𝐀𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐲𝐚
I'd sworn off of love and men after the fiasco that was my last relationship. Until I spent one steamy and passionate night with a dark haired stranger. A man that I thought I'd never see again. Until I found out that he was my new boss...
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Christmas and New Year's had passed by in a blur, both of them being spent by Aaliya by my side. After the trip to Mumbai, Aaliya and I had grown closer than ever, spending almost every single waking minute with each other. I'd come so close to saying those three little words to her. But I stopped myself every time, knowing that the timing wasn't right - though in my heart, I knew that I hadn't ever felt this way about anyone. It was getting harder and harder to not confess my feelings every single time we were in proximity of the other, however.
My parents had called me over to celebrate the holidays with them, but I'd politely declined because honestly, I didn't have it in me to hop on a flight and back just for a handful of days. Also...because I didn't want to leave Aaliya alone. From what I'd gathered, she hadn't spoken to either of her parents since we'd come back. Good riddance, I'd say. Why should she keep people who didn't value her around anyways? Her parents were the type of people who were hell bent on molding her according to their ideals. I'd be damned if that caused her to hide her true self. Mon soleil was perfect the way she was.
The ringing of my office phone snapped me out of reverie. I still had to get used to being back to work after a prolonged holiday.
"Neil Miller, speaking."
"What the hell, Neil? What is the meaning of this?" Keith's voice stunned me into disbelief for a second because I was totally not expecting for him to call. Nor was I expecting the angry shout at the other end of the line. Usually, he was so calm and collected.
"Keith," I said, using his first name instead. "What's wrong? I don't know what you're going off about."
A hmph sounded from the phone before he spoke again. "I've been slapped with tax fraud, Neil! That's what has happened."
"What?" My head reared back in confusion. "How...?" I trailed off as my mind catalogued over everything we'd done and I was sure we'd done it right.
"Your Finance Director that you were praising endlessly when we met? Yeah, it doesn't seem like she's done her job right if this is the result."
"Hold up." My muscles became rigid at the accusation. "First of all, Aaliya is the most professional person I've ever had the pleasure to work with." I took a deep breath before continuing. "And second of all, I'm sure there must be some misunderstanding. I made sure to check all the documents that were supposed to be filed to the tax department myself."
Keith heaved a long sigh. "Right. I'm so sorry. It's just..." There was a long pause before he spoke again. "It's been stressful ever since we got the notification from the department last week and I wasn't able to contact you because of the holidays."
"I understand."
"I didn't mean what I said about Miss Joshi. I apologise for that, by the way." His voice sounded haggard. "You need to fix this, Neil and see what's up because this could potentially be the downfall of my business that I've worked so hard to build."
