CHAPTER 4
No doubt she was Sarah, Aviraj's cousin.
She was a sight to sore eyes; for a moment Chris stood paralysed. His breath hitched the moment he took in her features; she had the most stunning face he had ever seen. She looked like as if she just came out of a fairy tale. Her eyes –blue-green– were hypnotising, and he was drawn to her. In that moment he felt as if he got something; something long lost. His heart was in frenzy with his rapid heartbeat.
However, she looked familiar, but he would have remembered her. Still something about her bothered him; he just couldn't pin point what this feeling was.
"She is beautiful, right?" Crystal nudged him little and whispered.
Crystal's voice brought him back to reality and for the first time in his life Chris realised how instantly he was attracted to any girl. This thought alone terrified him to the core, and at the same time, it excited him.
He shook his head as he was in no position to feel anything for another girl; his heart belonged to only one girl, and thinking about any other girl seemed like betrayal to his mystery girl.
"You're gonna beg her," Crystal smiled at him.
"That day will never come," he glared at her, and pushed her further inside the office. He made her sit on the sofa, "this is your place, and you're not allowed to stand up and speak until I say so."
Crystal went to argue but he cut her off with the wave of his hand, "young lady, you're in no position to negotiate because I'm your boss, and these are my orders. If you go against me, you will be fired immediately," he said the last part aloud as he turned around to the remaining two ladies in his office. He took confident strides to his chair while his eyes were fixated on Sarah.
"Chris, I've got my girl," Ashlyn said in happy girl voice as she smiled at Sarah.
"That is very nice of you, but you haven't seen my resume or any of my designs. How could you hire me without looking at my file?" Sarah frowned a little bit.
"Wait, designs? No, no... I think you're mistaken. Actually, we are hiring a model for our new brand Regal, and I think you're the best for the job. Moreover, I did ask you questions about modelling, and I'm impressed with your answers," Ashlyn replied her.
"Well, while discussing that why you are hiring, and why you're interviewing, I believe you should sit down because looking at both of you standing is giving me neck strain," Chris spoke before any of them could reply.
Both Ashlyn and Sarah turned towards him. While Ashlyn had bored look on her face, Sarah glared at him as if he offended her in some way. And her glaring didn't go unnoticed, and something clicked in his head; a memory of a fiery glare crossed his mind.
He smirked back at her, and this made Sarah little uncomfortable because she blushed a little and averted her eyes away from him.
"You couldn't be serious about me being your model. I have no experience in modeling and I really cannot go in front of the cameras. The flashlights and paparazzi are not my favourite things. And I like my normal life. Becoming the face of the brand means saying bye-bye to normal life which I cannot do." She said while sitting on the one of the visitor chairs.
"Please Sarah, don't say like this, fashion show is in two days, and I don't have any show stopper. Media will love to tear this company apart with their speculations, and bad publicity is bad for the new brand.
"Chris, you say something. I want Sarah as the model. She has every quality that I need in my girl."
"Leave it Ash. If she doesn't want this opportunity, it's her loss, not yours."
"It's not about the opportunity but my dream. And my dream is to become a fashion designer, not fashion model," Sarah replied back with a little sassy tone.
Ashlyn smirked a little, and Crystal giggled. It was once in a lifetime moment when someone stood his– or in this case her– ground against Mr. Big Mouth.
Chris was dumbfounded, he didn't expect this comeback. He would have snapped back if it was any other person but something about this girl made him to keep his mouth shut.
"My words are gonna be true," Crystal said in an overly excited tone.
"Crystal, could you please shut up?" Chris groaned.
"No."
"What is it today? Annoy Chris Day?" he huffed.
"I'll keep my mouth shut; only if you open that bottom drawer and pass that Skittle pack, unopened." She pointed the drawer with goofy grin.
He groaned and took the Skittle pack and threw it in her direction, but she couldn't catch it and it dropped at her feet.
"Wow! Crystal you're an amazing sports-person. What a catch!" he joked.
"Shut up, you threw it wrong," she retorted.
"Okay, enough both of you. You can continue your banter at home." Ash interjected.
"What do you want me to do, Ash?" Chris asked.
"Convince Sarah, or you'll be walking down the ramp mister." Ashlyn threatened him in serious tone and he made a face at her.
Chris leaned back in his chair, and crossed his arms on his broad chest before tilting his head and squinting eyes on Sarah.
"Why are you denying such opportunity Ms. ...?" he pretended not knowing her last name, but there was hidden note in his voice.
"Walia. Sarah Walia." She replied.
"Yes Ms. Walia. Please answer my question," he probed.
"Like I said Mr. Jones, I'm not interested in this opportunity," she replied with gritted teeth. Chris was getting on her nerves.
"Well, that's a shame. This was a lifetime opportunity, and I was once accused by some sassy and fierce woman that I don't believe in hiring young people for my firm. She also said that I got everything on silver platter. But here I'm giving you — a fresher — a chance to build a career only to be denied in return. I wish I could show this to that woman." He smirked knowingly with mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Who said that?" Ashlyn asked dumbfounded, "that is quite an observation though it is true."
"Will ya someday, right now I'm quite busy. Plus, that is untrue because when I hired you, you weren't even graduated." He pointed in Ashlyn's direction.
"You hired me because I'm family."
"You are wrong little sissy. I hired you because you are talented, and I have never come across any fresher who has unique to offer." Chris explained.
"You're praising me?" she had self satisfactory grin her face.
"Yeah... yeah... yeah... Gloat all you want to 'cause this was a lifetime praise from me," he smiled at her. Then turned to Sarah who was looking at him curiously as she she was trying to read that man.
"So, Ms. Walia, are you ready to take up on this offer?"
"My answer is still a no."
Crystal erupted in her bubbly giggles, and Chris glared at her. She wiggled her eyebrows at him reminding him of her earlier talk about him begging.
"I guess, I have no other choice than doing this. I'll hire you as an intern without looking at your work, but you've to walk on the ramp first. Consider it as your test" He proposed like a king.
Sarah sighed loudly, "then I also have a condition," she challenged.
"And what is that?" Ashlyn asked, already agreeing to in her head whatever she was going to say.
"I'll wear a mask while walking on the ramp," she stated.
"I have no problem with that. This will give let everyone thinking, and I believe this is going to be a sensational event. Everyone will be talking about it!" Ashlyn was excited and hugged Sarah real tight.
Chris had self satisfied grin on his face, this girl was going to work for him.
It was already beyond office hours, and after talking to Sarah about rehearsals and other stuff everyone went to homes.
In his bedroom, Chris was restless. He was pacing here and there. Sarah's face was all he could think of, and a feeling was not going away.
He took his tablet and logged in before opening a photo editing software. He, then scrolled his employee data, and searched a particular file. He copied the photo and imported in that editing software. His was a skilled designer and he was good at drawing.
Chris started changing hair color and eye color in the photo, he also many other changes to see the final result. This whole took a good one hour. An image was playing in his mind when he was doing this.
When he saw the final result his breath stuck in his lungs, his heart pounding rapidly that he could hear its sound. His eyes were not believing what he was seeing, but his brain was screaming at him as the evidence was in front of his eyes.
The picture was of Sarah, but he edited some details to match with his Cinderella. It was a perfect match!
Sarah Walia indeed was his mystery girl whom he met three months ago, if her hair were black and shorter, make up bit dusky and brown contact lenses in her eyes.
Chris took long deep breaths; he couldn't believe his luck. The girl he was trying to find all these months literally came to him.
A slow smile emerged on his face. He laid down on his bed and for the first time in three months he felt at peace. Smiling like a love sick puppy he closed his eyes and saw her face.
"Son of a bitch!" she cursed loudly when he remembered what Aviraj said about thanking him one day.
That bastard knew all this time!
And Chris made a mental note to strangle him when he saw him next time.