Chapter 22: chapter 22

Wow! What a good morning! *super-annoyed*I had so many queries drifting or should I say almost prowling in search of expositions in my little brain. What made him land here? Couldn't he choose any other place in this entire world to drip on? *riled* Sheer hopeless! "Hurry up, Aashika", Ronnie pulled me back to my senses."Oh..um..haa", I fumbled. "All good?", Ronnie asked noticing my uneasiness. "Yes", I lied. He nodded. Ella and Emma took the last seats, Ronnie was seated in the front and the only seat remaining was the centre one beside him.I mounted the step and took the seat next to him as there was no other option left and it being my first day, I can't even demand another one.Gosh! I just want to reach the office as soon as possible, as I was so uncomfortable to be seated next to him.I never thought I was to face this state of affairs as well."Hey", he initiated. I gave a contrived smile."It's me, Vicky. Don't tell me you cleanly forgot me?", he chuckled. How can I forget him?It was him! VICKY.. the reprobate! He was the most troublesome bloke of my life for years."What a pleasant surprise?", he giggled. Surprise?Surely, the one which shook the hell out of me. And pleasant?No where on this earth. Undeniably, I always receive negative vibes from him."Why do you have a bemused look on your face?", he studied my demeanor. Why? Doesn't he know?He knows it all and is still asking?Such a pretender. Hate him!"I am talking to you, Aashika", he repeated. Ugh! I don't want to talk to him nonetheless, creating a scene among these newbies is not acceptable too.Why am I the only one to get stuck in such dilemmas?Umchh!"Hi", I uttered.Meanwhile, Ella pulled me back towards her by my shoulder."Is everything fine?", she whispered."Y..Yes", I was not willing to divulge anything.I mean how can I?Though they are sweet, however, this is not the apparent time to talk about it and on top of that, I know them hardly since twelve hours.Moreover, this obnoxious person doesn't even deserve to be the topic of discussion in any way."How come you are here?", Vicky asked."I am joining here as an intern from today", I replied reluctantly. "Whoa! Congratulations", he expressed."Thanks", I responded."You guys know each other?", Ronnie asked surprised."Of course! We are from the same college. She was my junior. We are meeting here after three years", Vicky replied grinning emphasizing on "three years".Aah! As if he used to behave so considerate with me. *rolling eyes*I nodded unwillingly."Now we will be working for the Oberoi's together", he sounded excited. WORK TOGETHER ?"What t..t..together?", I freaked. "Um..I mean, I was already working for them as Technical Validation Manager and now you too are here", he laughed.Shit! How diIn't I realise? We are heading towards the same destination. *face palm*I shook my head."Man! That's an amazing fortuity", Ronnie almost jumped from his seat.Amazing fortuity? Was that a joke?Oh stop it Aashi! They are right on their part. How do they know unless and until you let the cat out of the bag? *self-perception*I closed my eyes for a while and contemplated the circumstance. Aashi, think. This irksome person is nothing in front of your dream and ambition.Joining Oberoi's is your aspirated job. You have worked very hard to achieve this.You need to equitably focus and prove yourself. Ignore him. I sighed.I looked through the cab's window, it was entering into a huge gate leading to another gate written OBEROI'S GROUP in enormous letters with golden colour on top of it.There were too many buildings for different sectors with eye-catching infrastructures each.As our cab ceased, I descended and stood surveying the vicinity."Let's go, babydoll", Ella encircled her arm around mine. "Sure", I was so elated. "Will try to catch you for lunch, Aashika", Vicky threw a smile and paced towards another building.Please don't try. I brushed the thought away. "He works for the hardware sector, so it's his building", Emma pointed towards his direction. Thank god! He is not coming along! *sigh*"And this is our software IT", Ella added pointing towards the building in front of us."I see", I responded.They both looked at me for a while but I ignored them."Something is fishy!", twins unisoned pacing ahead."What?", I asked."You don't seem to be comfortable with Vicky", Ronnie added."Nothing like that", I tried to hush the conversation."Uh..ho! Your expressive face is talking your mind out, babydoll", Ella came in."Bulls-eye! What is it?", Ronnie was concerned. "Tell us! Tell us!", they chirupped again.Oh my! "Alright! He was my senior in college and he bullied me a couple of times and now he is behaving as if everything is normal", I cut-short the topic in one breath without thinking twice.Oh freak! *widened eyes*I told them everything in the flow. What's wrong with you, Aashi? How could you do this? "Oh man! Are you serious?", Ronnie was shocked.As expected. "He is such a snake in the grass", Ella muttered.Haan? "OMG! No wonder that rogue has encountered..", Emma was about to complete but Ronnie gestured for her to stop.What was she saying?Why did Ronnie stop her?*suspicious*"Leave it girls. It's Aashika's joining today. You can discuss this crap later", Ronnie interrupted.I recognised that they were hiding something but what? We entered our sector and Ronnie took me to his HR department to complete a few formalities and paperwork."As already discussed, these are your contract papers for a year and in case your performance will be consistently good, you will be liable for further promotions", Ronnie explained. After concluding, Ronnie introduced me to my team-lead Abby.He took me to his team cubicles or should I say my team and there we had a formal introduction.Fortunately, Ella and Emma were my senior team members.Abby gave me a cut-short idea about our project. He took me to my cubicle and instructed me to start working from the project's basics.I started my work with full enthusiasm and finished what all was assigned to me before the deadline.I was heading towards Abby's cabin with hard copies of the data I generated and ran into him on the way."Oh, I was heading towards your cabin, Abby", I initiated."Um..how's it going? Are you done with the data?", he asked."Yes! This is it", I handed him the sheets."Great job, Aashika", he appreciated."Thanks. Anything else?", I acknowledged. "That's all for now. It's lunch time, so have your lunch", he smiled."Okay", I expressed and turned to leave."One second, Aashika!", he called out. I turned to him. "Come back on time, Aashika", he ordered."Sure. Anything important post lunch?", I asked generally."Well, our CEO, Mr. Neil Oberoi was supposed to be here by now because our team has a meeting with him. But, I guess he might be busy with some other meeting as he is late", he clarified. "Now you are also a member of our team, so you need to attend this meeting", he added with a smile."Copy that. I will", I assured him returning back the smile."Babydoll!", I heard a not so loud unisoned shout from behind.It was twins as expected.They reminded me of Yash and Ayu. I need to call them as I already called home this morning."Let's have lunch in our favourite restaurant", Emma jumped."You walk towards the back gate near parking, will catch you there with Ronnie in five", Ella said and walked away. I nodded and paced likewise.I thought of calling Ayu and Yash in a conference, nevertheless, I saw Vicky coming towards me.Shit!"Hey, going for lunch? You carry-on, I have some work with HR, will join you shortly", Vicky said and headed towards the HR department.Is he sane? Why is he being so clingy?Lunch with him? I would rather opt to die. Kill me!I walked ahead towards the parking lot. There I saw an Onyx Black Aston Martin.Whoa! One of the most expensive sports cars in the UK.*********************************What do you think Vicky is acting the way he is? See you in the next chapter. Till then stay tuned and miss me😉#KeepReading #KeepLoving❤️❤️