Serious in Love ✔

20- "Beauty is always tainted."

20- “Beauty is always tainted.”

VANSH

Be it school, college or job, you would always find difficult to get into the normal work routine after holidays. Especially the kind of holidays that involved reuniting with your family, old buddies and a lover (former lover in my case). Not everything went smooth but still, I'd like to think I had a valuable time with everyone.

It was like arranging books in a shelf of limited space. You'd had to arrange it without any book falling or lying out of place. Just when you thought you arranged it, some unexpected new books were added to the mix, turning a simple task into a daunting one.

It happened when I was called to Richard's office, one day. He presented a file that contained bio profiles of three people— two young men and one woman, all aged twenty one. Their profiles stated that they were still university students. Currently, they were in their third year. The more I looked, the more puzzled I became. As if sensing my burning curiosity, Richard took the file away from me and placed it on his desk. “Now I'm sure you have many questions running inside that curious head of yours, so let me start by this— You are to train these students for their two month training.”

“What the fu–” I clicked my tongue to stop cussing out loud. “You want me to train these students?”

“Yes,” Richie answered, “Ain't nothing big, son. You simply have to give the basics of how things work aroun' here. Then choosing one topic, ye have to assist them in their presentation, as well as show the practical applications of it. The training period is for two months but if you do it quicker, you end it before too.”

“Why me, Rich?” I couldn't help but ask.

“Because you're the best option available. Out of all the team members, yours and Natasha's workload is lesser. Doesn't mean you have it easy but since you two are the only junior architects in our team, you bore slightly lesser burden than the rest. Now I could have chosen Natasha too. She's more dedicated than ya but I think you got a better knack at explaining things. You seem to have more patience too. Don't tell her this,” he whispered the last part to me and we shared a quiet laugh. “Plus you are going to get monetary incentives out of this so be proud I chose ya.”

My eyes lit up, “Seriously?”

Richard chuckled at my enthusiasm, “Yes, my boy. In case the workload gets too much for you at some days, you can ask Natasha or any other team member to help you out.” He shot me a serious look. “Are you comfortable with it?”

Think about the incentives, the incentives, “Yes!”

“Great,” he patted my back. “Their training will start on Monday so you'll have enough time to go through some of their study material. Take these files with you. If you need anything else, I'm available. You may resume with your work.”

During lunch, I messaged Ahana— “Guess what, this idiot is going to become a teacher. 😂”

The following Monday, Richard introduced me to those three students— A Russian man and two Americans. The first thing that caught my eye were their faces. Funny, how I could detect their mood from their expressions alone. The Russian man seemed dejected, like he was rather forced in here while the American brunette girl looked nervous and stressed. The American blonde was the only one with mild curiosity in his eyes. Three different people with three different perspectives. Just what shit did I get myself into?

I cleared my throat, dissipating the odd tension in the room. “Hello, I'm Vansh Baweja, a junior architect and basically, I'm going to be your guide for your two month training.” I stifled back a laugh at my own use of formal tone. Atleast I managed to get their attention but there wasn't much change in their moods. Don't be so formal, idiot. This ain't a lecture. Fuck it, I'll just be my own self. “You know what, let's explore the canteen first, whatcha say? You can introduce yourselves on the way.”