Enduring Ally

Chapter 4 : First day at work

Arshad turned to her and said with a smirk, "It's time to meet the lion in its den".

Arshad showed Zoya, Aditya's cabin and said, "Zoya, I take my leave. Your appointment order is with him. You can take the same from him. All the best, Zoya!" then he returned to his cabin. Zoya paced slowly towards the door with black metal name plate on it says with silver colour, "Aditya Hooda beneath to it Director". She knocked on the door gently and heard "Come in" from other side.

Zoya opened the door to back of Aditya's Chair. He was facing the glass window with a beautiful view of outside world. She stepped in and takes a look around the office. To her left she found a couch with coffee table and to her right selves with full of books, she could see books related to accounting and auditing.

Before her wooden desk, she thought to herself must be teak wood. On the table, she could see laptop, pen stand, night lamp, some files and a photo frame. She wondered whose photo would be there in that photo frame.

"Ahem... Good Afternoon, Mr. Hooda", she said.

"Good Afternoon, Ms. Zoya Siddiqui", he didn't even bother to turn around to greet her.

"Take a seat, I hope your induction is completed and Arshad would have given all the details required". Before she could answer he continued, "You will be handling 5 clients and you need to finish the auditing for all the clients before the end of this financial year. You can schedule the auditing accordingly to complete it before the given time. And I don't like delays. If you feel if you can't complete within time please feel free to inform us then we'll take care of the same and you can leave us".

"The client details are already available in your desk. Hope everything is clear, you may leave now", still he was facing the glass window. Without a word, she stood up and headed to the door to leave.

"One more thing, I know you didn't complete your finals and you'll be taking your finals this year. Post your results, your position will get permanent till then you'll be on probation period. Now, you can leave", Aditya added robotically.

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Zoya returned to her cabin, look around calmly. A medium sized cabin but looked good. A desk, 3 chairs and also a file cabinet stood at the right corner of the cabin. On the left corner, there was a 2-seater couch with tea table. Desk was empty except some files and an inter-com. She thought to herself, "I need to arrange the desk according to my taste".

Then she noticed the few files lying on the desk with note on the top signed by Aditya Hooda. "Client's details" underlined. Beneath to it says, "The Auditing schedules and the reports submission schedules will be mailed to you". While she took one of the files and go thru it, she heard a knock on the door.

Arshad standing with someone at the door, she smiled and asks them to come in. Arshad introduce him as IT person and they're here to give her, her laptop and other IT related support.

While the other was setting up her laptop, Arshad asked her, "Zoya, what about lunch? Have you brought it or do you need to buy?" She gave a bewildered look. He immediately added, "We have a cafeteria here and lunch will be provided to all employees of DMG. If you want to take breakfast and lunch here then I need to give your name to the management. That's why, I asked you".

She smiled and said, "I usually pack my lunch, but today I didn't bring my lunch. So, I'll have lunch at cafeteria". He said, "Ohh... Okay, but Zoya, here breakfast and lunch are provided by management and you don't need to pay too. If you want to take both, please let me know". When Zoya was about to reply IT person interfered, "Ma'am, your laptop is ready and these are your passwords to your LAN and mail". She thanked him and he left them.

When Arshad was about to leave, Zoya said, "Arshad, I'll let you know about the food requirement". Arshad turned and said, "Okay Zoya, will catch you later", and he left.

Zoya looked down at her laptop and found 5 mails already from Aditya Hooda and 1 welcome mail from Arshad.

She thought "Is he even serious? already sent 5 mails related to work and not even one to welcome her. What's with him? Why he is so serious always? and behaving like "Kadoos". She said to herself, "Okay, now I'm behaving like typical serial heroine who hates and name calls her hero boss", and laughed at her thought.

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After an hour or so, her stomach grumbles, by then she realised she had not gone for lunch. Also, she didn't have her breakfast. She went to cafeteria bought chapatti and panneer masala. A very few people were sitting at the cafeteria as it was almost 2.30 afternoon.

"Excuse me, if you don't mind, can I join you" Zoya looked up to see Arshad standing there with a tray in his hand. She smiled and nods him to sit. He said, "Thank you" and took the seat next to her.

"I didn't know you're a late lunch taker" he said. Zoya smiled awkwardly and replied, "Not like that, I got busy with the work and didn't notice the time". "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you awkward. I usually take food whenever I get time and mostly I take food alone. Today, I found you sitting alone, so I thought of joining you", he said.

She understood he mistook her and immediately said, "Hey, don't be. Actually it's my first day and we don't have much exposure other than professionally. Sorry I acted weirdly".

Arshad gave a small smile. She added, "If Riyaz saw me now, he would be laughing like mad", just then she remembered she didn't call him or texted him from morning. She slapped on her forehead and said, "Shit... he is going to kill me". Arshad look at her alarmed. She smiled and replied, "I forgot to call Riyaz and inform him. Morning I told him, I would call him after finishing my induction. Now, he is going to kill me for not calling".

Arshad looked at her depressed. But she finished her lunch hurriedly and said, "Sorry Arshad, I need to call him. I'll talk to you later". She left without even waiting for his reply.

On her way to her cabin, she called Riyaz once he answered. She immediately said, "Sorry... Sorry... Sorry... for not calling you before", she heard laugh from other side. "What?" she exclaimed. "Nothing... I know you got your first day jitters and forgot to call me. How are you feeling now and how was your first day?" he asked. She smiled wide and said twirling over, "All good, already I started to love this place. You'll also love this work place. You know I got a separate cabin too", she said everything with overjoyed like a child.

She felt an eerie feeling that someone was looking at her. She looked around but didn't find anyone.

Once she was back at her cabin. She said to Riyaz that she'll call back once she is back at her home and disconnects the call. Then took one of the clients file and drowned in it.

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Okay guys what do you think about this chapter. I know this chapter is just a filler. 

Did Arshad have some feeling for Zoya? Why he is behind her? Will he create problems in future for Aditya and Zoya? What was his intention?

Sorry guys, I couldn't update frequently as I had to juggle between work, home and writing. Please be patient with me and I'll try to update as soon as possible.