The Perfect One

Chapter 1 - The Proposal : Part 2

"I would never joke about something like this." He responded, quietly, and looked her right in the eyes.

The fact that she knew this man would never joke about something so sensitive, the fact that she to a deeper level trusted him so fully rattled her a little.

His dark eyes held no guile, no deceit and no evil. They held her in a calm clear gaze of someone who knew exactly what they were doing. But there was something else. Something that had been bothering her from the moment she set foot in his office.

His appearance was....rumpled for the lack of a better word. His hair looked like he had spent hours running his fingers through them in frustration. His usually crisp business suit, had been discarded on the chair beside her, his tie lay on the table. The top button of his usually pristine white shirt was open, it's collar looking as though it had been yanked open and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled to reveal his toned forearms. And if this wasn't enough to be completely bizarre, what alarmed her the most was his bloodshot eyes.

She had never seen the man so completely undone. Yet when she returned his gaze, it seemed steady. A touch of worry had started to bubble up inside her. She had, after all, known the man for the past five years.

"A-Are you okay?" She asked him. This was probably the first time she had asked him a personal question. She could see her own shock mirror on his face.

She felt as though he was about to say something, but he quickly shook his head.
"Miss Diwan, please stop trying to avoid the conversation."

His words pushed her back to the state of annoyance. Noone pushed her buttons like this man was able to. She felt so many things at the same time with such intensity that it always left her agitated.

She spoke, her voice dripping with the disbelief she felt. "What did you expect was going to happen? You expected me to clap my hands in joy and start thanking god?"

"I didn't expect you to be so dramatic about it." He said in that stuffy judgemental tone of his that she hated the most.

"Excuse me, but I was just ordered into my boss's office and demanded...not asked...but demanded to get married to the said boss. Who, by the way, has never even tried to be my friend. So excuse me if I am being too dramatic in response to blatant workplace harassment."

One of his perfectly shaped eyebrows shot up. How the hell did he move just one eyebrow?!
"Workplace harassment? I haven't as much as touched you Miss Divan. I just wanted to have a sane adult conversation about our impending marriage."

She sat up straight and struck the desk with both her hands in complete exasperation. "There is no impending anything! Oh my god! How the hell..? Who do you think..? This is the definition of workplace harassment!"

"You will have a hard time proving any such thing" He said, sitting in the same manner, not perturbed by her raging emotions.

"You did not just say that to me." She said in a perplexed whisper.

He finally shifted in his seat, moving to rest both elbows on the desk as he clasped is hands together, his long fingers intertwined in a careful thoughtful manner he usually used to negotiate a deal.

"Miss Divan, you are what 29 years of age right now? And according to my sources you are single at the moment. Actually if my sources are correct, you have been single since...let's just say you have never been in a relationship. I also happen to know you are not interested in women. I don't see why my proposal has been such a cause of distress. With your parents constantly hounding you to get married, I thought it would be a welcome surprise."