Love You More!

Chapter 30

He was furious, doubtful and frustrated with himself. More frustrated about the newspaper
article this morning.
Square Inc launching their new product.
When he glanced at it at first, he thought it might be just a coincidence.
But word by word, letter by letter, everything was the same. Each design, colour, the marketing hookline.. everything the same. It was supposed to be their biggest project ever.
And it was copied. Stolen?
He couldn't wrap his head around it, yet. This was infuriating. He pressed on the elevator button roughly, thinking of all the possibilities.
He had the final draft inside his drawer, in his office. He had to make sure it was still there and this was just a coincidence.

He scurried across the hallway, not making eye contact with anyone else on the floor. He pushed the door open and frantically searched for that one file.

"Jai...", Zafar closed the drawer, sighing.

"What??", He was ready to snap at him at the best.

"It's not here..", Zafar said, touching his shoulder.

"It's impossible! No one gets access to these drawers, ever.. In fact nobody even came into this office that day....", He paused, pondering upon the possibility. He had to think about it, no matter how much he hoped it wasn't true.

"Guys... We need to go downstairs now..", Ayesha  pushed the door open, reminding them.

"Except Diya..", He said in a weak tone.
Zafar looked at him in disbelief.

"Why was she here inside your office?", Ayesha asked, confused seeing his demeanor.

"That's not the point.. You sure nobody else came in after that??", Zafar asked, again to reassure.

"Pratheek did come in once... but he wouldn't do such a thing, would he?", Jai asked, still not sure of what he was thinking.

"And what makes you think she would do something like this?", Zafar argued, not ready to even put that thought into his head.

"She got a job offer from Square.. about a month ago. Permanent placement with a better position and salary. I was surprised when she didn't take it up...", Ayesha said, nervously.

A job offer she never even mentioned about...
Maybe she did take the file.
He felt betrayed. Something inside him made him want to throw this possibility out of window but maybe he was just letting his feelings drive him. This was unacceptable, he felt used.

"Let's go downstairs, Jai..", Zafar said, tapping his shoulder.

The whole building was in a state of frenzy. It shouldn't be much of a surprise. This was their work. Hardwork for months. It was certainly not something she should have tampered with, anyone should have tampered with.

"We have spys inside this office now????", Sonia rolled her eyes, frustrated beyond control.

Yes. Spys that he brought into his office, at midnight.

"How long how you known? Is he serious about it?", Ayesha spoke softly.

"Not that long.. Look at his face. Does it not look serious enough?", Zafar replied, looking around.
Was she late today?

"You should have looked out for him... She played him, big time. Look how easily she made into his office at midnight.", Ayesha blurted out in annoyance. This time, much louder. Loud enough for him to hear.

He felt a sharp pang inside him, somewhere. He wanted to believe that she would do no such thing. She never spoke about this job offer. But do eyes lie?
What about everything they had? It was nauseating to think about. Maybe he should handle this more professionally.

"What the hell happened?", Sanjay stormed into the meeting room. Ayesha followed him inside alone, hoping to rectify the situation at the earliest. The others waiting outside, talking about the effect this could have on standing of this company.

He felt responsible, hugely responsible. Ayesha gestured him to come inside as well after a few minutes. It was decided.
She was going to be served with a detention letter , the moment she walks in through those doors. And it is supposed to be quiet, till they find out some way out of this mess.
The kind of trust Sanjay had upon him, felt relieving. Especially when his own trust was being broken by this girl. The girl he laid his eyes upon after years. That one girl he felt the need to label his. That one girl he was slowly, deeply falling in love with...

"Ayesha... What did he say??", Zafar followed her, as they came out of the room.

"To focus on other projects for a while till we find something substantial about this leak", Ayesha said, walking past the doors into her department.

He saw her, sitting there. A pretty yellow top that she wore, he wondered if she would ever wear that again after this. She looked up at him as he walked past her. He didn't smile. He wasn't going to let himself drown in his feelings.
Ayesha seated herself briskly before calling her inside her office.

She knocked on the door softly and the other two said Come in all at once. Jai didn't move.
He looked at her blankly as she entered inside.
He could destroy her career in minutes.
But what about the memories she created? This warm fuzzy feeling that crept into his heart every time he looked at her. That wouldn't disappear so easily.

"Good morning..", She spoke.

"No time for all that... And quit this acting right now. Take this and leave before the others begin a witch hunt.", Ayesha said, pushing the envelope to the other side of the table.

She looked confused.
Scared. She picks up the envelope and the expression in her face changes drastically. She looked horrified.
"I would never do something like this...", Her voice was cracking.
And it hurt him much more than he thought it would.

She looked at him, her eyes watering up. He didn't flinch, although he could feel himself slowly lose his composture seeing her disappointment. Was this acting as well?
He was finding it hard to believe.

She left, not willing to answer any of those questions others were asking. She didn't speak a word. It was becoming difficult to breathe with all the tension building up in her lungs.

"What are you guys even doing????", Zafar argued.

"Fixing this!", Ayesha replied bluntly.

"Then find the person who actually did it..", He scoffed.

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Thank you :)