***Sahana's P.O.V***

My face had been continuously burning from even before I'd left Arush's cabin, and now, sitting at my desk and trying but failing to work, with his antics from earlier flashing in my mind, my face just grew even more hotter as more blood rushed to my cheeks.

I couldn't help the smile curving up to my lips as I recalled how he'd moved his hand along my thigh, acting so innocent.

And then I realized that this was just the beginning.... More than this awaits me in the future.... Oh God what would happen if we....after we...did it... After we had sex?! Oh God!!

My phone buzzed at the same moment, and I looked at it, to find a message from Arush blinking on the screen.

' thinking about me are we?! Don't tempt me to bite your tomato red cheeks now!! I know I'm the reason behind that blush baby' - the message read, and my eyes grew wide in horror.

Where was he?? Instinctively, I looked up and around, to find Arush standing just outside my cubicle, talking to Amruth who sits behind my cubicle.

Though Arush looked deep in conversation, the glint in his eyes and the way in which his lips twitched to a smirk told me too well that he had been observing me for a while now.

Biting my lip, I looked away, trying to act oblivious to his presence and get on with work.

My phone buzzed again, making me sure that it was yet another message from Arush.

And sure enough, I looked at my phone to find his name blinking on the screen, with a message.

' going to try and act oblivious to me now are you? Oh the way you bite your lip... Don't tempt me to do it too in front of everyone 😉 what are you thinking so much about that's making you blush like that?! It's very obvious that you're thinking about me baby! 😉' - the message read.

Oh he's going to gloat a lot about it isn't he? I should teach him a lesson!!

Pursing my lips to stop myself from giggling, I turned a little on my spot so that Arush could see my face completely and started typing a message to him-

' oh I'm sorry if I gave you an impression that I was thinking about you!! I was just thinking about Amruth.. he looks so dashing when he's talking about his passion... Oh the way his jaw moves... His clean shaven face gives a nice view of his perfect jawline... I was just admiring that' - I read the draft a couple of times before hitting the send button.

I put down my phone and pursing my lips tighter to stop smiling, I looked intently at Arush's direction, wanting to make him believe that I was observing Amruth instead.

I put my hand to my mouth to stifle my giggles as Arush's smirk vanished the moment he started reading my message on his phone.

His eyebrows knotted and his lips pursed tighter than ever as his eyes moved down the screen of his phone, reading my message.

And then, like a lion read to pounce on it's prey, Arush glared at Amurth before barking "Mr.Shah you come to office to work. This is a very professional environment! You are to maintain a professional beard...not this clean shaven look like a hippie. You are to grow a beard and I don't want you to come clean shaven to office ever again" before storming off.

With the last of my restraint giving away at Amruth's confused expression, I put my head down in my table and giggled, unable to stop myself.

****

Lunch was a subdued affair, seeing how my lunch gang had taken a table next to Arush's who was sitting with Raj and a few other managers.

Call it my good luck or bad, but Amruth too happened to sit with us for lunch today, as he's Kinjal's friend's boyfriend.

I don't know if Arush knew about it, but judging from the fact that Arush kept throwing dirty looks to our side and glowering at Amruth from time to time, I guess he didn't know that. It also didn't help that Amruth was sitting beside me and his girlfriend was sitting on the other side of him.

Riya was out with Kabir for lunch and she yet hadn't told him that she works under Arush. We all are anticipating a big war when Kabir finally gets to know the truth!

Unable to control my laughter at Arush's expression, I quickly finished my lunch and returned to my cubicle.

But my dear fate had other plans. My teammate Sagar, who also sits near my cubicle, joined me at my cubicle, to discuss about the current project.

"So...uh.. Sahana, I really don't understand this" he said timidly, pointing to a block of program on my laptop screen.

"That's easy" I said and turned to him, explaining the code. He was sitting on a chair right next to me and listening intently to me, time and again moving forward to point at some line of code on my laptop screen.

"Okay so that was clear but..uh.. I'm a novice when it comes to coding, so could you...um... Help me out?" He asked, rubbing the nape of his neck.

"yeah sure this coding isn't so difficult! A little bit of hands-on experience and the knowledge of syntax is all that requires!" I said reassuringly.

"No I mean would you mind teaching me? Like not much...just like maybe 2 hours tomorrow evening? We can sit at the cafeteria and you can teach me there?" He asked hopefully.

"oh..." I began, but broke off as the familiar fragrance of Arush's musky cologne entered my nostrils, informing me of his presence.

And sure enough, when I turned around, I saw Arush himself, glowering at Sagar, who let out a small squeak before getting to his feet.

"Any doubts on such important matters...you're supposed to ask your manager Mr.Naidu! You have 3 years of working experience and don't even know basic programming? That's...a really serious matter Mr.Naidu" Arush barked at Sagar and I could almost see smoke coming out of Arush's nostrils!

"Bb.....bb...b...but...s..s..s.s.s.sir... I... I... I just.... I was trying...to... Get.... I was... Uh... I was trying to just...get on a date with Sahana that's all... I know programming very well as you know sir... I did majority of our previous project that involved a lot of coding" Sagar stuttered, making my eyes go wide in shock.

"Dating Mr.Naidu?" Arush asked, looking more like an angry dragon than a human.

"I'm sorry sir... I'm sorry really please forgive me... I won't do it again... I'll work harder and not get involved in such stuff... Please don't fire me" Sagar said, looking and sounding desperate.

A smirk curved Arush's lips as he saw Sagar begging in front of him, and he said "this is your last chance Mr.Naidu... make good use of it" and stormed away, leaving a shaking Sagar behind.

I do agree that Sagar's approach may have not been right, but he didn't misbehave with me! And the way Arush smirked at Sagar's plight...it disgusted me more than anything.

Feeling irritated and extremely disgusted, I resumed my work, trying hard to forget Arush's evil smirk.

Soon it was 2pm, and time for the post lunch meeting. The news of Sagar being verbally bashed my Arush had spread through the office like wild fire, and had even reached Riya's ears.

"I never knew he was such a... I cannot believe he's such an arrogant man!" Riya said for the nth time as we made way to meeting room 305.

Arush was already seated and he only looked up from his laptop when I entered the room.  Very subtly, by touching the chair to his left casually, he indicated me to sit over there.

The fear of what he might do if I sat next to him, topped with the events of the afternoon made me look away from him and sit with Riya, almost opposite of him.

Arush pursed his lips and glowered at me but didn't say anything as the chairs slowly filled up, and Amruth ended up sitting on the other side of me.

The meeting began with Arush talking a little about his superior's expectation from this project, and feeling that this was the perfect opportunity to look at him as much as I wanted to without raising suspicion, I looked at him intently, my mind soon getting lost from the present, to the events of the morning in his cabin, and that of yesterday and the day before, of how different and awesome he is when he's around me, and how he turns to an arrogant dictator while working.

"Ms.Agarwal we're here to accomplish some work so would you please stop daydreaming and listen to what's going on here?" came Arush's voice, bringing me to reality.

"Huh?!" I asked in confusion, blinking at him. The corners of Arush's handsome lips twitched in a smirk as he said "Well, you were clearly not listening to a word that I was speaking Ms.Agarwal, so, as a punishment, you'll be sitting  in my cabin and doing your work under my nose until this project gets over" 

My eyes grew wide in horror and I looked around helplessly as everyone looked back at me in pity.

Oh yeah these people don't know why I'm worried! They think that this is a punishment for me, that I'm being made to work right under his nose because I was being inattentive. Oh how they don't know that Arush just needed a reason to keep me close to him?!

"Have I made myself clear Ms.Agarwal?" He asked, barely able to control the glee in his voice.

"Y...yes...yes sir" I stuttered.

As the first person began speaking, I dared not look up at Arush and could feel his intense gaze boring into my skull.

Daring myself I looked up at him, but regretted instantly as I saw him looking intently at me, without blinking his eyes.

Blood rose to my cheeks and feeling exceptionally shy, I looked away from him, biting my lip in embarrassment.

"Oh shit! Mr. Shah would you please exchange seats with me? My laptop is dying and I need to connect it to the plug point behind you" Arush said all of a sudden.

"Sure sir" Amruth said, as Arush got up from his seat.

The room was large and yes there was only one plug point which was on the wall behind Amruth, who got up and sat at the chair that Arush had just vacated.

I felt everyone's pityful gaze on me as Arush moved towards me and took the seat that Amruth had just vacated and plugged his laptop charger to the plug point behind him before making himself comfortable.

I gulped in fear and blood rose to my cheeks as Arush moved forward towards the table, his arms just brushing mine.

And then, I almost squealed as I felt his musky cologne filling my nostrils as he slowly moved his socks clad feet on mine, making goose bumps erupt all over my body.

Oh dear God this isn't going to go down well at all!!

To be continued...