When Life Gave a Second Chance (Completed)

Chapter 6

3 months later

Just like Arpana and Arjun had agreed, the communication between them was very vague and little. Arjun was never really home. As he was an international pilot, his flying hours were longer than domestic pilots. He took up more work load as well just to avoid getting distracted with Anjali's thoughts and Arpana's presence.

Today he was returning home for two weeks. Arjun didn't mind the holiday this time because he really needed some rest.

Meanwhile Arpana took up a new job as an assistant professor at a nearby college. In the last month, she took the university grant commission's national eligibility test and passed with excellent marks. Therefore she got a job as an associate professor with a decent salary.
Over the last three months, Arjun returned home a few times but they never spoke to each other as the right opportunity didn't arise.

After his flight from Birmingham, Arjun had reached his house in the morning which is close to the airport. Arjun took out the keys from his pocket and unlocked the front door and entered inside and straightaway went to freshen himself. After completing his morning routine, he wanted to eat some breakfast and go to sleep as he was extremely tired.
The house helper Hema Aunty comes early in the morning. Whenever Arjun is back, he normally texts her but because Arpana is here too he asks her to come everyday. Therefore, Arjun thought some breakfast would already be prepared for him.

When he went into the kitchen he found the kitchen to be empty. Even though cooking was a basic survival skill, Arjun didn't know cooking. Groaning a little, Arjun decided to order something from the hotel.

As he was leaving the kitchen, Arpana entered the kitchen. Both of them exchanged awkward glances as they both looked into each other’s eyes for a few seconds but immediately looked away. Seeing Arjun today was totally unexpected. "Hema aunty did not come today?" Arjun asked Arpana.

"Umm no. Her daughter just had a baby. So she went to look after her daughter. I didn’t know that you will be home today, and it’s just me as well so I thought there’s no need for a helper either" Arpana completed to which Arjun nodded.

"If you wait for 15 minutes, I'll prepare some breakfast," Arpana suggested.

"No it's fine, I'll order something from the hotel" Arjun replied.

"There's no need Arjun. Why waste money on hotel food when homemade food is available? However I’m preparing for myself too. I can prepare for both of us if you don’t mind" Arpana asked Arjun.

"Okay as you wish" he replied and went to the living room to kill some time by watching TV.

Just like she had promised, Arpana had quickly made English breakfast and called out Arjun's name. "I've made some coffee as well. Would you like some?" Arpana asked him to which he nodded once again.

Slowly Arpana served him breakfast and coffee and together they sat and finished the breakfast. It was after a very long time Arjun was having proper homemade food. While he’s working, he eats flight food and on layovers he tends to eat hotel food most of the time. Pretty much the same when he reached home. Otherwise he'll kill his hunger by eating something basic that doesn't need a lot of effort to cook.

"Thanks for the breakfast" Arjun hesitantly told Arpana and then after a brief pause he said "food was nice."

"Thank you" Arpana replied awkwardly. Today's encounter between Arpana and Arjun reminded him of Anjali a lot. Anjali was a wonderful cook. In fact Arpana's cooking was nothing compared to Anjali's.
This was the first time after their marriage, Arpana and Arjun spoke, even though they exchanged a few words. A few days after his marriage, Arjun had left for work. He did return after that but they never spoke to each other that much.

"I'm going to work," Arpana told him.

"Where do you work?" Arjun asked Arpana. He never really wanted to ask her about it but because he has some sort of responsibility over her, it's important for him to know her basic details.

"At St.Anne's college. I'm working as an assistant professor" Arpana replied.

"Oh ok" Arjun said. 

She is educated...

                        x x x x x x x

The day went very slow for Arjun. He couldn't understand why but he kept on thinking of Anjali today. That day kept on flashing his mind. One of the reasons why Arjun likes to keep himself busy is to avoid these thoughts; the fact that he married Arpana is also very disturbing for him.

There isn't one day where he hasn't regretted not spending enough time with Anjali because of his work. Even now he is doing the same thing...

Just like Arjun, Arpana too found this day to be very slow. Even though Arpana enjoyed her role as an associate professor she was experiencing discomfort from one of the lead professors.... 

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Is it possible to fall in love once again ?

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This chapter was a bit boring ... I agree. But it was needed to push the story.

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