Attachments

Chapter 13

At 08:56 a.m., sharp, the elevator doors slid open on the third floor of the building, exposing my office, which was still crowded with people. I hurried out of the elevator, darted towards Mr. Joshua's cabin and pushed his door open, storming inside in haste. "Good morning, Sir. I'm on time today...actually four minutes early", I said, breathlessly, and dabbed a crushed ball of tissue on my forehead, wiping away the beads of sweat. But the bald, bulky man did not bother to respond back to me; he simply worked on his laptop, without even acknowledging my existence in his cabin. I stared at the ignorant, old man for a long while before looking at Ramesh, who stood beside him, holding a set of files. "Knock", Ramesh mouthed at me, and gestured me to knock on the door. "Oh God!", I sighed, stomped my foot on the ground and turned back around, walking out of the cabin.

Gently, I knocked twice on the glass-door, pushed the cabin-door open and stuck my head in, through the gap. "Good morning, Mr. Joshua. May I please come in?", decently, I asked for permission, and he nodded his head in agreement. "I'm on time today, Sir. It's exactly 08:58 a.m. now", I informed, studying my wristwatch. "You bought a watch...", Mr. Joshua said, creepily looking at my wrist. "No, I didn't buy one yet. This one's my roommate's; her name's Chanchal", I shot absolutely irrelevant information at him. "You could do better", Mr. Joshua monotonously said, picking out a file from the drawer. "I know, I told Chanch that her collection of watches is way too old-fashioned. But that's okay, when I get my salary, I'll buy an extremely good and up-to-date one, Sir", I answered and Mr. Joshua shot his usual death stare at me. "I meant, you could better with your timings, Miss Dityaa; come earlier tomorrow", he clarified. "But office starts at nine. Sir, it'll be a waste of time if I come early and wait until nine!", I argued. "I didn't ask you for your opinion, I asked you to come early; simple. Don't argue with me", he imposed his decision on me, and successfully, ruined my mood in the morning. With my arms crossed against my chest, I stood to my ground and watched him flip through the pages in the thick file, with a grumpy expression on my face, when his cabin-door clicked open.

"Morning, Sir!", a voice filled the cabin, and I turned around to find Darshan standing a short distance away from me in a black formal suit. Split seconds after looking in his direction, the double-meaning joke I accidentally and unknowingly cracked the previous night rung in my ears and I turned back around, shying away from looking at him, in complete embarrassment. He had a playful smile stretched on his face, and it only made the situation ten folds more embarrassing for me. "What is it, Darshan? You could have called me to your cabin", Mr. Joshua kindly said, standing up from his chair; his arrogance evaporated into thin air within seconds! "No, Sir. Please sit down...and, good morning, Dityaa", Darshan smoothly shifted his attention towards me, and stood right next to me, keeping a distance of inches between us. "Good morning", I muttered under my breath, without daring to look at him.

'How do you know it's big? Have you seen it?', the words he teased me with, the previous night, circled all around my mind and I simply wanted to bury myself six-feet under the ground. "Since you're here Darshan...I want you to sign this paper...", Mr. Joshua thoughtfully said, and began digging through his drawer, busily. In slow motion, I turned my head to the side; the second I turned, my eyes met Darshan's and I looked away from him, immediately. "What's running on your mind? Last night's incident?", Darshan whispered softly, and shuffled to his side, towards me, and I moved two steps away from him, silently. "It happens, woman. Don't make a deal out of it", Darshan said in a hush. "Deal?", Mr. Joshua looked up at Darshan, ceasing his hunt for a paper, and Darshan briskly moved away from me. "Yeah, um...dad was talking about a business deal this morning, did he tell you?", Darshan conveniently changed the topic, and dragged a chair behind, collapsing back on it. "Dityaa, that's the file you ought to complete today; I need you to submit the file within the next three days", Mr. Joshua instructed. Without wasting even a nanosecond, I snatched the file from Mr. Joshua's table and hurried out of the cabin, dodging Darshan's stare. Once I stepped foot out of Mr. Joshua's cabin, I exhaled loudly, so loudly that I managed to bag free weird stares from most of my colleagues.

♥

At lunchtime, I was stranded in an empty office. When everyone cleared the area to fill their stomachs, I turned to the eighth page of the fifteen-page long file and stretched my arms out, letting out a wide yawn. I wondered why Mr. Joshua's assigned work had a three-day long deadline because it wasn't that hard; I didn't know if I was doing something that was entirely wrong or if the work Mr. Joshua assigned for me was actually an easy task to pull off, but I was beyond determined to complete the file before returning home so that I could prove my capabilities to him! I highlighted a sentence printed on the paper with a neon yellow highlighter, when the sound of footsteps reached my ears, which amplified with every second.

"I'd suggest you to eat something", a granola bar fell on my table, and within seconds, I figured out who it was. "Why don't you carry food to work?", Darshan sat on the chair next to me, which belonged to the grumpy boy who told me to 'mind my own business'. "I don't have time to pack food", I answered, uninterestedly, focusing on the sheet of paper. "What's up with the attitude and ignorance?", Darshan questioned, in a slight offended tone, and snatched the highlighter away from my hand. "Let me complete my work! I need to submit the file today", I said in annoyance, and turned towards him. "Don't lie, you'll go to hell. I know that the deadline is three days from today; I was the one, who assigned it. Otherwise, Mr. Joshua would have ordered you to complete it within two days. Thank me later", Darshan smirked and slumped back on the chair. "And I will complete it today, before leaving. You underestimated me way too much, Darshan Raval", I said and his famous playful smile illuminated his glowing face. "Don't smile! I know what you're thinking, you dirty minded freak!", I nagged, and Darshan chuckled softly. "I wasn't even thinking about what you said last night; you're just reminding me. And it's not a big deal, to be honest; I've heard dirtier and for more straightforward pick-up lines", Darshan told me. "That was an accident, okay. I have the habit of blabbering crap that I don't even think before talking. Sometimes it goes wrong, but it was absolutely unintentional", I justified. "Okay", Darshan calmly replied, with a smile. "I don't want you to think that I'm desperately trying to hit on you or whatever...because I'm not!", I narrowed my eyes. "Okay", he repeated with the same calmness. "Humans make mistakes; if we don't make mistakes, who will?", I blabbered on. "Arrey yaar, okay, for real! I am hundred percent convinced that you're not trying to win my heart, okay? Now, please shut up!", Darshan stressed, throwing his hands in the air. "Now, return the highlighter", I attempted to snatch the highlighter from his hand, but he moved it away. "First...", Darshan stretched his words, and reached out for the granola bar. "Eat this", he threw the granola bar on me, which fell on my lap, and I threw a cold look at him. "I'd rather starve", flatly, I said, studying the cover of the granola bar with a disgusted look on my face. "Oatmeal with blueberries and honey; what a crappy combination", I judged. "I saved you from facing death because of extreme starvation; the least you could do is say 'thank you', you ungrateful woman", Darshan scolded. "These bars have been imported straight from the US; not everyone gets them", Darshan boasted. "Stop showing off, Darshan", I sighed, rolling my eyes, and tore the wrapper apart. "Thanks, though", eventually, I did show slight gratitude for lending me an imported granola bar, which tasted good, I must admit. But there was definitely no way I'd show him that I loved how the crunchy bar tasted, after all the ruthless judgments that left my mouth.

"How is it?", Darshan raised his brow. "Okay", casually, I said and shrugged my shoulders. "Don't show me attitude. At least someone bothered to fill your stomach!", Darshan aimed and threw the highlighter on me, which knocked hard against my forehead. "OUCH!", my voice echoed in the empty office. "Oh shit", Darshan gasped, laughed and sprung up to his feet, walking away from me. "DARSHAN!", I screamed on top of my lungs, and raised my arm in the air to throw the highlighter at Darshan, but froze the second my eyes fell on Ramesh, who stood to his ground with a perplexed look on his face and shifted his gaze between Darshan and me. Slowly and silently, Darshan slid inside his cabin while I turned back around, awkwardly, to face the file on my table.

I took a bite off the bar and turned to the next page on the file.