Chapter 16

2 years ago

varshaoforange

@varshaoforange

Aryan walked onto the office floor and quickly made a beeline for his office, doing his best to avoid Imlie’s desk. As soon as he opened his office door, however, he saw Imlie’s smiling face spinning in his chair behind his desk. She spotted him and stopped spinning, the grin not falling from her face.

“So, Aryan Ji, bataiye, aapki chai kaisi rahi?” (Tell me, how was your chai?)

Aryan gritted his teeth, “It was fine.”

Imlie narrowed her eyes, smiling still wider, “Acchaa? Tell me, did you commit some sort of crime?”

“What?” Aryan asked, now more confused than annoyed.

“I mean why else would you need to meet with a lawyer, right?” Imlie asked.

Aryan shifted uncomfortably, “Fine, I’ll tell the truth, I didn’t want to drink chai.”

Imlie pretended to look shocked, “Really? Wow, I couldn’t tell at all.”

Aryan glared at her, “No need to be sarcastic. I just came because—well you were gone for thirty minutes or so, and I got worried. Don’t ask me why, I just got worried.”

Imlie softened. Aryan had done so much to help her, be it helping her get a roof over her head, giving her a job, and even revealing Malini’s truth. No matter how arrogant he acted among almost everyone, no matter how many times he said she wasn’t his friend, he clearly thought she was a friend.

“Okay, I forgive you. Agle baar, agar tum mere baare mein chinta kar rahe ho, to bas mujhe bata do. Main bura nahin manungi.” (Next time, if you’re worried about me, then just tell me. I won’t take it badly). Imlie grinned, knowing full well teasing him like this would just make him more annoyed.

Aryan stiffened, “Chinta? Aur main? I wasn’t worried for you. I was worried you would make some mistake. Wherever you go trouble follows you.” (Worry? And me?)

Imlie glared and put her hands on her hips, “Fine, then I won’t tell you all about how Surinder Sir accepted my pitch. I didn’t make any mistake.” Imlie made a show of leaving the office.

Aryan sighed and rubbed his temples with his fingers, “Stop. Tell me about the pitch.”

Imlie spun around and grinned, “Really? Ok hear me out, it’s a fascinating case against a pharmaceutical company. And I’m going to ask Shiv and his boss if they’ll let me interview the plaintiffs. I should also be able to get the information of the lawyer defending the company, so it won’t be a one sided story of course.”

Aryan bit back a smile, looking at Imlie speak so passionately, with such joy in her eyes, it brought him a feeling of peace he hadn’t felt in years, not since before Arvind’s death. It finally clicked in his brain. The happiness he felt when he saw Arvind and Arpita together, when he saw his whole family happy, in the small and big moments, he felt that same happiness when seeing Imlie smile. He couldn’t fight it any longer, though he didn’t understand exactly what he felt for Imlie right now, he knew she was more than just his employee.

Imlie waved her hand in front of him, “Hello, koi hai andar? Are you even listening to me ABP?” (Is someone there inside?)

Aryan cleared his throat, “Yes of course, the pitch sounds great. Let Surinder know what help you need in conducting interviews, and if it’s a strong enough story, I’ll speak to the channel producer and consider putting it on air as well as in the paper.”

Imlie clapped her hands and grinned, “Thank you! I’m getting to work right now. And by the way, I’ll have to meet with Shiv and his boss, and probably other people. I don’t know if it’s that you doubt me or think I can’t take care of myself, but you can’t keep following me around, samje tum?” (Understand?)

Aryan raised an eyebrow, “Are you giving me orders? Main tumhara boss hun, tum mere boss nahin ho.” (I am your boss, you’re not my boss).

Imlie smiled, “Hum jannat hai ki hum tumhare boss nahin hai. Lekin tum boss ho, iss liye hum bol rahe hain, tum apne kaam ko samhalna hai. Main apni kaam khud karlungi.” (I know that I’m not your boss. But you are the boss, this is why I’m saying that you should take care of your own work. I’ll take care of my work).

“Fine,” Aryan had no reasonable way to prevent her from doing this story, or meeting with that Agarwal. Also, she had a point, he needed to focus on his own board meeting and his other work right now.

Imlie smiled, “Fine.” She turned and happily skipped out of the office.

Aryan stared at her from his window as she took her seat at her desk. He smiled, yet again because of Imlie. Didi was wrong, she had to be, he didn’t have feelings for Imlie, but he did want to protect her. Her innocence, her passion, her joy — all of that reminded him of how he he used to be before the world’s cruelty stole it away from him. He knew that Imlie’s relationship with Aditya hadn’t completely destroyed her, but that was because of her own strength. Imlie may not need Aryan’s protection, but he didn’t want to take the chance, not with the high probability that Aditya Kumar Tripathi would come into Imlie’s life again like a wrecking ball, nor with any other obstacle that could stand in Imlie’s way. Aryan thought back to his conversation with Meethi. She had so earnestly asked Aryan to help her daughter, and Aryan had promised her he would, even though he knew Imlie could stand, hell, she could run and had, by herself; Aryan had promised he would never let Imlie fail if he could help it, and now he knew he could never let Imlie get hurt if he could help it.