SidNaaz: Worst Betrayal Ever?

Professional Discussions

With that resolution firmly implanted in her mind, Shehnaaz drove to work on Monday and threw herself
wholeheartedly into her job.

At noontime some of the other secretaries invited her to join them for drinks after work at a local pub, and Shehnaaz happily agreed. When she returned from lunch, the phone on her desk was ringing. Putting down her purse, she glanced over her shoulder into Samar's empty office, then answered it. "Miss Shehnaaz?" It was Mr. Anand. "Please report to me in the personnel department immediately."

"We don't have much time, so I'll be brief," Mr. Anand said five minutes later, when Shehnaaz was seated in his office. "To begin with, I should explain that the information contained on every employee's application for employment is automatically fed into the Global Industries computers. Then, whenever a project requires someone with specialized skills or talents, the personnel department is notified and a computer search is made. This morning the Director of Global Industries personnel received a top priority call for an experienced, skilled secretary who is fluent in Italian. You are the computer's selection. Actually, you're the computer's second choice. The first was a woman named Laura Watson, who has worked on this project before, but she is on sick leave.

"You should expect to be away from your regular position every afternoon for the next three weeks. I will notify Mr. Malik of your reassignment when he returns from lunch, and I'll arrange for another secretary to work for him in the afternoons while you're working on this project."

Shehnaaz's objections to this random reassignment tumbled out in a flow of disjointed words. "But I'm still trying to learn my present job, and Samar"Mr. Malik"isn't going to be at all pleased about""

"Mr. Malik has no choice," he interrupted coolly. "I don't know the exact nature of the project that requires your fluency in Italian, but I do know it is top priority, confidential." He stood up. "You are to report to Mr. Khan's office immediately."

"Whaaat?" Shehnaaz gasped, leaping to her feet in alarm. "Does Mr. Khan know I'm the one who's being assigned to him?"

Mr. Anand gave her a withering look. "Mr. Khan is in a meeting at present, and his secretary did not feel that he should be interrupted to discuss this minor substitution."

An atmosphere of suppressed excitement seemed to pervade the eightieth floor as Shehnaaz walked across the thick, emerald green carpeting toward the circular desk in the center of Sid's private reception area. "My name is Shehnaaz," she told the receptionist. "Mr. Khan requested a bilingual secretary, and I've been sent here from personnel."

The receptionist glanced over her shoulder as the doors to Sidharth's office opened and six men emerged. "I'll tell Mr. Khan that you're here," she said politely. As she reached for the telephone it began to ring, and she picked it up. With her hand over the mouthpiece, she whispered to Shehnaaz, "Just go on in. Mr. Khan is expecting you."

No, Shehnaaz thought nervously, he's expecting Laura Watson.

The tall rosewood doors to Sidharth's office were slightly ajar, and he was standing behind his desk, his back to her, talking to someone on the telephone. Drawing a deep breath, Shehnaaz walked into the immense cream-carpeted suite and silently closed the doors behind her.

"Right," Sidharth said into the phone after a pause. "Call the Banglore office and tell our labor relations team that I want them at Mumbai tonight."

With the phone hooked between his shoulder and his ear, he picked up a file from his desk and began reading it. He had removed his suit coat, and as he slowly flipped the pages, his white shirt stretched rippling across his broad muscled shoulders and tapered back.

Tearing her gaze away, she tried to still the treacherous sensations unfurling inside her. Off to her left were the three green sofas that formed a wide U around an immense glass-topped coffee table. Sidharth had knelt there to examine her ankle the night she'd met him...