Unfazed

56. Melting Ice (Deeksha)

(Image - Tanay on his way to Dev's Office. Style Quotient? Old-school charm in a new-age package. 

Also. HE HAS A CONVERTIBLEEEEEE!!! Sorry. I will continue to geek out on this, every, Single time.)

The sound of my voice was like a whip that made Dev go back into the shell of nonchalance and indifference he liked to portray, while at work. For a second he looked like a child caught with his hand in a cookie jar, but nonetheless, smoothened down his face to his usual façade. In the week and a half that we had worked together for, I had never seen Dev so... human. Surely, the person seated with his back to me, had some pull over the man the rest of the office called a robot.

"Ah... Deeksha.. what an unexpected surprise", he said to me. Though his words were sarcastic, his tone was playful.

"Oh – believe me. THE DEV Sanghvi, found laughing and being... I don't know, less robotic and more human than known in the past, definitely beats my presence, as far as surprises go" I state and for a second I wonder if I had said too much, since we weren't alone in the room.

Almost as if he realized the same thing, he cleared his throat and said, "Now that you're here, I might as well make the introduction." Wait – why did he make eye-contact with the other man? Dee, STOP overthinking everything, I tell myself as the man facing Dev, turns around.

"Well – you did give me an appointment at 11 – so... here I am", I said to no one in particular and Dev too, surprisingly, let it go.

"Tanay.. This is Deeksha Bhalla – a family friend who has agreed to help out with a couple of projects while our Chief Interior Decorator has gone on leave", Dev said to the man – who looked much younger from the front, than I expected from the back.

"And Dee – I mean, Deeksha. This is Tanay Mehra – son and heir to the Mehra group, known for their commercial spaces all over the country", Dev elaborates.

"Also – unfortunately fated to hold the title of Dev's best friend", Tanay says to me – standing up to shake my hand.

"Pleasure to be acquainted", I say with a smile as we shake hands, "Oh – and.. Please.. call me Dee".

"Really?" Tanay asks, with unmasked surprise in his voice.

"Is there a problem?" I ask, ever-so-slightly confused.

"No.. I mean – You do know that Dev here, almost all through college, went by the name D.. right?" he asks me. From the look that Dev gives him, I'm suddenly hoping to always be only in the good books of Dev Sanghvi.

Not one to make it awkward, I say, "Oh.. Is that so?"

"It is.. And I mean the letter D!" says Tanay, with a childlike enthusiasm that was infectious. "He did it because most of the teachers abroad couldn't pronounce his full name – so he just went by D."

Unsure of what to do with this information, but still somehow satisfied that he wasn't as robotic as he seemed at work, I excused myself before things got out of hand. Of course, before I left, I had to fulfil the reason I had originally come in for – so, I reminded Dev that the next day we had a site visit to Smile Café, to check on their progress.

Before I left, I turned to Tanay and said, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Mehra" to which he responded with a cheeky, "It'll happen again only if you promise to call me Tanay". Giggling, I agreed and turned around to make my way out of the room when Tanay added, "I do look forward to meeting you soon, Dee!"

Strange, but seems nice enough – I concluded, as far as my opinion of Tanay went. Definitely not someone I'd expect to be friends with Dev, but happy-go-lucky and slightly player-ish. But I suppose I had more respect for him than I initially realized.

If anyone can deal with Dev Sanghvi and his half a million mood swings, they deserve the benefit of doubt I decided, as I sat back at the table I had been assigned and found quite to my liking, for the past ten days at Sanghvi Builders Ltd.