Gehraiyaan.

Chapter 17

"Shall I buy cupcakes, or a cake?", Maa questions - literally, out of nowhere - when I'm almost running out of our house for work. "Cake, maybe", I pick something, without giving it a thought, and wear my shoes.

"What's special, though?", I turn towards her, narrowing my eyes and take a moment to think if it's someone's birthday at home. "You forgot!", Maa rolls her eyes, and I look on, expecting her to break the suspense already!

"Your Boss is coming for tea", Maa reveals and I stare at her - and into her - with my mouth open. "My who?", I echo, blankly. "Where's your mind at, Di? Your Boss!", Tia snaps.

"Wait a minute. Wait a damn minute", I keep everything aside and walk towards them.

"Now, when did I ever tell you that I'm inviting him over for tea or dinner or whatever?", I question, furrowing my eyebrows. "You didn't", Tia shrugs. "Oh. Wait. I forgot to tell Nivi, in the first place! Remember, Tia - I told you and Rani, and we were going to tell Nivi but then she was asleep?", the focus entirely shifts. "Oh yeah!", great, now they're having a conversation on their own.

"Can someone tell me!", I demand in annoyance. "Nivi, I invited him over. Remember, that night we talked to each other on call? I don't think you were listening, but I called him over for a little tea-party and he said he would love to join us!", Maa narrates. What on Earth was I doing while they planned an entire gathering over the phone?

And Darshan in my house? That's going to be weird for so many reasons; number one - because, he'll be with my family and it'll be so, so awkward and number two - because...look at where we live! There's barely space to breathe. Maa is impossible at times, too! Why would she even think of calling someone over for tea, within minutes of knowing them?

"Why did you do that, Maa?", I question, furrowing my eyebrows, and she looks back, perplexed. "Look at our house! He lives in a goddamn palace, and we live... I don't even know what do you call this", I sigh, looking around at the dusty corners and worn out walls.

"This is what we have. I mean, we cannot stop inviting people because we don't live in a palace", Maa expresses her disappointment. "Dust every corner and the fan, especially! I hope he doesn't get wheezing for amount of dust the fan pours out", I order and walk out.

"Hey there, beautiful", Kesh swirls around in her chair and smiles at me, once I keep my handbag on my desk. "I felt so empty working here, without you", she sighs and I settle down on my chair, keeping aside a stack of files that have already piled up on my table.

"I heard the Junior Boss sealed the deal?", she prompts. "You're right", I shrug. "I'm sure it wouldn't have been possible without you", she smirks. "No, what the hell? I didn't do anything. Significant, obviously. I think he's pretty good at it", I subtly take his side. I mean, I cannot make it too obvious that I'm on his side - entirely - because, then Sanya's rumours would become true.

Kesh laughs, taking a sip of her coffee. "He's good at getting girls, but business...", she pauses and makes a face. "... I'm not too sure", she wrinkles her nose. "How do you know all of this?", I question, curiously. "Everybody here knows! I don't know where the story starts from, but I somehow heard it", she guesses.

"Gosh, you know what?", she whispers and rolls over to my side with her chair. It's time for some gossip.

"He has an apartment in Malabar Hills and you know what he does there?", Kesh prompts. Of course, I do. I've been to that apartment!

"What? I don't know", I act oblivious because I want to know about her theory on this. "He takes girls there and you know...does stuff", she opens up and I honestly want to laugh out loud on her face, but I keep my calm and wear a look of utter disbelief. "What? Oh My God! How pathetic", I spit in disgust. "But how you so sure?", I furrow my eyebrows.