My Lovely Boss

Chapter 2

2.

*Flashback*

The 1st day was going dull. All the instruction lectures and presentations were making me so bored. Natasha and I decided to have lunch in the college canteen.

After having lunch, we were walking around the campus when I saw a guy looking somewhat familiar. He was wearing a tight black, round neck full sleeve T-shirt and blue jeans. His black, straight hair was waving in the air. God must have given extra attention while creating him. His eyes were brown with long lashes. He has a straight nose and rosy lips. This much I could see from where I was standing.

I was so busy looking and admiring him that I didn t realize Tasha (Natasha) was no longer beside me. I saw her walking towards that guy; she turned back and motioned for me to follow her.

What?

She was going to meet that guy. Oh no. Suddenly my breathing had increased, and I felt like I was hyperventilating. I could hear my own heart be fastening.

I took a moment to relax. Then approached Tasha, who was hugging the guy.

"Hello dear brother, how are you these days?" Tasha punched him on his arm while asking. He smiled and looked towards me and extended his hand.

"Hi, I am Aryan Patel." He said. I gasped; my eyes watered immediately.

"Ryan," I whispered. He looked at me a little confused but then he seemed to remember.

"Ana, baby, doll!! You have grown up into a beautiful princess." And with that, he hugged me.

"You left me, Ryan. You didn t even meet me before leaving, why?" I almost cried and released myself from his embrace.

"I wanted to Ana, but I knew you would have stopped me, I couldn t stand to look at you when you cry, I am so sorry baby doll." He replied with guilt.

We stared at each other for what seemed like a long time. Suddenly, out of nowhere a girl with long brown, curly hair came and hugged him, then kissed him on the cheek. And guess what, while kissing him she gave me a sarcastic look. I instantly looked away.

"Ohh honey, I missed you so much," she cooed and kissed him again. Once she was done. He looked at me with a sorry expression. That's it. I took Tasha s hand and started moving. That day he broke my heart all over again.

"Come on, Tasha we have a class to attend, bye Ryan," I said. My words sounded so fake that anyone could guess something was wrong.

"Wait!" Ryan shouted back as we were leaving and followed us leaving the bimbo behind.

"Ananya, what happened? I wanted to introduce you to my girlfriend. Where are you going suddenly? You are being so rude." He complained with a little pout. This brought an instant smile to my face and made my anger vanish away for a moment.

"No, it s not like that. Look at the time, we have to go. We will meet you after college, you enjoy it. Now really byeee." I said and with that, we ran towards the stairs.

I noticed Natasha was quiet the whole time. When we reached the class, she pulled me away from the door and placed her hands on her waist like my mom does whenever I do something wrong.

"What?" I asked.

"You tell me, what happened? How come you know my cousin so well? And after seeing his girlfriend, what was that sudden change in your attitude?" She was firing questions at me while dragging me away from class.

We entered a small tea pantry. She made me sit. I was shaking a little bit. She must have noticed it.

"What are we doing here Tasha, we have the class to attend," I said, with sadness visible on my face.

"We are here because you need a friend to release all your emotional distress too. And no one is ever interested in attending class on their first day."

"I don t have any emotional distress, Okay? You are overthinking it." I looked down to hide my face.

"Oh come on now, you teeny-weeny little birdy. Out with it." She held my hand and I broke down. I started crying. It was way too much for me to hold in any longer.

She placed her hand on my shoulder which I shook off.

"You," I pointed at her, "You, why you ha- have to be his cousin? Why didn t you ever mention him before? If you told me I would have approached him first and I would have been the person whom he would kiss love. Whatever. I lost it. I was better off knowing nothing about Ryan. I was happily living in my dreamland, thinking about him as my future husband but deep down I knew I would never get a chance to meet him and that he would never love me. It was all my dream that I would find someone like him." I paused to take a long breath and released it. Then placed my head on the table, using my hand to cushion it.

"I lost it, Tasha, I lost my first love. Now I can t look at anyone else. Please tell me how to be around him without giving myself away. How would I hide my feelings from him? It would be torture for me to see someone else with him and act like I m cool with it." I couldn t stop crying.

"Ana, it s OK," Tasha said while caressing my shoulder.

"If I were aware that you knew my brother then I definitely would have mentioned him. But how would I know any of this Ana? I asked you so many times about your past crushes or boyfriends. But you didn t say anything. Now we can do one thing; I will avoid talking to him whenever you are with me. And besides, it s just a matter of one year" I looked up with confusion.

"He is in his last year of BMS (business management studies) after finishing it, he is planning on going to the USA for further studies, then he will be joining his family business." She explained. Tasha squeezed my hand tightly.

"Ananya be strong. Remember one thing if he is not with you means he is not yours, and if he is yours then one day he will come back."

*End of Flashback*

Her words came true. He now wants to come back into my life, but it s too late. I sighed and wiped my tears. This was my past that I had kept buried but Aryan dug it up with that so-called proposal aka statement.

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He was holding me with his hands circled my waist. He came closer while smirking. My breathing increased as I saw the hunger in his eyes, and he stopped smirking.

We were an inch apart now. He brought his face down towards my lips; my body was shaking under him. My lips felt heavy. He was going to kiss me again. Sensation rose below my stomach.

This made me close my eyes. I just wanted to feel it. I must admit it was a heavenly experience I had earlier. There was no other experience to compare it with.

And now I wanted to feel it again. I was waiting desperately but nothing happened. This made me confused.

Why didn't he kiss me? Instead, I heard my name being called.

"Ananya wakes up or I will throw water on you." A voice threatened me to open my eyes. My Mom was looking at me with concern in her eyes.

"Mom, when did you come back? Sorry I didn t get much sleep last night. Was I snoring?" I scrunched my nose and pouted. Ohh please say no Mom, what will Aryan say if he finds out. Oh sh*t Anshuman I meant Anshuman.

"Anu, no you were not snoring, but you were shaking, and sweating. What is this? Did something happen between you and Anshuman?" She sat on the bed. I rubbed my forehead and wiped the sweat while thinking of an excuse to tell her to avoid her rows of questions.

"No, no, nothing happened Mom. I just had a nightmare. A big giant spider was following me, and I was running and running so fast, but couldn t get away. Then suddenly it grabbed me, slammed me to the wall, and started weaving its web around me." I said, looking down. Sorry Mom I lied but it was true only that the spider was Aryan Patel who wanted to grab me and cage me into his web, I thought to myself. My mom started laughing.

"Oh my sweet little princess," She said while hugging me, "Don t worry, it was just a dream. I would never let any Spidey hurt my baby." She said while kissing my forehead and hugged me again.

"Come on now, go freshen up. Breakfast is ready." Mom got off the bed and left the room. I sighed.

I need to do something. Aryan was contaminating my head. My marriage had been fixed. I couldn t back out now. And why should I? He had already shown me how arrogant, bossy, and unromantic of a person he was. I couldn t stand a minute with him after yesterday s event.

He was very different from yesterday. I felt a strong possession in his kiss. I shouldn t have kissed him back, but it felt so right at that moment. Finally, I was experiencing what I had dreamed of infinite times. That kiss should have satisfied my fantasy about him but instead, it ignited a fire within me. This needs to stop and there s only one way to resolve this problem.

I went for a shower. After finishing my bath, I was drying myself with a towel in front of the mirror. I was looking down so engrossed in thoughts about him when I looked in the mirror and saw him standing behind me, admiring me. I had goosebumps all over my body. It was as if the world had frozen for me, I couldn't move or speak. We kept staring at each other through the mirror until I heard Mom calling me. That brought me out of my trance and then I was alone. I sighed. He was just a fragment of my imagination. I got ready for the day.

Today was my Mom s day. It had become our tradition. I always spend my Saturday with my mom helping her with her sari designing. I lost my dad in a car accident at a very young age. Since then my mom was the only family I had.

She had tried various business options to earn money. Dad had left us enough savings for my education and to help set up Mom s business. It had been 7 years since we had been running this sari designing business. Mom loved her work and with her hard work and skills, she was earning quite well.So if I resign, I could concentrate more on her business.

I had my breakfast then came back to my room. I turned on my laptop and started typing my resignation letter. After finishing it, I printed it out. I neatly folded it and placed it in a white envelope.

Now I am ready to face you, Mr. Aryan Patel.

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