Artful Deceit & Love

17. Beginning of deceit

Mridula's POV

It was almost evening and the sun was about to set giving us some relief from the hectic day. It had been almost a week since that incident. We had one court meeting all that while and Vaibhav has been not but a great help to us and the case. The magistrate has given Dilip and his lawyer till the next hearing to gather solid evidence against Geeta. As if that would happen but you know what they say, overconfidence can sometimes lead to your defeat. So, I'll focus on collecting more evidence.

Right now, I was waiting outside Meera's office. We had decided to go home together. I had ordered the guards to park their car at a little distance away from mine. I didn't want people giving me weird looks, especially not in my friend's workplace.

Soon, Meera walked out with one hand holding a drawing tube and another holding a large bag, probably carrying architectural equipments. It looked like she was in a heated argument with one of her colleagues. They stopped in the middle of the staircase and then I saw Meera saying something and the man nodding at her.

She made her way toward me and from one look I knew she had a bad day at work.

"Hi!" I said as I passed one of my brightest smiles.

She mumbled a quick hi back to me and handed me the bag and the drawing tube. I moved forward a bit due to the weight of the bag.

Okay...rough day at work!

She moved past me and sat next to the driver's seat. I sighed as I opened the back seat door and kept this brick of a bag there.

As I got in I asked, "Want to talk about your day?"

"Just drive!" She whispered and I quickly fastened my seat beat and started the ignition.

"We'll have to make a pit stop...! I have to collect a file from one of our clients that my co-work forgot to do!" She said while tilting her face in my direction as the car stopped at the traffic signal.

"I might have to discuss a few changes as well...so this might take time!" She said with a tired sigh.

"No problem! Where do we have to stop?"

"Thank you!" Saying that, she told me the address of the hotel. It's not that far from here.

"So, what were you arguing about with that co-work of yours?"

"Aniket forgot to talk to the client and we have to submit the final drawing tomorrow to our boss...so, I'll have to do all the heavy lifting now!"

Soon, we were pulling into the driveway of the hotel. I stopped the car in front of the glass door of the lobby. Meera got down taking with her that heavy bag. She peeped in through the window and asked,

"Aren't you going to come in? This might take time!"

"No! I'll wait in the parking...and if I get bored, I'll go to the garden or listen to music...Don't worry!"

She nodded reluctantly and then went inside through the automatic door. I looked in the rearview mirror to the guards' car trailing behind mine. I sighed and I quickly drove to the outside parking area. The outside parking was pretty deserted so I parked right at the side of the hotel, facing the garden. The structure of the building was usually glass.

There was an outside dining area designed like a courtyard. Many people were busy talking and having their food. At one corner, a few people were toasting and celebrating.

I tilted my head up in the direction of the tall building and let my eyes wander away, admiring the structure when something...or should I say someone caught my attention.