easier, be it be now or earlier.

Although I was tired, I could not have a wink of sleep. Maybe because I slept before going to the company. Whatever.

And let's drop the talk of company.( Not the company, nahi toh phir apun berojgaar hojaayega na)

So, I went outside, in hopes of having fresh air. Nope, not getting that. All I got outside, a little far from my house was loud bustling noises, unnecessary horns, screams of irritating people and many noises I did not like.

Oh, and how could I forget? Pollution. Air pollution and noise pollution. I gave you an example just now of the first one.

How I wish to be in a society where this pollution did not exist and people were soft to others and themselves.

But guess I could never have it.

Having no choice, I just decided to roam around for a bit and try to find a place where this was less or where it felt a little home kind of feeling.

And I found it, fortunately. It was a nice garden which was decorated with plants and they blossomed proudly over every bush. I wondered whose garden this was, or it was a government garden.

But government could never do this much, and I soon got the confirmation when a nearly 18-yrs-old looking girl came to me and told me that it was someones personal garden, when she saw me admiring it.

"Whose exactly is this garden? Can I meet them?" I asked, trying to be as soft as possible. I was unknowingly rough with kids in the past, and I was afraid that I still was.

"Well, yes you can. And infact you are seeing them right now. “Her” specifically. Yep, Hi, I am Nisha. And I take care of this garden." She said politely.

"Wow, really? This garden is really beautiful," I pointed my finger at a certain flower after she thanked me. "What is the name of this flower? And what is its qualities? Can you tell me? This is a really beautiful flower." I asked again, unsure.

"Yeah, sure, this is a very ancient breed of flowers. These are called (A flowers name) and they were grown in the king's garden very, very long back. It is said that when kings, queens or anyone of the royals missed someone, they used to send this flower to them. Like we send messages nowadays to tell others that we miss them." She explained.

I was really invested in that flower and after knowing this, I wanted to know more, about other flowers. And it seemed that she enjoyed explaining me too. We talked for an hour or so and then I realised it was getting really dark now, so I bid her goodbye and walked real quick to reach my house.

There was nothing eventful after that. Just some meetings in the company, me trying to know my employees better and trying to work more efficiently. Which, Mr. Raghav said that I was already too good. Maybe he was trying flirt with me, maybe he was genuine. Nobody knows but I must say that I felt good after him saying that.

But in the following days, I knew that he was genuine, I mean I guess so, because of his gentleman nature.

Anyway, I started meeting Nisha more frequently and we were getting more open about her lives. But I sensed that she hide something from me.

You know the feeling when you think someone is lying and the feeling is very strong, like really. I was feeling that.

And if for logic, let me tell you. She keeps fidgeting with her hands, she avoids looking at my face when anything related to family comes up. And she evens insists me sometimes to stay a little longer when I am about to leave. Lets leave that for now.

Presently, I was bidding goodbye to her, suspiciously.. I knew something was wrong. She kept getting hurt, very hurt. Bruises, scratches and signs of abuses were evident in her body.

But she refused and even told me to stay away. But then immediately apologised and said that she was menstruating.

I did not buy that whole-ly but was leaving now. Halfway to my home, I realised that I had forgotten my phone with Nisha.

So I took a U-turn and went to her home. Then knocked on it to get her or anyone inside's attention and then took a step back and waited for a response.

But all I got was a sound of shattering glasses or maybe plates and then a low scream of a girl. A horrified expression painted my face when I thought that it could be Nisha's scream and maybe someone entered her house and was trying to assault her or worse - kill her.

What the-. No what am I thinking? No, no, no.

I tried to knock harder but all in vain because the voices kept getting louder and the girl's screams kept getting too, and painful.

I could not hold back anymore, I found something to break into the house and threw it at the door with all my strength. It flew open, making a loud sound when it met the wall.

Maybe I grabbed attention but I was thankful that the girl had a chance to escape if something happens.

I stepped inside and what I saw, shocked me.

--

Ehh, this cliffhanger doesn't feel like a cliffhanger to me. But whatever.