Chương 22: Chapter 21

When Shreya woke up, the first thing she laid eyes on was very charming Charan cooking in her kitchen. Since the couch was laid right in front of her kitchen, he saw him as soon as she opened her eyes.

She dragged her legs and sneaked behind him. But in spite of her efforts, Charan still saw her coming.

"You are awake??" He asked.

She did not reply but walked towards him and hugged him from behind.

"Do you even use your kitchen??? Your fridge is practically rotting away." Charan commented. When he first came in to make something for her, he was actually met with an empty fridge. Except for some bread and beer, there was nothing in there. So he had to go out and buy some ingredients for their meal.

"I don't like eating here. If I wake up before the milk guy comes, I will make some toast and share breakfast. Or else I will just have a glass of milk and skip them. Lunch and dinner I usually have it delivered at the office. So I don't really use my kitchen much except to get water." Shreya said nonchalantly coming and standing beside him.

Charan looked at her and then her house. That's when he noticed it. She was alone here. Suddenly images of her sleeping alone and eating alone in this house popped up in his head. He could see her roaming around all alone at night with a blank expression. He did not like the image. Her face looked sad in all of them.

"Why do you live here alone??" Charan asked. He was confused since from what he had heard so far, her uncle and aunt seemed to adore her so they shouldn't have had any problem with her living with them even if she was divorced. So he knew this should have been Shreya's choice.

Shreya thought about the question for a while the chose her words carefully and said, "I don't know actually. I just got used to it I guess. Along the way somehow I just couldn't stand having people around me all the time. I don't mean it in an offensive way. I just stopped bringing people closer to me. It broke my uncle's heart when I said I couldn't stand to live with them but then he did not really object."

When she finished, Charan was reminded of Akira instantly. When Samantha died, for one week Akira had shut herself in her room. She was only 6 years old back then. She did not really cry. She just quietly stayed in her room. But she absolutely refused to let anyone in. If someone approached her, she would throw a tantrum. She would go into a screaming fit. She came around at last only after hearing to Samantha's recording. Samantha left some voice recorded messages, especially for Akira. After hearing it, for some reason, she just started being her old self. Just a tad bit more mature. NO wonder both of them got along so well from the start.

Charan's heart ached when he thought of Shreya doing the same for all these years. She had shut herself within these walls for so long that she actually got used to it and does not find it odd anymore. He turned around and brought her into his arms and hugged her tightly.

Shreya could not really decipher what was going on with Charan. She just blinked at him confused.

"What happened??" Shreya asked.

"I just want to hug you," Charan said plainly without explaining anything else.

Shreya did not understand what was he up to or what he was thinking but then 'hey… who would say no to a hug??' She sure was not one of them. She even soothingly caressed on his back comforting him.

"…" Charan did not know how to say that he was actually trying to comfort her instead of the other way around.

But he did not have the heart to let go just yet. So he hoisted her off her feet hugged her closer to him. Shreya yelped in surprise and then by instincts wrapped her hands and legs around him.

Charan had his head buried over her shoulders.

Shreya had her hands circled around his neck securely and asked concerned, "What's wrong?? Are you okay??"

"Just let me hold you for a minute okay??" Charan whispered against her neck.

Shreya did not want to pry so she did not ask anymore. There was a sense of desperation in the way he held her; it did not make any sense to her. On the other hand, Charan's emotions were on a twist. He himself couldn't clearly understand what was happening. All he knew was, at that moment, he wanted to protect her in his arms even if she did not really need his protection. Even if he did not have the ability to protect her physically, he at least wanted to protect her heart.

At last Charan let her go when he heard something rattle behind him on the stove. He gave her a kiss on her crown before letting her go.

"Go on. Freshen up and come down. The food will be ready by then. And hey… before I forget. Pritham came in about an hour ago I think. He asked you to call some person named Rajesh."

Shreya looked at him one last time to make sure he was okay before backing out to her room.

The first thing she called Rajesh. When he found out that Shreya arranged for his daughter's surgery, he agreed to help her out. Maybe even join her team if she would take him. Of course, Shreya jumped on the opportunity.

"Hey, what's up??" she asked as soon as the call collected.

"These guys were smarter than we thought. They had already leveraged your company employees." Rajesh said dejectedly.

This was actually within her expectations. So she just said, "You don't have to worry. You just mail me whatever you found to me. And also don't hold back anything you found either. Just hand it over to the other side. I will deal with it appropriately on my end." She then hung up the call.

She then went to freshen up. When she went down, Charan was still not done with the food. So she thought of getting some work done.

"Akash… Are you awake??" she asked as soon as the call got connected.

"Go away," Akash said groggily.

"I forwarded you an mail. Just make sure those people are there in my office first thing Monday morning okay?? And also schedule a meeting with all the board members. I want full attendance no matter what." She said.

Seeing as she had called for business Akash gave her full attention. And once she was done he simply said, "You got it. And hey… mom is asking you to bring your boyfriend around for her to meet."

But before Shreya could respond Charan's voice bellowed from the kitchen, "Shreya come down to eat. Food is ready."

"He is cooking for you??" Akash's mocking voice asked her next on the phone.

Shreya did not bother to reply. She just cut the call and walked to her food.

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Gayu2594

As you might have seen, I am no good at interactions. So I just wanted to say thank you for each and every person who have voted and left a comment in spite of being met with a wall of silence. I just want to say I am extremely introverted when it comes to online socializing or interactions... I will try and improve.

Please do leave a review or comment so that i can know where i can improve.

For me writing... Writing makes it bearable for me to breathe. So I hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing this.

I will try and interact more.

Happy reading.

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