‘Darius!’ a delighted male voice said. ‘It’s been years, my boy—how are you?’
The speaker was a stalwart-looking man in his early forties, who beamed all over his face as he clapped Darius on his shoulder. The blow would have pitched a weaker man face-down into his grilled vegetables, but Darius hardly winced.
‘Gautam,’ he said, standing up and taking the man’s hand in a firm grip. ‘Long while … I didn’t know you were back in Mumbai.’
‘Just here for a visit. And …? You’re married and everything now? Is this the new Mrs Mistry?’
He looked as if he was about to clap Mallika on the shoulder as well, and Darius intervened hastily.
‘No, Mallika is … a friend.’
‘Aha! A Miss Mystery, then, not a Mrs Mistry—is that right?’ Clearly delighted at his own wit, Gautam smiled even more broadly. ‘I’ll leave you to it, then. Catch you online later—I’m in Mumbai for a week more … we should try and meet.’
‘Yes, I’ll look forward to that.’
Darius waited till the man had moved away before sitting down, shaking his head.
‘It’s fate,’ he said solemnly. ‘Last time it was your boss—this time it was Gautam. We can’t meet without running into someone we know.’
Mallika chuckled. ‘He seemed a cheerful guy. He reminds me of a story I read as a kid—there was a man who smiled so wide that the smile met at the back of his face and the top of his head fell off.’
‘That’s such an awful story,’ Darius said. ‘Were you a bloodthirsty kind of kid?’
‘I was a bit of a tomboy,’ she said, confirming Darius’s first opinion of her. ‘Not bloodthirsty, though.’
She frowned at her plate as she chased the last strand of spaghetti around it. Finally managing to nab it, she raised her fork to her mouth. The spaghetti promptly slithered off and landed on her lap.
‘And that’s why my good clothes never last,’ she said, giving the mark on her sari a resigned look as she picked up the pasta and deposited it back on her plate. ‘I’m as clumsy as a hippopotamus.’
Anything less hippopotamus-like would be hard to find, Darius thought as he watched her dab ineffectually at the stain with a starched table napkin. Her curly hair fell forward to obscure her face, and her pallu slipped off her slim shoulder to reveal a low-cut blouse and more than a hint of cleavage.
Darius averted his eyes hastily—looking down a girl’s blouse was something he should have outgrown in high school. The one glimpse he’d got, however, was enough to make him shift uncomfortably in his chair. Really, Darius was so off-kilter he could hardly understand the effect she was having on him.
‘Here, let me help with that,’ he said, after Mallika had dropped the napkin twice and narrowly missed tipping her plate over. He got up and, taking a handkerchief out of his pocket, wet the corner in a glass of water and came to her side of the table to attend to the sari.
Mallika went very still. He wasn’t touching her—he was holding the stained section of sari away from her body and efficiently getting rid of the stain with the damp handkerchief. But he was close enough for her to inhale the scent of clean male skin and she had to fold her hands tightly in her lap to stop herself from involuntarily reaching out and touching him.
‘Thanks,’ she said stiltedly once he was done.
‘You’re welcome.’ Darius inclined his head slightly as he went back to his side of the table. ‘Dessert?’
‘I should choose something that matches the sari,’ she said ruefully as she recovered her poise. ‘I love chocolate, but I’m not sure I dare!’
‘Blueberry cheesecake?’ he asked, his eyes dancing with amusement again. ‘Or should we live life dangerously and order the sizzling brownie with ice cream?’
‘The brownie, I think …’ she started to say, but just then her phone rang, and her face went tense as she looked at the display. ‘I’m sorry—I’ll need to take this call,’ she said.
‘Haan mausiji,’ he heard her say, and then, ‘Ji. Ji. Nahin, I had some work so I had to go out. Calm down … don’t panic. I can get home in ten minutes—fifteen at the most, depending on the traffic.’
Her face was a picture of guilt and worry as she closed the call, and his heart went out to her.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I need to go. It was a lovely lunch, and thank you so much for putting up with me. I’m really sorry about rushing off again …’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ he said gently. ‘Do you need a lift anywhere?’
She shook her head. ‘I have a car. Is it okay if I go now? I hate leaving you like this, but I really do need to get home as soon as possible.’
‘It’s not a problem at all,’ he said. ‘Take care, and we’ll talk soon.’
He put enough money on the table to cover the bill plus a hefty tip, and walked her to the door of the restaurant. Her driver took a couple of minutes to bring the car round, and Mallika was clearly on tenterhooks until he arrived.
‘Bye,’ she said as the car pulled up and she slid into the back seat. ‘I’m really, really sorry about this.’
She clasped his hand impulsively before she closed the car door, and Darius was left with the feel of soft, smooth skin on his. The subtle fragrance of her perfume hung in the air for a few seconds after she left.
He gave himself a shake before turning away to walk back to his office. This was not the way he’d planned to end their meal. He’d sensed she was on the point of accepting the role when they’d been interrupted and he could not be more frustrated with his lack of success so far. But it wasn’t over—not when he was this close to getting what he wanted.
‘WELCOME TO NIDAS,’ Venkat said, giving Mallika a broad smile. ‘I’m so happy you finally decided to join.’
‘Same here,’ Mallika said cautiously as she shook his outstretched hand.
All the old doubts about changing jobs had come flooding back now that she’d actually done the deed. She’d told Vaishali about the job the day after she’d met Darius, feeling like a complete traitor. But Vaishali had been surprisingly nice about the whole thing. Apparently she had been toying with the idea of taking a sabbatical herself, and she wasn’t sure if Mallika’s flexible working hours would be acceptable to her replacement.
Feeling a bit like a fledgling, shoved out of its nest before it could fly, Mallika had emailed Darius, confirming that she’d be able to join Nidas in a month. He’d been travelling, and someone from his HR team had got in touch to figure out her salary structure and joining date. Darius hadn’t even called her, and Mallika couldn’t help feeling a little upset about it. And now that she was actually part of Nidas and about to start work, she was very nervous.
The sight of Venkat wasn’t exactly inspiring either. Short and squat and rather belligerent-looking, Venkat was as different from her previous boss as possible.
‘We’ve set up an orientation for you with the team,’ he was saying now as he ushered her into his room.
‘Darius told me—’ Mallika began, but Venkat interrupted before she could complete her sentence.
‘Oh, Darius is a busy chap—he won’t be able to take you through everything himself.’ He peered at her owlishly. ‘You do know he’s moving out of the firm, right?’