Story of Our Life

Chapter 3

"Sir, I have news." Mehra knocked on his boss' cabin at 3 in the afternoon.

"Yes Mehra?" Rishabh looked up from his ham and cheese sandwich as Mehra entered the cabin.

"Nivedita Basu has kept forward a deal with Mehta and Sons. It aims to recover at least 6 crores in 3 months with an added profit of 40 lakhs. The Mehtas will earn a profit of minimum 8 crores sans profits." Mehra opened a file and read through it. "The meeting is tomorrow."

"And what are we offering them?" Rishabh asked and Mehra kept the file in front of his Boss.

"A deal worth 15 crores with 1 crore in pure profits." Mehra explained the deal and Rishabh heard silently. "The meeting is in two hours."

Prerna looked at Mr Bajaj's cabin, which was clear as a blue-sky day from her seat. Her megaboss was talking to his lawyer while eating a sandwich and she felt her mouth dry up as he held the bread in between his strong hands, his fingers wrapped around it fully.

She had never been jealous of a sandwich before.

"Prerna!" Her colleague, Aditi, called her and she looked behind with a cocked eyebrow. "Your phone is ringing!"

"Oh." Prerna mumbled and looked down to see Maa shining on the screen. "Haan Maa?"

"Priyu, kab niklegi? Yaad hai na Durga Puja ki shopping karni hai-

"Maa, aaj job ka first day hai. Itna saara kaam hai, I can't leave-

"Arey, toh main kahan bol rahi hu ki jaldi nikal." Her mother sounded upset. "Bas time se nikalna."

"Will try. Acha baad mein baat karti hu. Bye." Prerna cut the call and pulled her eyes away from Mr Bajaj's cabin and onto her laptop's boring screen.

An hour later, a peon stopped at her desk and knocked on the table.

"Haan boliye?" She asked and he pointed at Mr Bajaj's cabin.

"Bade Saheb ne bulaya hai." He said and left, leaving Prerna surprised and her colleagues shocked.

"First day par hi Bajaj Sir ki blacklist mein aa gayi." Her colleague Rohan shook his head. "Kahin aaj hi tumhe nikal na dein."

"Shut up Rohan!" Aditi scolded him. "Prerna, don't worry. Just relax."

"Kyu bulaya hoga mujhe?" She asked and stood up with shaking legs.

"Kahin unhe pata toh nahin chal gaya ki your lunch break was ten minutes more than allowed?" Rahul snickered and Prerna rolled her eyes before moving to the cabin.

He sat there on his throne, busy in his cellphone when she knocked. His blue eyes locked onto her brown ones through the glass doors and after a slight nod of his head, she entered the room with slow steps.

"Ms Sharma-

"Please don't fire me." She gulped and shook her head. "I swear it was not my intention to ask you for coffee or wander into the smoking area when I don't smoke or drop those files or take a forty-minute lunch break-

"You took a forty-minute lunch break-

"I am a slow eater." She shuddered. "But I'll be quicker I promise. But please don't fire me-

"I am not firing you." He sighed and stood up, buttoning up his coat. "I actually called you to talk about your work."

"You...did?" She frowned and he nodded, giving her a file.

"How much time did you take to settle these accounts?" He asked and she looked at them.

"Uh...twenty-five minutes." She answered and he nodded.

"Exactly." He said and clicked a button on his landline. "Mathur, my cabin."

Prerna bit her lip as she realized Mr Bajaj had called up her direct boss, the head of accounts department. A minute later, Mr Mathur was knocking on the door and walked in, with a weird smile on his face.

"Mathur. Did you see this file before sending it up to me?" Mr Bajaj asked and Prerna handed over the file to her Boss.

"Yes Sir, I did." Mathur said and Prerna frowned.

He hadn't!

"And you sent it to me, specifically mentioning Ms Sharma's name?" He asked and Mathur nodded.

"Congratulations Ms Sharma. You're hired permanently." Rishabh said and as soon as the words had left his mouth, four eyes had widened.

"What?" The two people gasped together and Rishabh nodded, looking at Mr Mathur.

"Mathur. You deliberately gave Ms Sharma the most difficult of accounts on her first day as an intern. The accounts you took three months to grasp and settle as a professional accountant, she did that in twenty-f*cking-five minutes as an amateur." Rishabh said and Prerna gulped, looking at Mr Mathur's paled face. "You sent this file to me, without checking it, because you were confident that Ms Sharma would botch it and it would be her last day here."

Prerna felt the air knock out of her lungs as she registered Mr Bajaj's words. Surely Mr Mathur wouldn't-

"You're fired. Effective immediately." Mr Bajaj said and Prerna could not believe her ears. "And you Ms Sharma, are now in Ms Aditi Rao's team as a junior accountant."

"Sir, aap aise mujhe nahin nikal sakte-

"Main sabkuch kar sakta hoon Mathur. I had read a few complaints about you but never focused on them because I genuinely believed that you wouldn't try to destroy someone's career." Mr Bajaj sat back in his seat. "You are too carefree and lazy for this job. Leave."

The room was dead silent in the next thirty seconds as Mr Mathur left while Prerna stood there like a statue. Aditi entered the cabin and Rishabh addressed her.

"Ms Rao, take Ms Sharma with you. She is joining our company permanently and is in your team." He said and Aditi simply nodded.

"Thank you Sir." Prerna said and he looked at her, his blue eyes making her knees go weak.

"Good job Ms Sharma." He smiled slightly and she found herself smiling back while Aditi pulled her out of the room, unaware of the sexual tension which had suddenly gripped the room as the two individuals locked their gazes with each other, feeling as if invisible threads were pulling them towards each other with so much strength that they could shatter any moment.

They had never felt a pull like that.

TBC