IRRESISTIBLE

3

Desperate to disappear, Trisha crawled under the massive desk and stayed there as still as a mouse. I hope he didn't spot me, she yearned earnestly. She heard him walk past her table to the elevator. A moment later, she heard it slide open and voila... he was gone!

"Oh, thank God, he's gone," she muttered breathlessly and emerged from under the table. When she did, she found him standing right there.

With a startled gasp, she plopped onto her chair like a sack.

"Found what you were looking for?" he asked with a stony face.

"Um-b-b-b-b-y---yes! Yes! Oh yes! P-pe-pencil! Pencil, yes!" She pulled out a pencil from the pen stand and flashed it before his face.

He quirked up an eyebrow.

She felt like slapping herself. Those 'yeses' sounded so erotic.

Something on her table caught his attention. "Your phone," he demanded out of the blue with an outstretched hand. He was damn sure that she had been recording him while he was talking with that manager earlier. She might not have noticed him stealing a glance, but he did, from the corner of his eyes.

"What? Why?" That's it. Her heart just stopped beating.

His nostrils flared. Without any further explanations, he simply snatched it off the table.

"No! Please!" She whimpered. I knew that I should have set that password yesterday. Why didn't I do it, why!!!?

He headed straight to her gallery. There was an album named 'hottie'. He opened it and browsed through tons of pics and videos that seemed like from a horny teenager's secret password-protected album. Most of them were extreme close-ups of a man's lips, stubbles, chin, nose, eyes, butts... and they looked so familiar.

"There's nothing in there, I swear," he heard her whine.

Siddharth frowned at the pics. Why does that look like me?

The latest video answered his question. Because it is. The video was from this morning where he was chatting with the manager. I was right, he fumed, she WAS recording me!

He shot her a deadly glare, one that was enough to reduce her to ashes.

She pursed her lips and looked like she was about to cry.

"My cabin," he ordered, "now!"

Those words were familiar and were uttered just a while ago by Jane. It reminded her that Jane too had summoned her to her cabin, and till now she'd not executed it. "But Jane..." she began to explain only to get cut off.

"Now!!!" he barked and shut her up.

Without another word, she rose to her feet and watched him storm off to his department. "Well done, Trisha, well done," she mumbled.

***

Moments later, Trisha walked through the doors of one of the most feared, hated and deadliest places on earth – the Human Resources Department. The moment she did, she felt like she'd just entered a police station. The non-stop tack-tack of the keyboards, the humming and buzzing of fax machines and printers, the ruffling of papers, the loud THUP of the company stamp being punched down onto important documents for top management signatures, all convinced her that she was going to be tried for a rarest of the rare crime.

Five zombies... oops sorry, "HR personnel" sat at their work stations or in their designated cabins, supposedly hatching a new plot on how to screw up the lives of those who slogged day and night to build up that miserable company. But where's Siddharth, he just walked in a couple of seconds ago?

There he is, she thought dreadfully. The very sight of him made her cold and clammy. She no longer had the urge to strike up a conversation or find an excuse to get close to him. She wanted a ticket. A ticket to Pluto where she could disappear forever.

Meanwhile, an overbearing Siddharth stood at the door of the glass walled conference room. He held the door ajar and shuffled coolly on one leg as he rattled off sternly at the two timid men in the room. She couldn't make out what he said to them, but from the looks on their faces, it was obvious that they were in trouble. So, this is what he does all day? Scaring the shit out of people and making them say their daily prayers? I suppose Jhanvi is right. He is dangerous. Funny thing is, whenever I see this guy, he's on his feet, running around. Either his hormones are out of control or there are pins and needles scattered on his chair.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice him whip past her. "Come along!" he breathed as he zipped off to his cabin.

Caught by surprise, she blindly stumbled into a chair and toppled down. At the THUD of her fall, Sid swerved around. "I'm okay. I'm okay..." she assured in a ragged breath while clambering to her feet.

Sid raised a brow and shrugged. Then, he whipped back to his cabin.

Trisha's eyes ran around the department and found all eyes on her. She was embarrassed to the bone.

***