Shehnaaz entered the office and went to her cubicle. As usual, Sidharth saw her coming in. Normally, Shehnaaz would look at him and smile or wave but, today she looked at him made a cute pout face and looked away pretending to ignore him. It made Sidharth chuckle.

So now this entire week, Shehnaaz had to take the lead and appoint work to everyone.

Sidharth was elated since he would have Shehnaaz around him all the time and at least he would get to speak to her without any hesitation for the sake of work. On the other hand, Shehnaaz was tensed, she knew it was going to be a tough job to ignore Sidharth when he was going to be around her all the time.

"Hi Guys, I've made a timetable for all of you'll so that you can conveniently work and get time for yourself as well in working hours. I don't want my deadline to get extended, so I request you all to follow my list, therefore, we can complete it by next week" said Shehnaaz as she handed all of the sheets which had a legit timetable made like in school.

TIMETABLE.

9:00 am to 12:00 pm - finish off that day's coding

12:00 pm to 1:30 pm - Braim storming new ideas.

1:30 pm to 3:00 pm - lunch break

3:00 pm to 5:00 pm - fixing the bugs of the program part completed

5:00 pm to 5:30 pm - hi-tea break.

5:30 pm to 7 pm - rectifying and submitting that days work + planning the coding and features for the next day.

"What the..." said Ahaan as read the printed sheet in his hand.

"Language Ahaan, we are in the office," said Rhea.

"Ohh yes yes, this a school timetable, I feel like I'm a 13-year-old," said Ahaan while being shocked at how particular Shehnaaz was.

Sidharth couldn't stop laughing at his reaction.

"Shehnaaz, what if I want to go pee, can I get up?" said Ahaan giving funny excuses making everyone laugh.

"I hope you'll follow it," said Shehnaaz as she smiled and looked at everyone. She still didn't look at Sidharth.

"I'm a part of it right?" questioned Sidharth to get Shehnaaz's attention.

"Unless you wish to leave, as it is, you always do what you think is right, "said Shehnaaz sarcastically.

Sidharth didn't want to argue with her so he decided to shut his mouth and continue with their work.

They had to submit the basic unedited code to the I.T engineer but, due to some tech problem, it got delayed. It was the 4th day that they were working on the project, all together in the conference room. Suddenly, Manasi enters dodging the security.

"Sir, I tried stopping her but, she still entered," said the security lamenting to Sidharth.

"Manasi, what are you doing here," said Sidharth being shocked. While the others were in shock as she has been sent to prison.

"I've been bailed out guys and to add a little more spice in your life this new project that you'll have is in affiliation with the new company I've joined in and my first project is with your company," said Manasi.

"Wait, what," said Shehnaaz.

"Yes Ms Shehnaaz Kaur Gill, and I guess you can't be working at it since, you've been irresponsible enough to not submit on time, I guess if you continue then our deal won't be possible," said Manasi as she left the conference room.

"Shehnaaz, I guess you'll have to discontinue as the lead," said Rhea looking down in disappointment.

"That's not a problem, I'll just be back after the break and get back to work," said Shehnaaz and left the conference room.

Sidharth knew Shehnaaz felt bad. It wasn't her fault. She was being blamed for no reason. Manasi was against her due to personal reasons. So he went behind her.

"Shehnaaz, Shehnaaz, listen," he said as he ran behind her.

"What Sidharth, "said Shehnaaz softly.

"How can you give up so easily? You knew you weren't wrong right? Why didn't you tell Manasi" said Sidharth while holding her hand?

"What else could I do Sidharth. I couldn't have pleaded to Manasi to give me one last. I knew it wasn't my fault but, there was nothing I could do about it" said Shehnaaz.

" Who is asking you to plead. You could have stayed there. We all would have supported you. We would have told her the facts that you had done your job perfectly, it was just the technical issues. I would have told it was all our fault, we didn't follow your timetable" said Sidharth as he convinced her to continue to lead the project.

" Sidharth. Didn't you see what was happening? Manasi was taking out her personal grudges on me. She would have an issue with me working on it. So it's better I stay out of this project as a lead and otherwise " said Shehnaaz as she frowned.

"Manasi. Do Hell with her. You can't leave such a huge opportunity just because of her" said Sidharth.

"To hell with your company as well? " said Shehnaaz trying to explain him the entire situation.

"Yes. If it's about you then I don't care" said Sidharth.

"No Sidharth. It's wrong. This project is very important. The company is yours but, the hard work that Rhea, Ahaan, Samira and others have done. We can't take it away from them" said Shehnaaz while being concerned.

"You are the best who could handle it," said Sidharth yet, trying to convince her.

" That's not the case you'll manage it well and if you ever need help I'm always there, I can always help you out unofficially, "said Shehnaaz.

"What about your credits?" asked Sidharth while being worried.

"That's fine Sid. I can get my credits with the other projects as well right? Now I'll leave, I'm getting late" said Shehnaaz as she left his hand and walked away.

"But, Shehnaaz...." said Sidharth but, it was of no use as Shehnaaz had already disappeared from his sight.

SIDHARTH POV

I can't let this happen. Shehnaaz should be equally given her rights. She deserves it.

On the other hand, I need to clear a lot of things with her. If we work apart, I would barely get time to even speak to her.

I'll call Ahaan. He needs to help me out with this

Sidharth was sitting on his couch present opposite his desk and drinking black coffee when Ahaan arrives with a coke in his hand and offers it to Sidharth to drink.

"What's all of this," said Sidharth as he moves Ahaan's hand away making a 'fed up' face.

"Exactly! What's happening with you Sid" said Ahaan.

" This is wrong. How can Manasi threaten us to reject the deal if Shehnaaz is a part of it? It's wrong " said Sidharth.

"Look I know it's wrong and she's getting personal but, do we have a choice here?" said Ahaan genuinely being concerned.

"This is not right for Shehnaaz," said Sidharth.

"Look, Sid. I'm not in a mood to play word games. So I'll come straight to the point. Rhea, Samira, Karan and Tina. All of them think that Shehnaaz has become so important to Sid now that he doesn't have any concern about the company that we all together have worked upon to make it reach such height" said Ahaan.

"What? What nonsense. They can't say that " said Sidharth.

"Of course they will. It's not their fault either. They deserve to be a part of it. Shehnaaz can get credits for a lot of other projects. Sidharth please understand. Okay, look I promise after this project is done. I'll send Shehnaaz and you on a vacation" said Ahaan lightening up the mood and convincing Sidharth.

"What? Vacation? I'm not going anywhere with that stubborn head" said Sidharth making a face.

Ahaan starts wake coughing trying to make Sid realize about the statement he just made.

"Okay if you don't want to go then it's fine but, you do know, right? You always end up doing things you don't want to do?" said Ahaan while smirking.

Sidharth just gave him a look.

"Okay, so I'm assuming by the chronology in past. Shehnaaz and you will go on a vacation together. There will be no disturbance, no friction and...." before Ahaan could complete.

"of course, there will be no friction, no disturbance and after that, there will be a gun that will suddenly, appear. That gun will be mine and suddenly, the bullet will hit you head and there will be a noise 'boooom ' and then you'll die as well. Now think, this I'm saying is that I'll do it which means, I'll definitely do it." said Sidharth as he smiled and moved out of the cabin.

"Bro, you always threaten to kill when will you actually try it out," said Ahaan as he laughed and left Sid's cabin too.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Hey Guys, Really sorry for the late update but, also THANKYOU SO MUCH for such an amazing response.

19 K + Reads and a lot of votes and comments. It means a lot to me. Keep voting & commenting and continue giving in your feedback so that I can improve wherever it's necessary.

Hope you all like this chapter.

❤