Ishq Kinara[Love Ashore] Complete

48. Shore to the sea

Parking his car to the side, Sarim pushed his coat on his arm. His eyes were focused on the entrance of the public park. He entered and his eyes ran over the track and the benches on the other end. His search ended and a smile appeared on his lips.

He almost jogged towards the bench some feet away and sat down silently.

Elaf knew the moment he had walked through the gate and even though she was far from calm, it still put a balm on her anxiousness.

He was now sitting right beside her and after waiting for a while, he held her hand in his and looked on encouragingly.

Elaf tried to smile but it fell flat. This was a huge step. She had taken the plunge and just dove in without thinking much. It could go both ways.

"I'm scared."

She whispered. Sarim nodded understandingly. It was justified. She was switching her career line at this point in her life and just today she had submitted her resignation.

"You have every right to be."

"What if all this is a big mistake?"

Sarim narrowed his eyes.

"It has you and theater as a reason. It can never be a mistake."

She smiled lightly, a strained line on her anxious face but for now it was enough. At least she was trying and not running away.

Sarim had understood this long back that the past six years hadn't been kind to Elaf. She had lost her faith in her own abilities and now when she was getting back there, it wasn't going to be a quick journey. It was a long process and at times slow and other times fast. But the bottom line was, she was moving further. It was more than enough. It was what she deserved.

"I'm taking a risk. "

"You've always been a risk taker."

Elaf knew she was. But she didn't know if she had in her to be that anymore. Guess she had to try and figure it out.

"You think this will turn out fine?"

"Oh, I think this is going to be glorious. Just watch."

The worry lines were diminishing from her face. The hand in his clasped his fingers without even her looking. Sarim saw it though. And it filled him with so much warmth.

"I don't want to be ungrateful but is it okay to say that I'm not going to miss this desk job?"

Sarim laughed at her half tired, half relieved expressions and shook his head.

"But what I'm actually going to miss is, calling you boss."

Sarim grimaced.

"I was never technically your boss."

"Ah, Sarim, you and your technicalities."

She was looking right at him with a smile. Her hand was in his and their fingers were intertwined. He reciprocated with a smile of his own.

And in that moment, among all the clutter and the chaos that was around, they were pretty fine, the calm surrounding them was serene.

They were them.

For the better.

_____

The art council theater academy where she was selected as a new addition to the team, was very different from the theater work she had known so far.

For the starters, here no one was a novice as she had in her dramatics club back in university. Some of them were proper theater students and were here to hone their skills.