Not A Simple Engineer Boy!

Twenty Three: Utilitarianism (Part 2)

Krithika looked outside her window, it was raining cats and dogs. 'Tamil Nadu Weatherman' had alarmed a red alert in Chennai and she thanked Indra Deva for being helpful to her as she resigned on her bed, still not ready to go to the office.

After her nasty charade with Xavier and dramatic takeoff from the office, she had taken leave for a week.

She took her phone and opened the Xhasis employee portal. Punching in sickness for the last five working days in the portal she sat on a corner of her bed. Yes, sickness leave, which was partly true.

Aside from the fact that she was sick of Xavier, she had bawled her eyes out, crying so badly that it had taken a toll on her body. Fever along with headache were the uninvited guests that caused her to be bedridden for five days. Her roommate had served her the meal- the shitty food made by the chef in their P. G.- while continuously trying to calm her whenever she burst out crying.

So much of being an independent strong woman.

There were two prominent emotions in her mind that overshadowed others- fear and rage. She concluded that it had been foolish of her to act on her impulse and fight with Xavier. He was the freaking CEO of the company; he could easily ruin her career in a snap of his fingers.

But she wasn't ready to ask for forgiveness either.

Throwing her phone somewhere in her bed she wiped her tears. Her puffed eyelids felt heavier and she closed them. She was waiting for one message, one email on her laptop.

They will fire me.

Tears started to flow uncontrollably from the corner of her eyes as she fisted on her blanket and covered herself, hugging tightly. It was inevitable and she lost herself into wailing louder, her defeat causing her to sink deeper than before.

--

"Fuck, Krithika, you look terrible. Are you fine?", Priya asked her, sitting next to her on her bed.

"Yeah.", she nodded.

"I was so scared, you didn't come for more than a week now.", Priya hugged her tight, "We thought you caught COVID."

"No... I lost my gold chain and...", that was a quickly spun lie, "...cried over it so hard that I fell sick."

Smooth liar, eh?

She wasn't aware whether anyone knew about the incident. And from the way Priya acted, she felt that it wasn't news yet.

"How crazy are you?", Priya's eyes widened in disbelief, "Girl, you're something of a stupid."

It was an uncomfortable feeling to lie through her teeth, especially to Priya who slowly had become her close friend. But she didn't want to stir gossip, it was unprofessional.

They chatted for a while about the things that happened in the past ten days, in the absence of Krithika. Priya informed her about Satya being out of the office for the past week, which was unusual. Then she told her about how she kept teasing Akash for his new fancy haircut, constantly making him blush.

A smile tugged at Krithika's lips as she imagined Priya pinching Akash's arm and making him uncomfortable. There was something undeniably sweet between them but she kept that thought to herself. They were adults, they could decide for themselves.

"Also, something unbelievable is happening these days in the office.", the exciting voice of Priya cut through her thoughts.

"Hmm?", she prodded her, "It seems like all exciting things happen when I am not around."

"Exactly, you will be shocked to the core.", Priya continued, "Xavier sir is trying to be...how to put it... Yeah, he is being cheerful and considerate these days."

Crumpling her kurta, "Oh!", she scoffed, "I am sure it's hell for him to act around.", it sounded a bit more sarcastic than she had intended it to be.

Priya shook her head in disagreement, "Not at all. That's why it's surprising for all of us.", she continued, "It feels genuine, it didn't look like he was unhappy about it."

Maybe he's rooting for the Oscars.

"Have you ever seen him smile before?", Priya squealed, "This is unprofessional but fuck all, he looks downright sexy.", she pressed Krithika's arms in an uncontained thrill, "He smiled at least three times in front of us, three fucking times!"

Staring at Priya, she sighed, "Good for him.", she mumbled.

"No, good for us!", Priya was still stuck with the same topic that she wanted to dump in the toilet and flush it out. Surely every woman in the office had some crush on this particular specimen of the boss, "Ovaries bursting moments... Oh, sweet Krishna!"

Yes, I know how sexy he looks, how his dimples could make any woman weak at the knees, and those fucking delectable lips...

"Fuck!", she snapped out of her thoughts when she felt her body being shaken. She stared at Priya who was staring back at her intently.

Really? You better get a grip on yourself. First, you kiss a stranger, and now this... Tsk, tsk, such fantasies much wow.

Oh, fuck off! Let us dream.

Her conscious self and subconscious were fighting inside her mind. She cleared her throat, "I realized I have some work outside...which my roommate had requested me to do.", she lied, again.

"Oh, okay!", Priya quipped as she stood up from her bed to leave. Turning around to face Krithika she said, "We miss you.", she hugged her again, "Come to the office soon, we both can ogle at our alluring boss together.", she giggled as she left her room.

"Bye to you too.", Krithika muttered.

Charming and cheerful boss, what a facade!

---

A/N

Anuradha Sriram is ♥️, that's all guys, that's all.

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