Once Upon A Mr. Goody Two Shoes

Chapter 16.

Abeer's POV

I hung up the phone, a strange, almost imperceptible feeling taking over me. Taira Kapoor. I threw the phone on the couch and ran a heavy hand through my hair. I had forgotten about the past.

I had forgotten what it was before Aashi. What I was. What I wanted with a passion. A sardonic chuckle escaped my lips as I thought about the irony of life. Life had got me exactly what I wanted, when I no longer desired it.

Aashi Singhania was a force. A force that made everything else look uninteresting and unworthy in front of her. My very first day in the office and she had shown exactly who she was. I had been hounded by all the employees working there, greeting me, positively charmed. The women had been more than eager to talk to me.

But not her. She had stood far away from the crowd, her lush lips drawn into a thin line, her face devoid of expressions.

But she wasn't successful in keeping her emotions in check. I had thought she would come to me to introduce herself, but she didn't seem interested. I walked towards her and gave her my most friendly smile, which she did not return. At least not in kind. Her tone clipped, she had answered almost all my questions in monosyllables, clearly alluding her disinterest in me. Until the smartass retort came, which threw me off guard.

"Miss Singhania is just fine," she had said to my polite inquiry about what I should call her since we were of the same age, and had walked away, chin held high.

I had been warned that Aashi Singhania would be tough to break. What I hadn't been told was that she had sparkling chocolate brown eyes, which almost always twinkled in mischief, only barring the times she was angry. That she was fierce, headstrong and in possession of a temper that border-lined towards scary. That she possessed a sharp intellect, with tendencies of landing into awkward and embarrassing situations.

And frank to a fault.

She wasn't a 'beauty to behold' or anything of that sort. And she knew that. But she had spark, which was enough to put anything on fire, if only they had the sight for it. She put me on fire. Her spark had me attracted to her like moth to light. She was attractive. And that realization drove me mad.

I had never imagined I would crave for a woman like her. I didn't want her. And I kept repeating that in my head until the day she came to my rescue. Life had got me in a similar position that had haunted me for all my childhood years. And she had been my guiding light. When I had landed in Delhi, I hadn't known Maya was working there. She had managed to make my life a living hell, until Aashi waltzed in, and forced the darkness away.

I had never wanted her. I wanted Taira.

Taira Kapoor.

I knew who Taira Kapoor was. More than that, I knew who her father was. The successful businessman who owned the company I worked in, and a lecherous bastard. The story dated back to the time when I was fourteen. My happy, middle class family had consisted of my two elder sisters, my parents and me. We weren't wealthy, but we were happy. Content. Satisfied. Until my father, the only breadwinner then, lost his job unexpectedly due to the recession and couldn't find another. My mother, who was a housewife till then, went job hunting as well and landed herself with the job as a secretary to Mr. Kapoor, Taira's father. I remember my family being shocked, when we knew that she found employment there as mother didn't have much job experience. But we had a door of income, and we were glad for it.

My mother was happy with her job. Mr. Kapoor was a gentleman, he never overworked her - my mother used to say. But then slowly everything changed, starting with a few out of line compliments, which then turned into full blown harassment. My mother could not voice out her troubles due to the fear of losing her job, especially when she was the only source of income for our family. She was the kindest person I knew. Her smile was our family's strength, a trait of hers that all of us siblings inherited.