The Boundaries of Love

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I wake up hearing a hushed murmur. "Send me the files, I will go through it, Mrs Srinivas. And make sure to come with my pen drive. Bye." Slowly blinking away the sleep from my eyes, I open them. The very first thing I see is the peach white ceiling above Shravan's jaw.

"I see, you are finally awake, sleepyhead." He looks down at me. Getting up, I blush profusely. I was sleeping with my head resting on his lap. I sit up rubbing my eyes with the heel of my palm.

Shravan is working on his laptop. I tilt my head, stifling a yawn, "Aren't you supposed to rest?"

He lets a chuckle slip, "Yes, but I need to sign those documents now. So," he points towards the printer on his study table, where a stack of paper is lying around it. Stretching my limbs I gingerly stand up and walk towards the table. I slowly gather the documents when my eyes land on the digital clock beside the printer. Maa is going to kill me. What am I supposed to tell her!

"I already did." He says still looking at the laptop, that's when I realise I said that out loud. I look at him bewildered. Maybe upon sensing my gaze, he looked at me with one of his perfect eyebrows, arched, "What, it's already 9. That's the normal thing to do."

Shaking my head, "You don't understand, Papa is," I let that slide; Shravan didn't need to know that my father is not happy with this marriage. "What did you say? Did you say I was sleeping in your room?" I walk back to him hurriedly.

He looks at me like I have finally lost it, "What do you take me for? I said, you are here and you will go home after dinner. That's it!" His eyes snap back to the laptop. By his looks, it seems he is concentrating hard. I decide to sit beside him quietly.

"If you keep looking at me, I swear I won't be able to work." Maybe because of sleep, my brain is still half working. I blankly stare at him while shaking my head slowly, "Go and have a walk, Suman." He chuckles, "You are still sleepy."

I open my mouth to protest, but his phone rings. "Yes, Mrs Srinivas," he tilts his head to place the phone between his ear and shoulder, "Okay, send that file tomorrow."

"Even your assistant is a workaholic, it's 9 in the night, who works at this hour!." I smile, "By the way, I always wanted to ask you one thing." He nods at me to continue while typing away like a storm, "People tend to hire young, beautiful assistants, why didn't you?"

Shravan scrunches his nose, "Hiring a P.A has nothing to do with how he or she looks like. It's all about the efficiency of their brains." He says casually.

"Really, what about a whirlwind romance between a boss and his gorgeous P.A?" Finally, he graces his attention towards me, but by shaking his head, he just dismisses my joke and turns towards the laptop.

"Your life is actually very boring you know." I again speak, I don't know what has gotten into me, I just want to hear him speak. Looking all serious and concentrated, this Shravan is a treat to watch. I have never seen him work. He pretty much looks like a machine whose only purpose of life is to work proficiently. But like a child, I need to have his attention, it's irritating as well as frustrating. I brace myself to hear a reprimand but nothing. He just smiles.

"No personal details on the internet, no romantic endeavours," he smiles more, "not even a hot secretary?" I sigh dramatically, "You seem to fail in all the aspects of the male characters I have always read about."

"Well, for 'romantic endeavours'" he says air-quoting the words, "I have you for that. I do fantasise things about you and which turns me on." He shrugs as if this is the most normal thing to say.

I gape at him, he doesn't look like he is aware of what he has just said. Well what did you expect! You are the one poking him with ridiculous questions. I nod to myself, I keep forgetting how blunt sometimes he can be. "I,"