Dedicated to nush15

A day passed, then another, then another.

There was no work.

Sure, if making few bills for the amount of raw materials used counted as work, then, yes, it was the only work done around here. And that work too, was often stolen by Sai and Esha to gain a score. By this time our dear Pallavi was agitated.

"Trust me, when you'll get work, you'd be begging for this day." Sai commented when Pallavi complained about the lack of work.

"He's right. You wouldn't even have a minute to spare." Adhvik agreed.

The boys began to explain the extensive manufacturing process of a new model. How they had to complete the process before the deadline, despite the numerous failures in the initial stages. How they had to deal with the extreme pressure from the managers. As unbelievable as it sounded for Pallavi, they had to work for more than twelve hours during that time. It sounded like a nightmare.

"I don't know about you lots, but I just loove these days." Adhvik said, shamelessly rising his feet to the desk as he leaned further back on the chair and placed his hands behind his head.

"That's cos you always have work and friends to keep you busy while we have nothing. Only this time, you have less work." Tulsi reasoned with him.

"Seconded." Pallavi agreed.

"So you want to work, huh?"

"Yes!" Both girls replied together.

"I know just the person who will give it to you." Adhvik stated, smirking. Was it just Pallavi or did he subtly mean something else, too? "Our one and only Mister Tiwari."

"But he-"

"Keeping in mind your lack of experience here, he'll only provide you with menial tasks. Think of it as your training." Adhvik cut Sai off when he spoke. He whispered to Sai, giggling like a high school girl. "Let them be, mughead. This will be fun."

The girls eventually agreed after contemplating a bit. It wasn't like they had options.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot," Adhvik scratched his head before turning to Pallavi. "Oi, you. Give me your number."

"Huh?"

"What, huh? I need to add you in our official WhatsApp group. What else do I need it for, hmm?"

"Okay, okay, fine."

Pallavi blinked at his sudden authoritative tone. Just a while ago, he nearly scolded her for using Facebook on the desktop computer during office hours, but then, let her go, admitting how everyone else used it too, including him. Something, somewhere was odd. Pallavi didn't know it yet. Nonetheless, she gave her number.

A few minutes later, she was added in the official group of the development department. In addition to that, she received a personal message from an unknown number.

"Nice dp 👌🏼"

"Thanks. 🙂"

* * *

Following Adhvik's advice, the girls approached Mister Tiwari for work. He started by giving them a random mobile cover and challenged them to make a document out of it. Naturally, the girls were dumbfounded.

Hence, they struggled to make a document out of something they knew nothing of. Of course Tiwari guided them through, but not without commenting on their lack of knowledge in engineering. In addition, he often had a sickness of explaining things without context. It's like explaining a story without it's characters. The girls were gradually learning a lot of things about this office.

Including the fact to never trust Adhvik Dhawan again.

"I'm going to kill that guy!" Tulsi muttered, through gritted teeth. An unknown job was awaiting them in the factory where Tulsi and Pallavi were heading towards, the next day.

The storeroom was as the name suggested: a room full of items- in this case, it was boxes upon boxes of mobile covers piled up together. The girls headed further, only to find other familiar faces from their department. Coincidentally, they were here for the same job. Minutes later, a man wearing a blue coat approached them to give instructions.

"Basically you have to mark the front covers with 'T'. There may be completed covers with attached child parts like the one I'm holding right now. Just ignore and put them in a separate box here," The man pointed to his left where a box was kept. "Understood?"

"Yes." The employees answered in unison. Pallavi was already starting to feel like a factory worker here.

"How I wish this was an everyday job. Its brainless, compared to the documents we have to make." One of their male colleagues commented with an exhausted sigh.

"Except look at the number of boxes we have to finish." The other short one with glasses commented. True to his word, there were about twenty boxes with trays of covers stacked together.

Pallavi wondered if the work was really as hard as her co-workers were making out to be. It often felt like they were talking in a different language, just because she hadn't experienced it yet. Deep down, she was dying to learn it.

Henceforth, Pallavi and others from her department got down to work. Due to the lack of chairs or any sort of furniture there, they sat on the floor at the possible expense of ruining their pants. Some even sat on wooden planks.

A while later, Adhvik entered the storeroom. He turned to everyone like spokesman.

"Actually, this isn't so bad. It's a nice change from sitting on the computer and trying to do a document you can't understand." Tulsi commented along with others, while merrily marking the covers.

"Agreed."

Upon hearing Pallavi's voice, Adhvik crouched down to sit right besides her, seeming amused. Pallavi's fingers trembled as she tried to mark the next T, clearly feeling self conscious.

"You okay?"

Pallavi's brows furrowed, "O- of course I am. Why ask?"

Adhvik waved his hand, "Oh nothing. I thought you would be uncomfortable at this kind of work. There's no seat, no table, no fan. No water even. Do you need water?"

Her brows furrowed even deeper. What was she? A princess. "I'm more than fine here, thank you very much. I'm loving this."

Though she didn't wanna lie, the narrow plank she sat on was starting to hurt her derriere but of course she wouldn't admit it.

Adhvik kept his silence for the next few seconds until he observed something unusual and gasped, startling her, too. "Holy cow, you're a leftie!"

Pallavi sighed. It wasn't something she hadn't heard before.

"I'm leftie, too, see."

Now this was something she hadn't heard before.

As proof, Adhvik took her black marker and marked the next two covers with his left hand. Even Pallavi couldn't hide her surprise. "What a bizzare coincidence. You wouldn't find a leftie so easily, let alone another."

"Oh, it's no coincidence. Nothing is coincidental in this world." Adhvik chuckled, leaning a little closer to her ear but enough to keep his distance too, "See, now we have something in common."

Her reaction was a mix of surprise and embarrassment as she stared at him, dumbfounded. Adhvik barely gave her time to reply as he gave her the marker and got up to leave. What was that stupid comment just now? Poor Pallavi couldn't get it.

Minutes turned into hours as Pallavi and the rest tried to wrap it all up. Sometime later, Adhvik returned once again to 'entertain them', as he proudly claimed. After chatting with the boys, he turned to Pallavi, enquiring about her well- being once again. He even permitted her to return to her seat as her senior. Did she seem like Rapunzel raised in a high raised tower? She didn't know but it pissed her off. What's more, he wasn't done yet.

"Here, I brought water bottle, just for you." Adhvik stated proudly, extending a plastic water bottle towards her, accompanied by few woos in the background. The fact that people were seeing made it even worse in her perspective.

"You take it, I don't want it."

"But I brought it for you. Don't be shy." He smiled.

"I said I don't want it! I'm not a damsel in distress! I'm not thirsty either... so... back off." Her voice got small towards the end when she gauged her surroundings and then at herself.

She just snapped at him.

Adhvik's smile disappeared, replaced by resentment. "Whatever, it was for everyone anyway. So, who else wants it?"

Tulsi answered and readily took the water bottle from him. So did others. Now Pallavi was a little thirsty. Did she over- react? Perhaps yes. But it was his fault for bringing unnecessary attention towards her when he said 'exclusively for you'. Why did he say that anyway?

Now don't blame the poor child. She seldomly interacted with boys, remember. Yeah, remember that.

Moving on.

The next time this strange exchange (between Adhvik and Pallavi) happened was during lunch, two days later. In case you were expecting a word of apology from Pallavi, then forget it. You have stumbled upon a wrong story. All Pallavi did was talk nicely to Adhvik afterwards while he played along. It was all water under the bridge by the next day.

Moooving oon.

Ever since Pallavi joined the office, she had been having lunch with Tulsi everyday, after which they would gather with a couple of other girls from other departments. After all these girls deserved a seperate girl- time, away from all those testosterones. Usually, Pallavi would occupy Adhvik's seat while he would be gone for lunch with his friends in canteen.

"Aren't you going?" Tulsi asked when Adhvik didn't bulge from his seat, pun not intended.

"Nah, those hoes are hustling today. They will have lunch afterwards. Pardon my intrusion, girls." After Tulsi replied she had no problem with it, he turned to Pallavi on his left side who seemed to express a different story with her face. Almost like waiting for something. "Do you know how precious my chair is? It's been carrying me for the past two years so nope, nada you ain't having it. Go find another."

Pallavi simply rolled her eyes, ignoring his weird- ass comment and went to drag another chair. The girls settled down with Adhvik and showed each other what they bought today.

"Holy shit, that's a lot!" Adhvik cussed, looking at Pallavi's lunch. It was multi- box with three cans. One can contained dal, another rice while the third one had a potato vegetable while the chapatis were rolled up inside a foil. "It's like the first class dinner of the Rajdhani express. How did your mother find time to cook all of this?"

Before Pallavi could reply, Tulsi beat her up to it. "Her cook made it."

Adhvik's eyes widened in shock. "You have a bloody cook? Do you live in a fuckin' palace?"

"Why did you have to say that? I was going to lie." Pallavi whisper shouted to Tulsi before reluctantly answering, "Actually it's more like a tiffin service. She cooks a menu in the morning and delivers to the people who pay her. It's only a hundred rupees a plate. She does cook in a few homes though. A busy woman indeed."

"Okay, so she cooks at your home later."

Now was the golden chance for Pallavi to lie, "Not at all. My mother cooks everything like everyone else."

The conversation diverted from weather, to work, to food. In between, the three of them offered their a part of their lunch to the other. However, when Adhvik offered Pallavi to taste his lunch, she politely refused.

"I'm sorry but I really don't like Turai (ridge gourd). I avoid it at home, too."

He scoffed, "I love it though. And it's fairly easy to make, too. Hamare ghar me toh har tesre din banta hai bhai (Infact it's made after every three days in our home)."

"Same. I love it, too." Tulsi added.

"Ew," Pallavi gagged. Thinking that many people like this particular vegetable, she dreaded to think if it would be the same case at her future husband's home, too. "Man, I hope my future husband's family doesn't demand to make this every second day. Please don't make Turai his favorite, God."

To this very day, Pallavi couldn't, for her life of her, figure out why Adhvik uttered the following words. He glanced at her for a second before looking elsewhere, smiling idiotically.

"No problem. For you, I can even stop eating Torai forever."

Tulsi whistled while Pallavi's mouth was left hanging open. A second later the whole scene changed as Tulsi slapped his back while he laughed dramatically. Pallavi just remained there, like a birthday girl who had just been surprised by her friends to a party. "Hey, chill pill! It's just a joke."

"Kay." No, she couldn't figure out even as a joke. She tried to let it go, but then she thought of his words back at the storage where they were marking covers. 'Now we have something in common.' Coming back to 'something in common', there was something else common too, that he mentioned before. Their favorite color- Purple.

It was at that moment she realized.

Adhvik Dhwan was hitting on her.

Pallavi Khurrana was blown away. An actual guy was trying to flirt with her. Even after already seeing how fat she was, someone still found her qualified enough to flirt. Unbelievable. Someone please pinch her cheeks.

Okay, it wasn't a dream.

That day she went home with a profound love for herself.

* * *

Henceforth, she rambled on her excitement to others.

"Oh my God, you won't believe this Deep, but someone flirted with me today. Infact he's been picking on me since the beginning. Like whaat?! Can you believe that?"

"Oh my office's going great, Aradhana. Do you know my boss is a hot- shot foreigner? Forget that, there's a guy who has hots for me."

"I'm not that unwanted you know. Just the other day, he looked at my photos and called me cute, yikes!"

"He's into me, Saumya. I can feel it in my veins."

Pathetic, I know.

In her defense, Pallavi had been hearing stories on how her friends got picked by men all her life. While all she got was her pathetic online chat stories. Now she was asked out by a few online friends but that hardly counted as a legit proposal in her books. It's not love until one meets face to face.

Few more days later, she had completed her first week in Mansur tech. It was Saturday. According to the information she received from Tulsi, Saturday was a casual day. Everyone (especially the factory workers in uniform) would wear casual dresses. Although Adhvik did wear casual but it was mostly hidden under a navy blue cotton jacket that belonged to the company. Even Pallavi couldn't help but be curious at his casual wardrobe choice.

Needless to say, he didn't disappoint. Adhvik showed up with navy blue denim jeans and a killer grey T- shirt that read- I'm not saying I'm Batman. I'm just saying you have never seen me and Batman in a room together.

"Oh, really?" Pallavi couldn't help but question in amusement.

Adhvik kept his head high, "Only I and Batman know what we know and that's enough for me... So, did I manage to look good?"

"Hmm..." Pallavi cocked her head, pretending to check him out. She just noticed how his noodle like hair seemed less unruly today. Almost as if he gelled it. The whole get- up made him look more taller, brought out a boyish side to him. It made him look...

Cute?

"A seven out of ten." She cleared her throat in an attempt to clear her thoughts.

He rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, I deserve a higher score than that. I need justice."

"Seven is a pretty high score in my books. Better lucky next time.... B- by the way, how do I look?" Pallavi asked somewhat hesitantly. She was wearing a purple salwaar suit with pink lines while her hair was pinned down.

And there it was again. That half crooked, stupid smile of his. Although this time he was looking directly at her. "Honestly, you don't need it. You look good in anything you wear."

Unlike his previous lines where Pallavi was either weirded out or surprised, she blushed. And she blushed hard. Heck, she could freaking feel the heat on her cheeks. Even Adhvik noticed it as he laughed before going away which she was immensely grateful about. Now she could smile like a fool.

It wasn't like Pallavi was desperately seeking someone's validation on how she looked. But in a world where girls were often complimented, she simply wished for the same. Don't get her wrong, she was complimented by the girls in her college days, especially during the farewell. She was grateful for that but her inner girly side wished it from the boys side as well. Not the whole world of course, just someone who looked at her and appreciated what he saw.

She never believed it would come true until today.

During lunch, Tulsi told Adhvik to stay so that she could take some photos. Pictures were taken in all combinations- Pallavi with Tulsi, Esha with Adhvik, Pallavi with Adhvik and of course with the three of them together. That photo marked the beginning of an unusual friendship. The girls then clicked pictures with Sai and others, as they appeared.

When they were done with their mini photo shoot, Pallavi began to check the photos in her phone, contemplating on which ones to post on Instagram. Her fingers stopped scrolling as the photo of her and Adhvik appeared before her eyes. Both were seated in their respective chairs, placed next to each other. A smile spread through her lips as she scrolled to the next photo. It was a failed snap. You know the one where you are told to smile in front of the camera but you are either looking elsewhere or distracted. In this case, Adhvik was joking about something, causing her to giggle. Both of them tried to hide their teeths but it just gave off a weird expression instead. It was such a non- clickable photo.

Yet her eyes couldn't get off it.

* * *

"Senior and junior. Seriously?" Adhvik questioned afterwards when he saw their photo on her WhatsApp status. "You could have just written friends."

Pallavi rolled her eyes but then she thought of something that would certainly ruffle his metamorphic feathers. She hid back a smile. "Oh, I know. Maybe I should delete this and put 'brother and sister' instead."

Adhvik looked at her like she genuinely offended him. "No fucking way you would do that. You really think I'm your..."

Pallavi snickered, flipping her hair. "Be grateful I didn't put that."

"You..." He mumbled something under her breath, hitting lightly on her shoulder. It was the first time he had touched her, (besides handshake) Pallavi noticed. It felt like they were starting onto a road of friendship. Some other ships or detours could come along their way but they wouldn't know that, would they?

Stay tuned.

* * *

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