Breaking the rules.

Chapter 4

"So when are you meeting him again?" Meera chased after me.

"Meera calm down. You sound like my mom." I pressed the elevator button again. "Anyway, I'm meeting him tonight. And no! You are not meeting him." I knew that was going to be her next question. I saw her look a bit disappointed.

"Have you told your mom, you're meeting him? Again." she probes me for more answers. We enter the empty elevator and the door shuts behind us.

"Hell no! I like the way it's going now. I don't want her to butt in. I mean I appreciate that she introduced me to him, but, it's too soon to tell." I in no way wanted to tell mother. "She might show up on the date, don't wanna take any chances." Meera nods and laughs.

"Have you been messaging each other?" She says trying to make the elevator go faster by pressing the button repeatedly.

"Yeah, since both our work schedules are pretty tight and we're both workaholics both of us are up pretty late. So we have been messaging."

"You guys are good for each other." I didn't really understand why she making such a big deal about this. It was just two people messaging each other back and forth. It was pretty straight forward.

I had carried a change of clothes and makeup so that I could change before Sahil picked me up.

On the dot at 9:30, My phone buzzes and the name Sahil appears on my screen.

"Hey, I'm waiting in the lobby. Whenever you're ready I'll be down."

I close up for the night and say good night to my assistant.

"Hey!" He waves at me through the crowd with a smile as I get out of the elevator. We walk up to his car and he opens the door for me.

"So I got us reservations at this restaurant. It's a few minutes away." he says checking his rear view mirror. "I've heard it's pretty good."

Dinner went by pretty quickly, and I was nervous. What I supposed to do now? He was going to reach me home. Do I invite him in? Probably. Ughh everything was muddled up.

"So.. I had a really nice time with you." he pulls up to my house gate.

"Do you want to come inside, it's pretty late and I could make us some coffee"

"Sure, I'd love to." He smiled.

I unlock my front door and we walk in. I show him where to hang up his coat. He tells me not to worry about it.

"Sorry, my place is really messy with all these work files. I'm usually alone." I proceed to the kitchen.

"Don't apologize please. My house is the same." He places a file on the table. "Do you mind if I help with the coffee?" He follows me into the kitchen.

"Sure," I hand him a mug. "I'm just gonna change into something that's not too formal." He nods and I dart out to my room and shut the door behind me.

I grabbed something semi formal from my closet and hurriedly dress myself. By the time I leave my room he's already carrying out the coffee and places one in my hands and I gesture at him to sit opposite me on the couch.

"This is a really impressive looking place." he says sipping his coffee. "Everything is strategically planned and placed in the perfect areas of the house."

"Well, credit for the amazing structure goes to the architect, but when it comes to the placing, that's all me." I say and grab his hand in excitement. "Let me give you a tour of the place." He laughs, amused with my excitement. He places his mug on the small coffee table in front of us and I take him around.

"You know the kitchen, this way leads to the guest bedroom and bathroom, and there's a small sit out kind of balcony in the hall, there's a small swing too." I gesture to the room and balcony. "Let's me show you the upstairs."

"Well this is my home office, it's got a balcony as well. The next room is my home gym, and this is my bedroom. And that's an empty room, I haven't quite figured out what I want to do with it yet."

We are standing close to each other. All that's left is to close that slight distance between us and he moves forward and leans in. I feel his lips against mine and I mine against his. We pull away and he smiles at me.

The next morning I wake up and feel his arm across my waist and him breathing soft and low. I take his hand off cautiously and pick my clothes off of the floor and proceed to the kitchen to make us some breakfast and another pot of coffee for us.

"Morning." His voice is husky. "I hope I didn't snore." he smirks and runs his hand through his hair.

Both of us were shy, but it wasn't awkward at all. We didn't struggle to make conversation and he kept running his hand through his hair. I figured that's what he does when he's nervous.

His pager goes off and he glances at the small device. "I need to go, but I had a great time." he kisses my cheek and grabs his coat. "Text me."

I close the door behind me I began to panic and leaned against door. "Oh crap, dammit I have a meeting that I'm going to be late for." I run for a quick shower.

"Something's different about you." Meera smirks. "Someone got laid yesterday." Anita sings.

"Very funny. But please close the door behind you." she makes a straight face and shuts the glass door of my cabin. "Now where were we?" she turns back around with a cheeky smile.

Meera gives me a scandalized but delightful look. "I knew it! I'm a fucking genius."

"Riya, you got laid?! Finally. I'm so happy for you." Anita barges in and giggles as I rapidly gesture for her to close the door.

"Shit hold on, it's my mother." I look at my phone. Should I answer it? If I decline she won't stop, so might as well deal with it.

"Hey mother. Not that I'm not happy to hear from you but I have a meeting so if you could make it quick that would be much appreciated."

"So? How did it go? Are you going to marry him? Is he fertile? Because I want 3 Grandchildren."

"Mother, what the hell?! I'm not asking him if he's fertile. Also three grandchildren from me is a lot." I say whispering into the phone.

"We'll talk about how many kids I want, later. But should I confirm the engagement" she asks.

"Mother. Sahil and I are still getting to know each other. Please stay out of it. I have to go now." I hang up.

~~

6months later:

Mother interfering was the last thing I wanted. My Dad was the opposite of mother. He was super calm and didn't over think.

"So I heard you and Sahil have been seeing each other?" He says having a cup of chai.

"Not you too?!" I roll my eyes.

"Beta, this is your mother's idea. She talks about both of you all the time, and she told me to ask you. If I don't, I'll get burnt food at home." he laughs.

"Well it's going great if you must know."

"Well that's good. Does he spend a lot of time here?" His question was definitely easy to answer. Sahil did spend a few nights here, but my parents were very conservative about that sort of thing.

"He does spend a lot of time here." I chose to go with the version that wouldn't give my parents a heart attack.

~~

Even though everyone around me was excited that I was in a relationship, I couldn't understand it. Was there something that I just wasn't getting? Don't get me wrong, I think Sahil is great, but I also think my best friends Arvind and Meera are great too. Isn't there supposed to be a difference in the way I care about my best friends and the way I care about Sahil?