Samy's POV

After two days Sid returned to work.

"Hey Sid! welcome back" I heard everyone shouting.

"Thanks guys, glad to be back. What did I miss?" Sid replied as everyone gave him hugs.

"Nothing much, other than a fresh batch of new college recruits. You are really lucky to get out of the hospital in two days, after a major accident." One of the teammates replied.

"Oh yeah! I hate the hospital environment, but the food was so good ... aah! ... I am going to miss it."

"You are the first one I know .. in my lifetime .. who likes hospital food." Someone said.

"Yeah! Hospital food is crap. You probably bribed someone to get good food." Another teammate commented and everyone agreed.

I felt really good hearing Sid liked my cooking. The others had no clue that I was providing home cooked food to Sid.

The two days he was in the hospital were the busiest days of my life.

I had to wake up way early in the morning, prepare and pack food for Sid, then drive to the hospital and be at his bedside before he woke up. I made arrangements with the staff to give him the food I prepared.

After that I would go to office, work full day, go home and prepare dinner for him and then go to the hospital and give him dinner. Even though it was very hectic, I didn't feel the pain and made me happy to do something for him.

As days progressed, things returned back to routine. Everyone was happy that Sid returned to work. However one person seemed more happy than others, including me. She was a new joiner and was part of the new batch of fresh college graduates.

I didn't even know her name, but saw her spending lot of time in his cube, talking, laughing and joking with him.

I didn't like the way things were progressing. After the hospital incident, I was hoping things may take a turn between us, but another problem was creeping in between us.

I found out her name - she was Maya. Way younger and always dressed in revealing fashionable clothes, openly flirting with my Man. I should be immune from such things, but the human in me was getting weaker, when it came to Sid. I decided to fight fire with fire.

Also among the new joiners was Michael, new director of infrastructure. He was the same age as me and at the same management level and also an attractive bachelor. Since he was new, I took him around introducing to all the key people and showed him the ins and outs of the company. I was sure he was into me as he began showing up in my office more often asking me for clarifications,  I was sure I explained him before.

Last month Sid was supposed to travel to Goa along with Richa, one of his teammates. At that time I felt uncomfortable sending Sid alone with another female employee for personal reasons and also because of Sid's history and involvement with murder of his pregnant roommate.

I didn't want to be in the position to explain to the employee's family, if anything similar happened to her while on official trip. But I kept quiet as I had no proof Sid was guilty of the act.

However Sid cancelled the trip in the last moment and instead sent one of his teammates, Amar, with Richa. I was surprised at his move but didn't interfere. Later I came to know that Amar had been trying very hard to woo Richa and once Sid came to know of it, he managed to put them together for the trip.

Sid even talked to Richa to make sure she was comfortable with Amar and realized that she was open to his advances.

Things moved fast during the trip and by the time they came back they were officially a couple and soon got engaged. They decided to throw a engagement party for the entire team the coming Friday, especially for Sid. I was happy for the couple and we all agreed to attend their party.

That Friday morning, I had a Vendor meeting early in the morning, in the conference hall, adjoining the kitchen. After the meeting I went into the kitchen to get some water and forgot to close the door fully.

After few moments I heard the naughty bsquare pair  - Bunty and Basha enter the kitchen and couldn't help overhearing their conversation.

Bunty : "Dammit Basha! No coffee again  .. empty pot. Why these idiots don't refill the pot after taking the last cup? Lazy bastards."

Basha: "Holy crap! I just saw that idiot Dhanu come for coffee before us."

Bunty : "I never seen him refill the pot. I am sure he is waiting for us to make fresh coffee and he will come in and empty it."

Basha : "Let's teach him a lesson. He is going to pop in any second. Plan 42."

Listening to their conversation I was surprised they had codes for their tricks. No wonder they were always in sync when pulling pranks on others. I waited eagerly to see what plan 42 was going to be. Meanwhile just as they said Dhanu popped in with an empty coffee mug.

Bunty : "Hey Dhanu, how is it going? "

Dhanu : "Busy .. very busy!"

Basha : "Yaar Bunty - how many times I told you to apply deodorant generously. Man! You smell like curry!"

Bunty : "Basha I am sure it's not me"

They both then turned towards Dhanu accusing him with their eyes. Dhanu started checking his underarms to make sure it wasn't him. Both Basha and Bunty bent towards Dhanu and covered their noses and changed their facial expressions as if they were drowning in drainage.

Basha : "Bud .. you have a serious problem. Go and run to the rest room and apply some deodorant."

Dhanu fell for their trap and replied, "Damn, I have a meeting soon. I don't have any deodorant with me."

Bunty : "Dude, there is convineant store next street. Go and get one .. hurry .. else you will be late for your meeting. "

I could hear both of them laughing as Dhanu dumped his coffee mug and ran towards the elevators. Poor Dhanu ... I thought.

"Basha, we may need to send some deodorant to Sid too. Did you see her?"

My ears and heart went on alert hearing Sid's name. I knew Sid was always clean, so was wondering why would he need a deodorant.

"Dude she is hh..o..t. She must be driving Sid crazy .. crossing and uncrossing her legs .. definitely need some  airfresher in his cube." Basha replied, giving Bunty a high five.

I couldn't sit there anymore. I rushed to my office to look at what they were talking about.

As I passed Sid's cube, I noticed Maya was sitting on his desk, wearing a very short skirt showing off her legs. Sid was sitting on his chair leaning back and no wonder he had a great view as she was crossing and uncrossing her legs.

My blood pressure shot up from 0 to 100 in nanoseconds. Yet I controlled myself and immediately called the HR rep and asked her to send Maya back to home to change into proper professional work clothes. After five minutes, I saw her going to her cube to attend the HR call.

After fifteen minutes when I went out with my friend to get some lunch, I saw Sid's bike zooming out of the garage. Maya was sitting behind him, with her hands on his waist.

Though she wasn't hugging him, seeing her hands on his waist made my blood boil. How is he allowing her to take advantage? Men have no sense of loyalty. I felt like kicking them both off the bike. I lost my appetite for lunch after seeing them.

I knew he was taking her home to change clothes. Not sure if he was going to change her himself. I kicked myself for letting that happen.

Later that afternoon I was returning  back to my office with Michael from a meeting. Michael was explaining me the about the features of the new hardware appliance they just received for proof of concept from Oracle.

As we passed Sid's cube to enter my office, I saw Sid watching us and his face was burning with anger as he glared at Michael.

My heart leapt with joy. His eyes were burning with jealousy.  Now he should know how I felt when he was flirting with Maya. It was also proof about his feelings for me. I pretended to ignore him completely and spent the next hour talking to Michael about future projects in pipeline.

I watched him glance at my closed office door every 2 minutes and also pacing back and forth outside my door, probably wondering what we were talking about. I could see the blood return to his face only after Michael left my office.

For a second I was afraid he would barge into my office and kick out Mike. I invited Mike to join me for the party in the evening.

The party was at an Irish pub. Michael offered to drive me to the pub as my car was in service. I along with few colleagues got into Mike's car and went to the pub in the evening after work.

As soon as I entered the pub with Michael, I looked straight into Sid's glaring eyes, trying to accuse me of being unfaithful. It made me more angry and I ignored him completely, sat with Mike for dinner and enjoyed the party. I didn't understand his anger as he was sitting with Maya and she was openly flirting with him.

Sid had always been the main attraction for all our parties. He was the one who engaged everybody and kept the conversation going. However at this party, I heard people complaining about his short temper and foul mood. I wasn't sure if I was the entire reason for his behavior, but he should look into the mirror and watch his own behavior before he judged me about being unfaithful.

Anyway I wasn't flirting with Mike and officially me and Sid weren't in a relationship, so I wasn't sure why he went bonkers about me spending time with Michael.

"Samantha, I need to leave by 9:30 PM. I can drop you at your home." Michael broke into my thoughts looking at his watch.

"No Mike, you go ahead. I will take Uber or ask one of the teammates to drop me." I replied after thinking about his offer. I didn't want to push the envelope too far. I was sure if I left with Mike that night, Sid would do something stupid.

Around 10:30 PM, I decided to call it a night. Rest of the folks wanted to spend more time as it was Friday night. I didn't even look at Sid and left the pub after saying goodbye to the host couple.

I stepped out of the pub and looked around for an empty taxi. There were none around .. busy day. I took out my phone and was busy booking an Uber cab, when I felt someone's presence close to me.

It was Sid. He was on his bike and stopped right in front of me.

"Samy get on the bike. I will drop you home." I was surprised by the softness in his tone.

"No Sid, you can leave. I already booked a cab." I replied and turned my face in the opposite direction as if looking for the cab guy to arrive, even though I knew it would take another ten minutes for it to come.

Sid didn't move an inch. He sat there on his bike, bent forward,  resting his elbows on the bike and cupped his face with his hands staring straight into my eyes.

I looked at his puppy face and quickly turned away as I was melting faster than an ice cream.

"Sid, I said you can leave. I am taking a cab." I said it louder.

"I know. I am also waiting for the cab. I am going to follow the cab to make sure you reached home safely." He made his point.

Meanwhile my phone buzzed. The Uber guy ran into some car issues and cancelled the order. I stood there for few more minutes, hoping an empty cab would turn up, but no luck.

Finally I gave up and walked around him and sat on his bike, keeping few inches distance between us.

"Ok, drive."

I noticed him smiling, but he quickly covered his face with his helmet and pulled the bike away from the curb.

I had to use all my will power to keep  my hands from touching him. All I could think of was how close I was sitting to him, yet not able to take advantage of the situation. I noticed he was taking the longest route to my place.

"Sid, take the next exit, it is much closer through the park."

"I know, but it's not safe at this time."

"Its not yet midnight, we should be okay. I want to get home early."

"Ok, as you say." He said and took the exit.

After ten minutes I noticed another bike following us very closely. A little bit later we entered the park drive and suddenly there was no one else other than us and two persons on the other bike, still following us.

I looked at them and the way they leered at me, gave me the shivers. I quickly moved closer to Sid and leaned on him.

Then I saw three more bikes join us and I felt suddenly safe again. After few minutes the bikes surrounded us and then only I realized that they were all together and we were in serious trouble.

I moved so close to Sid that even air couldn't pass through. I hugged him tightly and started praying for our safety. I knew what was on the mind of those thugs, but I would rather die than let anyone other than Sid, lay their hands on me.

I didn't know what was going through Sid's mind, but his body was stiff and alert. I found comfort in hugging him tightly and if that was the way my life was going to end, it was the best I could hope under those circumstances.

After ten minutes of riding around us they sped ahead and blocked the road, forcing Sid to stop. I held onto Sid tightly and hid behind him.

I raised my head slowly over his shoulder and watched as one of them, looked like the gang leader walk towards us.

He came close to our bike and stopped right in front of us. Sid placed his feet firmly on the ground and placed his hands on the gas tank and looked at the intruder.

"If you want to live, hand over the girl now and we will let you go." The bad guy commanded, placing his hands on his hips and leering at me.

Sid lifted one hand and raised his helmet visor to reply to the goon.

A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting updates. Had been really busy with projects. This is a very rough draft , so please bear with me and point out any mistakes. Thanks for your support.  Cheers