Shanaya closed the door after the interview, and Abhimanyu threw his head back on the head rest of his leather chair. With his chin pulled up and eyes closed to ceiling, he thought how he had thought he would never see her again. He believed, it would be a case of out of sight out of mind, but that wasn't entirely true. She seeped in his thoughts once in a while, and he did everything in his capacity to shut them out. All the five years, he lied to himself that there wasn't an iota of love left in him for her. And today when she appeared all of sudden, it painted altogether a different picture. A picture that said he was still not over her unlike what he liked to believe. Perhaps that was because she refused to dance with him.

                    He never held that against her. It was more like a fight with himself, a warning to himself to not care about someone who didn't care about him. It was an anger for him to learn to be practical and sensible in life than dreamy and blind. But then, why did he not interview her like other candidates. Did he fear that his conscience wouldn't allow him to recruit her if she failed to answer his questions. No, she had more qualifications than they were looking in a candidate for that position. He assured himself that his reasons of selection were solely professional, and not personal.

                   Shanaya reached home with the offer letter. Her cousin congratulated her and asked if she was taking up a job in Mumbai. She told her she hasn't thought about it. She browsed company's website on her cell using WiFi at home. She learnt Abhimanyu Singh, CEO of the company, was also the founder of the company. His educational qualifications read BE in Computer Science, MS in Artificial Intelligence from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),and MBA in Finance from Harvard University in Cambridge, USA. The college from where he did engineering was not mentioned. The company was only more than an year old, but had many international companies as their clients. The company's first year revenue was in millions. She googled his name to know more about him.

                  The salary offered, considering she had no work experience was good and the work was amazing, but she didn't know if she wanted to get into that vicious cycle of pain and roller coaster of emotions around him. Time is the biggest healer. It had healed the pain of not having him around. She had accepted the fact that he was not destined to be in her life, and learnt to go through her days without him in them. Just when she had started to move on in her life, he returned. She had come a long way, and matured enough to take decisions from head and not heart. She was in a dilemma if to take up the lucrative job or save her heart. She decided she couldn't be fool enough to undertake the same journey that she went through in college. To not become captive of his charm was not in her capacity, but to decline the offer and avoid it was.

             Ten days had passed since Shanaya's interview. Manoj was updating Abhimanyu on his team's progress in his office.

Manoj: Abhimanyu, I desperately need a robotic engineer in my team to make any substantial progress. I think, we should post an ad in national newspapers and try to get one as quickly as possible if we want to meet the milestones in timeline decided by you.

Abhimanyu: But, we just recruited Shanaya in your team. He reminded him.

Manoj: I don't think she is joining. Today was her last day of joining, but she didn't join.

Abhimanyu: Are you sure? He asked with fold between his eyebrows.

Manoj: A day after the interview itself, I called her to tell that I would like her to join immediately. She could do that since she wasn't employed with any company, and didn't have problems of notice period to employer that candidates quitting companies usually have. She said she wasn't sure if she would accept the offer.

Abhianyu: Oookaaay! 

He calls Head HR Sarvanan on intercom, and asks him to come to his office immediately.

HR(Human Resource) Sarvanan is there in five minutes. Abhimanyu asks him to take seat next to Manoj.

Abhimanyu: Update me on the status of this new candidate Shanaya?

Sarvanan: Abhimanyu, I am afraid, she is not taking up the offer. It was made clear to her that we urgently needed to fill the position we were offering to her. It was also stated in her offer letter that she has ten days to join, failing which we hold the right to offer the position to anyone else. I told her, if she has any kind bond breakage or notice period compensation to be paid, company was willing to pay for her. I called her today morning, and it seems she is in Kerala. She expressed her inability to join.

Abhimanyu: Any reason she gave for that?

Sarvanan: I tried to convince her, but she said that travel from Mumbai to Trivandrum every weekend to see her sick dad was what was holding her back.

Abhimanyu: Alright! What salary did you offer her?

Sarvanan: Fifteen lakhs annual salary, which is standard for engineers with no experience in Robot Research Development team, and is a lot more than what an engineer working in other project gets.

Abhimanyu: Sarvanan, she is not just any fresher from IIT. She is MS in Robotics and was doing PhD in Robotics. Double the salary.

Sarvanan: What?

Manoj: What?

Abhimanyu: Yes, double her salary. Do what I said. We cannot afford to lose her to any other company. I want her in my project at any cost. If we look for one year also, we will not find a candidate better than her for this job. We better make her an offer that she cannot refuse. So, Sarvanan, call her again with the new offer.

Manoj: But Abhimanyu, she is going to work under me and her salary will be more than mine. I mean....

Abhimanyu: I don't work under you, and I withdraw a salary that of a robotic engineerin our team with no experience .

Abhimanyu: Anyways, what's your salary?

Manoj: Twenty-eight lakhs.

Abhimanyu: Sarvanan, give him a rise of four lakhs after she joins. Is that okay Manoj? He looks at Manoj.

Manoj: Thank you, Abhimanyu. He smiles widely.

Manoj and Sarvanan leave the room and Abhimanyu hopes Shanaya doesn't turn down the offer now.

             Mr. Sarvanan called Shanaya with new offer and asked her to reconsider. She agreed to rethink over it. No other company would pay her that much. She was getting to do the job in her field of specialization. She could easily pay for her brother's tuition fee and expenditure in USA, her father could get treatment in a good hospital, and with that much money she could easily afford a flight to Trivandrum every weekend. It was perfect for her family, but her heart which might again have to suffer the pangs of pain that come from being around the love you know will never be yours. She asks her parents. They feel very proud of her and tell her not to let go off such a good offer. Family was always a priority to her. So, she decided to jump into what she thought was a suicide.

           First day at office, half of her half day went into completing joining formalities- filling all kinds of forms, salary account, PF(Provident Fund) etc. After she was done with them, she takes lift to ninth floor to report to Mr. Manoj. The lift on the ninth floor opened on a landing with an access controlled door that opened into a wide aisle. The cabins to the left, on the same wall as door were of Mr. Manoj, Mr. Joginder and CFO. Abhimanyu's PA's cubicle, conference room, CEO office were on right of the wide aisle that ran from door to the opposite wall. The rest of the big rectangular hall had wooden partitions for cubicles with narrow aisles running through them.

Shanaya: May I come in?

Manoj: Oh, Shanaya! Finally, you are here. I am so happy to have you in my team. I assure you, you'll have a good time working with me. He promptly shook her hand.

Shanaya: Thank you. She said waiting for him to let go off her hand.

He finally lets it go.

Manoj: This is my cabin. Do you like it? You will get to come and see it many times. Come, I'll show you around the office and introduce you to all who work in Robot Research and Development Team. We have different teams headed by different managers, each developing different functionality of the humanoid household robot. My team, which you are a part of now, is developing the functionality that enables the robot to operate the dishwasher. I'll explain it to you in more detail later. All the documents that you are required to go through are in my shared folder. Next ten days, you are required to go through them. Don't worry, I'll be doing KT(knowledge Transfer) sessions for you. In case of any doubts, feel free to ask me or your colleagues. Everyone here is very helpful including our CEO, Abhimanyu Singh. He smiled.

Manoj: Team heads like me report to Abhimanyu. There are few individual contributors who work independently and report directly to him. Sometimes, Abhimanyu holds meetings for the whole team in conference room. Mostly, he is out of country on business trips to sign new projects that actually generate revenue for the company. Those projects are on the eight floors below us. This, Robot Development, is more of his vision and passion which at present only eats all the money without any returns. He chuckled.

Manoj: Abhimanyu is very busy looking for collaborations and venturers to invest in this robot project financially and technically. I am the one who assists Abhimanyu in early morning voice conference calls with companies that show interest in investing in this mega robot project. We tell them what we are doing and how we are doing it. You know all what they could expect from us and blah blah blah. Shanaya smiled.

               He takes her around and introduces her to engineers working in cubicles. Walking on the wide aisle, when they reach in front of CEO cabin door, he turns into a narrow aisle from there into the cubicles. Manoj stops in the first partition itself.

Manoj: Shanaya, this is your cubicle and your computer. You are lucky to get a bigger cubicle shared by just two. Most of them are shared by four. Her cubicle was such that it's computer faced CEO's door like her collegue's on other side of the aisle. Anyone walking out of CEO's room could see her computer screen. Manoj introduced her cubicle neighbor Arun to her who was M.Tech in Electronics from IIT, Kanpur. Further down, at the dead end of her cubicle aisle, in the last  two cubicles, he introduced her to two Mechanical engineers Subru and Vineet from IIT . He told her that they were Abhimanyu's favorite as he was working closely with them, developing a prototype of robot that was being manufactured by a local manufacturing plant for the testing purpose.

When they turn back, Manoj points to Abhimanyu's office in front.

Manoj: That is CEO, Abhimanyu Singh's office. You have already been there for her an interview. By the way, Abhimanyu is out of office today.

Shanaya: Why is there no name plate on his door?

Manoj: Oh! It fell and broke. Abhimanyu, our multi-talented CEO said he was going to make one himself. So, whenever he gets time to do that, it will be up. He flashed a smile.

Shanaya: I see everyone in formals here, but I saw employees wearing casuals  in  the ground floor where I was filling forms.

Manoj: It's formal on all five days of the week for those who work on this floor, because of the frequent client visits to Abhimanyu's office.

Manoj opened the door of the cabin next to Abhimanyu's that had two comfortable single beds with neat bed sheets and blankets.

Manoj: This is for employees who sometimes stay back working late in night. If they want, they can rest or even sleep in the office itself.

Shanaya: Do employees really sleep here?

Manoj: Yeah, quite a few of them have worked all night in past and slept here. In fact, Abhimanyu himself works all night a lot of times and I once found him sleeping in this room. He is quite a workaholic, you'll get to know. He is not only managing this project, but also coding several functionalities of Peter.

Shanaya: Peter?

Manoj: Yeah, I forgot to tell you, Peter is the name of our Robot.

Shanaya: Hmmmm...interesting.

Manoj: Yeah, it is. It's from pitter patter of rain. Abhimanyu said he loves rain, so lets call it Peter.

It reminded her of the rain and their connection.

Shanaya: Is there not an option of remote login to work from home?

Manoj: No, only Abhimanyu can do that. He doesn't want to take any chance with his ambitious Peter.

After the room with beds, was an open space with coffee machine, microwave and refrigerator filled with aerated drinks, juice etc. There was a shelf that had oats, cup noodles, teabags ,creamers, sugar and what not.

Manoj: If you are working late, you can order whatever dinner you want from the places listed on this card. The office reimburses it. Behind the wooden partition are the restrooms for men and women.

Manoj: Do you want tea/coffee?

Sanaya: No, I am good.

He poured coffee for himself from coffee machine.

Manoj: While it is great to work here with all these facilities and fat pay package, it is also very risky.

Shanaya: Why is it risky? She asked inquisitively.

Manoj: Abhimanyu doesn't hesitate to give pink slip to anyone he finds incompetent in his team. It's like you are fired with two months salary in advance, but you are required to pack your bags and leave the office right away.

Shanaya: Oh! Does that happen quite often?

Manoj: Nah, not that often, but I can say that he has many going that way. Another risk is that it is his big ambitious project. Who knows how long he'll be interested in doing it. One fine day, he may wake up and decide to scrap it and we'll all lose our jobs and might not easily find other job paying as much. He might give up, as it's not easy to achieve what he is trying to do here in India with limited resources.

Shanaya: Abhimanyu will never give up on anything he is passionate about. There isn't a thing he cannot succeed in. Once he decides something, he makes sure he gets it. She spoke earnestly.

Manoj looked shocked to hear those words from her.  Before he could ask her any questions, Shanaya brought herself to relax and quickly said, "Well, he comes across as a man who knows what he is doing."

                   By then it's lunch time and Manoj takes her to the cafeteria with a shed over it , on the roof top . It covered more than half of the roof area. The caterers served lunch to employees from 12 pm to 3 pm, and snacks in the evening. The lunch money was deducted from the salary. Manoj and Shanaya join others from Robot Research Team at a table that Arun, Ganesh and Tarun were sitting at.

Ganesh: Have heard a lot about you from Manoj even before you joined.

She looks at him in surprise.

Ganesh: That you were doing PhD in Robotics in USA.

Shanaya: Oh, that! Ya.

Tarun: So, how was your interview with our very young and handsome CEO, Abhimanyu Singh? Isn't he very handsome? He asked smiling at her.

Shanaya: Yes, he is. She said uninterested.

Ganesh: Such a dull reaction! It's first. You know, you are also the first girl to make it in his interview.

Shanaya: Really?

Ganesh: Yeah, because girlsssss...... first, they are stunned by his looks and then stumped by his questions. He stifled his laugh.

Tarun: Why only girls? I remember when I went to his room for interview the first time, I thought he was some model and not the CEO of the company.

Ganesh: Anyways, you will love working under Abhimanyu. I work with him and I can tell you, he might be very intimidating to work with at first, with his time limits and all. He is like, I want it done in next two hours or three hours etc. But gradually, as you work with him, you learn how he pushes you to excel, only for your good.  He becomes like your friend. Sometimes, he will even sit with you to help you get your program right.

Manoj: She is not working under Abhimanyu, but me.

Shanaya was happy that she didn't have to work with or report to Abhimanyu.

Ganesh: Oh, Okay! But I think everyone should get a chance to work with him once. He changes the way you approach a problem. He helps you learn so much more than you already know.

Tarun: I agree, he helped me to learn how to prioritize different options, shortlist what to test and evaluate test results to pick the best of them. He is so passionate about what he does! Can you believe he has been developing his own programming language, compiler and interpreter in his free time since his MS days in Cambridge.

Ganesh: He is only twenty-seven and has so much clarity on what he wants in life. In one year he is a successful entrepreneur of profit making company. Not only that, our company even sponsors engineering of twenty intelligent students from poor background. I am thirty-two and have no clue what I want from my life. I wish to become like him one day. He is truly inspiring.

Shanaya felt very good to learn that he sponsored education of poor children.

Arun: I don't know how he manages so much. Even when he is travelling, he is coding. When he is not coding, he is designing his own house.

Tarun: Yeah, remember, how we asked him to throw a project party at his house to see his mansion. He said smiling.

Arun: Yeah, and he told that it was his dad's house and he'll when his own house in Pali Hill will be ready. He smiled.

Manoj: Well, I think Abhimanyu works too much for his age. Work is fine, but it's also the age to have fun and date girls. He is loosing on time.

Ganesh: I don't think so. He is very handsome and successful to have a long time for it. May be he already has a girlfriend. Who knows?

Tarun: His PA must know. He suggested and smiled.

Manoj: I don't think he has any. Which girl in right mind can put up with a man like him who is always working. Married men like me can't even think of working day and night like him.

Ganesh: It's possible his girlfriend is very understanding and supportive of his work.

Shanaya didn't know how to react to all that. She excused herself after lunch.

               It was 6 pm, Shanaya was shutting down her computer and was getting ready to leave when the phone on her table rang. "Shanaya!  See me in my office, now." a voice that she recognized so well, said.  A voice that she loved. A voice that had her heart pounding. And a voice that would perhaps always have that effect on her.