Unsuitable Proposal

Chapter 37: Transferred To The Devil

Antarang Bhatt

I tossed and turned in my bed, but sleep was the last thing on my mind. In fact, the only thing on my mind was an  impetuous woman who was driving me crazy.

An hour had passed since Kashvi's drunk friend called me and cussed her heart out mistaking me for her ex. And oh, that girl had a lot to say. Though I didn't care about that. What I cared about was them being out at this time of night, and more so at a club.

Since when Kashvi had no regards for her safety. That place had drunk people, drunk men, who could take advantage of her.

She sure had come a long way in just a span of few months. Frequenting clubs at night, flirting with guys, change in her attire, and those fucking short hair!

In fact, the first time I had seen her in Bangalore was in the club. I was out to catch up with my old college mates who worked here in the city.

She was in an off-shoulder red dress that fell over her curves smoothly. She had looked breathtaking. Some other girl was also with her, who I assumed is the same one that mistakenly called me tonight. It was the last place I had expected to find someone like Kashvi. Same Kashvi who used to blush at my silly remarks, who couldn't dare raise her voice against her father, and who scrunched her nose at the mere mention of parties and alcohol.

It seemed my princess had changed. A lot.

I wasn't against the change. I didn't want her to remain an unconfident and insecure woman either. There had always been a fire in her- which I had loved to tease out. I had also suspected she'd do much better without the watchful eyes of her strict family.

But I wasn't going to lie, it hurt seeing her thriving without me. It hurt seeing her growing when I was left wilted by the heartbreak. Not only it hurt, it made me angrier. And of course, seeing her with other guys didn't help either. She had turned me into a jealous man.

"I'm going crazy!" I said to myself and got up from bed. I walked to my home bar in the dining room and took out a bottle of vodka. I took a gulp straight out of the bottle.

I was stopping myself from grabbing the car keys and scouring the city for her. All sorts of scenarios were running in my head where Kashvi could be in trouble. I knew I had no business caring about her. After what she did, that was the last thing she deserved from me. She told me herself she wasn't my responsibility. But I couldn't stop. 

That woman had her claws deep in me.

I sat down on bar stool and took another swig from the bottle. I needed it to stop my mind from spiralling into overthinking. If Kashvi was in danger, she could take care of herself. She doesn't need me. I consoled to stop myself from dialing her number and demand if she reached home safe.

She'd be fine. She had to be. Besides, she had an important meeting to attend tomorrow.

******

Kashvi Acharya

"You better hurry up! I have to be at the meeting in about 15 minutes!" I yelled from the cab at Mrinalini, who was running to her apartment building.

"Give me five!" She yelled back and bolted upstairs.

Last night we slept late, so of course we were running late this morning. Then Mrinalini had to change in her work clothes, hence we made an additional stop at her place. Ugh, I couldn't afford to be late today.

I had a meeting to attend. Antarang was going to be there too. He had already admonished me last time for taking Ranjan's help, now I didn't want to be called tardy too.

Mrinalini took eight minutes instead of five. I was sure our cab driver was seconds away from throwing us out with the way we were telling him to hurry every 30 seconds.

As soon as we reached office, I jumped out of the cab and ran to conference room. I skipped the elevator and took stairs. I was panting by the time I reached the door of conference room on the fourth floor. I quickly ran a hand over my messed up hair before entering.

"I'm sorry I'm late," I immediately apologized when I saw everyone was already there. I internally winced, knowing Antarang wasn't going to let go of this opportunity to put me down- especially when he had score to settle for the last night.

"Don't sweat over it, in fact I think you're a minute early," Antarang said, leaving me astounded. 

"Take a seat Kashvi, we have good news for you." Aadeel sir smiled. He was sitting next to Antarang.

I gingerly took the empty seat next to Ranjan, who gave me a wry smile.

"Antarang is impressed with your work," Aadeel sir began, "Brillio's team did the testing and everything ran smooth. Ranjan told me you were the one who came up with algorithm. You did a good work Kashvi." 

I smiled. 

"Antarang might've been a little harsh last time."

"That was for her own good," Antarang cut-in.

Aadeel sir sighed. "Of course. So, as I was saying, you've impressed Antarang, now he wants you to work for him."

"Work for him?" I asked, confused. I was already working for him.

"Work with my team, at my office," Antarang supplied, his gaze on me unwavering. I gulped, dread filling me inside. "Don't be too excited, it's not permanent. It's for the time being, until your team is working on my AI. Mr. Kazmi won't let me steal his employees so I have to make do with what I can get. I'm confident we can benefit from your skills, and in return you can learn from us."

"Congratulations Kashvi!" Aadeel sir said. "It's a great opportunity to work directly under Antarang. He has achieved so much at young age. You'll learn a lot." He gave me an approving nod. "From the beginning you had my confidence." He looked at Antarang. "See, I wasn't wrong about her."

"You weren't," Antarang agreed, his eyes still on me. "So Ms. Acharya, are you in?"

It wasn't like I had a choice. Aadeel sir expected me to be on board, and going against him wasn't a wise decision. Getting in his good books was going to help me a long way in my career. I looked at Ranjan, hoping he'd say something, but he just shrugged. He too didn't seem happy about me leaving his team, and like me he couldn't voice it out either. 

"Yes." I nodded. "I'm excited to work with you Mr. Bhatt," I spoke with a fake smile.

Antarang's eyes glinted and he smirked. "Well, I'm glad to have you. Welcome Ms. Acharya." This man is dangerous.

*******

I know chapters are short but I want to keep updating regularly. I don't want to wait till I've reached 2000 words to grace you all with an update.