"Hey Riya, where is the JR merger report I asked you?" Sara's voice pulled me out of my staring match with my laptop screen.

"What?" I barely slept yesterday. I went home and sent Ryan all the information he wanted and since morning I have been working on one of our clients, who are now merging their company with a rival company.

They have been rivals for almost ten years and out of the blue they are merging their companies all smiling and dancing. I was working on how this will affect our ties with the company. I was supposed to submit this report by evening, so being the manic I am, I have been working on this without even having my lunch.

"What happened? Are you ok?" Sara voice reached my ears again and this time I successfully looked away from my screen.

"Yaa I am fine, I am just working on the merger report and I find it all messed up."

"I would help but I am going to meet their COO personally now and if I get something useful, I will let you know," Sara said sitting in front of me.

"Ok, fine. I will do as much as I can today and send you everything I put together by the end of the day."

Sara filled me on few things she knew about the merger and was off to meet the COO.

***************************

Since morning my phone vibrated a few times, indicating a new message but I did not pay much attention to it. I had to get to the bottom of this merger or I was going to go mad. We could potentially be losing a client if we did not come up with something useful. When it almost looked like I was solving the merger mystery and was seeing some pretty good chances of continuing our relationship with them, my phone rang.

I was beaming at my discovery and my eyes were blinded with happiness, so I didn't not bother to check the caller's name and answered it. Before I even got to say hello,

"You said 6, now it is 6:30. I am still waiting in the lobby and the same guard from yesterday is eyeing me like I am here to cause some havoc. Where are you?" came Nick's annoyed voice from the other side of the line.

Oh crap.

Yesterday after I messaged Nick, we discussed a little and today we were supposed to meet at 6 and plan the actual party. I had forgotten all about it and I am still not done with my work.

"I am so so so so sorry Nick. I am still at office but..."

"Don't tell me you forgot" he grumbled.

"How about tomorrow? I will come and meet you at any time. You can decide. I am really sorry but I am still not done with my work."

"But I have been waiting for you". I somehow pictured this 6 feet something tall, muscularly built CEO with his fists closed and stomping his foot on the floor, like a kid, while saying this. And I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Ahem, nothing. Sorry" before I explained more, the line went dead. I stared at my phone and the huffed.

Okay, if he wants to be a jerk and be immature, fine with me.

"You are a mess," came a voice from behind me and I dropped my phone as I shrieked and almost jumped from my chair.

"You scared me. Wait, what are you doing here? How did you get in? You don't even have a visitor pass issued. What connections do you have here? What did you tell the guards? How did they let you in?"

He took in a deep breath and answered all my questions with a very loud "Shut up".

He silently walked up to me and dragged a chair from nearby table and sat a few feet away from me. He was holding his grey coat in one hand and picked up stress ball from my desk with his other hand.

"I was bored in the lobby and since I was here already I came to meet you," he said spinning the ball on my table, not meeting my eyes.

I told him we could meet tomorrow but NO he HAD to meet today. I analyzed two things here.

Nick always had his way.

And he doesn't have patience. At all.

I was still looking at him like he just hasn't spoken and replied "you shut up."

"Ha? What?" he asked confused and then realization dawned on him. He let out an amused chuckle and shook his head saying "you are crazy."

"No, you are crazy."

YES, I AM MATURED. YES, I AM NOT STUPID AND YES THIS IS HOW I ACT WHEN I AM REALLY TIRED. STOP JUDGING.

This amused him even more.

"You are stupid," he was borderline grinning.

"Your face is stupid" I was borderline seething.

"Your desk is a mess"

"Your hair is a mess"

"Your hair looks like a bird's nest after a tornado hit it"

"You walk like you own the whole damn world"

"You walk like your ass is on fire"

"You talk... wait really?" I asked in surprise. "That's what Vivi says all the time"

"To answered your question, yes. Do you know it so hard to catch you when you are walking alone? And who is Vivi?" he asked quickly.

"That's my friend. She always said that I walked like I am being chased by a rabid dog and I thought she was joking." I missed her. Yes, we have a video call every week and she tells me everything and I tell her all the important stuff in my life but I still miss her.

I looked up at Nick and smiled "once or twice when we last spoke you reminded me of her." There were certain things Nick said that were exactly the kind of things she would have said, had she been there.

"Yaa? Tell me about her," he was smiling back at me.

"Well we have been friends since we were kids. We were neighbors, same school and evil minds. Sasha, Vivi and I were very close until she moved away six years ago. Haven't seen her much since then, but we are still pretty close."

He was nodding slowly like something clicked and said "I remember Sasha mentioning her once."

And then there was silence. We were both looking at each other, smiling. I swear I have no idea why we were smiling but then my smile dropped when I recalled the long forgotten report.

"I should finish this," I said turning in the direction of my laptop.

"What are you working on?" Nick pulled his chair a little closer to me and started reading my report.

What I understood was that out of the two companies we were serving only the JR group and after the merger we were not sure if that would be the surviving entity. If it was not, our chances of losing a client was high. Even if it did survive the board might change and the number of people who would support us was not a definite number as of now. From a little more digging I understood that there was a third company that was being backed by both these companies for the past 5 years. If we could convince the third company to be our client (since it was a small company, persuasion should be easy) we could gain a client, in the off chance if we lost JR Group.

Of course, I haven't written all this in my report but I wrote all the points that made sure that they still had good ties with JR and the possibility of seeking a deal with the third company as well.

In the next fifteen minutes I completed the report and Nick chimed in when he thought something else could be added. Once I was done we walked out of the building towards his car.

"I am really impressed with your work. How long have you been working on your report?" Nick started the conversation once we were in the car and he started driving.

"I started it this morning." We decided to go to a small restaurant that was a 15 minute drive from my office.

"But why PR? I mean have you read some of the proposals you have put in there? Why not go for some mainstream business? Why did you settle for... what you are doing?" he asked with a semi shrug.

Frankly, I have always been interested in business and there is also this dream of starting something of my own. But the reason I did not pursue it during college then was just to irk my father. It was my way of defying him. He wanted me to take up business administration and work with him once I was done. Now that I think of it, it was pretty stupid of me.

"I am just looking for experience. After another year or so I will probably take up master's in business and set up a firm or something" I said biting my inner cheek.

I am not good with speaking about my dreams. There is a fifty percent chance that the person hearing to it would make fun of you. Not that I cared about what anyone thought but my dream was like my baby, no one demeans it. No one.

"Where do you want to do your masters?" Nick asked looking at me once before turning his attention back to the road.

I did not expect him to be interested but somehow the conversation just flowed from there.

We spoke back and forth even after getting into the restaurant and stopped only once to order our food. By the end of our dinner we were talking about Milky Way and stars.

I realized something at that moment. Talking to Nick was easy and nice, I didn't have to try or pretend. Most of all I didn't have to hide any of my thoughts because he spoke about anything and everything and I liked it. I liked it a lot.

"So about the party," I said looking up from my desserts. When he was still looking at his ice cream like it was the only thing he cared about in the whole world I continued "I think we should get a stripper." He choked on his ice cream, I mentally high fived myself. Well that got his attention.

"By that, I meant I will prepare a guest list, you can talk to the catering. You decide the date and I will decide the venue," I said in my all business tone and held out my hand.

He nodded and closed my hand with his and said "Deal."

When the bill arrived I fought for my rights to pay the bill. I asked him for this dinner. It was because of me we were here. It was all on me, so I HAD to pay. I also brought up a very good point that Nick drove all the way here so he did spend on the fuel, so we were even. Nick being the less logical person he is, did not share my sentiments.

I practically had to stuff my card in the waiter's hand and push him away so Nick would not attack him. He was still huffing and grunting when we exited the restaurant and walked to his car, not looking at me once. After a few minutes when he noticed I was not walking alongside of him he turned back and asked "what now?" in exasperation.

I smiled at him innocently and said "the cabs are that way so I am going to go" I said pointing behind me "let me know if you have any difficulty with the party arrangements. Drive home safe. Good night," I waved a little and started walking in the opposite direction.

I heard the sound of shoes hitting the pavement and then a strong hand stopped me by holding my wrist in a tight grip.

"Are you insane? You can't take cab now. It's late, why can't you just not..." he took in deep breath and this time is spoke softly "let me refresh your memory, I HAVE A CAR, I BROUGHT YOU HERE AND I CAN DROP YOU HOME"

"And I am not five. I can take care of myself," I freed my hand from his grip "it is surprising but nice to know that you have chivalry. However, I don't need you to drop me. I can hail a cab. Thank you for thinking about me but I will be fine," I said softly but left no place for discussion.

I did not like it when I was treated like I needed to be protected or taken care of. I am fine by myself.

With that I left Nick not looking back at him.

~*~*~*~*~

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