TO NANNY WITH LOVE

THE NEW NANNY

Finally on the next interview next week Sameer and Maria finalised the new nanny. She was a thirty five year old,a divorcee who had a fourteen year old boy in boarding school.

Initially Sameer was not keen on the kid but when Reshma the new nanny confirmed that her boy would remain in boarding school and come home only on holidays then Sameer agreed. Moreover Reshma and her husband had combined custody so the boy would spend some holidays with his mother and some with his father.

Reshma was to start working from Monday and would be a live in nanny like Shreya.

Sameer offered Shreya a job in his company but she refused saying she had something lined up. Infact Shreya was still job hunting but she did have some interviews lined up .

One of her interview was with Sameer's rival company but she couldn't tell him that otherwise it would hurt his feelings.

For the time being Shreya would help Reshma for the next month and by that time she expected to have landed a job .She would have loved to be a part of Sameers company but because of her love for him she didn't want to be near Sameer. If she was aiming for a fresh start then she could not work with him. So she kept on searching for new jobs .

The next two weeks passed uneventfully . Reshma was good at her job and gradually the kids had started to warm up to him. Maria was also starting to be friends with her .Though Shreya was happy that everything was turning out well but there was an emptiness in her heart as if she was losing something precious. Sometimes she even felt jealous of Reshma.

The truth was she loved Rehan and Ritka as her own children and was not ready to share their affection with anyone else but now when they started calling Reshma for their daily jobs she suddenly felt bereft.

Then there was Sameer . Suddenly he had become very busy again. Gone were the last few days when he would speak to her, ask her to join him for drinks or even a cup of tea . It was as if she had been relegated back to her position of the children's nanny .It was as if she no longer existed for him.

Another thing she had noticed was that he was dating very frequently. In the past two weeks he had gone out mostly every night with a beautiful woman.

For the first time after making her decision of leaving she was uncertain and unhappy.

In the third week she received a letter of employment . She had applied to four companies but she was accepted in Sameer's rival company

Well now at least she needn't worry for her finances because it was a nicely paid secretarial position which included accomodation near the office premises. She was to be the secretary of the general manager of the company who lived in the company premises and so as his secretary she would live there as well.

She decided that she would speak with Sameer if she could leave early so that she could use the next week to settle in.

In the evening when she met him in his study she asked him but his response disaapointed her .

"Shreya when you have been paid for the entire month why do you want to leave early?"

"Actually Sameer the children have settled beautifully with Reshma and they don't need me anymore . My new job provides accomodation so I wanted to settle down properly before joining. However if you want me to stay I will stay till the end of this month."

"Shreya tell me about your new job?"

Shreya hesitated,'Actually it is with an investment company?"

"Then I must be knowing them. Tell me which company did you join?" Sameer asked her .

She took some time to answer him ."Actually Sameer I joined ASM Investments"

"You what ? You joined my rival company?"Sameer was shocked .

"Sameer . I applied at four places but this was the only company that offered me a job. I didn't know they were your rivals till a few days back"

"Shreya how could you do this?I asked you to join my company SS Financiers and Investors but you refused and now you go behind my back to join a rival firm. I am very disappointed with you . " Sameer felt hurt and angry by her actions.

"Sameer I had to take a job and I am just the secretary of the General Manager not the CEO of the company. Plus there was the added benefit of accomodation with the job"Shreya tried to explain to him .

"So now you not only leave the job you also leave this place. I had presumed that you could keep on living here so that at least the children would visit you in the evenings but now you will be moving out. Was staying with us so bad that you can't wait to leave us ? " he asked placing his hand on hers .As usual his touch was too electric to ignore .

Shreya had tears in her eyes,'No of course not. I will always love Rehan and Ritika .I promise to come and visit them "

"And what about me ? "he whispered in her ear .She had never realized how close he was standing.

"What about you? Of course I will always remember you. You were a very good employer"

"I thought we had crossed that barrier and we were now at least friends but then maybe I was wrong. Infact I was wrong about a lot of things . I thought you cared about the children but it was just a job to you -a means to an end. You may take your precious leave. Infact I suggest you vacate the cottage this weekend so that Reshma can shift and we can forget about you and get on with our lives"

Shreya was shocked by his rude words . She literally ran from the study directly to her cottage. His words had hurt her so much. It was as if he had cut her out from their life because she had meant nothing to them .