Pride vs Prejudice

Chapter 5

Ria had just finishing packing her laptop, in its case, after presenting to the Ahujas. Lav had been stuck in another meeting and hadn't been able to join her. She guessed Arun Kapoor was in the same meeting, since Shiv too had turned up there, alone.

Shiv had been guarded during the entire meeting. Their customary handshake, which she would have loved to avoid, seemed to bring out the same reaction in him, as in her. She didn't spare him a glance as she made to leave the room.

"Chashmish (spectacled) Know-it-all Khanna" Shiv said firmly, from where he sat. He hadn't moved from his chair.

Ria stopped and turned to look at him.

"That is who you are, right?" Shiv said, getting up now and walking towards the edge of the table as he rested against it

Riling. That is what Shiv was doing. Trying to rile her by saying things that he knew weren't pleasant. He had never used the tactic off the football field. Until now.

Ria raised her eyebrow, but choose not to respond. She wasn't going to give him a reaction. She had made up her mind the second he had uttered those words.

"Changing your physical appearance cannot change who you are" he commented coldly

Ria smiled "Good, because I have no intention of changing. Only a shallow person like you can think that spectacles were all of my physical appearance" she said shake of her head, one that only conveyed feeling pity for him.

"Is that why you had to get rid of them with the superficial fix of contact lens?" he asked in a cold voice.

"Today, if I wear my specs, they will be an asset. They will only make me look even more intelligent. And I am proud that I know it all" Ria said confidently, with a quirk of her eyebrow "You on the other hand will always remain an arrogant unintelligent brat"

Shiv rose and walked toward her, towering her almost, in a matter of second. His eyes burning with anger "You don't know me. You don't know anything about me. You are nobody to judge me" he told her

"And you are nobody to determine who I am either" Ria shot back at him, not willing to back off

"I have no intention of spending any time determining who or what you are" Shiv spat at her

"Is that why you were flirting with me at the party?" Ria asked with a smirk, titling her head in question

"Don't worry, that is a mistake I have no intention of repeating" Shiv told her

"Good! Because it was annoying as hell" Ria told him, brushing past him

Shiv clenched his jaw "This isn't over Khanna" he muttered, just as she closed the door behind her.

Great! She had succeed in riling him up instead! He muttered to himself as he sat in his car, a little later, driving back to the office.

"That pretty girl from party, the one who Sam was talking about, was 'prefect from hell' Khanna?" Arvind asked Shiv as they sat together at Rohan's house, over the weekend

"What?" Sam asked confused. He didn't study at the same school with them and had no clue what they were talking about

"You don't know her" Arvind explained, his eyes still wide in shock

"Grow up Arvind!" Pooja told him. Pooja was their schoolmate and Arvind's girlfriend.

"You are telling me to grow up over 'prefect from hell' Khanna?" Arvind asked annoyed

"Yes!" Pooja told him calmly "I know her better than you"

"What do you mean you know her? You know 'prefect from hell'?" he asked surprised by her comment "Is there anything else you have been hiding from me?"