Love Takes Time {Completed} {#Wattys2017}

27. Sexual Harassment

              She was an early riser and reached office at 6 am in the morning before buses and stations got too crowded. There were many in office at that time in floors below them who worked in night shifts, but mostly no one on ninth floor. Most of them came around 9 am to office. She could login to gmail and chat with her friends in US on google hangout while doing her work. That was the only time they could be online after they returned from office and before they went to bed. She only  had a window of two hours that suited all.  She always had one or the other issue with internet at home. Voice always broke whenever she used whatsapp or other applications to talk over phone. She had no personal life in Mumbai and she knew if she chatted with them from home, she would get late for office. Moreover she preferred working in morning than late at night as she went to classes in evening. Ethernet internet speed in office was great, but she didn't like to voice chat there. She hated texting on phone and thought chatting on desktop using keyboard was easier, faster and hence more fun. Also, typing Hindi words in English to chat with her Indian friends abroad was much easier unlike on smartphones.

           Every morning first thing Manoj would do is come and stand opposite her leaning  on the partition of her cubicle. Wish her morning showing all his teeth , crack some jokes that she didn't enjoy but still smiled. Then he would ask what she did last night since she was single. At first she thought it was nice of him, but now after two months she felt like giving one tight slap across his face. She hated to see his face like that every morning though he was smart looking. 'To hell with good morning! Go to your room and let me do my work' were her thoughts. He would keep calling her to his room to explain to her what she needs to do even when she didn't need any, for hours. 'This is what we are supposed to think..what you think?..no!..I think this would be better.'...blah blah all the not so required blah. Others were pretty good. Her cubicle neighbor, who was also in her team was a pretty good guy. He was the guitar guy of her office like Abhimanyu was in college. When she asked him about Manoj, he told her to ignore him and that he was pretty experienced as he is the one who worked in robot manufacturing line in Korea. "He just likes to talk a lot," he told her.

              By the end of third month she was so irritated by him that she almost wanted to resign because of him. But, then salary was good and she needed money. Moreover she got to see Abhimanyu who always looked so dapper in suits. The knowledge that he was in his office itself gave her such a good feeling.  She felt she had a life because he was there. While going to  and coming from Manoj's room, she saw him at times  going in or out of his office. Many times she saw him sitting at the end of her aisle with Subru and Vineet in their cubicle working on CAD drawings of Peter until ..she doesn't even know because she left before him. She knew he came early in morning on some days as Manoj too came at 6 am to office on those days to join him in conference calls with prospective investors.

               Shanaya's four months in company and it was one year of Robot Research and Development Team . Company decided to celebrate with a party in a small resort. They had a buffet hall and then a small room with a bar and small round dance floor with disco lights overhead. It was small, some twenty people to dance at a time. It was meant for small functions. Abhimanyu was in town and agreed to show up for some time in the party. He came after everybody was done with dinner, and headed to bar where CFO, CTO were. He got himself a hard drink. Many went to talk to Abhimanyu when they saw him. Even Manoj who was talking with Shanaya left her and went to join others talking with him.

             Shanaya didn't go. She was the only girl in their team as girls hardly studied Robotics or AI. They had one more girl in the party, Vidya from QA(Quality Assurance), who did audit of their project. Shanaya who was standing around the dance floor like others who were playing antakshari and dumb charades before he came, looked at him interacting with everyone from the team. He looked very handsome in black shirt and blue jeans like she had seen him so many times before in college. In office she always saw him in formals which too looked great on him, but this look of his had so many memories. Nostalgia filled her heart, and she could feel her eyes wet.