I had thought of writing this FF quite some time ago, in fact in the middle of writing my other ff. This is much different than the last one that I have written and I hope that I can live to all of your expectations. Comments, feed back, questions, etc are appreciated as always.
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song
Oh Yeah, at last
The skies above are blue
My heart is wrapped up in clovers
The night I looked at you
I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I could call my own
I found a thrill to rest my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known
Oh yeah, when you smile, you smile
Oh, and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
For you are mine
At last....
~"At Last" by Etta James~
Like a typical Monday morning, the office was in a frenzy, with people, peons, secretaries, anyone and everyone scattered around the office in a rush to complete their daily work. Their boss demanded such timely and quality work of them every day. His presence itself commanded respect.
As the glass doors swung open at precisely 8am, everyone stopped in their tracks, and those that were seated quickly jumped to their feet. The boss walked in with a steady, but quick pace, giving one single nod to the entire room. As he strode past them, each mumbled a quiet, yet nervous "Good Morning" to the man that was dressed in the sharp black suit. As soon as he passed, each breathed a sigh of relief.
****
A young girl stepped out of her autorickshaw and looked the building in front of her. Making sure she had paid the driver properly, and checking for all her belongings, she fumbled through her papers searching for the etter of appointment that she had kept safely in her folder. She eyed the building in front of her, yet was not sure if this was her correct destination. She turned to ask the rickshaw driver, but had found that he had already left.
Taking a deep sigh and fixing her sari light blue pallu, she asked a group of girls that stood a few feet away, laughing at something. One of them had a distinctive cackling laugh, which she knew could be easily irritating, but she shrugged it off for the time being. The girl timidly approached them, feeling bad for disrupting their conversation. The girls stopped their laughing and eyed her carefully.
"Is there something we can help you with?" The girl with the cackling laughter asked, with an eyebrow raised.
"Sorry to bother you… Do you know where I can find the Wadhwa Group of Insurances? I seem to have misplaced the address that I have written, and it's quite urgent."
The cackling girl eyed the address and without turning around, pointed to the tall building behind her. "You're right here. Straight to the twelfth floor and you're there."
The girl looked up as the massive structure. "Thank you so much." She quickly glanced at her watched and rushed into the building.
The group of girls watched her run in frantically. "Why did you do that, Pia?" one of the girls turned to the cackling girl. "You know Wadhwa Group of Insurances is across the street, and not in this building!"
"Haan… Janti hoon. But yaar, working here is just too boring. There's just never any action. And besides, you know what the boss's temper is like, so why not have a little fun! Come lets go see what happens…"
***
The girl rushed to the twelfth floor of the building, not bothering to take her surroundings. She was on the verge of running late, and that too on her very first day. Cursing her luck for living so far, she approached the elderly secretary, whose face was written with maternal instincts. Behind the secretary, were three large letters adorning the wall W-G-I.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" The secretary said affably.
"Yes, I have an 8:30 appointment to see Mr. Wa-…" The buzzing of the secretary's intercom interrupted the girl.
The secretary raised her hand to pause the girl from talking. "Yes, Sir. Yes, Sir. Ok, Sir." She set her phone down and looked at the girl. "If you will just take a seat, I will return momentarily." The elderly woman rushed into the office, while the girl sat down amongst a row of people, all dressed in similar dark colored powersuits. The girl stood out in her sari, but thought nothing of it.
After waiting for a quite a few minutes, the girl checked the contents of her file several times. Every person in the row turned his or her head, as the door to the bosses cabin swung open and the secretary came walked out. She looked directly at the girl in the blue sari. "You may go inside now"
Nervously, the girl stood up and walked into the office. She entered the office to see the executive leather chair swiveled in the opposite direction. The man sitting on the chair was sitting with his back turned to her, and clearly on the phone. She clutched her file closer to her, and waited. Apparently, he was on the phone for several moments talking to another executive in a polite yet powerful tone. A few glances around the office, and she noticed it was decorated in primarily black metal and glass. There was a nice black leather sofa in the corner, a glass table with a jug of water and two clean glasses, and several paintings that she herself would question as really being considered art.
Quickly, he spun the chair around and set the phone back down on the receiver. She found herself mesmerized for a moment. He had the perfect jawline, piercing brown eyes, and what was she thinking?! This was clearly not the time and place for these thoughts. Bringing her back to reality she stood there, as if no thoughts were going through her mind at all. The man glanced up to see Bani standing there, holding her file tightly, with her knuckles turning whiter by the moment.
"Sir, I am-…"
"You may have a seat," he said sternly, motioning the empty chair in front of him. "Miss, do you mind telling me the current time?" He looked at her with dead pan expression on his face, and his hands began to twirl the round crystal paperweight.
"Sir it is currently 8:35am" She said glancing at her watch.
"Very good. So you 'can' tell time. Your appointment was at 8:15am. You are 20 minutes late and you expect to work for me? You don't have the decency to show up for your interview on time, and you expect me to hire you with the expectation that you will actually show up for work on or before time?"
"Interview? No, Sir I have- "
"Im not finished. I am afraid that you have wasted your own time and mine as well. I do believe, that this interview is over. Have a nice day," he said while motioning towards the door.
"But Sir, I have received an appointment letter already." The girl began to fumble through her file to find her letter. She pulled it out and extended it to him.
Without bothering to read the document, he took the letter and ripped it to shreds and tossed the many pieces of paper at her face. "Letter? Well that's quite pretentious of you. Why would I hire you without interviewing you? Apparently you are unaware of the Walia Group of Industries hiring processes. Miss Joshi, Its good that Walia Group of Industries does not hire people like you. Inefficiency and dishonesty are not any of our characteristics." Annoyance dripped through each and every word. He pulled a file from his cabinet and began to flip through it.
Confusion overcame the girl, when she heard 'Miss Joshi' and 'Walia Group of Industries'
The girls eyes caught the name of the brass name plate sitting on his desk.
'Jai Walia.'
She was in the wrong office. Her interview was scheduled at 8:30 with Gaurav Wadhwa. Of Wadhwa Group of Insurances. Panic began to overcome her as she realized that she was late for the first day at her new job.
"Sir I believe we were both mistaken…"
His eyes shot up. "You're still here?! Are you going to leave or shall I call security?" He buzzed his secretary. "Maria… Please send security immediately"
Moments later, the door to his office swung open and the elderly secretary stood there nearly breathless. "Mr. Walia, Sir… She is not Miss Joshi! I am so sorry I sent in the wrong girl! Miss Joshi was waiting here outside…" The fear was written all over her face. She had realized that she sent in the wrong girl, when the real Miss Joshi walked up to her desk the moment Jai had buzzed her. She quietly shut the door of the cabin, knowing that her boss would deal with her later.
Jai stood there dumbfounded. He took a moment to recollect himself then looked at the girl was bent down collecting the shredded pieces of paper with her shaking hands. He spoke to her in a deep voice. "My sincerest apologizes, Miss…?"
"Dixit. Bani Dixit. And Im afraid we were both mistaken. I was told this was Wadhwa Group of Insurances by a group of girls before I walked into the building." Bani sighed deeply as she stood up with her pile of scraps. She looked up at him and saw his piercing eyes gazing at her. He studied her for a moment, and she felt like she looked directly into her soul. Not knowing what to do, she broke her gaze, and looked down at the papers in her hand.
"Any fool knows this is not Wadhwa Group of Industries" Jai said immediately. Regretting his words for a moment he looked at Bani. "Not that you are a fool…" he said slowly. He eyed the scraps in her hand. "Uh…I apologize for tearing your letter. If you would like I can give the Wadhwa Group a call-"
"No that's quite alright. Thank you for your time." Bani said dejectedly as she began to walk out the door.
"Wait… Miss Dixit? Do you know by any chance know who told you this was Wadhwa Group of Insurances?" A sneaking suspicion came upon him as he thought of who could have been a part of such a sick joke.
Bani shook her head. "Sir, all I know is that she laughs a lot… Quite an annoying laughter if I might add. I apologize again for the mistake." And she was gone.
Jai balled his hand into his fist and immediately buzzed Maria. "Maria… Please send in Mrs. Shukla immediately!" He slammed the receiver down back onto the phone.
****
Bani stared out of the window of the local coffee shop. The morning had been eventful, and none of it in a good way. She opened her folder to see the torn pieces of paper. Taking them out, she pushed them to the side as they were of no use to her now. After she left the Walia Group, she got the correct directions for Wadhwa Group and rushed there as fast as she could. To her disappointment, she heard almost the same lecture Mr. Jai Walia had given her regarding timeliness. Needless to say, that job was out of her hands now.
Her friend and neighbor, Anu was kind enough to set up a phone interview for the job, and as luck would have it, they liked her. But now, even that streak of good luck had turned sour, and here she was in the middle of the day sipping the remnants of what was a nice cold cup of iced coffee.
Pushing her empty glass aside, she flipped open the local newspaper and straight to the employment section. With a pen handy she looked down the columns and across the rows to see if any job was there that she felt she would be suited for. So far, no luck.
Thoughts of the incidents that morning had her mind in overdrive. She was surprised that she hadn't recognized him earlier this morning. THE Mr. Jai Walia. Infamous for his stringent business tactics, but known to have a heart of gold when it came to charity. Bani didn't read tabloids, but it was hard NOT to follow what was new in Jai Walia's life. Afterall, the media never gave up a chance to report anything about him. Sighing at her luck for being yelled at by one of India's top most businessmen, she looked back at her paper.
As she delved further into her search, a car stopped just in front of the coffee shop. The sun glared off of the shiny window and directly into her eyes, making her feel like she was blinded by the bright light. She lifted the newspaper to block the glare, but it just made the paper more difficult to read with all the jumbled letters coming through the paper.
As her attempts to further read the paper failed, she turned around in her seat to face the opposite direction. Gazing up from her paper, she felt two distinctive eyes watching her. Glancing up she saw him. Again. In his sharp black suit. Mr. Jai Walia.
His sharp eyes softened when he saw her, and giving a half smile he walked over to her. "Miss Dixit…"
She immediately stood up from her chair, dropping her pen to the ground. "Mr. Walia. Aap yahan? I mean… You come here too?"
"Why am I not allowed to come here?" He said bending down and picking up her pen.
"Oh, no! I didn't mean it like that its just that-"
"I was kidding. Contrary to popular belief, I do have a sense of humor you know. Actually I've been coming here for years… probably since college." Jai said with a soft laughter. He handed her pen back to her and she extended her hands towards him. His hand brushed hers, and it felt like an mild electric shock. Something about her was simply magnetic.
"Would you like to join me for a cup of coffee?"
Bani looked at him unsure how to answer. Not comprehending what was going through her mind at the moment, she unconsciously nodded her head.
He broke out of his brief thought and glanced at her paper which now had a few pen markings over the employment section. "Wait a second. If you don't mind me asking, shouldn't you be at work?"
She gave out dejected laugh. "Apparently inefficiently and timeliness are qualities most companies would like… not just yours. Again I apologize for the trouble this morning."
Jai raised his hand to stop her. "No Miss Dixit… its nothing like that. It was not your fault at all. And anyways, I rectified the situation immediately." She looked at him curiously, until he continued. "The young lady who misdirected you earlier was dismissed from her position, with one week of pay." The caf owner dropped two cups of coffee to them, and Jai dismissed him with a friendly nod.
"You.. You fired her?!" Bani was shocked. The feeling of guilt began to overcome her as she felt responsible for the girls now lack of employment.
Noticing her immediate response, he took a sip of his coffee and he went on. "Yes. I did. But please do not feel bad. I sure don't. I had been waiting to let Pia go for the longest time. See, I had given her the position as a favor to her husband, Pushkar, who just happens to be one of my most loyal and trustworthy employees. Her work, on the other hand, was just the opposite of her husbands. She went on working, or should I say not working, thinking that she got a free ride. All I needed was the final move on her part to give me grounds to let her go."
"But Sir, I don't even work for your company… so how could you let her go?" Bani was thoroughly confused.
"Well, not only did she waste my time, but she wasted your time, Miss Joshi's time, and caused me to push back or cancel some of the pending interviews and meetings that I had scheduled. That caused quite a bit of unproductive time in my office, and that is no way to run a business." Jai said firmly. Apparently he had viewed this at all angles. Bani could clearly see how this man was the shrewd businessman that everyone had mentioned, yet at the same time, there was a kindness to him. Something that made him more human than portrayed.
"Are you sure there isn't something I can do? I have no problem calling the Wadhwa Group and talking to their manager." He said as he took his cell out of his jacket pocket and began to dial.
"No… its quite alright. Maybe it just wasn't mean to be."
"Still, I feel bad for what happened…" And then he gazed into her mysterious brown eyes, there was something there. He felt as if he needed to study her eyes to understand her. They were kind, yet fierce. They had a fire that was filled with drive and sincerity. But most of all, there was honesty. This intrigued him like never before. Somehow he managed to continue. "You know, we do have an opening now, for the project coordinator position. Just so happens, it opened up today…" he said slowly, not shifting his gaze away from hers.
Bani felt stunned. Did he just offer her the job? The same one that this Pia girl was fired from? Thinking for a moment, she gave him a kind smile. "Mr. Walia, from what I learned today, that is not how the hiring processes of your company works." Her response stunned him right back in return, with the same force. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words could come out.
"As it is Mr. Walia, I also believe in working hard and earning ones way to the top. I thank you greatly for this kind gesture, but… I'm afraid my pride won't allow me to accept the position." She stood up, gave him a warm smile and extended her hand. Not knowing how his mind told him to do so, he absently extended his own hand and shook hers. His hand was unable to pull back, and it was only until Bani pulled her own hand out of his, was he able to retract his arm. "Thank you again for the coffee." And for the second time that day, she was gone.
***
Looking forward to you comments. Do let me know what you think! Happy reading!
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
