Shape of the Sun

A friendly visit

Arora Architects

"Mannu baby!"

"Aisha?"

The woman hardly allowed her a moment of shock and rushed to hug her, even as she sat in her chair, leaving behind the one who had led her into the office.

Manmeet made eye contact with Vicky, eyes asking how he managed to pull this off. She wasn't expecting this at all. To her surprise, he shook his head, as if to say that he had no part of this. And it was true.

Vicky Arora hadn't come to work with the knowledge that he'd find one of Manmeet's friends pulling up into the parking lot. All he had done was just lead her up here.

"Am I allowed to leave now?" He'd never wanted to leave his partner's office as much as today.

Aisha slightly withdrew from Manmeet, enough to turn back and look at him.

"Oh, sure." then, she added, "Call me."

Manmeet could swear she saw Arora's owner take quick steps out of the office like he wanted to get the hell away. Puzzled, she looked at her friend who was laughing beside her.

"What did you do, Aisha?"

"I did nothing, Manmeet. Your boss is just being shifty." She couldn't help rolling her eyes. All she had done was slip her number into the man's shirt pocket when they were in the elevator. Who knew he was such a prude?

If her friend had questions, she didn't ask. Whatever happened to the deal with Mansi's neighbor, she wouldn't ask. Manmeet was aware that they were adults and could handle themselves if the time ever came. But she still had to mention this.

"He has an ex-wife." there was a slight pause, "And he has a daughter, Deepika. Seven years old. This tall..." she tried motioning with her hands but couldn't since Aisha had held them.

"Okay, okay Manmeet. He has a daughter and an ex-wife. So what?" she pointed at herself, "Don't I look like I would be a good stepmom?"

It took only one look at the tinted hair that was a shade of light green, and those coke-bottle glasses on her face for Manmeet to laugh. And there were those tattoos on her arms. The one inked in an ex's name looked more prominent than usual for some reason.

"You would be a terrible role model for anyone."

Her reply caused Aisha to chuckle.

"Oh yeah? He likes me."

Manmeet followed her line of vision across the hallway, the one thing that she appreciated her new office space for. Apparently, Rajkumar had Vicky move her to one with transparent glass all around, so that folks could see if there were any signs of distress, which she clearly understood, being in her condition or whatnot.

She made a mental note to at least have a part wallpapered. As of now, she could also see those outside, just like she could see Vicky, which was semi-distracting. He was sitting in the lounge instead of in his office, reading a newspaper. But Manmeet could tell it was a pretense, his eyes fixated on her office glass wall, or rather someone within, sitting on her desk like she owned the place.

As soon as her eyes caught his, full of meaning, he hurriedly retracted his gaze as if burned and rushed out of the lounge and into his office, shutting the door firmly behind him.

Ah. The forbidden fruit. Mid-life crisis, maybe?

Manmeet look back at her friend, who was now laughing, and shook her head.

"Why the hell are you looking at me like that? I didn't do anything."

"You are a witch, Aisha. Now," she patted her leg, "get off my desk, off you go. There are chairs in here for a reason."