"Arjun Mehrotra?" Ma asks me, her eyes wide in shock and jaw dropped.

"Yes, Arjun Mehrotra." I confirm with a confident smile.

The guy isn't even aware of my existence which means he's never going to know about this false story that I'm creating between him and myself.

"Are you sure though? The guy comes on television. He's in today's newspaper as well and he belongs to one of the richest families in Mumbai." Ma says.

"So what? Why can't I be in love with him?" I ask her.

"That's not the point Shravu, does he love you back too?" Ma asks me.

That's the whole point Ma. He doesn't even know me.

"Yes, of course he does." I replied.

"Really? Is this another one of your stories you're making up?" She asks me.

I quickly look away from her eyes.

"N-no no story at all. It's actually the truth. We're both truly and madly in love with each other." I told her.

"You know what, Shravu? This seems like too much exaggeration. How did you even meet the guy?" Ma asks me using my favourite phrase.

"Not at all too much exaggeration." I say in response.

"Accha? Where did you even meet him? How long have you even known him for?" Ma asks.

[Accha (in this context) : Is that so?]

This one takes me a couple of seconds to answer.

"Where would I meet him? I would obviously meet him where he works. I went to have lunch at one of his restaurants with Mrs. Mittal, my boss, who happened to know him and introduced the two of us. It was love at first sight for the guy, Ma. He asked for my number from Miss Mittal and then, well you should know the rest." I blabbered.

Half of this story was true. I did go on a lunch with my boss and my colleagues to one of his restaurants last year to celebrate the success of a project but I had not met Arjun Mehrotra at all. And the part where I said he had fallen in love with me at first sight? Oh my God, if the guy got to know about this, I was dead.

But that's the thing, he will never get to know about this.

"Mrs. Mittal, your boss?" Ma asks me.

"Yes, the one and only." I answer.

"Oh okay." Ma says not seeming convinced.

"Can I please go back to sleep now?" I ask her.

"Wait, I have one more question." She begins but I cut her off mid-way.

"Enough is enough Ma. All other questions will be answered later." I tell her and fall back on the bed.

"We will continue with this discussion later." She says and exits my room.

•

I slept through almost the entire day yesterday and when I woke up Papa was already made aware of me dating Arjun Mehrotra.

Thankfully he did not make much fuss of the issue and just told me to be careful.

I felt bad lying to them but if I did not my mother would never let me be in peace. At least till Arjun and I have our fake breakup she will be off my back and will hopefully not try to match me with any other accountant guy.

"You're daydreaming again." Sneha, my best friend and coworker, says from beside me.

That breaks me out of my trance.

"Oh it's nothing really, I was thinking about work." I told her.

"How did Madhu Aunty's matchmaking go? Is Dhruv going to be my Jiju?" She asks.

[Jiju : Brother in Law]

"Hush, don't even utter that word in front of me. And thankfully Ma's matchmaking did not work, yet again." I told her.

"Why? What did you do this time?" She asks me.

A frown forms on my face.

"Why would I do something every time? The guy could do something too." I told her.

"I know you Shravya Arora, you must have definitely done something for aunty's matchmaking to go wrong." She says in reply.

"The guy was in love with someone else but did not have the courage to tell his parents that. I mean I don't even love anyone but I still told my mother I do." I say and the next second I realise what I blurted out. I bite my tongue and immediately look away.

"What? What did you just say?" Sneha asks.

"What did I say? I said that the guy loved someone else." I lie even though I know it'll be of no use.

"No after that, you said, you said you did not love someone but you told your mother you do. Look at me Shravya, look at me now." I told her.

"Okay yes fine I said that." I admitted.

"Who are you in love with?" She asked.

"No one in reality. I just made the story up." I told her.

"Tell me everything, A to Z don't leave anything out." She says.

"I won't. I have work to do." I tell her and try to busy myself in one of the files that I brought to the cafeteria on the ground floor with me.

"Your promotion won't get hampered if you don't work during your lunch break for one day, tell me what happened now." She continues.

"It's not-"

"Now. " She says and I release a deep breath before continuing with my story.

She listens to me patiently. Her face makes all sorts of expressions as I continue, which tells me the story delights her very much.

"Oh My God!" She exclaims as soon as I'm done.

"Oh My God, indeed." I say as I look behind her to see who just entered the office building.

Her eyes follow mine and she turns her head around.

"What a coincidence this is!" Sneha says her head still turned away from me to look at the person who's just stepped inside the office building - Arjun Mehrotra, about six feet two inches tall, his jet black messy hair, bronze skin, all suited up, screaming perfection.

Mrs. Mittal is beside him, with two other head of department members and they are all making their way towards the elevator.

"What the hell is this guy doing here?" I ask Sneha.

"How am I even supposed to know? Let's go to Miss Mittal's floor and find out." She tells me with an excited grin on her face.

"No way am I going to do that. Let's just continue with our lunch." I told her.

"No way am I going to sit here and not meet your fake lover instead." She says and grabs my hand.

"No, no, Sneha you're not gonna do that." I tell her but it's already too late.

She's already pushing me towards them.

I try my best to pull back but it's of no use.

When we're just a couple of centimetres away from him, I yell, "Sneha, stop it!"

Sneha doesn't seem to have heard me but the entire group moving towards the elevator do.

I freeze on my spot as all of them start eyeing me.

Mrs. Mittal stares at me with her eyes wide, the head of the department members throw me a look and continue walking, eventually everyone looks away except for one person.

Arjun Mehrotra.

His eyes are moving back and forth between my face and then Sneha's hold on me.

Sneha, having noticed the attention we have grabbed, comes to a halt too.

Finally Arjun Mehrotra mumbles something under his breath, shakes his head, gives me one last glance and joins the group who now enter the elevator.

My face flushes in embarrassment and I quickly look away and at Sneha. She passes me an apologetic look.

"Don't worry, I'll fix all of this. You just have to follow my lead." She tells me.

"Enough, if I follow one more lead you give me, then I'm going to be thrown out of this company for displaying indecent behaviour at the premises." I tell her and make my way back to our table at the cafeteria.

I sat down on my seat, Sneha taking her previous seat beside me.

My phone beeps. I picked it up to see a message from Dhruv.

Dhruv : I finally told my parents about Sanjana. They're reluctant but they've agreed to meet her.

The text brings a smile to my face.

Shravya : Well done, buddy! All the best for the meet.

Also, did you tell your mom I was truly and madly in love with someone? That was too much exaggeration! I write back and close my phone.

"Who were you texting?" Sneha asks me.

"No one!" I tell her and grab my sandwich. I'm still mad at her.

She pokes my elbow.

"Shravya, okay I must have gone overboard with that fake lover thing and I caused you embarrassment in front of our boss but I'll make up for it." She tells me.

"You owe me one, don't forget." I told her.

"Definitely." She replies and quickly puts her arm around me pulling me in for a side hug.

•

An hour after lunch break gets over I head to Mrs. Mittal's floor to hand her a file, however before stepping into her cabin I stop by a coworker.

"Mr. Roy, has Mrs. Mittal's guest left?" I ask him.

"No, not yet, Miss Arora." He replies.

"Oh okay, alright. I'll just wait here for a while then. Have to hand over this file to the boss. " I tell him and he nods at me.

I pace back and forth in front of Mrs. Mittal's cabin growing impatient with each passing second.

Fifteen minutes pass and Arjun Mehrotra still doesn't exit Mrs. Mittal's office.

I've had enough now. I'm about to make my way back to the elevator when the door to Mrs. Mittal's office's cabin opens and Arjun Mehrotra along with my boss exit the cabin.

I immediately try to hide myself but it's too late.

"Miss Arora?" Mrs. Mittal calls out and I slowly turn around.

"Good afternoon ma'am, here's the file you requested for." I tell her and literally shove the file in her direction, ready to escape.

"Well, here is one of my best employees, Shravya Arora, Mr. Mehrotra." She tells Arjun Mehrotra who stands beside her assessing me.

"Good afternoon Sir." I replied timidly not looking up from the ground.

"Good afternoon." He replies back in a velvet like smooth voice.

"Shravya, would you mind giving him a tour of the premises before he leaves?" Mrs. Mittal asks me.

No, what the hell woman. Why did you have to do this?

"Me? I... I have to work on another tax file, maybe you could ask someone else?" I suggest looking up at Mrs. Mittal.

"Mrs. Mittal I'd love it if Miss Arora here could give me a tour of your company. I'm sure you're not going to fire her if she doesn't go and work on another file at this very moment?" He asks her.

Now what's wrong with this guy!? Can't he get the message? I'm clearly not interested nor am I free to give him a tour.

"Of course, why not." Mrs Mittal says.

I finally look at Arjun Mehrotra.

I'm surprised to find him smirking.

Dear God, what mess am I into now?

coo.kiedough0104

16th July 2021, Friday.