Tortuous Love

Chapter 11

The meeting was never ending, with Rohit's mood down in the drain since our interaction with Abhimanyu. After his initial introduction, Rohit handed over the reins to Jackson and for some reason Abhimanyu was in it for the laughs, as he kept on roasting him. And Abhimanyu wouldn't stop glancing my way every other minute which further pissed Rohit off. He was grinding his teeth so hard, that I heard a few crack.

This drudgery was finally over after almost an hour, and I heaved a sigh of relief.

Rohit had successfully charmed them again, despite the sulky looks he was throwing their way. As we were getting up to leave, Abhimanyu approached us, "I appreciate you addressing our grievances and giving us your time, Rohit," he said, shaking Rohit's hand. "As a token of gratitude, I'd like to extend our hospitality and invite you and Nanya to our yearly gathering, tomorrow. Hoping to see you there."

Rohit looked a bit surprised at his invite, but not wanting to further antagonise Abhimanyu, he agreed.

"It would be a pleasure. See you soon," he said as he shook his hand.

"It would be nice to catch up with you too," Abhimanyu said, giving me a cryptic smile as he shook my hand as well.

"Yes. Thank you for inviting us!" was all I could muster saying.

"Please give my wishes to Tanya and her husband. Jai, wasn't it? He's a lawyer too, I reckon?" he further enquired.

This was surprising as Tanya and Abhimanyu did not get along owing to their past, but unfortunately they did come in contact a couple of times, but not after she had married Jai.

I just nodded and gave him a well-practised smile, "yes, he's a lawyer too and I will pass on your regards to her."

"Very well, then. See you soon." Abhimanyu said and finally left with his entourage.

Jackson began to say something but Rohit interrupted him , " Not right now. I cannot stand being nice to that man for so long. And a word, Nanya. Right now!" he said before marching out of the conference room. And I did not fail to notice, the anger behind his voice when he used the name that Abhimanyu was.

Sighing, I followed him, mentally preparing myself for the onslaught of questions. Nanya... only Arnav called me that, Abhimanyu rarely did in the past so it was surprising how nonchalantly he was using it today.

Knocking, I entered his cabin; Rohit stood by his desk, deep in thought, for some god forsaken reason, I felt guilty and his reaction was adding fuel to fire.

Before I could say a word, he began," Why, the hell, did you not tell me about your acquaintance, if I may call it that, with the Shaw? Your work experience does not mention their name and nor did you ever mention it?"

"It was just a 6-month stint and I did not find it important enough to mention Mr Anand. I don't understand how this is related to our work? It's in the past and I want it to stay there", I asserted.

"It is related to our work, the moment he started parading it in front of our face. Nanya? That seems more like an acquaintance to me!" he raged on.

"I don't understand why you would be so upset. I interned at their company, he knows my sister. That's about it," I tried to reason with him.

"Well, it definitely was more than interning, Ananya", he said as he walked towards me.

"I have nothing more to say in this regard Mr Anand," I said taking a step back.

"Well you have no qualms, in addressing him as Abhimanyu, but you don't want to say my name", he said as he continued walking towards me. Like a muscle reaction I took a couple of steps back and I stumbled onto the sofa.

"Say my name Ananya," he said as he bent down to my eye level. Gone was the anger evident in his eyes a moment ago. It was now replaced with something foreign.

"Rohit... I am sorry. I don't understand the issue here. I don't want to discuss about them anymore. I don't intend to go the gathering either." Looking him straight in the eye, I answered without hesitation.

Suddenly standing straight, he walked away from he and poured himself a cup of coffee, " We both will be attending. Don't make a bigger fool than what I already seemed today. You may go now. Let me know when the next client arrives. That's all."

I did not know why I felt this sense of disappointment. To be honest I did not owe Rohit an apology or even an explanation. But seeing his anger and hurt, I felt lost. My heart was beating fast, as I stood up and walked towards the door.

Silently looking back at him once more, I saw him looking out of the window, the coffee in his hand, shoulders still tense. I was getting too attached to him, to his moods and emotions. Mixing work with pleasure had already proven to be a mistake in the past. And I was once bitten twice shy, not wanting to repeat it again. But my mind went out of the room, whenever Rohit reacted in such a way.

I had to get distance between us, I could be reading too much into this.

Quickly texting Tanya about today's run in with Abhimanyu I waited in the conference room for the next meeting. I just wished this day would end now and I could get away from all this testosterone and stress.