Samriddhi's pov

The moment I stepped inside my apartment, it didn't feel like home without my mom. Yes, I know I'm 28, and I miss my mother. Well, who doesn't? That's the only thing we searched for as soon as we reached our home, right?

But my mom is far away from me; she is in India, and I'm here in America. Well, it's been 3 months, and still, I'm not completely used to this place. I know getting out of my home and hometown was the whole and sole dream of mine, but I can't hide the fact that it's nothing without my mommie.
I missed her so much because we never lived apart.
You know why, because we have only each other for both of us.

But it's ok, I'll manage because this job is important too, and she can't be here with me because my grandparents need her too, so we'll manage.

We lived with my mother's parents after my parents' divorce. I don't even remember; I was too young to remember when they separated. From that moment on, she only lived for me, and I for her.
Well, my grandparents are sweet, but they are a little strict, and I have too many restrictions, you know, specifically when you are an Indian and the only daughter of your mother.
So don't ask why I need this job even that far, because this job is the only escape plan you know from those restrictions, and I also want to see the world.

When I got a promotion with the condition that I had to go to America, God knows for how long I have to stay here. I accepted it without even thinking for a second.

All my chains of thought were broken when I heard the door of my apartment open and my roommate came back from college.
Her name is Hannah Michaelson, and she is a student of journalism.

"Good evening," I greeted her, and she only replied with a groan. I wondered what happened to her.

She is the most enthusiastic person I have ever seen; she is like a little sister to me.
Yes, in these 3 months, I made a new little family: Hannah, Kohli Aunty (my landlady), and Nimii Dii (Kholi Aunty's daughter) (dii is used for elder sister in India).

"What happened?" I asked.

"I think viral, "she replied, and I hurriedly went inside the kitchen and got medicine for her.

She took those medicines and looked at me with those puppy eyes of hers, and I know where this is going.

"What do you want?" I asked, and she replied with the same puppy eyes, "I have an appointment tomorrow for an interview."

"So," I replied with a confused expression, and what she said next made my expression like, 'Are you kidding me?'

She said, "Can you go at my place? I waited so long for this; you have no idea how hard it was to get that appointment. You know this is so important for my university project that I can't let this opportunity go. Please, please, please help me," she said in one go, and honestly, I got nothing; everything is flying over my head.

I calmed her down somehow, then she explained everything—that this is some kind of internship project—and she got an interview with some businessman named Henry Brown.
And it's not an easy task to have an interview with the Brown family.
and she got this opportunity and did not want it to go in vain because of this stupid viral.
"How?... I can't. I have no experience in all these things. How can I..no, I can't do this. I am sorry, but I can't." I denied.

"Please help me; you are my last hope."

"You can ask one of your classmates; they know what to do.
And on the other hand, I have zero experience, and because of this, I don't want to ruin your hard work. What if I did something stupid?
You knew my anxiety. I can't talk to strangers." I tried my best to convince her, but only if I had a chance against her.

She said, "Isn't your job also to talk to complete strangers?"

"That's different. I help them......."

She cut me. "Oh, really... still, both are the same. Come on, Sammii, help me, please. I can't trust anyone besides you. Please, I'm begging you. How could you do this to your little sister?"

and there she goes. This girl knows all my buttons in just a short period of time.

Well, I agree that I have another option.

Next morning.

"Here, I write all the questions that you are going to ask, and just read the question, record his answers, and make some notes. That's it."
"That's it," I said, rolling my eyes internally. Oh god, I'm hell-nervous now.

I chose to wear black formal pants with a white shirt and black heels, which I didn't want to wear, but Hannah insisted. I am not a fan of formal wear; I like casual, but the day I arrived here, I'm wearing formals because it is the dress code here, and you have to indulge yourself in your surroundings, right? That's the circle of life. And don't forget heels. Hell, I hate those. I like flats and sneakers; they are comfortable.

Here I am at Brown Enterprises, this one managed by Henry Brown, and I'm here for his interview.

I asked the lady at the front desk, and she showed me the elevator. The elevator stopped at the 35th floor. I stepped out and walked to the front desk. Before that, a blonde girl came my way and asked about me. I told her that there had been an appointment, and she informed me that she knew about the replacement as Hannah had already informed her.

Politely, she asked me to sit on the couch and asked if I needed anything. I denied it with a smile. She informed me that "Mr. Brown is in a meeting and will be attending to you in a second."

I am waiting, and I'm really nervous. All because of this nervousness, I constantly taped my left foot to the floor.

I'm looking at the interior design; it's so perfect, just like the way I watched in the movies, and the staff members here were professionally dressed.

My chain of thoughts had been broken when the same blonde lady informed me "Mr. Brown is waiting for you ".

I gave her a nervous smile with a nod. I got up from my seat and followed her. She opened the door for me, and as I entered, I almost tripped because of my heels, but somehow I composed myself.

But in all this chaos, a vase near the table fell to the ground, but thank God it didn't break or have any scratches or something. Hurriedly, I picked it up and placed it back where it was.

You have no idea how clumsy I'm

In all this, I didn't notice when a tall figure stood beside me.
I'm so freaking embarrassed right now.
'The first impression is the last impression', they said.

Henry's pov

I was standing in front of my window, which is behind my desk, and my back was facing the door. I have an interview with some intern, and God knows what kind of childish questions she is going to ask.

I turned when I heard the loud sound of the falling vase. God be damned. I turned and saw she quietly placed it back.
  Responsible I thought for a second, but no, she is clumsy. That fact can't be denied.

I was standing behind her when she turned, and I saw into her eyes.

Those brown orbs How can I forget those beautiful eyes with thick, curved lashes. They have been constantly shining brightly in my head for the past month.

Flashback .........

I was sitting in a roadside cafe waiting for a client. Well, I came a bit early because I was near and needed some coffee to clear my head before the meeting.

Someone caught my attention. There was a girl who was talking with someone on her phone.
I don't know to whom, and I don't care.

But what caught my attention was her smile.
I know I sound weird, but she has the most beautiful smile I have ever seen in my life.
She was smiling with her heart. Her smile reached her eyes; her eyes were shining bright with her damn beautiful smile. She has brown orbs with thick, curved lashes.

She was sitting in front of me. She was talking in some other language, and from that, I guess she is not native. She was wearing a bracelet on her left hand, which has a Hindu religious symbol on it.

So I guess she is an Indian, and she was talking in Hindi.
I tried to divert my attention when she started speaking English and was talking about Marvel. Really, a girl was talking about superhero stuff. Impressive. Next, she starts talking about a bunch of other shows and movies.

From this, it's not difficult to guess that she's a cinephile.
I wondered who she was talking to. I know it's none of my business, but humans are curious creatures.
The next moment, she picked up her stuff, and she was gone. My client was also there, so I didn't bother.

But in the past month, I couldn't stop thinking about those smiling eyes and her gorgeous smile.
From that moment on, whenever I saw a girl smiling, I couldn't stop myself from comparing her smile with that of that cafe girl.
No one matches her smile. I know I sound weird or pathetic, but I can't stop thinking about her smile.

Can you imagine how just a smile could attract my attention? Well, here we are. Her simplicity was the thing that stuck in my mind and is not going away.

To be honest, she didn't make many efforts to look attractive.

She was wearing black jeans with a black t-shirt with a Harry Potter logo on it and white sneakers, and she completed her look with a denim jacket.

She was simple but still knew how to dress. She was wearing no makeup at all and not even showing her body. Only her hands and face were not covered, except for her whole self. Not to forget her hands; she had long, tender fingers with her natural, long nails beautifully painted to complement her hands. She has a natural skin tone that is neither fair nor dark. She has waist-length, long black raven hair with a tint of brown, which was braided by her.

I never thought I would ever notice these kinds of things, but she was something different. She was not like other girls I ever met or saw in my life; they were showing their skin in short dresses and heavy makeup. They were always craving attention.

I am not saying all those who wear short dresses are bad or something. It's their choice, but in my life, I encountered mostly attention seekers and gold diggers.

But she is not like them; she is different. I can say that just by seeing her for the first time.
That's why I think I didn't get her away from my head this past month.

Flashback ended...

But now she is standing in front of me.
I can tell she is scared and nervous.

She muttered, "I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Ms. Michealson," I replied, forwarding my hand towards her for a handshake.

But I keep thinking in my head that she does not look like Hannah Michaelson. Well, of course, that name didn't suit her personality.

She took my hand for a handshake, which I offered and replied, "I'm not Hannah Michaelson. I'm her roommate; she had a viral, so she can't be here, and this meeting also can't be postponed. So....."
She handshakes me professionally with a strong and confident grip. I like it that she didn't show her nervousness while shaking her hand.

I told her, "It's ok, Ms...."
I waited for her reply, to which she replied nervously, "Oh, um, sorry. My name is Samriddhi."
I raised my eyebrow a little at her reply. She corrected, "I only use my first name."

"Please have a seat, Ms. Samriddhi."
She sits on the couch, and I'm in front.
Of her on the chair.

She shuffled some papers and then started asking some regular questions regarding my business and success, which were written on paper. She is listening carefully and occasionally makes notes too. I'm tired of answering the same questions over and over.
Then, after one question, the room went silent: "Are you gay?" and she froze in her place, even though she didn't believe what she just said. Instantly, she closed her eyes in embarrassment and shut her mouth with her hand.
I can feel she is cursing under her breath, probably in her mother tongue.

"No, I'm not," I replied calmly. Well, this question is also not new, as many tabloids have printed it, as I won't have been with any female for a long time. So they started assuming that I am gay because I am not dating anyone.

She somehow composed herself in this embarrassing situation, and I can feel that.

But I can't resist anymore and ask, "Ms. Samriddhi, are those questions prepared by you?"

"No,...actually,...HANNAH gave me those."

"And you didn't even take a look."

"Um, the thing is, I didn't have much time; actually, she requested that I help her, and I agreed. If I had a clue about such stupid questions, I wouldn't ask them.
Mr. Brown, please accept my apologies..."

"It's not a big deal, Ms. Samriddhi." I brushed it off.

"Huhh..." she only managed one word.

I continued, "Leave those questions and ask something you want to know. I mean something if you want to know, besides these questions, if you have anything on your mind."

"Ummm. Sorry, but I don't know what to say. I mean, ask." She gave a nervous chuckle.

"Seriously, nothing at all."

"Actually, I don't know much about you, Mr. Brown, so I have no idea where to start."

" Really? You are studying journalism, and you have no idea what to ask." I was surprised.

"What? No, I'm not a journalism student; I'm just helping my roommate," she replied.

Curious I want to know more: "Then what do you do, Ms. Samiddhi?"

"I'm a banker."
With a raised eyebrow, I gesture to her to continue.
"I am working in an Indian government bank as an administrative officer."

Fuck!!!!!
Her reply shocked me. I can't believe she didn't look like a working woman at all. In fact, college-going girls are looking more mature in appearance as compared to her.
How old she can be, I wonder.

Don't judge me, but her looks and appearance are like a college girl's.
Not to forget my last encounter with her a month ago.

"So you take a day off from your job just to help your roommate's internship project, even though it's the closing month of March and there is a lot of workload in banks, if I'm not wrong?"

"Yes," she replied calmly. But our conversation was interpreted by my secretary, Beck. I instructed her because I didn't want to give more than 10 minutes to this interview. Only if I knew this was going to be that interesting.

"We are not done yet," I replied.
But she was quick to say, "No, Mr. Brown. It's almost done. All questions are done according to this list."

She showed a piece of paper and got up from her seat. "Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Brown."

And she was gone with Beck. Before that, she shook hands with me and left.

(Hey guys this is the first chapter. Please press the like button, share and comment. )