UNREQUITED

Office Romance

Chapter 4

The environment in the office was unusually calm, everybody was busy including Kushi. Divya presumed she hadn't come that day since  it had been hours she hadn't heard her voice. "Hey, why are you so quiet today? I thought you've taken an off," she walked over to her cubicle and grabbed her attention with a ring.

"No i was just...wow that's so pretty!" Kushi noticed the solitaire on her finger. "Wait...is this an engagement ring?" she raised her brows quizzically while Divya blushed in response.

"Oh dear, Congratulations! He finally said yes, didn't he?" Kushi embraced her and enquired about her long time boyfriend.

"Not it isn't him..." Divya paused and darted her eyes around.

"Not him? Whom did you get engaged to then?" Kushi was puzzled.

It was then that Divya told her about finding love on a matrimonial site for divorcees. Kushi was flabbergasted at hearing that such a site even existed. She demanded to know how a person like Divya could agree to marry a divorcee. "Erm..i think you've forgotten I'm a divorcee too. Plus i have an extra wagon," Divya quoted.

"Alright fair enough since you both are divorced but then where's the love? How can you get into an arranged marriage? It's risky, what if he leaves you if you both aren't compatible," Kushi got worried.

"My ex husband and i dated for seven years before tying the knot. So if you claim that Love marriages last longer than arranged, then you're wrong. Besides, I'm doing it for my son, and the guy is very understanding. We met a couple of times before agreeing to go ahead with this," Divya explained and played with her ring.

Kushi was unconvinced, but pretended she understood what Divya meant. She was a girl who was obsessed with the concept of love marriages and strongly believed that two individuals couldn't marry unless they weren't in love.

"Are you both in love with each other?" Kushi asked sarcastically.

"Honey, were your parents in love before they got hitched? I'm sure back in those days they met only twice before tying the knot," Divya commented and returned to her seat, leaving Kushi miffed.

It was true her parents had gone in for an arranged marriage and barely knew each other, but with time they adjusted and got accustomed to each others company. This was something Kushi wasn't prepared to repeat in her life. For her the perfect marriage meant marrying the one you loved and love could never happen after marrying someone.

Mr. Seth called her over the phone and stopped her train of thoughts. There was a meeting she had to attend and was late as usual. Picking her notepad, she rushed to the board room and walked in apologising to the management. She wasn't surprise at finding Rohan sitting adjacent to Mr. Kapoor. She avoided his gaze that followed her till she took a seat next to her boss. She recalled the exchange of letters between them and smiled from within.

 The meeting was long and boring as everyone discussed about the company's future growth plans. Kushi and Rohan however found the platform perfect to steal glances at each other. Seated across the oval table, Rohan would inevitably shift his gaze at Kushi when she wasn't looking and so would she until they caught each other red handed and smiled sheepishly.

As the meeting progressed, the Ceo asked Kushi to order some tea and snacks from the pantry. "I'll have coffee though, what about the rest?" he looked at the other as they gave their preference.

"How about you? Coffee or Tea?" He fixed his gaze at Rohan and waited for his answer while Kushi rung the office boy.

"Neither! I'll have black tea, but not right now I'll make do with coffee..." he replied and grabbed her attention.