ROSID FF ~THE GREEK GOD~ Chap 64 Pg 53 - Page 7

~ CHAPTER TEN ~

Siddhant was cleaning up the mess on his table when Roli paused outside his cabin's door. He glanced up at her momentarily and gave her a weird head to toe look before he returned his attention to the table and mumbled "come in" through pursed lips.

Roli shuffled in uncomfortably with her eyes on anything and everything else but Siddhant.

"Sit down," he said quietly.

Though she settled down gently on the visitor's chair, it creaked awfully loud and made her fidget a bit. Why me? Why does this confounded chair scream when I'm on it? Dammit.

Siddhant kept throwing glances at her whilst he mopped up his table with thick sheets of tissue paper. "Are you always like this?" he finally asked in a serious tone as he continued to wipe his table slowly.

Roli stared up at him with eyebrows raised slightly in question.

"... Like... a cartoon?" he added.

The question marks on Roli's face were soon replaced with exclamation marks. Actually no, she thought with a thumping chest and a sinking feeling, I don't know why, but it only happens when you're around. But how can I say that? You'd think that I'm blindly infatuated with you. I was before. But not anymore. Now all what I get when I see you is a sick feeling to my gut.

She quickly looked away as she became increasingly aware of Siddhant's penetrating gaze. She had this feeling that he could actually read her mind, hear her thoughts out loud.

Siddhant gave her a dry smile. He picked up the files on his table and stashed it away into the drawers. "So, first things first. The cheques..."

But Roli, who was lost in thoughts, interrupted. "I'd like to resign."

A moment of silence followed before he replied "Okay?" with a pronounced question mark. "And?"

"And I'll go... home..." she blurted out.

He kept staring at her before breaking into a sarcastic grin. "Alright. As you wish."

Roli looked up at Siddhant, her eyes reflecting the pain caused by the sarcasm in his voice.

"But trust me," he continued, "If I could, I would send you home right now. This minute. Like this instant! Before you..."

Roli continued to stare at him as he rolled his eyes and went on, "...screw up this place and destroy my manhood." Roli couldn't help but notice that the last three words he had uttered were extra soft and quiet. He also looked quite pale, as if he had been raped or something!

Roli was visibly red now. I don't even want to be reminded of it... It's embarrassing... but also funny in a way... Coming to think of it, most of the blunders that happened ended up devastating his thingy. Why on earth? The way he talks and looks at me now... is as if I did all of this on purpose.

"Honestly," he said in a very low and strained voice, "have you got anything against me? I mean... why do you keep targeting me... there?"

Roli had a visible squint now. She hastily shook her head from side to side in instant denial.

"Anyways, there are a set of rules and regulations for every employee," Siddhant continued in his usual HR stance and tone, having managed to quickly divert the topic, "and unfortunately I will need to follow the same with you too. You can put in your resignation. But you can't just walk out like that. You'll need to serve a month's notice to hand over your job before you leave."

One month!?? Roli felt like a huge apple was stuck in her throat now.

Siddhant kept staring into her eyes, almost as if he was trying to read her mind. "Oh and that's not all," he rattled on, "you've hardly worked for a week here. So even if I work on your final settlements, there will be nothing much to pay you. On the other hand, you'll have to pay the company. The penalties and other dues."

Roli's eyes were like saucers now. She couldn't believe what she just heard. After all this... I have to pay the company too? What have I done to deserve this? All what I wanted was a good job and career. But I've got nightmares instead!

"H-how much?" she asked quietly.

"I can give you a specific amount only once I've worked on the settlement," he leaned back onto his chair and intertwined his fingers, "but I'd guess that it would be anywhere between five to six thousand."

Roli felt like she would pass out any minute. But she was in a big mess and had to sort this out herself. "Agreed."

"Good," smirked Siddhant, "put in your resignation with the mentioned terms by this evening. As for now, we'll start with fixing up the mess. First, we're going to do the cheques."

"Okay," she replied very quietly.

"Here's what I want you to do," he began, "I need you to liaise with the payroll department, fill out the cheques and get all signatures. After that, you'll need to pass it through the Accountants, get their approval and then get it signed by the Financial Controller or the CFO. There are five hundred cheques to be cleared. And I need this on my table in an hour."

Wow dear fabulous y sid is so rude eagerly waiting for more

~ CHAPTER ELEVEN ~

And day 1 starts...

Roli walked into the payroll department - a small, dingy room set up with two table and chairs. One for the Payroll Manager and the other for the Payroll Assistant.

Mr. Hashmi, the Payroll Manager, a clean shaven, short tempered guy in his mid-fifties glared up at her through his rimless spectacles. His jaw instantly tightened and throbbed on seeing her. For a fleeting moment, Roli had this incessant urge to run away to the other side of the world. But she was stuck and had to sort things out. She had no choice. Lord, help me deal with this devil now.

"Yes?" he said in a surprisingly soft voice, "tell me."

"Actually sir," began Roli as she drew closer to his table, "Mr. Bhardwaj asked me to get these cheques remade. So..."

"Which Bhardwaj? What cheques?" he asked curiously.

"The salary cheques for the workers on site," she replied.

"But that was already made last week," he replied with his eyebrows furrowed at the centre.

"Yes, but he asked me to do it again," Roli was growing increasingly nervous by the minute. Why does this guy look more horrible than Siddhant? I wonder who the real monster is now!!

"Who asked you to do this? Is it Siddhant?" Hashmi's temper seemed to be flaring already.

"Y-yes sir," she was struggling to keep her voice stable. The more time she spent in this ridiculous department, the more she felt like she was in a morgue.

"What is this idiot up to," Hashmi muttered, put his phone on speaker mode and dialled Siddhant's extension.

Since the payroll and HR departments were close by, Roli could hear Siddhant's phone ringing from where she stood.

As soon as Siddhant picked up the phone, Hashmi blasted out, "what's this man? Why have you sent this girl to me asking for the cheques to be remade? Have you lost it?"

"Hashmi, buddy, I'll be there in a minute. Hang on." Siddhant's voice was incredibly soft while he dealt with Hashmi. It was almost as if he wanted to tame a wild animal with his soothing, alluring voice.

Hashmi looked pissed off as he turned off the speakers. Big time!! Roli felt so awkward that she simply looked around the room and took in its details. The filing cabinets, the large box files filled beyond its capacity, the payroll assistant...

One look at the assistant and Roli got the creeps. The assistant, a girl in her late 20's gave her a tight-lipped smile. She looked like some of those creepy ghosts from Japanese horror flicks.

Just then, Siddhant came bustling into the cabin. "Hey," he smiled at Hashmi.

But Hashmi just shot him a dirty look. "What's this nonsense man? Why are we making the damn cheques again?"

Siddhant pulled out a chair and sat close to Hashmi. "I know you won't believe this," began Siddhant in a low voice, "but we just had a small accident with the cheques this morning. I'll explain what happened later. You know... when you cool down a bit."

"Just tell me what happened to the cheques!" he demanded.

Siddhant turned around to look at Roli. "Can you give us a minute?" he asked quietly. Roli takes his cue and steps outside the payroll department.

Though she tried hard to pick up the conversation, all what she could catch was Hashmi's violent blasting followed by hushed voices from Siddhant. She couldn't make out anything what he said. I'm sure if I were inside, this Hashmi monster would swallow me up in one piece.

"Are you kidding me!" came Hashmi's angry spat from inside the cabin, "five hundred cheques. Do you think that it's a joke? Are you asking me to do it all again!?? You think it's easy? Just filling out a silly cheque and it's done? Do you know how much time it consumes? Do you know how much information is needed? Do you really think that I have nothing else better to do? How can you be so bloody careless dammit?"

Roli's skin lustred with a thin sheet of sweat. She felt so miserable and guilty. It's all my fault. All these problems now... I shouldn't have come here... Her chest began to hurt and felt really heavy.

"Fine! But I'm warning you, this better not happen again!" Hashmi's blare startled her out of her derogatory thoughts. "Send that girl here."

The creepy payroll assistant stepped out and grinned at her. "Roli, sir is calling you."

Roli gulped down the huge ball of tears that had begun to choke her throat and slowly shuffled her way inside. She felt like she was going to present herself before the judge for her death sentence to be passed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note: Hey guys, I know that it's a pretty short update. But hang around. I'll be back in a while with the next one. ;)

Short but different luved it

~ CHAPTER TWELVE ~

Roli's heart skipped a beat as she shuffled closer to Hashmi's table. He had an ugly scowl plastered over his face and a terrifying glint in his eye that screamed bloody murder. His fingers trembled slightly.

Siddhant watched her intently as she came and stood in front of them. "Roli," Siddhant spoke up and finally broke the eerie silence, "I need you to liaise with Dean on those cheques."

"Who's Dean?" asked Roli quietly.

"She is," said Siddhant and gestured at the Japanese ghost. Roli involuntarily gulped down a huge lump in her throat. "You're going to help her fill it out, enter into the system and get Hashmi's signatures. After that, catch up with Trilok and Raghav from the Accounts department for their approvals. Then it's either Jane Adams or David Barney."

Roli gawked at him as if he had just explained some complicated Einsteinian theory.

Siddhant rose to his feet with a deep and satisfied sigh. "So remember, you've just got an hour. And you better hurry up because Jane and David will be travelling this afternoon. You wouldn't want to delay those cheques, would you?"

Roli was horrified! She could swear that she spotted an evil flicker in his eyes as he moved out.

"What are you waiting for?" Hashmi snapped at her harshly, "get it done fast! David will be gone today. I don't know what you people are up to in your department."

"Y-yes sir," Roli's lips quivered out of control as she cowered into a chair beside Dean.

Dean pulled out a huge excel sheet from the box file and handed it over to Roli. "Here, you can take one sheet and fill up the details from this column into the cheque. I'll take care of another sheet. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me."

"Sure," replied Roli. Though Dean looked creepy, she was much different when she opened her mouth and spoke. Like a mermaid... Roli felt a bit relieved though. At least Dean seemed much tolerable than Hashmi and Siddhant.

Much later... Roli and Dean were deeply engrossed in their work. Roli kept taking quick glances at her watch. Half an hour had already passed and there was still a hell lot more to go. How on earth was she going to get the rest of the job done before the deadline?

"How far have you reached?" a voice above her shoulder startled her into a loud gasp. It was Siddhant. He tipped his head and raised his eyebrows as she struggled to catch her breath. Dean kept her head low and smiled through tight lips as she continued with her work.

"It will be done," said Roli breathlessly.

"Hurry up," said Siddhant with a smirk, "your time's running out. I need this on my table in the next thirty minutes. Cool?" Saying so, he moved out of the Payroll department for good.

Roli didn't bother to reply. She just took the liberty to drown herself in the job. She didn't have much time left to deal with his nonsense anyways! He was actually beginning to get on her nerves!

"Siddhant sir had an accident this morning, right?" asked Dean as she kept her eyes glued to her work.

"Hmm," Roli replied. She wasn't too interested to delve into the details.

"That's quite unfortunate," Dean continued.

"I guess so," mumbled Roli.

"I hope his back is okay," said Dean.

"Back?" Roli wasn't sure if that's what she actually heard. I thought I hacked into his nutsack this morning? "What back?"

"He slipped and fell with the cheques into a puddle of mud this morning?" enquired Dean.

Roli stopped writing and gaped at Dean. Puddle? Mud? Slipped? Why did he lie? Did he actually lie to this maniac here?

"But Mr. Hashmi just blew his lid at Siddhant sir," Dean continued, "I think that wasn't fair. He didn't do it on purpose. It was an accident."

Roli was quiet for a moment before she managed to reply "Ermm... yeah."

Throughout the rest of the activity, she was lost and in a disturbed state of mind. Was he actually trying to cover me up? Or did he lie because he was too embarrassed to admit what happened? Could be. I don't think he'll cover me up. He wanted to give me a tough time anyways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Superb dear enjoyed a lot is really sid cover up roli can't wait dear what nxt

Awesome update looking forward to the next update hoping it will be soon😛

Nice update. Poor roli going on tough with sid.

~ CHAPTER THIRTEEN ~

At top speed and forty minutes later, the girls were past two hundred and fifty cheques. But there was still a lot more to go! And that was just filling the cheques. They still had to enter the information into the system, make copies and get it signed from the concerned authorities.

"Oh no," Dean said in a hushed voice and began to rummage through her drawers, "I think that we're out of cheques."

"What? So what do we do now?" whispered Roli.

"Hashmi's going to kill me," moaned Dean faintly. "How could I miss out on this? Damn."

Roli glanced over at Hashmi. He seemed to be drowned in a heap of complicated sheets over his desk. The throbbing muscles in his tight jaw indicated that it wasn't probably a good idea to approach him either. She took a quick glance at her watch. There was hardly fifteen minutes to the deadline.

"I am supposed to submit this in the next fifteen minutes," she said in a low voice.

"Fifteen minutes?" Dean looked flabbergasted, "you can't be serious. That's five hundred cheques."

"But that's what he asked me to do," replied Roli.

"Who? Siddhant sir?" asked Dean.

"Yeah," sighed Roli.

"He's nuts!" she snapped in a hoarse whisper.

Nuts! Once again, Roli is reminded of that ill-fated incident which landed her up in all this mess! Why do I have to be so bloody clumsy for God's sake? Oof!

"Are you girls done? What's it with all the whispering?" Hashmi's blare out of the blue startled the ghosts out of the girls.

"N-nothing sir," replied Dean and prepared to get up. "I'll be right back," she said to Roli.

"Where are you going?" There was fear plastered over Roli's face. Almost as if she was a goat that was going to be turned in to the butcher.

"I'll go talk to Trilok sir in the accounts department," she replied, "They'll have spare cheques with them."

"No!" Roli grabbed hold of Dean's arm, "you can't leave me alone in here with this monster!" She shot a glance towards Hashmi who was still engaged in his work.

Dean smothered the involuntary snorts that escaped from her. "He's not as monstrous as he looks! And I'll be back soon darling. So don't worry!"

"I'll go and meet Trilok," Roli offered, "I'll go get the cheques."

"You can do that?" asked Dean.

"Yes, pukka."

~ Moments later ~

Roli walked into the Accounts department - a larger room for the executives and a special cabin for the seniors. She moved into the cabin, an average sized room with a two seater workstation and found it occupied by two middle aged men.

One of the men had an unusually long and pointed nose, but nevertheless looked friendlier than the other sinister looking guy who was engaged on the phone.

"Hi," Roli was visibly nervous as she started off. She secretly wished that Trilok was the friendly looking, long nosed guy she was speaking to. "I'm looking for Mr. Trilok."

The long nosed guy, Raghav, looked up and smiled. "That's him," he said and pointed to the shorter guy with a grim expression. He had been glaring at her with a nasty smirk all this while.

Before Roli could utter another word, Trilok spoke up. "I know," he said in a contemptuous tone through pursed lips, "Dean sent me a mail. Unfortunately, we just have fifty cheques at the moment. So we'll need to get more from the bank."

Roli was so lost now. What the hell was she going to tell Siddhant now?

"Is it possible to get it today?" she asked frantically, "like now?"

"There's no one around to pick it up at the moment," Trilok snapped sternly, "we can get it earliest by this evening."

"Evening!!?" Roli was dumbfounded. "But can't the bank..."

Trilok cut her off. "Moreover, the cheques were already issued last week. Five hundred of them! What about them? What happened to that?"

Smitten by Trilok's rude and outspoken demeanour, Roli's entire being began to withdraw deep into her shell. She began to speak up, but Trilok gestured her to stop immediately with a quick flourish of his hand. "You just have to wait now. Don't know what you people are up to in your department. Seriously. Irresponsible lot. Ask Siddhant to meet me as soon as he can. I don't know what you guys are thinking! You can't expect everything to be around as per your whims and fancies."

Roli's eyeballs and sockets began to ache as she struggled to hold back the embarrassed tears that had been stinging for a while.

"Now if you please," Trilok sighed and returned to the spreadsheets on his computer, "I'm really hard pressed for time as you can see. Got lots to do."

Roli seemed to be thinking hard as she stood rooted to her spot. She seemed to be debating on whether to take that different step to achieve what she had to.

"What if I go and pick it up?" she asked out of the blue.

Note: Hang around guys, I'm a bit engaged with other stuff at the moment. But I'll be back with the next update in an hour or two ;) So stay tuned.