CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Swayam lost in the conversation entered the room where Sharon was holding few files in her lap and Pia was sitting beside her smiling nervously. Swayam gathered himself and asked confused at the sight"What are you doing here?"
Pia opened her mouth to say something but rather Sharon answered for her behalf
"Nothing Swayam, I just . . . I just wanted sort of take up my position again . . . So I asked her to bring the files."
Swayam looked at her shocked and confused when Pia's reaction caught his eye. She looked horrified.
"What's wrong with you suddenly?" Swayam asked frowning at her.
Sharon turned her attention to Pia and agreed with Swayam, "Yeah! You look pale!"
"No! No! Nothing! You suddenly? I mean Swayam Sir was handling everything, right?"
Sharon raised her eyebrows at her and said her commanding tone "What do you mean? I am still the M.D. of the company, you know that right? I can handle my work even if I am on leave."
Pia Mehra was Swayam's Personal Assistant since a year now. Sharon wasn't very pleased with her recruitment because she found her weird, clumsy and under confident most of the time and she proved her thoughts right whenever Sharon was around.
"You are intimidating Sharon! Trust me on that!" Swayam had just waved her doubts off indulging himself in showering kisses on her neck when she raised the matter a year before in her cabin. Eventually Sharon gave up on the matter because even though she was a total mess around her she worked fine under Swayam and that was enough for him.
"Yeah! Sure you can!" Pia gulped nervously under Sharon's scrutinizing gaze and looked away.
"Good. Anyway thank you for bringing these to me." Sharon gave her a courtesy smile which she gave back in the same manner.
"I will leave now Sir then!" Pia said looking at Swayam who appeared pretty confused and zoned out.
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As Pia left, Swayam turned her attention to Sharon and frowned, his look saying Care-To-Explain! And she read that look correctly .
"Swayam look I called Pia and asked her to bring these files."
"That I heard." Swayam said narrowing his eyebrows.
"You already have a lot of work on to your shoulders and then taking responsibility of work. . ."
"Sharon I can handle. . ."
"Oh sure you could have! You are good at this. . . The best I say! But let's face it Swayam it does become difficult for you to concentrate on things if you are disturbed. Past months between us have been callous and see our textile company is running in loss." Sharon tried to make him understand. Everyone has a weak point and it was his.
Sharon was his strength but Sharon was his weakness too and she knew that.
"Sharon. . . I. . ."
"Swayam I will just review things for you. . . You continue to work, I will just review it for you. It wouldn't take much from me. Plus I literally get bored and I miss doing this stuff. I miss wearing my business suit and silhouettes. I miss going to office. I miss talking numbers, ordering a coffee, the smell of papers, meetings. . . I miss everything."
Swayam fell silent. He didn't really know what to say. She maybe was right on her part. She loved to work and keeping her away from it even though it was purely because he didn't want her health to get effected because she was the kind of person who loved to push herself off the limits, who wants perfection in everything and her passion was surely not very agreeable with her condition for now. But he knew it had been long and if it can provide her some satisfaction and happiness he knew he wouldn't mind.
Sharon stared at him anticipating his answer and he nodded in positive
"Okay! If you say so! But you are just going to review things nothing more." He said more like warning her.
Sharon's eyes lit up and she smiled back widely nodding her head "Promise!"
Swayam smiled at her cuteness and his own lips grinned back at her.
They were done talking when the doorbell rang again.
"Now who?"
"You-know-who!" Sharon said taking him by surprise as she laughed at her own silliness.
Swayam opened the door and saw the favorite person of Sharon as she had mentioned, Stephie!
"Sharrrooonnn!" Stephie dashed and hugged Sharon tightly as Sharon smiled widely at her and hugged her back.
"Finally exams over! And I am back!" Stephie said happily and Swayam just watched the girls bonding.
He sometimes really became amused seeing them. When he had hired Stephie he knew Sharon will never get bored with her because she was so full of life and life was something she needed to stay in touch with that time.
"Okay Sharon! Now that Stephie is here I think I will be less needed." Swayam said smiling at Stephie and she rolled her eyes happily.
"Oh Come On Swayam! I can't give Sharon what you can." Stephie winked turning both of her employers red from ear to ear.
Stephie laughed sitting beside a blushing Sharon and Swayam cleared his throat in an attempt to bring the situation back to normal.
"Rey wants to see me Sharon! I would have to go." The smile faltered on Sharon's face as the last conversation between them came back to her but she nodded briefly.
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Swayam shifted uncomfortably on the revolving chair now getting impatient and irritated seeing the calmness and confidence on Rey's face as he sipped his black coffee for the third time.
"What is this? Some Suspense movie?" Swayam finally asked out of curiosity.
"Yeah! Suspense Thriller I say!" Rey answered him cockily and smirked.
"Rey What is it? I don't understand! Have you found something?"
"How are you going to react if I say yes, I have found the whole chapter revealing the thriller mystery of your life." Rey said, his eyes glimmering playfulness.
"What? Are you serious? You have? Tell me then. And why were you asking about Pia?" Swayam asked, his voice getting edgy with every question.
"Okay, firstly shut up! And you are not the one in the authority of asking questions, you answer, only I ask questions. Understand?" Rey said in his authoritative tone.
After all he was the lawyer here!
Swayam shut his mouth and rolled his eyes at him to which Rey laughed momentarily and then resumed his seriousness.
"Okay tell me! You and Pia went to Ahmedabad together for a few days to hold a meeting with your client I assume . . . So you guys must have stayed at a hotel right?"
"Partly! I stayed at a hotel. Pia said she has her own home there. So she stayed there."
"Didn't she offer to you to stay there as well?"
"No , she did. She did ask me when I went to drop her. . . But she was alone there and I thought it wouldn't be appropriate for very obvious reasons. So I preferred to stay at the hotel."
"She seem like a nice girl." Rey commented smiling.
Swayam looked at him like he was the most weird person staying on the planet but preferred to answer his question. He certainly looked unnerving playing like an opposition lawyer to him.
"Yeah. . .She is what? Sweet maybe." Swayam answered unsure.
Rey leaned back on his chair and sighed.
"Okay tell me now how did you landed at her home then along with Amaira?
Amaira. . .The photographs. . .Sharon's tears, the past months came like a reel flashing to him with Rey's one question.
Swayam took a deep breath and recalled the moments of the night
"My college mate Ryan stays in Ahmedabad. . . And I hadn't met him in a few months so I decided to drop him a visit, he had brought a new luxury car and knowing my obsession with luxury cars he let me have a drive. So I was driving when I saw Amaira near a pub with a guy. She was almost on the verge of getting fainted but that guy secured her for falling. I stopped my car and watched for a few moments. He took her in his arms and walked till his car and put her in the back seat."
"Do you know who that guy was?"
"Yes I did! He was her boyfriend. . . She had told me about him and during the last meeting in the Walk-In caf she told me they were having some serious tiff and she felt he was changing suddenly. She didn't want to talk about the matter openly."
"So it was a passing affair?"
"No, at least not for her. She loved him deeply. And his change was bothering her too much. I think he wanted to take their relationship on the next level but she wasn't ready."
"How do you suggest that?" Rey enquired frowning.
"Amaira told this to the doctor, later ofcourse."
"Sad."
"How many months back did you this meeting happened?" Rey enquired rolling his paperweight on the table.
"Umm. . .Let me think! It was the same day when Sharon told me about her pregnancy. . .So now that Sharonis six months pregnant so yeah six months!"
"Did Sharon know about you meeting Amaira in the caf?"
"No, Ofcourse not! I hadn't ever mentioned Amaira in front of her till then." Swayam answered and Rey nodded getting information in his system.
"Okay will you continue now? What happened after that guy put her in the car?"
"Nothing. He pulled the car on the road and went away."
Rey raised his eyebrows at him in surprise.
"I know what you are thinking. Everything seemed fine and yet something was bothering me. Amaira never mentioned anything about coming to Ahmedabad and she didn't have a home there and most important thing that she didn't drink."
"Why? She has been born and brought up in U.S. , drinking shouldn't be such a shock for its lifestyle." Rey said casually.
"I know. . . But she had health issues and that didn't permit her to drink." Swayam answered him back.
"So what did you do?"
"I went with my instincts and I followed the car after like three minutes. And thank god I did that, because I saw that car standing in a secluded corner of the road and heard a shriek. I panicked and ran towards it to find all the glasses locked up. It didn't take me much of a time to figure down what was happening inside it. I knocked on to the glass and could hear the panic from the inside. . . I realized he was about to pull the car forward on the road. So I broke the glass and saw Amaira in such a state that I can't describe to you. . . She was drunk maybe drugged too but she had a faint consciousness, she barely had clothes on her upper body."
"And then you gave that guy a beating that he would remember his whole life!" Rey said amused.
Swayam didn't return the emotion but he continued.
"Yes but Amaira was more important to me at that point of time." Rey nodded and Swayam continued.
"I tried to find her clothes but I couldn't. She looked a bit hurt. So I removed my shirt and covered her body with it. And then I calculated that taking her to a hotel was no option and it was far from where I was, I was trying to think of a place when I recognized that Pia's home where I had dropped her few hours ago was nearby."
"So you took her there? Yes?"
"Yes! It had started raining hard. I knew the roads will be jammed and her home was nearby so at that time I thought it was the best option. I went there holding Amaira in my arms but my hard luck that Pia wasn't at home. She had gone out and the caretaker of the house refused to let me in."
"You didn't tell her that you knew Pia?"
"I did. But I guess he didn't want any trouble. Seeing Amaira totally worn out in my arms in my shirt and me shirtless he sensed some trouble I guess. So I asked him to talk to Pia over phone. He reluctantly agreed and called her after a minute he came back and let me in finally. And I stayed there for the night taking care of her.
"Did Pia come afterwards?"
"She did. After a while she did come. She helped me a lot through the night."
"Did you tell her anything about Amaira and you?"
"No, I didn't. I couldn't risk that. I just said she was a girl I found on the street."
"But why are you asking all this. I don't understand."
"Swayam I said I will ask questions and you will only answer." Rey warned him again.
"So you say you did put your shirt on her, right? But these pictures tell a different story. Where's your shirt here Swayam?" Rey asked in a tone like he was questioning the opposite party while Swayam cringed looking at them again. He averted his gaze from them.
"It was raining and she was drenched and faint. While standing at the door and arguing with the caretaker she had become totally wet. When I lied her down on the bed and checked her she was fine as far as I can tell, Pia wasn't at home and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't just help her in any other way. She was a girl after all. I called Pia and asked her to come fast and she told me she was on her way. I wiped her hands and legs with a towel but she was still wearing the wet clothes and suddenly I realized fever was burning her up. Pia still hadn't return and I knew as long as those clothes were on her it will do no good and will worsen her situation."
"So you decided to pull that shirt off her body?" Rey said looking at Swayam.
Swayam sighed heavily and ran his fingers in his hairs frustrated and answered back "Yes!"
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