Chapter 14

TiaMaaaaa

@TianaWrites

~14~

The past five days he had made so many excuses to stay away from her and she had hated it. However hard she had tried to start conversations, he seemed to avoid it. It was not that he had ceased to care for her. She knew that he still cared. He made sure she had her meals on time and she had always found a cup of tea ready whenever she had felt like it. She knew it was him who always remembered to switch on the geyser too. She didn't have time to miss him in the mornings when they usually rushed to get ready but throughout the day he seemed to be too occupied in meetings, conferences to which she was almost always not a part of. She missed checking him out and fantasies hadn't worked much because of the strong sense of unease she had that something was wrong. Evenings had been the worst, inspite of Mukku occupying most of her time, she had missed their quiet conversations before bed so much that she had often found herself by his room's door in the middle of the night staring at his quiet sleeping face. She had hoped against hope that she would catch him sleep talking... scratch that... sleep moaning at least once. She had even stood close to his bed hoping to catch him mumbling but nothing. She had been on the edge and had snapped at almost every one at the meeting today. Post that, in their cabin, when he had started to make some excuse about something random to leave her, she had felt like screaming. Finally, she stood up from her seat, her eyes full, she said

"You don't want to see me... fine... I won't come in front of you... don't make unnecessary excuses. I can tell when you lie to me..."

With that she had gotten up, gathered her things and moved to the conference room without giving him a chance to explain.

***

Anuj drummed his fingers on his cabin table, his brows furrowed into a frown. He had been trying to avoid her for the past few days after her reaction to his advances on that night. He genuinely hadn't wanted to make her uncomfortable before she was ready for it. Her reaction to his proximity often confused him. He had been treading cautiously as being broken once, he knew if he did something and pushed her away, he won't be able to face life again. After their interaction post Vanika launch, he had decided to wait and not push her any more though he noticed her trying to talk. It had been difficult to control himself especially when he felt her hovering over his bed in the middle of the night. He had dared not to open his eyes for fear that at the sight of her, he wouldn't be able to stay still. Had it been left to his choice, he would have had her then and there. He was human after all. Cold showers nowadays were becoming useless, he mused. But he knew the consequences of losing self control only too well. If only she could tell him once, he would get the courage. His control and patience were wearing thin. He clenched his fists as the war between his logical brain and emotional heart raged. As he felt his heart winning, he shook his head and convinced himself that he hated her tears. It was all because he couldn't bear her tears. Sighing to himself, he stood up and marched to find her. He reckoned he needed some courage for he could do anything but let her go.

***

She sniffed as the tears wouldn't stop flowing. She hated herself for snapping at him but she couldn't stop herself. She was madly in love with him and him trying to avoid her was something she didn't have in her heart to bear. She couldn't figure out what was going on in his mind and she didn't like it. There had always been a comfortable aura between them and she hated when it messed up. After wallowing in self pity for a few minutes, she finally decided enough was enough. If he wasn't going to talk, she would make him talk. 

As she got up she saw the door of the conference room open. Her eyes lit up a little and dimmed immediately as instead of her man, in marched her ex-husband. He had shifted to their office with Mukku just yesterday.

"Anu.... I hoped I would find you here..."

"It's Anupama for you Mr. Shah... is there something you wanted?"

"Well I thought we were friends, Anu..."

"Anupama... not friends, business rivals, Mr. Shah."

"Ok ok... sorry, sorry... don't get all worked up now... I saw you and thought to exchange pleasantries..."

"Good... now that it's done... can you please leave... I have some work to do..."

"Ok ok... I am leaving... by the way were you crying?"

She glared at him. 

"Tears... I can see them..."

Before she could respond to him, he quickly brushed his hand against her cheek flicking of her tears.

And that was the sight that met Anuj as he opened the door to conference room.

***

Precap: "I can't bear this anymore..."

A/N: Please be warned Mr. Shah doesn't have a 150 layers to him nor does he exhibit 50 shades of grey. The man is evil, narcissistic, manipulative and a full on villain.

A/N 2: What would be Anuj's reaction?

And let me know if anyone else wants to be tagged...