~ CHAPTER FOUR ~
Siddhant's face was redder than a beet as he bustled around his table and plopped noisily onto his chair. He quickly rolled up to his table and blindly scrolled through his e-mails whilst his mind wandered everywhere else.
His eyes were fixed on the screen and yet he could see a petrified Roli seated rigidly before him. Outside, his ecstatic subordinates gleefully smothered their uncontrolled bursts of laughter into faint sniggers, happy that they had finally got to see Siddhant looking like a deflated hot air balloon.
The humiliation was too much to bear. He could pass out any moment! Today, his honour was almost dangerously compromised! That "cool, tough, authoritative, no-nonsense guy" image he had built for himself had just vanished into thin air, all thanks to Roli. His team had feared and loathed him all these years for a reason - he was a guy who took no shit and took extra pleasure in making others dance to his tune. His stance and the way he carried himself around spoke volumes of confidence. SB, as he was most commonly known by everyone (or Sid by some), was the "man with the golden tongue", the guy "who could handle anything and everything under the sky." And now? Completely poof! At this point of time, he wasn't even in a position to handle himself.
Though he tried to, he couldn't get himself to make eye contact with Roli or with anyone else. His eyes darted back and forth madly as he struggled to remember why he had called her to his cabin in the first place! All that "lap dance" which Roli gave him a while ago had wiped out his memories and put his brains temporarily out of order!
And as for Roli, that ticket to Pluto which she had been dying for seemed to have got to her after all. Soon after her "mind boggling performance" in Siddhant's cabin, her emotions had boarded the spaceship and left to the dwarf planet.
It was an extremely traumatic day for her! Any other girl would in her place would have put in her papers. The entire office had heard her conversation on that confounded public address system! They all came to know how she felt about Siddhant! She could have even sworn that she heard one of the jerks from the Project Management team call her a "loud speaker". And as if that wasn't enough, she toppled head over heels in front of all the zombies in the HR department, fell face down straight onto Siddhant's groin and took the extra liberty of intruding into his "private affairs"! I wonder what those Project Management guys would call me if they came to know about this, thought Roli in a self-criticizing tone, cabaret dancer? This was undoubtedly the worst day of her life and yet she felt nothing. Though she had the HUGE urge to break down into loud sobs earlier, she was completely spaced out at the moment. Absolutely numb and petrified! She had even felt like running away before. But now she could hardly move a muscle!
Roli didn't dare to look up at Siddhant either. She sat frozen on her chair with her eyes fixed on the beige carpeted floor. Yet, out of the corner of her eyes, she could make out that he was completely knocked out of track.
"Ermmm," began Siddhant in a low nervous voice as he scratched his temples furiously. His eyes were still on the screen as he continued, "you can leave. For now."
Roli looked up at Siddhant meekly and her heart sank almost immediately. There was something in his grim expression and unsettled voice that told her that everything was doomed. That her chapter was closed. She suddenly felt the strong urge to break down crying once again. Without another thought, she prepared to shoot up from her chair and out of the cabin.
"Wait," he called out and made her go rigid again. Relieved that she still hadn't looked up at him, he finally found the courage to face her. "Why didn't you turn up downstairs this afternoon," he asked in an annoyed tone.
Roli didn't reply.
"I called you for a reason," he goes on, "the invitation being official, you were expected to come."
Roli was still quiet as she twiddled her thumbs and fidgeted on the chair. It creaked awkwardly loud and made her freeze again. Coming to think of it, I should have gone, she regretted, if I did, none of this would have happened. Damn! Damn! Damn! Well, there's no use crying over spilt milk now.
"I hope you have a good explanation. Yeah?" sighed Siddhant in exasperation.
Roli was finally out of her robot mode. Her feelings which had gone on a mini vacation finally landed in her department of emotions. "I-I'm s-sorry," she stammered with her head hung low, "I-I..."
This is going from bad to worse, thought Siddhant drearily as she began to tear up in front of him. What's even more embarrassing was how more sets of curious ears and eyes trespassed his cabin, eager to pick up more information. Without second thought, Siddhant got up, shut the door securely (and wiped the smug smiles off his subordinates' faces) and returned to his seat.
"See look Roli," he started off in a business-like tone, "you'd probably remember a girl called as Nora who turned up for an interview two days ago. Yeah?"
Roli nodded whilst she quickly flicked off a tear.
"Good," he replied cheerfully, "she had come in to be interviewed for the post of a Corporate Receptionist. She got through all rounds and will be joining next week."
Roli wasn't breathing anymore. His words gave her the biggest shock of her life. Corporate Receptionist? Which means, she'll be taking my place? But what about me? Oh no... no... no... I'm going to get fired. I'm gone. What will I tell my parents and friends? What will I do? What will happen to my career?
"So what I..." Siddhant continued but got cut off instantly by Roli.
"I would like to resign," she said in a hoarse whisper.
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Udne Ki Aasha
Kumkum Bhagya
