Beyond A Glance

CHAPTER 1

Pallavi POV:

I woke up in a rush because I had a meeting in an hour, but I was still not ready for the office. As usual, my mother taunts me for not being married, even though I'm only 25 years old. In Indian society, they believe 25 is the perfect age to marry. I just listen to her, letting it go in one ear and out the other, because it's a daily thing for me. My dad will ignore my mother's taunts while reading the newspaper, and my sister will have breakfast before going to college, enjoying the show of my mother taunting me. My mother also compares me to my older sister, who is married and settled in America with her husband and little champ, Pranav.

I bid goodbye to my parents and my devil of a sister after finishing my breakfast. I went to my office, which is just 15 minutes away from home. I walked into my cabin, took a notebook and a pen, then headed toward the meeting room. I asked my assistant to bring me my special coffee while I waited for my client to arrive. I was going through my emails when I heard the door open. When I looked up, there stood my first love in a black suit that fit him perfectly—dashing and handsome as ever. A rush of emotions hit me as I saw him standing there. I had no idea that the company we were about to invest in was his, because the CEO's name was unknown, but the company had been growing rapidly over the past year. Now, here I stood with my company's CEO and CFO, along with him.

He stood like a statue in front of the meeting room until his assistant nudged him to snap out of it. He came inside the room with a professional smile. "Hi, I'm Manav Singh Raizada from Raizada Group of Companies," he said in an authoritative voice. The name was so familiar, and now I understood why. My company's CEO and CFO introduced themselves, and then I introduced myself: "Hi Sir, I am Pallavi, Senior Financial Planner." He seemed surprised to hear that I had made a name for myself in my career because, once upon a time, he had looked down on me. What's more, I actually worked hard to earn this position, while he had simply inherited his CEO role from his father.

The meeting went well, and I nailed my presentation. I could gauge from his response that he was impressed. He signed the deal with us and left the room as soon as the meeting ended. On my way back to my cabin, I heard a familiar voice calling my name. Once, I had chased him like crazy; now, he is chasing me, calling my name loud enough for everyone to hear. I felt really embarrassed, as everyone in the office was now looking at me with odd expressions.

"Hi Sir, if you have something to say, please follow me to my cabin. Don't make a scene here," I said as calmly as possible. He just stayed silent and followed me to my cabin.

Once inside, I shouted at him, "Do you have any sense? You should have made an appointment before chasing and screaming my name like we're in a fish market! You've just ruined my image in front of my colleagues. What do you think you're doing?" He was quiet for a moment, processing what I had said.

"I'm really sorry for that. I just wanted to catch up with you and have a cup of coffee. You acted like you didn't know me in the meeting room, so I chased after you," he explained. I was shocked to hear that from him, but if I were the girl I used to be, I would have squealed right now.

"I'm not interested in you, and sorry, but I'm not like you. I don't humiliate people in front of others and break their hearts," I said coldly. He was taken aback, and left my cabin without saying anything.

The rest of the day was hectic, and I really needed a strong coffee from my mother to get rid of the headache that was forming.

But does she know what's waiting for her at home? After a tiring day, all she wanted was a cup of coffee. But do we always get what we want? Yes? No? Maybe?