Tortuous Love

Chapter 12

The day dragged on forever, while I sat through  meeting after meeting, keeping my nose buried inside my laptop. I did not dare to glance at Rohit, but the one look I did steal, was evidence enough that his mood wasn't that great. He looked at me with accusing and angry eyes. I did not find his anger justified, so I decided not to try to engage in conversation with him.
After a quick lunch break, the second half of the day was a repeat of the first. He seemed more settled now, and I hated the fact that little nuances in his mood affected me so much.
Just as the last meeting was ending, I could see a couple of calls that I had missed from Tanya.
Sighing, I rubbed my temple, wondering what to tell her, how much to tell her about today's day. As Jackson ended his report, Rohit just nodded and his clients looked as pleased as ever. As everyone got up and began to file out of the conference room, I quickly scurried ahead, in a hurry to call her back.
As I waited outside in the hallway, trying to get through to Tanya, I felt a presence behind me. My senses were somehow always aware about his presence," In a hurry to leave ?" he asked as stood casually beside me.
Taking a step back I said, " No, just trying to call my sister. She's been blasting up my phone all day."
"I shouldn't have blamed you, the way I did before."
" Are you trying to apologise?" I ask him, amused.
Shrugging his shoulders he walks back in, his stride too smug. Rolling my eyes, I quickly send her a text that I would call her back and follow him into the conference room.
It's just us and Jackson, so grabbing all my stuff, I decide to leave. I needed to clear my head and a walk around this city and a nice cup of coffee would definitely help.
Quickly waving a goodbye to Jackson, I try to pass by unnoticed.
"Nanya, where do you think you are going? Our car is waiting downstairs." He said, walking ahead of me.
"Ah..... well, okay." I did not know how to refuse him without getting an earful .Also, I noticed how he had stuck to using the name Abhimanyu had used in the morning today. It was irritating and endearing at the same time.
"Let's grab a cup of coffee before we go back to the apartment, my head is killing me" he said as we entered the elevator.

All my resolve, to refuse him, drained out of my body after hearing the word coffee.
The coffee in this office was crap and I needed a cup real bad.
Nodding my head, we entered the elevator. He was busy scrolling through his messages, and I just couldn't take my eyes off him. This was borderline creepy, I know , but Rohit had somehow started affecting me. His smile, his anger and his stubbornness, had become appealing to me. But this was wishful thinking on my part, he was a good employer and leader, so he cared for all of his employees equally. And I practically spent my whole day with him, so it was natural for me to feel this way.
But I had to detach, I could get too involved, I wasn't ready to let anyone in. Especially not my boss.
My phone started ringing again, it was the same number from yesterday, answering it as we stepped out, there was nothing but static noise, I could hear some breathe heavily," Hello.... can you hear me ?" I said walking behind Rohit as he sped towards the car. He abruptly stopped and I banged into his back, turning he grabbed my phone and looked at the number. "Stop calling if you aren't going to answer," he almost yelled.
Taken a back, I quickly grabbed my phone and hung up.
" It's okay, must be one of those sales persons , spam calls, ignore them." I said as I quickly scooted in the back seat of the car.
"Is this your private or office phone?" he questioned getting in beside me.
"It's my private number," his anger made me nervous, why did he care who was calling.
"Take us to our regular spot by the bridge," he instructed Jackson.
The ride to where ever he was taking me, was short, and I was surprised to see that it was actually a food truck, selling coffee and croissants.
"I've always made it a point to come drink their coffee whenever I'm in London," he said grabbing my hand, helping me get out of the car. He dropped his coat, on the back seat and began rolling his sleeves up.
This was my weakness, rolled up sleeves and his forearms, this was wrong, me ogling my boss.