Project Shringaar

It was HER first working day at HIS office, and the very first time they finally met.

LEILA was transferred on-site to his head-office in Mumbai after serving as a Remote Executive Assistant for a year. She stopped at the door before entering and scanned his name.

"ARNAB SHARMA, MANAGING PARTNER & CEO"; written in big bold 'rage italic' font.

'The choice of font matches his description' she thought. His infamous rage was the talk of the town. No wonder, he was the chosen target for what she called 'Project Shringaar'. It was not easy to get a man like him to fall in love. Nor was it easy for anyone to love such a man.'

For Leila, it was not a big deal. She had conditioned her mind to love him. Her definition of love was hugely borrowed from all the rom-com novels and movies she had devoured, but her real challenge was to get him to reciprocate.When she knocked at his door, sharp at 9 AM, 'as planned', he barely looked up from his iPad and spewed a tirade of instructions; and just one clear expectation - absolute sincerity.

It was easy for her!

She was contradictory yet complementary to Arnab which made them a great team.

He was the thinker, she was the executor.
He was born with an OCD*; she was born meticulous.
He was predictably irrational, and she was unpredictably rational.
Monotony was his game, consistency her biggest strength.
He was known for his anger; and she surprisingly embodied compassion.

Work was starting to feel like a breeze with her around. The promptness, the diligence and the acumen - it was almost hard to believe that a single woman had all these qualities. In less than 10 days, she had taken complete command over his professional life, and Arnab did not know what to do without her.

It was almost a fortnight after she joined that Arnab spoke to her about something besides work.

"Are you on a perpetual diet or something?" he asked. "I have never seen you eat anything."

She made a mental congratulatory note that he has started noticing things about her. Step 1. Check.

Without much thought, she blurted out her carefully rehearsed answer; "I just grab a quick bite with my sister who works in the next building". Arnab would have probed further but an urgent voicemail demanded his attention.

Truth is, she was prohibited from having a meal with her target. Hence, she just slipped out at mealtimes to send an update about her progress, or sometimes to simply recharge herself.

Very soon, her work spoke, much more than she did. Arnab was totally impressed by her efficiency. He started to trust her. At that point in his life, she was actually the only person he trusted. Leila wasn't talkative and spoke only when spoken to, but when she did, she had a weirdly cute demeanour. Arnab often observed that she was very different in the way she carried herself - almost unlike anyone he had ever seen. He started to look forward to her company every day. He longed for her companionship even on weekends. After a long time, he had felt an emotion for someone that was so unadulterated. It was sheer affection. Although he found her mannerisms slightly odd, he often dismissed it as an antidote to his own quirks. He started taking her out for client meetings in order to get to know her better, but more often than not, she answered in monosyllables when it came to anything beyond work.

He asked her out for dinner often but she refused every single time with her clichéd excuses. Arnab was not used to giving up. He started giving her personal errands like delivering an important work package to his home on a Saturday or picking up his 1931 Chrysler Roadster for maintenance.