We Found Love In A Hopeless Place

Chapter 6 : Claustrophobic

It had been a week of her joining Shukla Enterprises. To say that she was proud of being here, a part of it, was an understatement. She absolutely loved everything about this place- the atmosphere, the pay, the colleagues and......the boss.

She was occupied with his thoughts, of all the times she had accompanied him to meetings. She observed how he spoke to clients with so much of confidence, how he'd explain the minute details, how he would always charm them by being sweet in a professional way, if that was even possible. She would stare and stare as he'd speak. Everytime he speaks, everything else around fell into a frenzy and all she could see was him,all she could hear was his bold, raspy voice. It sounded so good,like music to her ears. She would notice how he often run his hands through his hair, every now and then.

Damn. Are you seriously drooling over your boss, woman. He's off limits. Her mind screamed.

"Lost somewhere?" Navya teased her.
"Shut up. I was just..." she was cut off by a ringing sound of the intercom.

"Miss Gill, please come to my office right now" Sidharth said.

"Five minutes, Mr Shukla." she said and excused herself from Navya.

Sidharth explained her about some presentation and further went on to tell her to make some corrections in them. They had an important meeting, this order was quite necessary for the company, it'd help them establish good relations with others in the market.

It was already lunch time when Shehnaaz started working on it. She decided to skip her lunch and work as fast as she could. There was a lot that needed to be done and it was quite possible that she'll have to stay back for at least an hour or so.

By the time she finished, it was 8:30 pm. She leaned back on the chair and heaved out a sigh. Her head was hurting. That was when she noticed sound of footsteps approaching her. She gasped, way too loudly, when she saw a silhouette nearing her. She relaxed a bit on finding that it was Sidharth.

"Mr Shukla." she said, and added "You're still here?"

"Had some things to look after. You done?" he asked.

"Yeah, would you mind taking a look?" she forwarded the latop. His eyes scanned the slides she just finished working on. He approved of it. He was impressed by the little efforts she would take to make things look presentable.

They entered the lift together. As the gates closed, an awkward silence crept in. She stealingly looked at him, and immediately lowered her gaze when she found him already staring at her. He cleared his throat and shifted his gaze to the side where the buttons with numbers inscribed on them were located. The air inside was tensed. Suddenly, the lights went off and the lift abruptly stopped.

Shehnaaz let out a huge gasp, realising she was stuck in the middle of nothing in a closed space with her boss who she was crushing on.

Crushing on? When did that happen?
She questioned her own self.

Sidharth's condition was no better. He tried calling the guards, but there was no network. And then, he heard her sobbing, and gasping for air. It was then that he realised she was claustrophobic.

She struggled to breathe, gasping for air. Her hands and legs were shaking. Her whole body was trembling and she was hyperventilating. All of a sudden, she felt a strong arm grab her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Sidharth asked

She found herself unable to form words.
"I... I ca...cant.....breathe" she managed to say with a lot of difficulty.

Sidharth took her in a tight embrace, hugged her to soothe her down. He caressed her back softly and rubbed it to give her some warmth.

Her mind was in a daze. Her hands that were till now hanging loosely by her sides instinctively went up. She placed her palms against his well built, hard chest. He hissed at the contact. He wasn't used to this. Her touch. He was experiencing it for the first time. But right now, calming her mattered more than the tension between them. He rocked and rubbed her back.