||The Dusking Sky Ch.6 Part 2||*08/07*{PG.26} - Page 17

"Ouch! Quit stabbing my feet with your worthless shoes."

"Sushhh Zoya! Can't you stand still for one second?"

"Really?! Let me press these gorgeous pencil heels of mine into your foot and see how you wouldn't budge."

"God! You are like a---"

We both freeze catching the shuffled noises of nearing footsteps. Aditya pulls me by the waist further into the corner of the closet which feels, rather intimate. If only the circumstances differed a little. As I stand wrapped over him, I am painfully reminded of a similar intimate position we were in, a few days back.

Suddenly, I am praying this closet would turn into the magical closet of Narnia and suck me right into it.

A few minutes back ...

Forty-five minutes and thirty seconds more to go, I count resting my chin on my palm. Today, has been the deadest night since I have joined this restaurant. Literally, I have wiped every single table more than five times by now. Next time I do it, the wood would be chipping off. Even Mahi has gotten bored and given up on throwing orders at me since I was too eager to do it anyway. She knows the status I am at, if she asked I would probably scrub and paint the walls as well. So, here I am propped up on the bar stool counting the variety of liquor glasses this place owns. It's quite impressive actually, so impressive that I yawn behind my hand while doing so.

"Zoya!"

At the mention of my name, I jolt up and swirl around to find Arjun Hooda heading towards me in a semi-fast pace. From the looks of it, he seems sort of distressed, very much alike to the last time I saw him. To be honest, I have never seen him in a good mood. Maybe it is a family trait.

"You haven't happened to see my crazy ass brother hanging around here, have you?" I am a bit taken back by the sudden hostility in his tone.

"Well, hello to you too Arjun or should I say Arjun Sir?" I keep a neutral voice but fail quite obviously.

It takes a few seconds to sink in for him. "Shit! Sorry, where are my manners? Hey, how is your day going? And please, just Arjun is fine." Geez. What is with this family? They are so sensitive in regards to etiquettes. Observing his mood, I dish out a beer bottle from behind the bar since that's the best comfort I could think of.

"I was kidding Arjun. Clearly, whereabouts of your brother are more important than these silly pleasantries at the moment."

He sags down on the bar stool and takes a long swig from the bottle. I want to tell him to slow down but then again, I don't think he would hear me with all the vigorous gulping.

He finally takes a break. "God! HE frustrates me so damn much!" If someone had told me last week Arjun Hooda has a voice I would have laughed on their face. "One hour! He promised me one hour of drama free family dinner. But what does he do? Doesn't even last twenty minutes."

I raise my brows at the mention of family dinner and before I can stop myself the words are out of my mouth. "So it is Aditya's birthday then today?" I have successfully made a gigantic fool of myself, while I watch him nodding a smile at me.

"So you were awake in the car that night."

Covering my face in embarrassment I shake my head. "I promise I wasn't trying to eavesdrop. I tried so hard to sleep." My voice drops.

To my surprise, he laughs waving the glass bottle around. "It's fine, you didn't hear anything secretive. Even a delusional blind would be able to notice the cracks in our family."

Gone was the laugh replaced with bitterness. It is strange how we always present our own family in the most brutal way. For it is, the easiest target to point at and say hey, look I am screwed up because they screwed me over. I wish I could say all this to Arjun and save him. I can't watch another person turn into a despising excuse of a person that I am today.

"Have you checked your apartment?" Maybe he went back home.

"My home? That's where he dashed out from."

"The party was at your apartment?"

"No the Hooda mansion."

"Your apartment is called Hooda mansion?"

Any random person who saw us right now would easily mark us as two retarded people having the most dumb conversation. Arjun recovers from our retard-ness with a loud hysterical laugh. I don't understand the joke.

In between gasps of laughter he manages, "Hooda Mansion is where I live with my parents and Adi lives in his apartment you visited the other day.

"Oh..."

"Yeah! Oh," he mimics.

"That's not your house?"

"Nope."

"But you were there, the other day."

"I occasionally take a break and live with him."

"Wait, so you all live together in the same city but in two different houses?"

I feel terrible as Arjun's laughter suddenly subsides. He acknowledges my question with a gleam nod.

Yet, an unnecessary "why" fall out of my curious little mouth. Naturally, he becomes more rigid than before. What was wrong with me? I would never do this on a normal day. Never make anyone this uncomfortable about a situation. Stupid Aditya. I blame him.

"That's a good question. Ask that moron the same, the next time you see him." He takes another angry sip of his beer. There was nothing remotely amusing, but watching Arjun speak of his brother this way twitches my lips.

"Anyway, how has Noor been? She is not taking my calls anymore." It was my turn to get rigid and uncomfortable.

"If only I knew," I reply pretending to wipe the bar top.

"What do you mean? Don't you guys live together?"

"You're not the only one dealing with disappearing morons." I sigh in frustration.

"I haven't seen her since that party night. The next day, I wasn't having a great morning so I slept in late. When I woke in the afternoon, Noor was gone with a note stating she has some gastronomy conference in Pune. She said she will come back and explain everything. Just like that gone away with a juvenile note," I yell waving the wipe cloth in the air.

It was his turn to generate a smile at my friend's disappearance frustration. He shakes his head like he was forming a personal joke in his head. "Typical Noor" he whispers. Do share the joke Arjun, I want to say but decide we aren't that close. In fact, we aren't close at all.

"Since there is no solution for this screwed up issue, let's make an unproductive day a little more productive. Might as well skim through the working of this place." He dishes out a metal keychain that has a single key dangling from it. "Here take this key. Could you please ask someone to open my office and send one more of this bottle of beer?"

On one hand, I wanted to sympathize with his situation and on the other, I wanted to knock his head down for being bias with me.

"I can do that myself Arjun, which way is your office?" I ask fishing out another chilled beer from the mini freezer. He begins to deny my offer when his phone interrupts his intention. "It is opposite to Ashish's room," he distractedly points staring at his phone screen.

I walk away with his beer.

***

To say, Arjun Hooda has a simple taste would be an understatement. His office is much smaller compared to Ashish's. I guess he barely visits this place so rightly, Ashish gets the better office. Makes me respect him. Owners, usually make a fuss about all these details. The only luxury I find in here is the classic mahogany wooden desk in the centre of the room accompanied by a leather chair. I want to pat myself in the back for carrying a coaster along with me since it would have been a shame for this beautiful table.

Carefully, I place the bottle at the corner of the table and while I do so, the glass shelf behind shines at me. There are few books lined in chronological order, most of it has law headings on them. But that's not what catches my attention. It is the photo-frame peeking through the glass. Moving closer, I stare at it in fascination. From the looks of it, it appears to be a graduation snapshot. I slide closer, my face inches away from the glass inspecting the graduating boy in question. It takes a few seconds.

Aditya Hooda.

My heart stutters recognizing the familiarity in his features. A rounded face, almost chubby. Eyes sparkling a boyish glint. Most striking is the all teeth-smile, it makes me beam along. He is almost unrecognizable now. Those rounded cheeks are long gone replaced by a sharp jawline and cheekbone.

I slowly glide my pupils to another younger boy in the frame leaning almost half his body towards Aditya, smiling. The smile quite identical to Aditya, so assume must be Arjun. A man and women hugging both of them from behind. A heaviness forms in the pit of my stomach, nausea rumbles through me, while I gaze longingly at this gorgeous family portrait. My blurred vision from freshly formed tears is unable to make out the dark shadow that has tinted the frame.

"Why are you crying?"

I leap forward in fright bumping my nose into the glass door, in the process.

"Ow!" I yelp rubbing a hand over my nose and the other over my chest. Recognizing the voice already, I begin yelling before I have fully turned around to face him. "For f**k's sake Aditya, do you have to keep creeping up like that!" I am still rubbing my nose out of pain when I find him casually leaning against a newly found sliding black colored doorframe at the other side of the room. I had missed it out completely. Was there another room connected?

Aditya continues to lean on his perfect physique. His eyes look a bit wrecked though. But that doesn't stop him from looking like he could model for Abercrombie. He is wearing a baby blue button-down shirt, roughly untucked accompanied by black slacks. Oh, and did I mention his shirt sleeves are rolled up? Yes, they are. Glorifying each vein and tendon. They are draining away blood from my veins. Good grief!

"What are you doing here?" I pinch my nose to check for any damage and realize I sound like a nasally old woman. Amazing! I must be appearing like a garbage box in comparison with a reddened nose, teary-eyed to add on I have to sound like this. Complete package, I tell you.

"Do you always cry in random people's offices?" He sounds gently amused. See? This is what guys like these do. They appear all gorgeous leaning across one corner then they have to open their mouth and ruin it. I try to keep my composure, yet furiously snatch few tissues out of the tissue box placed on the table. Looking up, I begin to dab the corner of my eyes and find globule of mascara smeared over the tissue. This just keeps getting better. I am so, very, mad at myself right now. Couldn't I have controlled the water tank for few more minutes?

I don't need to a full vision. My peripheral vision is enough to spot the rolled-sleeved man walking towards me.

Without giving him a chance to speak, "Arjun is all over the place looking for you." I say still pretending to clean my mascara clad face. "And happy birthday by the way. Finally, I lock my eyes with his.

He blinks hard. I have taken him by surprise. I want to frame his expression. "How do you... Right, Arjun probably told you. That idiot."

"Yes," I lie. Potato-Potata, same thing. What difference does it make?

For a guy who just got wished, he looks a little disappointed. Unexpectedly, he lifts his hand in my direction causing me to flinch back instinctively. Scowling at my flinch he grabs a fresh tissue and surprisingly swipes it with softened care across my left cheekbone.

"You missed a spot of black smear," his breathe brushes through the loose tendrils of hair falling out from my messy bun. The top two buttons of his shirt are undone exposing a tiny piece of his skin. His cologne... I cannot go through this again. Snatching the tissue out of his hand, I step aside to clean my face.

"Were you planning to sneak a drink in here?" He points at the beer bottle. So, he is back to his amusing self.

"Ha-Ha," I fake laugh. "It's for Arjun."

"What? Arjun didn't leave?" His annoyance annoys me. Before I can answer Arjun's, muffled voice answers it for me. Aditya stiffens immediately, his pupils expand a tad. "You sneak! Why didn't you tell me?" he nearly screams.

I don't have the time to register his words as he curls his fingers around my wrist, and begins tugging me towards another end of the room. It is not until we have crossed the room partially that I realize of his actions. I do my best to shake him off but those iron clad fingers don't even semi-budge. He slides the floor length door he was leaning on a few minutes before and pushes my reluctant back into it.

I am expecting to topple into another room altogether but instead, I gasp in surprise to find my face shoved into soft clothing material. Stabilizing myself, I move back a little to realize I'm standing in a narrow lane of a walk-in closet.

"Who has a friggin closet in their office?" My astonished tone comes a little louder than I mean to.

"Shhh!" Only then I notice Aditya, stuck with his ear to the door. Paranoid much? I roll my eyes and go back to inspecting my new-found fascination. I flinch finding a narrowed dimension of a mirror at the end of the row. Whatever eye-makeup I had on is washed away with a just faint hint of baby pink lip color remains. Looking away urgently I notice, there are two sections of divided clothes with one having rows and rows of white-navy blue uniforms. While the other section seems more like casual clothes. I touch the sleeve end of the navy-blue blazer and imagine how appealing it will be on Aditya. I am so weird.

"What are you doing?" Aditya whispers, still stuck to the door. Pulling my hand back in a hurry, I look back at him. "Seriously why do you have clothes here?" I am clever enough to whisper it out this time. "It's for standby, I have flights on multiple days of the week sometimes." He is too focused on listening if Arjun has entered to look at me. This is getting ridiculous now. "Okay this is silly Aditya, you would rather hideout in a closet than go talk to your brother!" Yeah, I wasn't whispering anymore.

Which I regret immensely because he has his hand over my mouth like he is about to kidnap me. "Will you keep it down?" He warns me. His palm feels soft against my face. However, that illusion breaks when I feel him inching closer with pain radiating up my left leg. I use both hands to push him away.

"Ouch! Quit stabbing my feet with your worthless shoes."

"Sushhh Zoya! Can't you stand still for one second?"

"Really?! Let me press these gorgeous pencil heels of mine into your foot and then see how you wouldn't budge."

"God! You are like a--"

We both freeze catching the shuffled noises of the nearing footsteps. Aditya pulls me by the waist, further into the corner of the closet which feels, rather intimate. If only the circumstances differed a little. As I stand wrapped over him, I am painfully reminded of a similar intimate position were in a few days back. It's not helping that all his clothes have his scent radiating from them. So, it was double of Aditya around me right now.

Aditya skims his eyes down at my lips for a Nano-second. It is enough for me to hyperventilate.

Surrounded by clothes all around us, I suddenly am praying this closet would turn into the magical closet of Narnia and suck me right into it.

The muffled sounds from earlier become clearer indicating they were inside the premises. Mahi's voice breaks our stare contest and we both look towards the door in confusion.

I make a mental note to send Mahi flowers with a generous thank you note.

"What's your problem with her, Mahi?" Even though Arjun's voice still seemed a bit stifled, I could hear the irritation in his tone.

"You're being biased"

"Biased how?"

"You know how. She doesn't know half the work here and you continue to keep her here."

For some horrible reason, it begins to dawn on me that I was their topic of discussion. I start to slip away from Aditya's hold but he doesn't let go. He continues to keep his hold on me.

"You're being unfair Mahi, she isn't that bad, she is learning." His voice comes in again.

"You just are saying that cause she's Noor's friend and she's the only way to keep her close."

It was pretty obvious they were talking about me.

"That's enough! I trust Ashish, if he says Zoya has a positive learning curve then she is. It is better you make peace with it too."

I sigh, feeling horrible for putting Arjun in the spot.

"But she's overqualified, Arjun."

My eyes turn so big; I think I am going to faint. This time around when I fight to unwrap myself, Aditya loosens his grip to let go. I avoid him.

"Employee's personal information is not to be accessed by anyone, how do you know this?"

I want to hug Arjun.

"How do you know she hasn't told me?"

"Don't buy time. Answer the question."

Now I know why he is a lawyer.

Silence.

"You could get fired for this, Mahi."

Silence.

"I gave you this job as a favor too. Madhu aunty wasn't well so I gave it to you. You get paid more than the others. Why are you risking all of it?" It was almost hard to hear since his voice has gotten softer now. I see Aditya shaking his head from the corner of my eyes.

"It's not fair. Zoya is treating this job as a hobby. When her rich dad's attention shines on her, she will get to do whatever she wants."

I am pinching the bridge of my nose now. Jeez! How did she get so much information? I could feel Aditya's shock radiating towards me.

"That's her personal choice. Keep out of her business before you get fired from the one job you need. Please leave now so I can do MY job at least."

"Fine! BOSS," I hear the sarcasm in her voice.

I don't know if it is the lack of air-conditioning in this closet or my proximity with Aditya but I feel the heat in form of sweat clinging my back. I need to sit down to digest this theatrically dramatic conversation. So, I do. Cross-legged on the floor of Aditya's closet. What follows is even more strange. Aditya joins me on the floor like we do this every day. We live here, this is our home now where we drink tea.

I didn't quite think this through. Crossing my legs has caused my skirt to rile up more than necessary. Too much skin. I want to stagger back up but I can't. I will look like an idiot if I do so. I am almost certain my skin has got my closet companion's attention too.

When I sneak a peek at this direction, I am mildly astonished to find his eyes fixed on my face. I smile. His brows flinch together not understanding my smile. It's fine he can assume I am a lunatic.

"What was all that about?" He says it so softly. I almost don't hear him.

I sigh, deeply. "Why does Mahi dislike me so much? I have been anything but nice to her." I mumble mirroring his tone.

He rears back his face like I have grown two heads. "Seriously? You got that from that?" he points his hand towards the office. I place my index finger on my lips indicating his rising voice. Pressing his lips together, he drops his hand in frustration. Shuffling of papers outside stops me from speaking till the sound settles down.

"Well, when your boss bad mouths about you, it is obvious you're lacking at your job."

He rubs his face with both his hands. He looks so tired.

"First of all, Mahi is not your boss she is a senior co-worker with little more experience than you and second of all Ashish is your boss, who seems to have no issues with you, so chill." He huffs. "And nice is overrated anyway. I stare at him."

This whole situation of whisper challenge looks ridiculously hilarious. Like we are back in our juvenile years of school, bending under the table so our professor doesn't catch us. For the second time today, my face splits into a smile. I have to cover my mouth to stop the bubbling laughter. It makes his lips, in turn, twitch as well. I see a faint line of a smile at the corner of his mouth. It causes tiny flutters in the pit of my stomach. Butterflies? For the sake of sanity, I look away. He doesn't. I am forced to look back at him since I know he is still staring.

'What' I mouth in the most casual way possible.

It takes him a beat to answer.

"It's your eyes" he has moved closer, I can practically taste his scent.

"There is an intriguing blaze in your eyes, it's hard to look away from." His voice gets huskier. I gulp, his eyes follow my gulp, down my neck.

The blasting sound from my pocket breaks us apart. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"TURN IT OFF" I hear him grunt. I hurry to retrieve it from my pocket and when I am about to turn it off, it slips out of my hand, thanks to all the pressure of the moment. Aditya facepalms himself, making me tense even more than I already was. I clumsily crawl on my knees to destroy the damn phone. Aditya beats me to it. He calmly picks it up and shuts it off making me look like a moron for trying so hard. He shakes his head at me in disappointment.

We both close our eyes in defeat as soon as the door slides open.

Arjun has 'confused' written all over his face. Me on my knees, Aditya cross-legged glaring at me, and on cue my phone begins to ring again.

"What the f**k are you both doing?"

I want to strangle Aditya Hooda with my bare hands.

And, I am damn sure he is already strangling me in his head.

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