AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER

The night is darker. A mother and son were walking through the dark empty roads of Nagpur, Night was silent but insects making sounds and owls were growling. A mother's eye was carved with grief, and her eyes are filled with tears. 

She does not watch the car coming furiously towards both of them, she throws her son out from the road, the car hits her and her breath stops, her son is crying beside the road, she is pooled in blood and dies on the spot.

 Someone approached the boy and took him to his home, he was nobody but his father. Ankush woke up from his dreams, it was a nightmare, after 5 years only this dream was coming, and he felt something was going to happen as if his mother wanted to tell him some secret behind the accident. 

The alarm clock struck at 5.00 am Ankush stopped the alarm, the fear of a nightmare was fresh in his mind but it was time for him to go for his morning walk. He dressed up and went out holding his earphones and went to his park to refresh himself.

Madhumitha woke up from her sleep, it's already a month passed since she returned to her hometown. She is searching the jobs, but she does not get any, after the yoga and the morning chores, she went to the bath, and when she returned, she saw a pile of photos of handsome boys on her study table, irritated she went to her mom, Anamika, and said," Mom I told you much time that I don't want to marry now, why you are always pursuing me to marriage,". 

Her mother said, "dear, the world is in chaos, if we are born we have to die one day, you have to choose a soul mate for your safety, and the person who is always beside you until we die. You should have someone who can take care of you, these boys have good jobs and they were nicely settled." Every parent's dream is to give their children into safe hands so that the generation will move ahead.

Madhumitha's eyes filled with tears, then she told, "Mom, I want to make my career, so that I can stand on my legs, and need a partner who always stays beside me, loves me and dedicates himself to me and with me in every stage of life. 

She told mom," I want a handsome, young man and I want to understand him nicely then only I will marry". She said that the boys in the photos are not good, some have a long nose, some have bad eyes, etc, and returned the photos to her mother.

Anamika understands that Madhumitha is searching for her childhood mate, who is staying near their house when her dad Mr. Narayanan was working as a sub-inspector in Nagpur. 

The rising sun came out from the clouds, and Anamika started memorizing her past, the days when they were in Nagpur.

10 years ago.....

It was a nice Saturday morning, the hills of Eastern Ghats are still cloudy and the morning breeze is still making the environment chilled and cool. Mr. Narayanan, a strict and sincere officer got transferred to Nagpur. Narayanan's brother has a guest house in Nagpur, they settled in the United States, and Narayanan and his family came to stay in the house. 

The house was cleaned a day before their arrival by a housekeeper Baba Thakare. Baba Thakare welcomed them, introduced himself and told them to call Babaji, I will be available at your service whenever you require. I am staying behind this house. 

The journey was long, and everyone ate their dinner and went to sleep. The next day our little Madhumitha woke up early and started calling her elder brother, and said, "Brother, let's go and play, outside, children went out, and Anamika called them and told them, " don't go too far", Madhumitha replied with a delicate innocent smile in her face and said," Yes, Mom". 

They both went near to the river flowing, in front of the house, and started playing, Suddenly Madhumitha saw a boy sitting on the bank of the river, he is drawing something, she peeped into the notebook, it was a picture of love birds sitting on a tree, beside the river. She searched the surrounding, and saw the same tree in some distance, she was delighted to see the picture, and he took the red and green color pencil and started coloring, badly, irritated she said, don't ruin the picture, instantly the boy turned and saw a little girl, He said," it is my picture I will color it as I want. 

That girl smiled and said "That is a very beautiful picture, you should not ruin it". The boy was shocked that no one other than his mom spoke to him like that. He handed the picture to her, and she colored it nicely, and the picture looks more real like an original beauty outside. 

She asked her," Why are you alone sitting here, come and play with us, where is your house?" He said" My house is near, I will go by myself. And the boy runs away taking his notebook. The little girl stayed there watching him going far from her sight, the sun was setting and the night was approaching.

Far in the distance, someone is calling, "Madhu, Madhu it's no one other than her brother, searching for her for a long time. That sound distracted and she responded and he scolded her" where you went, I searched for it for long, a cute fight happened and she understands the fear her 16-year-old brother had and how much he cares about her.

After the day's play and fight, she curled beside her mom, hugging her, and thought about the boy, whom she met in the evening, a cute 15-year-old boy, " Who is he be, and why is he alone, whether she met him tomorrow. Sleep approached her and she slept.

The next day she went to the same place and saw him. She felt very happy, today he looked different, he was not angry at all and had a beautiful and cute face and he was smiling when he saw her. Then she asked her," Hi, what is your name? The boy said I am Ankush, my mom and dad called me Appu. What about you," she replied," I am Madhumitha, you can call me Madhu.

Days passed and they became good friends, daily both of them came to Narayan's house to play together and have fun. The whistle of the cooker blew, Anamika woke up from her memories and made her busy with the household work.

Sitting in the room Madhumitha staring at her old diary, it has a picture of two children playing in the garden, she went to her childhood memories, It is the picture gifted by his childhood friend who always play with her, Ankush where are you, what you are doing now, how you look now, the cute smile of yours is still there with you. 

Madhumitha was thinking of the last day they met, it was that time when her father got a transfer to Palghat to their motherland because her parents were born and brought up in Kerala, and it is their hometown. She was 11 when they came here. 

She sadly went to her friend who was with her for the last 1 year. She sadly told him about a transfer, he hurriedly went to his house and bought a picture which is neatly drawn and colored by him, and he said to her when you miss me just see this picture, the girl is you and the boy is me and the name Madhu and Ankush beautifully written below their picture. She also runs to her house and fetches some toys, which contain a Rubix cube, a teddy, and a boat. she Told" these are some of the toys which you like to play with you can take them all. He was first dejected to take but after a request he took the Rubix cube and Madhumitha took a sketch pen and wrote her name Madhu in it and handover to him, their eyes filled with tears and unwillingly she run to the cab and stared at him until her eyes can't see him.

Madhumitha still searching for jobs online during these months time when she is in her hometown, she put job applications for other administration and secretary jobs other than cartoonist and web designer but all are in vain, her family is putting more pressure on her to get married, she feels like to run away from this environment. She applied for jobs in many states and countries but they did not respond.

The afternoon sun brightens the skies, Ankush is still in the conference meetings and has a very busy schedule. His secretary and other colleagues are on their toes to accomplish the monthly target and want to start a new project. Finally, after ten days of hardship, they completed the target and Ankush declared a holiday weekend and scheduled a dinner party with the officer. 

The party was over, and Ankush returned to the loneliness of his house. He has an online comic book publishing on his official website, and the income which he receives goes to his charity institution which he opened in the name of his mother, and he always loves to visit that orphanage during his free time. Due to the holiday the next day he decided to visit that orphanage.

The online comics get the money according to the likeness of the public and the highest vote of the public, this survey is taken by the public interest department of Tauten Animation Industry. 

This survey is taken once a month. Today is the day of the results. The comic's name is The City of Love and the author is Madhumitha. Ankush saw the results and at the same time he received the application for the job of administration, a letter with a resume and name encrypted on it is Madhumitha, Ankush felt as a coincidence and verifying the resume, he understood that this girl is not having any experience but her writings and talent is something special, he told Ankith to send an appointment letter for the post of Administration and Job to be done.

The next day the doorbell rang, and no one was there in the house, all went to the engagement ceremony of the cousin's sister. Madhumitha has to update her comics, so she stays back. She opened the door and collected the letter and she saw the letter came in her name. 

She opened it and saw an appointment letter. It has a contract for a new project of the industry Tauten Animation, she attended the interview of this company a day before she was coming to her hometown, it was a telephonic interview taken by the person call Ankith, and she cleared the first round and attended another interview last week by the Head of the HR industry. She is so thrilled to get the post of the administrator. 

She managed to convince her parents and they bid farewell to them and breathed deeply. Anamika is not convinced to send her to an unknown place but made herself convinced. Madhumitha reached the company early and showed her letter to the lady in the reception. They lead her to the lift and said the office is on the 4th floor, at the same time Ankush entered the lift and click the button on the fourth floor, his handsome and sharp gaze was noticed by the Madhumitha and her beautiful and sharp eyelid saw him, a young dashing young man, he asked to her whom you want to see there," Shockingly she said want to see the Head of the HR department." As he entered the office all the people wished him and he told her the HR department is in first left." She stayed there on the path and gazed at him until he entered his cabin. She stayed there for 5 minutes and turn towards the HR department.

A new chapter has opened in their life, Will both of them fall for each other? Will this surprise encounter will lead them to a new start in life? Will they recognize each other? What happened to Ankush's Mother. For all these surprises and twists and turns stay tuned with us.