25/11/2019 - Monday - At T nagar,Chennai.

Shiva's P. O. V :

" I didn't come back just because you asked Sorry, I came here because we were jobless. " Hari said as he walked into the office, after the big fight.

" Okay Sir." I said and turned back to my desktop. I was silently grateful that he had forgiven me.

" You closed all that bank loans right? " Hari asked.

" Yeah, finally. Thanks to my Brother. I never really thought I would say it. We have one Lakh left. I don't know what to do with it." I said laughing.

" What's the plan next? " Hari asked.

" My brother said he is sending someone here. I sent Rajiv the office address. He would be here by today. " I said.

" He? " Hari asked confused.

" Yeah, If my brother is sending someone, it would definitely be a boy. " I said and turned back to my mail.

Hari coughed and ran out to drink water.

There was a mail from our old client, Hema. Who got plan from some other company and then didn't pay us.

It seems her closest friend wants to build a house in the outskirts of Chennai and she would very much want us to do it, only if I and Hari are going to be the contact members.

" I saw that mail too " Hari said sitting beside me.

" Is this real? " I asked him.

" Yeah, and hopefully, we can ask this new guy to look at this project. She really hates you and me. " He said.

" I don't think we should accept this project , I haven't forgotten how badly she treated us last time. " I said.

" Shiva, the project estimate is nearly 1 crore, we would never be able to get another project like this. Maybe we should try" Hari said.

" Okay, I hope the new guy enjoys working with her. "I said laughing.

After nearly an hour, the two intern boys walked in silently. I don't even think they are working anything.

I shook my head and went back to my drawing.

The pune walked in knocking the door.

" Sir, two ladies are here, should I send them in? " He asked.

" Two ladies? " I asked confused.

" They said, they are newly appointed here. " Uncle said.

" Send them in " I said and turned to Hari.

" I thought we were having only one new member. " I said to Hari. Hari shook his head confused.

The two ladies walked inside.

I rubbed my eyes and looked again.

It was Aparna and Shwetha. They both looked so different. They were wearing neat coat and suit.

Aparna was looking at me with a wicked grin. Her hair was neatly tied into a bun. She had minimal makeup.

Each time, I thought this would be the last time seeing her, she proved me wrong. She came back everytime.

I didn't know if I should be surprised that she came back , or start worrying that I should let her go again.

" Shwetha? " Hari exclaimed.

" Hi, Mr. Shiva, I am Aparna Khatri, the new Architect of your firm " Aparna said holding out her hand.

I stood up and held her hand. We shook hands and I showed her to her worktable.

" By the way, Ms. Aparna, who is this? , I thought only you were under the direct appointment from my brother " I said.

" Meet Ms. Shwetha. She would be the new admin of the office. I request you to handover all the accounts files to her. " Aparna said and Shwetha was controlling her laughter.

" We would be back in a minute! " I said to Aparna and dragged Hari to the dining area.

I started punching Hari, and he started screaming for help.

I pinned him to the wall and was punching him again.

" I swear da, I didn't know Shwetha was coming here! I promise on Lord Jesus! " Hari said.

" You are Hindu da, Idiot! Don't lie! " I said.

" Do you really think, I would happily spend my office hours with her! As if her torture in home isn't enough! " Hari said coughing and I let him down.

" So, this must be Aparna's idea. Out of all the people in this world , my brother had to send her! It's like hell is testing me! " I said pulling my hair.

" The hell is not just for you, I am in it too " Hari said.

" Okay, let's go on with it. I don't have any good feeling about this " I said and dragged Hari inside.

" If all of your discussions are over, please handover the files and the account details " Aparna said to me.

I nodded to Hari to give them the files.

Hari walked to the cupboard and took out all the files. He handed them to Shwetha, looking at her innocently.

" Don't worry, Mr. Hari, my friend here has very good knowledge in handling accounts. She would take good care of them. " Aparna said to Hari.

" So, what's my work today? " Aparna asked me.

" We have a new client, it would be better, if you handle her. She has given us a tough time already" I said.

" Okay " She said and sat back on her chair. We placed their workstation away from us. Aparna and Shwetha were constantly discussing something.

After an hour, Aparna took a print out and handed me a file.

She sat in a chair beside me. She was not looking at my eyes at all. She consciously ignored my stare.

" Can I have a minute with you? " She asked.

" Okay " I said and turned to her.

" This is the format, for agreement. Mr. Shiva, don't take me wrong, but you were missing a lot of formats. I hope you are okay with me piping in. " She said.

" Yeah, go ahead! " I said.

" Each client, should sign this agreement before we take up their project. If they disappear without paying us, or if they get plans from someone else, we have certain amount of fees that they should pay us. If they break this agreement, we can easily put a legal case on them! " She said.

" Wow! " I said and why I didn't even know about this?

" Tough times need tough decisions. " She said.

" But would clients agree to sign in this? " I asked.

" Leave that to me " She said smiling and I smiled back.

" Then, we need to redecorate the entire office . As per Shwetha's report, you have a sum of 1,40,000 left in the account. After clearing off all pending rents and the salary for all the members, we would have 1,10,000 left. I think we can complete the entire redecoration in 4 days, with 50,000 budget. The remaining amount to be used for upgrading all the systems. Are you okay with my proposal? " She asked.

I didn't know, how she was able to take over things so quickly. I felt slightly insecure, but I knew it was only because of the current state of the office.

" Okay, what are the redecorations that you want? " She asked me.

I looked at her and her words that she told to me before echoed in my mind.

" Someone once told me to add a small private conference area, with frosted glass panels. And a small waiting area outside. Repaint the walls, add new lights. To convert the back yard into a neat dining area. And add AC" I said.

Aparna looked at me with wide eyes.

" You remembered? " She asked slowly.

I nodded my head.

" Okay Mr. Shiva, I would come up with a rough design and we can start the work after your approval " She said quickly.

And Karthik walked into the office at the same moment. He blinked his eyes looking at me sitting with Aparna.

" I knew it, you said you won't run away. But she came here! Nice plan! " Karthik said.

I got up and knocked his head.

" This is our new Architect and that is our Admin " I said to karthik.

He looked around the office confused.

" Is this becoming a family business? " He asked and Aparna laughed at his comment.

" Ms. Aparna Khatri, meet our materials supplier! " I said to Aparna.

They both shook hands and looked at me.

" Aparna has come up with an idea of redecorating the entire office " I said to Karthik.

" Okay ma'am, what are the materials that you need ? " Karthik asked.

" Wallpapers, laminates and lacquer paints. " She said to Kathik.

" Yes ma'am! " Karthik said laughing.

He got the list of materials from Aparna and left to his store.

That's when I was sensing someone missing. Hari was missing. And Shwetha wasn't here too.

" Aparna, where is Shwetha? " I asked her.

" I think she went to the restroom. " Aparna said and walked to the backdoor.

She tried opening it but couldn't. I walked to her and helped her open it.

It was suddenly a deja vu. I laughed it off and opened the door.

Aparna stood frozen looking at the backyard. I took a step in to look at what she saw.

If only I could erase this memory out of my mind, I wish I could.

We saw, Hari and Shwetha making out near the wall in the dining area.

I fake coughed not being able to control my laughter.

Hari and Shwetha, broke away in a nano second,and ran away in two different directions looking at me and Aparna.

Aparna was standing nervously. I took a step closer to her. I stood behind her and made sure that she was knowing it.

" So, that's how you take care of office accounts? " I murmured in her ear. She jumped a little and turned to me slowly.

Her face was flushed and she was looking at my face without blinking.

" Is it just your friend, or you take care of the office the same way? " I asked with a small grin.

She shook her head nervously.

Why was I doing it? ,Why was I liking doing it? , but all the blame is on her, she is making me do all these stupid things. She is to blame for everything.

Maybe this is a sin, she being this close and me not being able to move away, I don't care about sins anymore, I am in hell anyway.