FOUND

If you had missed the previous chapters, click here to read: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5.

                                               

                                                  CHAPTER 6

Ronny was the one to speak first. He embarrassingly apologized to her for asking such a question. “Curiosity got the better of meee.. I shouldn’t have, dear. Sorry.” He told.

“Ron… that’s just fine. Erm… are you by any chance outside?” she asked.

“Of course not.. why do you ask?” he asked.

“Nothing nothing… you know what.. I go for team lunches with my boss and my other coleagues… Do you guys hang out too?” she asked, praying that he must not find her question to be unusually suspicious.

“Ah..Wow..Larson takes you guys to team lunch? And you lament to me that you have a moron for a boss, eh?” he asked laughing at her.

“Well. He might have been a little considerate, at times.” She told.

“Whatever… but we never have team lunches here. And even if we had one, me and Steve would be the last persons to go!” he said.

“Oh…Why?” she asked, her brows frowning ironically.

“Jessy will want to spent some time alone with me when the team had gone for the lunch and Steve…. He doesn’t take much interest in anything, really. And nowadays, he has become worse.” He concluded.

“mmm… yes, that’s right. So how has it been with Jess and you?” she asked.

“Well… we have been going steady and I am waiting for the right time to propose to her to marry me.” He told, his voice raising in excitement.

“Yes. I am very happy for you, pal. Now I’ll have to get back. Let me talk to you later.” She said hurriedly as Larson entered her cabin.

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When Maureen’s father went to meet her mom, she paced around looking for Steve. But there wasn’t any trace of him. After searching te whole place down, she went to the cafeteria as the last resort.

There he was sipping his coffee and talking animatedly to a doctor nearby. As soon as he saw her approach him, he waved a big ‘hi’ and rushed to get another cup of coffee for her.

They sat together, enjoying the crispy warm day and the delicious coffee in their tongue. As Steve saw a golden ray riding upon her hair, he was brimming in admiration of her long, wavy hair which fell to her shoulders and some at the table in which she was leaning over.

He could feel his heart thump rapidly, as he saw her lips smile in wonder as to what he was thinking about. He kept his left hand on his chest and commanded his heart to stay quiet. But it beat faster than ever, ignoring his command.

His heart was longing to get back to the moment they had had their measly first kiss. His arms yearned to feel her and he arched an involuntary smile.

He suddenly realized that someone was calling his name.

“Hello! Steve…heyyy!” Maureen was waving beneath Steve’s nose to bring him back to reality. “Ah…Sorry.. I was just….” He stuttered. “I… I was just trying to contemplate how our future would be.” He said with an embarrassed smile.

Maureen could gather that he wasn’t doing any such thing but only admiring her. She smiled back, a knowing smile, and put her arms around him. After a long period of years, Maureen felt wonderful to have someone so close to her and who could understand her feelings with the bat of an eyelid.

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It was an exciting day for Maureen at office as the feathers on her cap piled up by every moment. Larson had informed her that apart from pronmoting her as the sales manager, he was also to make her head an important project of a major client of the company.

He had also informed her about a 15% hike in her pay. She had almost forgotten about the past 2-3 days’ events and relished a lot of laughter and fun with her colleagues.  “I have never seen you laugh so heartily, in a long while, Maureen.” Said Martha, her team mate.

Indeed Maureen had been spotted the happiest person in the office that day. Thanks to the due promotion and hike in pay that had come her way.

Maureen had even forgotten that Steve had lied to her, while she engrossed herself in dreaming about her promising future. “Perhaps, we could go on a vacation over to Mauritius for this Christmas.” She dreamed aloud.

Maureen had called it a day, quite early and was having a look over the shops in the streets on her way back home. She had spotted a sports wear store which had exquisite varities of sports attire for men. She skimmed through the store in search of a surfing suit that Steve was yearning to buy for quite a while. She managed to pick an expensive surfing suit for him, in his favourite colour blue.

She also bought a large size pizza for the both of them and got back home, still dreaming about her future. As she came back home, she locked the door and went to take a luxurious bath to be rid of her frequent migrane.

After the shower, she got into her night pyjamas and lied down on the cot with a magazine by her side. She flipped through the endless pages of the magazine to just stay awake till he arrived home. The clock struck 9:00 PM, but there wasn’t the expected knock on the door.

She stifled a yawn and tried to catch up with a telly series which she had been watching. An hour had passed away like a minute, but she couldn’t hear the horn of Steve’s car in the streets.

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TO BE CONTINUED...

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