Next day morning at 9

"How was your first day dude?" Tanisha asked me excitedly.

We were Skyping. It was one of the rare occassions where she decided she wanted to see my face. Her pretty brown eyes were lit up and her smile was soo wide it could reach Antarctica. Just kidding.

"Disaster," I said with a pout. "Partially," I added with a sigh, when I thought back to the fact that I got to meet Arya again. And that was a dream come true.

Tanisha narrowed her eyes at me with a funny look on her face.

"That was definitely not what I expected to hear," she said. "What happened?"

"Like you're going to understand," I replied. "Dental related."

"Try me," she said, now grinning.

I ignored the innuendo.

"I was mixing the base for the restoration on a glass slab. The consistency was so perfect and I was so happy. But the stupid glass slab had perfect timing. It just HAD to slip off the counter and crash to the ground, breaking into small pieces. And that too, all in front of the love of my life-"

"Love of your life? Who? Desh?"

"- My day just couldn't get any worse-

"Dude Riyaa!"

"- And I REALLY REALLY wanted to impress him, considering that-"

"-Riyaaa!"

"- he's the son of one of the best dentists. Oh my god and he's soo good.."

"CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT THE HELL YOU ARE GOING ON ABOUT?"

I blinked once. Then twice. Then, realized to my utter embarrassment that I had been rambling.

"Sorry," I said to Tanisha sheepishly, looking at her through my laptop screen. "I got carried away."

"I can see," she said, with no expression. "Care to explain?"

I told her about everything that happened from the time I had accidentally bumped into Arya in Cafe Coffee Day. She already knew about who Arya was and how I had met him but I never told her about the effect he had on my poor heart then. When I told her about the part where he consoled me in the end, saying everyone makes mistakes, she literally squealed. Squealed, can you believe it?

"Oh my poor eardrums!" I wailed, looking at her sternly.

She smiled innocently and said " He's got it bad for you."

"Yeah right," I scoffed. "He was just being a gentleman and doing his duty. After all he's my boss."

"If you say so," she said. "But I have a really strong feeling you guys are meant to be. That the red string of fate connects you both."

"Hmmm..." I said, looking her in the eye. I am pretty sure my cheeks were flaming now.

"But anyways, what was that about the 'love of your life' ?"

"That was just an exaggeration," I said quickly. "Just felt fancy to put it like that."

"Oh really?" she said, with a skeptical expression on her face. But she didn't push it further.

" How is your sister doing Tanu?" I asked, changing the topic.

"She's good, she got a job in Biocon as a health manager. I think she is coming to Chennai next week for a conference."

"That's really awesome. It feels like ages since I last met her. "

Tanisha's sister Diya was two years older to Anandith, my brother. That made her four years older to us. She always doted on me when we were younger and I considered her to be ' the sister I never had'. I admired her for her wonderful fashion sense, and makeup skills. She was the one who always dressed us up for special outings, parties and get togethers with friends. She was as much a loving sister to Anandith too as she was to us. Not only was she a diva, she was a pro at Maths and an excellent basketball player. And Anandith loved basketball. So they got along really well together.

*

At 1pm

"Good evening Riya, come in," came a deep voice from behind the door. I wondered how he knew I was standing there, then realized that the door was ajar.

"Good evening sir," I said, nodding my head and entering his cabin. "You called me?"

" I take it you've met my son?"

"Yes, sir."

"How did your first day go?"

I wondered if he already knew and that's why he was asking me. I fumbled with my hands nervously and mumbled "It was alright."

"That's good then," he said, and I let out a sigh of relief. Arya didn't tell his dad.

"It's really a pleasure working in your clinic sir. I never even dreamt I would get the chance."

He gave a low chuckle. " My pleasure Riya. After all, you're one of the best students your batch has. Your teachers all have only good things to say about you. Especially your mom's brother who is a great friend of mine."

"Thank you sir."

"And if you're worried about the tiny mistakes you make, you will go nowhere. Put your chin up, always have positive attitude and you will do great in life."

"Thank you so much sir. That really means a lot."

"That's alright. I think you can leave now. Arya wants to have a word with you."

"Alright sir. "

I exited Mr. Mahadevan's cabin and found Arya standing right outside with a smile on his face.

"How did it go?" he asked curiously. " What did my dad say?"

"It went alright. Nothing much really, he just asked me about my first day and gave me life tips."

"Life tips huh?" he said and chuckled. "Typical dad."

"So what did you want to meet me for?"

"Umm nothing really," he stammered.

"Nothing?" I asked, my eyebrows scrunching up together in a confused manner.

"Have you had lunch?"

"Hmm.. not yet, I will grab something on the way," I said.

" Would you like to join me?" he asked a little unsurely.

" Sure, if it's alright with you," I replied with a grin.

Arya looked directly into my eyes and smiled. "I insist," he said. "Besides, you're still new to Chennai. And I know all the best places here."

I couldn't help but shoot him a coy smile at that. "Alright."

"Then we can drive back here together since your shift is at 5."

"Okay," I said still smiling.

I was assuming 'drive" meant car. I totally did not expect him to lead me to a black shiny bike. I turned to him with a completely shocked expression on my face.

"Am I supposed to sit on that?" I asked.

"No, you're supposed to hang on to the seat, while I drive," he said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Alright let's do this."

__________x________________

Hey guys,
Omg please don't kill me..I swear all the fun starts in the next chapter..this was just a build up chapter to it...
And what did you think of Mr. Mahadevan? Did you think he would be stern or friendly?
Ooh and my favourite girl Tanisha is back! She sure has great observation skills huh? Her sister Diya will show her face in upcoming chapters...
Tension between our lovebirds is arising...want to know what happens next?
Please vote, comment and follow for updates ;)
Adigos amigos
:) harshini :)