It had been precisely one hour of silence since Mahi's departure and Aditya had been sitting at his desk with a faraway look in his eyes ever since.

Believe it or not, Zoya did on occasion get tired of hearing her own voice. That was an absolute lie, but that wasn't the point here. Life was so much more fun when people reacted to her and right now Hooda was doing the exact opposite, it couldn't go on, that was all she knew, so she had developed a master plan, honestly, it was foolproof! Okay, maybe that was a lie too, the plan could go terribly, but she was a Siddiqui and that meant being an idiot ran in the blood, so was she going to go ahead with a plan that would either have her fired, dead or both? Abso-fucking-lutely!

He ignored her as she hummed loudly, body inches from his as she dusted around him. He also ignored her when she then haphazardly fell into his lap, giggled, bopped his nose and called him a cutie pie. He continued to ignore her as she got up, huffed, turned the radio on repeat and rewound the same damn song far too many times. He even managed to ignore her when she walked out angrily and slammed the door only to come back in the next second just to apologise to the door and make it crystal clear that he should not mistake her apology as an apology to him. He succeeded in all of those endeavours until she pulled a pair of fluffy handcuffs from her bag, cuffed one to his wrist and one to hers, then realised the key was at her home when she'd already locked them as one, that was when he lost it and decided he could ignore no more.

"Are you an idiot?" He growled, standing over her so she had no choice but to bend her knees to get away from him.

"Yes," she gulped, nodding fast.

"Do you have any idea how stupid of an idea this is?" He grit his teeth, "I have a meeting in an hour, how am I meant to explain this?" Jangling their joint hands together, he placed his hand on his forehead causing her body to bump into his.

Seeing his glare, Zoya cleared her throat "You pulled me closer, not the other way around, imagine what your fiancee would say?" She joked.

"Don't" Aditya held a hand up, he'd rather not think about her right now. Pouring himself a glass of water, he sipped slowly, only turning to face her when she made a pained sound. "What?"

She stood bouncing on the spot, legs crossed "I need to uh" she held a finger up.

His brows joined "You need to one? What? What is that, some kind of codeword? I'm an adult, not a child, use your mouth" he ordered distastefully.

"I need to pee" she whined, jutting her bottom lip out which only accentuated her innocence.

"Well you can't, so hold it in" God, this woman was irritating, there was no way he was going into a bathroom stall with her alone, he feared for his life and his sanity and on some level his private parts, never mind the fact that if she managed to accuse him of trying to have his wicked way with her by helping her stand up in a broken lift, then only the Devil himself could work out what kind of accusations shed accost him with if he went into a bathroom with her.

Zoya threw her head back, groaning loudly "I have the bladder control of a pregnant woman, I will pee on your horrid yellow shoes if you do not allow me to go to the toilet right this instant" she paused, "Actually, it wouldn't show up so" she trailed off.

"For goodness sake" he dragged her towards the men's bathroom, only to feel his body stop when she shoved her feet onto the ground.

"I don't think so, I'm not going where smelly boys go" She shook her head in absolution, holding her nose as she did.

Pinching the brim of his nose, Aditya swore under his breath "You've got to be fucking kidding me? You're so childish" he commented.

"Yeah" she nodded, "I know, what's your point?"

Turning swiftly, he pushed her into the wall "My point" his nostrils flared, irises enlarged with anger, "Is that I am the boss and a male, if I go into the lady's bathroom I'll get reported for sexual harassment, now come on" he tugged her again.

"Urgh, fine, but people are going to think we're doing the dirty dance" Zoya pointed out calmly.

"The what? Do you even hear yourself?" He was in complete denial she existed, no one could be this crazy!

"Yes, it is you who has the hearing problem, remember? And sex, people will think I'm banging my boss". She pointed a finger gun at him, "Pow, pow and not even that kind of bang-bang, the other kind, up against the wall kind" She winked, "Like uh" her shoulders drooped, "Like you have me now".

As if burnt by her words, he pulled away. Trying his hardest to look anywhere but at her when he caught the glimmer of the cuffs in his sight again "And why are you carrying what I can only assume to be a kinky set of cuffs around with you anyway?"

"Well, I figured if you wouldn't give me a job, the only other job I could get, these" she jangled her wrist and his, "Would be helpful".

"What job is that exactly?"

"Prostitution".

Without even meaning to, he laughed so hard it echoed in the empty hallway, rumbling in his chest as his ribs clenched.

"Excuse me, what are you laughing at? I so could be a prostitute, I'd do it better than you at least" she scoffed.

"Zoya, I am not going to debate with you over who could earn more by selling their body" his nostrils flared. "You're the one getting oh so scared when you speak about banging your boss, not me!"

"I so am not!"

Oh really? He'd see about that. His lips curled into a devilish smirk as he led her into a stall, locked the door and held her against it, winding one of her legs around his waist as his lips whispered against her throat "So you're fine with this? Or maybe you're more comfortable like this?" He lifted her fully so she was off the ground and her legs were around him, his fingers stroking her stomach. His grin widened when she began to stutter, breaths turning rapid.

"I, I, what are you, you have an um" she gulped.

Sliding her down his body, he span them around so he was facing the door "Now I know how to shut you up, test me again and what I'll do will make sure you stay quiet for a long time" he vowed.

This time it was her turn to be silent, and she was... for all of thirteen seconds. Pulling her trousers and underwear down, she sat on the toilet "This is awfully intimate, some married couples don't even do this in front of each other".

Aditya huffed "No it is not, it's disgusting and we aren't doing anything in front of each other because I am facing THE OTHER WAY" he yelled, fist slamming into the door. He'd be crazy by the end of the month, he just knew it.

She flinched "I can't go with you standing there".

Slamming his forehead into the door, he allowed his shoulders to slack "Urgh, I can't exactly leave, so either go or hold it in". The next sound he heard was one he'd never forget for his entire life, no matter how much he tried, hearing his psycho assistant peeing a step away from him is the kind of thing you go to counselling for and he'd decided that would be exactly where he'd be heading next.

After she'd washed her hands and helped him escape from the cubicle without getting caught, she decided to lie on the floor, for no other reason than, why not?

"Dare I ask why you really carry these cuffs around? Is it a fetish?" He shouldn't have asked, but since she wouldn't allow them to sit in silence and his curiosity was piqued, he fell into temptation and asked the she-devil a question, one that would only lead to images he really, really didn't want. Especially after the pee-pee fiasco.

Peering up at the way he rested his chin on his hands so he could look at her, she smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know? If you must know, they came free with some lingerie and now I keep them just in case I need them" she shrugged.

"Whatever would you need handcuffs for?" Aditya was lost.

"To make you talk to me, of course, you're unhappy with your engagement, I've never seen anyone look so glum, believe it or not, Hooda, I hate seeing people sad, all this is worth it if you're smiling".

"Hm," he looked away, a real smile on his face that he hoped he'd hidden from her.

Zoya jumped up, face winding around his shoulder to meet his gaze, her grin was wide. "You're smiling" she sighed, relieved.

He nodded "Thank you".

"Oh, don't thank me yet" she waggled a finger, a look on her face that told him she was about to come up with some nonsense plan that would land them both in trouble. "Not until I get you out of this engagement".

His jaw dropped "Wait, what?"

Pushing his chin up, she flicked her hair over her shoulder "You'll catch flies, yes, you heard right, Operation free Hooda from the shackles of Mahi's claw nails is on".

And yes she was insane, he had no doubt. Yes, she drove him up the wall. Yes, she would never shut up and always left him with a headache. But, she was the only person who had ever gone to such extreme lengths to cheer him up, he'd been alive for nearly thirty years and not one person had ever noticed his sadness, yet she had in just a matter of days. She was something, that was for sure, but he was beginning to think she was something he needed, she was something good.