To Love Or Not To Love| A FEATURED STORY

Chapter 24

"That went much better than I expected. Congratulations on getting the contract signed finally, despite your lack of concentration today," Satyanarayana, Ajay's boss, commented as soon as the conference room was vacant except for the two of them.

Instead of being the resigned person that Ajay was, he grinned at him, "That's mildly putting it. I never wanted to be here this morning. Wanted to call in sick but thought about the way you would run your fingers through your non-existent hair, eyes narrowed, shoulders tensed, puffing like an aging bull and cursing me to hell and back. Didn't want to be at the end of that, so made it."

Satya narrowed his eyes but noticed Ajay's happy face and smirked, "You look very cheerful for a sick person, and I'm not sure if that's how I look when I want to strangle your neck. So between us, what's the cause for this unusual change? Got your everlasting fantasy of having a threesome with both a boy and girl fulfilled?"

Ajay burst out laughing that had Satya's eyebrows shoot well into his vast forehead, "You're not wrong on parts of it. Of course, I got laid but not as you imagined in your perverted mind. It was much better if you care to know the details."

"Uh..huh, that's not in my job description. Anyways, I'm glad this contract is signed, and you are finally in some happy space. My money is on the chick who ordered you a drink that day."

It was Ajay's turn to have his eyebrow's shoot into his forehead. Satya smirked, "I'm your boss for a reason."

"I never argued on that point. I'm glad you're my boss," Ajay added with a chuckle.

It was not every day Ajay explicitly complimented him or either looked on cloud nine. Satya knew that Ajay held him in high regard, and they shared an unusual boss-subordinate relationship ― having worked for a lot of years now for famous clients in developing their Fraud Systems and lending unquestionable support to these clients. But it was purely a professional working relationship.

Each complemented the other's working style, and had a conducive work environment, never venturing into each other's personal space. Satya was stunned when Ajay said what he said and was somehow happy for him.

"Sure it's a day full of surprises. I need to thank this girl. Any chance of meeting her?"

Satya's question amazed Ajay, and he added with a small smile, "I'll check with her, and let you know," silently agreeing with Satya's sentiment on the day being full of surprises.

Satya slightly shook his head and exited the room with a small smile of his own.

But soon Ajay's day spiralled down with a lot of issues, and he was so lost in his work that he forgot to keep track of his time.

****

Anya texted Ajay as soon as she was done with her shift to pick her up as he had her car. It was 7.30 pm, and she had a shit day at work. There were few more layoffs over the weekend which she came to know after she logged into office, and she seemed to be safe for now. She didn't know when would her head belong to the guillotine.

On a positive note, a couple of companies, that she had applied for, called in for interviews. These were due sometime that week, and she was looking forward to that. She wanted to do her best, and somehow land in a secure job.

With these thoughts, she looked at her phone for a reply from Ajay and when she found none, summoned an auto-rickshaw to reach her place. She never liked getting stranded anywhere, and that was the reason she scraped and saved and got herself a vehicle.

There was a term called 'Jihva Chapalyam' in her mothers' tongue, Telugu. It literally means whims of the tongue. Anya was not alien to that term. She loved eating freshly made south Indian food with fresh vegetables as per the whims of her tongue. And being the botanist that she was, she revered plant-based foods immensely.