The Balcony

Chapter 18

She adjusted her earrings, looking at herself in the mirror. Her brand new cream skirt, crisp white shirt with a matching cream blazer made her look sharper than she did every day. Naina let out a low whistle as she walked into the room and caught her sister's reflection in the mirror.

She said, "Um you know you look hot right?"

Kajal giggled at her reflection and asked, "Are you implying I don't look hot every day?"

Naina shrugged and said, "You have a point. You look hot every day. It's just today it's more obvious than other days."

Kajal nodded in agreement. She always made an effort to look good for work. But she had gone shopping yesterday and splurged on whatever she looked good in. And that seemed to be a surprisingly big heap of clothes.

She gave her blazer a final tug and looked around to see her sister continue to stare at her. She barked playfully, "Oye! Stop checking me out!"

Naina giggled and said, "Sorry. I love this suit! On sale?"

Kajal shot up her eyebrows and said proudly, "Fifty percent off."

Her sister clapped as though she had got the entire store for free. Kajal laughed and picked up her bag and swished out of the room feeling happy and rejuvenated. She had felt low after seeing that door on the eleventh floor shut. She knew she shouldn't have put herself in that situation again. Once was more than enough. Sumeet had taught her a firm lesson. She didn't need that again.

She caught her cab at the usual hour and stopped at her coffee shop to pick up her order. She leaned over the counter to pick up the menu and thought of taking a muffin. As she pondered over the choices, someone bumped into her. She turned around in irritation and opened her mouth to say something when she caught a glimpse of a white shirt and a similar build. The person even had a very similar stubble dangerously close to becoming a beard. She squinted sharply at the man who brushed past her and walked away to a nearby table as her heartrate shot up. It wasn't him. She shook her head, irritated with her reaction and berated herself for behaving like a teenager in high school.

She plugged earphones into her ears and turned up the music as she spent the next hour reading the all the financial newspapers in the cab and navigating terrible traffic. When they reached her workplace, she smoothened her skirt, straightened her jacket, looked at the building and smiled.

An hour into work, her boss called for a team meeting. She along with her team members strode into the conference room. She sat at the far end, opened her diary and poised the pen ready to jot down any important notes. Her boss, Deepa, smiled at her and said, "There's no need to take notes today, Kajal. Everyone, I have a few announcements to make today. Fairly routine. Please save all the questions for the end as usual. First things first, I would like you all to give a warm welcome to the newest associate on our team, Vikramaditya Thapar."

Author's Note: Hi guys! So first off, sorry it took this long to publish the next chapter. I have been a little busy with stuff. Anyway we're back on track. :D Also, thank you all so much for reading 17 chapters and being such loyal fans of this story! Next chapter will be up in a few minutes! :) - S