You, Me & the Alter(cations) - Farmeed AU

6.

"Umeed abhi January shuroo hua hai. Aap araam se kar lein, jaldi mein kuch bigar na jaye." He answered firmly yet reassuringly. The whole reason was for her to have more flexibility and time. Rushing it would make his efforts pointless and would make room for error.

"Excuse me, I'm not reckless." She jumped in, mistaking his reassurance as a personal attack to her capabilities. "Kaam properly hi karti hun. Aap mujhe na kable ilaaj na samjhein." She placed both her elbows on the table, at the edge of her chair.

He was dumbstruck at how she had managed to escalate it. It felt unreal.

"Aap kahan se kahan pohnch jaati hain?" He mirrored her, sitting up striaght and folding his arms.

"Jahan aap eventually ponch jaate." She raised one hand, her palm facing him. "Koi zaroorat nahi hai lambe lambe raaste lene ki agar end mein mujhe taana hi dena hai." Farjaad blinked again, unable to assess the situation. Were they talking about the same thing?

"You have a problem with overthinking." He shook his head, not hesitant to state things how they are.

"I don't need your assessment of me." She blurted. It was harsher than she would have wanted, but it was a defence mechanism. And she did not regret exclaiming it the way she did. They needed to set a precedent for how they would communicate.

"Ab ye sab chorein aur batayein ke mujhe kitni staff ki zaroorat huay gi? Mujhe khud andaaza nahi hai aur mujhe samajh nahi aa raha kahan se hire karun. You must have an idea." She played with her rings, ignoring the heated environment that had been created.

"My take is that jo loug meri madat karte hain aap unse hi kaam karwa lein. Unki salary double kar lein ge." He answered her, eyes looking up to see her already staring at him. It was impressive, their ability to smoothly transition to the next conversation as if they weren't in a heated discussion.

"Wo to theek hai, magar mujhe na apne liye bhi aur chahiye hain. Mere paas dou bande hain, agar aik bhi aur banda ho jisko mein at least tasks ke saat trust kar sakun tou mere liye bohot asaani ho jaye gi." She shared. Hassan and Jackie were her two trusted staff. She could hand them minor tasks and trust them to get them sorted, at least most of the time.

But after Hassan's situation, she could not risk handling too much responsibility. And that was still a smaller event. This one required not only more staff but more trusted staff. She would ideally appreciate another person who she could trust in taking charge of something.

Farjaad understood what she had meant. A trustee, someone who had a sense of how to guide with situations and someone who could be responsible. He bit his lip, thinking of a solution. He knew of staff but they were all outsourced to him. None of them could be trusted.

He also had to take into consideration the security and comfort. He would not want to risk hiring a stranger, that too to assist Umeed. All the staff he would hire were men. So delegating an outsourced staff member to Umeed was completely out of the question.

He tried thinking more about who was around him. Then he remembered.

Farjaad remembered that person who worked for his cousin, the cousin he refuses to name because not only does he find him irritating, but that cousin of his was somewhat of a renowned personality.

But Farjaad recalled that he had a young man working for him, who he was certain did not go along once his cousin left the country. There was a chance, he knew the kid well because Mimi shared his doings when he stayed over at their house.

"Mere paas aik banda hai, mein call kar ke pooch lun ga." He nodded, keeping in the back of his mind to ring his sister and ask for the favour.

Umeed mirrored him, nodding. She was about to take a sentimental turn and thank him for his efforts, as well as appreciate him for how quick and persistent he was. But her phone rang, and she had no choice but to attend to it once she saw the name light up.