Chapter 12

The next thing I had was diet mood swings. Anyone who has ever followed a diet in their life would know what it is.

Depriving myself of food made me feel grumpy, irritable and frustrated every time I started a new diet, especially during the first few days. So, I kind of knew this would happen. But then my mood swings this time seemed to be worse than what I expected.

Since yesterday noon, I hadn't been able to give off a genuine smile to anyone. For some reason, I had been feeling agitated.

As if I was fasting, I avoided looking at food completely. I even logged out of Instagram because the more food I saw the hungrier I became, and the hungrier I was the angrier I got. But then nothing seemed to work. It was funny how badly food was affecting my moods.

Or was it a bigger reason causing my erratic mood swings?

Maybe it wasn't just the food. I guess I was having all those feelings because of the whole engagement pressure. I mean, diets were nothing new to me. But being forced to follow a particular diet by a man who I barely knew was, right? Perhaps that provoked my rage.

Anyway, no matter what the reason was, I knew I had to control my emotions, especially while I was at work. So, ever since I walked into High Gen today, I had been nothing but silent. At least by keeping my mouth shut I could avoid being rude to my coworkers, I thought.

Luckily, the new recruits were sent to the HR department for some documentation purpose and therefore I didn't have to meet arrogant Arham early in the morning. That itself was a huge relief. I mean, of course I knew that he would be returning soon, but it was still good to start my day at work without seeing that sullen face seated next to me.

However, I was not completely spared from workplace nonsense.

Roshan was talking to me endlessly about Michelle despite the fact that I gave him nothing but silent treatment and snappish remarks regarding the subject. One thing was evident — he was going through yet another hopeless love phase in his life, which was absolutely annoying and disgusting!

"Seriously Roshan? You think it would ever work between you and that little girl Michelle?" I asked in frustration.

"Yeah, yeah. Why not? I think she likes me too. I can feel that when she smiles," he said shamelessly for the umpteenth time.

"Okay then. Good luck. Speak to her directly. Let me do my work now," I replied. I hoped that he would leave at least then but he did not.

"Alisha, you seem to be very upset. What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing Roshan. Just get back to your work!" I said.

"No, no. There's definitely something wrong. Isn't it, Devi?" he asked, tapping on her keyboard tray.

"Yeah, she does seem to be in a bad mood. I didn't ask anything because I was afraid," replied Devi. Huh! That explained why she did not question me anything about proposals or marriage today. It was good to know that at least fear had the ability to shut her mouth. Thank God!

"Guys, I'm perfectly fine!" I said with a sigh. Perhaps Devi was still afraid of my anger because she just shook her head and got back to work but Roshan did not.

"Wait. Is this what I think it is?" he winked as he spoke. I had no idea what he was referring to.

"What?" I asked.

"Someone seems to be jealous," he added with a chuckle.

"Who is jealous of what?"

"Are you feeling jealous because I talk about Michelle and not you, Alisha?"

I gave him a cold stare the moment I heard that. I knew he was just joking but I was irritated.

"Oh my God! What a joker! Can you like stop for a minute? This is annoying now!" I almost yelled at him. I realized how dramatic I would have sounded only when I saw everyone stopping their work and looking at us. It was embarrassing.

Roshan tried to apologize but I ignored him and started typing on my computer.

The next few hours I did not speak to anyone at all. They did not come close to me either. Probably everyone was afraid of me. Good. It was peaceful that way. But then I knew during lunch hour I would have to break my silence to answer a few questions, especially regarding my new diet.

And just as I anticipated, it happened.

"What? No way! That's all you are going to eat today?" asked Shamila the moment she saw only two egg whites and some boiled carrot sticks in my lunch box. Her dramatic tone of voice drew the attention of the others at the table too.

Great.

I simply nodded. I didn't know what to say.

"New diet?" asked Devi with a chuckle. Again, I responded with only a slight bob of my head.

"But that's so little," said Shehani concernedly and Malsha added, "Yeah, how can you even survive with only that?" A few other girls started commenting too.

"Why aren't you saying anything, akka?" asked Devi.

"Because I'm eating. What's there to say anyway? It's just a new diet. That's all," I replied with a fake smile.

"But why such a strict diet? Is this due to any special reason?" asked Shamila. I knew where this conversation was going. I expected one of them to ask me the obvious about my wedding. Of course there was no point in hiding it from them anymore but I felt like I needed some time.

So, I quickly shoved my pathetic lunch down my throat and said, "Nah, nothing. I just always wanted to try a diet like this." And before any of them could ask anything further, I excused myself and left the cafeteria.

I guess I was there at the table for less than five minutes because even as I walked out, some people were still buying their lunch. It was good in a way because I knew I would get at least 20 minutes to use as alone time to think of a few answers for the questions that might follow after the lunch break.

By the time I reached the department, I examined the whole place right from the door to ensure that it was empty. Of course Jacob and the Team Managers were still there but then none of them were interested in my personal life and also they were in their own cubicles. So, I didn't mind their presence.

However, as I walked in, I realized that there was someone else too. Seated right next to my seat. Oh and yeah, it was the sullen face. Good thing is that we were not buddies so I knew, there won't be any questions or unnecessary small talk efforts from him.

While reading some messages from the sisters' group on my phone, I sat down and unlocked my computer to resume work. Right at that time, I heard arrogant Arham mumble, "Lunch break is over?"

It almost sounded like he spoke to me. But then as far as I knew, we were not even on talking terms. So, I assumed that maybe the other new recruits were back too and he was asking one of them.

Therefore, I ignored the background noise and continued to type. He also walked out.

A little later, once everyone returned from the cafeteria, they all started teasing the new recruits, asking for a treat. My manager Paul joined the conversation too.

Since I was generally not the type of person to demand for treats, mainly because of my size, I stayed away from the conversation. I mean, it was very normal for people to assume and tag an overweight person with labels like 'glutton' during food discussions. I have seen that happen before. So, I didn't want to be part of this chat either, especially because it involved someone who called me an elephant just last week. Besides, sweet treats were useless for me anyway with Ibrahim's diet plan. So, why bother, right?

"Alisha, what about you? What would you like?" asked Roshan. He probably felt bad about having a conversation without me. That was one commendable thing about Roshan. He always cared to hear out my opinion unlike the others who didn't give a damn about it. These were the times when I felt bad for being rude to him. Poor thing.

"No Roshan, you guys can decide," I replied with a fake smile.

"Oh yeah, she won't be even eating it because she's on a new diet," said Devi like she was my spokesperson. I was looking at my computer screen so I didn't know how everyone reacted to this valuable piece of information. But I did hear a concerned "Oh" from Roshan and a snort from the sullen moron next to me. I was furious. I wanted to punch his face right there.

As Devi continued to elaborate on the type of meal I had during lunch, there were a few 'Whys' from the teammates. Were these people truly worried about me or was this yet another gossip for them? I didn't know.

"That's pretty tough. Getting ready for marriage, Alisha?" asked Paul.

Before I could answer, Devi spoke, "Or did the groom who came to see you reject you and now you are trying to lose weight fast for that?" And she started laughing. I couldn't understand what was so funny about making such hurtful comments on another person. Anyway, this was a very typical Devi behavior. So, there was nothing to be shocked about it.

But I did get angry. And it was because of the fact that arrogant Arham chortled too. How dare he? Did he find Devi's words so amusing because he thought I was overweight and therefore nobody would ever want to marry me?

"Yeah Paul, I'm getting engaged in two months. That's why I'm dieting," I said to clarify everyone's doubts there, including that imbecile's. I couldn't believe that I was using an engagement with Ibrahim as a shield to escape the judgmental views of Ibrahim Lite. I felt disgusted about my own self.

After a few "Oohs", "Wows" and "Congratulations", everyone got back to their work and so did I. I was still mad at that dimwit though for thinking of me that way. And I didn't know whether it was the diet mood swings but I decided to give him a clear warning on his behavior.

"What was so funny earlier?" I asked.

"What?" was his only response.

"This is the second time you did this. First, it was the elephant incident that day. And today you laughed when Devi mentioned rejection. Honestly, what's your problem?"

"Maybe you should ask yourself that because clearly you are the one who is accusing me of things that I never did. I don't understand why you hate me for no reason at all, Even earlier when I asked you a question, you completely ignored me." I expected him to at least say 'sorry' but he did not sound even an ounce apologetic.

"Oh my God! I truly don't know what price you are going to pay for this arrogance and falsehood," I said angrily.

"Definitely less than you," he said and walked away.

The rest of the day, neither of us bothered to look at each other's direction. It was good that we were at work and we both left it there because otherwise I would have definitely treated him with a knuckle sandwich. I was that angry.

Right at 5:00 pm, I left office and reached home in a stressed out state. I was terribly hungry and as I sat down to have my dinner, I knew it was going to be my last one because from tomorrow I would not even have a third meal.

Sigh.


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