Chapter 20

AADHI

He moved aside and let me in. I looked around his room. There was nothing there other than his work things. Nothing that can tell me about what he was like as a person.

Every shelf was loaded with files, books, and boxes filled with papers. Maybe he was a workaholic. There was a green couch on the right-side corner of his room with a pillow and blanket.

"I stay here when I can't finish my work for the day," he said, noticing me looking at the couch.

I nodded okay and continued to look around. Aside from all the papers, there was a coffee mug on his table.

It was plain black with a picture of a boy running in the woods in white. I made myself go around the table and sat on his chair.

He looked at me amused near the doorway leaning against the wall.

It was a wheeled chair so I rolled it around and looked outside the window behind me. The view was stunning and peaceful.

The building was so tall, you could see the far end of the city. Moving cars and people, streetlights that were still on, dogs, towering trees.

I could see everything from there. I felt the morning breeze on my face trying to calm me. It was the best place to sit alone and think.

"I like your room," I said, turning around and smiling.

"Thank you," he said with an amused smile.

"But you have one thing missing here," I said, looking around.

"And what is that?" he asked, walking toward me.

"A touch of you. Of something cheerful."

His smile faded and he stopped in mid-step.

"I don't think that cheerful suits me. I was never the one who brings happiness to anyone," he said in a sad tone.

"Yes, you are. You just didn't know. You know what, I will rectify this situation later. Won't you offer me anything since I am your guest?" I asked him, smiling and trying to change his mood.

He chuckled. "What do you want from here? Papers? Files? Pens? Pencils?" he asked me mockingly.

I pouted and stood up to leave.

"Okay, okay...," he stopped me before I left.

"You want to go to the coffee shop nearby?" he asked me. My husband was busy, so why not? I nodded okay and went with him.

We walked to the coffee shop. On the way, I saw a photo studio and an idea struck me. We went inside the coffee shop and stood in line.

"What do you want?" he asked me.

"Cappuccino. Just order for me and wait, I will be back, okay?" I walked out of the shop, leaving him there.

"Where are you going?" he asked me, but I didn't bother to answer him.

After fifteen minutes or so I joined him again. "Where did you go?" he asked me.

"Nowhere." I brushed off the question and started talking about something else.

When we were returning to the office, a guy from the studio came outside and gave me a parcel. Harsha shot me a curious look. I just shrugged. He didn't budge after that.

When we entered his floor in the elevator, Mia was not there at the front desk. I wondered where she went.

"She might be in Abhi's room," Harsha said, still walking and not looking at me as we entered his room.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, surprised by his sudden statement.

"She spends a lot of time in your husband's office," he said, stressing the word 'husband' while winking.

What the hell was that? I suddenly had the urge to go to his office. But...whatever.

I gave the parcel to Harsha. He looked surprised.

"Come on open it," I said, encouraging him.

"Is it for me? What is it?" He looked really excited while unwrapping it.

When he saw what was inside, his eyes went wide. It was a photo frame with a picture of all of us when we went on the tour. I grasped the picture from his hand and set it on his table.

"Remember you bring happiness to all of the people here. Don't forget it ever," I said, pointing to the picture.

His eyes started filling with tears. I didn't want to embarrass him, so I turned away and tried to set the photo on his table right, but it was already set perfectly.

"She says she loves me," he said out of the blue.

I turned to him looking shocked. I could tell what was he talking about, but I didn't want to interrupt so I stayed calm.

"Bharathi says she has been in love with me since high school. I was in college at that time. I don't know until recently. She confessed to me at your wedding."

"I never saw her like that. She was always my friend's sister, and I cared about her a lot. I didn't think that would lead her to think like this.

From then, she started torturing me whenever she saw me. Sometimes she called me over and started to cry while begging me to accept her.

I mean I go wherever she calls me and whenever...but that is because I care for her a lot, but I don't think I can love her, you know?" he said, looking at me sadly.

"I couldn't get over my first love and I don't think I can love someone ever. Moreover, she is my friend's sister. I can't betray him.

He trusts me so much that he even lets me stay there even when his sister is there. Most people don't do that these days. So I don't think I can accept her. I don't want to lose my friend.

I tried to explain it to her, but she was so adamant. So I thought maybe I should give her time to understand everything. So I tried to avoid her, but it only made it worse.

She started threatening suicide. So I just gave up and started to go wherever she calls me and listen to her rants like a dumb man without saying a word back."

He punched the desk in frustration.

I could understand his situation. Bharathi was acting immaturely, and I wasn't sure if that was love or just some infatuation.

She is a good girl, but I can't support her if it was just a high school infatuation. Harsha doesn't deserve it. He deserves the best.

I don't know if she can heal him and make him whole again. I need to talk to her.

"Do you like her?" I asked him.

He looked at me confused.

"I mean apart from all the facts that she is your friend's sister and your fear of loving again...do you like her for who she is?" I asked him clearly this time.

"I don't know," he said, looking confused.

"Try to find an answer to that. Because those pitiful excuses are not worth it if both of your feelings are real. You both don't deserve it. I will talk to her," I said, trying to leave.

Before leaving I turned to look at him. He looked like he was thinking hard about what I said.

"Don't think too much. Just listen to your heart," I said, catching his attention.

"Thank you," he said, smiling.

"I am serious. Don't overthink," I said in a warning tone and went away.

Before I went to my husband's office, I went to Nija's office to say hi. We had a brief talk, and I excused myself since he was busy.

I entered my husband's office. Oops, I forgot to knock. I peeped my head to look inside but there was no one. It was empty and silent. I decided to look around. It was so clean.

Even the papers on the table were stacked neatly. Nothing was misplaced. He had a lot of souvenirs collected. His room looked colourful but not colour-coded.

Everything in his room was different coloured. I mean not in a girlish way, but it felt like looking at a rainbow. It kind of made me excited.

Maybe he wanted to be excited whenever he came to work... Figures. But I was more like a black-and-white girl.

He also had an orange couch which had a pillow and blanket. Three of them have this in common in their room. I guess they work a lot.

I sat on his chair, took a pen from the table, and started spinning it on my fingers. I heard someone opening the door. I looked up...it was him.

"Don't you know how to knock before entering?" I said in a mocking bossy tone.

He smirked closing the door and then knocked.

"You are doing it in the wrong order," I said, still bossy.

"Don't you think you are the one doing it wrong? Sitting on my chair inside my room, coming in without permission," he said, leaning against the door and smirking.

"Oh come on, play along," I said, whining.

"So why are you here, Mr. Secretary?" I asked in a mocking tone, raising my eyebrows.

He chuckled and nodded, deciding to play along.

"I came to ask about the order that arrived yesterday. What do you want me to do with it, Boss?" he asked me in the same mocking tone, handing me the file in his hands.

I looked inside the file pretending to read it. All the while he was looking at me with an amused smile. I was more checking him out from the side of my eyes than reading the file.

Oh my God, he looked so attractive when he was smiling. Something inside my stomach churned thinking about his eyes on me.

I closed the file officiously and cleared my throat, "Just do whatever you do every time," I said in the same tone without letting my guard down.

I knew it was a dumb answer, but I couldn't think of any better answer after thinking about all those things about him.

He started laughing hard, catching the desk to steady himself. I glared at him and pouted. I knew it was a foolish answer but that doesn't mean he could laugh at me.

After all, I didn't know anything about his business. I was just visiting his office for the first time.

I stood and walked to the couch. He stopped laughing and saw me pouting. He walked to the couch and sat beside me. He placed his head on my lap, closing his eyes and lying on the couch.

"Let me be like this for a minute. I am having a headache," he said without opening his eyes.

I didn't know what to do. I was a little surprised, but weirdly I also liked the position that we were in.

"You can use the pillow. I will leave the room. Take some rest," I said, trying to grab the pillow.

Yeah, great, Aadhi. You just have to open your mouth and ruin the moment, my mind chided.

He grabbed my arms, causing me to sit in place. "This is more comfortable," he said nonchalantly.

Now I have no way to escape. part of me rejoiced at the fact that he was lying on my lap, part of me was nervous. I wonder why?

His lying on my lap reminded me of last night when I was lying down on his lap. I could understand now the temptation he had undergone. I wanted to touch him.

I wanted to comb his hair with my hands, and I wanted to touch his eyelids. I wanted to graze my fingers on his lips and...I did.

I didn't touch him, but I kept an inch of distance between my hand and his face. I pretended to touch his eyes without touching him.

I grazed my fingers without actually doing it. Suddenly, he snatched my arm.

What the hell...

He didn't open his eyes or say anything. He just placed my palm against his cheek and then went back to sleep.

I really wanted to stroke his cheeks with my thumb, but I restrained myself from doing it. Oh my God...this is torture.

He slept like a child. I spent the whole time just admiring him. It was so odd. Something just attracts me to him.

I struggled a lot not to touch him or kiss him on the forehead. It was so tempting. After I didn't know how long, he woke up and we went to lunch

After we had finished lunch, we came back to the office since he still needed to finish some business. Later that evening, we jumped in the car and started driving.

An hour passed, and I still didn't know where we were going. I didn't ask him, since he would just say it's a surprise. So why bother?

The car halted in front of a beach.

Oh god...not the beach...not again. I am going to kill him if this is his surprise.

"I am going to blindfold you," he said, taking out a silk cloth from behind.

"Why? What...what are you going to do?" I asked him while he blindfolded me.

"Trust me," he said, and those two words made me stop speaking.

He helped me get out of the car. We were standing in front of the passenger side of the car.

"I am going to carry you somewhere. So please cooperate and just trust me, okay?" he said, grabbing me and trying to lift me.

I nodded okay. He lifted me in a bridal style and started walking. I didn't know where he was taking me. I kind of felt bad. What if his hands hurt?

This was the best feeling. Being in your man's arms, lying your head on his chest, and hearing his heartbeats. I just felt bad that I couldn't see his eyes right at that moment.

Wait!!! My man? Oh God, why am I feeling like this? This is not right, Aadhi... Think straight. He is just helping you to reach the destination...like a porter...but why?

Because you cannot see where you walk while blindfolded. So just control your hormone-induced thoughts.

After a short walk, he let me down and helped me to sit on a seat. And then, I heard the engine, and we started moving. It was a boat. Did he think that I couldn't figure it out?

If this is a surprise, then why is he still not removing the blindfold? Are we going somewhere? Does he own a private island or something? I didn't know he was that rich.

Oh my God... stop reading those stupid romance novels. You are getting dumber and dumber every day, my mind retorted.

So I waited patiently for him to come to me. It's not as if I had any other choice.

After about ten minutes, the boat stopped. I wondered where we were.

I could hear his footsteps coming toward me. He supported me to stand and escorted me to walk somewhere.

I could feel the evening breeze on my body. He slowly removed my blindfold. It took a second to adjust my eyes to the light and then... Wow...

We were somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Wherever I turned, there was only water.

The boat was not so big nor so small. We were standing on the deck, and I could see the operator in the engine room.

I was amazed by the view. It was getting dark, and the moon was already up, bright with an orange shade.

And then my mind registered the facts again. We were in the middle of nowhere. Just me and him. He even brought pizzas and drinks.

He set some candles around the area where we sat.

It's a date... Our first date.

"Do you like it?" he asked me hesitantly.

Is he kidding me? Why is he hesitant? How could someone not like it?

I rushed over to him and hugged him.

"I love it," I said excitedly. He hugged me back wrapping his arms around me.

We ate our pizzas without much conversation. The silence was so addictive, and I liked that it was not awkward with him. He cleaned everything after we had finished.

We lay down on the deck over a blanket facing the sky. I was looking at the moon, feeling so contented. He was silent and I didn't know why. I guess he felt the same as me.

He started talking after a long silence. It was all a haze. But I can remember the last words he said clearly, it's still ringing in my ears. I couldn't believe what I heard.

"I love you, Aadhi."

No way.