The Best Match

Chapter 3: The Crush

Monday leapt to my arms, taking mercy on me. I hugged it back for the first time in my life to get away from mom’s suggestive and indicative approaches for marriage. To what Siya was worth, her news had been accurate. Mom was apparently so impressed with the guy that she mentioned him on the dinner table on Saturday night. 

In front of me, no less!

I had a very awkward dinner. If not for dad's early morning flight the next day for a scheduled meeting, she might have gotten the guy’s family invited over on Sunday itself. It didn’t waver her from the big project though. She continued to drop hints on me about the merits of getting married to a well-off family. 

By the time I came out of the house to leave for work, I had known so many things about the guy whose name I had forgotten. He was a CEO, had a degree from abroad in management, had twin siblings, was a fair child (as if it was important), and when it came to this, was a very intelligent being. 

In my opinion, if he was still single even after staying abroad for more than seven years of his life and came back without an arm candy, he was either a stoic or a shrewd man. Both of them weren’t exactly my ideal type. I would always pick someone from the middle whose stoicism wouldn’t bore me and whose shrewdness wouldn’t hurt me. 

‘God doesn’t make the middle ones anymore.’ ESV gave me the reality check. And, what practicality demanded was that I should learn to adjust with both of the aforementioned categories. 

Why am I thinking this?

I shook my head to clear my mind and got out of the car, parking it in the lot. I took the elevator for the staff and jarred to the required floor. Swiping the card into the slot, I filed my entry and strutted to the cabin. It was cluttered — neatly stacked files all over, but still cluttered with many things I didn’t bother to remove. 

Like the growing specimen of cute, little figurines on my desk. 

I tore a post-it note from the drawer and wrote a quote on it before sticking it on the board. It was a little habit of mine which I dearly cherished. A new, motivating quote could really enthuse you to face anything in the world. It worked for me, so I made my cabin colorful with post-it notes all over the place. 

Soon, I was engrossed in the files and coding the program. My team was working on a solution software demanded by a prestigious company. The program manager didn’t want any mistakes in the execution, so it meant a spine-bending workload and sleepless nights to get it right. To top it, the back to back meetings with the client's team and test running on the program was draining me out. By lunch’s time, I was done for the day and wanted to go back home even if it meant listening to ma’s crap. 

“Coffee!” A veined, manly hand slid in my vision and I lifted my eyes up along the geometry of the hand which led me to the face I often envisioned in my dreams. 

“Mrigank!” I spelt his name. His left cheek dented with a dimple as he eyed the cup in his palms and nodded at me, “You look like you need it.”

You have no idea what I need. I whispered dreamily in my mind. ESV didn't comment as she voted to kiss him, but of course, there was a little sense left within me.  

I took the cup from him, dipping my head with a thankful nod and smiling at him. “Thanks!”

“You are welcome.” He whispered back, smiling deeply now as he might have noticed the redness on my cheeks. I quickly looked away from him at the cup and cleared my throat to cut off the awkward silence. “So, how's the weekend?”

“Pretty much the same. Went golfing, had a rain party with nieces and helped mom in the kitchen.” 

“So sweet!” I nearly crooned when I heard the routine which was a typical day for him. Even though I found golf boring as hell, the other activities had me riveted.