Abhimanyu knocked on Harshvardhan Birla's cabin before stepping inside. There he came across a woman —the one who had bid on him till the very end, sitting opposite his father. Shreya Swamimaran. The woman whom Akshara had asked him about. And both his father and her looked like they had just been shaking hands.
"Yes, you called for me?" Abhimanyu spoke to his father, ignoring the woman completely.
"Ah, yes. I'd like to introduce you to the newest board member of Birla Hospital. Ms. Shreya Swamimaran. She is going to be taking over Mr. Iyer's position." Harshvardhan Birla introduced them. "And Ms. Swamimaran, this is Dr. Abhimanyu Birla, the mind behind children's wing and charity initiative proposal."
Shreya Swamimaran got up from her chair and walked up to Abhimanyu, holding her hand out seductively, with a wicked smile on her face as she leaned forward, making the indent of her cleavage very visible to Abhimanyu's naked eye.
"Hello, Dr. Birla."
Unwillingly, Abhimanyu extended his hand and shook her hand. "Hello."
"Nice to meet you again, Dr. Birla." She tried to make her voice sound alluring but failed miserably.
Uncomfortable with the way she was throwing herself at him in a bid to seduce him, Abhimanyu moved away from her and towards Harshvardhan.
"Can I have a word with you? In private." He demanded, unhappy with the sudden inclusion of Shreya Swamimaran into the list of board members. He did not have a good feeling about this. At all.
"Yes. Just after I finish discussing with Ms. Swamimaran what the next plans are. So Dr. Birla, one of the reasons Ms. Swamimaran chose to be a board member is because she is really interested in your proposal for the children's wing and the charity initiatives."
Oh, I'm sure that's what she's interested in, Abhimanyu grit out in his head, fully aware of the real reason why she decided to show up one day and take over Mr. Iyer's position as a board member and it certainly did not have to do with any of his ideas.
"I think what you have an excellent train of thought and I'll discuss it with the other board members as well but as far as I can see, we should not have any problems pushing the proposal through." Shreya added, just as Abhimanyu refrained from rolling his eyes at her.
"And Ms. Swamimaran wants to work closely with you on this project. Which I think is an excellent idea seeing how the board can't object if they have one of their own working hands on with us."
"And that way, I'll be able to provide them with timely updates, and handle any budget constraints. And trust me, the less board members you have interfering on your project the better." Shreya added, looking at Abhimanyu deviously.
"Which when she mentioned it, I thought was an excellent idea. And I didn't think you should have any problem with her helping out so I agreed to the deal on your behalf." Harshvardhan added, making Abhimanyu's blood boil.
"If everything goes according to plan, you will be well on your way to becoming the next CEO of Birla Industries, I'll make sure of it." Shreya offered, making Abhimanyu want to gag.
Abhimanyu wanted to scream and yell, tell both his father and Shreya that he did not agree to this deal. He did not want Shreya's expert advice in completing his dream project. He knew why she was doing all this and it wasn't because she had a kind hard and wanted to be charitable.
No.
It was because he had said no to sleeping with her. She thought she could seduce him or force him into intimacy by dangling his dream project above his head? Hell no. He would never allow it. He never mixed business with pleasure. Ever.
But currently, he didn't have a choice. Shreya Swamimaran was a nasty and vindictive woman. And as selfish as he sounded, he couldn't afford to disappoint her if it meant jeopardizing his dream project.
He felt sick to the stomach. He hated, with a passion being forced to do something against his will. But he had no choice. If he thought about it, maybe he could be smart about it and put up with Shreya for a little bit until the proposal passed all the board member's signature before kicking her to the curb.
He could do that, right?
"Thank you." Abhimanyu grit out, giving Shreya a small smile.
Really, it was tougher than it looked, being cordial and showing gratitude to the people who didn't deserve it.
Just then a small ting was heard and Harshvardhan looked down onto his phone, "Oh, I have to attend to an important client. So I have to go." He got up from his chair and went to exit the room. "But you two are free to discuss any further details you need to about the project." He gave them a smile before he exited the room, leaving Abhimanyu alone with the horny chameleon.
Shreya turned around to face Abhimanyu, the smile on her face widening as she stepped closer to him. She picked up her finger and ran it over Abhimanyu's white coat, teasing the lapels as she went higher up his chest where his heart rested.
"It looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other." She whispered, her voice sharp, just as Abhimanyu looked down disgusted, at her lustful gaze wandering over his body.
"You can call me any time you'd like. Day or night. And I'll be there." She offered, bending towards his neck, so close to nipping the flesh on the side of his neck with her teeth.
Abhimanyu stepped away from Shreya's proximity, without as much as touching her, leaving her wanting. He held up his middle finger purposely, "I'm married."
"Oh, wrong finger. Here." He corrected himself, mockingly, and flashed her with his ring finger, showing off the gold band he was wearing.
Thank god, he had decided to wear a golden ring to work today on a whim and even more grateful that the ring fit perfectly on his ring finger giving everyone the illusion of his marriage.
But damn. He really needed to buy Akshara and himself wedding rings just is they'd be able to brush off quack-heads like Shreya.
"And contrary to popular belief, I am very faithful to my wife." He grit out. "And if you'll excuse me, I have patients to attend to. But yes, I do look forward to working with you." Not! He absolutely despised the idea of working with her.
Abhimanyu left a seething Shreya standing by her lonesome in Harshvardhan Birla's cabin as he slammed the door shut with a loud bang behind him.
~*~
Abhimanyu entered his cabin and slammed his door shut, trying on calm down. Just when he thoughts things couldn't get any worse, he was going to have to compromise on his morals and work with the one woman who gave him the creeps. He had been ogled by many women in the past but the way Shreya Swamimaran stared at him was downright disgusting.
He pinched the bridge of his nose as counted backwards from 10. All he could think of was Akshara.
Only she could calm him down, understand him, make him understand with her wise pearls of wisdom.
But even she was mad at him. For what exactly? He had no fucking clue. He'd kissed her, twice and he wanted to kiss her all over again but yet he felt like as asshole doing so. And he'd made her even angrier earlier this morning when he'd purposefully created the mess in the kitchen. Akshara must hate him. And now this entire deal with Shreya? Yeah, he was going to have his ass handed to him.
Akshara had already shared her insecurities about Shreya Swamimaran with him yesterday night and he'd brushed her off saying Shreya was the least of her worries. And now? Now he was going to be working alongside Shreya for his dream project.
Fuck my life, Abhimanyu cursed his luck.
The woman whom he wanted to talk to was not talking to him and the woman he wanted nothing to do with was trying to seduce him. Just his fucking luck.
A knock was heard on the door and before he could reply, Dr. Rohan stepped inside.
"Sir, there is a patient waiting for you in Room 4."
Abhimanyu took a deep breath and adjusted his stethoscope around his neck. "Thank you, Dr. Rohan. Let's go."
He had a 12 hour shift. 12 hours to take his mind off Akshara. 12 hours to decide what the hell he was going to do. 12 hours to sulk and mope around. 12 hours to think of how he was going to apologize to his wife.
12 hours.
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Boring chapter, I get it. I know we didn't get much AbhiRa but next chapter will be AbhiRa-fied! Akshu is Abhi's sounding board and he needs her now more than ever. Plus, we already know how much Akshu dislikes Shreya so do you think he'll tell her? And more so, he'll have to apologize to her first for the mess he created when he left for work earlier in the morning!
The cards are stacked against Abhimanyu. Let's see how he manages to free himself.
Also, to all my Shreya's reading: Sorry ;)