Unbidden Longings : The Saga of Desperation

11.

11. He Writes?

"No Way!!"

Siddharth is already shaking his head repeatedly. Avneet huffs.

"I'd really appreciate if I could finish talking," Abhishek says with a glare.

"No one tells me shit about anything that happens around here, and now you want me to go to Japan with her?" Siddharth asks with a hint of disgust as he points at Avneet who is struggling to shut up simply because she doesn't want to fight in front of her boss. But seriously, what the fuck? They haven't talked since Friday after he fucked her brains out and promised very directly to do it again and now he's insulting her in front of her boss? What was Avneet expecting, though? This is how they've always worked. And yet...

"Does it really surprise you that no one tells you anything?" Abhishek almost laughs. It makes Avneet hide a victorious smile under the palm of her hand. "And believe me, we wouldn't send you two if we had another choice." He shrugs. Avneet winces, because ouch.

"There are literally over five hundred employees in the company."

"We need Avneet for her skills. She's one of the few workers who knows about fifty percent of the data that could----" Abhishek begins and Avneet instantly feels her ego stroked. That's right, she's an amazing employee and they're lucky to have her. It's about time she gets appreciated.

"Is fifty percent supposed to be impressive?" Siddharth asks and Avneet can't fucking stand it any longer. Can't he just not make the meeting about dizzying her for five minutes?

"Oh yeah? Easy for you to say when you barely move a finger around here. Try learning more than half of the data accumulated through ten years of codes that - "

"As I was saying," Abhishek interrupts her though Avneet can't even be mad because she was just about ready to hit Siddharth there. "We need Avneet. And we need you because dad - Mr. Nigam won't allow anyone he doesn't trust to go with."

"And I'm guessing there's a pressing matter that requires you to stay," Siddharth rolls his eyes because now it all makes sense.

"Exactly."

"He may trust me to go instead of a nobody but come on, what could I do there?"

"That's true, he's really useless," Avneet admits with a sardonic smile on her face. Siddharth turns towards her, throwing daggers through his eyes. Avneet stares right back at him with a glare as deadly as his, if not more. Both pair of eyes clash in a silent battle they are quite used to, a challenge clear in the intensity of their gazes. But then their boss is clearing his throat and they are forced to break the stare contest.

"You only need to go to a meeting with the rival company to seize the competition," Abhishek continues. "We're going as a friendly and potential partnership. Avneet will listen and she'll be able to tell us how much does she think they have on us. You simply..."

"Sit there and pretend I know what I'm doing. Since I'm the boss's child, it'll be a given, right?" Siddharth says and even though he's right, anyone could see the irritation in the tight set of his jaw, the hidden insults behind his eyelids and the hatred digging under his nails. He can barely stand hearing the words that come out of his brother's mouth, stand the idea of doing anything for this company, for his dad.

"Right."

"And what do I get doing this?" He asks because they can't possibly expect him to actually do them a favor?

Abhishek seems like he expected this, stare calculated and hands steady over his desk. "If you don't, the company could end up in bankrupt," he licks his lips, eyes go to his shoes and then his hands. Avneet wonders what he's thinking about but then the serious expression on his face scares her a little bit and she chooses to glance at the floor instead. "Look, I shouldn't be telling you this but we have reason to believe there are employees working as spies in Nexlnnovate Tech. We can't risk it by sending someone else in." He says and Avneet wonders if he remembers she's in the room,
just sitting there right next to Siddharth and listening to everything they're saying. The conversation sounds too important and confidential for her to hear.