Prerna got up late next morning and stressed like crazy. She had to reach office in one hour.
She dashed for the bathroom and got all her work done in half an hour. She could give Edward Cullen a run for his money, she was so fast, she thought, impressed with herself, as she made herself look as presentable as possible. She had no time to do her hair. She would do it sometime later in the day when she got time. IF she got time.
She looked for her phone everywhere. It seemed to be missing.
She went out into the living area and found her twenty one year old brother holding her phone.
"Krishna, just give it here," she said. She had to have breakfast and also drive.
"Who's Genius?" he asked.
Genius? Oh. Anurag.
He seemed really curious. Like he actually wanted to know.
And she didn't want to tell him for no reason. He wanted something. She won't give it to him. That's how things have always been between them. Trouble the other.
"Why do you care?"
"Why is his name saved as Genius?"
"Who said its a he?"
"Of course it is," he said, laughing. "Girls don't use fake names for girls. How stupid do you think am I?"
"Very. Now give my phone back, Krishna!" she repeated.
"What kind of a stupid fake name is that? Genius? You should have saved it as Pooja or Seeta or something."
"You seemed to know an awful lot about this," Prerna said, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Anybody we don't know about?"
"Tell me about your guy, "
"There's no guy." She said and managed to grab the phone from his hands. "Bye brother." She waved, grinning.
________________________
Prerna drove to her office just in time, and rushed into the reception. She swiped the card at the bio metric and submitted it to Sheena, the receptionist. They had a protocol of changing their ID numbers and passwords on a monthly basis to make their security system robust. It would be returned to her with a new ID number.
Prerna was waiting for Sheena to give her new ID card, impatiently. She was already late. This woman was not helping. Apparently, there was some trouble finding her ID card. Awesome.
Mr Anand Rao, Mr Arun Gupta and Mr Rahul Mehra, all who have come a good fifteen minutes after her were given their IDs. Sheena found their IDs in a jiffy. She also flirted with them merrily. They flirted back. Prerna who was witnessing all this ordeal threw her hands up, frustrated.
"Are you finding my ID or not?" she demanded, annoyed. Stupid woman! What was she doing?
"I am trying to, mam, please wait for a while," she said, for a fifth time in the last fifteen minutes, with a sickeningly sweet smile.
If Sheena didn't give the ID in the next five minutes, she was going to yell at her, Prerna decided. She started counting backwards under her breath.
And then, in came, Anurag Basu. He nodded at Prerna, on spotting her who nodded back.
Ms Sheena turned her complete attention to him, search for Prerna's ID forgotten.
"Good Morning, Mr Basu," chirped Sheena in an unusually cheery tone.
Prerna was observing the interaction.
Sheena would now say something sweet. Flirtatious. And Anurag would flirt back. She's been seeing since the last fifteen minutes. This happened over and over each time, with each guy.
"Morning," replied, Anurag, in a complete monotone.
The lack of enthusiasm disappointed Sheena. It showed on her face.
It surprised Prerna though. Wow. She rested her hand on the receptionist's panel, put her head on her hand and observed. This seems intriguing. Pop corn time.
Sheena regained. She smiled again, sweetly. "I've been expecting you since the last one hour Mr Basu. You are late!" she said, with a slight jut out of her lip. Almost complaining, like a girlfriend.
"My reporting time is now, Miss. How can you be 'expecting me since one hour'?" asked Anurag, air quoting the phrase.
Prerna grinned as if Diwli was to come in advance. This was fun.
Sheena looked taken aback. She smiled awkwardly.
"I meant I was wai-"
"Just give me my ID, Miss -" Anurag stopped. He seemed to have forgotten her name.
"Sheena," Prerna offered from beside, being overtly helpful. "Her name is Sheena." This was SO entertaining.
Prerna was grinning. Oh, poor Sheena. She had it coming for her.
"Yeah. Sheena. Just give me the ID already. I am getting late." He said, utterly insolent.
"Mine too," Prerna put in, her grin refusing to cease.
"Sure," Sheena replied curtly and gave the both of them their IDs. Sheena miraculously found Prerna's ID immediately.
Prerna and Anurag walked to the elevator, together, both examining their IDs. Prerna. memorised her new number quickly.
"Why are you grinning?" Anurag asked, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Am I?" Prerna asked, still grinning.
"Yeah. Like a psycho." Anurag, said moving away from her, looking scared.
Ananya just laughed. Anurag took one look at her shaking his head.
"Witch. Not psycho."
Prerna laughed some more at that.
Her laugh was very infectious. Very pretty.
"Why are you in such high spirits today?" questioned Anurag, a faint smile of his own playing on his lips.
They entered the elevator.
"Dude! What you did back there was just awesome!" She said, still laughing.
"What? What did I do?" Anurag asked, confused.
"With Sheena!"
"Sheena? Oh! The receptionist."
"Yes," Prerna nodded, enthusiastically.
"She gets on my nerves," Anurag said, scrunching his nose in distaste.
"What?" Prerna wheezed, bursting into peals of laughter.
Anurag shook his head. This girl seems to have gulped down a laughing potion or something this morning.
"Why? All men of the office love her." Prerna asked, curious.
"Really?" Anurag wondered, surprised at the piece of information. "She gets on my nerves for no reason." He shrugged.
Prerma only smiled in response.
"Why are you so happy?" he demanded.
"I hate her," Prerna said simply as if it explained everything.
"Why?"
"What why? I just told you. She is crazy about men and men about her."
"So you hate her." Anurag asked to confirm.
"Yes."
"That's hardly any reason. Women." He said, shaking his head gravely.
A pause.
"Wait a minute. Maybe you had your interests in some man from this office and he was interested in Shreya. Right? That's why you hate her!" Avinash said, clapping his hands together as if all made sense now.
"Her name is Sheena." Prerna corrected.
"Yeah. But you didn't contradict my theory." Anurag pointed.
Prerna rolled her eyes.
"Who is it?" He asked.
"It's our floor. Shall we get out?"
Anurag and Prerna made way to their cabins.
"Um, Prerna? I think it's better we work in the same cabin, if you know what I mean?"
There. She asked it.
Now he would make some cocky remark about she dying to be in his presence.
"Yeah. I think so too. It would be so much better."
Prerna was surprised. "What, really?"
"Yeah." he nodded.
"Okay then, come in," she said, opening her cabin.
"My cabin."
"What?"
"Lets sit in my cabin."
"No mine."
"I said first, mine."
Prerna laughed. "You said first? That's your argument?"
"Mine has a couch."
"Mine is super spacious ."
"Mine has fully finished cabinets."
"Mine has a wall size window, looking over the city."
"What?" Anurag uttered, surprised. "Why didn't they give one in mine?" he complained.
Prerna shrugged and opened the cabin door. Anurag followed grudgingly.
Still sulking about why he wasn't given the room with the large window, Anurag drew a chair close to Prerna.
And they got to work.
Today they had to discuss all the latest reports from their respective functions, see if they were in coordination with the others and discuss the viability of the plans.
Prerna observed that Anurag was very observant. They discussed tiniest details and went over each factor that could have an impact on the objective. Majority times, they both seemed to be thinking along the same lines, thought of the same loopholes. They did a lot of team work and Prerna could see that what they have done was work of quality.
She looked at the clock on the wall to notice that it was just half past twelve.
They finished their work well within time. They had time to go down to the canteen for lunch.
_____________________
Prerna sat down at the farthest table from the door, closest to the window. Being away from the usual hush of the canteen, it provided her tranquillity. But given her company, tranquility was now out of question.
Prerna and Anurag gave their respective orders and were waiting, bickering randomly.
And suddenly they heard an exclamation.
"Preu!" exclaimed Vaibhav, approaching her from behind. "What a surprise finding you here down in the canteen! I thought you forgot it existed." He said, chuckling merrily, joining their table.
Prerna smiled at him fondly. Vaibhav, her boss's secretary was one of her best friends here at the office.
"You know how the work is! I am getting no time to come down." Prerna said, with a slightly jutting her lip.
Prerna gave Vaibhav a small smile which he politely returned.
"I've missed you! It's been days since we've talked." He said, his eyes mellowing into a soft, unreadable expression.
"I know right! Once I am done with this, we'll go out one day and catch up on everything. Okay?" Prerna promised, her eyes gleaming.
Vaibhav nodded, smiling indulgently.
They talked some more. Had their lunch and it was time to leave.
Prerna and Anurag bid bye to Vaibhav and made their way out of the canteen. As soon as they were out of earshot, Anurag began. "Sharma?"
"Yeah?" Prerna said absent mindedly, fiddling with a pen. She was trying to take the cap off, but the damn thing won't come off.
"You do realize, right?"
"What? Stop talking in riddles!"
Still not coming.
"That he is love with you?"
"Who?" Prerna asked, in a disinterested tone, giving him the you-are-back-with-your-rubbish look.
Did they glue the cap to the pen or something?
"Vaibhav."
"What shit?" Prerna said, exasperated.
What's wrong with this pen?
"No! He is so much in love with you."
"Yeah. And we are best friends." Prerna said, rolling her eyes.
Come on! Come off! She was trying so hard.
Why was she so intent on taking the cap off anyway? She didn't know. It didn't come off. It irritated her.
"I am serious Sharma. You don't -"
"Yes!" squealed Prerna as she finally tugged the cap out, result being that she rammed her elbow smack into Anurag's nose.
"Ow!" he uttered, a loud cry.
Prerna slapped a hand to her mouth, utterly flabbergasted.
He clutched his nose and whimpered.
"You didn't have to hit me in the face if you didn't like what I was saying, Sharma." Anurag winced, his eyes watering.
Prerna ignored him and started examining his nose which was turning a boisterous red. And was also swelling. He resembled that bird which carries water in its beak. She forgot its name.
Shit.
She gingerly touched his nose and Anurag yelped, swatting her hands away.
"You have done enough damage. I can't sustain more blows." Anurag ground out, nursing his nose.
Prerna felt extremely sorry. She immediately ordered a pain killer from the medical ward as soon as they reached her cabin.
Anurag took the medicine and reclined into the chair.
"Vaibhav will be too scared to approach you if you are this violent Sharma," he huffed, giving her a terrified glance.
Prerna gave him an exasperated look. "I didn't hit you on purpose. It was a mistake."
"What a way to take revenge! I never thought of it." He said, still not giving up.
Prerna threw her hands up. Whatever the situation, Anurag Basu had to rile her up. He can be laughing, crying, hurting, dying, he can't do anything without annoying her.
After a good fifteen minutes of silence, Prerna actually started to worry. Anurag was silent for so long. Was he really hurt? He had his eyes closed.
"Do you- Do you want to take the day off?" She asked him, tentatively.
"Day off for this? Nah! Let's already get started. I was just thinking about how your wedding to Vaibhav would be."
Cool. He was back.
Prerna and Anurag worked the whole evening without any interruption. It was finally at 8 in the evening that they'd decided they had done enough for the day.
Prerna noticed that the swelling of Anurag's nose reduced to a large extent. Atleast he didn't look like a bird anymore.
Anurag checked his reflection in his phone screen and gave himself a satisfied smirk.
"I am too good looking for anybody to spoil my looks." He said, smugly.
"Yeah. Totally." Prerna said, as they made way to the ground floor.
"But you would probably prefer someone whose name starts with a V ends with a V and has the letters Y-B-H-A-V in the middle. Right, Sharma?"
This guy was still on it.
"It is V-A-I-B-H-A-V and we are good friends."
"But that guy is crushing so hard over you!
"He told you?"
"I am a boy." He said. That statement was self explanatory.
"Made no sense. Boys," Prerna said, speaking to him in his own words, grinning cheekily.
"Or wait! Is it this guy that you lost your heart to but he lost his to the receptionist?"
"But you just said he was crushing on me. Not the other way round." she pointed out.
"Oh yeah. Logic doesn't fit." he admitted.
"It never had ever with you," Prerna said, smugly. "Bye, dude," she waved and made way to the parking lot.
Anurag had to fill up some forms as he was a new employee there.
Prerna made it to home, had dinner and talked to her family. She felt relatively relaxed that day as the work didn't feel too burdensome.
She fished her phone out, before she went to sleep to find a trail of messages left by the Genius.
The Genius : You always keep forgetting about the car. Doing it on purpose?
At 8:30 pm
The Genius : You busy I guess.
At 9:00 pm
The Genius : Vaibhav is keeping you busy. Naught boy.
At 9:05
The Genius : Seems like you actually got plans of not negotiating the car deal.
At 9:15 pm
The Genius : Did you lose your way somewhere and your phone's not getting reception?
Prerna laughed.
She replied :
'Pretty imaginative. Aren't you? And probably *cough* interested in me?'
The Genius : Interested? Which part of the conversation, Sharma, makes your little head imagine I am interested?
Prerna : No part of the conversation. No.
The Genius : Then? A figment of your wishful imagination?
This guy is so full of himself.
Prerna : Unfortunately for you no.
The Genius : You answering today?
Prerna : It is the trail of messages. There must be two reasons. One you are extremely jobless and have nothing better to do than spam me. Or two, you can't seem to get me out of your head.
Prerna didn't get a reply after that for straight five minutes.
The Genius : Creative though your summing up is, Sharma, it is false. I am a man who would want to correct a mistake when he makes one.
Prerna : The mistake I assume you are talking about is you ramming your car into mine?
The Genius : Of course.
Prerna : Do you men that same mistake you denied making yesterday?
No message for a complete minute.
The Genius : I guess your mind is being extra creative today and overtly optimistic.
Prerna : Oh sure. And yours, I guess, isn't able to form a coherent reply. No?
The Genius : Hahaha. So funny. I can hardly stand for laughing. Thumping the floor.
Prerna : I always was this funny.
The Genius : Tell me about the car.
Prerna : I'll get it repaired and tell you.
The Genius : I'll come along. What if you inflate the charge? I can't take risks.
Prerna : Let me first tell you that such a thought didn't even cross my mind. You seem to have all crooked thoughts. And second, are you inviting yourself to spend more time with me? Probably craving it?
The Genius : I am done with your shit for today. Good Night, Sharma. Get your head to think right. You can try some brain exercises.
Prerna : You too should. You would probably learn how to give a proper reply.
The Genius : F. O.
Prerna : Gladly.
There was no reply to that. And Prerna went to sleep, feeling extremely content. That's how it is done. Riling up your opponent.
_________
That was it. Excuse me for any good up of names. I tried as much as possible to replace them in all places.
Their constant back and forth bickering is still on. Do you think they would be a good team?
