Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Morning Meeting

It was still dark when Nivritti woke up. She could hear some noise near her. She didn’t want to wake up. It was a hectic day and she wanted to sleep in. She thought the noise was her alarm. She reached for her phone and looked at it, annoyed. She thought Apeksha was calling her again to annoy her.

But the moment she looked at her phone she jumped out of her bed. The past she was running from was barging in again. She ignored the call, opened her sim slot, and broke her sim in half. The phone was silent now. She exhaled loudly and sat on her bed.

She realised that it was still India’s sim that she was carrying and using. That’s how her past came knocking. She made a point to get a new sim the next day. Meanwhile, all the functions of the phone were working except getting calls on her number. Though she could talk on video via many apps as her Wi-Fi was always working. She was grateful for her new job as they completely took care of her needs.

She didn’t have to find a home in this strange place, her office did that for her. They provided her with a fully furnished house that too nearby the office. She only had to pay rent to the bank account provided to her. she never knew who owned the house. All she knew was that K&Q organised everything for her. They even helped her with her work visa.

They came as a boon in her life as she was happy to leave India. But slowly her past started staining everything. Already she had the worst day and then her problems started piling on.

She threw the sim in the garbage can and made a note on her phone to get a new local sim the next day. She confirmed that her alarm was still on and went back to sleep. But her sleep after that was a disturbing one. She would wake up after intervals as her mind was alert now.

Her alarm rang at six in the morning. She groaned and shifted to her side. She hit the snooze button as she wanted to sleep more. the whole night after that phone call, she had a difficult time sleeping and now she was tired. She had an important meeting today and she was tired.

.....

She hoped that she would have a great second day but now it seemed that it would be exactly like her first day, a disaster. She slept for another ten minutes, and her alarm began blaring again. Annoyed, she sat up on her bed and hit the cancel button on her alarm.

Sleepy, she went to the bathroom and sat on the toilet. She placed her arms on her cheeks and closed her eyes. She would kill for a good sleep right now, but she had to go to work. She finished her business, brushed her teeth, and took a shower.

After the shower, she was feeling slightly energetic. She tied her hair in a braid, wore a robe and went to her kitchen. After pondering over what she should eat, she cooked two eggs and toast and filled her travelling mug with piping hot coffee. The aroma of coffee jolted her out of her sleep.

In a hurry, she finished her breakfast and dumped the plate in the sink for cleaning it later. She got dressed up in a blue shirt and white flowing skirt. With her white overcoat on and she left her house with her purse and her coffee mug in her hands.

She kept sipping the coffee all her way. Being early morning, the traffic was slow. It would pick up pace in half an hour. Nivritti was going to the office early as she had to type all the ideas that were in her purse on her office system so that she could mail them if necessary. She had the chance to go before the CEO if everything went right and she was nervous just thinking about it.

As soon as she left her house, her phone was useless, she made a point to connect her phone to the Wi-Fi the moment she would reach the office in the afternoon, during lunch, she would go and get a new sim.

After she reached the gates of the K&Q building, she reached for her ID in her purse. One swipe at the turnstiles and the doors opened. She walked up to the lift which was otherwise engaged. She pressed the call button and stood there waiting.

While waiting, she placed her ID back in her purse and then looked at her phone. She searched for the Wi-Fi connection. She found several of them, but none was labelled Script department. She realised that the 11th floor was too far away to get a Wi-Fi signal. She must wait till she reaches her department.

“Good morning,” a tall figure stood next to her and greeted her. She thought someone from her department came early like her.

“Good Morn...” she looked up to see who it was. The rug slipped under her feet. The handsome Kyung-Soo was standing next to her. Her voice got lost in her mouth. She suddenly choked up. She kissed him yesterday and he was now standing before her, smiling at her.

What do to? How to tackle this situation? She had no idea. All she could think about was running away which she did best. She started moving away from him, instinctively. It seemed her feet had a mind of their own. She ran towards the stairs and ran away leaving Kyung-Soo standing near the lift, puzzled.

Kyung-Soo could not sleep all night thinking about the kiss. The girl had a hold on to him. She was something different. He never acted the way he acted in front of her. Her unconscious gestures were too much for him to handle. The way she licked her lips wanted him to lick her lips too.

And the way she kissed him back was out of the world. The feeling when he was close to her was peaceful. Every time he would close his eyes, her brown eyes would appear to tease him. He wanted to wrap her long hair in his hands and pull her even closer.

The whole night he kept dreaming different scenarios of what he would do if he saw her again. Early morning, he opened his eyes and breathed heavily. He could not stop thinking about her. he had to think about a lot of things, he had so much work to do but the girl refused to leave his brain. She made a home there without asking permission.

He rubbed his temple and looked at her phone. It was only 5.30 in the morning. He knew he would be able to sleep so he got up from his bed. After splashing water on his face and brushing his teeth, he thought of getting some work done.

He had to look at a few contracts, sign a few papers, organise team members’ calendars and a lot more work. He started with contracts but also opened his mail to read some of the mail he received for collaborations. He would read everything and then would forward everything to the respective team to handle. It was an integral part of why ASD was so successful.

He would read a sentence and then his mind would wander to the corridor where he kissed her. he would shake his head and come back to reality but soon he would land back in his dreamland. For an hour, he tried working but that girl would not leave him alone. He didn’t even know her name. He wanted to know everything about her.

He pushed his chair back and stood up. He took a bath, ate instant noodles, and left a message for his team members that he was leaving for the office as they all were still sleeping.

He took his Land Rover and reached the K&Q building but before he could make a turn and pulled the car into the parking lot. He saw her, the girl who was driving him crazy. Her gorgeous legs in heels made his heart jump in his chest.

She was busy fishing something out of the purse, so she was not aware of her surroundings. Her face was neither red nor swollen, though it was white due to cold. She looked like a fairy in a white overcoat.

He had to talk to her. He parked his car in front of the building and threw his car keys to the guard standing at the entrance.

“Park it, please,” he requested and ran inside. He took his badge and entered the turnstiles. He hesitated for a minute to get close to her as he had no idea what he would do next. She pressed the button for the lift and was waiting while staring at her phone.

Was she waiting for someone’s message? Did she have someone in her life? He kept thinking. “Oh god! What if she has someone? I kissed a girl who is involved. Maybe she is just checking her phone. I should talk to her and find out. First, I should get her name. Yeah, I should start with that.”

He stood next to her and greeted her, “Good morning.” She too smiled and looked at her but as soon as their eyes met, her smile vanished. It seemed as if she saw a ghost.

He was surprised to see her running away. She ducked into the stairwell and ran away.

“She knows she had to climb up to the 11th floor, right?” he said loudly. “What just happened? Why did she run away? Do I have something on my face?” He took out his phone and opened his front camera. Everything was okay. He was looking nice, then why did she run away?

He must talk to her, find out what was she thinking.