I Was, I Am.

-THE REJECTED DESIGN-

"Right now, I'm requesting you. But later; I don't know."

It took me another good ten seconds to analyze what all Mihir had just said to Adrija. It also took me a while to let the news sink in and draw inferences.

Mihir and Adrija had been in love with each other.

For some odd reason; Mihir broke up with her.

He moved on. Or so he says.

She certainly couldn't.

I came in and Mihir developed an interest in me.

And that's how Adrija started hating me, without even trying to get to know me first.

Things seemed to click suddenly. I recalled how the lady who I'd asked the directions for the washroom on the day of the interview wore a beautiful smile; a very friendly one. That lady was Adrija.

And then Mihir and I had walked out of Mr. Ahuja's cabin. Actually I had walked out, he'd ran after me. He didn't just run after me, but flirted too. But a weird part of my subconscious seemed to recall Adrija being in hearing proximity from the two of us.

Did Mihir want Adrija to hear our conversation? Had this whole thing been a facade?

No. I could not believe that. I knew Mihir, I knew my friend. He could not be this manipulative. But what the hell was happening here?

So many screwed up assignments, so many average designs and most of all; disappointing Mr. Ahuja over and over again for their past; their stupid past that Mihir has hidden from me all along. I told him EVERYTHING about me; EVERYTHING about Aakash.

But not once did he consider telling me about him and her; despite knowing; that I'd been blaming myself all this while. I thought I lacked teamwork, I thought I truly was the one at fault.

In reality, I had done nothing to deserve her hatred.

Heck I wasn't even with her guy! I wasn't even romantically interested in him!

I stormed out of the terrace; feeling a bitter sense of betrayal and fury within me. I wasn't sure whether the two of them had seen me and I really didn't care anymore.

To hell with both of them!

On my way out, I inevitably rammed into Mr. Ahuja's chest. His expensive iPhone flung up into the air, and landed on the floor with a severe thud. I pressed my eyes shut in horror, I could not see this. I just couldn't. Not an iPhone. No.

"Are you okay Aditi?" his voice was gentle, and it was close. My eyes fluttered open immediately, trying to assess the distance between our bodies. It wasn't an invasion of private space, but Dev er, Mr. Ahuja had already crossed the professional line that should've been maintained.

"Your phone..." I breathed out nervously, a little taken aback by his attempt at making conversation outside of the arena of work.

"Oh it's alright." he explained, showing me his surprisingly unscathed phone. "Mishi drops it all the time, so I invested in a robust phone cover." 

I took his word for it, the cover his phone donned was sturdy enough to single-handed-ly take care of the impact of the crash. I let out a sigh of relief, noticing the corner of his lip twitch up in amusement. Again, he controlled the gorgeous smile it could lead to, bringing back his controlled and practiced expressions on.

"You didn't answer me." said he, the exact time I'd blurted, "You called me Aditi."

He'd never called me by my first name before. It was shockingly nice to hear.