His pov

Monsters are not under the bed like we used to think as a child. It's in us. Mostly it's the people around us. And no, they are not scary. At first glance you won't even recognise it. But once you go closer to them and look you will see their true colours. 

Closer you let someone come near to you, the greater the possibility of getting hurt. It's one thing getting betrayed by strangers. But what to do when your own family hurts you ? You are helpless. It's like there is no way you can escape that maze. 

But life goes on. You may get broken from inside. But only you can hear your heart break. Only you can feel the tears coming out of your eyes making a beautiful canvas on the pillow , without any button or tap to stop the water flowing from your eyes. 

Everyday , every person fights a different kind of battle which is not visible to the people who look from outside. They just see things which I only show. Not the things which are hidden very deep inside my soul that even I am not able to find.

After listening to these things you all may think I have experienced a great deal of pain. But that's not the case here. I have seen people go through those pain with my own eyes. It's like life slowly fades from their eyes and no one notices it. Until one day the person unable to act closes they're chapter and ends they're book unable to continue fighting. 

But what's even worse is seeing everything and being unable to stop it. The helplessness I feel during that time makes me angry at myself leading to self loathing.

Everyday I try to stop these kinds of thoughts which live in my head rent free and roam around my mind giving me a headache.

I woke up early, unable to sleep. I just came on a walk to a park which is very near to my house. After running for half an hour continuously , I just sat on a bench. It feels as though if I take a small break my mind starts over thinking. This is the reason I have turned into a workaholic.  

Everyday it's the same story. Wake up early, go to work and work till I can't keep my eyes open and sleep. My parents are proud that I have made a good name in the society. My parents are not rich but my father made sure I got the basic education. For further studies I looked after myself. And now I am looking after both of them. They are happy.

But I know that one incident not only haunts but them too. Because even they saw with their own eyes.

Everyday I wake up having a nightmare about that incident. But it's not just a nightmare. It's the truth that happened in the past.

After walking for a few more minutes I came home. My father was reading the newspaper and was sitting on the veranda. Our house was built many years ago by my ancestors. And that has been passed to many generations. But my father's brothers got separated and we didn't want to destroy the house. It was like a legacy and also I wanted to treasure it. Its architecture is similar to olden days but it's very strong even if the earthquake can't shake our house.

I entered inside. First when you enter there is a courtyard. This is the thing I love most about our house. And then there is one room with an attached bathroom towards the right. If you turn left you can see the kitchen. And at the end there is a staircase and there are few rooms on the first floor. This is the new addition I did after I started earning. This house is the only thing which was there for us. And it helped us a lot.

I saw my mother cooking. I spoke to her and went to take a bath. After that I got ready for work and came down.

My father Anand Rao is a bank manager. He gave me all the things I asked for. But when I was born my father didn't have the income he has now. But he made sure I went to a good school and made sure I got education. For further studies I didn't want to take the money from my father. So I took out a loan and completed my education abroad. Now I am working in a well reputed company as a civil engineer in GreenTech Construction.

My mother Lakshmi Rao is a housewife. Along with looking after me and my father , and also looking after the house and everything she also teaches Carnatic music for children. I am very proud to be her son. But sadly I don't have a single singing gene in me. Sad life. 

They both had an arranged marriage. But they fell in love after marriage. Though they won't show they're affection and love in front of me , they have this respect and trust towards each other which can be seen in their eyes. 

Currently my relationship status is single. And I don't have anyone in my life whom I like. Actually I haven't thought about it at all. Actually I haven't thought about it at all. It's not like I am not interested or something. It's just that I didn't find the right person. It's difficult to find a genuine person in this generation. Cheating has become a trend nowadays. And divorce ratings are increasing exponentially. If a person is in a toxic relationship it's okay to come of that. But just doing it in the name of trend and everything is bad.

Enough with these talks. I don't want to start philosophy talks here. I had breakfast with my parents and dropped my father at his workplace then I reached my work place.

I entered my cabin and started doing my work. Today there is an important presentation. I am preparing for that. It's an important one and it will give us high profit if it gets successful. I was about to go to the conference room when one of my colleagues, Riya, entered without knocking the door. I was annoyed. I have rejected her many times but still she thinks we are dating. If any of the female colleagues talk with me she will warn them and scare them. Even though I told her not to do this and also complained to the higher people present, nothing stopped her. She came here on her father's influence and everyone is scared to get on her bad side. Even the CEO cannot do anything because there is some inner politics going on and he is stuck in the middle of it. 

She was about to say something but I cut her off before she started with her irritating talks.

"I am having an important meeting right now." I said this and before she could say anything I ran from there taking all the things required for the meeting.

I was the first one to enter the room. And after a few minutes one by one many of my colleagues including Riya. 'Eye roll.' Our CEO , Mr. Aditya Kumar entered along with today's client Mr. John.

Riya was coming to sit beside me but before she could reach here I called Karthik, one of my friends and made him sit beside me. She just stomped her feet and sat in a different seat. Everyone saw this including our CEO and he apologized through his eyes. I just reassured him saying it's okay through my eyes even though it's not.

Even men face sexual harassment but many of the women take advantage of being women and blame everything on men. Even some men are the same. In this fucked up society to find good and well behaved people is very hard. 

I just brushed those off and gave my whole concentration to the present meeting. First Mr.Kumar PA gave a brief introduction about everything. Then it was my turn to take over. I chanted om namah shivay once in my mind and went to give the presentation.

It went well without any hiccups. And I am assigned as the leader for this project and there many other colleagues who have a good reputation in this field. Mr.Kumar would have personally handled this project. But he has one more big project which he is working on, so this project fell upon my shoulders.

After working till evening I went near the bank where my father works and picked him up. Then we both drank tea together in a small tea shop. This was our small routine we both do everyday. Along with drinking chai we would also discuss our day. I would share everything with me and I can assure you'll that many of the times he gave me great advice.

We both went home and had dinner with my mother. They both were joking and talking about they're olden days. After that I watched a bit of tv sleeping on my mother's lap. When I was almost asleep my mother woke me up and told me to sleep in my room. Then I went to sleep where I dreamt about a faceless girl with whom I fell in love.