Page 23 of That Same Old Love

He didn’t reply immediately and simply stared at her, probably trying to gauge if she was being sincere or not in her apology.

“Thanks,” he said finally and walked away, not bothering to comment on her apology.

She was a little miffed, but as soon as he left, she closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief.

“How about saying… it was a very very long time ago Mahi. We were kids then. I can see that you have matured into a sensible person, who will benefit my great corporation, and maybe take it to greater heights,” she muttered.

Later that night when she went to bed, she was very glad that she met Sidhu’s delightful daughter, and also that there was a possibility of getting a job soon.

* * *

That night Samrat lay in his bed cursing Mahi for making him cajole his niece to not mention meeting Mahi to anyone. He had to tell Srishti that Sidhu and Ananya did not like Mahi, and would not appreciate their daughter meeting her. Srishti had looked at him curiously, but agreed to not mention the meeting. His sister would be hurt if she found out that her daughter was very friendly with her past tormentor.

He also sent out a few emails to his HR team asking them to contact Mahi for job interviews. Mahi had texted him her email address and other contact information that they might require. She even put a smiley face saying that she got his phone number through a ‘legit’ route from his niece.

Maybe Mahi was right. If she started working in a full-time job, then she would be too busy to ever bother him or his family.

CHAPTER 6

Samrat looked through the glass wall at Mahi and her team interacting with each other. He was extremely irritated, but it was mostly directed towards himself. From the past two hours, he was trying to focus on the documents on his laptop, but his eyes kept going towards Mahi.

“Hire her to keep her busy, so she’ll leave you alone. What an idiot,” he told himself viciously and immediately felt like a fool.Oh God. Now I’m talking to myself like her and becoming crazy. Thanks to her,he thought irritably.

It was almost close to two and half months since he had generously offered Mahi a chance to interview at his company. A week later, he received a confirmation that Mahi had been found suitable for a team lead position in one of the development teams at work.

He had given Mahi’s hiring manager strict instructions via email that he was to fire her if she could not keep up with work or caused them any sort of trouble. He knew he sounded harsh, since it wasn’t in their company policy to simply fire people who were not performing. They usually got trained and were placed in other teams that would fit them. But in Mahi’s case he didn’t want to give her any more chances.

Surprisingly, or maybe it shouldn’t have surprised him that Mahi was able to cope well, and got glowing reviews from her manager, who somehow presumed that he would be interested to know how Mahi, someone he had‘recommended’was doing.

The whole thing was a disaster right from the beginning.

On her first week of work, he had seen Mahi heading out of her house at the same time as him. She was dressed in business casual attire with formal shirt and pants. But somehow she managed to make it seem a little racy, especially with her bright red lipstick. Adding to that she even dared to come towards his car and then ask him for a ‘ride’.

“Hey neighbor slash the big boss, how about we carpool? Seeing how you are in your corporate monkey suit and not in your usual shorts and T-shirt, you must be heading to work too,” she said, grinning at him.

“No,” he answered her curtly, still irritated by her dressing. How can she not realize that her top two shirt buttons were open or that her pants were too tight? Even her office footwear looked racy with their high heels.

“Oh come on. What’s the no for? For carpool or that you are not headed there? I know you are. Everyone knows that you are going to work today, especially considering how rare it is supposed to be. I just want to carpool because… because… it’s like going green. Aren’t you supposed to be working on things that are helping us save the planet and stuff? Think of all the… petrol we’ll save if you give me a ride along. And besides I hate driving in this city, I feel like I’m in one of those virtual video games the company is working on. Only here… one wrong move and then BAM!” She shuddered dramatically.

He just looked at her and quietly got into his SUV, “You are going to be late, and my company does not tolerate tardiness,” he informed her through the lowered window and drove away.

Their interactions had not stopped there. He was avoiding her near their homes and letting his lawyers complete all the transactions needed for the land sale.

Luckily, the land sale went through without any issues and the money was already transferred to Mahi’s bank account. He ignored the text message from Mahi that said, ‘thank you forthe money’ with a smiley face. Later he felt guilty because she was helping him out and the land was needed for his senior community plan.

He wanted to thank her for the sale. Deciding not to go to her home and meet her at a neutral area, he made a quick trip to her work desk. His intention was to ask her if she could join him for a short lunch where he could thank her and not feel indebted to her in any way.

He passed through the open plan working spaces that were meant for effective collaboration. Most of the people were getting prepared to leave for lunch. He finally found Mahi surrounded by a team of five men and three women. None of them looked to be more than twenty five years old.Just the kind she probably had an affair with, he thought a little resentfully.

Mahi was sitting on a desk and facing her back towards him.

“Careful, Mehul, you wouldn’t want to lose that hard earned six-pack for a bite of my wicked looking Baklava,” she told someone and everyone laughed.

He felt that she sounded extremely flirtatious and inappropriate.

“Come on, Mahi, have mercy. One bite wouldn’t hurt or break anything. Even you can’t be that cruel to me,” a man from her team replied.

Some of the team members noticed him and their entire demeanor changed, irritating him. Most people, who looked at his naturally stern and serious expression, assumed he was a tough taskmaster with no sense of humor. Maybe he was that way sometimes, but he also knew how to relax and enjoy some good sense of humor once in a while.

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