"If you weren't stuck to an oxygen cylinder, I would be choking you" muttered Rajiv angrily at Mahadevan. It was lunch-break and Rajiv had rushed back to meet Mahadevan after taking special permission from his attending physician.
"So you met the stress?" asked Mahadevan with a very tired smile.
"You knew who she is, didn't you?" asked Rajiv.
"Of course, she told me her husband's name when I asked her. I knew right away that you my nephew, is that idiot who abandoned her", he replied.
"I did not abandon her. Wait, didn't she say her name is Miss Leena Mathews, why did you ask her who her husband is?" asked Rajiv in confusion.
"I proposed marriage to her, that's when she told me that her husband had left her...." said Mahadevan.
"YOU DID WHAT!??!" shouted Rajiv garnering angry glares from the nurses around.
"Sh..... I am a widower, I wanted to marry her. And she refused, that's what happened", said Mahadevan.
Anger was boiling Rajiv's blood.
"Now listen, she is in plenty of trouble and you need to protect her now. Be the husband that you should be to her before anything happens" said Mahadevan.
"Why? What trouble is she in?" asked Rajiv.
"Ask her, I am in the ICU and I am not supposed to talk", said Mahadevan.
The nurse who came by motioned that time was up and Rajiv nodded to Mahadevan and went back to office.
It was nearing 2:30 PM and each passing minute was making Rajiv more nervous to meet Leena. At sharp 2:30 she was in his cabin.
"Are those the acquisition documents?" asked Rajiv looking at the folder in her hand.
"Yes, sir" she said with a brief hint of nervousness in her voice, calling him sir sounded weird to her.
"Shall we go?" asked Rajiv. The prospect of being alone in a car was unsettling to both Rajiv and Leena, but it was the moment to be professional. They went downstairs to the parking lot.
When they were together, Rajiv used to always open doors for her, now that she is his subordinate and their staff could see them, he simply got into the driver's seat while she got into the passenger side. As Rajiv put the address in the map application, they both were becoming aware of each other's presence. Leena's scent and heat was wafting in the direction of Rajiv, the way her hand was on the folder in her lap made his want to touch her hand. Leena was avoiding looking at Rajiv, his shirt with two open buttons, that used to drive her crazy was making her nervous. "Control yourself", they each said to themselves.
"Lets go" said Rajiv said finally, breaking the awkward silence.
Leena nodded.
They drove in silence to the brewery, nothing was heard except the directions said by the app. By 3:00 PM, they finally reached the brewery and met the owner Surendra Kumar. He was a tall dark man with a paunch, he was very helpful and showed them around the vats and the distillation facilities. It was around 4:30 PM that the tour and discussions finished and Rajiv and Leena were back in the car. But instead of taking her back to the office, he drove to the sea side which was a few kilometers away. Leena was expecting that they would be going to talk, so she kept quite until they reached. All through the trip, their unfamiliarity and nervousness prevented them from speaking to each other.
Once they reached the seaside, he stopped the car. Leena was about to open the door.
"Don't, lets just talk in the car", said Rajiv.
YOU ARE READING
Secret wife
Romance"Why are you looking nervous?" Rajiv asked her. "Nothing", Leena replied. "Then why are you moving away from me?" he asked as she matched his steps and walked backward whenever he took a step towards her. "Nothing", she said and came to a halt with...
