The tug of war between Tanvi and Samrat goes on into the following week. Work is hectic as usual. Tanvi focuses all her energy into work. It is still annoying that she cannot disobey Samrat's direct orders, however atrocious they are. And that she and Vivek are the only ones working on the aircraft while the engineering girls gossip in the background.

Tanvi Sharma vowed to give the takkar, but how? She may lack the knack and position to proceed. But there should be a way. And the engineering girls! Getting paid for chilling and gossiping. How are they even soldiers? Tanvi grits her teeth as she runs one last check on the current aircraft she's working on. "They must be ousted from the force," she mutters, hearing the more gossip from the girls, and hollers to Vivek who's at the tail end, "all is fine at my end, Vivek!"

"Fine here too, Tanvi!"

She smiles hearing the reply. In all of the mess, Vivek is the only good thing that happened. They are good friends now, sharing a good rapport, on and off of work - laughing over a good meal, sharing lots of coffees during their scheduled shifts, riding to the administrative and residential quarters in the same jeep.

Work is always fun, as much as challenging. Weekends are usually bland, sometimes, there's no day off. But the administration is being considerate at the moment and they have been getting a Sunday day-off on a regular basis. And these days, there is something to look forward to on her day off. Tanvi is thrilled that this weekend it is her brother and doggy gracing her home with the presence.

Yet again Bhai and Shamsher are here to visit her. She is not sure how they managed to gain permission, especially Shamsher. The need to suspect or know the answer to her doubts vanishes, as she gives her full attention to listening to her brother's fun anecdotes of his recent travels, and then playing with Shamsher. Her days are a mix of pleasant and frustrating, aren't they? The skies are a beautiful shade of orange and pinks indicating the day is ending. The scorching hot weather is unpleasant, unlike the beautiful scenario the sky paints. Tanvi makes sure that there is lots of water involved to cool off herself and Shamsher as they play.

...

Strolling around the premises around the same time, Samrat watches Tanvi play around with Shamsher on the veranda of a residential quarters. Again. he was the one who arranged that Shamsher got permission to enter the base. Now, not that he wants credit for it. But he longs to be with them if he is being honest.

He has only played with Shamsher once, when Tanvi introduced the doggy to him 2 years ago. He would like to play again, though now, it seems impossible.

His true desires don't matter. He is right now glad to hear Tanvi's laughter even if it's from a distance. It is conflicting, though. On one hand, he is happy to see her smile but he cannot deny that he has also been the source of her frustration all these weeks... and maybe beyond that too. How long did she have to hide her one-sided love? How much did she suffer? All he caused her was only suffering... Another reason to reaffirm he's not the one for her, isn't it? And a little more suffering for her to mark the end, yeah.

This isn't easy for him. To be the boss around her is hard. But the hardest, craziest part of all this is these new found feelings of his. It's a nightmare to witness her growing closeness with Vivek, as a result. The other day Tanvi and Vivek high-fived each other; she smiled at saying, "you're amazing, Vivek!"

That was the same bright smile she often gave him. Samrat wasn't pleased to see her showing it to another man. The pang in his heart, was it jealousy? It was an awful feeling. He never knew jealousy could feel like that. He'd heard and had a vague idea, but never ever felt like that before.

He shakes his head and turns his eyes to Shamsher and Tanvi, who have finished splashing in the small inflatable pool and are now jumping rope together. Just then, Farhan comes up behind him,

"This isn't what you want, right, Sam? It's not what your heart wants, haan? Watch from afar?"

Samrat sighs, and stands next to Farhan. Together, they look at Tanvi who's now calling out to Vivek who's passing by, outside her home-

"Vivek! Meet my doggie Shamsher and my brother Aaryan! Are you heading out for dinner? How about we get dinner together?"

Samrat heaves another heavy sigh and turns his back on the scene. Farhan follows him with an exasperated chuckle.

"What, are you jealous?"

Samrat doesn't answer. Farhan drops the topic . "What, at least apna dinner ka sochein, yaar? Let's dine out somewhere else."

They get in the jeep and drive off before they can see Vivek can drive off with Tanvi.

***

TBC

WC: 833

AN: next part will be a bit longer and the happy end is really close! Stick around!