The Balcony

Chapter 19

Kajal snapped her head up to see him standing there next to Deepa with a pleasant smile on his face. He was dressed in a white shirt again this time with a navy blue blazer and trousers. Kajal begrudgingly noticed that he looked as ridiculously good as she remembered and she turned her attention towards her diary. She pretended to take notes and started writing random sentences.

What on earth was he doing here? Of all places, her office? He is a lawyer too? Why didn't he mention anything? Then again, she never said anything about her job as well. This is just perfect! Ugh!

"Kajal!"

She looked up from her diary and asked loudly, "Yes Deepa?"

She said pointedly, "Would you like to introduce yourself to Vikramaditya? You're the last one left to do so."

She looked at him and saw him look right back at her. He somehow did not look surprised to see her here. Instead, he was smiling at her. It was not the same smile as before though. Earlier, even though they were rare, the smiles were open and warm. This smile was all...professional. She said in a firm voice, "Hi my name is Kajal Parekh and I have been with this firm for the past five years and my speciality is financial cases. I enjoy reading crime fiction in my free time."

Kajal noted that he was studying her every move as she spoke. When she finished her introduction, he nodded at her and said, "Thank you Deepa for this round of introductions. I am glad to be here and I am sure I will be an asset to this firm just like all of these fine people seated here." At that, his gaze rested on Kajal for a moment longer than the others.

As Kajal returned to her desk, she saw Deepa walk up to her station along with Vikramaditya and stopped right at the workstation behind hers. He was going to sit next to her? How many times was this guy going to play the part of her neighbour? When was she ever going to get respite from this? She exhaled deeply in frustration, focused her gaze on her computer and clicked on a document.

As Deepa walked away, she turned her chair around to talk to him. She froze in her seat and clutched the handles tightly as she saw him pull up his chair close to hers and try to attempt the same feat as her. That's when she saw him break into his first real smile of the day. The smile she remembered from the terrace. But she didn't let that sway her. She said, "What on earth are you doing here?"

He leaned back on his chair and replied, "Working. Is that a problem?"

She rolled her eyes and said, "I meant here. At this firm!"

He shot back, "You do realize more than one associate can work at this place, right?"

She frowned and said, "You seem to show up everywhere I go. First my apartment building, then my workplace, now my workstation. Is nothing sacred?"

He took a deep breath and looked right into her eyes as he said, "Why do you think I left?"

Author's Note: So um yeah...That's why that happened, in case you were wondering. :P Well, it was great fun to get into the zone again. :D I hope to see these two super soon maybe early next week. :) Until then! - S