Replies begin from page 27.Happy Birthday Priya!
Happy Birthday Avi!
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29. Still Waters
Stifling a yawn, I hurriedly climbed the stairs. I was late since I had been unable to fall asleep until early morning. The reason was Maan. After the incident with the song last night, there had been an awkward silence which neither of us had tried to break. He had raced across the dark roads and stopped only when we had reached the compound of my residential building. I had hesitated with my hand on the door handle.
"Thank you." I had passed him a slight smile, to which he had just nodded without looking at me.
I had turned away to exit the car but then stopped.
"You want to come in for a cup of coffee?" I had asked haltingly to earn a raised eyebrow as he had turned his face towards me.
"No, thank you. I'm not in the mood for coffee."
"Oh." I had not known what to say and so I had turned to push the door open when his lazy drawl stopped me.
"However," I looked at him in question. "A shot or two of whiskey will do."
I had blinked, unsure of what he had said. He had just given a level stare which had slowly penetrated my mind.
"Are you...serious?" The only response my question had garnered was a raise of both his eyebrows.
"Which I believe you don't have." He had said in a disjointed continuation of his previous words. "So, thank you for the invitation, but I shall take my leave."
"Uhh...okay." I had thought of what else to say. "Bye."
"Hmm."
With his nod, I had given him one last look to see his lips curved into a barely noticeable smile, before I had stepped out of the car and he had zoomed away. It had taken gargantuan efforts for me to put my thoughts away and lay down for sleep. Even then, there had been a strange feeling nagging at the edges of my mind, and I could not place why I had felt so uneasy. Was it the way he was blowing hot and cold in the same breath? Or was it the breaking of my illusion that Maan was still different from the usual men of his age, that he still detested drinking the way he did back then?
"Whoops!" Lost in my thoughts, I reached my floor. I was rudely pulled out of my musings as I did not see someone coming out of the elevator so I almost ran into his body. "Sorry."
"That's okay." Vyan said. "But why are you in such a hurry?"
"I was late." I said matter-of-factly as he fell in step with me while walking towards our cabin.
"And you still took stairs to the fifth floor when you were late? Why are you so obsessed with stairs, anyway?"
I shrugged. "I like to take stairs."
"Vyan, Geet." We both turned towards the receptionist when we heard our names being called. "Tracy wanted you both to come to her cabin as soon as you came in."
We stopped by in Tracy's cabin on the way, where she reminded us of an important task at hand.
"I got a call from ARK a few minutes back. It was Mr. Smith's assistant and she has informed that the meeting with the board of their company has been set for tomorrow, since the MD of that company will be available tomorrow."
Both of us nodded as Tracy filled us in on the importance of signing the contract with this company. ARK was supposedly a relatively newer firm, having been launched only two years ago, but the amount of success it had achieved within this short span of time was absolutely commendable, making it one of the top most construction businesses in the region.
"This is such a short notice." Vyan exclaimed when we entered our cabin after Tracy told us to prepare for tomorrow's presentation in front of the board.
"Yes it is. It's good that we worked on preparing most of the designs before the vacation."
Vyan nodded. "We still need to add at least two more designs in that CD to make it seem sufficient."
It was with this in mind that we called for a semi formal meeting with the junior designers and brainstormed. By lunchtime, we were successful in getting one design ready.
"Whew!" Vyan sighed as he sagged on his seat. "I'm going to demand an overtime pay this time."
I raised an eyebrow. "You haven't worked overtime."
"But my brain has!" His mock-frustrated answer had me chuckling. "I'm so starved it feels like my brain has run a mile a minute. And it needs fuel now."
"Oh yes." I remembered my promise of the previous day. "Let's go for lunch."
His face broke into a wide grin. "I actually forgot about it."
"But I remembered." I quickly put my phone in my handbag and gestured him to come along.
Lunch with Vyan was a mixed affair. We talked about the next design we had to put in the presentation, discussed colour schemes and combinations. He would then say we were talking too much about work so we should change the topic. We would trail towards insignificant topics like the food, the upbeat music playing in the background, the decor of the restaurant before we would invariably be pulled back into a conversation about work and the whole cycle would start again.
By the time we returned to the office, we had already thought of what we were going to do for the last design and we got right down to it. Since our company had barely had to deal with corporate clients on a large scale, almost always taking up smaller assignments and projects, Vyan and I had prepared the presentation with a variety of designs and styles. I had already dug up the minutes of our meeting with Mr. Smith and we were using that as a basic guideline to work upon.
"Vyan, has anyone prepared the price list for ARK? The MD would surely want to see that once before finalising anything." It was almost time for us to pack up and leave.
"I think Tracy was getting it ready. I'll just go ask her."
As Vyan left, my phone rang. The caller's name brought a huge smile on my face.
"Hi Raunaq!"
"Di, it's me." Raya's voice spoke up from the other end.
"Oh! Hey, Chhoti! How are you?"
"Fine. Are you still in office? When are you coming? I'm waiting for you. You haven't forgotten that you promised to come for dinner, right? You're not saying anything, which means you did forget. That's not fair, Di!"
"At least let her get a word in, Raya. How is she going to say anything if you continue to speak nonstop? The way you always do, that is." I heard Raunaq's clearly amused voice, which was followed by Raya's huff and "Okay, okay! Stop taunting!"
I chuckled. "No, Raya, I haven't forgotten. Plus, I promised for dinner and there's still an hour for that. Don't get so worked up."
"Humph! Why shouldn't I get worked up? You tend to forget everything when it comes to your work, even your sister! And it has only gotten worse with time. At least you used to spend time with Mamma and Baba before, but now..." In her tirade, she pulled out a memory of yesteryears which brought a melancholic smile on my face, and she was quick to realise that because she immediately stopped talking. "Anyway, I just wanted to make sure my workaholic sister doesn't forget our plan."
"I didn't. I'm leaving the office in a few minutes and coming right to your place, okay?" I saw Vyan coming back into the cabin. "See you then. Bye."
"Here it is." Vyan waved a file in front of me before putting it on my desk with the CD of the presentation. "So, we are free to go for the day, I guess."
I nodded as I quickly skimmed through the price list.
"Should I drop you home?" He offered as we started to walk out together. He took stairs along with me this time.
"Thanks for the offer, but I'm not going home."
"Oh. Over to Khuranas again?" He tried to cover up the curiosity in his voice as we stood at the edge of the parking lot.
"No. Raya has called me over." I smiled and then waved at him before walking my way.
A/N: I will be refreshing my PM list before the next update. If you wish to remain in the list, please make sure you are visible on the thread after this chapter, so I will know I am not sending unwanted PMs.
30. J... J... Jess? Edited by mayyo - 11 years ago
Mangal Lakshmi
312