Author's POV

"Ayushi, take the files to the team manager. He wants to check it." 

Busy typing the email on her laptop, Ayushi hardly looked up at her co-worker. 

"Don't forget it," her co-worker reminded her once again.

Ayushi groaned internally and frantically arranged her files that her dear team manager wanted to check through.

She walked down to the cabin to her manager who was happily playing on his mobile, acting all busy doing nothing useful. She didn't really react much as she was used to this from her new team manager.

It would have been weird if he actually worked.

"Keep it there and take all those files. Complete it by today." He pointed at a set of files as high as a mountain sitting royally on his desk. 

"Recheck these two files and hand them to team 2. " He handed her two files and resumed his game. 

Ayushi glared at him in rage. If only she had a dagger, she would have stabbed him right now without any regret. If only she had access to gun, he would've been dead by now. This pathetic excuse for a team manager, she thought.

She managed to carry all those files. "If you can, better do some work. Aren't you tired of idling around?" She spit out her anger before darting out of the room.

She could hear him scream loudly just enough for the employee to stare at her but she couldn't care less. "Do you know who I am? How dare you?" 

Few of them shook their heads and ignored it as it became a daily drama, a few laughed and giggled and a few even started gossiping but Ayushi was way above all this. It really didn't affect her anymore.

So, what if he is getting engaged to the daughter of the boss? He is just leaching off the company like he owns it, Ayushi grimaced.

★★★

"You got into another argument with Mr. Pot? It's spreading like wildfire in the company,"  Anshumann said, smoking his cancer stick.

They were standing on the rooftop, the only secret escapeway to peace after long tiring hours of preparing and creating presentations. 

"You really have to smoke here as well?" 

He looked dissatisfied at my question but soon retorted, "Hey, this is the only place which is not a 'No Smoking zone'. Where else am I supposed to smoke? But that is not the point here." 

Ayushi shrugged her shoulders and said, "Yeah, that lazy pot! Sitting all day like a log with no work whatsoever. I have so many complaints that it will take me 366 days to complete it." 

She stomped her legs in a fit of anger. 

"Hey, did you hear anything about the dating scandal about Maya?" 

"What about that?" She asked, suddenly her curious bones sticking out to listen. She very well knew that Anshumann, the office Rumour Box, knew all the rumours around the office. His popularity among the girls is really helpful sometimes.

 "Well, it seems like someone from the broadcasting team of our company is getting paid for defaming Maya. Of course, the picture was not supposed to be leaked in the first place. Then again, I am not quite sure but I heard when the higher ups were smoking here," he said, looking up at the sky.

"If this is true, we should be concerned," he muttered. 

Ayushi was shocked. She couldn't believe that someone from the company might be behind this.

Before she could say anything, someone interrupted. "Hey, you both were here. I am not disturbing you guys, right?" 

Prakash meekly smiled as Anshumann threw his cigarette after hearing the voice. He sighed loudly when he turned to see Prakash.

"Ah! That scared me. I thought Gayatri came," he pressed his chest, trying to calm down. Ayushi laughed loudly at his concerns.

 You should've recognized the voice, bro. How could you even mistake a guy's voice as your girlfriend's?" Ayushi and Prakash broke into fits of laughter.

Anshumann bent his head and rubbed his neck. "You know I just can't distinguish between her voice and a guy's. This is the reason for our fights 99 percent of the time. Don't even mention it. " He shook his head.

Gayatri and Anshumann had been dating for 6 months now. He had told her that he would not continue smoking but he couldn't let go of his addiction. He thought he can do it behind her back but there his problem of mistaking her voice plays a great role. Oftentimes, he got caught smoking just because of his lacking skill in recognizing voices. 

"Tsk... poor guy," Prakash said, sympathizing with him. "But forget it. Let's eat! I am hungry."

While they were in their office cafeteria, Ayushi remembered about Prakash being in the broadcasting team 2. 

He might know something about this, Ayushi thought. 

"Umm... Prakash, do you by chance know about that rumour that someone in the broadcasting team got paid for making news out of the viral picture of Maya and Ajay?" Ayushi asked. 

Prakash looked alert at the mention of the broadcasting team but he soon masked it. "Is there a rumour like that going on?" His laugh sounded more like a man who wants to hide his secrets in a chamber of lies. 

She could feel that chill in his actions. Her heart sank at a thought that just crossed her mind but she decided to drop the idea of doubting her friend. He was one of the close colleagues of Maya too. How could he possibly think of doing anything wrong? 

The whole time while she was eating her food, she kept thinking about the probability of Prakash being involved in this rumour. 

"Listen everyone from Entertainment department team 1, we are going to have a company team dinner tonight," said the sidekick and apparently the most loyal disciple of the Team manager.

He is the one who is always ready to badmouth about him behind his back but still holds the prestigious place in the company as his trusted employee. 

Soon after his sidekick's role ends, the main jerk appears in front as if there weren't enough jerks already present in the cafeteria. The screaming and lively place turned into a silent death place. Everyone stood up except Ayushi. 

She was way too busy digging her sandwich to stand up and greet him. 

"You are being rude, again. Don't you have decent manners?" His arrogant voice resonated as he walked to her table. She rolled her eyes and closed them for a second, tired of this every day shit. Ayushi wasn't even listening. 

As if I care, Ayushi thought of saying it aloud but held them back. She surely didn't want to lose her job.

"Sorry, sir. I have a lot of work and you told me to complete those files by today. So, I won't be able to attend the company dinner," she said, keeping a poker face. Anshumann on the other side had been chuckling and showing his thumbs up to her. He knew it was all her plan to get out of the useless company dinner.

"More reasons to come then," he said, leaning on the table. Ayushi was shocked by what he just said.

"It seems like I gave you a lot of burden. Fine, since I am going to be the next Executive Director in a few months... I should look after my employees. You can submit them tomorrow. So, you must come to dinner today." Before Ayushi could reply, he walked out of the already tense room, turning it colder and darker.

She sank in her seat as she lost her appetite. 

"Looks like you are having some fault in your stars today," Anshumann fooled around with her while Ayushi was the saddest creature in the room. 

"Here, I had imagined my new team manager to be someone like Park Seo Joon and Lee Min Ho. Screw my life." Ayushi was frustrated with all the things happening around. Her dreamy K-drama land was crumbling down like a castle made of sand due to the winds of reality smashing them down. 

Anshumann, who looked utterly amused, said, "You have a lot of expectations from life. Unfortunately, as said by Anonymous, life has never been generous." 

Ayushi nodded her head, agreeing to it. Life is so harsh that it hurts. 

★★★

"I am fine." The whole place looked like hell with the devil sitting right across her. Ayushi couldn't help but imagine herself sitting on the death alarm. As if she is soon going to be slaughtered, she sank to her seat, drinking the water on the table.

"Come on, you are a young girl. Just drink more," Team Manager Vikram, popularly called Mr.Pot insisted Ayushi, who was too uninterested. 

"Haha, Let me make a shot for you. I am an expert at this." Gayatri volunteered as she mixed the alcohol with coke, serving the drinks to Vikram and her sidekicks.

"Get out of this as fast as possible," Anshumann whispered a slow as possible, maintaining his clean smile while greeting his seniors. 

Ayushi was just going to get up slowly when she saw two guys entering the restaurant. One of which was Pranav. She gaped at him as he looked all professional in his lawyer suit. 

She turned to see Vikram drunk as hell with all his sidekicks just lying around like dead bodies. She didn't want to approach Pranav in such a situation. A sigh left her mouth when she saw Gayatri flashing a large smile in victory as she successfully tricked them for the 39th time. 

"Sleep losers!" She whispered, afraid that they were going to hear her. 

"Wow, another goal by my girlfriend!" Anshumann exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Gayatri just to get a smack on his stomach.

"There is no time for this. Let's get out before he wakes up. You know he is a heavy drinker. I don't even know when he is gonna get up and say—" Before she could finish, Anshumann pulled us out of the restaurant.

The glimmering lights on the streets and the dusty roads seemed more interesting for Ayushi than keeping company to those creatures. When the couple beside her was busy arguing on whether Vikram is really out or not, her mind roamed about Pranav. 

All of a sudden, their bantering stopped making Ayushi come out of her trance. "What's wrong guys?" she asked to see them exchanging worried glances. 

It didn't take long for her to figure out that they were hiding something and soon, she came across to the guy in front of her, who was too busy admiring the girl with him.

"We thought it might hurt you." Anshumann mumbled, casting an eye of pity towards Ayushi.

She sighed and was about to turn away when she heard him calling her name. "Ayushi, what's up? Aren't you gonna greet us?" She turned around to see her ex-boyfriend, widely grinning along with a girl.

"I was so excited to meet you. You see, I bought a new car for my girlfriend, Lucy and came out for a drive so just thought of meeting you on the way." 

Ayushi smiled and looked at his car. "Well, I am happy for you. It's really good. But how do you manage to buy a new car whenever you get a new girlfriend? Is it also one of your hobbies or you have too much money to blow around?"

She turned at his girlfriend who now looked annoyed. " You are so pretty. You could've done better," Ayushi said, eyeing towards her ex.

The wide grin that was adorning his face vanished. He hardly managed to keep a confident face even after the insult. The girl beside her looked at him in a displeased way.

"Ayushi, what are you doing here?" The deep voice of Pranav caught everyone's attention including the drunk Vikram who somehow managed to lean against the entry gate, viewing the entire drama with interest.

Pranav came near and smiled at Ayushi. "Hey, you shouldn't leave me like this. I can't stay without you. Don't make my heart suffer." 

Her expressions made Pranav more confident about his act. He had seen Ayushi come face-to-face with her ex and he was ready to be the prince in shining armour and act like her boyfriend to save her from the embarrassment.

He has seen this in movies and dramas and is quite confident that he can pull it off.

"W...who are... you?" Her ex asked, stuttering much to Pranav's satisfaction. 

"Why? Her lover. I gave her my heart but she is yet to return it." Pranav made it sound like a lovesick, desperately to catch the playboy's attention. 

"Yes. He is my boyfriend." Ayushi played along as she understood his plan.

"Really? Cool. Let's go, Lucy." And as Pranav wanted, the playboy left with his girl.

Ayushi was still confused as to what just happened.

"Was I good there?" Pranav asked, flashing his shy smile. "I don't know. Didn't I look like So Yi Jung just now?" ( Reference to Boys over Flowers) He waited eagerly to see her reaction.

Ayushi blinked her eyes, her heart beating fast against her chest. She was about to speak when a voice came from the other side of the wall behind her. "Rajiv sir... I am here. Was it necessary to talk? Okay, I will talk with ma'am."

She followed the voice to see Prakash talking over the phone. Rajiv sir..., Ayushi thought, Isn't he the director of Maya's film? Is he talking to him?

She saw Prakash looking around to check before scurrying inside the restaurant. 

She too followed him with Pranav behind her. He realized something was wrong the instant when he saw Ayushi eavesdropping on the guy's call. 

When he reached there, he was shocked to see the person with a woman inside the cabin. Before the cabin's door could close, Pranav saw a glimpse of the woman.

He recognized the face from somewhere but couldn't really remember.

As Ayushi looked confused and stared at Pranav, he was reminded of that face. He was shocked as he exclaimed, "Priya! "

~•~

So Hope you are all doing great!

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