He hated policy changes or policy or anything that was not related to his work directly; like documents sent for his approval by human resources. Geet had cancelled all his meetings for the rest of the afternoon since the policy was in his hands for over a month and he hadn't cared two hoots about it. HR had practically cried in front of her and he fathomed she was probably bribed with something related to food so she had taken it upon herself to get the policy implemented soon.
Whatever. The work was boring and he hadn't read anything past first three lines in past one hour. The past few weeks were hectic and he was running very short on sleep and temper. He hadn't even been short with Geet in several instances but she hadn't pursued any argument in that regard. He was secretly glad at her attitude but never really had a chance to show his appreciation for her support. At that very moment Geet came in with a big mug of coffee.
His salvation was here.
Not Geet. Coffee. Jesus!!!
"I was watching this serial last night where the male lead and female lead work in same office and they always get into arguments and fights. He is her boss and he orders her around real bad." Geet said flopping on a chair opposite to him after handing him the coffee mug. He smiled inwardly. Entertainment was here.
He nodded her to go on. He needed coffee first.
"Well I was in this forum which basically discussed every second of the serial, where people said that the sexual tension between the two was obvious though I still can't see it. Apparently these kinds of interactions happen because they aren't able to address the underlying issue which is attraction of unprecedented intensity. To mask it, they show this kind of pushy behavior where the two people argue and the boss is angry and makes the other person do crappy things." She said thoughtfully.
"And you thought about us instantly?" Maan asked narrowing his eyes. She couldn't possibly realize that she was attracted to him now, would she? She was too dense to realize what was going on between them already.
"No." She replied instantly.
"Is there someone else?" He asked her trying to keep the beat steady. He didn't know why her 'No' had punched out air from his lungs.
She didn't reply for several moments. She looked thoughtful. Lead settled in pit of his stomach as the thought of seeing her with someone else passed his mind. He took a sip of coffee to ignore the avalanche in his heart.
"I think Sasha ma'am is severely attracted to me and the two of us fit perfectly into this stereotypical cliched version and pathologically superannuated template of boss-subordinate. I think she doesn't know how to deal with the tension caused by my nearness to her so that's why she is always angry at me and gives me orders. Poor woman must be going through a lot of problems whenever I walk past her." Geet surmised.
In retrospect it was probably all his fault anyway. He was extremely distracted when he signed on her appointment letter and he was hardly paying attention to Sasha when she said the name of his secretary. There should have been warning bells ringing all around him in high octave. But unfortunately for him nothing of that sort happened.
The abomination of his sanity called Geet was part of his life.
And now he was spluttering and coughing with his face red, eyes watering, burning lungs and shirt soaked with spilled coffee. He was drinking coffee when she had dropped a nuke on his sanity and he was torn between gasping and laughing. Since both acts had happened at the same time, coffee had found its way to his esophagus.
"You always overreact. Since when did you become such a drama queen?" Geet said sighing as she plucked paper napkins out of its hold. She started wiping the table and "tch-tched" when her wiping hands hit a copy of the latest policy changes their HR department was proposing. The document was splashed with generous bit of coffee. She made a mental note to get him another copy once he had recovered from his fit.
"I am over reacting?" Maan said hoarsely still coughing and wiping his neck with tissues handed by Geet.
"I think you need to keep a change of wardrobe here. You keep spilling coffee all the time or slip here and there and get your pants wet," she added with a cheeky smile and completely ignoring his earlier prelude to a very long rant.
"My pants got wet because I sat on your stupid scooter which had copious amount of water stored in its cushioned seats all thanks to a very tiny tear on the seat cover," he replied hotly.
She realized that wet-pant-incident was a touchy subject so she let it go. Just for the moment. She would mock him again on that topic some other time.
"Do you want a clean shirt or will you go around the office with your wet shirt open till your belt buckle?" She said again ignoring his comment.
"Do you realize that we are having two different conversations weirdo? Why don't you answer my question for a change?" Maan asked irritably.
Geet peered at him without any trace of sympathy on her face.
"Hang on. Do you have a clean shirt?" He asked his annoyance coming down a notch.
"Maybe," she said looking at her nails. He peered at her lazed stance. She looked like a tigress relaxing after a lengthy hearty meal. Or after mating with a tiger. He shook his head vigorously. He didn't want to think in that direction.
And then it clicked.
"But why do you my clean shirt with you?" He asked.
"Because my cabin is almost as big as your cabin. I have space," she shrugged. He didn't know if she was answering seriously or she was plotting on a revenge for something he did in past week. "Why do you think that it is your clean shirt?" She smile was feral.
He swallowed visibly knowing that he had the classical moronic deer caught in headlights look. He opened and closed his mouth several times but no words came. It was as if they were at an impasse but he wasn't someone who accepted defeat easily.
"Give me the shirt," he said and restarted wiping of coffee from his skin process.
"No," she said and gently swayed in the chair.
His hands stilled and he looked up to see her looking at him with a glazed expression.
"Like what you see?" He asked his mood slowly picking up.
"I was just thinking and didn't pay any attention to the object I was looking at," she replied defensively.
"You won't be the first person to stare at my physique blatantly Geet and for me, it's quite normal to be stared at." She wanted to hit herself for giving him an opening to massage his ego.
"But then again you are just a confused soul at the moment. So I will consider this as…window shopping. You know something that you can do before you make a decision?" he grinned at his own words. Geet looked at him without any expression on her face. She took out her phone and clicked a photo of him with shirt open and wet.
"What the heck are you doing?" He didn't care if his voice screeched like an eight year old girl. What Geet had in her hands was a weapon.
"I am going to send a one line email to 'MACO' club with this picture attached. I will buy few more shirts from the money I make after selling this photo of yours," she said with an awfully sweet smile.
"You wouldn't," he whispered. "But what the hell is MACO?" He asked realizing a moment later.
"Maan's Abs and Chest Obsession." She said biting her inner cheeks to stop from grinning blatantly at his horror filled expression.
"You are joking," he said as if she had told him that a ghoul was sitting next to her.
"Nope. Do you want to see their website?" She challenged.
"They have a website?" He asked her feebly.
"Your innocence which is currently on the borderline of stupidity is astounding," she grinned. He scowled at her. It was exact same words he used on her whenever she asked a question which he deemed lame. "Of course they have a website." She chortled at his expression.
"How many members are there? Are you their president?" He asked recovering from her taunts. She rolled her eyes. Of course his ego would kick in and he would be bragging about it for another century at least. She had forgotten that Maan was the kind of person who used every bit of news and information to his own advantage. She sighed at her own innocence.
"I am not president. But I am sort of a celebrity given how I work close quarters with you. It's like you are their superhero and I am the accessible side kick," she grinned cheekily and made her eyebrows dance.
Maan burst out laughing.
"I think you should send that photo to those women. Or better yet, should I take off my shirt?" He asked her.
She wanted to bang her head on the table. The business man in him was wide awake with ego high up on the roof and now he would be even more insufferable.
"God no!" She exclaimed. He grinned at her and swallowed his smile when he saw her narrowing her eyes. He cleared his throat.
"Whatever money you make, if at all you make that is, let's split." He offered her a deal.
"Forget it," she replied even before he completed his words.
"I can get you some photos of Sasha too as a part of the deal," he said chuckling. He felt his cheek hurt after so much of grinning and smiling.
"I knew it was a bad idea to run my thought process with you," she scowled at his jovial expression.
"Sasha isn't interested in you weirdo. She is interested in me," he said cheekily. Geet rolled her eyes at that.
"Oh please. It must all be in the salesmanship which makes you deluded about your own persona. Sasha is most definitely interested in me," she replied in equal grandeur. He burst out laughing.
"Should we have a wager and try finding out who she likes the most?" He asked her chuckling.
"She would probably say you in public but she would send these messages to me via rubbish work and then we both will know the truth," she replied in good humor.
Maan burst out laughing.
"You are insane, you know that?" Maan asked once his laughter subsided.
"And you are laughing after thirteen days and nine hours, did you know that?" She replied easily.
"You don't know how many minutes?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"Forty two," she replied in nonchalance. "I thought it might look…odd so I didn't add the minutes." She added. He could see that there was no mirth in her eyes; just plain simple smile.
"Let's get out of this place." He said suddenly getting up. "And yes, I will finish reading this damn policy document and you will have my reviews or approval on your desk tomorrow morning. Can we please go now?" He knew he was acting like a child but he didn't care. The moment was too…surreal to let it go.
"Okay. Let me get my purse," she said finally.
"Thanks for lifting my spirits Geet. Really." He said sincerely as they walked out of the building. She smiled brilliantly at him.
"The whole MACO club thing was nice touch. It was quite funny," he said chuckling. She stopped and looked at him.
"But I wasn't joking about it. A club by that name exists and so does the website." Geet trilled and walked past him.
"Hang on. You mean women actually are members and stuff for this stupid thing?" Panic settled in voice.
"Fifty three women and seven men," she said happily and walked towards a street snack vendor yelling "Appetizers!"
"What! That's insane. That's invasion of my privacy. This is ridiculous. Why are you encouraging this? Geet! Will you stop looking and thinking about food and pay attention to this horror for a minute?"
"Geet…I swear..."
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