Ritwik turned to look at me then opened the door wide. There stood his sister-in-law with a steel tiffin carrier and a shy smile. Her smile slowly slipped away as she stared at Ritwik, no doubt zeroing in on his slightly swollen lips. She turned to look behind him to find me. I smiled at her causing her gaze to harden.
"I brought your lunch since you didn't have breakfast today or bring anything with you."
Realising that the food I got from the mall was definitely going to be wasted, I decided to leave the room. I didn't have to watch them and their drama seconds after what just happened. I picked my bag up and walked up to the door.
"Excuse me." I pushed past Ritwik and into the hallway.
"Where are you going?"
I turned my head back to glare at him and in true Dyuti style, bumped into someone. I wouldn't be me if I didn't randomly bump into a man while walking. I swear the writer just wants me to fall down face first and have a concussion.
In the same vein, Pratyush wouldn't be Pratyush if he didn't save the damsel in distress. One of his hand held my shoulder while the other went to my waist, stabilising me.
"My knight in shining suit is here! Why do you always wear a suit though, doc?" I asked pulling myself straight.
He let go of me and rolled his eyes. "Did I ever ask you why you look homeless all the time?"
"Rude."
"Dumbass."
"Why are you here?" Ritwik rudely interrupted.
Pratyush, being used to his best friend's tantrums, rolled his eyes and held up a packet from a nearby restaurant. "This is exactly why I ask you not to date your assistants. Then I have to act as your assistant."
"Oh shit, yeah. I completely forgot I asked you to buy food. But it's not my fault. You're 15 minutes late."
"Go fuck yourself, dude. I wasn't leaving in the middle of the surgery to be your Zomato guy."
"Why are you pissed off?" Ritwik asked sounding much calmer himself.
"I don't know Einstein, figure it out. Actually you know what, leave it be. I'll talk to you when you have some time."
Pratyush let go off me and began to walk away. Ritwik stood there dumbfounded. Of course the moron didn't get it. So, I ran after his best friend.
I swear the writer of this show has no idea what they're doing. Constantly making someone or the other run after someone else.
I caught up to him before he could press the elevator button. "Wait!"
"What do you want? I genuinely do not have the patience to deal with you right now."
"He's had a rough day."
"Don't you dare speak for him. You maybe his wife and assistant but do not pull that with me. If he wants to say anything, he'll speak to me directly."
"Hey, what happened?" Ritwik asked from behind me. He sounded concerned.
"Does it matter? You don't have time."
"Come on, man. Quit acting like that. What happened?"
Pratyush just looked at him and didn't say a word. Ritwik stared back for a moment before realising what happened. He pulled his friend into a hug. Pratyush closed his eyes and gripped Ritwik's shirt.
"She was just 9. Just 9. Such a sweet and bubbly little girl." He cut himself off.
Not wanting to intrude, I went back to Ritwik's office where Mrs. Snoby stood with an irritated expression.
"Let's go into the other room."
"I'm not going anywhere with you." She replied with a disgusted expression.
If she was going to be a bitch, then so was I. I walked out of the office and began to close the doors. Before she could realise and stop me, I had latched it shut. She knocked on it loudly but I ignored it.
Pratyush had started to speak again. "Her parents begged me to save her. I tried. God, I tried. I tried very hard but couldn't save her. I couldn't save her." He was barely holding himself together.
I wanted to leave. I really did. But I wasn't sure that going near them would be a good idea in the moment. I couldn't even hide in my office as I wanted them to have the option to go in there for privacy.
I should have just locked myself in there with Mrs. Interruption.
"Hey, let's go inside. We'll talk there." Ritwik spoke softly.
"Okay."
They pulled away and their eyes landed on me. I pushed the door to my office open and gestured with my head. They ignored Mrs. Screamy in the background and entered the office, locking the door behind them. Once I was sure that she wouldn't be able to cause much issues, I let her out of Ritwik's office.
"What is your problem?!"
I stared at her blankly.
"Where's he?"
"He's unavailable right now."
"What? Where is he?"
"Mr. Sinha is unavailable right now."
Her jaw ticked and nostrils flared. I stared at her blankly.
"What the hell's going on?"
We both turned to look at Surya staring at us with concern.
"I heard screaming from my office." He looked at Mishti with an annoyed expression. "What are you doing here?"
She held up the tiffin carrier. "I brought food for you and Babu."
"Why? Meenu packed our lunches."
"Maybe yours but Babu didn't bring anything. So, I brought his lunch and also for you."
"Dyuti already bought him lunch."
"He doesn't like restaurant food. She'd know it if-"
"She literally woke up early and made breakfast for everyone. Back off with your unnecessary insults."
"Yeah, I'm not doing that everyday."
He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "You did it today."
"Yeah, bu-"
"We are talking about today only." He turned back to Mishti who was livid."I don't understand why you felt the need to come here yourself and cause a scene."
"I'm causing a scene? I am?" I could almost see the cartoon smoke coming out of her ears and nose. "You don't even know what happened. She locked me inside Babu's office!"
"Why are you mad, wasn't that your fantasy?" Surya taunted her.
I bit the inside of my cheek to stop from giggling. She looked so pissed off and for what?
"Joy! How are you talking to me?!" She gestured at me with her eyes.
"Oh, please. She would find out anyway. That is if she doesn't know already. She knows if Babu Da even shits weird one day."
"Ew. Gross." I made a face at him. He was right, but still did he have to say it like that?
"What are you even saying?" She grit out.
"Yeah, if Pratyush doesn't respond, he calls me. I honestly don't know why he thinks I'm a doctor." I shook my head as I clarified the situation.
"What? I'm not...Joy, can you please stop being rude to me all the time? You and that rude friend of Babu are always so me-"
"You mean the man who used to be your friend too but now hates you because you are the horrible person who ruined the lives of two of his best friends?"
Damn, okay.
Surya was seething and Mishti looked absolutely shocked. Sure, I'd already known the whole situation between Ritwik and his sister-in-law but damn, it felt like I was hearing it for the first time. Surya never shit talked his family the way I did for casual conversation with a semi close friend, so to see him rage like that was unthinkable.
And kinda hot.
The way his eyes hardened and his jaw ticked making his already chiseled jawline look even sharper, and the way Adam's apple bobbed in anger coupled with the fact that he was technically defending me and I was also quite horny, cause well, hormones, made the temperature seem to rise.
My switch personality was showing in the way my body reacted to the thought of him glaring at me like that while he pounded me into the next day.
No, no, bad Dyuti. Bad.
In my peripheral vision, I saw Mishti's expression shift. She smirked.
I didn't like that.
"If you really want to drag me infront of her, how would you like if I did the same to you?" She looked around us then turned to me. "This floor is sound proofed, isn't it?"
I nodded in confusion.
"Right. Of course. That's why you are fine with airing everything out. But it's not like you don't have any dirty laundry. I wonder how would Dyuti feel when I told her that you were one of those people who-" She was cut off by Molly making an appearance.
"Mr. Sinha, you have an urgent call."
"Can this wait?" Surya kept glaring at Mishti.
"No. Please attend to it."
Still glaring at Mishti, Surya stormed off.
"The floor is sound proofed, but the people on this floor can still hear everything. I don't think yo-" Molly started but Mishti cut her off.
"No one cares what you think. You're just-"
"Oh get lost, Jonaki. No one likes you."
"How dare you?!"
"Please, leave. The boss is coming."
Mishti immediately looked panicked. "This isn't over. I will make sure you both loose your jobs. Especially you." She hissed at me and got into the elevator. She kept glaring at me the entire time she was visible.
"Jonaki?" I asked confused.
"Yeah. You don't know her name?"
"I thought it was Mishti. You know what, it makes sense. Afterall, why would her family use her legal name. Only my family does that weird thing." I huffed.
Molly chuckled. "Happens. Anyway, the super boss is coming. He's downstairs. So you better sort everything out."
"And you get to talk to her like that?"
She shrugged. "What is she going to do? She isn't my boss. My boss doesn't like her either."
My boss does.
Instead of saying that aloud, I grinned. "Nice."
"There was no call. Why the hell did you lie to me, Molly?" Surya returned with an annoyed expression.
"The Super Boss is coming."
My eyes widened a bit. Why would she say it to Surya? We used 'Boss', 'Big Boss' and 'Super Boss' to differentiate the three main heads of the company. But that was employee talk, why would she let our employer know.
"Oh. That's why she ran with her tail tucked between her legs." He rolled his eyes.
It was as if I was seeing an entirely new side to Surya. Sure, Molly had been working as his assistant for the past 5 years but never would I assume they'd have such a simple relationship. I almost felt jealous at how easy it was between them.
The door to my office opened and I felt slightly less jealous. Sure she didn't have to sleep with her boss, I hoped so, to have an easy relationship with him but she didn't have a personal office either.
Pratyush was wearing a pair of sunglasses. My heart ached for him as I remembered how pained his voice sounded mere minutes ago. The fact that he had to listen to the Mahabharat happening outside was horrible.
Ritwik looked around as if looking for something. Or rather someone.
Hoe ass.
Molly took that as her cue to leave. Pratyush looked at me. "I'm sorry for being rude to you then."
I shook my head. "I'd have reacted worse if some random person tried to defend my best friend in front of me."
"But you aren't random. You are his wife. I needed those few minutes. Thanks for that."
I grinned. "Anything for my saviour knight."
He rolled his eyes and shot me half a smile revealing his dimple. I swear these guys around me weren't from a soap opera, they were straight out of Romance novels. If I could read my life in a book, I'd check the tags for #reverseharem because holy shit were these guys hot.
He walked to the elevator and closed the gate. "And before I forget, my parents want to meet you." He shouted as the elevator slowly left our field of vision.
It took me a moment to process what he said.
Wait a fucking minute!
*********†*****†*********
Mahabharat - (Here) It means a huge fight, refering to the heated argument in this chapter.