Running From The Truth (by Emma)

Chapter 35 - Insecurities

Chapter 35 - Insecurities

Siddharth waited patiently for the elevator to arrive, the perfect square above the doors flashing the red numbers that decreased as the lift approached the ground floor. As it opened, he rushed into the empty space, carefully pressing the right number, and hitting the close button. As the doors slid carefully shut, a hand made its way in between the very small slit, stopping it from securing shut.

"Ow!" She whined, rubbing her wrist where the door had enclosed upon. "Stupid elevators never come, and when they do, they always shut on my arm!" She huffed, blowing upwards to move the hair away from her fringe. "Arnav Sir is going to be upset with me, I was supposed to meet the clients he told me about, and now I'm 5 minutes late!" She said to herself. "And he's never been upset with me so far." She said in a worried manner, as she settled in the corner of the elevator, biting her manicured nails.

Siddharth took the time to carefully watch her. Her Bluetooth fixed to the shell of her ear, the long jhumkas beneath. The blue and white anarkali suit fit her to a tee and flowed around her. Her hair was left in a fashionable fishtail braid and the only makeup she sported was the long wings of kajal framed around her big brown eyes.

She suddenly realized her surroundings and the frown disappeared from her forehead and her eyes narrowed instead. "What happened to the elevator?"

Siddharth snapped out of his reverie and terminated his staring. "Sorry?"

"The elevator! Why isn't it moving?"

He turned to the buttons, and stared at the frozen number sign, before turning back to her.

"I...I don't know. It was working just fine before..." He muttered in confusion.

"Oh...so I see what you're trying say. That it stopped because of me??" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What? No! That's not what I meant."

"Oh god...now I'm stuck!" She exclaimed, slapping a hand to her forehead. Taking in a big gulp of air and breathing it out, she sighed. "Come on Diya, you need the exercise. Time to take the stairs!"

And with that, Diya Sen walked out of the elevator, leaving a Siddharth Gupta in a complete trance, watching after her figure with a slight smile, despite her being long gone.

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Payal Gupta stared in awe at the vision in front of her. It had felt like a movie, when she entered. As if she was attending some sort of fancy ball, one that she had dreamed of as a small girl, where she was a princess and she would find her prince...

"And so, we meet again!"

Oh no, Payal thought as she recognized the voice instantly.

She turned to find him standing in front of her casually; his hair gelled to, his suit fitting him perfectly, his eyes gleaming with mirth behind his glasses...

"Mr. Akaash Raizada...it's great to see you too."

Why did she get so nervous around him again? Since when was she nervous around anyone?

"I did not expect to see you here! But I guess it makes sense, Bhai must have told Khushi, who must have told Siddharth, who must have told you...am I right?" He asked.

"Yes." She replied, watching him chuckle softly.

Stupid man, making me all nervous...she thought. Thinks he knows everything!

"Well, I wouldn't say I know everything." Akaash shrugged nonchalantly, grabbing a flute from one of the passing waiters as he leaned on a nearby pillar, studying Payal carefully as her eyes widened in realization that she had voiced her thoughts out loud. "But I guess you could say I know enough..."

Shit! Payal frowned; already knowing what was coming her way.

"For example...I know how nervous you were during our interview. And I'm assuming it more to do with how we had our first meeting, than actual fear of not getting the job. Am I right? And right now, you're probably cursing me in your head..." He drawled his grin in tact as he inched closer.