Bombay Twist

Chapter 4

Arohi

"Sorry, sorry, I know I'm late." I rushed into the small Udupi restaurant and plopped down beside Isha and Mira at our usual table.

"Half an hour, Roro!" Mira said, shaking her head.

"Sorry."

"As punishment, we already ordered your food. And, um, you're paying for ours too!" Ishani said.

"Fine." I dragged the word in exaggerated teenage fashion.

"So," Ishani said, "What's going on in your lives, lovelies!"

"Or rather, let's talk about your life." Said Mira, leaning in closer, "I hear from my secret sources that you have a new secretary... a guy!"

"Leela told you, didn't she? Isn't it enough that I tell you every detail of my life, you have to ask my secretary about me too?" said Ishani, exasperated.

"Just spill the beans, girly. And there better be some beans to spill. Did you call him in your office and ravish him on your table?" said Mira.

"Did you give him your number or something? Did he ask you out?" I asked. I was always the sober one when it came to boys, and only when it came to boys.

"God, no! None of those two scenarios! What's up with the two of you? You see a guy within a ten mile radius off me and suddenly you're all 'ask him out!' or 'ravish him on your desk!'." Ishani yelled.

"God, frustrated much?" I muttered.

"I know! You, my dear bestie, need to get laid! Ask Office Boy." Said Mira, excitedly.

"No, I am not asking Rohan anything of the sort! And I do not need to get laid!" I said, irritated.

Me and Mira just laughed. Ishani had once made the mistake of showing us how boy-talk of this sort irritated her, and since that day, we never gave up the opportunity to tease her. We finally stopped laughing when they saw that Ishani was ready to start shooting daggers from her eyes.

"What about you Mira? Heard you have a new dance partner? Is he hot?" said Arohi.

"Yeah..."

Me and Ishani shared a look. It's not like Mira to be quite about something, anything actually. There is definitely a story hear.

"Okay...." Ishani looked expectantly towards her.

"What?!" Mira said, a little too quickly.

"Oh, cut the crap Mira. What's he like?" said Arohi, leaning forward excitedly.

"He's, um," Mira muttered, "He's... a good dancer."

Her response was met with blank looks.

 "FINE! He's  very attractive."

"So, ask him out. See where it goes."

"Are you crazy?! I hardly know the guy! Besides, the Fund Raise! I cannot screw this up." Mira looked a little frantic.

"Well, how you deal with it is your choice, just be careful." I said.

"Yes, Ma." Muttered Mira, sarcastically, "where are you going?"

"I have a meeting with a new client in 15 minutes, i need to go. Bye!" I stood up and shouldered my handbag.

"Bye, you party-pooper. Have fun advertising Toothpaste." Ishani teased, "I guess we need to get back to work too." Said Ishani, shoving the bill in Roro's hand.

We exited the restaurant and headed towards our own workplaces, almost reluctantly.

 

I entered my office and rushed to the conference hall. I had an important meeting with our new clients and this meeting would decide our fate. As I walked I adjusted my black pant- suit and finger-combed my hair. I couldn't bear the boring work clothes and always added a splash of colour in them. Today, I was wearing my neon-pink stilettos.   

I grabbed my partner and entered the room. The members of the meeting were already present and I jumped right into it.

"So, gentlemen, sorry to keep you waiting but we were discussing some end-moment ideas." I looked around the roomful of serious-looking men in sharp black suits. They were seated around a long, oval glass table, waiting for us.

"No problem at all." Said the head-representative, getting up and thrusting out his hand towards me, smiling.

I took his hand and smiled. This is unusual, I thought, why did he get up and cross the room to shake my hand?

I started the meeting and halfway through it, it was obvious that I had them in the palm of my hand.All through the meeting the head-representative, Avinash, kept staring at me, smiling when I caught his eye but never taking his eyes off of me. It was unsettling and i was trying hard not to fidget. Though he was good-looking, very good-looking, but his grey-gaze was piercing.

We struck a deal and everybody left the room. I stayed back, sorting through the files and Avinash stayed back doing...well, just sitting there.

"Good meeting." He said.

"Yeah..." I replied.

"Do you wanna get a coffee or something? My treat." He spoke up suddenly after a few seconds.

Whoa, abrupt!

"I'm kinda busy..." I said, trying to look away from his stare.

"To celebrate our deal?" He just won't leave!

 "Um, okay. Just coffee." Why not? I thought. Besides, he was good looking, successful, which made it easier to accept his offer. 

He smirked and said "Just coffee, i promise."

We went to the corner coffee-shop and went to the counter to place our orders. He looked especially out-of-place, with his sharp black suit, and his over-professional look, surrounded by probably truant collegians. But then, so did I, probably. His hair was gelled perfectly, not a single strand out of place. We grabbed our coffees and walked over to an empty table.

"So, Arohi, tell me about yourself." Said Avinash.

"Well, I'm the director of Out Of Box advertisements, as you know, and-" I was cut off by him.

"No, that's boring. Tell me something about you as a person." He put his elbows on the table and put his head in his hands, looking at me with those grey eyes which already seemed to know everything about me it seemed.

"I thought this was a business meeting." I said, only half-serious.

"No, i said it's a celebratory business- meeting. That's different." He replied, smirking.

Well, he started it. Besides a little flirting between co-workers is normal, right? Of course it would cause no problem.