Every Forbidden Inch of Forever ❤️

Tuesday, 2 July 2024 | Chennai There are mornings that change your life without giving you the slightest warning. For Jenny Antony , Tuesday, 2 July 2024, began like any other important first day: with excitement, nervousness, a hundred thoughts running through her mind, and the determination to make a good impression. She had arrived in Chennai to begin her first job as a Probationary Officer at the State Bank of India. At twenty-five, she was stepping into a world she had worked hard to enter, carrying the pride of her achievement, the expectations of her family, and the nervous anticipation of someone who was about to begin an entirely new chapter of her life. Chennai was still unfamiliar to her. The roads, the weather, the rhythm of the city—everything felt new. She was a Malayalee girl from a humble background, accustomed to the comforts of familiarity, now standing on the threshold of a life she had only recently imagined. That morning, she arrived at her branch at 9:20 a.m. And found the branch closed. Jenny stopped in front of the entrance and stared at the locked door. Seriously? On my first day? She checked the time on her phone. 9:20. She was early, which was usually a good thing. Except that being early to a locked bank did not seem particularly useful. She waited. As she stood outside, she opened the Pulse app on her phone. She had already done her homework. Before joining, she had searched for her branch and familiarised herself with the faces of her prospective colleagues. It was a small branch. And, according to her preliminary investigation, there were only two men working there. Two. Jenny had stared at the screen when she first discovered this information. She had hoped, perhaps foolishly, that her first job might bring a little unexpected romance into her otherwise uneventful love life. Apparently, the universe had other plans. First school. Then college. And now work. Her romantic life appeared to be following a remarkably consistent pattern: absolutely nothing happening. The two men she had seen on the app hadn't exactly inspired confidence in her imaginary romantic future, either. Wonderful, Jenny . Absolutely wonderful, she had thought. A new city, a new job, and the same old single life. She had sighed and put her phone away. She was here to work, after all. Love could wait. Or so she told herself. ✦ ✦ ✦ A woman eventually approached the branch. Jenny recognised her immediately. Mrs. Lakshmi. The branch manager. The moment Jenny saw her, she straightened and stepped forward with a polite smile. Good morning, ma'am. I'm Jenny Antony . I joined today as the new probationary officer. Mrs. Lakshmi's expression warmed. Oh! Jenny ! Good morning. Welcome to the branch. There was something reassuring about the way she greeted her. Jenny had spent the morning imagining every possible first-day scenario, and she was grateful that her first interaction had been a pleasant one. Thank you, ma'am. Come, let's open the branch. Together, they unlocked the entrance and stepped inside. The bank was quiet, the counters waiting for the day's work to begin. The familiar scent of paperwork, furniture, and an office opening for business surrounded Jenny as she followed Mrs. Lakshmi through the branch. This will be your table, the manager said, indicating a workstation. Jenny looked at it. Her table. Her first official workplace. A tiny smile appeared on her face. She placed her belongings down and sat, trying to look composed while excitement fluttered inside her chest. She had imagined this day so many times. Getting selected. Receiving her posting. Arriving at the branch. Introducing herself to colleagues. Learning the work. Proving that she deserved the opportunity she had earned. Now that she was actually here, she discovered that imagining a new beginning was considerably less nerve-racking than living through one. Would everyone be friendly? Would she make mistakes? Would she be able to handle the responsibilities? Would she fit in? And, perhaps most importantly, would she manage to survive the awkwardness of having to introduce herself to people she had never met before? Mrs. Lakshmi helped her settle in, and Jenny began to feel a little more comfortable. Then the assistant manager arrived. Arya. She was pregnant, warm, and immediately approachable. There was a slightly childish quality to her manner that Jenny found amusing, and within a short time, she had begun to feel that Arya might be one of those people who could make even an ordinary workday entertaining. You're Jenny , right? Arya asked. Yes, ma'am. Don't be nervous. You'll get used to everything. Jenny smiled. She hoped so. The morning continued, and then Akash, the customer associate, arrived. He greeted her warmly and wished her all the best. Welcome to the branch, Jenny . All the best for your first day! Thank you! He seemed like a friendly, funny sort of person. Jenny appreciated that. She might not have discovered a promising candidate for her imaginary office romance, but at least the people appeared nice. And nice, she decided, was a perfectly respectable place to start. She was beginning to relax. Her belongings were arranged. Her table no longer felt quite so unfamiliar. She had exchanged a few words with her colleagues and was starting to believe that perhaps her first day would be less intimidating than she had expected. She glanced at the clock. 9:55 a.m. Five minutes to ten. Outside, Chennai continued with its usual morning bustle. Somewhere beyond the glass entrance, people hurried along the road, vehicles moved through traffic, and the city went about its business. Inside the branch, Jenny sat at her table, unaware that the next five minutes would become a memory she would revisit far more often than she could ever have imagined. Then— The main entrance opened. ✦ ✦ ✦ He walked in wearing a black shirt tucked neatly into white trousers. And Jenny 's entire morning changed. He was tall. No, tall did not seem quite enough. He was the kind of tall that made you notice him the moment he entered a room. His physique was athletic, his shoulders broad, and his overall appearance carried the effortless impression of someone who was physically active and comfortable in his own skin. The black shirt fitted him neatly, the white trousers completing an ensemble that should, by all reasonable standards, have been nothing more than ordinary office attire. Except that Jenny was beginning to suspect ordinary office attire had never looked quite like this. He wore spectacles. They framed his face and partially concealed the eyes that Jenny would later discover she had a particularly difficult time looking away from. For the moment, he hadn't noticed her. He entered the branch as though it were any other Tuesday morning. There was no dramatic pause, no sudden awareness that a woman at a nearby table had stopped thinking about literally everything else. He simply walked in. And Jenny stared. She forgot about her first-day nervousness. She forgot about the questions she had been asking herself all morning. She forgot, for a brief and rather alarming moment, that she was sitting at her workplace and that maintaining a professional demeanour was probably a sensible thing to do. Oh. That was the first thought. Just one word. Oh. Her eyes followed him before she could remind herself that staring at a colleague was not an especially good way to begin a professional relationship. Who is he? She had studied the faces on the Pulse app. She was certain she had. How had she missed this man? And more importantly, how had she managed to convince herself that her new workplace contained absolutely no romantic possibilities? Apparently, the universe had been withholding information. He continued walking, still unaware of the effect his arrival had produced. Jenny tried to look away. She really did. She glanced at her table, then at the papers in front of her, then somewhere in the general direction of the room. A second later, her eyes found him again. Jenny Antony , please behave yourself. She lowered her gaze, fighting the sudden, ridiculous smile threatening to appear on her face. It was only a man walking into a bank. A handsome man, certainly. An exceptionally handsome man, if she was being honest. But still just a man. She had a job to learn. A career to build. A first day to get through without embarrassing herself. She was not going to develop a crush on someone simply because he had walked through a door wearing a black shirt. Absolutely not. Then he lifted his head. And saw her. For the briefest moment, their eyes met. Jenny felt the peculiar stillness that sometimes settles over a moment when you become unexpectedly aware of another person. He looked at her. Then he smiled. It was not an elaborate smile. He did not need to do anything extraordinary. It was simply warm and beautiful, reaching his eyes and making them sparkle behind his spectacles. A smile that seemed to soften his entire face. A smile that made him look approachable despite the striking first impression he had made. And a smile that Jenny , despite all her determination to behave normally, was entirely unprepared for. Good morning, he greeted her. His voice broke the silence between them. Jenny blinked. For one absurd second, her mind appeared to have misplaced every English word she had ever learned. Then she remembered that she was a functioning adult with a postgraduate degree and a professional job. Good morning, she replied. She hoped her voice sounded normal. She hoped her face looked normal. She hoped he hadn't noticed that she had spent the last several seconds looking at him as though he were the most interesting thing the branch had seen all morning. He smiled again, and Jenny felt a tiny, inconvenient flutter in her chest. It was ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. She didn't know his name. She didn't know his age. She didn't know anything about him. She didn't even know whether he was single. And yet, somewhere in the back of her mind, a small, traitorous thought had already begun to form. Please let him be nice. Then another followed. Please let me get to know him. She immediately pushed both thoughts aside. Stop it. You have literally just said good morning to the man. He turned towards the others, greeting his colleagues as he settled into the familiar rhythm of the workplace. The moment passed. The branch resumed its morning routine. And Jenny sat at her table, attempting to gather the scattered remains of her concentration. She picked up a pen. Put it down. Adjusted her spectacles. Looked at the papers in front of her. Then, when she was certain nobody was paying attention, she allowed herself one more glance in his direction. He was busy with his morning. Completely unaware that, for Jenny , the day had acquired an entirely unexpected point of interest. She had arrived at the branch believing she would spend her first working day worrying about new responsibilities, unfamiliar colleagues, and the challenges of beginning a career in Chennai. She had not anticipated a tall man in a black shirt and white trousers. She had not anticipated that smile. And she certainly had not anticipated the strange little excitement that had settled somewhere beneath her ribs. At 9:20 that morning, Jenny Antony had arrived at the branch as a nervous young probationary officer, determined to make a good impression. By five minutes to ten, she had discovered that her first day might be considerably more interesting than she had expected. She still didn't know his name. She didn't know his story. She didn't know that behind those spectacles and that beautiful smile was a man who had worked hard to build his life, a man whose ambitions stretched beyond the walls of the bank, a man who loved deeply and gave his best to the things that mattered to him. She didn't know that he was Shankar Subramanian . And she had absolutely no idea that the man who had just wished her good morning would one day become the person whose messages she would wait for, whose silence she would overthink, whose presence she would crave, and whose arms she would long to return to after the most exhausting days. For now, he was simply the handsome man who had walked into the branch. And she was simply the new girl who couldn't stop thinking about his smile. Their story had begun with a good morning. Neither of them knew what would come after it.