She picked up her bag and he moved swiftly to offer his arm.
She gave in and let her hand rest on his forearm as she got up, feeling the hard strength of muscle. His scent enveloped her, musky, spicy and somehow designed to allure. His words echoed in her mind. An affair with me would be better than marriage with Brijesh. Had he really said that? He got points for daring, all right.
She stepped away from him as soon as she was able, keeping her distance.
‘I won’t misconstrue it if you walk with your hand on my arm, you know.’ Had she hoped he wouldn’t notice? She glanced at him, her pulse jumping a little as he gave her a lazy half smile. If she’d ever doubted it, she knew now with certainty he wasn’t someone at all safe to tangle with. The strong profile, the casual but proud set of head and shoulders. A negligent but graceful panther. He strolled casually with her, but she was conscious of eyes that followed their progress, mostly female, envious gazes.
You’re responsible for putting ideas in my head. She almost said it aloud. No, she didn’t fear he would misconstrue. The space between them was for her own benefit.
Aloud, she said lightly, ‘I have to say one never knows where one is with you. That certainly adds an element of surprise.’
He probably didn’t even know how many hearts he broke on a regular basis. In some conversation she could vaguely recall, he’d claimed he only dated women after making it clear they knew where they stood. She hadn’t believed him. Women followed him everywhere and why wouldn’t he take advantage of the fact?
Not that he meant anything when he talked of an affair between them, she told herself firmly. Why should he?
He just flirted outrageously, even at work. The female staff knew it and joked with him. She knew she had overreacted when he kidded her that her sighing over the delicious food put ideas in his head. She was still figuring out why? And why did she need this distance between them to feel safe?
Her sane mind immediately refuted the obvious conclusion. She couldn’t be attracted to him. How could she be? She hated and disapproved of him.
‘I’ll take that positively,’ Guy was saying as they reached the car – a flashy blue affair with customized side markings – and he clicked it unlocked. ‘Though if you like surprises, you shouldn’t have opted for –’
‘If you’re going to comment on Brijesh, I’m not interested in listening,’ she said hurriedly.
‘Not out of loyalty,’ he jibed as they got in.
She met his gaze with a steady one of hers. ‘This marriage is what I want.’
She could feel his gaze on her as she looked away to pay attention to the seat belt. He wasn’t the marrying kind, so why the disbelief?
She’d told him the truth. Marriage without love was right for her. She didn’t want emotion or vulnerability. She wanted someone safe. Brijesh’s offer suited her to the twentieth letter of the alphabet.
She was glad he switched on the stereo and warm notes of Beatles filled the interior, precluding much conversation. Her brows went up slightly. He liked the oldies?
He might, but she would do well to remember that in all other ways he was an epitome of today’s man. What Guy wanted was no complications, she reflected.
She could have told him he would never want someone like her.
She had no illusions about herself. After an affair near the end of which she’d found herself fretting and worrying twenty-five hours out of twenty-four what time her boyfriend would be back and why he didn’t call her, she’d kept herself away from the embroils of relationships. She had first-hand experience how a relationship could weaken a woman. She had been in the danger of turning into a clinging leech. Men liked independence. Women often forgot the fact and were doomed to disappointment. If it worked out for the type of women Guy dated, she knew it could never work out for her.
Fair minded and well-meaning he might or might not be, she had no intention of messing about with him.
It was infinitely safer to keep her distance – at all levels. And she meant to. Only a few weeks more in his company, and then her life would change.
CHAPTER THREE
It was not to be expected, Guy supposed, that his crazy, half amusing, utterly stupid offer would leave no upshots. Or have no effect on what went on in the office.
Predictably, Lyna glanced at him with a certain increase in the amount of blue ice. She made sure he wasn’t ever accidentally touching her. She even refused an offer of his to have breakfast together when it got mentioned that she’d skipped it.
Guy took it all in his stride, but his smile evaporated when she went around the table to her chair just so she wouldn’t have to cross him – standing near her desk – and risk brushing her body against him.
He opened his mouth to drawl a mocking comment about her getting enough exercise just going in a wide arc around him, then shut it.
It occurred to him that he had rather brought it on himself.
It was less than professional to – as Lyna might put it – proposition his co-managing director, even half humorously, and he knew a rapidly increasing sense of annoyance at himself for the way he had done it.
He was never sideways or lateral in his dealings with women. He preferred to be honest. They always knew where the line was drawn. There had been a few messy break ups, but in the end the woman in question always saw he had never misled her.
Which made his clumsy attempt to flirt – would he call that flirting? – scarcely worth the time.
With typical lack of self-delusion, he was quick to realize that it happened because he wasn’t sure of things with Lyna. He’d never put her in the category of attractive, to-be-seriously-flirted-with or distinctly jump-into-bed-with-worthy. Yet he discovered that his eyes had developed the habit of remaining on her sometimes. He liked noticing her neat features, straight little nose, wide grey blue eyes, a chicken pox mark on one cheek he knew she powdered assiduously before social events. He liked her mouth, dainty upper lip with a fuller lower wide curve. Her neat figure that she usually smartly fitted into formal wear. Yet he knew all that liking would lead nowhere. She was too set in her ways. Her idea of party dress was a sequined top with her severe office suit. She didn’t know how to crack a joke. The freezing waves emanating from her had occasioned comment in men’s drink parties. No one in their right senses would dare ask her for a date.
When had he started noting her? He couldn’t put a finger on it, but her coolness which had been business like and distant had at some point changed into a disapproval which needled him. And then he’d started needling her back. Somehow that cool ice became a challenge.
It would definitely not be wise to act on that challenge, however tantalizing.
So, the mundane work-loaded day went on. A long meeting with his managing team where ideas and phrases like corporatization, 100 crore benchmarks, TRPs, serials crossing 1000 episodes in prime time, hiring versus building another state-of-the-art-studio for increased production, were flung around.
At the end, several satisfying conclusions were reached and he knew he had planted some ideas in their minds towards a newer direction. Lyna’s phone rang and she was engaged in putting it off which delayed her departure as the others filed out of his office.
He knew he was guilty of using up space in this arena of his. His contemporaries made do with half of what he had constituted indispensable to his working ease. Part of the reason was that he had brought home here with him. He’d realized it only later. As a result, he sat surrounded on three sides by well hewn tall book cases, which parted behind him only to outline a large wooden frame window. His island of a desk was made of Indian rosewood with its brilliant polish and the distinctive cuts made into the corners of its rectangular shape giving off a strong individualistic feel. The beamed effect of the ceiling, with the central large portion free where an ornate looking chandelier hung, completed the imposing aura reminiscent of colonial elegance. An extended space housed plush leather sofa with a well-stocked refrigerato
r and other amenities close by. Surprisingly, his laptop and the large LED screen inset into another space in the bookcases, blended rather well with the war scene paintings on the far wall depicting elephants, horses and iron armored warriors.
‘Are you serious about what you said about creating facilities for individual works?’ Lyna asked as she made a move to get up, stopping as he waved her back in the seat.
He shrugged. ‘Indie publishing is on, so why not short length films? There’s a lot of groundwork and research to be done of course, before we can come to any concrete decisions.’
She nodded slowly, absorbing that. Her alarm rang again. She glanced at it and put it off. ‘We’re lucky we do have studio space and land, if we want to expand. That was one of your initial moves when you took over, and it paid off handsomely, considering how sky-high hiring is going on at the moment.’
He shrugged again, glancing at her phone as she checked it again. ‘A reminder?’
‘Yes…I have to call my mother,’ she said.
‘From the office? Is everything okay?’
She nodded. ‘I usually do it in the evening, but she had gone out yesterday, so...’
‘You call her every evening?’
Looking a bit reserved, she replied, ‘My mother gets restive if she doesn’t hear from me. Yesterday, I got in so late, she’d left for her community meeting. She turns in early, so I couldn’t call her at night.’
She spoke in a short, clipped manner as if not understanding his interest. Nor did he. Why was he asking her all that? He should be talking about selection and research of location for their next project to go on the floors. Instead, he wondered aloud, ‘You’re an only child?’
‘Yes.’ Lyna looked surprised that he’d guessed. ‘You know about being an only child?’
‘Not exactly.’
He could tell she was wondering about his family. Despite working together, they hadn’t exchanged histories. Before the last six months, they hadn’t had to deal with things in close proximity.
They might not have discussed families before, but being close to her, had changed things. How would she react if she knew that as a follow up of that blamable proximity, he began to grow distracted on his dates and had been holding off from getting into a relationship for quite some time?
She was too busy, planning her future, adamant on marrying the jerk, Brijesh. Until she hit him with her marriage news, he hadn’t really faced the fact that, like it or not, he really fancied her.
Not gonna happen, his brain chided him, better buzz off. You want to break up the ice, but also not get in too deep?
Lyna wondered if he’d deflected the question about being an only child. It crossed her mind that despite his casual and apparently open way, she didn’t know much about him. The newspapers referred a lot to his estate, but he kept most of the details out of the range of the paparazzi.
‘Is your estate very far from Mumbai?’
His familiar slanting smile flashed. ‘What’s the point of getting to know me, if you’re going to be leaving soon, mi amor?’ He got up and moved around to the desk. ‘Say yes and I’ll tell you all about myself...’ He leaned close, resting both hands on the armrests of her chair. ‘And my urges around you.’
‘When will you grow up?’ She wrinkled her nose, relieved that he immediately moved away. A whiff of his cologne and his warmth weaved around her a moment to distract her. She would have a talk with him, she determined. And be careful not to say, don’t keep coming closer, you send my hormones haywire, said a voice inside her head. She said with as much coolness as she could manage, ‘It doesn’t really do to be casual at work. We have to maintain decorum.’
He leaned against the edge of his desk, long legs stretched out. ‘Anything you say. I’m not likely to go against the last wish you express before you sacrifice yourself to materialism. Think’st thou, Hortensio, though her father be very rich, any man is so very a fool to be married to hell?’ he quoted. ‘Or maybe I should say, Think’st thou, Lyna, though his father be very rich, any woman is so very a fool to be married to yon Buffoon? By the way, Shakespeare said that.’
‘I’m aware,’ she snapped. ‘Taming of the Shrew.’
His eyes gleamed. ‘Maybe we can call it Making Do with Loose Screw.’ There was a beep and he reached for his phone, his watch catching the light as he did. She gazed at it, hooked with her customary fascination-repulsion. The open work skeleton-like construction was nevertheless quite stylishly impressive as far as workmanship was concerned.
‘It must be hideously expensive.’ She gave in to her desire to point it out to him. ‘I know you’re rich, but is it necessary to blow such a percentage of your earnings on your trappings?’
‘Looks like it is for me. You don’t agree?’
She shrugged. ‘Your business. But you should put down something for the old age, as they say –’
He threw back his head and guffawed.
Needled, she said, ‘I realize it sounds ridiculous to you, but everyone gets old, you know. Even Casanovas.’
He inclined his head. ‘You’re full of praise, sweetie. By the way, congrats!’ He brandished his phone. ‘Friday message just came through. Monsoon Chase has hit 400 in ratings.’
‘Wow, that’s great!’ She jumped out of her seat, clasping her hands together in a clap.
His gaze rested on her, something oddly like regret flashing on his face. It might have been a trick of light because all he said was, ‘We should celebrate.’
Before she could respond, there was a knock and after being told to, her PA entered. After greeting them both, Sanjay said in his habitual soft-spoken way, ‘Sorry to disturb you, but there’s a visitor, ma’am and she insists on seeing you.’
‘I don’t have any appointments today.’
‘No, ma’am, she doesn’t have any appointment, but she says it’s important and refuses to leave. It’s been an hour since she came, so I thought I’d let you know.’
‘She isn’t free,’ Guy said firmly. ‘We’re in a meeting. Why don’t you ask Mani to bring in coffee and explain things to the visitor?’
For all that laidback attitude, when he called the shots everyone jumped. Sanjay left and she found herself deeply buried in project location, despite explaining it was supposed to be on tomorrow’s agenda. For a second, the funny thought flashed in her mind that he was prolonging his conversation with her, just to have more time in her company.
CHAPTER FOUR
The ridiculous thought was dismissed the next moment as he took out a paper and drew a line across what was obviously a listed item. Next, he told her they should take a look at the new actors shortlisted by Aanya.
‘But you said you were okay with what I selected,’ she said, exasperated.
‘No, I want to go over the portfolios with you.’
‘We almost decided on Seerat Kohli at lunch that day.’
‘Almost is a big word. And don’t interfere. The meeting is closed when I declare it closed. Advantages of being the boss, señorita.’
Initially puzzled because he’d told her to get it sorted, she found herself getting immersed as she brought up the new script and tried to fit in the clips of actors against the role. Guy mostly listened to her as she discoursed on, making notes as she went. An hour passed. Two coffees later, she was still trying to sell him Seerat Kohli, her first choice. His phone rang and he excused himself, then inclined his head to signal her to leave as she got up intending to ask him the same.
She came upon the visitor Sanjay had told her about as she rounded the turn to her office. A woman in a loose Indo-western long shirt and loose pants with a prominent belly got up as she passed into her inner sanctum.
She was inside before she realized what had struck her about the woman. She called Sanjay. ‘Why didn’t you tell me she’s pregnant? She must have been sitting here for last two hours! Send her in.’ She shut her phone which she’d switched on to ring her mother.
‘Hello, madam, I’m Meg
hna.’
‘You wanted to see me?’ Lyna gestured for her to be seated, taking a closer look at her and trying to search her mind to find some memory of her. Nothing came up. Short, rather petulant lips, drooping at the corners, full cheeks, dusky complexion, sharply outlined dark eyes, all combining to form a rather plump, ethnic face.
‘What can I do for you? I don’t think we’ve met?’
‘You don’t know me, Lyna madam.’ She pronounced Lyna as Liana. ‘My name isn’t well known here, but I used to be an actress in Bhojpuri films and quite a famous one at that.’ A certain arch way of speaking and the way her eyes roved here and there made an instinctive distrust rise in Lyna. But she forgot her animosity at her next words. ‘I came to know of you when I read about your engagement. I have been following anything that concerns him. You see, Brijesh promised me a role in Bollywood films and he asked me to come to Mumbai. Then he took advantage of me.’
‘What?’ Lyna dropped the pen she’d been twirling absently.
‘Brijesh promised me a role in films and he took advantage of –’
‘I heard that. I just –’ have a hard time believing it. Incongruously, her conversation with Guy popped into her mind. It seemed he’d taken a swipe at Brijesh’s supposed sexuality a little too soon. Here was disproof of the jibe indeed. She had a ridiculous impulse to let him know about it.
‘Are you saying Brijesh made you pregnant and dumped you?’
‘Exactly,’ Brown eyes rounding, her visitor announced triumphantly. Meghna leaned forward eagerly, adjusting for her baby bump by leaning sideways. ‘He is a terrible fraud, a crook, most shameless womanizer to walk on the Earth. He’s made sure I’m not fit to face the world. You see, what men like Brijesh think they can get away with? I’m made into a lesson for those innocent girls led astray by charmers.’ She sniffed.
An immediate anger against Brijesh was tempered by a sense of suspicion arising from observing a certain defiance in the woman’s manner. Besides, in using the word ‘charmers’ she had overdone her part.
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