Tangled Hearts

Chapter 1

In a Corporate World, two strangers meet. They both have their untold past in them. They work in the same department and carry on with their work coordination. At times, they do have small fights and be mad at each other to get their work done.

During a long weekend holiday, Ganu goes to his hometown to meet his parents. Sapna feels lonely without his company as she has nobody to fight with. One evening as Sapna was winding her work schedule, her phone beeps. She glances at her phone to see who has sent the message. She saw it was from Ganu and thought it must be for some official work to be executed in his absence. But when she opened the message, she was surprised to see a WhatsApp image of a lavender flower which was captured from his native. Sapna’s loneliness turned into happiness by seeing this spectacular sight. She felt it was very thoughtful of him to send it. A Friendship blossomed between them by exchanging messages and calls.

When Ganu joined back to work after his vacation, he handed over a gift to Sapna. Sapna was eagerly opening to see what it was when she saw he had a cigarette in his hand. Instead of opening the cover, she started inquiring how many cigarettes he had on a daily basis and asked him to reduce otherwise it will have an effect on his health. Ganu smiled at her. By her advice, he could understand that she has so much of concern for him but how could he tell her that it’s due to life tensions he was smoking. She was surprised to see a beautiful frame of Goddess Durga presented by him and thanked him.

Next day evening after work, they were commuting to their respective homes by Metro. Ganu said he has to get down before his stop as he has to meet someone and as it’s just for a few minutes, will she be able to accompany him. She thought how could she say no to a friend and agreed.

They waited for his friend at CCD. He ordered a pomegranate juice for her. While she was sipping it, she was stunned by its yummy taste which she loved. After meeting his friend, they bid goodbye and went on their way. But the meeting in CCD became a daily routine after their office hours and they enjoyed each other’s company.

One day, while they were at the metro, Sapna gets a call from her college mate and talks with him for a long time. Ganu felt jealous that he was not able to spend much time with her. He started searching for matrimony sites on the phone for her to notice it. She notices but acts like she has not seen. She needed him too but never showed.

Chapter 2

On a weekend, they decided to meet up for lunch at his house. Ganu prepared many dishes to serve her. Sapna couldn’t believe he could make finger licking dishes and she had it stomach-full. After heavy lunch, they were resting on the bed. He closed his eyes to take rest. She found a small Vaseline cream lying beside her. She took it and childishly played by opening and closing the lid. The sound made Ganu irritated. He asked her to stop it. She purposefully continued doing it again and again. He couldn’t bear it anymore and pulled the cream from her hand. As she was holding it tightly, when he pulled, both came very close to each other face to face. For a moment, both felt for each other, but they smiled it off.

He was certain as days go by, he can’t live without her. Whatever may be, he thought to open up his feelings and called her at one night and said that he loves her and she is his life but whether she loves him back or not is up to her.

That night, he confessed everything about who his family is, his career, his ex-girlfriends, his likes, and dislikes to her.

She felt both have a lot of things in common and good bonding. She was blushing over the phone at his proposal.

The next weekend, they decided to go on a movie date. He requested her to come as he wished to watch the movie with a beautiful girl. She was flattered and agreed. When the movie was halfway through, she could hear someone crying. She wondered who is crying and looked at him. He was wiping his tears as he felt emotional and home-sick because it was a family-oriented scene. She wiped his tears and held his hand to console him. He felt relieved and lucky to have her by his side.

On his birthday, he had invited her over to his place. She bought a small cake for him. Before cutting the cake, she asked him to close his eyes. When he closed his eyes, she whispered in his ears that she loves him too and gave a kiss on his cheek. He jumped with happiness by hearing her proposal. He said to her that this is the best birthday gift ever. They both hugged each other and celebrated the birthday to the fullest in each other’s company.

Chapter 3

Everything was going smoothly in their love.

Even the matrimony search from both sides of their families was in full swing.

When Ganu called his parents and gave a hint that he likes a girl. They were very particular that he should marry a girl from his same community whereas Sapna’s parents were happy to accept him.

Ganu was sad but Sapna supported him saying not to worry and they will always be there for each other.

He had to face a lot of pressure from his family to search the girl from his community and get married.

Whenever a girl’s photo was sent to his email id, he hesitated to open the e-mail. And if he opened it, he finds some reason or the other to reject the girl as he had already found his only girl in the lifetime...i.e., Sapna and can’t think of anyone else.

Finally, for the sake of parents wish, he was getting married. He made all the arrangements for Sapna to attend his wedding and to be by his side. She told him straightforwardly that she won’t be attending it as she can’t tolerate seeing him getting married to some girl. Even though she denied, he made it a point to call her to give updates on the wedding proceedings. While he was giving updates, she put in all her efforts to respond to him in a jolly way but she was broken inside.

When he joined back to work after marriage, he was busy with his responsibilities in work as well as at home. Since the girl he married was from his hometown, he has to take care that she gets adjusted to the city life. Sapna and Ganu gets time to speak during breaks, lunch hours and in between works. She was watching the changed person he is after marriage with lots of responsibilities. She wants to spend more time with him as before.

She was recollecting all the memories they spend together and the fun they had.

She was back to her lonely life again.

Chapter 4

Ganu’s ambition was to climb up the ladder from his position of Manager to CEO of a company. He was all stressed out to make ends meet by taking time off from both his schedules to talk to Sapna. But he made it a point to allocate his lunch break every day especially for her. On the other hand, his separation from her was making her depressed and she was suffering from health-related problems.

All his ambitions were shattered due to a sudden recession. He was asked to quit the company. He had no idea how he will survive in the city without his monthly income and he also has his wife who is dependent on him. Sapna was very sad by hearing this news. But being sad is not a solution, she decided to be strong and motivated him to apply on the job websites.

He can’t stay at home as he doesn’t want his wife to know about his situation. He applied for various jobs, went for interviews at day, spend time with Sapna about job discussion in the evening and went back home. She assisted him with new job prospects. She gave almost her full salary to him for his monthly expenditure. She had to cut down her shopping, traveling and eating out expenses and she didn’t want her family to involve or to know about it which would give them unnecessary tension. It doesn’t matter whatever happens to her but her only concern was about him.

As days go by, after repeated lookout for jobs, he was getting emotional and losing hope of finding a new one. Sapna consoled him and told him to have complete faith in God and it will happen soon. She went to temples on weekends and prayed for him. His tensions and frustrations led to heated arguments between them.

One day, she received a mail from her friend asking for a job reference for Senior Manager Position. She forwarded the mail and asked him to apply for it. He did apply, passed the interviews and got the job too. His happiness knew no bounds. He waited in the evening for her to arrive, thanked her for being with him during highs and lows.

He joined his new job but his work location was very far from hers. They exchanged messages and calls daily but were not able to meet due to their hectic schedules.

His landlord called him on a weekend and asked him to shift his house. Ganu asked for 2 months’ notice. The landlord agreed. He was in dilemma. It’s just one month at his workplace, not received his salary, and the landlord had asked him to shift, what he was going to do.

He called up Sapna. She told him to be cool, search for the houses which suit him and his wife but she will pay the amount. He was worried as to how she will be able to pay such a huge amount. But he knew she was a strong person and was capable of doing anything to get her work done.

He started his house hunting vigorously on weekends. Sapna made arrangements for the amount by applying for a loan from banks and financial institutions. All her applications were rejected but luck in favour, her loan was approved by one of the Institution.

At last, Ganu found his dream house. Sapna paid the huge amount as promised. He and his wife moved to a new home.

Sapna's health was deteriorating day by day.

She would ask Ganu to meet her when she was admitted to hospital. He wants to meet her but gets held up with work but he keeps in touch with her constantly through calls and messages by taking few minutes off.

Chapter 5

Sapna had her parents by her side and longed to meet Ganu in the hospital. Ganu prayed to all Gods and visited temples on his way to the office for her health to be better.

He had hurdles in office to prove his mettle to become CEO and the interview was scheduled for next week. He shared the news with her and she said you will come out with flying colors. He asked her not to make fun of him as he believed he can't make it up. She said to have hope, be confident and pray to God, Success will always be his.

On the day of the interview, Ganu sends her a selfie in WhatsApp dressed in formal coat and suit. She gives a thumbs-up as her reply and wishes him best of luck. He prays to God for her health and leaves for his big day.

When he was entering the room for his interview round, he gets a call from an unknown number. As he was about to receive the call, an attendant instructs him that mobile phones are not allowed. He kept the mobile in silent mode.

With great determination and confidence, he gets selected as CEO. Her words have come true. He takes his mobile phone from his pant pocket and calls her in joy. It was ringing but she was not picking up the call. He calls her again and again but in vain. He assumes that she must be with the doctor that's the reason she was not attending it.

When he was on his way home, he remembered he had received a call from an unknown number and he thought to call back. After about five rings, a familiar voice said Hello. He could recognize the voice of Sapna's father. His father conveyed to him that his daughter was critical and breathed her last. He couldn't accept the news he heard and was lost for words.

Ganu was in intense grief and his life became void without her.

But his life should go on at least for the sake of his family and with sadness in his soul, he remembered her in every moment of his life.