Changing Shades II

Both girls looked up, Mansi's laughter dying away. She looked at Aditya, and he saw the expression on her face change from laughter, to incredulous recognition. The beginning of a smile started slowly, and was chased away almost immediately by the grimness on his face, and she knew that he had not forgotten, or forgiven … anything.

The 'old man' bustled forward cheerfully, oblivious to the tension between Aditya and Mansi. "Well, Aditya," he announced cheerfully, "this is my small office and my small staff. But don't let the size deceive you. As I told you, we have six projects currently on line, and the four of us manage them very well indeed. We also have about half a dozen more proposals, and like I said earlier, I am in the fortunate position of being able to choose what I want to do. This is Anjali, my secretary and personal assistant – she will work with you as well, unless you want to bring in your own secretary. She will continue to be mine, as she knows better than I do, where to find what in this place."

Anjali smiled at Aditya nervously, and he smiled back warmly, the charm of that smile banishing her nervousness.
“I'm sure I will find Anjali invaluable, Mr. Suri,” he said easily. “It will take me some time to find my feet in this place, and I will need her help.”

Anjali smiled again, this time more easily. “It would be a pleasure, Mr. Khanna,” she said. “I'll try my best to make you familiar with the place quickly.”

“Please, call me Aditya,” he said, looking into Anjali's eyes and Mansi could see Anjali melting. Mr. Suri, a stickler for correctness couldn't quite believe what was happening in his office – Anjali, or for that matter, any of the other staff, had never, ever called him by his name. They didn't even know what it was! He quickly took over the introductions again.

“This is Suresh, our clerical cum odd job man,” he said, and the young boy put out his hand nervously for the new boss to shake. This was Suresh's first job. He was a quiet, sincere boy, who did what he was asked to do, and a lot more. He had a widowed mother, and a young brother whom he was putting through school, and he worked like a horse, anxious to prove himself, both to his boss, and to his mother.

Aditya shook his hand firmly.
“Mr. Suri has told me about you,” he said, “all good things, I'm glad to say. I look forward to working with you.”

Suresh couldn't quite believe his ears. Work with the boss?! He worked for the big boss, and did what he was told to do. He made up his mind immediately that he was going to like this man, no matter what.

Mr. Suri then turned to Mansi.

“This is the only other architect I employ,” he said, beaming at her, “and believe me, she is …”

“Hello, Mansi,” interrupted Aditya. "It's good to see you again, after how many years is it? Four? Five?”

“Hello, Aditya,” Mansi answered evenly, well aware of the old man's open mouth, Anjali's popping eyes and Suresh's evident shock. “It's good to see you too.”

Aditya turned to Mr. Suri. “Mansi and I are old class mates from architecture school. Old friends … and rivals. It was always a toss up between us as to who would have the best designs. She got the best man all right, though, didn't you, Mansi? I'm surprised to see you working here, and not in the family firm. Too much nepotism, was it?”

Mansi bit her lip to keep from retorting back in kind. So this was how he was going to play it. Outwardly pleasant, but barbs all the way. She forced herself to reply pleasantly. “Something like that, I suppose. I like it here.”

Aditya gave her a long look, and then turned back to Mr. Suri. “Sir, I'm happy with your setup. I don't propose to make any changes as of now. I may bring in a few more people slowly, but we'll see how it goes first. With your approval, of course, as you will be here for some time to come.”

Mr. Suri beamed again. “Of course, of course. I'm so glad you know Mansi. You will be working with her very closely on some of the new projects. I'm too old for field work now, so she takes care of it. You will want to visit some of the sites with her. Good, good, that's very good, that you know her.”

Positively purring with delight, the old man led Aditya back into his office. He obviously had not picked up any part of the tension at all. They entered the inner domain, and the old man poked his head out to call Anjali.

“Anjali, organize a desk and chair for Aditya in here, will you. And another drafting desk outside for him – Mansi can manage that one, next to hers. He will need one for his own plans.”
“Right, sir,” replied Anjali, promptly. Then she looked at Mansi, who had been standing like stone since the two men left. She didn't say anything, but busied herself on the phone, getting the extra furniture organized.

“Suresh, go down to the warehouse, and pick up the stuff sir has asked for,” she directed him, and the boy left. Then Anjali looked at Mansi again, who had sat down and was apparently busying herself in some drafts.

“OK,” she said. “What gives?”

Mansi looked at her blankly, and for a moment, it seemed that she had not heard a word Anjali had said. Then she visibly pulled herself together. “Angel, what do you mean?”

Anjali laughed scornfully. “Don't try to pull the wool over my eyes, sweetheart. What gives? What is between you and that extremely handsome hunk who is our new boss? The air between you two was so thick, you could cut it with a knife! Old college friends indeed! He's more than that, isn't he? Is he an old boyfriend, or what?”

Mansi gave a half smile that turned into a look of despair. “Almost,” she said and looked at Anjali directly. “You're not going to believe this – I turned him down.”

Anjali sat down with a thump.

“You're right,” she said briefly. “I don't – believe you, I mean. Turned down that hunk? For Manish? Were you whacko? And he’s still mad at you about that? Come on, Mansi. There's more to this than just that. Spill the beans.”

Mansi sighed.

“You're right,” she said. “There is. I will tell you, Anjali. Soon. But not right now. Just let me get my equilibrium back. Seeing him after so many years – it was a shock. I need to get over that one.”

“So get over it, and tell me,” commanded Anjali. “Come on, Mansi, I'm dying to know! What happened?”

Mansi looked at her pleadingly.

“Not today,” she said. “Please, Angel, give me time. This really has been a shock. It was …not pleasant, what happened.”

“That much I could tell,” retorted Anjali. “His eyes said a lot. OK, Mansi. Take your time. But you have to spill the beans. And soon.”

Mansi said nothing. She got back to her work – or tried to. Her mind was anywhere but on her drawings. All she could see was Aditya's face, looking at her, so close to her own, pleading with her, his lips almost touching hers, their breaths mingling…

I thought I’d forgotten, she thought despairingly, staring blindly at her drawing board. Oh god, I thought I’d managed to forget him, forget us. But I was just fooling myself. I haven’t forgotten anything. Nothing at all. Oh god, why did it have to be him?! Why did he come here, why did he choose this firm … out of all he could have chosen?! Why him … why me?!

She put her drawings aside with a jerk, and stood up. “I'm going to the site,” she told Anjali. “I'm not accomplishing much here. Be back in an hour, if the old man asks. Tell him I've gone to check …I don't know…oh, the drainage or something.”

“Right,” said Anjali quietly, and watched the other girl as she went out. Her brows knitted. It was not like Mansi to be so… distracted. Normally, she got down to her work with a vengeance, using it to forget about everything else, not to think about anything outside her drawings, her plans and her houses. The fact that she could not use her work to forget about Aditya Khanna meant that he meant a lot to her. More than even her husband? Anjali wondered, then gave up. Mansi would tell her when she was ready to, not before. She had not told Anjali about Manish for almost six months when she had first started work. It was as though she could not trust anyone with her pain, though her smiles she distributed freely.

In the meantime, Mansi drove down to the site where they were building a large block of flats. She had designed them almost completely, with very little input from the old man, and the sight of the building, her first major solo project, normally gave her a great deal of pleasure. But not today. The sight of Aditya Khanna had wiped away the pleasure, and brought back all the old memories, some of them pleasant, but most of them painful.

What lovely days they had been. They had all been in college together, she, Aditya, Manish and a whole group of friends, and they all had had a great time together. Initially she had hung back, conscious of being much less well off than the rest of them, all from similar upper crust colleges and schools, while she was there because she had won a scholarship to cover her tuition fees. But they had made her feel like one of them, had admired her because she was top of their class and she had very soon become a part of their group.

She still remembered her first day at college. She had entered rather nervously, looking for the principal's office, and had been obviously lost when Manish saw her and yelled out to her.
"Hey, there, stranger! Over here!"

Her eyes lit up on seeing a familiar face and she went over to the group of four, two girls and two boys. Aditya had not been there.

"Hi, Manish."

"Dad told me you would be in today," said Manish. “I was on the lookout for you. I've been given strict instructions to look after you. Hey, guys, this is Mansi. Our new class fellow and partner in the torture chamber. Though she may not find it as much torture as we do. She's here on a scholarship, so beware. She actually likes to work!”

“Scholarship?” asked one of the other girls disdainfully. “I didn't know that the Dayanand School of Architecture had any scholarships at all. We all paid for our seats, and paid a lot, too.”

Mansi flushed. She knew the college was an upper crust one, and the only reason she was able to afford it was that her tuition was taken care of by her scholarship. But she had not expected to find scorn among her fellow students for that reason. Fortunately, Manish saved her having to reply.

“Here, lemme explain, Priya,” he said kindly. “Although the big guns of architecture … like your dad and my dad ... have to pay for our seats so they can get someone to take over their great companies, and the college admin has to give us those seats so they can get the money to run this place, they need to turn out some real architects too, otherwise, money or no money, the place would shut down. I mean, either people have money and their kids have no brains, or they have no money and their kids have brains. God tends to even out the scores, to save the moneyed ones getting too swollen headed. I mean, just look at the one mistake he made by giving Aditya both! He can't afford to repeat it, so he balances the rest of us with people like Mansi. Mansi, I'm already booking first right to any notes you make. You know I don't attend too many lectures!”

Mansi smiled, and one of the boys piped up.

“Hey Manish, how do you know Mansi? You seem to know all the beautiful girls on campus, not fair, I say! And how do you know she's got brains as well?”
“Duffer,” said Manish, laughing. “Scholarship mili hai, to brains to honge hi na? As for how I know, well, I've known Mansi since she was 7 years old. She used to come over all the time, and I'd keep complaining to mom – Mansi's eating my chocolates, she's on my swing, and mom used to say – she's come first in class again. When you come first, or even do half as well as her, I'll listen to your complaints. Not before. That was it. And that was always it, because I never did as well as her!”

“So she's been like a sister around all the time, has she,” said Priya, and she looked at Mansi a little more kindly.

Manish pulled Mansi close, and very deliberately put his arm around her. Then he looked at Priya.

“Priya, do you think I'm mad? Since when have I started adopting beautiful girls as my sisters? Mansi is my friend. Very definitely, my friend.”