He fumbles at your spirit
He looked comfortable in the position he was in. She knew that he was honestly wishing he was in a jungle near a water body and lying down under the stars. He preferred a life which lacked complications and was simplistic in approach. He camped quite frequently to get away from people, work and whatever everyone else deemed as normal. She knew the telltale signs of his subtle irritation when it came to social gathering. Yet he was the polite host who smiled at guests and charmed young women out of their wits. She found it hilarious when she saw few girls' eyes glazing over when he spoke animatedly about his work. She wondered if he knew that those girls were talking him because he was easily one of the best looking men in the party and was also one of the elite bachelors of the city. She chuckled at the thought of his completely irritated and angry face if she told him the real reason why no woman missed his party.
A surge of pride rushed through her when an elite senior business associate patted him on his back and shook hands with him. It never tired her to see him being center of a gathering and stealing the show quite easily. She looked at him from the sidelines and smiled to herself. She could see that he was getting quite uncomfortable with the words of praise which were freely flowing around him that evening. He wasn't a man of many words; he didn't like to listen a lot nor did he like to speak too much. He did what he did because he had to do it. She understood that perfectly well.
He reminded her of the old times. It was a time when the head of the company was not just a figurative head but one who slaved more than anyone in the company. He reminded her of her own self two decades ago; the sincerity he showed in his work, the involvement he had in each and every aspect of company's groW*H and the honest dedication he had towards the betterment of the company was all similar to her own traits. She wished for a moment to work with him for few weeks just to relive a life she had left behind. There was a great deal of satisfaction in working with people like her eldest grandson. But she knew that he wouldn't allow it. The last time they had worked together was during the final weeks of her life as an entrepreneur and the administrative head of the company.
She caught his eye amidst the crowed and smiled wanly. He smiled ever so slightly and immediately furrowed his brow. She rolled her eyes. He had started doubting her every move. She sighed in mock exasperation which now made him roll his eyes. He had every reason to doubt her motive and that evening she had come not to congratulate her grandson but meet his secretary once again; or to be precise, to see the interaction between her grandson and his secretary.
She simply loved that fiery ball of passion and that girl was perhaps the only person other than herself who stood toe to toe with her grandson without being intimated. She liked the girl the instant she heard her cribbing about her boss and not swooning. The girl had called her grandson names and had ranted for full eleven minutes about how mean her boss was and he was the biggest "Dusht Danav" ever. She had laughed loudly forgetting who she was and what she was doing at her grandson's work place. Further encounters with his secretary had only made her like the girl even more and could practically see her grandson developing a soft spot for his secretary. His mood swings oscillated between erratically happy to insanely angry which she now knew that it was mostly because of his secretary and her antics.
She had met the girl in morning who had happily invited her to the party. The secretary though bright had never bothered to Google about her boss's family. Had she done that, she would have known who the old woman hanging around her boss's cabin was. She was secretly glad that his secretary didn't care much about her boss's family.
"You should come to tonight's party." The girl practically squealed.
"But won't your boss mind? I mean he is not inviting me directly. Besides, who would want to hang around an old lady like me?" She had asked amusedly.
"I am very sure that he will not mind maam. You are our customer. And it would be my pleasure to have you in our party. I really like you maam. Please don't think that you will be alone at the party. I will give you company", the girl had replied with a soft tone. Something had stirred in her which made her nod her head. The girl had clapped her hands and thrust an invite letter in her hand.
Hurried and whispered argument broke her from the reverie. She hid back in the shadows to see her grandson walking in a huff with his secretary trailing behind. She grinned to herself. This was exactly the reason why she had come to the party in first place.
"Who asked you to change the summer theme to that of autumn?" He practically growled.
"Sir, you said, 'a good theme for the party would be using season, its colors and the mood of the season itself; like summer.' How did this statement became a decision?" The girl replied back.
She sniggered at her grandson's close to exploding expression. His secretary seemed to have discovered the exact buttons to push him to lose his temper in nanoseconds.
"Why didn't you ask me if your pea sized brain could not comprehend what I was indicating at?"
"You could have told me specifically what you wanted and not give me an ambiguous statement", the girl fought back.
"You know, I agree on this one. If I had taken the word 'autumn' in my statement, then you would have done a summer theme since you seem to do everything exactly the opposite of what I want", he huffed and glared at her.
"Sir, that is not fair. Look around you. Everyone is having fun. The food, music and ambience are all good. And didn't our client say that the arrangements were done very well?" The girl asked him shrewdly.
"That's beside the point. You are like a seven year old kid wanting to do things in her own ways", he bit out and moved closer to her unconsciously.
"Oh yeah? You are acting like a five year spoilt kid who is angry because things didn't go in his way", the girl responded with equal passion and also took a step forward.
"You are ridiculous and not to mention wired completely wrong", he spat.
She shook her head and looked away from the two of them from shadows arguing about something lame, according to her anyway. It was as if for every little thing, they had to do have a round of arguments, sarcastic remarks and mocking statements before agreeing or conceding on some common ground. She chuckled at the two of them who were standing toe to toe and arguing away on the least important thing of all.
She took a moment to really look at them. Her grandson who always maintained a fair distance from everyone and was extremely anal about his personal bubble had allowed his secretary to even jab her finger on his chest during heat of the argument. Not only that, they both had invaded and trampled all over each other's personal spaces with much familiarity and comfort level. She wondered if there was more to the two of them than meets the eye. There were times when she could see her grandson's eyes soften over when spoke to his secretary. The girl moaned about how bad her boss was all the time yet she was fiercely loyal to him. It tickled her to see them play this game of push and pull.
Her grandson had left the girl alone and was walking away hurriedly. She decided to talk to the girl and get more info.
"Are you alright?" She asked the girl. The girl gave her a pretty smile as soon as she heard her voice. Her face softened and all the traces of anger and irritation had left the face.
"Good evening maam. Yes, I am alright. My boss was being an ass. Again. Story of my life", she rolled her eyes. Even after a heated argument with her boss, she looked pretty cool and collected.
"Aren't you tired of arguing with your boss all the time?" She asked her. The girl hung her head and the hair drew a curtain between the face and the world. She wished to see the girl's face when she answered but she kept her face hidden.
"We rarely have conversations which doesn't involve contradicting each other. That is how it has always been", the girl said in a soft voice.
"How long can you keep arguing? Though many say opposite attract, if ideologies keep clashing all the time, it only gets bothersome and tiring in the long run", she tried to make sense of it all. The girl remained silent for few moments.
"You know something maam? Our ideologies have always been the same. Only our perspectives are different. The way he sees things are different from mine. But the underlying fundamental principles are common to both of us. I think that is why we can both argue yet work well." The girl replied with a hint of belonging in her voice.
She stared openly at the girl who was dressed radically different from everyone in the room. Her bright traditional attire made her stand out from the roomful of whites and pastel shades.
Her grandson chose that moment to interrupt her conversation with his secretary.
"What are you doing here? It looks odd if the host is wandering around all the time. Come and dance with me even though you look like an overgrown peacock", he grumbled and grabbed his secretary's hand.
He had nodded at her before dragging his secretary to the dance floor which was only a few steps away. She noted that he hadn't caught the girl's wrist but her palm and the girl had immediately tightened her hold on his palm and complained loudly about him being pushy and a mean guy.
She listened to their conversation which she could not miss even if she wanted to.
"What's wrong with my dress?" The girl exclaimed.
"It has every possible imaginable color. Well that's an understatement. I can swear that I am seeing few colors for the first time in my life", he grinned cheekily.
"Then you should have picked someone who was dressed in a morbid color as your dance partner", she grumbled.
"I actually approached few girls before I found you. They were either giggling uncontrollably or never bothered to answer me and stared at me without blinking. It was weird", he replied as he twirled her. The girl laughed gaily.
"You really don't know why?" His secretary asked him as she tucked her head right below his chin to catch her breath. His expression was quizzical as he held her gently.
"Never mind sir. I will explain the effect of Mr. DD on poor hapless woman in graphic detail tomorrow", she trilled as they waltzed.
"That is BS." He replied with a hint of smile. The girl only laughed in response as her boss held her and slowed down their dance and just sway to the music.
She saw her grandson dancing with his secretary and was talking to her as they swayed. In that moment she realized she had completely misread her grandson and his secretary's interaction. It was much simpler and much more primal than what she had originally thought. Her grandson openly showed his passion, anger, sarcastic and witty sides of him when he was with his secretary. And the girl openly challenged his shortcomings and questioned why things weren't done in a different way. Her grandson was more talkative when he was around that girl and lost the stiffness and aloofness that he always carried with him.
She decided to leave the party as she had got what she intended to. Besides looking at them any further would be an invasion of privacy. The two of them were so comfortable in each other's personal space because it did belong neither to him nor to her.
It was theirs.
They had their own private world where they lived on their own terms. For an outsider, like her, it looked as if they were constantly contradicting each other. They knew each other outside the boundaries of work to have that level of boding and trust to build between them. They didn't find happiness because of the other. They found happiness in being them. It was that simple.
In their world, they were constantly communicating; with eyes, with words and even in silence.
She takes one last look at her smiling grandson who is holding the girl in his arms with an expression she had never witnessed on his face before.
It was one of reverence, respect and adoration.
She captured that sight in her mind and walked away from the party.
Sookie
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