The Game

The Meeting

I open my eyes and close it again, trying to comprehend what is happening. The black coat hugs his bulging muscles as the top three buttons of his white shirt are undone, allowing me to see a part of his toned and tanned chest. His dark eyes are the most alluring pair I have ever seen. His stance shows how much power and dynamism he withhelds.

His eyes never leave mine, assessing me, taking me in with a dangerous glint in his eyes. I look down, embarrassed by my thoughts, as a red hue spreads on my cheeks. Looking up again, I find him intently staring at me, making me squirm under his scrutinizing gaze and feel overwhelmed with his presence.

He clears his throat and gestures me to sit, and I oblige happily.

He takes his seat in front of me and opens my CV," You were topper of the batch, and graduated with four degrees," He states, all the while closely examining me. I straighten my back and let a small smile break out on my face.

"Yes, sir," I speak as I am flustered. I am praying to almighty that he doesn't remember me from yesterday.

"Why did you accepted this job, Ms.Sharma?" I fidget and look down.

"I wanted to do something for my mom," I speak slowly, hoping that he would hear me.

He nods, satisfied by my answer, as his lips tilt a little, indicating a smile.

We discuss the details and what needs to be done by me. His gaze has this way of getting into your soul, leaving every secret bare for his eyes.

I bite my lip due to nervousness, only to drag his eyes down to my lips.

Oh god! Just kill me now. He clears his throat and looks back at my eyes.

"You can join from today, Ms.Sharma," He says, and a huge smile breaks out on my face as I stop myself from squealing.

We stand up, and he forwards his hand to shake. As I touch him, my body becomes hot, and suddenly I feel just right as if I had found a long-lost valuable of mine. I shiver when his thumb moves against the back of my hand, making goosebumps rise on my body. I look up at him and meet the unknown emotion flooding his eyes.

"It will be great to work with you, Ms.Sharma," He husks, and I nod.

"S-Same here, s-sir," I stutter.

Well done, girl. Ab naachne bhi lag jaa isske saamne, taunts my inner voice.

I leave his office hurriedly, and as instructed by him, Kavya shows me around the office and then to my cabin.

It has a great view of the city, and the color is not loud, just how I like it.

I arrange my belongings and start the laptop assigned by the company. I view all the transactions made by the company in the past five years and I find something unusual. I look at the scanned copies of the cheques signed and then the copies of contracts signed.

I work for two hours straight and find out that in the last seven months five transactions of large sums of money were extracted, in the name of the company.

I frown and run a logarithm and find that there was a slight change in the signature on these cheques.

I join the dots in my head, realizing that some one has been forging Mr.Malhotra's sign for months now.

I quickly print out the details and walk out of my cabin and towards his.

I knock on the door and hear no reply, instead, I hear shouting from inside.

"I don't care, Shaurya! I want the person responsible found out. How come my dumb witted employees couldn't find these details!!" He growls in anger, and I hear a loud crash. I presume he has thrown something on the ground. I take a huge breath and knock again.

"Not now!!" He shouts, and I shiver with the amount of anger his voice held.

"It's me, Aaisha," I speak. I hear some shuffling, then a faint 'come in'.

I enter to a disheveled Mr.Malhotra and a crashed coffee table. I quickly compose myself, and my grip on my files tighten further.

"Sorry for the mess, Ms.Sharma," He speaks, and I exhale at the sincerity in his voice.

"I wanted to show you something, Sir," I speak and hand him the folder.

He takes it, all the while looking at me. As he opens it, his eyes widen for a fraction of a second and go back to normal. I observe his posture is stiff, as if the whole world's problems are on his shoulders. And maybe it is the case because the man standing in front of me, manages this group of industries, located throughout the world, and if a single thing goes wrong, it's on him.

During my work hours, I searched his name, and I found out that he made his success on his own and started when he was just nineteen. I am in awe of him, as to how somebody rises so quickly in the business world. At the age of twenty-eight, he was in the list of top ten youngest billionaires in the world.

"Ms.Sharma, take a seat," He says, and I sit down, looking at my lap.

"Look at me," He orders, and I instantly oblige. I am met by his gorgeous face, etched with a hint of proudness. I blush under his gaze, which is normal to me.

"Ms.Sharma, how did you do this?" He asks, and I explain him how I noticed some mismatched transactions, and I ran a logarithm.

When I finish and look up, he is sitting there with a proud expression on his face.

"Good work, Ms.Sharma," He says and stands up, and I follow.

He comes around the desk and stands in front of me. I quickly look down, not wanting to be trapped by his beautiful eyes. He stands there for a minute, which felt like an eternity. Finally, he asks me to follow him, and he orders Kavya to ask all the heads for a meeting in five minutes.

I follow him to the board room, and he takes a seat at the head.

"Sit here, Ms.Sharma," He orders, and I sit to his right side.

After five minutes, the heads of all departments start entering the room.

As all of them settle down, Mr.Malhotra stands up.

"I called this meeting on an important topic. It seems that some one in this company has guts to steal from me," He states, and everyone stares at the table, probably intimidated by his anger-filled voice.

"You know that I hate liars and cheaters more than anything, Mr.Vijay, Stand up from your seat," He orders a man who looks like he is about to piss himself. The man stands up, shaking like a twig, and looks up at Mr.Malhotra.

"You are fired! And I will make sure that you won't get job anywhere else. Dismissed!" He roars, and everyone stands up and leaves, including Mr.Vijay. I stand up and start walking towards the door.

"Stay Ms.Sharma," He says. I look at him, all flustered.

"Yes, sir?" I speak as quietly as I can, not wanting to anger him further.

"You did a great job today, and I hope that this won't be your last achievement," He speaks, and I sense an underlying emotion that I can't decipher.

I nod and smile at him, which instantly lightens up the conversation, or so I think.

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I reach my apartment and open it, and enter my heaven.

I open my sandals and throw them carelessly on the floor and plop down on the couch, as my eyes close automatically due to exhaustion.

I, somehow, push myself to change my clothes and have dinner.

As I am about to sleep, my phone starts ringing.

Frowning in confusion, I take a look and see that Siya is calling me.

I pick up.

"Siya, are you alright? Why are you calling at this hour?" I ask hurriedly.

"I am fine, B. I called you because my restaurant is organising an event in a week in Manali. I got this project one month ago, so I called to inform you that you are coming, along with me and Mayra," She tells me in one breath, and I chuckle at her childish behavior.

"Okay okay, calm down. Take a deep breath. I will come, just text me the details," I say, and she squeals like a kid. After confirming, I hang up and fall on my bed, face down and welcome the incoming sleep.

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