Home Forever

Chapter 10

This is awkward.

"Uh.. sorry," Jeet's voice seems ragged and huskier than usual, his caramel eyes - darkened to a deep amber.

I hastily drop my hands to my sides. "No, it's.. my.. fault," I reply in a feeble strained voice, forcing the words to come out. The accidental embrace has left me flustered. "I should have held on to the handle."

Jeet picks up my bag and hands it over to me. I give a tight smile, as a way of saying thanks, since no more words come out of my mouth.

We avoid looking and talking to each other for the rest of the journey.

At the next station we got an empty row of seats. I sit at the far end near the window and Jeet sat next to me keeping enough distance between us so that we didn't touch but little enough so that no one else could sit between us.

We disembark at Churchgate station and take a cab to News of the Nation office. Khushboo was right. Jeet knew his way around the city. He guided the cab exactly which way to go, so that the driver couldn't take a longer route to hike up the fare.

We approach the receptionist when we arrive at the newspaper office. Thankfully by then, I had time to gather my wits around me.

"Good morning, I am Tarana Dheer from PR department of DeGlobal Corporation. I have an appointment with your Editor-in-Chief."

I had instructed Khushboo to call the newspaper offices and fix appointments for me with the editors, so that I would not have to wait or be turned back.

The receptionist, looking coolly at the two sweaty, ordinary looking people in front of her, narrows her eyes in disbelief. She probably had heard that excuse many times before, with people pretending to have an appointment with the Editor-in-Chief.

"Sir is very busy now and will not be available for the next two hours at least. Please come later or you can wait here till he is free." By the sound of the bored tone of her voice, it was probably a line she had practiced thousands of times.

Then she went back to her ongoing phone call, ignoring us standing there. "But I have requested an appointment with him. My office called ahead. Could you at least please check with him? I think he may be expecting me."

"Ma'am," she drawls patronizingly, looking annoyed to be disturbed from her phone call. "He would have informed me if he was expecting you, which he hasn't. So, you could either wait or leave." She jerks her head towards the security guard at the entrance. Either sit quietly or you will be kicked out, her face indicates.

I looked at Jeet despairingly. "Let's wait for some time," he suggests. As I turn find us the nearest seat, he calls out to me, "Tarana, I need to make a call. I'll be back in five minutes." I nod and head to the sofas.

I call Khushboo and she informed me that she spoke to the Editor's secretary who told her that he was a very busy man and may or may not meet us when we arrive. I instruct her to call once more and inform the secretary that I am waiting in the reception for him.

Jeet is back within 5 minutes as promised. He smiles as he sits down next to me. "Interesting painting," he points to the canvas I was observing, hanging on the wall opposite me. It's an old, medieval looking painting of two ladies, carrying pots of water, talking near a river. "Yes, it looks intriguing, must have taken the artist a long time to paint."

"It's not an original," he states in a matter of fact tone.

"Wha..? How do you know?" I look at Jeet in surprise.

"That painting is supposed be at least a hundred and fifty years old, yet see how bright the paint is? If the piece was genuinely painted that many years ago, the colours would have started to fade."