Chapter 3 : Grocery Store

                           ANUSHKA'S POV 

It was Sunday, two days after my graduation and the mood was still that of happiness and excitement.. Moreover ,I was looking forward to maybe being called in for a job interview soon since I've been sending in my CVs to different companies in this past two days..I would do any work at this point, as long as I could find a job..It was my responsibility now since I had told brother Shivaay that he should just focus on his family from now on especially after hearing him and his wife arguing about the very same issue on Friday night when he had invited me ,father and Amaar over to his place for dinner to celebrate after the graduation..Well I could understand where Aunt Madhuri was coming from..I mean no wife could stand that..But knowing how stubborn my brother was , he wouldn't listen to me and would not stop providing for us ,so I figured it was about time I showed him that I could handle everything and that I would provide for father and Amaar but to do that I had to find a job first obviously..

I woke up early in the morning ,took a quick bath ,lotioned and then dressed myself in a white leggings and a dark orange Indian dress and a white scarf covering the front of my neck..I put on bangles around both my wrists and used bobby pins to push my hair backwards making it float gently on my back..I just smiled softly at myself realising how cute I looked at that moment with my big dark brown eyes sparkling through my reflection on the mirror, my full pink lips moist with a touch of shiny lip gloss.. I just blushed one last time before standing up and heading towards the kitchen to start with my morning house chores ..

After I was finally done with everything and serving my father and Amaar their breakfast and made sure everything was in place ,I walked to the bedroom to get my bag because I needed to go to the market to get some few items since everything was almost finished in the house..

"Okay father I'm going now ,anything you want me to get for you ?" I asked him pulling the wool knitted bag over my shoulder ,looking over at him and he just shook his head assuring me that he didn't need anything.. 

"And you Amaar ?" I asked him too and he also said that he didn't need anything.

Then I went ahead to take blessing from Lord Shiva and of course my father's too before I walked out the house..It was around past nine in the morning ,so people were all awake , scattered all over the colony yard ..Men ,women and the children were playing around with each other ,so I had to literally greet everyone as I walked down the steel stairs to the ground floor.. As usual, they were in their best friendly moods, each and every one of them greeting me back as well..I was headed towards the main gate when a black fancy car stopped in front of the gate and I couldn't help but wonder whose car it was because there were hardly any cars stopping by at the colony, let alone such a luxurious one..A middle aged man dressed in a black suit , holding a briefcase on his hand stepped out of the car and everyone stopped whatever they were doing to looked at the man..The said man started walking towards me since I was the only one by the gate ..

"Hello young lady "The man said with a smile on his face 

"H-hello Sir " I greeted him back

"I'm looking for Mr Manoj do you know where I can find him by any chance?" He inquired  politely ,staring over at me 

"Sure ,just go inside and ask his wife ,she is right there" I said awkward pointing at Mrs Manoj who was talking with other women 

"Okay ,thank you "He said before proceeding in his track and so did I ..

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"Good Lord ,why is everything have to be so expensive?" I grumbled lowly at myself ,looking at the price of a beef meat 

I really didn't even know what I was doing on the freezer side in the first place because the money I had was only for the basics..The small amount of money I had with me was what got from the college for being the top student at the college ,specifically on accounting.. It was just a little reward from Mr Connor on behalf of the college..So I had decided do some grocery with it..I was now looking on the vegetables shelf when I felt a hand on my shoulder and I quickly turned back and my eyes met with a young man probably on his late twenties and which I knew for sure that he looked familiar ..I knew that I've seen him somewhere and then it clicked on my mind..He was the same man that was looking at me the whole time at the graduation ceremony on Friday..Lord, he had me feeling so uncomfortable and unsafe with him staring at me like that the entire time and whenever I was very uncomfortable , I turned to panic but luckily I did manage to compose myself by making sure I was avoiding him and his gaze as hard as I could..He attempted to talking to me several times but I literally kept dodging him ..And now he was standing right in front of me with the same ocean blue eyes staring deep at me ,which obviously made me very nervous..

" Hey ,how are you ?" The man said with a wide smile on his face

"H-heyy " I ushered awkwardly, faking to not recognize him 

"Oh come on ,don't tell me that you don't remember me ,Miss Malhotra " he clutched his chest feigning to be hurt while he had a wide grin on his face

"Oh ,now I remember you..You were one of the chief guests at the graduation ceremony right Sir " I said forcing a smile after pretending to think for a moment  

"That's right ,never thought you would forget me so soon " he chuckled and I just smiled awkwardly at him "Anyway I was longing to meet you again so bad"

"And why is that "

"I don't even know why but I really really wanted to meet you again..Like ever since I saw you that day ,uhm-" he said bit hesitantly and stopped himself from finishing whatever he wanted to say

"Anyway I would really love to take you out some day maybe for a coffee or something " he said lowly after a few seconds of silence and I almost gouged my eyes out in shock 

"What ? Take me out ?no I don't think that would be possible sir ,I don't even know you or your name "I said bit loudly 

"Oh sorry ,my name is Shaurya but you can call me Sammy and why not ?" He asked , furrowing his brows at me 

"It's simple..I don't know you sir ,so why would I go out with you ?" 

"Yeah ,you right ? Okay this is my card you can call me at least "He said hopefully with pleading eyes and I hesitantly took that card from him and made sure to not even slightly touch him ..Before I would say something a very beautiful teenage girl walked up to us and she smiled widely at me and turned to talk to the Sammy guy..

"Uncle I'm sorry to disturb you but we have to go now..Your friend over there is getting very impatient and you know how she is " the girl said as we all turned to look at who the girl was talking about.

But from where I was standing, I couldn't see her face probably, or should I have said his? Because from what I could see the person looked like a man ..The person had the brought shoulders ,very muscular arms clearly indicating features of a man..They were wearing a black jeans ,a white T-shirt tugged inside the jean revealing some expensive belt curved around their waist and a dark red suit jacket..Lord they looked so hot..

Wait..What was I saying..?

"Yeah I know, god McKenzie is so annoying " Sammy grumbled causing the pretty girl to laugh " Oh I'm sorry Miss Malhotra I have go now but I'll surely be waiting for your call beautiful"

"O-okay " I said before they walked away 

I kept looking at them until they reached at the till and stood next to her..I didn't know but for some strange reason I really wanted to see the person's face so bad..There was this strange feeling inside me for a moment after seeing just a glimpse of her ,which I couldn't really put a finger on..It was foreign to me and it would be an understatement if I said that it didn't scare me a little..I was so curious about her and weirdly I was never this curious about anything in my entire life..So I took two steps forward to maybe see her face but at that same instant she unfortunately turned away and now she had her back on me ,and I literally groaned in frustration..

What was wrong with me today ?Why was I feeling so weird all of the sudden?..

I finally decided to shove everything at the back of my mind and focus on the reason of why I was at the store in the first place..With that, I proceeded on my tracks and tried to minded my business..I was almost done with my shopping when I saw Sammy and her walking out the store and I couldn't help it but let my eyes followed after them yet again but I still couldn't see her face..I was seriously starting to getting frustrated for some reason and then I realised the girl wasn't with them..

"Hey aunt , uncle Sammy said I should give you this"The girl said almost startling me 

I looked down to see that she was holding a box of chocolate and then I moved my eyes to look at her and then to Sammy who was now by the door.. He mouthed something at me that I couldn't catch unfortunately and then smirked as well as winking at me before he turned around to go..Before I could even say something the girl handed me the box and quickly left..I was left there dumbfounded ,trying to understand everything..

"This is crazy " I murmured softly under my breath..After a good minute I was able to put myself together and went ahead to the counter till to pay for the items I had collected and then left to go back home.

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After an hour later ,I finally reached back at the colony and Amaar and his friend Julian hurried to me to help me carry the grocery bags inside and strangely the atmosphere wasn't that cool at the colony anymore.. Everyone I came across looked either sad or frustrated ,clearly not in the good mood at all and that really bothered me..

"Father why is everyone looking so worried ,I mean when I left here in the morning everything was still fine " I asked worriedly 

"See for yourself " my father said lowly handing me a folded paper which I took it from him hesitantly 

"What's this ?" I said curiously as I opened the paper to read 

"What! Eviction letter ?" I was shocked ,not understanding why we were being evicted on our colony and that too without any early notice whatsoever..

"The new owner wants us out by the end of the month"My father sighed weakly 

"No ,this is ridiculous"

                            

*STILL TO CONTINUE*