Espresso Love (SanDhir)

Chapter 22 - Turkish Grind

"Good morning Sir," Avantika beamed. I gave a curt smile with a quick, "Morning! Listen, could you please inform Ms. Agarwal to drop in to my office sometime this morning before 10am? I need to discuss something important with her."

"Yes, of course," she replied. I was just about to enter my office when she spoke again, "Randhir Sir, are you okay? You look a little off."

She really had been with me long enough to pick up on my tendencies... I smiled, "I'm fine, don't worry. It's just that I didn't get any sleep last night," I admitted to her.

She looked around discretely and whispered, "Want me to postpone the staff meeting by an hour?" I raised an eyebrow, "You know, that'll be enough time for you to get your fix!" she said, winking at the end.

"You're spoiling me Avantika," I grinned. But then leaning in, I whispered, "I owe you!" Sporting a wink back at her, I left my bag in my cabin and went back down to drive myself to The Coffee Club. I had spent all of last night reading that letter over and over again, coming up with more reasons to get this whole thing over with. But even after all that deliberation, I knew I wasn't ready to do that as of yet.

Instead of wasting time and going inside, I went to the drive-thru and bought myself a large coffee. On my way back, I couldn't help but think back to the times the coffee place served as my escape from the stress of college. It wasn't necessarily the coffee which made it so special though. It was mainly the people with me; out of which, specifically one... I sighed; the slow-moving lanes of traffic were only increasing the speed of the racing thoughts in my mind.

It was just one question that I had to answer. Was I ready? But as my mind would have it, even after spending a whole night in contemplation, the decision was still hazy.

—

—

Upon entering the office, I was immediately told to meet Randhir before 10am. My initial reaction ended up leading me to sit down and focus on getting my errating breathing under control. My heart fluttered thinking perhaps he was willing to hear me out... But it didn't take long for me to realize that it was probably not why he was calling me. He wouldn't have asked Avantika to tell me this otherwise...

Sorting out my paperwork with a sigh, I prepared to give a short presentation about my progress to Randhir, erm - Mr. Shekhawat.

—

—

"Okay so tell me, how do you plan to justify yourself?"

I looked at Mr. Solanki who was putting no effort to conceal his confusion at the sudden change of tone with which Randhir spoke.

"Randhir, want me to leave you alone? I'd hate to intrude!" he said sincerely, probably not even aware of why the post-presentation discussion turned this sour.

"No no," Randhir quickly added, dismissing his request entirely. "If she wants to talk, she can do it right here."

I was almost certain, after hearing him say that, that Randhir was openly challenging me - or rather daring me to talk in front of Mr. Solanki. But I wasn't one to back-off so easily either. Especially not when getting this one chance really meant the world to me.

"No Mr. Solanki, it's okay. I'm not ashamed to admit that what I have done was wrong," I spoke boldly, maintaining my eye contact with Randhir.

Mr. Solanki stirred uncomfortably in his seat, "Your presentation was a little weak, but it was your first one! I'd hardly call that as you being wrong!"