Crack The Job

10- To Fake or Not to Fake

Siddharth

I was barely holding on to my life. While her eyes shot lasers at me, I gulped the rest of my confidence. 

We were sitting in the desolate park next to the market where mothers sit, waiting for the children to come back from tuition. Until this moment, I was actually being proud of my big brain and its quick idea of getting Abhiraj to act like me. But everything disappeared the moment I told her the whole deal. 

She laughed and it looked like she was struggling to accept the reality. "So, you are the son of the CEO of Star Group..." She broke into fits of laughter once again before continuing, "You told Abhiraj so that he can act like he is Siddharth Ahuja as you had no idea that the market I was talking about was Pegasus Plaza. Right?" 

I nodded as she laughed crazily. 

"Are you sure she is okay? She looks like she needs a doctor right now." Abhiraj whispered but it didn't go unheard by Payal.

"Shut up. Right now, it seems like you both should see a doctor." Payal spat out the words, clearly not in the mood for sweet talk. "Have you completely lost it? Tell me how did you not know I was talking about Pegasus Plaza all this time?" 

Her big round eyes looked at mine with utter disbelief. I didn't have any idea how to convince her that I never gave it a thought that day. "I seriously didn't know. You never told me." 

"You never asked. And how many markets do you think have such a ridiculous job requirement?" On that question, I had nothing more to argue about.

Pegasus Plaza is the only wonder of the world to have that rule stamped on paper. I sighed.

"Why did you even involve him?" She pointed to Abhiraj who was spacing out and just like his usual self, he jumped on the mention of his name. "You could have just given him some excuse for your absence." 

"And what do you think my father will do? He will throw me out of the house. You don't know him. He is like the devil with invisible horns." The dreadful thought flashed through my mind as I could imagine him roasting me like a chicken fry. 

As if on cue, a song played loudly, taking my attention. "You are my chicken fry, you are my fish fry." I looked to my side to see Abhiraj sitting straight before realising that his phone was ringing.

He muttered a curse before turning it off. He turned to see our stunned expression and chuckled awkwardly. "That must be my cousin. That little jerk." 

I sighed and shook my head. "What do you plan to do next?" Payal asked like a tired human, done with the deals of her life. 

I could feel her somehow. As if my life was not enough drama, they had to put this ridiculous movie-like plot in my life.

"I have no plans." I chugged down the water from the bottle kept next to me. 

She chuckled. "What the hell is this situation? It feels like someone made a comedy out of our miserable lives." She shut her eyes close and took a deep breath. "Let's not do this." 

"What?" Both of us shouted at her sudden declaration.

"Let's just... drop this idea, like completely. I will not take the job, Siddharth will go back to the market as the CEO's son while Abhiraj will be back to his job. That will be better for all." As she thought a little more, she spoke again. "Just tell them that they misunderstood or something." 

"What are you talking about? How are we supposed to stop now after coming this far?" I didn't know what I felt any longer. Of course, I wanted to stay with her a little more and this plan was perfectly fitting but now that she planned to end it here, I don't know if I should be happy that the problems end here or sad that maybe, I will never get another chance to be with her.