***Arush's P.O.V***

I moved forward to pack mine and Kabir's usual lunch and with a last look at Sahana, I turned to leave, when her voice caught my attention again-

"...yeah he's exceptionally handsome and good-looking! You have no idea how glad I am that he's single!!.."

I froze at my spot hearing her words, and slowly inched towards her, while the huge pillar gave me cover. 

For some reason I felt something weird within me - I felt light and bouncy and I just wanted to go and cuddle everyone around me! I don't know why and how but there's a smile etched on my face right now!

Did she mean me when she said 'I'm glad he's single!'  ?? It is no secret that I'm single - given that I'm a pain in the ass and a complete asshole, gossips regarding me fly quicker than women running off to take advantage of a shopping discount!

And my relationship status has been a topic of interest for a lot of women, specially for bitches like that Ms.Sinha!

"..oh she's very possessive about people she loves and she has made it clear that I...her best friend...can't even look at him! She made me swear that I'm to call him bhai!.." came Riya's voice, and again, my lips automatically curved into a smirk - don't ask me why!

Sahana is possessive eh?! She's possessive about people she loves?! That's....great! Even I'm possessive about people I love.

NO DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!! I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH HER!! I'M JUST... STATING..... THE... UM...SIMILARITIES...YEAH.... I'M JUST STATING THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN ME AND SAHANA....AND THERE'S NOTHING MORE TO IT.... IGNORE THE PART OF ME WHO'S LAUGHING AT MY STUTTERING SELF, AND ALSO IGNORE THE PART OF ME THAT'S DRESSED LIKE A CUPID AND DANCING TO 'tune maari entriyaan'

"So when are you gonna introduce him to us?" some girl, jerking me to reality.

'Hello you already know me' was the first thought that ran in my mind.

"Oh no no.... although he's my bhai, he gets to choose whom he wants to go out with. Currently he's actually getting over the crush he has on one of his junior...But are you sure you want a sister in law like me?" Sahana asked, and the realization that she was talking about her brother hit me hard....it was like as though someone had just blown a really sharp needle to this balloon which had started to blow within me.

So she wasn't talking about me?! IT wasn't ME whom she was calling 'exceptionally goo-looking'?

"Okay fine, let's talk about a good-looking hunk from our own office whom we all can gossip about" came some other girl's voice.

Oh girls and their gossips!!

"Yeah...what's your opinion about Sharma sir?! Isn't he.....hawt?!" some girl said and I heard a few giggles.

Yes I'm swelling with pride - they called me hawt! {YES I'm BEING SARCASTIC!}*rolls my eyes at your thought that I'd actually give two shit about some girl's remarks about me!*

"Physical beauty can never cover-up for the fact that the man sucks big time! He is an arrogant asshole who treats others like they're vermin and he practically bounces with joy seeing his juniors trembling with fear. I am disgusted by people like him and even though Asshole Sharma may be good-looking, but I loathe him. So to sum it up, no, I don't find him hawt" I heard Sahana saying with contempt fueling every word she spoke.

And that's all I remember hearing before mechanically making my way to my office with two lunch parcels in my hands - Sahana said she loathes me.... I am not supposed to feel anything at her words and yet....and yet, why do I feel hollow from within?!

Bro she said she doesn't find you hawt - my sub conscience reminded me, adding fuel to the burning fire.

I've heard women calling me asshole, heartless bastard, arrogant bastard, and what not - none of which ever bothered me - I actually wore those names on my sleeve with pride.

What had changed now?! Why did Sahana's comments affect me so much?

"Hey asshole, why did you want to meet me in your cabin for lunch?" Kabir's voice brought me back to my senses.

"Huh?! Oh that....um... new employees in the cafeteria....too much crowd.... strangers.... uncomfortable" I mumbled a few adjectives and nouns that just popped up in my mouth on their own accord.

"Um ohkay...So, what's for lunch?" Kabir asked, sitting back on the sofa in my cabin while I placed the lunch parcels on the coffee table in front of the sofa.

"See" I mumbled, sitting beside Kabir.

"You know Riya's office has been shifted? The company that she works for had been brought by this company last week" Kabir said, picking up a lunch parcel.

"Uh yeah I know" I said, picking up the remaining parcel.

"She doesn't work here...too bad! Else I'd have had pestered you into making her life easier....but I'm actually glad that she doesn't work in your team....she'd have committed suicide trying to meet her asshole boss's deadlines otherwise" Kabir said.

I gave him a nervous chuckle before stuffing my mouth with food - at least I don't have to lie to him if I seem to be busy eating right?!

The lunch hour passed way too slowly with Kabir talking about his weekend plans with Riya, and saying how glad he is that she's not working in my team, while I tried to avoid that sensitive topic with just one-word responses.

Finally Kabir left and I messaged Riya as soon as he left, just to make sure that she can stay clear of his way, and I went back to dwell on Sahana's words.

So she is disgusted by me huh? She called me an Asshole!! She called me Asshole Sharma!! What the fuck?!

Sahana Agarwal - be ready to rue the day you said you loathe me {aka TODAY} because you're in for a ride to hell!! Welcome aboard Sahana Agarwal!!

*imagine me smirking with an evil glint in my eyes*

Yeah it's not like I'm a 90's Don from some gangster movie who's challenging a wayward cop to catch him or something, and it's not like I can do much, but I can burden her with so much work that she will curse herself for turning me into THE devil!

{not that I was a saint before this - just saying!}

Lost in thought about how I'd take revenge on Ms. Agarwal, I spent the rest of the afternoon happily, completing my work and of course, in plotting!

"Mr.Sharma?" came the angelic voice of Sahana, bringing me back to Earth and reality.

"Yes" I asked, looking up from my laptop screen. 

Did I just say angelic voice?!

"I've just emailed you the complete result of the task you'd given me today morning. Do check and let me know?" she said politely, smiling at me, though I didn't miss the hint of pride and smugness in her angelic voice.

Mouth almost hanging wide open and eyes almost popping outa my skull, I looked down at my wrist watch - it was 4 fucking pm. How the hell could she finish that horrendous fuck of a task so quickly?!

I couldn't figure out the problem with that project until like 2 weeks into it, then how could she, a mediocre girl, find it out so soon?!

I had to actually search for that problem's solution on multiple platforms, having posted it on a few internet engineer's platforms to finally have someone else guide me towards the solution, and she this newbie just solved it withing 8 hours?! What the actual fuck?!

I looked at Ms. Agarwal in complete shock, unable to actually even contemplate what to tell her, while she looked at me expectantly, a warm yet what I'm sure is a smug smile on her beautiful face.

Something is SERIOUSLY wrong with me. What the actual fuck man?! Angelic voice?! Beautiful face?! She effing called me ASSHOLE SHARMA!!

"I uh.... I'll get back to you on that once I check it out" I finally managed to say, after loosening my tie a bit - what the damn hell this girl?! 

Sahana Sharma actually rendered me speechless!!

SHARMA?! Bro she's an Agarwal, NOT a Sharma!! You're a SHARMA!

Yeah right, but Sahana Sharma does sound nice doesn't it?!

It's her name, and her choice!

But, won't she become Sahana Sharma if she marries you, since seeing your surname is SHARMA and you're a very very very possessive and bossy asshole?! - my subconscience nudged me.

MARRYING HER?! I'm going mad!

Yeah like you were very much a sane guy before?! My sub conscience asked me again.

Can anybody do he honors of actually bringing an 18th century canon and murdering this asshole bloody sub-fucking-conscience of mine?!

Um Bro I don't mean to be rude or anything, but to MURDER me, they'd first actually have to murder you - my sub conscience nudged at me again.

COULD I GET MORE PISSED?!

{that's a rhetorical question and definitely NOT a challenge for anybody!}

"Um sir?!" came Sahana's angelic voice, breaking in the argument between me and my sub conscience.

"Uh yeah?! Yeah Ms.Agarwal.... you may leave now" I said dismissively before turning my attention to the email that she'd sent half an hour ago.

HALF AN HOUR AGO?! WHAT THE DAMN HELL?!

With eyes as huge as a the-bite-our-friend-takes-from-the-food-that-we-offer-for-him, I went-through the solution that Sahana had offered.

What the actual fuck?! Sahana's solution is not only PERFECT, but it's actually much more efficient than the final solution that we had passed off for the actual project.

How the hell could a newbie do that?! She must have had cheated definitely! But who'd help her out?!

"Ms. Sahana could you come in to my cabin now?!" I almost barked into the intercom as soon as she answered the call.

A smug looking Sahana entered my cabin a couple of minutes later, a smirk playing on her pretty lips.

PRETTY LIPS?! BRAH I'm outa here - my sub conscience said before finally walking out of some door and slamming the door hard behind him.

"Please take a seat" I said, gesturing to the empty chair in front of my table, and watched keenly as Ms.Agarwal gracefully took the seat AWAY from the one I'd just indicated.

Oh she's poking an angry dragon now- my sub conscience chipped in, and for once he was damn right!

"Ms. Agarwal, tell me the truth, how did you get the solution for this problem?" I asked her, getting straight to the point and indicating the problem at hand.

"Sir I don't know if you remember this, but um... this company had actually designed this product for the company in which I had worked earlier...and at that time too I had solved a similar problem for someone on some online questioning platform... anyways after answering there, I realized that the solution could be improvised, and I tried out the solution on the product that you guys had delivered to us and it worked... I just implemented the same here and realized that it could be improvised further.... I tried it and it worked" she said, smiling.

For the first time in my life I got this insane urge to just go and kiss the life out of her. This person sitting in front of me had actually solved this complicated HULK of a problem for us, saving our company's reputation at the time, not to mention my own job, and now, she solved it again, in a much better way.

WOW!

Could she be more attractive?! Could I just go and kiss her....now?!

To be continued...