30/12/2019

Shiva's P. O. V :

The atmosphere inside the conference room was strange. Michael was sarcastically judging the interiors.

He was wearing black formals. His looks didn't suit the space at all.

As I sat opposite to him, he rolled his eyes and looked at me.

" Hello Shiva! Finally we meet! " Michael said holding out his hand. He had a wicked grin plastered on his face.

I shook his hand and placed my office portfolio file in front of him.

" I am not here to talk about business. Honestly , I was expecting this place to be more, you know, more busy. " He said titling his head in disbelief.

" The members are in a vacation. You can meet them all if you visit us two weeks from now. But it's unfortunate that you had to see this scene. " I said.

I wasn't able to read Michael at all. He was constantly looking outside the conference Hall through the glass, as if he was expecting someone.

" I think I haven't introduced myself properly yet, I am Michael, I am an architect, my base is at Bangalore. And I will be opening my very own firm soon. I wished I could invite my friend who works here , but I can't find her here." He said stroking his forehead.

" Who is the friend you are talking about? " I asked playing along his game. My guilt was already brimming to my throat, after Hari left, I didn't have time to organize my thoughts, now I have to face this bastard.

" The architect, that got newly appointed here! " He said raising his brows.

" She she,left the job last week " I said and gulped a bit.

" Wow! " He said and started laughing.

I was going crazy inside my head looking at Michael.

" Awesome man! I didn't expect this twist! Damn it! " He said in between his loud laughing.

" What the hell do you want? " I finally asked.

Michael adjusted his posture and looked at me.

" I am eternally indebted to you! I have no words to thank you! " He said.

I glared at him in loss of words.

" I was planning hard to concede you to fire her from this office, but it turns out I have no role now! Seriously dude, thanks! " Michael said.

I caught his collar and pulled him towards me.

" What do you mean by that? " I asked him gritting my teeth.

Michael loosened my hold on his collar calmly and sat back.

" It seems like you don't know the story at all " Michael said.

" What story?, I bloody fired her already ! ,Stop playing tricks and get to the point! " I shouted at him.

" Last time I saw you in Bangalore, I really thought that you are going to be a huge loop hole in my plan. But it turns out you made my plan easier. Let me be honest for a moment, you are the most stupid bastard that has ever graced this planet! " He said.

I looked at him confused.

" Don't you know about Aparna's license cancellation? She can't practice anymore if she doesn't win the case. Didn't she cry to you about that? " He asked calmly.

My jaws dropped to the ground and I was internally questioning why I had no clue about this.

" But, she is a very good employee. She does her job very well. Why would she face anything like that? Who would dare put a case against her ? " I asked him.

" I did! " He said proudly grinning.

Michael was someone close to Aparna. Though she hates him now, why would he go to this extent!

" Why? " I asked in utter shock.

" See this scar? " He asked me pointing to a faded scar on the left side of his cheek.

I nodded confused.

" She did that! " He said.

" Aparna is not someone who would do this without any reason. I am not going to trust anything unless I hear her side. " I said sternly.

" Wow, I really appreciate your vigour. If you didn't know, I loved her, more than you. I confessed to her like a hundred times. Our families nearly approved everything, but suddenly she backed off. I had no other way than to force her. I might sound like the bad guy, but for her, I was ready to do anything. We worked together. I wanted the relationship to get physical, she didn't accept it. Things got out of hand, we had a public fight, she slapped me. I was drunk, I spilled lots of words, but it was love after all. I tried to force her, she broke my face and ran off. This happened some three months ago, She left the office and disappeared. Now to get her back, I am going to make her apologize to me. I know what she values the most, she can't stop me this time. " He said calmly.

My insides were boiling on hearing his words. I was holding onto the tiny bit of sanity that was left inside my mind, before I kill him with my bare hands.

I was out of words. I can only imagine the amount of terror Aparna went through.

I decided to be insane. I stood up from my chair and punched hard on Michael's face. He didn't budge.

The punch broke his nose and he smiled through the blood.

I shook my hand and looked at him.

" Man, that was violent! " He said and spit out blood.

" Get out of here, before I kill you! " I shouted at him.

" Sit down my friend, the story hasn't ended! You should know how you became the stupid! " He said laughing.

I pulled my hair and sat back. I really hated his confidence.

" Aparna who had nowhere to go suddenly found you! And you happened to appoint her in your firm. She having this place, made her confident. She was almost unafraid of me. I thought I was done. But the stupid you threw her out! That's so ironic! " He said.

" You bastard! " I shouted at him.

" Shut the fuck up! You are nothing to me. Aparna damned chose this hell hole instead of my office! She bloody chose you! Come on, what do you have? Really? , you are a piece of shit! And I feel ashamed to compare myself with you! " He said laughing.

" Get out! You are an insane asshole! You didn't love her! You see her as an object! You are intimidated by her! You are scared that you can't control her and you are trying to get back at her with your cheap tricks!" I said. I was already sweating profusely, I can't take up his words anymore.

I wanted to kill myself for breaking the trust Aparna had on me, I wanted to run to her and fall at her feet.

" Are you really different from me? Weren't you scared of her? , Have you heard about that story, the Rumpelstiltskin? " He asked me.

" Get the fuck out of here! " I shouted at his face.

" This is the last story my friend. You shouldn't misunderstand me right. A Miller lies to the king that his daughter can spin hey to gold. The king forces the Miller's daughter to prove the saying. The girl gets help from a goblin and does the deed. But imagine, what if that girl is the goblin? What if she can really spin straw to gold ? " He asked as he got up from his seat.

I shook my head at his childish puzzle.

" Your office ,This succulents, the olive coloured highlight walls, this is Aparna's taste. This is the palette she chose for her dream office and I bloody don't understand why she used that for you! That girl is a goblin! Everything she touches becomes gold! Her net worth is more than 15 crores! She doesn't deserve to work here! Thank god! " Michael said and walked out of the conference room.

I stood frozen on my place on hearing his words. I am doomed!

Michael pushed a small succulent pot over the working table and it fell down with a shrill cracking noise.

" Oops! " He said smiling at me. He intentionally moved his hand and pushed out two more succulent pots.

The sand spread out on the floor and the porcelain pieces were shaking.

" The pitiable part is that even after she did all this, she has no other way than to fall at my feet! " Michael said and kicked out a broken pot to one side.

He was here to torture me. He wanted to see me at my misery, he is enjoying that.

" You did a huge mistake! " I finally spoke out.

" What? " Michael asked turning towards me.

" You should have silently move on with you fucked up plan. You shouldn't have told me anything. Too bad, you are gonna regret coming here and teasing me! " I said.

" You are a mute dog, try barking all you want! Aparna tried too, she lost. What can an amateur do! Fuck off! " Michael said and walked out.

I stood alone in my empty office.

I had just only one thought on my mind.

How am I going to make this asshole regret touching Aparna?