If you are hearing to songs  that come in my story, my advise is listen to lyric video on youtube instead of actual video. You can feel them more as you hear them. I paste the whole lyrics only when the lyrics exactly go with the characters, so don't  skip them. Smiles.

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                     Day after the dinner with Abhimanyu, Shanaya joined the mechanical guys from IIT, Subru and Vineet, at their table in lunchtime. Manoj, her manager, too joined them soon.

Subru: Hi how are you? Settling down in the office. Finding everything good?

Manoj: Finding everything good? Huh! Our CEO took her on a date on the first day of office itself. What better start can one ask for? He teased her.

She looked at Manoj, quite shocked at what he said.

Subru: She is from same college as him. Don't you know that? He asked Manoj.

Manoj: No! That's a news to me!

Shanaya was getting shock after shock.

Shanaya: He didn't take me on a date, he took me for a dinner because we went to same college.  She clarified.

Shanaya: But how do you know that we went to same college? She asked Subru.

Subru: I had asked Abhimanyu the college he did his BE from, and yesterday you told the same college when you introduced yourself. Are you both same year pass out?

Shanaya: Yes.

Vineet: Oh! So, how was Abhimanyu in college?

Shanaya: I don't know him at all. He wasn't in my class. It was a big college. I don't even remember seeing him.

Subru: How is it possible to miss a handsome guy like him even if it was a big college. Wasn't he topper after all? You must have been blind!

Shanaya: No. He must have been geeky.

Subru: Really? He was a geek in college? I always thought he must have been the heartthrob guy in college who girls couldn't resist.

The last thing Shanaya wanted them to know was that she was one of them. She didn't want anyone to get any hint of her feelings towards him.

Subru: What a transformation, man! From geek to stud!

Manoj: Have seen many like that. Many become smarter and handsome when in job than in college.

Subru: Yes, that's because then they have money to splurge on expensive clothing and groom themselves, but Abhimanyu was always rich.

They finished their lunch and went back to their cubicles.

             Manoj called Shanaya later in the evening when it was time to go home for the KT session in his office. She sat in the chair, same like they had in all the cubicles in their office, office chairs with wheels that swiveled. He pulled her chair close to him and told her that, that was the only time he could do KT(Knowledge Transfer) for her so she might get late to go home  that month. For the whole month, she went to his room on working days for KT. She didn't like how he wasted more time talking about personal life than the project and made her sit with him for two hours. He asked her about family, boyfriend and marriage. She told him about the family and lied about the other two. She was irritated at how he talked more looking at her than looking at computer and it for some reasons made her uncomfortable. He also let  her know how Abhimanyu was very strict and liked things to be done through proper channel only.

              She was an early riser and reached office at 6 am in the morning before buses and stations got too crowded. There were many in office at that time in floors below them who worked in night shifts, but mostly no one on ninth floor. Most of them came around 9 am to office. She could login to gmail and chat with her friends in US on google hangout while doing her work. That was the only time they could be online after they returned from office and before they went to bed. She only  had a window of two hours that suited all.  She always had one or the other issue with internet at home. Voice always broke whenever she used whatsapp or other applications to talk over phone. She had no personal life in Mumbai and she knew if she chatted with them from home, she would get late for office. Moreover she preferred working in morning than late at night as she went to classes in evening. Ethernet internet speed in office was great, but she didn't like to voice chat there. She hated texting on phone and thought chatting on desktop using keyboard was easier, faster and hence more fun. Also, typing Hindi words in English to chat with her Indian friends abroad was much easier unlike on smartphones.

           Every morning first thing Manoj would do is come and stand opposite her leaning  on the partition of her cubicle. Wish her morning showing all his teeth , crack some jokes that she didn't enjoy but still smiled. Then he would ask what she did last night since she was single. At first she thought it was nice of him, but now after two months she felt like giving one tight slap across his face. She hated to see his face like that every morning though he was smart looking. 'To hell with good morning! Go to your room and let me do my work' were her thoughts. He would keep calling her to his room to explain to her what she needs to do even when she didn't need any, for hours. 'This is what we are supposed to think..what you think?..no!..I think this would be better.'...blah blah all the not so required blah. Others were pretty good. Her cubicle neighbor, who was also in her team was a pretty good guy. He was the guitar guy of her office like Abhimanyu was in college. When she asked him about Manoj, he told her to ignore him and that he was pretty experienced as he is the one who worked in robot manufacturing line in Korea. "He just likes to talk a lot," he told her.

              By the end of third month she was so irritated by him that she almost wanted to resign because of him. But, then salary was good and she needed money. Moreover she got to see Abhimanyu who always looked so dapper in suits. The knowledge that he was in his office itself gave her such a good feeling.  She felt she had a life because he was there. While going to  and coming from Manoj's room, she saw him at times  going in or out of his office. Many times she saw him sitting at the end of her aisle with Subru and Vineet in their cubicle working on CAD drawings of Peter until ..she doesn't even know because she left before him. She knew he came early in morning on some days as Manoj too came at 6 am to office on those days to join him in conference calls with prospective investors.

               Shanaya's four months in company and it was one year of Robot Research and Development Team . Company decided to celebrate with a party in a small resort. They had a buffet hall and then a small room with a bar and small round dance floor with disco lights overhead. It was small, some twenty people to dance at a time. It was meant for small functions. Abhimanyu was in town and agreed to show up for some time in the party. He came after everybody was done with dinner, and headed to bar where CFO, CTO were. He got himself a hard drink. Many went to talk to Abhimanyu when they saw him. Even Manoj who was talking with Shanaya left her and went to join others talking with him.

             Shanaya didn't go. She was the only girl in their team as girls hardly studied Robotics or AI. They had one more girl in the party, Vidya from QA(Quality Assurance), who did audit of their project. Shanaya who was standing around the dance floor like others who were playing antakshari and dumb charades before he came, looked at him interacting with everyone from the team. He looked very handsome in black shirt and blue jeans like she had seen him so many times before in college. In office she always saw him in formals which too looked great on him, but this look of his had so many memories. Nostalgia filled her heart, and she could feel her eyes wet.

           Abhimanyu stood with Subru at the bar, who he was working day and night with when in office, finalizing the design of prototype robot to be manufactured by a local factory for testing their microcontrollers and software. He saw Subru looking at Vidya with love.

Abhimanyu: You love her? He asked him.

Subru turned to him and found him looking in Vidya's direction.

Subru felt shy to say but he had developed a great comfort with him as he worked so closely with him and Vineet.

Subru: Yes.

Abhimanyu: Tell her, before it's too late and someone else takes her away. 

Subru: I don't think she will say yes. I am not even looking.

Abhimanyu: Be confident.

Subru: Can I ask you for some tips?

Abhimanyu: Yes.

Subru: How did you turn into this smart and handsome guy from the geek guy you were in college?

Abhimanyu: What?

Subru: Shanaya told you were geek in college and she never even noticed you.

He was amused to learn that she told them that he was geek in college. He looked at Shanaya who was staring at him from the other end of the room.

Abhimanyu: Oh, Yes! She is right. He chuckled.

Abhimanyu: Just believe in yourself. Looks are not important. They are anyways temporary.

Subru: I know.

                 Vineet said, "Let's have a song by Arun. He is got his guitar also. He always comes ready to perform." Abhimanyu had heard him sing and play guitar before in their New Year's party. He thought he was really good.

Arun: I'll sing 'Teri Meri' from hindi movie 'Bodyguard', but I want my cubicle neighbor, Shanaya, to sing this duet with me.

Shanaya: No! She shook her head.

Arun: Shanaya, I know you just learnt playing this song on guitar from your tutor, so you are well versed with the lyrics of the song, and I know you can sing well. C'mon, there are hardly any lines for you to sing.

Abhimanyu was watching everything standing at the bar nearby.

Manoj put his arm around the small of her back to persuade her to go and sing with Arun. It made her so uncomfortable that she immediately agreed and went and sat on the chair put for her next to Arun in the center of the small circular dance floor.

               Abhimanyu was surprised to see Shanaya agree so quickly, but at the same time he couldn't wait to hear her sing. She was a shy girl in college. It seems she had become much more confident over the years in USA.

Arun: Since you have less lines to sing, you play the guitar. I'll hold the mic for you when you have to sing your lines. He told Shanaya.

Shanaya nodded her head.

Shanaya started strumming and Arun started singing...

Aa......

Shanaya sings

Teri meri, meri teri prem kahani hai mushqil (Yours and mine, mine and yours,Our love sory is a difficult one)

Do lafzoon mein yeh bayaan na ho paaye (It's impossible to convey it in a few words)

Ik ladka ik ladki ki yeh kahani hai nayi (This is a new story of a boy and a girl)

Do lafzoon mein yeh bayaan na ho paaye (It's impossible to convey it in a few words)

Arun

Ik dooje se huey juda Jab ik dooje ke liye bane(We are separated though we're made for each other)

Aaa...

Tumse dil jo lagaya toh jahaan maine paaya (When I started to love you I felt I got the world)

Kabhi socha na tha yun meelon door hoga saya (Never thought that one day your shadow would be miles away)

Kyun khuda tune mujhe aisa khwaab dikhaya (Why you gave me such dream)

Jab haqiqat mein usey todna tha (When you had to break it in reality)

Aaa....

Shanaya

Ik dooje se huye judaa, jab ik dooje ke liye bane

Teri meri, meri teri prem kahani hai mushqil

Do lafzon mein yeh Bayaan na ho paaye

Arun

Teri meri baaton ka har lamha (Each and every moment we shared was filled with happiness)

Sab se anjaana, do lafzoon mein yeh

Bayaan na ho paaye

Har ehsaas mein tu hai(You're in every feeling)

Har ik yaad mein tera afsaana(and each memory is filled with your story)

Do lafzon mein yeh bayaan na ho paaye

Aaaa...

Sara din bit jaaye, Saari raat jagaye(The whole day passes, but each night keeps me awake)

Bas khayal tumhara lamha lamha tadpaye(Still your thoughts trouble me every moment)

Yeh tadap keh rahi hai mit jaaye faasle(This longing wants the distance)

Yeh Tere mere darmayaan hai Jo saare (which exists between you and me to disappear)

Shanaya

Ik dooje se huey juda Jab ik dooje ke liye bane(We are separated though we're made for each other)

Teri meri baaton ka har lamha Sab se anjaana

Do lafzon mein yeh bayaan na ho paaye

Har ehsaas mein tu hai(You're in every feeling)

Har ik yaad mein tera afsaana(and each memory is filled with your story)

Do lafzon mein yeh bayaan na ho paaye

Arun

Teri meri, meri teri prem kahani hai mushqil

Do lafzon mein yeh bayaan na ho paaye

             The entire Robot Research Team clapped and Abhimanyu too clapped from the bar where he was standing with a glass of whisky. Shanaya felt dry in her throat after singing and went to the bar to drink some water.

Abhimanyu: That was very good there. You sang really good.

Shanaya: Thank you! She smiled showing her dimples.

Abhimanyu: Never knew you could sing or play guitar in college.

Her eyes brightened up and looked into his soft brown eyes.

Shanaya: I couldn't, but I always wanted to be one of those who could sing and play a musical instrument on stage.

Abhimanyu: Hmmm...someone is very competitive! He smiled.

She smiled big.

Shanaya: Earlier I couldn't afford, but now that I can, I am doing something I had always wanted to.

Abhimanyu: Got a place for yourself?

Shanaya. Yes. My next door neighbor is my personal guitar tutor. She smiled.

Shanaya: He is always willing to teach me according to my time.

Abhimanyu: Young guy?

Shanaya: No. She shook her head.

Shanaya: He is a sweet old man. Must be in his seventies. He played guitar all his life and can play almost anything and everything.

Abhimanyu: Don't be fooled by the sweetness of old men. They are very cunning. He gave mischievous smile of his.

Abhimanyu: What level are you in?

Shanaya: Intermediate.

Shanaya: How strange it is, you gave up music and I picked up music.

Abhimanyu thought about it without saying anything.

             She was always inspired by him. She wanted to sing and play guitar like him. She wanted to lose her fear of stage. She wanted to be a topper like him which she did in college itself and the rest she tried to do in her life after college. She knew how he was everything that she was not. She wanted to be everything that he was.  

            Music started playing for dance, and everyone took to the dance floor. Arun came and took Shanaya to dance with him. Manoj danced with her and held her hand every now and then during their dance. She danced with other guys one after another as there were only two girls in the party. Abhimanyu watched her for sometime and it reminded him of the night she danced with everyone but him. Anyways it was time for him to join his parents for dinner, so he called his driver to go home and waved everyone bye before leaving.

            After the party got over, Manoj was drunk and insisted on dropping Shanaya home. He held her hand to take her to his cab saying, " Come. I'll drop you home in my cab". "Arun will drop me, Manoj. Your wife will worry for you as it is it's very late", she told him.  Arun told Manoj that he'll drop Shanaya by his bike and that he should go home. Somehow, they got him to leave alone in his cab. Shanaya had a sigh of relief.

            It was conference at 6 am with the European investors.  Abhimanyu had directly come to office from airport where his flight had landed at 4:30 am. At 5:30 am Manoj called him to tell that he has suddenly taken sick and wouldn't be able to join him in the conference. Abhimanyu had felt that someone came in the office in morning. He opened the door of his office and saw Shanaya sitting in her cubilcle chatting on hangout. He could clearly see and read the messages in the hangout window. 

Harsh: Hey, beautiful! Came a little late from the office today. How are you?

Shanaya: Good. We don't have much time to chat today. I have to get back to my work now.

Harsh: Forget about work, babe. It can wait, but I can't.

Abhimanyu gulped the lump in his throat before calling Shanaya

Abhimanyu: Shanaya! He called out.

Shanaya was startled. She immediately minimized the google hangout window and turned to look at him. The message window popped up again with his messages "Tell me"," Are you there?" on her desktop behind her. 

She didn't know he was in office. She immediately stood up looking at him not knowing what to say.

Abhimanyu: Tell Harsh, he will have to wait, as you got work to do with me.

Shanaya looked at him shocked.

Abhimanyu: Sorry, I read your messages. So, his name is Harsh. Anyways, I'm sure Harsh will keep you very harsh(hindi). I mean happy. He joked.

Abhimanyu: I need you to join me in the conference call as Manoj has called sick. You are from his team and should be able to answer the questions that are for usually for him.

Shanaya joined Abhimanyu in his office. He told her to sit on the chair kept next to counter desktop with phone on it . There was a desktop and printer/fax machine next to it. He pulled his chair to sit next to her, not too close though.

Shanaya: I don't know if chatting from office is okay. She stuttered.

Shanaya: Do employees get a pink slip for chatting from office? She asked him.

He looked at her and laughed a little, quite amused at the mention of pink slip.

Abhimanyu: Depends on how you perform in this conference call, today. She looked at him in shock.

He smiled, and took a pause before speaking.

Abhimanyu: No, not if you chat that early in morning.

Abhimanyu: I understand the different time zones and how when office hours end there, they start here, hardly leaving any time to talk. Long distance relationships aren't easy anyways, but you can talk to him on whatsapp instead of chatting on google hangout.

Shanaya:  I prefer text chatting to voice calling.

Abhimanyu: I know much safer to text silently in office than speaking out loud the things you don't want others to hear.

               He pressed some numbers on phone and initiated the conference. After the greetings and brief introduction with the German company CTO, he answered first few questions of client. He was so impressive in  the way he spoke and answered to their questions with complete clarity. Shanaya  couldn't get over how sexy his body language looked doing that.  He got up in the middle of the conference and stood at the end of the counter desk , leaving her alone to answer the clients when they asked her the questions. He watched her answer from there and was impressed at the way she handled every question politely  giving insight into it.  American accent she used to answer was great. He went to phone speaker whenever he was required to answer and at other times, he just let her answer, and stood away from her. Abhimanyu thanked her after the conference.

            Manoj called Shanaya to discuss the flow chart of robot functionality that she was coding and designing. He discussed it for two hours telling her how she needed to think differently and do it again not willing to take in her point of view. She suggested him to show it to Abhimanyu and see if he thinks the same. He said they can't show anything to Abhimanyu until it was perfectly fool proof. She argued that for that he has to let her complete her thing before suggesting his changes every now and then into them. He always did that and never let her check in any of her work in Version Control for others to see. Moreover, she hated to sit in his office like that for hours. While making her understand his point of view he often lightly put his hand behind her shoulder. She hated how he swiveled on chair so that  his knee touched her knee lightly every now and then. He annoyed her more by calling her to introduce her to local manufacturing clients if she happened to be in cafeteria when he got them there for lunch. That day after the two hours of meeting when she was about to go down by lift, the lift had opened and she was about to enter it when  he came running after her and asked her to clear his one more doubt before going home. She just wanted to kill him, but she went back to his room to explain what he never understood because he, she felt didn't want to. She felt like crying hard that day and leave that damn job. 

            She didn't know if what Manoj did,  qualified under sexual harassment, but if it did, then she didn't want Abhimanyu to deal with something like that in his office. He was already neck-deep in work and she didn't want to trouble him with that. She thought many be he was more like a very clingy boss. But then why did it feel like  it was sexual harassment. She hated the way he looked at her and kept touching her subtly. She didn't know what storm telling" Keep your hands to yourself" will bring. He was her boss. Was she overreacting to his friendly gentle touches. She had no idea, but they irritated her too much, that much she knew. She literally didn't know what to do, and how to escape from Manoj.

          She had even changed her time to  lunch to avoid Manoj, but that day he happened to be there at the same time as her. He called her to sit with him. She had just  kept the plate with food in it on the table when she saw Abhimanyu walk to rooftop with some clients. She immediately shouted " Hey Abhi," and walked to him. Manoj looked at her in shock and so did Abhimanyu. They were both shocked to hear "Abhi" from her mouth.

Shanaya stood in front of Abhimanyu and smiled brightly showing her dimples.

Shanaya: How was your trip?

Abhimanyu: Good, Shanaya. He said totally confused at her behavior.

Shanaya: I need to talk with you.

Abhimanyu: You see I'm very busy right now. He tried to draw her eyes to the clients with him.

Abhimanyu: Get in touch with my PA to know when I'm free.

She nodded her head and went back to eat her food with Manoj.

                 Abhimanyu's PA was Parveen, a middle aged, healthy and jovial lady. Her cubicle was in front of the ninth floor access door. Shanaya often chit chatted with her as she was the only other lady on that floor. Shanaya asked Parveen to convey to Abhimanyu that she needed to talk to him urgently. She said she will surely do that and let her know whenever he lets her know the time he was ready to see her. A week passed and a few times in that week , Shanaya requested his PA to remind him. Parveen told her she reminded him, but he didn't get back to her on that. She asked Parveen if he was in his office without clients, to which she nodded in 'Yes'.

                Shanaya walked to his office and flung open the door. Abhimanyu looked up from his laptop.

Shanaya: I want to talk to you.

Abhimanyu: I'm busy now. My PA will let you know when I have time to talk to you.

Shanaya: I can't wait.

Abhimanyu: Well, I have a flight to catch in an hour. Aaand..I guess you'll have to wait.

Shanaya: Really? This is what you mean when you say you are my friend first and then an employer. Her voice broke and she gulped the lump in her throat. Her eyes got teary.

Shanaya: You call me your friend but I have to take an appointment to talk something important with you. Not only do I have to take an appointment but plead for it, beg for it and still wait for it. I know you are busy but taking out ten minutes from your busy schedule will not cause any crisis. I am literally struggling to get few minutes of your time and you call yourself my friend. She spoke angrily emitting fire from her eyes.

Abhimanyu: Calm down. Come, take a seat. He said gently.

Abhimanyu: Okay. Tell me, what is it?

Shanaya didn't know how to tell him. He waited for her to start.

He looked in his watch, "You have only ten minutes".

Then also when she couldn't speak and kept wondering how to.... He could see she was finding it difficult to tell what she wanted to tell.

Abhimanyu: Is anyone troubling you, other than me?

That instantly brought a smile to her face with teary eyes.

Shanaya: No.

Abhimanyu: Then?

Shanaya: I don't know, but I don't think Manoj and I can work together. He doesn't appreciate my ideas. Doesn't agree to them, demands a constant explanation on them. We just cannot work as a team. We are not compatible. We are conflicting. And I don't think it is in the best interest of Peter. He says, before we show any work to you, it has to be perfect. I think they are, but he doesn't. And it cannot reach you because you insist on receiving everything through proper channel  and that is him, in my case. So, I have to do only things that he feels is right, and that way I'll never be able to do anything what I think needs to be done.

She feared working under him, but she would take him any day over Manoj.

Abhiamnyu: You want to be an independent contributor?

Shanya: Yes.

Abhimanyu: Do you know that means working under me?

Shanaya: I do.

Abhimanyu: And do you know what does that mean?

Shanaya: No.

Abhimanyu: You are a girl, Shanaya. You are better under Manoj.

Abhimanyu: I don't mean gender inequality by that. You are very capable, much better than boys, but you have no idea about my crazy way of working. Working under me means living my crazy schedule with me, which will not suit you. Late nights, early mornings, days of continuous work with no sleep when I'm there and communicating in odd hours when I'm travelling. I'm a much difficult task master than Manoj. It will break you.

Shanaya: Try me, Abhimanyu. Try me at least once before dismissing me like that.

Shanaya: Trust me, I'll not disappoint you.

Abhimanyu: Trust me Shanaya, you are better working under Manoj than me. I gotta go now.

                    Shanaya walked out sad. She couldn't convince him and she couldn't tell him how creepy she found that Manoj. Abhimanyu sat thinking for a moment. He ran his fingers through his hair to the back of his head and pressed it tight. He was somewhat ignoring her more since he read her chat messages. Despite finding her brilliant in the conference call, he simply thanked her, and didn't appreciate her which was unusual of him. "What should he do?" he thought. Keep her away from him, like he deliberately did until now or take her under his wings and fight the feeling every day.

https://youtu.be/G6jCa7egHnA