Poles Apart

Chapter Four

I dance away from my welcome desk after helping the last of my guests check-in. I spot Pranav who looks at me with envy. I grin at him and do Avni's jazz hands. "I'm done!" I mouth to him, excitedly.

He narrows his eyes at me, over the guests head. The guest who seems to be talking to him begins to turn around to see what's so interesting and I take that as my cue to leave. I have no intentions of socialising with more people than I absolutely have to.

My phone pings with a text from my mom, asking me to come up to the fourth floor. I ask why and get left on seen. Knowing that she would probably flip out at me if I didn't go I drag myself to the lift.

I don't notice the tall man standing in the lift lobby until I get there. I don't know if Arjun notices me, but if he does; he doesn't show it. Good for me if he didn't notice me. Arjun is not only easy on the eyes, but he's also cute. In fact, more than cute. He looks hot. The way his sharp jaw clenches, as he concentrates on the phone screen is hot. Beauty unappreciated is a sin.

Looks like someone shaved. The last time I saw Arjun, a week ago; he had a scruffy beard, a little more than stubble and a little less than a full beard. Now, he has stubble. Going by what I know about male's beards, which is a lot; considering the number of males in the family, I'd say he shaved three or four days ago.

When he looks up from his phone, I look away from him. Heat rushes to my ears as I look ahead. I was checking him out. I was checking out Arjun? My standards took a big hit, undoubtedly. It's either that, or I lost my brain cells.

The lift opens with a faint ding. I snap out of my thoughts and step ahead to enter the lift, but Arjun also takes a step at the same time, making me halt in my step. I look at him, meeting his twinkling dark eyes. He has beautiful eyes. He moves back and raises his left arm, motioning for me to get in first.

I take on the chivalrous offer and get on the lift without a word. I extend my hand to press the button at the same time as Arjun. I quickly retract my hand, letting him do it first. Surprisingly, he presses the button for the fourth floor.

I take a step away from him. Being in a closed space with Arjun somehow seems to make me more anxious than when we were in the lobby. The music in the left adds to my nerves. Who chooses the music in the lifts? I pop my knuckles, trying to dissipate my nerves.

Arjun looks up at the sound, and I avert my gaze. There's a lot of things I'd rather do than stare at his pretty face. "Don't do that," he orders. His voice is deep and smooth.

"Don't order me around," I tell him, but I inadvertently stop popping my knuckles.

He grins at me as he shoves his phone into his jeans' pocket. "But I like it," he says, teasingly. I know this is going to blow up in my face again.

"Please go back to doing whatever it was, that you were doing," I say, involuntarily taking a step away from his straightened form. He looks intimidating without even trying to. Just how tall is this man?

"I was checking work mail," he explains. That explains why he was holding his screen so secretively.

I look at him for a second. "Cool," I say, not knowing what else to say. I look at him, wondering if he would go back to his phone. He doesn't. He only stares back at me.

This is getting awkward. Thankfully, my phone buzzes with a text. I look down at my phone, in a pretence of checking the text. It's an image text from Sam with her boarding pass and a huge dairy milk chocolate bar, the travel exclusive kind. I want! I should have chocolates in my suitcase but they're underneath all my clothes. I had strategically placed them under all the chocolates so that I would unpack. My brain is my biggest enemy, sometimes. I know I won't unpack anytime soon.