“I don’t mind waiting, boss.”
Ranveer looked at her, a scowl knitting his brow. She was encroaching on his space. “I mean it, Shikha, you don’t need to wait for me.”
He opened the door and waited for her to step out.
Shikha walked out of the door, her disappointment and anger driving her. She turned around to see Ranveer adjusting the strap of his laptop bag on his shoulder. “What about dinner? Don’t you need to eat?” she asked pointedly, angling for an invitation. She guessed that he needed to have dinner and was hoping to join him.
“But of course. My cook must have kept dinner for me. Could I drop you somewhere?” Before she could jump at the suggestion, Ranveer said, “better yet, let me find you a cab - expenses on the house. Next time, Shikha, promise me not to wait,” he insisted, pressing the button for the lift.
Shikha stared down at her toes thinking of her next move when the lift reached their floor. The doors opened and she deliberately brushed against Ranveer as they got in.
Ranveer caught the signal - Bingo! His senses were quite alert with no computer around to distract him. He looked at Shikha who was eyeing him hungrily and shook his head at her.
They got out and he flagged a cruising cab. He closed the door on his secretary, bent down and said to her through the window, “Don’t bother with me, Shikha, I’m a married guy.”
He didn’t wait to see Shikha’s jaw drop before reaching the BMW that was parked at the space saved for the Managing Director of the company.
Four
Now why had he said that?
Not that he lied. It was true that Ranveer was married but he never spoke about it. Almost never! Ranveer rubbed a hand over his eyes to see better as he drove home. He was rather disturbed that he had told Shikha about being married. It was none of her business, anyway. But then, she had come on strong and he had wanted to make it clear that he wasn’t available. It was not the first time Ranveer had used this excuse when he wanted to stay free of a relationship. Why should he feel guilty about it?
Yeah, Ranveer had been married fourteen years ago. He had been little more than a kid in those days. He had gone by the name of Veera and had been pressed into a marriage with a little girl from his neighbouring village. He couldn’t recall the name of his bride. But not a day went by without Ranveer recalling the incident that had changed his life drastically. For the better or for the worse, he was never sure. If it had helped him get educated and become an entrepreneur today, then it had been for the better. But the way he got disturbed about it even today and how it kept him away from a relationship with any other woman made it obvious that it was the worst thing that could have happened to him. It always coloured the way he responded to any woman.
He had met a woman or two in his time and maybe, just maybe, he could have formed a permanent relationship with either of those. But not so for Veera turned Ranveer. He had carried his guilt around with him and it had always spoilt his attitude towards women.
A huge sigh ripped through Ranveer. He shook his head as if to shake off his past. But yet again, his thoughts went back to the day of his cursed wedding.
Veera had tried to tell his mother that he didn’t want to get married. He didn’t even know how to tell her that. Daadaji had declared that Veera was to marry. The rest of the family just accepted that and in fact they had all been quite happy too. Veera had gone to his mother Sona and tried to talk to her about it.
“Maa,” he called to her.
“Hahn Beta, what’s it? Aren’t you looking forward to your wedding? The girl is so beautiful. You are so lucky to have her for your wife,” told his smiling mother.
“Lekin Maa, I don’t want to get married. I—”
“Buddhu! What do you know about all this? You are only a kid. Leave it to us elders to do the right thing by you.”
Even at that young age, Veera found his mother’s statement contradictory. She had just declared that he was too young to have a say in his marriage. Did that not make him too young to get married? But Veera realised that there was no way that he could talk to his mother on the subject.
He also realised that no one in the family could understand his views on the wedding-to-be. As the days moved towards his wedding, Veera had grown more and more desperate. At first, he had planned to run away before the wedding, as they were going in the baaraat. But it was obvious that he was the centre of attraction and there was just no way he could escape from the huge crowd surrounding him.
The wedding had taken place. Veera neither remembered the bride’s name nor her face. He just waited his chance. When he got a private moment, he persuaded his best friend Jaggi to take his place. Jaggi had believed it was a great joke and had immediately fallen with the plan. After that, it hadn’t been too difficult to leave the procession on their way back home to his village.
Veera had managed to take a few hundred rupees from his father’s cash box - the first and last theft in his life. Veera was inherently honourable and would have never stooped to this level if he hadn’t been so desperate to get away.
Luck had favoured him thoroughly after that. A foreigner couple who were childless had met Veera while they were touring Rajasthan. Impressed by his good manners, they had soon taken him under their wing. It took them more than a year to convince Veera to go around with them whenever they travelled in India. They also got him educated, although not too formally. It was thanks to Dave and Jane that Ranveer was what he was today. While he was in touch with the couple and visited them at least once a year in the USA after he had become an adult, Ranveer had never bothered to try to get back to his village or contact any of his family members; except for the one time. He was not going to be shackled with a wife that he didn’t want.
Ranveer reached the row house that he resided in. It was an independent duplex with a hall, kitchen, dining space and bathroom on the ground floor with four bedrooms and attached bathrooms on the first. He had a manservant come in once a day to do the cleaning and washing while a Maharaj made his meals. The house was quite Spartan and suited Ranveer perfectly.
He went inside and placed his laptop on the hall table, had a quick wash and sat down at the table for four and served himself from the food containers left there by his cook. Taking his plate over to the sofa, Ranveer plopped himself amongst the cushions and switched on the TV. Soon, he was lost in the latest happenings around the globe as he ate his dinner without actually tasting it.
Five
The next morning at work, Ranveer remembered promising the college professors to give temporary jobs to four of their students. He called Shikha in and dictated the letter to her. He was so immersed in what he was doing, that Ranveer didn’t notice Shikha was sulking. Not that he would have been terribly bothered if he had.
Shikha brought back the letter for him to sign and had it hand-delivered right away.
The next day, Ranveer ran through fifteen CVs from as many students of the college. He called in Abhimanyu, his second-in-command. The two men discussed the pros and cons of hiring the best of the lot and decided to call eight of them for an interview. It fell to Shikha to call the students and inform them that they had been short-listed.
The next afternoon found the students waiting in the reception of RS Software Pvt. Ltd. Shikha was only too happy to disturb her boss and tell him that they were waiting for the interview.
Abhimanyu came in to sit with Ranveer in the conference room as he spoke to each one of them. The two men were quite impressed with the first four candidates but chose to wait to meet all of them.
Ranveer was startled to see the seventh entrant. She was the same girl who had sat through his interaction in the college auditorium, ignoring him thoroughly.
Ranveer looked down at the name on the CV curiously. Chanda Maheshwari. Hmm—so that was her name. She walked in confidently to sit on the chair opposite them. She looked at him straight and Ranveer sensed that she was not as sanguine as she projected to be. A small smile curled his
well-shaped lips as he addressed her.
“So, Chanda, you are from Jaipur and a third year student of BMS. Do you know what we do here?”
Chanda spoke softly, telling him all that she knew about his company. Ranveer was so lost in her musical voice that he didn’t quite pay attention to her actual words. After a couple of minutes he realised that she had stopped speaking and turned to look at Abhimanyu. He willed his assistant to take over as he was too distracted himself.
He sat back and watched on as Abhimanyu asked Chanda a few more questions and the interview was over. Chanda looked at Ranveer, a little lost for breath. He looked so handsome close at hand. She felt a powerful attraction and understood that she had no control over it. She waited for him to say something.
Ranveer looked up at her and said, “Could you please wait outside Chanda? We’ll let you know after we meet all the candidates.” This is what he had told the others too. But the coolness had disappeared while talking to Chanda.
Ranveer was keen to take Chanda as a temp. He and Abhimanyu had a long discussion about the pros and cons of choosing the right candidates for the job. All of them were quite good and finally they decided to take her.
He refused to think of the consequences as he gave Abhimanyu the list of candidates that were suited for working in their company. They were to begin work the coming Monday.
CHANDA WOKE UP ON MONDAY MORNING with butterflies in her stomach. She had been super-excited from the moment she received the letter of confirmation signed by Ranveer Singh. All four of them - Amit, Sanjay, Megha and Chanda - were quite thrilled when they realised they had landed temporary jobs at RS Software Pvt. Ltd.
Chanda checked her cupboard for the right clothes to wear. The atmosphere at the office had been quite informal when they had been there for the interview. Chanda removed her favourite pair of form-fitting jeggings in dark blue and teamed it with a bright yellow t-shirt to give a boost to her confidence. While she was excited, Chanda was also extremely nervous about meeting Ranveer in person again. She wondered whether she would get a chance to interact with him or if he was too way up the corporate ladder to give her a second glance.
A sigh broke out from her before she could stop it. She mentally gave herself a shake and did her level best to bring her emotions under control. She couldn’t be mooning about every handsome guy she met, she scolded herself. She was married, after all. Chanda’s lips drooped at the corners when she remembered that. Some marriage! But the spark had gone out of the morning as she recalled her marital status.
The four of them decided to take a cab to work on the first day as they didn’t want to be late. They could find out about the metro timings and other information in the evening, they decided. They reached work by 8.45 am and chattered their way into the stylish office.
Parth greeted them at the entrance. He was the one in charge of the four temps, they heard. Parth was smart, looked intelligent and had a cheerful demeanour. Chanda gave him a wide smile as she shook his hand. No worries there! He didn’t make her heart quake.
Chanda surreptitiously looked around the office, her black eyes searching for Ranveer. He didn’t seem to be around. It was a great effort to not show her disappointment. All that adrenalin rush since morning for nothing!
The four of them settled down in front of the computers provided for them. The rest of the staff arrived in the next few minutes and there were introductions all around. The atmosphere was quite cheerful. But still there was no sign of the Managing Director. Chanda felt shaken by the level of frustration she felt at not seeing him there. She turned towards Parth when he addressed her and he was quite surprised to see the dullness in the black eyes in front of him. He had thought them quite bright when he had met her half an hour ago. He mentally shrugged his shoulders before giving them all their instructions.
Lunch time had still not brought Ranveer into the office and that’s when Chanda gave up all hope of seeing him. She presumed that he probably worked from elsewhere, shrugged her shoulders mentally and decided to give her hundred percent to the job at hand.
Six
Ranveer had deliberately fixed a few appointments for Monday morning and stayed away from the office. He didn’t quite understand what was driving him where Chanda was concerned and decided to keep away on her first day at work. But it hadn’t done him a lot of good as he was having a tough time concentrating on what was happening at the various meetings that he had been to since morning. Tch!
At 2 pm, Ranveer decided to go back to his office. He reached there at 2.30 and entered his cabin, his heart beating faster than usual. He removed his formal suit jacket and hung it on the back of his chair. Rolling up the sleeves of his pale blue shirt, Ranveer opened his laptop and waited for it to boot.
He saw Shikha enter the cabin with a frown on his face only to brighten up when he noticed the cup of coffee in her hand. “Thanks,” said Ranveer as he watched her place it on his table.
“The students have come to work today, Ranveer.” As if he didn’t know.
“Hmm,” said Ranveer, as he sipped the coffee.
“I thought you might be in to welcome them,” she accused, her lips pouting.
Ranveer’s right eyebrow went up to touch the hair falling on his forehead. Shikha’s hand itched to push it back. “I’d told Parth to handle them. I’m sure they’re settled in and doing their jobs.”
“Of course, Parth’s dealing with them.”
Ranveer continued to look at her, wondering what she was getting at. Shikha couldn’t tell him that she had resented the morning at work without his presence. She had decided to ignore the fact that he had mentioned that he was married. The office grapevine hadn’t mentioned anything about a wife in the background. Shikha was sure that if there was one, Ranveer must be separated from her. She wasn’t aware how close she was to the truth.
She hovered there while Ranveer sat in front of his chair and started working on his laptop. He was totally oblivious to her presence in the next few seconds, much to Shikha’s irritation.
“Ranveer,” she called out. He looked up in surprise. It was quite genuine and Shikha was on the verge of blowing up. “I have to go to a friend’s wedding today. I—”
“Do you want to leave early? Not a problem. What time?”
Was he so keen to see her go? Shikha cut off her thoughts as they weren’t to her liking.
“Actually, most of my friends are married. Only I—”
Ranveer looked at her, feeling quite impatient while he waited for her to get to the point. He kept the frown off his face with great difficulty. Didn’t the woman understand that he was just not interested?
“I’m the only one without an escort. Would you like to go with me?” There! She had said it. Shikha had asked him out. If she waited for him to invite her, it might turn out to be a very long wait.
Ranveer looked at Shikha. The woman definitely had guts. She wasn’t unattractive. She wasn’t too young or inexperienced either. Maybe he needed someone like her to keep his mind off Chanda. He had informed her that he was married. She was still ready to go out with him. She obviously knew the ropes of entering a relationship without any ties. Ranveer shrugged mentally. Why not?
“Okay, I’ll go with you. What time do you want me to be ready?”
Shikha closed her eyes for a few seconds in disbelief while she did her best to stop her jaw from dropping down. She couldn’t believe her luck. He had actually agreed to go out with her - her handsome boss. She wanted to jump with joy.
Shikha opened her eyes to look at Ranveer. “That’s just awesome. We need to go to The Leela Palace. The reception is at The Grand Ballroom. It should be fine if we get there at 9 or so.” She couldn’t contain the excitement in her voice. At last, her boss was ready to meet her on a social footing.
Ranveer nodded his head and said, “Give me your address and I’ll pick you up at about 8.15. Should that be okay?”
“Perfect! Oh, by the way, the dress code is Indian formal.�
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“Fine, thanks, will do,” saying that, Ranveer turned back to his laptop, switching off from the personal conversation.
Shikha was on Cloud Nine and nothing could bring her down that day.
Ranveer was distracted from work - a first in his life. Was he running away from a college student of all women? He refused to face the issue.
RANVEER RANG THE BELL OF Shikha’s dingy apartment at exactly 8.15 pm. She rushed to the door and opened it to give him a wide smile. He was wearing a rich cream churidhar-kurta in tussar silk and looked good enough to eat. A closer look showed Shikha the minute self-coloured embroidery on the kurta. Hmm—the man had great taste, it seemed.
Shikha looked very attractive in the dark red sari and halter-neck blouse. Both the sari and blouse were embellished with heavy gold zardosi work. Her make-up was skilfully applied. While she had tried her best to look twenty-five, she hadn’t quite succeeded.
“Ready to go?” asked Ranveer, a twinge of a smile on his manly lips. “I like a woman who’s punctual.”
Shikha almost purred in delight. Having been a secretary all her life, she had the tendency to be a stickler for time. In fact, she was very happy to see Ranveer had arrived on the dot.
She nodded her black head, the glossy curls bouncing and dancing around her shoulders. She turned around to pick up her red and gold clutch along with the gold-embroidered shawl that she had left on a chair. She didn’t bother inviting Ranveer in as her flat was quite tiny and definitely not something that would have made the centrefold of Good Homes magazine.
Ranveer opened the passenger door of the sleek and creamy BMW for Shikha. He closed the door gently once she was seated and went around to get into the driver’s seat. He started the car wondering what he had let himself in for.
He needn’t have worried. The evening wasn’t that bad. Shikha was quite thrilled with her escort and wanted to introduce him to every one of her acquaintances and there were a number of them. They went to meet the bride and groom for a minute and then hung around with the crowd.
Flaming Sun Collection 1: Happily Ever Afters from India Box Set (The Malhotra Bride; Meghna; The Runaway Bridegroom) Page 31