The Royal Deal

12.

In the middle of consuming
chaos, your presence
calmed me.
-Unknown

*****

Singhania Fashion,
Head Office.
The Next Day,
Early Evening.

Shaina Singhania

"Bua." Aryahi called me. She was adamant on joining me at the office because, my apartment apparently is too boring for a jumpy girl like her.

Her words, not mine.

It's been three days since I left the house and I have not returned, neither did Aryahi. Usually when I decide to cut myself off from my people because I had too much, all my responsibilities related to Aryahi falls upon Dev bhai and he doesn't complain. However this time he wasn't home, and trusting her under the same roof as dad seems like a difficult task to me after what he did.

I won't stand him coming after her once again.

I was busy inspecting the designs sent for my approval that I happened to ignore her for the fourth time.

I heard chaos outside my door but didn't bother turning my chair and looking after it myself because Mridula will handle it.

I had a L-shape table in my office and Aryahi was ever so comfortably settled on the part of the table adjacent to me and I had a moving cushion chair for me because of my hours of sitting in the office, I even have a sofa set in my office for that matter and a coffee table between three of them.

I happen to even doze off on one of them during my all nighters. Though I wake up like a zombie and with a stiff back.

"Shaina bua." Aryahi called me once again and I hummed in reply but not once lifted my head from the diamonds under my scrutiny.

"Help me." She requested and my pencil stopped working while a smile adored my face

"Just a minute." I replied and she went quiet exactly after a minute she poked a finger in my arm and I hummed once again too engrossed to remember her request

Aryahi, out of nowhere grabbed the lapels of my suit jacket and forced me to turn around to look at her. I gasped and my arms secured around her, my bracelets and rings made clinking sounds as my hands slammed down on the glass covering the mahogany desk. Oww.

"You cannot ignore me." She flared her nostrils and my eyebrows shot up while a smile appeared on my face

"I can't, indeed." I leaned closer and pecked her red nose. Where did that anger come from? Bhai, of course.

"That's not going to work. It's been twenty minutes since you started ignoring me." She complained, puffing her face and I held my laugh back

"Yeah?" I dropped my pencil and magnifying glass, and my fingers went to tickle her, I gripped her from my other arm to keep her from falling. She shrieked when I started tickling her, her loud laughs and giggles filled the room, and she gasped for air.

"Okay! Forgiven!" She exclaimed and that was my queue to stop. I offered her a grin and she frowned before she dropped her own pencil and launched herself on me. I was fast to catch her from falling.

Her little hands attacked me and she tickled me, I faked a few laughs because I am not ticklish. She doesn't need to know that.

"Sorry! Sorry!" I pretended to be breathless because I was laughing too much. I wasn't.