It Started With a Friend Request (9 page)

‘Hey, do you have a back up of our project files? Remember, I had told you to save it when I had shared it with everyone?’ Tamanna enquired. She was on the phone with one of her teammates.

‘How can you be so careless? Just check who has it and give me a call immediately. The system has crashed and I am still in office,’ Tamanna shouted.

She hung up the phone and called a technician to check on the matter. It was already 8:30 pm and it seemed like she would take at least a couple of hours more to finish with work. She had already checked in early today and this sudden issue made her wait even after the office hours, which irritated her. But she was helpless. With higher positions come more responsibilities and thus Tamanna had to wait until the issue was resolved. She was having a cup of tea in the cafeteria when her phone beeped. Her heart skipped a beat looking at the caller’s name. It was Deep!

‘Hello,’ she greeted him after picking up the call.

‘Hi Ma’am. A colleague just told me about the issue you are facing. I have the backup files with me. If it’s urgent, I can reach office in a couple of hours. Should I come?’ Deep asked concerned.

‘Please do. I’ll be waiting. Please try and come as soon as possible,’ Tamanna responded.

Deep hung up the phone and quickly had his dinner. He knew he was not going to be paid extra for helping her out but it would certainly help in making an impression on her and might result in rewards in the future. He reached office around 11 pm. There was no one on the floor except the technician and Tamanna. Both of them were engrossed in resolving the issue and didn’t notice that Deep had reached.

Deep broke the silence and said, ‘I had no idea something like this would turn up. When I got a call, I had just reached home. Therefore, it took me time to come back again. I am so sorry.’

Tamanna just smiled and took the pen drive containing the backup files.

‘I hope you had a peaceful sleep last night because I am afraid it will take at least 4 hours to restart the system again,’ the technician responded.

Deep wanted to bang the system on the technician’s head. He now had to stay back until early morning and had to also be on time for the next day shift. He scratched his head and looked at Tamanna with a raised eyebrow. She thanked Deep for coming on such short notice and told him she appreciated his efforts to stay back until the issue got resolved. After a few hours, the technician restored the system and left. Except for the security guard, the only people left in office were Deep and Tamanna.

After almost an hour, Tamanna asked Deep to join her for coffee while he was busy checking the files on the system.

‘Ya sure, should I go get it?’ Deep asked.

‘No, no. It’s okay. You carry on,’ Tamanna said and walked outside towards the coffee vending machine.

She looked around the office and saw no one was around. She took two cups and placed one on the coffee machine. As the cup was being filled with coffee, she remembered the morning washroom incident. She felt a sensation run through her body. Suddenly, she felt a hand caressing her back, slowly but passionately. She stood still and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, the hand pulled out the shirt tucked in her pencil skirt and reached for her bra strap. She let out a moan, turned around, and opened her eyes to come face to face with the person. To her shock, there was no one around. She couldn’t believe it. She then looked down to see the coffee spilled all over the vending machine. She again turned to see whose hand it was but found no one and
realized how desperately she wanted someone to love her. The coffee was still spilling out of the cup. She turned off the main switch of the vending machine.

Damn! The vending machine too had to malfunction now! Fuck man,
she thought.

She took both the cups and went back to see Deep still working on the system. She smiled wryly thinking of the morning incident and kept the coffee cup on the desk.

‘Thank you so much, Deep, for all your help. It would have left me in immense trouble if I hadn’t fixed this issue tonight. Maybe we would have lost this project or the company would have faced huge loses. Then they would have shown me the door and asked me to get out. I am really grateful to you for all your help today,’ Tamanna said sipping her coffee in relief.

‘It’s okay, ma’am. For me, work is always the first priority and this was quite a serious issue,’ Deep smiled.

‘You can call me Tamanna. My close friends call me Tammy. You can too. After all, you saved my job.’ She was trying to break the ice between them.

‘Sure Tamanna. Oops! Tammy,’ Deep smirked.

‘I hope you are aware that tomorrow evening our team has organized a party,’ Tamanna asked.

‘Oh yes, I will be there,’ Deep responded.

Even though Deep was getting increasingly friendly with Tamanna, he knew he couldn’t cross his limits. With no one around, Tamanna was enjoying Deep’s company. It was almost like a date for her. She called it their ‘first date in office’. They chitchatted on various topics until the issue was resolved and then called it a day. They winded up all
the work around 4 am and then called the security guard to get them a taxi. The security immediately called a cab to drop them home.

‘Be safe and drop me a message once you reach home. Thanks again,’ Tamanna smiled before getting into the car.

She smiled all the way back home. She had spent some wonderful hours with Deep. Once home, she opened her notes on her Galaxy Tab and scribbled:

Sometimes I wonder how I feel about you. Sometimes I am scared of these feelings, as I don’t know anything about you. Still the dreams about you are so vivid and clear that I feel true happiness and my fear disappears. People say dreams have an underlying meaning to them and one should not ignore them. But as I wake up from my dream, I feel alone. You don’t realize what I feel for you. I want you to hear my heartbeats, feel my body, and see my face to understand my love for you. I fantasize your strong arms around me and that makes me feel so safe. Your warm loving body scent sends my heart spiralling out of control. I wish you knew what you do to me. You make me daydream in office and fantasize about you. However, in reality I am all alone without you… It’s the fire of love and it won’t stop burning unless I feel you and your love. One day you will be mine, I will make you mine…

Four Seasons to Cloud Nine

T
amanna had reached the party venue while Deep was in the lobby downstairs. The party was at the Four Seasons hotel in Worli. The venue was the Aer lounge located on the 34
^th
floor. Deep was escorted to the elevator which went straight up to the 33
^rd
floor of the hotel. Once he was out of the elevator, he climbed another floor through the glittering stairway with small mirrors on the walls that lead to the lounge. It was an open roof lounge with the most beautiful view of the city—including Haji Ali, Mahalaxmi Racecourse, and the Bandra-Worli Sea link. Deep went towards the sea facing side where the cool breeze from the Arabian Sea greeted him. His jaw almost dropped looking at the amazing view. He then searched for his teammates and Tamanna. They were sitting on the opposite side with drinks already served on the table.

Deep took his seat after greeting everyone.

‘What will you have?’ Tamanna asked.

‘I’ll take prawns and a cocktail.’

Tamanna placed the order and offered him a cigarette. Deep couldn’t deny the offer due to corporate table manners and took one cigarette from the pack. It would have been a different story altogether if he was a non-smoker. However, everyone from the team knew he smoked. Thus, he couldn’t refuse and lit a cigarette. He somewhere felt that he was encouraging Tamanna to come close to him and get more personal. He hated that fact but felt completely helpless about it.

After dinner, Deep got up from his seat and moved towards the sea facing side of the lounge asking aloud if anyone wanted to join him. Tamanna readily agreed to join him and got up from her seat. Deep gave a sarcastic smile as she straightened her dress and started walking alongside. She was heavily drunk but Deep ignored this fact. They reached the edge of the rooftop which had a long glass boundary. Tamanna had been silent all through the walk and didn’t even look at Deep. He sensed something coming his way after the long silence. He had almost finished his cigarette and still Tamanna hadn’t uttered a word. She was too drunk to be in her senses.

‘Are you okay? Deep enquired. Her long silence was making him uncomfortable.

‘Can I ask you something?’ Tamanna said staring at Deep. She was finding it difficult to even stand on her feet.

Deep held her hands and made her sit on the nearby couch. A smile popped on Tamanna’s face. She held his hands so tightly that Deep could hardly move his fingers. He was shocked with Tamanna’s strange behaviour. He
hadn’t expected something like this to happen. He tried to free his hand from her clutches but failed to do so.

Deep gave up eventually and said, ‘Tammy, You should leave. You are drunk and it’s getting late.’

‘No. I am not drunk. I am okay. Deep, you are really very cute. You always take care of everyone and I love you for that… You should…’ she muttered but Deep interrupted her by making her stand and signalling to one of his teammates to help him out. When everyone saw her condition, they made her sit on the couch and tried ways to make her regain normalcy so that she could at least reach home safely. However, she was in no mood to listen. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the couch. Everyone asked Deep to take her home safely since she was not in a state to go alone.

Deep knew what could be the consequences if he went alone with her. He was already scared and shocked with what had happened a few minutes back. Nevertheless, he did not have any other option. There were two managers requesting him to do the honour and Tamanna continuously muttered his name when they asked her who they should get in touch with to help her reach home safely. Deep took her bag and they both walked down the staircase. Tamanna took the support of his shoulders to walk. She kept on muttering Deep’s name until they reached the lobby. Deep made her sit in the lobby and asked the gaurd to call for a taxi for them. She held Deep’s hand and walked towards the taxi. He made her sit on the backseat of the taxi and was about to close the door and move towards the front seat when Tamanna whispered:

‘Please don’t sit in the front. Sit beside me. I am scared and I need you. Please Deep, it’s a request.’

She was almost pleading with him. Deep thought for a moment and decided to sit at the back with her. Looking at her condition, he knew it would have been too harsh if he had sat in the front.

‘Bhaiya, Churchgate chalo,’ Deep told the taxi driver and shut the back door of the taxi.

Tamanna stuck her head out of the window and shut her eyes, letting the breeze hit her face. It was not very cold outside but Tamanna was drunk and the breeze made her feel drowsier. Deep shut his eyes and felt that he should have avoided this party to stay away from all the chaos. He wondered what the managers might have thought when Tamanna repeated his name continuously in front of them. He didn’t want it to be this way. He wanted to stay away from office gossip and not be a part of it. To make things worse, Tamanna held his hand again, but with more passion this time. She almost fell on him when the driver took a right turn. Deep couldn’t believe what was happening.

‘Bhaiya, aaraam se,’ Deep requested the taxi driver as he knew it was no use requesting Tamanna.

Tamanna was still holding onto his hand firmly. She opened her eyes slightly and turned her head towards Deep. He didn’t notice her as he was looking outside the window. Tamanna kept gazing at him while the taxi cruised towards Churchgate. She finally broke the silence between them and said, ‘Deep, don’t leave me alone. Stay by me always. I know you think of me as just a friend and that I’m crossing the line here. But I have to say it today,
I can’t take it anymore. I can’t stand next to you without wanting to hold you. I can’t look into your eyes without feeling that longing you only read about in trashy romance novels. I can’t talk to you without wanting to express my love for everything you are. I don’t love you like bubbly college girls but I love you as the plant that never blossoms but carries the light of hidden flowers in itself. I have seen dreams where I kiss you…’

Her words not only shocked Deep but also raised various questions in his mind. Deep interrupted her but she was in no mood to stop and continued, ‘…and I have spent lonely nights when I miss you. It’s been so long since I have kept these feelings hidden from you, but I feel like telling you everything that is inside me, I want you. I want you to be mine forever. I’ve never felt this way before meeting you and my feelings for you increased during your training sessions. I have never had the opportunity to tell you or anyone else about these feelings. And if bringing it to light means we can’t hang out any more, then that would hurt me. I don’t know what the next moment will bring, but you will always see your picture in my eyes. I love you…’

Deep was stunned to hear all of this. He was clueless on how to react. He somewhere knew that Tamanna had feelings for him, but never thought it was more like an obsession. He always treated Tamanna as a manager and from the past few days, as a friend. It was not that he did not believe in love but he wanted his professional life to remain simply professional. His office hours were dedicated just to his work and work alone. The irony of the situation
was that Tamanna was not even in her senses when she was expressing her love. Maybe the next day she won’t event remember all this, thought Deep.