Graphicer: Bhavisweet03|| Writer: m4manju|| Theme: Bag
An entry for Mixed Bag Of Celebrations
Khushi was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise dull atmosphere in the Human Resources department in that office. Cheerful and lively. And truly caring, unlike her contemporaries, infamous for being pretentious. So, almost everybody in that office loved to talk to her.
Save for one person.
A team-manager named Arnav.
For reasons unknown, he often ignored her. He never talked to her. And if by chance he had to be in the same room as her, she found him scowling at her.
She was not sure what wrong did she ever do to him. But Arnav was the only person in that office who was not charmed by her.
Thankfully that didn’t dampen her spirit, and she used to hang out with other people in their office over the evening chai or Friday lunch outings.
It was one such evening when the group consisting of 5 people, Lavanya, Akash, Payal, Arnav and Khushi were in the in-house café, relaxing after a hectic day at work. It had become a routine of sorts for this group to gather here, have a cup of chai or coffee, before heading home.
Khushi joined the table with her cup of ginger tea. And as she took her seat, Payal held a box in front of her.
“See, what I’ve got for you!” Payal said, grinning.
“Wow! Jalebis!” Khushi exclaimed like a little girl, with stars in her eyes seeing her favorite sweet.
Payal chuckled, “Yes, my dear. You like these, right?”
Khushi had already gobbled down 2 jalebis. “Lurf them!” she spoke with food in her mouth.
And then something unexpected happened.
Arnav, for the first time acknowledged and addressed Khushi. “Unbelievable!” he said shaking his head.
Khushi’s jalebi holding hand stopped midway. She was shocked. “Excuse me? Did you say to that to me?”
Lavanya and Akash looked at arnav, trying to warn him through their eyes that he had put his foot in his mouth. But he was too busy looking at their HR lady with unreadable expressions. Was he mocking her, was he admiring her, they couldn’t really guess.
So, they just waited to see what happens next.
Nothing much happened. Arnav just shrugged his shoulders in explanation and Khushi, although didn’t press him further, frowned at the jalebis and didn’t eat more.
Soon, it was time for her to leave. Bidding everyone a pleasant evening in her cheerful tone, she left.
Once she left, Payal, Akash and Lavanya started scolding Arnav.
“Do you have any problem with her, Arnav? Tum kabhi bhi Khushi se thik se baat kyun nahi karte?” Payal began.
“Exactly. What did the poor girl do to you? You upset her today.” Akash said.
“Yes, Arnav, I’ve also noticed, you are so cold to her.” Lavanya added.
Arnav’s face became rigid, hearing their accusations. “It’s not like that! I just don’t understand why she needs to be so damn happy talking with everyone.”
“What!?” they asked in chorus. How was that an issue to him?
But he offered no explanation and, picking up his to-go coffee cup, left from there.
Two things changed from the next day. One was that Arnav suddenly started carrying a funky laptop bag with himself to work rather than using the company provided slick one. And second was that he stopped frowning at khushi, and in fact started attempting tentative smiles at her. If the corners of his lips curving a little could be called smile.
In another turn of events, Khushi started receiving a small packet of jalebis on her desk. Every single day.
There would be no note, no name, nothing.
Just a small packet of jalebis.
At first, she wondered who this “Secret Santa” was. But the delicious jalebis didn’t let her dwell too much over this mysterious benefactor. And she would dig in! It would bring a huge smile to her face, enough to lighten up their entire office!
It went on for a few days. The unending supply of jalebis didn’t stop nor did Arnav’s sudden obsession with his new bag. He wouldn’t let anyone even touch it.
So, both these topics, Khushi’s secret jalebi sender and Arnav’s new bag became a hot topic amongst the group.
They were once again in the café that evening.
Akash noticed Arnav was busy looking at Khushi who was talking with Payal and he signaled Lavanya to take Arnav’s bag.
However, in a quick move, just as Lavanya touched his bag, Arnav snatched it bag and held it closer.
“Itna kya secret treasure hai iss mein bhai? Bata bhi do!” Akash teased.
“Nothing. Just don’t touch my bag.” He said.
Khushi looked at him funnily.
“By the way, guys, I may have found out my jalebi Santa.” Khushi said, surprising everyone and majorly Arnav.
“Wow. Really? Who is it?” Payal asked
“I want to tell him first.” She said, making everyone give disapproving murmurs. “I’ll tell you soon, promise.” She said only then they acquiesced.
Soon they got distracted by other topics and then one by one everyone started leaving for the day.
Khushi hid her smile as she noticed Arnav stayed behind even after everyone left. But she pretended not to notice anything odd about it.
She heard him clear his throat. And ask her, “So Khushi, how is everything?”
Khushi grinned, “Oh, it is fantastic. Couldn’t be better!”
Arnav nodded. “Good. And hey- listen- about that jalebi sender, do you really know who it is?”
Khushi blushed a little. “Of course! I wanted to tell him first. But I can tell you.”
Arnav stiffened and nervously asked her, “Who- eh- who is it?”
“It is NK! You know that new guy who joined our office last month?” Khushi said with extra chirpiness.
Arnav was stunned in silence for a moment. And then there was red hot anger on his face!
“What the! How it can be him dammit!” His voice had become louder, but he didn’t care. Khushi in the meanwhile stayed unfazed.
“Why not? In fact, I am thinking to take him out to lunch as a thank you.” she said, biting her cheek naughtily, as if she didn’t just drop an atom bomb on his heart!
“You are NOT going anywhere with him, ok?” now his tone was dangerously warning. Khushi schooled her expression to seriousness sensing she had provoked him enough.
“Why not? Tumhe isse kya farak padta hai?”
“Padta hai, dammit! Because NK didn’t send those jalebis.”
“Then who did?” she met his passionate gaze with her alluring eyes.
“ME!”
There was a pin-drop silence after that. Only the sound of his harsh breathing and her gasp was heard. Thankfully the late evening time meant there was no body in the café except them.
Seeing a gradual slow smile appearing on her face, Arnav realized he was played.
“You knew it, didn’t you?”
“I am in HR, Arnav. It is a part of my job to find out what happens around our office. But yes, I didn’t really involve any other measures, I just saw you hastily leave from HR workspace yesterday and made a wild guess.” She replied cheekily.
Arnav couldn’t help but smile too.
“Ok, now this is when you explain why you were doing it. I thought you hated me.” her lips pouted in complaint.
Arnav was effectively embarrassed, but he started explaining, “Of course not. I… I didn’t hate you. I just couldn’t understand if you were really so sweet or were faking it like the previous HR manager before you.”
“You mean Ms. Sheetal?”
He nodded. “She was very rude. Often tried to control people in the office. She cut down the budget for many things, even tried to shut down this café. And that was when we all protested. Eventually she was asked to leave. And then you replaced her.” He smiled warmly, “You were so opposite to her. So helping, so friendly. I just couldn’t decide if you were really like that or pretending it.”
“And now you know?”
“Now I know.” He said, softly.
Now it was Khushi’s turn to blush.
She looked away to gather her thoughts. And that was when she noticed his bag.
“What’s with this bag by the way? Why so possessive?”
He grinned. “Oh! This friend of mine helped me safely carry those jalebis for you.” Arnav patted the top of his colorful Zouk bag proudly as if it were a human. “I really love this one. The bag our company gave doesn’t have enough space and this one has a separate pouch where I could keep it without worrying of any spills.”
“Really? I’d love to buy one for myself too. Maybe even order a few for our staff.”
“Sure. Why don’t I help you shop? They have an outlet in the central mall. We can go there.”
“I’d love to.” Khushi replied with a shy smile.
And thus, a new chapter began. Perhaps with an unusual date but leading to something more meaningful in the future.
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. I liked the office setting - different from their office days in IPK... with less drama and more romance... that's the way to go 
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It's so sweet and catchy
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