AAHANA closed the computer she had been working on for hours on designs of buildings. She leaned back in her chair and sighed deeply, tired but satisfied with her studies of solving technical problems that enable construction.

As a civil engineer, she often put in long hours on worksites, directing operations with a strict efficiency principle. It was a challenge on every project for something new and innovative, but the real challenge for her was working as a young woman in a male-dominated field. The comments and doubts about her capability and knowledge were unapologetically numerous, but she held her own, staying strong and assertive, and with that strong will and determination, she gained the respect and recognition she deserved for her work.

She had walked the rough roads and came through without a fall.
“It’s amazing, really,” she often told herself.
If someone had told her eight years ago she would be working as an engineer, she would have doubted it.
But circumstances in life sometimes help one discover one’s true potential.

She got up and went out on the verandah, soothed by the cool breeze and the distant sounds of water, washing up against the seawalls. She looked out onto the quiet night and sighed again, but this time from the loneliness that sometimes overwhelmed her, living alone in the city, away from family.
She sat there for a while, then went back inside and took a leisurely bath to wash away some of the tiredness. She felt refreshed and a little rejuvenated, and pouring a glass of wine, she sat in front of the television. Her friends had invited her for drinks at a club, but she had declined, just wanting to relax at home after a long day.

“There’s someone I wanted to introduce you to,” Kamla, her best friend, had told her.
“Oh,” Aahana had laughed a little, “Guess I missed that.”
She sipped her wine and said with a contented smile, “Cheers to me for the woman I have become.”
She had been a simple country girl with a quiet disposition, a farmer’s daughter who loved dancing and wanted to be a doctor. She had joined the Indian Cultural Dance group and that’s how she had met Naren. He was also a dancer, son of a rich businessman and quite a popular guy. Girls were always vying for his attention, and it surprised her when he began showing interest in her.

They had a very good chemistry in dancing, and it was that that brought them close. It was a beautiful thing, that friendship, a hushed love story, for they were still young.
But after graduating high school, Naren had left to pursue a degree in business management in the UK. Saying goodbye wasn’t easy for her, and he had told her, “Don’t be sad, you’ll always be on my mind, in my thoughts.”

That was when he kissed her for the first time, a moment of exhilaration that filled her being and with every dance number she did from then on, she danced for him. They had stayed connected through phone calls and messages, but after one year, she began hearing less from him. It hadn’t worried her because she knew he was studying but not long after, she received a message from him that he had met a French girl at the university. He did not say anything more, but she knew what had happened, which devastated her.
“How could he have forgotten me so easily?” she had cried to herself.

She had had to take a break from her studies to deal with that unexpected heartache, not saying anything to anyone except her family, but it wasn’t long before those who knew of their close friendship got word of their breakup.
There were those who felt sorry for her and those who weren’t. The spark from her life dimmed, she could hardly smile anymore, and eventually, she lost the desire to dance. It was then she realised she had to leave that place, leave behind that life and find something else, be somebody else. So, she moved to the city, found a job and transferred to the engineering programme at the University of Guyana. She didn’t want to be that simple, soft-spoken girl anymore, but a brave and strong-willed woman.

“I am now my own woman,” she stated as she finished the third glass of wine, “I don’t cry and I don’t have to smile for anyone.”
Her parents had been dismayed at the change in her, sad they had lost their little girl, but they supported her new career and today were proud of her accomplishments. Her mother would still ask, though, with some hopes, “Met anyone, special?”
“Nope,” Aahana would answer casually.

“You do know, though, at some point, you would need someone—”
“I know, mother,” she had interrupted her gently, not wanting her to feel hurt, “maybe one day.”
Aahana had gone on many dates over the years but only casual, nothing special. She never allowed that thought in her mind, except on a few quiet moments.
“Maybe one day, I will find someone to dance with me.”

In the course of her job, she networked with foreign and local investors, and government officials and attended company dinners and cocktails so there was a possibility she might meet someone of her liking. But her job had become her life and she worked with a passion and commitment, knowing that designs and building of projects influence daily life through development.
Life, though, could bring unexpected changes that are mind-blowing.

The company she worked for was contracted to build a mall in her old home town of New Amsterdam. She felt that that was great for the Ancient County needing an attractive economic boost.
But she wasn’t one of the engineers on the project for she was working on three other sites at that time. She still had to look at the designs and make a presentation to the investors on behalf of the company.
A meeting was scheduled for later that week and she worked late every night on the designs. On the morning of the presentation and discussions, as she walked into the room with her boss, she was stunned to see one of the investors.
It was Naren!
To be continued…