Chapter 1: Miss Psycho
Prerna quickly finished an apple in the car. She had her first appointment at 10 am. She wanted to be on time. It was 9:45 and she pressed the accelerator a little harder to make it on time.
At 10:03 she entered her clinic. “Good Morning Ma’am!” Shivani chirped. “Morning!” Prerna smiled at her and acknowledged the client sitting in the waiting room. “Hi, sorry I am late, let’s begin?” She said courteously.
***
“Late?” Rishabh smirked. “It’s just 10:05.”
“Mr. Rishabh Bajaj, I have been waiting for you since 9:00. I am not your staff.” Anurag said rolling his eyes.
“Only in theory.” Rishabh smirked.
“Kya matlab?” He asked narrowing his eyes.
“Matlab tu school mein mera homework karta tha, college mein mere assignments & ab—”
“Ab main esa kuch nahi karunga!” Anurag said stopping him.
“Yeah yeah, ab toh you’ve done your masters from Cambridge, baap ka business sambhal raha hai. Ab kaha mere liye kuch karega?” he said feigning sadness.
“Stop your drama and breakfast karo, I haven’t eaten anything subah se.” Anurag said looking at the menu.
The two childhood friends laughed as they ordered food. No matter how busy they got, they always ended up making time for each other.
***
“Anyway, I met her again 2 weeks back, she is still so beautiful.” Mr. Rohan Singh, a 30 year old, said. A small smile had crept up on his face.
Prerna was touched but didn’t let any emotion surface. She had to keep a straight face. Rohan had a girlfriend back in college whom he wanted to marry. But because her father didn’t approve of him he had taken a step back. The girl had wanted him to. So he did. Now he was happily married with another but saw his girlfriend again the other day. Old memories crept up and he didn’t know what to do with those feelings and memories.
“Do you still, by any chance, love her?” Prerna asked.
“No doctor, I love Naina, my wife. I am happy in life. But these memories have resurfaced and somewhere deep down I have a curiosity to know what happened with her. I want to know how she is & what she is upto.”
“I believe that’s natural. So what’s the problem?”
“I don’t know. I am just confused. I don’t want to lie to my wife & if I tell her she will definitely read too much into it and it will create a scene. You know how far I’ve come. You have seen how long I took to come to terms with my life.”
“and you’re coming to me with this because..?”
“For help on how to get these curious thoughts out of my mind. I want to forget. I can’t do this.”
“Only if there was a medicine for that.” She mumbled under her breath. “See, Rohan, you can’t just forget. Firstly, I am glad that you’re so clear in your brain about your feelings and also to see that you wouldn’t lie to your wife. Now, I don’t see how I can help you except for saying that stop assuming how your wife will react and maybe tell her the things you just told me. Sometimes we care about another person so much that we want to protect them from everything. But what we forget really is who are we protecting them from? Us or the truth? Isn’t hiding these feelings already lying to your wife? Maybe she would understand, maybe she won’t. Maybe you can take her with you and meet your ex. You just want to know what’s up with her right? Your wife can be there for that. Show trust and faith in her and she will show faith in you.”
Rohan sat there silently. Prerna gave him time. Something old had just crept up in her mind too. She tried hard to push it down. I couldn’t get him out of my head too after our first conversation.
**Flashback**
2 Years Ago
“Ma’am we have a spare seat in business class. You are eligible for a free upgrade. Would you like one?” The flight attendant asked at the check in counter. Prerna’s eyes shot up in excitement. “Yes, ofcourse.” She jumped. Who would refuse a free upgrade. This almost never happens. What luck! She thanked her stars and put her earplugs back on as she walked towards security check.
She found her seat immediately. It was her first time in business class. She looked at the man who sat on the window seat. He was intently looking at his phone. She settled down and pulled out her book. She switched her phone off and pushed it into her purse. The flight took off and Prerna couldn’t be more at peace.
“Psychology, interesting!” She heard the man say. She smiled at the stranger and nodded.
“Can I ask you a question? If you don’t mind.” He said.
“Ofcourse.” She replied. Ready to talk to her first real client.
“Aren’t you too beautiful to be a psycho?”
Prerna’s eyes widened as she stared unbelievably at the stranger. She frowned. “So innovative.” She said sarcastically.
“I’m sorry but I was just being honest. Don’t they teach you not to hurt people’s feelings in psycho class?”
Prerna rolled her eyes. “They taught us how to look through a person’s bullshit in class.”
“Oh really? So you can see through me?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, Ms. Psycho, tell me something about myself.”
Prerna narrowed her eyes. She knew she had fallen for the most obvious question. Why did I have to respond. Now I have to waste my time answering his questions.
“You are only irritating me because we no longer have internet on the flight and you can’t do what you were doing on your phone anymore.” This was the best she could come up with.
The stranger smiled. “Or,” he said turned towards and her and looking deep into her eyes, “I am not on my phone because I am sitting next to a beautiful girl whose name I would love to know.”
Prerna gulped. She wasn’t used to this. Should I just give him my name? No. I won’t. Why should I? But he isn’t bad looking himself and quite charming too. Okay first stop smiling. Prerna straightened up.
“Okay, I’ll go first.” He said. “I am Rishabh Bajaj.” He extended his hand to hold hers.
She shrugged. “Prerna Sharma.” She shook hands and pulled her hand back nervously.
*
Edited by MrsRishabhBajaj - 4 years ago
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