Author's pov

Noor comes back to her office in a sour mood. Everyone realised her bad mood and tried not to cross her path.

"Why didn't you tell me that my partner is Veer Singh Randhawa?" She asked Claire the moment she stepped inside her cabin. She is fuming in anger, and Claire is confused.

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand. Do you know him?" Claire ask.

"Damn it!!! Now I have to tolerate him. If I knew, then I would have never taken that project." Noor is blabbering, ignoring Claire's question.

"Boss, what happened there?" Claire ask

"That jalkukda was there."

"Sorry who?" Claire asks, then Noor realises what she is doing.

"Nothing Claire. I'm sorry." She replied, rubbing her forehead vigorously. She exhaled a deep breath and left Claire's cabin.

She tried to distract herself with work, but Claire came to her cabin and informed her, "Boss, we have to attend a party this evening."

"I have no mood." She cut Claire.

"But you have to. It's Mr. Hemsworth's party, which he is organising especially for the announcement of the project." Claire informed her.

"Yaah Allah (oh god)!" She groaned. "Fine." She replied, getting up and leaving the office with Claire.

Claire helps her with the event, and in the evening, both arrive at the venue together.

The moment she stepped inside, she saw Veer already there. She takes a deep breath and gives a pep talk to herself, "Come on, Noor. You can do it. Just keep calm." She takes deep breaths, and Claire is confused about her behaviour.

"Welcome, Ms. Shah." Jace welcomes her.

"Thanks for having me, Mr. Hemsworth." She replied politely.

"Good evening, Ms. Shah." Veer greeted her with a bit of sarcasm. She gritted her teeth but calmed herself instantly.

With an utterly fake smile, she replied, "Good evening, Mr. Randhawa."

"Itna bi na muskurao k ise lge k tum Mere pyaar Mai pagal ho (Don't smile so much that he thinks you are madly in love with me.)" Veer teased her, smiling, and she gave him a deadly glare.

But she calms herself again, not wanting to kill him right here. She replied, smiling, "Muh band kero wrna todd k hath Mai de du gii. (Shut your mouth, or I'll break it and put it on your palm.)"

Both Jace and Claire don't understand a word, and they look at them confused about what they are talking about.

Noor rolled her eyes and excused herself.

While she is busy associating with another business person, Veer is busy drinking.

A girl standing next to Noor is saying to her friend, "Oh gosh, look at the man in black. He is so hot and handsome." The girl said, she was looking at Veer.

    Veer's look👆

Noor followed their gaze and made a disgusting face, looking at Veer.

Handsome? Hot????? Are these girls blind or something? This jalkukda and  handsome? She thought and walked away from there.

Claire is watching her every move, and her confusion is increasing, which is why she behaves like this.

Then Jace makes an announcement and raises a toast for his new project with Noor & Veer. Everyone drinks except Noor.

"It's a toast, Ms. Shah; you have to drink." Jace said.

"I don't drink, Mr. Hemsworth. I don't like it, and it's prohibited in my religion." Noor replied, and Jace nodded, respecting her.

The party is going on, and Veer is busy associating with others and drinking.
All the time, many girls tried to throw themselves on him, but he ignored them.

All of them are showing their bodies and are all covered in makeup. Veer hated those kinds of fake girls.

But at the whole party, one girl got his attention, which he didn't want, but he couldn't help admiring her. She is wearing western clothing but still has a simple yet beautiful look and doesn't apply much makeup or wear an overly revealing dress.

It's none other than Noor.

Noor's look👆

"What the fuck, man? What are you thinking? She is the grandmother of the devil himself. You drink too fucking much." He scolded himself.

On the other hand, a handsome blonde man is praising Noor, standing beside Veer. "Damn! She is a beauty." He said, sipping his drink, and Veer chuckled and thought, "She and beauty? No, man, she is a demon. Your worst nightmare."

"And you were admiring that demon a few minutes ago." His subconscious mocked him, and he gulped the whole glass in one go to clear his head.

"Fuck, that's too much. I should leave now." He muttered and left the party.

The next day, they have to start work on the project. Noor is frustrated and annoyed by thinking to work with him.

She prepared herself mentally to tolerate him and left for work.

In her office, Veer is already waiting for her. He is sitting in the conference hall and waiting for her.

When she reached the office, an employee informed her that "Mr. Randhawa is waiting for you in the conference hall."

She nodded and headed towards the conference hall.

"Lazy late girli is here." Veer commented the moment she stepped in. He is sitting on a chair while resting his feet on the table.

Noor clenched her jaw, pushed his legs off the table, and said, "It's not your office or home. So be seated in a manner, and for your kind of information, I'm on time. If you reach early, that doesn't mean other people are free like you and don't have other work." She hissed in anger.

Luckily, there is no one in the conference room, so they both don't have to pretend to be nice to each other.

"Are woh kya kehte hai Urdu mai? (What do we say in  Urdu?) He pretended to think for a second and then said, "Haan! Tehzeeb. Ye Tehzeeb hai tumhari apne mehman se pesh ane ki? (Yeah!! Civilization/politeness.  This is your culture to treat your guests?)" He asks.

"Do hell with you and your tehzeeb. My guest? My foot." She replied venomously.

At that exact moment, Claire came in and saw their heated conversation.

"Is everything OK?" Claire asked, and Veer gave her a toothy smile, which boiled Noor's blood even more.

"Nothing once a genghis khan ki poti is always a genghis khan ki poti." Veer replied, and Noor replied in a harsh tone.

"Once a jalkukda is always a jalkukda."

Claire is shocked to see this side of hers. They are verbally fighting like kids.

"You were always jealous of me." Veer replied, sitting in front of her.

Noor banged her hand on the table and replied in anger, "You are a freaking jealous person, Veer Singh Randhawa. It's your nature, not mine."

Claire gasped, looking at them.

"What the hell is going on?" Claire interrupted in a louder tone, and both came to reality and sat quietly. Claire is feeling like she is stuck in the middle of a childish rivalry.

After that, they didn't talk but gave each other killer looks, like they would eat each other alive.

Jace joined them later, and they started meeting and discussing the project.

In front of him, they are both behaving professionally, even though their opinions are matched, and both are doing their jobs seriously.

Which shocked Claire even more.

"Are they bipolar or something? They were ready to kill each other a few minutes ago, but now they are working together as if nothing happened a few minutes ago. I mean, it's great that they didn't affect their professional lives, but what is the relationship between the boss and Mr. Randhawa? Do they know each other? Of course, they know that even last night they were talking in their native language with each other. But whatever it was, it's clear they hate each other." Claire thought.