IT WASN'T THAT SIMPLE

CHAPTER ONE

"MBA would have been a much better option," claimed Ayesha impatiently. "I am sick of waiting."

Patience had never been a virtue of Ayesha Sen but four years of engineering had taught her to hold on when needed. She was the singular off-spring of Dr. Sanket and Dr. Asha Sen. They both were renowned in their own turfs but their daughter was more inclined towards modelling. She had the height, look and flamboyance to be a model but the Sens were not the kind of parents who would be ecstatic with their daughter eying modelling as her career. They wanted her to be a doctor but unfortunately, hospitals and blood used to make Ayesha really uncomfortable. Hence, engineering somewhat became the mutual choice. Since she was in the final year of her graduation, her parents advised her to consider perusing MBA post engineering but she categorically denied that option. She made it very clear to them that engineering was her last degree and she would rather prefer herself in an office than in a college once again.

It was one of the days amidst the placement period and the company was a mass recruiting one. The cut offs were low and the number of turn outs were immensely high. The interview procedure started at nine and it was passed three by then. Six hours of stress without food was starting to get the better of her.

Luckily, she wasn't alone. Accompanying her was Punit Rijwani, her boyfriend. Ayesha was one of those popular girls of an engineering college who will find an admirer in every corner. She was in no short of companies but the two people who were her pillars of strength were Punit and Siddharth. Punit was the tall, handsome and strongly built fellow of the class. He was over six feet and by the virtue of proper nourishment and hitting the gym on a regular basis, his muscles were well developed and in shape too. In comparison to his fellow batchmates, he looked way past his age. His appearance and introvert nature often led to the speculation that he was full of arrogance but in reality, he was extremely soft spoken and well behaved. Though he was a decedent of a business family but his parents, Mr. Pankaj and Mrs. Madhu Rijwani insisted him to get a degree. They wanted him to get a job and do something on his own rather than joining his father's real estate business. Mr. Rijwani specifically instructed him to stay away from business because his own experience had made him realize how risky and unpredictable entrepreneurship is and Punit's fickle mindedness would only make the situation worse for him. One might consider his father to be judgemental but he had his reasons. Punit's dedication to something had always been a spot of bother for his parents. Be it books, toys or sports, he never stuck to one for long. Throughout his childhood, he tried his hands in cricket, football, basketball, volleyball, table tennis and chess but never focussed on anyone of them for more than three months. Once he crossed the gates of the school, his parents expected him to be more responsible but he decided to get into an engineering college after studying B.Sc Mathematics for two months. Hence, his father's judgements were not baseless.

Punit and Siddharth were room partners in the hostel. Hence, their bonding was inevitable. But their introduction to Ayesha was dramatic. During the mid-term of first semester, both of them skipped a paper due to lack of preparation and decided to sit directly for the re-test. So, in order to make the best use of the time, they went for a movie and to their astonishment, they came across Ayesha at the ticket counter. For a moment, all three of them were flustered but it didn't take them long to shred away the awkwardness. The movie was followed by a bottle of beer each and that was how the trio came together.

"Babe, you got to relax a bit," voiced Punit. "Everybody is here since morning, including me."

Ayesha was in no mood to calm down. She was about to counter but Siddharth entered. "Stop eating each other's head," he said as he handed over a burger each to both. "Have some food instead."