The Imperfect Marriage - Kaise Mujhe Tum Mil Gaye Fanfic

14. A for Amruta

Amruta was caught off-guard with Virat's question. She did not expect him to ask about it. After all, she had not officially informed him, he had just heard it by mistake. He did not have any official right to ask her until she served her resignation. 

"Wh-what about it?", she asked nervously. She had not even decided if she wanted to go.

"Why do you want to go so far away from your home? I mean what's so special about the job?", Virat asked feeling a little annoyed.

"It is not like that. They are giving me a good hike and well, they approached me directly. I was not thinking about a job switch."

"Acha? And now you are willing to go to a new city, a new state? How convinient!", Virat was losing control of his emotions. 

Amruta did not like Virat's tone. His tone implied that he thought she was looking for a job. She got riled up as well and said, "You know what? It does not matter what you think. I am free to do whatever I like without feeling guilty about it."

"No, you can't leave me. I won't let it happen!", Virat blurted out the first thought that came into his mind. 

Amruta felt a shiver run down her spine as Virat said those words. She looked at him with shocked eyes trying to make sense of his words. 

"I mean- I just- As your employer, I do not want you to go. You are a great employee and I would like to retain you.", Virat said cautiously. 

"I haven't decided anything yet", Amruta told him 

"Okay, before deciding anything, remember that going to Mumbai would come with a whole lot of extra expenses and the cost of living is higher than what it is here. And, we can still go ahead and match the hike they are offering." Virat realised very well that it was not a good business decision to tell her right now that they would increase her salary. It should be the last option for a company. But, he was not ready to take any risk. He needed to tell her where he stands. Plus, he knew that had  he given her the promotion she deserved, she would have gotten a decent hike. 

Amruta was surprised. She knew her company would not want her to leave but to have her boss directly promise her the percentage of hike she was offered, without even knowing how much it was, left her filled with gratitude. She was too overwhelmed to say anything. Virat sensed that and said, "You do not have to say anything right now. I just wanted to put everything on the table. Just think about it. Okayy?"

She simply nodded with a little smile.  By that time, their order had arrived. They chatted for a little while. It was the first time they talked in a casual way. Till now they have either talked about work stuff or simply argued over silly things. Virat found it very amusing the way Amruta scrunched up her face everytime she talked about anythings she did not like. Like she saw the marshmallow chocolate shake he had ordered, and she scrunched up her face saying she did not like marshmallows. Virat did not say anything about it as he knew she would become conscious and stop doing it. After finishing there, they left the cafe at around 7:15 pm. 

"Banker, it is not even 7:30 yet. You wanna go somewhere else?"

"Not really. If you could just drop me off at the supermarket on the way"

"Drop you off? What am I? Your driver?", Virat asked looking directly into her eyes.

"Arey baba, why do you always misunderstand me? I only said beca-", Amruta said defending herelf. 

"Relax. I am just kidding. Get in. I will take you to the supermarket."

Amruta rolled her eyes and got into the car. Virat had genuinely taken her by surprise today. First he made it clear he did not want her to resign, then he actually talked to her like a normal human being and not like they belonged to different worlds, which they actually did. She saw a side of him, she had not seen before and she liked that side.