AVINASH

"We won?"

"I guess we did"

He loosened up his tie and threw himself on the beanbag in the corner of his so-called best friend Lavanya Tiwari's office. His sleeve folded up, a silver chain with a ring resting on his chest and jawline gleaming from the lamp beside.

He lifted up his phone trying to read some text from his mother, which caused the tattoo designed like a lightning strike, running through his neck to his shoulder to be visible.

Lavanya was watching him silently leaning against her work table.

Avinash Chowdhary, the CEO of one of the top tech companies, 'Dhata'- which was in a complete downfall just a few years ago. This is the name by which the media and the business world know him.

But this man was in a different mood today.

He lowered his phone and looked at her with a smile "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I was thinking about Adrija," Lavanya mentioned the lady whose case they've been addressing "then I started thinking about you."

"And what is that?"

"I feel pity" she crouched down to pick up the scattered paper "for her,"

"We are lawyers Tiwari, we are not meant to feel pity towards anyone," he said placing his chin against his palm, typing something on his phone.

"Then I felt pity for you," she said and that made him halt from whatever he was doing.

"And this could be your biggest disadvantage Miss Tiwari. Sympathising with your client or anyone would lead you to nowhere but it will only weaken your arguments." he filled the glass with water as he made the remark.

The warm evening sun of Darjeeling began to set in winter clouds, gradually changing the atmosphere to a colder one.

"If only I had worked a bit harder on your case-" Lavanya's face carried an essence of guilt in it.

Avinash smirked, "Then my company wouldn't have faced loss on that large scale?" Avinash scoffed, his gaze shifted to the sun slowly going down "because forbidding divorce was not an option left for me,"

The orange hue of the setting sun caught half his face, his honey-brown eyes, his left jawline, and especially the platinum band with a white opal strip, tied to his chain.

"Do you still get dreams of Bipasha?" she asked.

"Those are called nightmares, Lavanaya" he closed his eyes feeling his throat lumped.

Five struck the office clock and Lavanya's cabin flooded with silence. The only audible sound was the continuous clatter of the cutlery coming from the office's kitchen.

The room got filled with the aroma of Samosa and Chai, as her P.A. left serving them. Lavanya took a seat beside him on the couch grabbing a samoa.

"I thought you were on a diet" Avinash mocked, picking up the teacup.

"And I thought you left drinking chai," she rolled her eyes throwing back the mockery.

"I guess I almost did, for the past six or seven months I was striving on black coffee because of someone," he let out a chuckle taking a sip of his tea.

"You meant Veda?" Lavanya asked fixing her hair.

"Hmm" he took another sip, just then, Lavanya turned to him with big, excited eyes and snatched his teacup, ready to collect gossip as her part-time business.

"You did not tell me about that night-"

"Do not bring that up, Lavanya-"

"Why the hell did she kiss you-"

"She was drunk-"

"Then why the hell did you kiss her back?" Lavanya asked pushing her both hands on the couch waiting for him to give a reasonable answer.

He rubbed his temple trying to avoid her gaze "I must have got carried away,"

"So you don't know why you kissed her back?" She clapped her hands as if it were the most amazing thing she had ever known today.

Avinash pasted a poker face over his expression, "You were not this invested when I told you this same woman hit my head with a srew guage," saying, he snatched the tea cup back.

"This is the hot topic na" Lavanya's hands moved like a person explaining some conspiracy theory, "She used to get so annoyed with you that even on your sound of breathing she wanted to murder you, but then suddenly that night she kissed you,"

Explaining critical stuff, she went into her whole other world of spicy romance books which generally carries the same plot of "it's like enemies to-"

"What is wrong with you?" Avinash snapped, "How many times do I have to tell you to stop reading those books, they are playing with your mental health Lavanya,"

Lavanya blinked multiple times dropping her smile and watching him sip his tea, unbothered.

"And by the way she has Alexithymia," he explained placing the empty teacup down on the saucer "We are not enemies or something. She just doesn't know how to express emotions so she lets it out by shouting or throwing things,"

"On people?" she blinked

"Yes"

Lavanya folded her arms, tilting her head she asked "You know a lot about her?"

Unbothered.

Displeased.

He got up hitting her head lightly "Snap out of your fairytales Miss Tiwari, there are many pending cases waiting for you,"

Lavanya started making weird faces mimicking his so-called attitude as his back came into her view.

He noticed her but said nothing and just sighed to himself.

"Wait, Avinash—I had something for you." She rushed back to her desk just as he was about to push the door open and leave.

After nearly five minutes of turning files and papers upside down, she finally pulled out what she had been searching for.

"Tada! Tickets to Hogmanya's Elite Gala." She held them up. "A client gifted them to me coincidentally, and the moment Aunty mentioned you'd be spending New Year's with them, you were the first person who came to mind."

"Only two?" he asked, crossing his arms as he leaned against the doorframe.

"Then give them to Uncle and Aunty if you have a problem with it," she replied dryly, waving the tickets in the air. "Just don't let them go to waste. They're premium."

He ran his hand through his hair before accepting those, "Thanks, though I doubt I'll be idle enough to join them this New Year. There's still far too much work waiting on my desk."

"But you said you were leaving?"

"I still have to go through my schedule. My family's already in London, and at this point, taking the private jet seems like the only way I'll make it before Christmas." he shoved those tickets in his pocket.

"Merry Christmas" Lavanya wished.

"I hope it turns out to be a merry one." he waved leaving her cabin.

And surprisingly, the heavens were on his favour.