Chapter 1

 

It was almost around 1 in the morning. They all had been working continuously on the case since they met up at the ETF headquarters that evening. It was a high-end class case and ETF team had to solve the case till the next morning otherwise the matter might get worse as media will get involved and the efficiency of ETF might be questioned. It was not just the case that needed to be solved, but also ETF had to answer its seniors by tomorrow morning, by hook or by crook.

All five of them were working on every single detail of the case in their conference room, together. Every minute mattered a lot and even though none of them was ready to accept but they were tired. None of them had had dinner. Chotu was getting impatient to solve the case and get over it so that he could go to break room and munch on everything he has in his locker. Riya was not hungry but she needed something to be awake. She thought of asking Rathore sir if she could go to break room and get some coffee. Despite of his rude behavior, Rathore seemed to understand human emotions way better than Arjun did.

"Sir," called Riya. Rathore looked up at her expecting her to speak up.

"May I go and grab some coffee from break room? Please sir," Riya pleaded in a way and expected a positive response from the person in front of her.

"Riya it is better to put all your efforts and solve the case rather than caring about your coffee at this time," Arjun interrupted Rathore before Rathore could  speak up.

"Rawte, tum chup raho. Riya asked me, not you, and the last time I checked, It was me who is the Chief of ETF, not you Rawte, so stay within your limits," Rathore replied curtly to Arjun's remark.

Arjun gave a 'as-if-i-give-a-damn' look to first Rathore, then Riya and continued with what he was doing.

Rathore gave permission to Riya and told Chotu to accompany her as she might need help, but inside he knew that Chotu was dying of hunger and even though he never showed it, he cared about his team, even Rawte.

Riya took four disposable coffee cups from the cupboard and started pouring Starbucks dark coffee into them, while Chotu tried to gulp down as much as he could. Chotu was done within few minutes and noticed Riya had only 4 cups.

Chotu ' Riya, why four? I think your brain has stopped working since we have been working for so long. You have seem to forgotten that we are five in total. Actually 6, you can count me as 2 people. *he cracked a joke*

Riya ' Oh really Mr.Chotu? I think you have forgotten k Arjur sir ko sirf apni cutting chai psand hai. Woh bhi in those unhygienic glasses. *she made a disgusting face which made Chotu burst into laughter*

He agreed with her and they both walked towards the conference hall. Riya entered the room while Chotu opened the door for her. She handed Shree and Rathore sir their coffee and placed Chotu's coffee cup at his seat. Since Riya and Arjun were sitting next to each other, Riya placed her coffee cup and left to grab a piece of tissue from the other side of table. When she came back to her seat, she saw Arjun had her coffee in his hands and was lost in reading notes and thinking about "kuch toh chhoot raha hai."

Riya ' Arjun Sir, I thought you don't like coffee and you like to have cutting chai only. *she remarked with an unsure face expression*

Everyone glared at Arjun and then Riya, since no one had never seen Arjun with coffee before. Shree and Chotu gave each other a 'i-told-you' look and chuckled under their breaths.

Arjun ' Yeah Riya, I prefer cutting chai over coffee but since it's late at night, I don't think there will be any chai available out there. Samjhe ya Samjhayun? *he said looking at her sideways*

Riya ' Yes sir, samjh gayi. *she made a face as now she had to go back and make herself a coffee*

Arjun  - waise, why didn't you put sugar in it?

Riya ' oh well sir, I don't like sugar in my drinks, and I had made it for myself. But it's okay. I will grab another one real quick.

She started to leave to get herself a cup of her favorite coffee when her ears heard his voice once again.

"And it is nice to try something which some people seem to like a lot," Arjun spoke while looking at her back.

Riya turned at once to see his expression but he had engrossed himself in his work and she saw Chotu-Shree giving her winks.

She blushed deep crimson and exited the room to hide her blush.

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Next day, Arjun walked into the office an hour late as he was up till late in the morning, solving the case and seemed to sleep in a little bit. He stepped into the conference hall and saw Riya, Shree and Chotu on their seats respectively, finishing off their paperwork for the case they solved last night. Arjun took a seat across the table from Riya and started reading about new cases when he noticed Riya holding a cutting chai in her hand and taking a sip while penning down something on the file. He raised his eyebrows and glared at her. Riya sensed him looking at her and looked up.

"Woh sir, you know sometimes it is adventurous to try something which some people to fallen in love with," she tried to explain her reasoning with a slight smile on her face, while Shree and Chotu seemed to enjoy their little conversation. They thought Arjun would not care to answer back to Riya, and they were right, he did not say anything, but he got up from his seat, walked all the way up to where Riya was sitting, took her glass of chai and took a sip right from the place where the glass had her lip prints. Shree and Chotu's jaws dropped and Riya's eyes popped out.

He rested the glass back on the table and started to walk out, not before remarking something special for her. "I thought you said you don't put sugar in your drinks, but that chai tasted really sweet," he said while winking at her and made her turn deep red.

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Have a very nice day!!