The Perfect One

Chapter 3 - Onsite Training : Part 1

A/N. This still needs more editing and might be riddled with grammatical errors. But here it is. Enjoy the read :)

"Your house is...big", she said, taking in the interior of his enormous living room area once they climbed back down after the tour.

"You don't like it?" He asked looking at her intently. He still didn't have his jacket on, with sleeves rolled up, he was showing his forearms. His shirt straining against his chest as he leaned against a chair.

Her face must have shown her disapproval, she shrugged as she smoothed her expression to what she hoped was more neutral. It wasn't that she didn't like it. His house was spacious, with what she could tell the standard four stories, looked sleek and modern. While it had all the latest furnishings and a gigantic open concept kitchen, it didn't have any paintings or knickknacks that would portray its owner's personality. She might not have been best of friends with the man, but she had imagined a vinyl player with a record collection from Bob Dylan, The Beatles, John Lennon, Frank Sinatra to be a part of his house. But this house neither contained those, nor did it have any soccer memorabilia or any of his other interests. No picture frames, no art, his walls were bare.

She shook her head and answered his question honestly. "No. It's just....too cold. Almost devoid of any personalization. Just feels like a house and not a home."

A look of what seemed like hurt flashed on his face before it returned back to its default robotic mode. Had she hurt him? She hadn't meant to be hurtful. Before she could say anything though, he cut in.

"It is what it is and I like it this way. You and I will be living with my father and Simi after marriage. Atleast for a year or so. We have three neighbouring houses, so we'll have one house to ourself, Simi and Pa will be in the third house and the middle one is morphed into a common area."

Simi was his 9 year old niece. Siya's heart warmed just thinking about the sweet child. She felt happiness rush through her thinking about sharing meals with Simi and Dev. Dev, Mr. Ray's dad had been her mentor, guide and a paternal influence in her life for the past five years. She looked forward for both Simi and Dev to become family, as much as she was hating the fact that she would be lying to them both. She had been to the property Mr. Ray had talked about. Atleast the house in which Dev and Simi lived. She had no idea the adjacent houses were a part of their property.

"I keep forgetting exactly how rich you are. People are struggling to pay rent in SF and you own four houses! Life is so unfair" She said, thinking out loud.

"Didn't realize you were a socialist." He said, a small smile playing on his lips. A smile that always managed to rile her up.

"This is not about being a socialist. You don't understand the struggles people have to go through to make ends meet in this country. I pay almost one-third of my salary to live in the studio apartment on rent." She replied promptly.

He eyebrows creased as he replied seriously,
"You used to pay that amount. Once you move into our other house next week, we can take care of the lease. It is expiring in 6 months right?"

"There is no 'we can take care'. I will handle the lease situation by myself, thank you very much." She replied firmly, she didn't want him doing her any favors. She was an independent woman and she could handle her affairs by herself.

He looked like he was struggling to decide whether or not it was worth getting into it with her. He finally sighed giving up.
"As you wish."

She walked to the couch and sat down with a plop before asking, "So?"

To her surprise he sat himself down next to her on the couch, his frame taking up most of the space, luckily the couch was huge enough that there was a person's worth of space still between them.