Age of Attraction |18+

2

"You don't need to do that, let me call someone," he says but I have already zoned him out and continue to pick them. He comes closer to me and kneels in front of me.

"You're bleeding." I hadn't even noticed until now and I stopped picking up the glass. He gets up and goes behind the desk and makes a call. Within seconds the clone secretary is here and he's giving her instructions to clean. Once she leaves the room, he comes back to me.

"We'll be having the meeting in another room, if you could follow me there." I steel myself after this clown show and glance up at him. The first thing I notice about him is his height. He's tall, dressed in a fine charcoal suit, his hair is slicked back but because he's leaning, a strand comes undone and falls over his eyes. Bright brown hazel eyes look at me with concern as he stretches his hand towards me. I place my hand in his and he pulls me to my feet. Even then he guides me carefully from in between the shards of glass to a clean spot. I come to stand in front of him after which he drops my hand. The electric charge that I felt coursing through my veins immediately stops its course.

"I'm sorry about that, it was so clumsy of me, I mutter.

"There's always a first, for you and me both." His voice is warm and his statement has a hint of amusement to it. He takes out a handkerchief from his pocket and extends it towards me. He must have noticed the confused expression on my face and his eyes gesture towards my bleeding finger. I awkwardly wrap his handkerchief around my bleeding finger. The door opens again and a help enters the room with a broom in hand, we exit before the door could close on us. I walk behind him as he heads towards the lift. He pushes the button and we wait for it to arrive. The first secretary returns to her desk and Mr. Khanna addresses her.

"I'll be taking the interview up in my office." With that the lift arrives and we both get on. He presses the button for the 19th floor and the lift shuts off. It reopens on the 19th floor and we walk towards a lean corridor.

"You don't have to walk behind me." I detect a hint of amusement in his tone and I walk fast to match his pace. He opens a large door and strides towards his mammoth of a desk. This office is bigger than the one we were in before. There's ample space in here, with a sofa set on one side of the office for guests most probably, and his desk on the other side. One side of the office is adorned with glass windows giving a perfect view. I sit on the chair in front of him, while he types away at his laptop. I open my bag and take out the set of documents he might need, out of which I push the resume towards him on the table. He eyes the document left on the middle of the table and reaches for it. I start by saying,

"I'm sorry about all this." He closes his laptop and goes through my resume. With seriousness he addresses me.

"Don't think too much about it. So you're Leila Desai, a BBA graduate." He rolls my name off his tongue as if tasting it.

"That's quite a name, you fancy it?"

"People do and I guess my parents did." He cocks his head to the side and regards me intently.

"Well..tell me something about yourself which your resume doesn't convey."

"I would tell you about my skills and the experience that I have gained through my internships but other than that I could touch upon my work ethics, leadership qualities and how I would fit right in your company." He just nods at my answer. I feel like I screwed up and maybe it's written on my face as he changes his way of interview.

"Ok. How about we go with a casual conversation. That will make you comfortable and I will get the details I want." I nod as he continues. "I'm just going to write the relevant details here on this notepad as I have to show it to my father." He takes out a notepad from one of the drawers in the desk.

"My father usually takes all the interviews. I'm stuck here today as he's unwell. So the final call is still going to be his as he's the CEO of the company," he tells me but my mind is still on the word 'stuck', the fact that he doesn't want to be here does not look good for me.

"Since this is a conversation, what would you ask me?"

"What is your role here?" I ask. He gives me a deadpan look of how general that question is and launches to speak about it for a minute. So to some it up basically he's picking up work that should be done by a CFO.

"So someday that title would be yours?" I ask.

"Someday," he repeats.

"Is that someday near?"

"For now it's just someday," he says plainly.

"For what it's worth I think you would do justice to its role."

"And how did you come to that conclusion?" He's fascinated by my statement.

"You speak so passionately about it. You look young and are picking up the chores of a CFO that means you have the brains for the job. You're doing this work even though your father is the CEO, that means you're ready to put in the work. That says a lot about you." He looks at me intensely and a small smile forms on his face. His gaze on me makes me blush and I tuck an invisible strand behind my ear.

We talk for a good half an hour where he asks me about my goals, aspirations, my education background and I do the same but the conversation still stays formal between us.

"I think I have enough information on you, we'll take it from here," he drums his fingers on his desk as he says that. I thank him for his hospitality and again mutter a sorry for how things started.

"Enough with the apologising. I'm never going to forget you, it's not everyday a candidate bleeds on our floors. Ah..let me correct that, our carpeted floors," a smile plays on his lips.

"Would you like me to show you around?" he asks, which takes me by surprise. I think he's just being polite.

"That's nice of you but I think you're far too busy for that." As I rise, he stands and holds his hand out to me.

"Hoping to see you soon," I tell him.

"The pleasure's been all mine," he says while walking toward the door.

"Let me escort you out, you never know what may happen." He opens the door wide. I make my way to the door but before leaving I stand on the threshold to his office and muster all the confidence I have.

"Now you're bullying me."

"This is not bullying."

"That's what a bully would say," I tell him and he laughs at my jibe. He's good looking and I find that very distracting. He closes the door behind us and together we walk till the lift. He pushes the button and the lift door opens. I get inside and turn around to face him. He has already pushed the ground floor button for me.

"I think you'll fit right in here," he says with his burning hazel eyes at me. The lift shuts and starts to move.

"I think so too," I whisper. 

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