Her protector

3. Hide and Seek

Abhishek was lying in bed thinking about the girl he met today. No one ever insulted him like that. Wherever he went he was always respected and looked upon but for the first time, someone insulted him in public like that, and more than that he was confused.

He rubbed his forehead feeling anxious and stood up to make some coffee for himself and work for his company setup. He went to the kitchen and took out the coffee from a cabinet. As he was busy pouring some coffee into his cup to mesh it, he heard a ping on his phone. He walked to his phone confused as no one messages him at this time. He looked at the phone to see a notification of an email.

He quickly put the cup aside and opened it. He read the email and a smile made a way on his face to see an investor for his company. He sent proposals to many companies for investing but he didn't get much of a positive response as he hid his identity and also not many people were interested in publishing old romances in today's age.

He sat on the stool placed there near the kitchen cabinet and started writing his reply to the email.

NEXT DAY

Shreya was in the library arranging the books which were placed randomly by some readers.

"I don't know what these book geeks' problem is." She said taking a book and walking to the aisle at the far end of the corridor to put it in place.

"What would happen if they put the books back in the place they took it from?" She mumbled frustratingly when she heard the manager of the library calling her.

"Coming." She shouted from the end of the corridor and put the book in its place.

She made a run to the manager. Her manager was a man in his mid-30s, Rajeev. He has a very sweet wife and a cute daughter who usually visits the library and always brings chocolate to her. The only ones she likes in her life apart from her family is the manager of library who treats her like a younger sister and the library clerk who is her friend.

As Shreya was walking to the manager's cabin, she saw him coming out of the cabin with a man. Shreya's eyes went to the 6ft man walking beside the manager with a well-built physique and a light stubble on his face with slightly curled hair and she was glued to the ground.

"Handsome, isn't he?" She heard near her ear.

She looked beside to see her friend and clerk of the library, Nitya, looking at the man with admiration in her eyes.

Shreya quickly took her dupatta and covered her nose and mouth with it. Nitya looked at her with furrowed brows.

"I threw coffee at him." Shreya said turning towards her while she looked confused "Do you think he came here to take money for his expensive suit?" She blabbered while Nitya stood there confused "Oh God!! Niti I am gone. I don't have money to pay for his expensive suit." Her eyes showed fear "But it was all a misunderstanding."

Her blabbering stopped when she heard Rajeev's voice "There she is."

She heard and quickly turned her back to them.

"Shreya," Rajeev called her and she turned slowly. Rajeev saw her dupatta covering her face and squinted his brows "Why your face is covered?" he asked shocked.

All this while Nitya was busy admiring Abhishek while Abhishek was busy looking at those brown serene eyes.

"That.... Dust.....cleaning....... allergy." She said whatever came into her mouth in a stuttering voice.

Rajeev nodded "Arey then why were you cleaning it, Gudiya? I hired cleaners for a reason." He said and Shreya faked a chuckle "Anyway meet him. He is Abhishek Yaduvanshi." He introduced Abhi and she tried to look at him but found him already looking at her intently.

While Rajeev continued " He is new in Mumbai. He is one of my friend's friends who suggested to him that he can find all the lost 90's books here and there he is. Help him out, please. I need to go to Priya's school, she has a parent's teacher meeting."

Shreya's eyes widened and she quickly denied "How can I? Nitya can do it."

Rajeev furrowed his brows "Why Nitya would do it? Anyways Nitya has to give me a report of this month's new entry by this evening." He said as Nitya realized her pending work and quickly leaped from there .

Now, only Abhishek and Shreya were left there alone. She kept standing there worried about the outcomes while he was looking at her intently noticing her every move.

"Shall we?" He said finally when he noticed that she was not going to move.

She looked up at him and nodded. She started walking to the ground floor without saying anything as he followed her.

Abhi is a fan of historical romance and he loves to read history books and know about the stuff no one ever even knew. He followed her without a question while thousands of questions were running through her mind like how she would ignore him, and how he would react once he knew about her identity.

"There." She said showing him the aisle filled with history and started to walk away.

Some lines formed on Abhi's face "That's all." He asked looking at one aisle.

Shreya turned back shocked at his words "What?"

"Only these books?" He asked again looking at the aisle.

Shreya looked at him and then at the long aisle in front of her which had at least 200 books. And then she remembered that it was the bookworms she was talking about.

She rolled her eyes at him "Although it's not less this floor has historical books only. You can find many history books. But this aisle specifically has books of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj only of all the authors from his time to modern time." She said.

"Ohh." He said embarrassed hiding his squeaky voice which came out in excitement.

"Which book would you recommend me to read first?" He asked wanting to read a book which boosted his interest instead of alleviating it.

Shreya looked at him and a nervous embarrassed laughter left her throat. As much as she loves to work here, much she dislikes reading books. It makes her feel lazy and sleepy. And in the 6 months of her working here, she only read one book which was forced by Nitya to her. Although she loved that book still she never enjoyed reading.

"Me?" She said embarrassed to tell him the truth.

Abhi's neck craned a little telling her that he said exactly what she heard.

Shreya looked here and there not knowing what to tell him "I don't read." She said in a low voice.

"What?" He said not able to hear her low voice.

"I," She said but stopped.

Abhi tried to hear her by walking toward her but still couldn't hear her. He walked more towards her when his feet got stuck in the crumbled carpet and he fell forward. Shreya looked at the whole drama unfolding and saw him falling over her as her hands came in front of her to stop him. Abhi's hand went in the air and he tried to hold onto something. Luckily his hand held the wall beside and he managed himself but Shreya couldn't. She fell back and couldn't find anything to hold.

Her dupatta got stuck in one of the nails coming out of the wooden cabinet making her face bare to him She screamed as her bum met the floor. Shreya didn't notice her dupatta and looked up at Abhi in anger.

"Couldn't you hold me? I fell because of you and you were standing there like a statue." She said standing up and dusting her clothes while rubbing her bum to ease the pain.

She looked at Abhi who was leaning on an aisle with his hands crossed over his chest and mischievous eyes.

She looked at him with nose flaring in anger.

"Nice to meet you again Miss Coffee Thrower." He said with a smirk making Shreya's eyes wide.

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