4/12/2020 , Wednesday, At Shiva's firm.
Aparna's P. O. V :
It has been two days since I went home. I decided to shift into comfortable clothes and haven't even bothered to take a bath. And it has been exactly 40 hours since I slept.
We added a couch for Karthik to work with his laptop and brought in enough snacks for the week.
Hari and Shwetha were on a three hour break. Shiva went out with Karthik to get some snacks.
" Sis, can we go home and be back by tomorrow morning? " Vishanth, the bold intern asked me and his friend stood behind him silently.
" Fine, be here by 8 in the morning! Sharp! " I said and rubbed my eyes.
The interns disappeared in a minute and I was all alone in the office. The time was close to midnight.
I looked at the schedule and we were still lagging behind by half a day work. I turned up the volume of the speakers and rested my head on my table.
I was too tired to go on. My neck was hurting as I was sitting straight for two days.
I sat back straight and rubbed my neck to get some relief. I started reworking on the schedule to keep up the tempo.
Suddenly, all the lights went off. I cursed under my breadth and clumsily searched for my phone in the trash around my desk.
I took my phone in hand and started walking outside to find the electric board.
I heard footsteps walking in. I stood in my place too scared to move.
Then a small candle light showed me the smiling face of Shiva. His eyes were lit up and it felt like a deja vu to look at his face in the subtle light. More candles came into view and that's when I saw the cake in his hand.
" Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!" Shiva sang in opear style and more voices joined him. Hari and Shwetha walked behind him with lots of balloons on their hands.
The lights came back and the trio happily placed the cake on the conference table and kept singing.
Karthik was standing behind recording everything.
" Stop singing yaar! I will cut the cake only when you stop!" I said laughing unable to bear their opera accent.
Shwetha handed me the knife. I blew out the candles and the office was echoing with the cheering sound.
I cut the cake into small pieces and handed out the first piece to Shwetha who was standing close to me. She took a small piece and fed me.
I gave out the pieces to Hari and karthik. I took the fourth piece and handed it to Shiva. He got the piece smiling and he smashed that piece on my face quickly.
Soon I was hit with more cake pieces and I started throwing away the pieces at whoever was close to me.
We started running around the table and I was being attacked from all sides.
Out of blue, Shiva jumped before and rubbed a huge chunk of cake on my face. He didn't stop until my hair was nasty with the cream.
Shwetha was rolling and laughing, while Hari was hiding behind her.
No more cake was left on the table and that's when I decided to retreat.
" Are you done? " I asked Shiva with a wide smile.
He was laughing more looking at me.
" Great! I will be back! " I said and started walking towards the washroom. The giggles increased as I robotically walked outside.
I washed my face twice to get rid of all the grease. I washed my hair and tried taking out the chunk of cake stuck in between.
I was half yelling as I finally cleaned everything.
I walked back inside the outside and was horrified to look at the mess that we created.
" Let's clean up first! " I said and quickly started picking up the thrown pieces.
" Yes ma'am! " Shiva said and started helping me. After clearing the workspace, I tied back my hair and went to my work.
" Are you human? " Shwetha asked from across me.
" Yes, I am! " I said without turning away from the screen. I had to make up for the 30 minutes that we wasted.
" Dude! Take a break! " Hari said.
" I will! I will! " I said.
" Is today really your birthday? " Shiva asked looking at me.
" Yes, It is. " I said.
" This girl will go mad soon! " Karthik commented from his couch.
" Yes, I will, If I don't get this work done! " I said.
Shiva shook his head in disbelief and the office space was back to working.
I was trying all the neck rotation exercise to get rid of the pain behind my neck. I should get back some hot pack from the pg. I decided to fight with it as long as I can.
My phone rang and as soon as I saw an unknown number, I switched off my phone and decided to keep it the same way for the entire day.
By around 6 in the morning, we received some parcel. Karthik went out to pick it up. I rolled back my chair and placed my legs over my table.
Karthik walked in with a huge grin and placed the parcel beside me.
I took down my legs and looked closer at the parcel.
It was huge rose bouquet. I was instantly upset looking at it. It was red roses. Only one person in this world sends me roses on my birthday.
I looked at the bouquet and breathed out loud.
" Aren't you surprised? " Karthik asked.
" No " I said slowly.
He gave me a puzzled look and went back to his couch.
I was getting worried looking at the roses. How did he find where I was?, Is he stalking me again?
I ran my hand over my hair and shook my head. I took the bouquet in hand and placed it aside in the pantry.
Shiva was silently staring at what I was doing.
I sat back on my chair more tired. I was slightly shaking as I thought more about the flowers.
" Which fan boy sent you flowers? " Shiva asked comically.
I shook my head and gave him a fake smile. He instantly caught my mood and went back to his screen.
The atmosphere inside the office started to become more tensed as another flower bouquet arrived. This time, a bouquet with white roses came in.
Karthik was throwing all sorts of jokes around and I was too tired to even answer.
" If more flowers come in, just throw it somewhere and do not show it to my face " I said to karthik and he nodded at me silently.
" Can I sit on the floor? My back is aching! " I said to Shwetha.
" Girl, please take a break. " Shwetha said.
" I will take a break, after I am done with the floor plans. When the interns come back, it would be good to give it to them to color this. " I said.
" Take the couch if you want " Shiva said to me, he was looking very worried at me. Karthik was also looking at me with an innocent face, as he was already in love with his couch.
" Floor is good! " I said and sat on the floor, resting my back on the wall and with my laptop in front of me.
Everyone were looking at me as if they were seeing someone do this for the first time.
" Is this how you work? " Shiva asked. I was only able to hear his voice.
" We used to have lots of night outs in my old office. I am used to this. " I said.
I randomly started singing to the songs on the speaker in a low voice. I am not going to bother about others.
I heard giggles and chuckles here and there. And suddenly everyone became silent again.
I heard footsteps near my place and looked up to see who it was.
It was Karthik with a parcel again.
" Throw it away! Damn flowers!" I said and looked away from him.
"By the way, I already threw 4 bouquet in the pantry.This is not flowers! There is something inside! " Karthik said and handed me the box. I reluctantly got the box and removed the gift wrap.
Everyone gathered around me and were curious to know what was inside.
It was a jewel box and my hands began shaking in fear. I opened the box and it had two diamond earrings with emeralds at the center, resembling to the necklace I had.
As soon as the diamonds came into view, I heard a loud gasp from Shwetha and Shiva was looking at me with jaws dropped to the floor.
I closed the box instantly and threw it inside my bag carelessly. I was sweating and shaking visibly.
" Were those real diamonds? " Shwetha asked. Everyone were surprised at my indifference towards the girl, they weren't seeing the stress I was put through because of these anonymous presents.
" Real or not, we shouldn't care about that now. Let's complete the work!" I sais and shooed everyone away.
I wasn't able to look at my laptop. My mind was jumping like crazy knowing that I was being stalked even after I left my city.
I didn't know how I was going to get rid of this maniac Michael. I closed my eyes and rubbed my fore head.
It was close to 9 in the morning. A huge rain came in and the interns told me that they will work from home, I mailed them the files and asked them to come back as soon as the rain stopped.
Shwetha dragged me to the dining area to eat something. I hesitantly walked with her.
I ate up three idli and cleaned my plate. I walked back to my place slowly.
I sat up on my chair and placed my laptop over the table. My neck has died already and my back was aching more. My screen started to get blurry and I was scared to take a break.
After an hour, Hari and Shwetha left to greet some relative of them. They rushed out in a cab as the rain was still pouring down. Karthik randomly disappeared.
I was trying to relax my neck again and suddenly two hands picked up the laptop in front of me . I looked up at Shiva. He was busily taking the wires and he walked back to the couch.
Silently he started placing my laptop near the couch. I walked to him too tired to ask him anything. He made me sit in the couch.
I winced as he pushed me a bit harsher and the back pain showed it's impact.
" Sorry! " He said looking at me cautiously.
" It's okay " I said and turned to my laptop. Shiva dragged in a chair and sat opposite to me.
" Hey! " He called me.
" What? " I asked without looking at him.
" Are you a zombie? " He asked.
" No! " I said.
" I thought what you said about the diamond necklace was a joke. I didn't know you had such rich crazy fans. " He said smiling.
I looked at him and grinned.
" Take a break! " He said and caught my hands.
I gaped at him in surprise.
" You haven't slept for two days. I don't care if we loose this project. Just take some rest. You have been doing the same drawing for three hours now! Your sleeplessness is saving nobody's time. You are not even listening properly. I am going to knock you out if you don't take a break now! " He said with a serious glare.
" Okay! " I said and he slowly released my hand.
I saved the files and closed my laptop.
" Happy? " I asked him tilting my neck.
" Is your neck okay? You have been doing weird things since yesterday night " He said.
" The back of my neck hurts like hell! If I sleep for a bit, I will be okay " I said and yelped a bit.
" Can I help you? " He asked.
" I don't know " I said doubtfully.
" If you don't mind, I can help you relieve your muscle stress behind your neck " He said. His eyes were filled with concern and I didn't know if I can hold the pain any longer.
" Okay, try your magic! " I said.
" Lay down! " He said.
" Where? " I asked confused and looked around.
He pulled his chair closer to me and he slowly placed his hand on my shoulder and tugged me to lay down over his lap.
I hesitantly turned away my head so that he can look at behind my neck. I rested my face sideways over his lap.
He slowly pushed away the small hairs which escaped from my hair bun. Even the smallest touch of his finger tips sent shivers down to my gut.
He then started massaging my caught up muscles. His thumb was applying the right pressure at the needed spot and I melted under his warm hands.
" I can feel the strain here." He said as he relaxed the area behind my neck. I was feeling the pain going away.
I moaned a bit unconsciously, but Shiva was being very professional. His hands were magically kneading through my neck muscle and he secured my neck in his tight hold.
The rough fabric of his pants and his muscles underneath suddenly felt like the best pillow in the world. I brought my hands to his lap and supported my head over them.I nudged closer to him and he didn't budge at all.
" Your hands are better than my hot pack. Open a spa. Please. What if I get this pain again? Will you do this again if I get pain in my neck? " I mumbled as I was not able to make up a coherant sentence.
" If you get this again, call me " He said laughing.
There was nothing sexual about what was happening, but I felt my toes curled up, in the release of the stress that was built up in my body. My eyes were already half closed and I was slipping into my sleep.
Maybe this was a moment of weakness, that I gave in because of my physical pain. And I was relaxing so much because of his presence.
If this is a moment of weakness, that could lead to something more physical or something dangerous, I don't care. I would do anything to stay in his hold.