Aathiya's POV
We reached home by one. We had to walk for about twenty-seven minutes since the last bus had left at 12:20. After removing our makeup and changing into comfortable clothes, we settled onto the bed.
"That guy was hitting on you so badly, Aathi," Aaru said, breaking the silence.
"I don't think so. He was hitting on all of us, hoping one of us would say yes," I replied, shrugging.
"Oh please, he danced with you, took pictures of you, and even directed your poses. My goodness, how sweet is that?"
"What sweet? As you said, he was hitting on me. Whatever he was doing was to impress us with how good of a man he is. If he succeeded in his plan, we would see his true self, which would be utterly disappointing."
"And why is that?"
"Because he's a man. That's what men do. They pretend to be something they're not, and once you give your heart to them, they show you their true colors. They make you beg for the tiny amount of affection you deserve."
"Don't be so pessimistic, Aathi. One bad experience shouldn't dictate your mindset for life. Everyone is not the same as him."
"Let's leave it at that. Why are we even discussing this? The event is over, and it's not like I'm going to meet him again. You have work in the morning, and I need to visit some homes to finalize one. Let's sleep. It's already late."
"True. Goodnight."
"Goodnight." We drifted to sleep.
I woke up late the next morning. I checked my phone and saw a notification from Snapchat. Reyansh Takhtani added you as a friend. What a surname; it sounds like a brand name. I chose not to open Snapchat. With only one class today, I could easily go house hunting. The phone could wait. I saw almost five homes, but none matched the photos posted on Kijiji. When I visited the fifth home, my phone died.
"What the hell, Babaji? Is this the time to mess things up? How will I get back without maps?" I requested the owner of the house to charge my phone, and thank God, he allowed me. It was so embarrassing. I couldn't find a place today. While coming back, I saw another ad on Kijiji, posted just five minutes earlier. I immediately texted to arrange a visit for tomorrow since I was getting late for my class.
I came home looking for Aaru. She should have been home by now. I texted her, "Where are you?"
After twenty minutes, she replied, "At work."
"Why? It's late."
"Will explain everything when I come home. Ttyl."
What had happened to her? I started feeling dizzy all of a sudden. Damn, I hadn't eaten anything. But I had a class in one minute. I took the laptop to the kitchen and started cooking. I couldn't stand. If I skip one meal, my blood pressure drops, my body heats up, and I collapse. I feel it coming about a minute before. I put the roti on the pan and was about to flip it when I felt my breakdown coming. I left the roti, turned off the gas, and rushed to my room. I only made it to the couch before collapsing, my head spinning and my body radiating immense heat. I tried to calm down, but nothing helped. I lay there for fifteen minutes, then slowly took the water bottle from the table and sipped it. After about half an hour, I regained my senses. I went to the kitchen, and seeing the burnt roti, I felt like crying. Why am I like this? I can't do a single thing right. Aaru must be coming home soon; I should focus on food. I ate while watching a Pakistani drama, and when I went to clean up, I saw Aaru coming in with a furious face.
"Hey, you're back. What took you so long?"
"The manager resigned."
"Whattt? When, why?"
"Overnight. He had to go to India."
"Oh, then was a new manager assigned?"
"Not a manager, but the vice president of CPM."
"Wow, the vice president of CPM came himself. Impressive."
"What's impressive? Yesterday, I thought he was a gentleman, but today I found out he's just an arrogant rich man. He acted like we'd never met before."
"Wait, wait. Did you meet him yesterday? You didn't tell me anything."
"I wanted to, but it was too late, so I thought I'd tell you later."
"Okay, fine. Freshen up, have some food, and then spill the tea."
Aathiya's POV
I reached Paradise just in time today despite the subway delays, and relieved the on-site concierge. It was the first day after the manager's resignation, so of course, there were many things lined up. I had to go through everything with the new manager.
"Hey Chetna, how are you?" I greeted her.
"I'm good, Aarohi. And you?"
"Good... good." Chetna was the second morning concierge at Paradise. However, she didn't hold the same level of authority as me since I was the supervisor and chief concierge. "You heard about the new manager?"
"Oh, yeah. The new one must be arriving anytime soon."
I nodded, glancing at her before turning back to my notes, making sure I didn't forget anything for today's meeting. I was reading emails and greeting guests when I received a notification about a meeting with the Vice President in 20 minutes. It was early morning, so leaving the desk wouldn't cause much trouble.
"Hey Chetna, we have a meeting in 20 minutes with the VP. Can you handle the desk until then?"
"Am I not attending the meeting?" she asked, surprised.
"We can't leave the desk unattended. After this meeting, he'll probably meet everyone."
"But I'm also part of the concierge team, and the meeting is for the concierge team," she argued.
"Okay, let me confirm with them." I emailed the manager to confirm who needed to attend the meeting. "He said that only I am supposed to attend the meeting."
"Okay," she said with a tight-lipped smile. I knew she didn't like me because she thought I was hindering her promotion, but I couldn't care less. I didn't have time for all that. I headed toward the management office with my notes and files. "May I come in, sir?"
"Come in," I heard from inside. I tried tapping my fob on the reader, but due to the files in my hands, I struggled to open the door. Finally, I managed to tap and press the accessibility button with my elbow. The door opened, but in my attempt, all the files and notes fell to the floor.
"I'm so sorry. I was just trying to open the door," I apologized, looking toward the chair and froze in my place with what I saw. Those bright blue eyes—Aadarsh. What was he doing here? Then it clicked me. He was the Aadarsh Jindal, Vice President of CPM.
"Careful," he said plainly.
"Let me help you with that," said a man standing near the couch.
"No, no, it's almost done." Despite my protest, the gentleman helped me pick up the files while Aadarsh watched us. My eyes never left his. I stood up after thanking the gentleman, realizing that my wish from last night had been granted. I smiled at Aadarsh, but he didn't react.
"Hi, Miss Khurana. I'm Aadarsh Jindal. Nice to meet you," he said in an utterly formal tone.
"Nice to meet you too, sir."
"I'm Kabir, his assistant," the gentleman who helped me said.
"I'm Aarohi. Nice to meet you, Sir."
"You can call me Kabir. I'm fine with it"
"Have a seat," Aadarsh said. I took a seat, and we discussed the schedule and duties of our staff. Other staff members, like maintenance supervisors and the head chef, came in from time to time. He never once showed that he had met me before. "Miss Khurana, you might need to stay for an hour or two after your shift. I need to make some changes to your team's responsibilities. I hope that's okay."
"Sure, sir," I said with a tight-lipped smile. Okay, my foot. First, he ignored me as if he had never seen me before, and now he wanted me to stay two hours longer. We were discussing hotel policies when Kabir left for some work, leaving us alone. I decided to bring it up. "Yesterday, it was—"
He cut me off. "Miss Khurana, we have a lot of work pending. Let's focus on that. I don't have time for gossip sessions."
I felt so embarrassed for even bringing it up. I didn't say anything else and shifted my focus to the files. We finished almost everything in two hours.
"Thank you for your time, Miss Khurana."
"No worries, sir. I should take my leave now." He nodded, and I exited the office, burning with anger. I had thought so highly of him yesterday, believing he was a gentleman, caring, and adorable. I had hoped to spend some time with him and get to know him better, but instead, I figured out that he was just another money-minded jerk who looked down on others who are not as fortunate as him. I couldn't believe he didn't recognize the girl he had met just hours before. I wasn't expecting anything big, just a warm smile, but he behaved colder than ice. He chose not to recognize me because it would hurt his pride to acknowledge that a business tycoon like him had carried a girl in his arms, who was just a nominal concierge in one of his dad's hotels. I was disgusted with myself for even bringing it up.
I spilled everything to Aathi, recounting everything that had happened since yesterday.
"Don't think too much about it, Aaru. He's just a jerk. There was nothing wrong with asking him about yesterday. It's his loss."
"You know, Aathi, how dumb I felt when he cut me off. Yesterday, I thought I would love to keep such a man to myself forever. But today, he successfully shattered that image."
"Every man has a different way of disappointing. He chose this one. Let it be. You should rest."
"You're right. Men are just disappointing. I don't have to do anything with him. I should just focus on my job."
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