Kaya SS || Figuring It Out || AU Last Part UP! *19/06* - Page 2

It's the offer I've been waiting for. This was the career move I've been anticipating for a while and the time for it is finally here.

I picked up my cell to call the HR department of Today Times News channel.

"Hi! I'm Ananya Kashyap. Can I speak with your HR head? Sure I'll wait."

Weirdly enough Kabir left out my impulsive nature from the list of behaviors that make me a "conundrum".

"Good Afternoon Mr. Desai! Yes, I got the email. And I'm very grateful for the offer. But there is a minor problem here. I still have a month left on my contract with KKN. And I was hoping to make the transition without any glitches. You see my contract stipulates that I can't sign up with any other competing channel or magazine or newspaper for that matter, during the subsistence of my contract with KKN. And given that's it's not that long essentially, I was just wondering whether the offer stands open until then?"

"Great!"

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Take a deep breath Ananya! Everything is just great. You've always been the gal who focused on her career and see it paid off. A minor glitch in your personal life should not screw it up. Till you hadn't started thinking about Kabir in that manner everything was okay. And you'll pull yourself together and make this okay again. You'll do that now... Or probably after attacking those donuts!

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Shreya was having a good time. She was having a very good time indeed. A clear indication of that was how chatty she was being tonight.

"Wine?" Kabir asked her.

"Sure." She smiled gleefully.

"You are in good spirits, I hope the present company has something to do with it?" Kabir said winking.

"Maybe. I'm actually excited about the wine to be honest."

"Huh?" Kabir asked bewildered as he uncorked a bottle of Pinot Grigio with flourish.

"I've never had wine before. Until last year my batchmates and I used to pull in money to buy the liquor and there mostly wouldn't be much to buy expensive wine, you know." Shreya gushed.

Kabir stalled a bit as he poured a glass for her. Just how young was this girl?

"So what kind of wine is this?" Shreya asked as she reached out for her glass.

"It's white wine." Kabir responded.

"Hmm. I don't think I like it much." She replied after taking a sip.

"It's about developing taste." Kabir replied smiling as a memory of saying the same thing to Ananya regarding black coffee crossed his mind.

"So Shreya tell me about yourself?" Kabir asked, steepling his fingers together.

"There is nothing much to tell. My life has become pretty boring since college ended. Earlier it was just friends and studies, exams and all. I think my convocation last month was just a good reminder of it all. Now as a first year associate I'm working my ass off. I'm lucky to get a chance to accompany one of the senior lawyers outside of the firm. Mostly it's research and running errands."

"Well your seniors trusted you to send you to KKN, you must be doing something right." Kabir said kindly. She is bloody young!

"No. Not really. It was just to hand over paper work. I actually pissed a senior and he just wanted me out of the office so he sent me here, to you know re-do the renewal contracts between KKN and its employees. It's not much work there are only two renewals next month. One is for your ex girlfriend."

"My ex-girlfriend?" Kabir raised his eyebrows.

"Ananya Kashyap. That's what I heard the last two times I came around. That she was your girlfriend. Then you asked me out and I figured you two broke up." Shreya said as she started on her second glass of wine.

This time Kabir literally stopped, his folk dangling halfway through his mouth he asked, "Who said Ananya was my girlfriend?"

"Everyone in your office does. It's like a gossip mill, your office. But I'm not surprised, I mean with the kind of crap all news channels show, obviously their employees are not putting enough mind in their work or the quality of news reported would improve."

Kabir was ticked.

"Shreya you could possibly be jeopardizing your job by slandering your client in front of its Editor-in-Chief." Kabir put forth delicately.

"I'm feeling rebellious these days. I blame the excessive work hours. No way in hell would I slander clients otherwise or date them, especially the hot older ones."

Kabir blamed the excessive alchohol. God was this girl a light weight! Kabir could not wait for this date to end.

What was he thinking! This woman though she looked otherwise was a freaking child. He still wasn't sure if things would have worked out even if there were common ground here. This girl makes him feel old. And 30 isn't freaking old! He really felt a need to give his mind some rest from this crazy evening. And as he dropped Shreya home he dialed Ananya's number, while thinking, what made people think they were dating? Sure they were close but why would people think there was something more here? He should also mention this to her probably. If only she'd answer her god damn phone!