Bab 26: The Confession

"What is my ex doing in your office?", Sam asked.

Only after hearing Sam's question, Rohan noticed the presence of another woman, and turned towards her. He mirrored Sam's expression of shock, but quickly pulled himself back.

He had heard a lot about Riya and how cold she was towards unprofessional people. Hence, he warned himself that this was an important meeting to make his first impression, and he shouldn't lose it.

Riya was confused watching them from one after the other.

Feeling difficult to hide her frustration at the turn of events, Sam muttered, "I'll meet you later", and bolted outside leaving behind an awkward Riya and Rohan together.

"Err...Nice to meet you, Riya! I'm Rohan…", he entered further inside and now stood opposite to Riya's desk offering his hand. She shook it gently before gesturing him to sit.

"I'm not going to ask you about that. So, rest assured. How was your travel and accommodation?", Riya asked.

"Thank you for understanding. Everything is fine.", he replied wiping off the sweat beads on his forehead. He was very nervous for an investor, which showed he was new to the field.

Rohan expected something else from this visit, but what happened was even more surprising.

Riya could swear she had seen him before, but couldn't quite point it out. Her mind idly made comparison if Dhruv was more handsome than Rohan and she immediately erased that thought. What was wrong with her!

"Tell me, Rohan. About yourself, when did you join the team and your expectations from us…", Riya clasped her hands together, and thus started their professional conversation.

After a quick introduction and discussion with the team, Rohan left her office. But before leaving, he asked something which made Riya feel guilty all of a sudden.

"Um... On a personal note…. Do you not remember me?", he asked almost in a whisper.

"No…. Have I met you with Sam?", Riya asked befuddled.

He cleared his throat and spoke again, "Ahem…. It's kind of embarrassing, but I was your blind date, whom you saw and ran away from…", he chuckled clumsily at the end.

Suddenly, it hit Riya where she had seen this face before. It was when her father set her up on that cursed blind date which she could not appear. She really hoped for him to have not seen her run. But now, all her hopes just went into drain.

"That's you! I remember.. Um.. It's not like I did it on purpose! I just…. Got an emergency and left.", she declared casually. This wasn't her first time explaining someone why she had to skip a meeting.

"But… if you were Sam's ex, you didn't know about me before coming to the date?", Riya asked curiously.

She wondered if Sam ever mentioned about Rohan before. But since she usually discussed a lot of guys, plus the heroes in her romantic novels, Riya lost count.

"Err….. Sam never mentioned about you… And we broke up years ago… So….", he scratched his head awkwardly like a ten-year old proving again that he was a newbie.

"Fine", Riya said.

"...Congratulations on your wedding to Dhruv!", he smiled politely.

Riya just nodded in response.

"Will meet you during the annual meet, Riya. Take care", Rohan offered his hand again and Riya gulped before shaking it. 'So, the phobia is still there', she sighed to herself.

Annual Meet was a tradition followed at Riya's Choice, where all the employees and investors come together once in a year to discuss the past year's activities and formulate plants for the upcoming year. Her company usually rented out an entire resort for two or three days, organizing various fun events and other business activities for the attendees.

Riya usually stayed only for the first day, through the professional and business events.

"Meet you soon.", she said and quickly turned to get back to the pile of documents waiting for her.

~~*~~

Dhruv was going through the annual performance report of Marble Enterprises and felt delighted to see the results. If not for the joint event held with Riya's Choice, it would've been very difficult for his company to have come out of the scandal. Thanks to that, they had profits again. He decided to give a bulky bonus to his secretary who suggested it.

"Sir! Ms. Tanya is here to see you. But there's a conflict with your internal meeting with the F&A (Finance & Accounts) team right now.", Dhruv's secretary informed in a dull voice and running nose.

'Is she having a cold? Damn! This woman deserves a vacation.', Dhruv thought sadly to himself.

"No! Send her in.. and please postpone the meeting with F&A team to evening. Also, if you are not feeling well, you can take the rest of today off", he said out of concern.

Her saggy eyes bulged with surprise. "Thanks", she shyly uttered and turned on her heels.

Tanya came in with a small smile on her face while Dhruv got up from his seat to greet her.

She was as elegant as always wearing a red knee length dress which rightly curved at appropriate places accentuating her beauty tenfold. Her pale face was much brighter than when she stayed over at Dhruv's.

They hugged each other with all smiles.

"You look much better!", Dhruv noted happily seeing the blush returning to her cheeks.

"Thanks! Thanks for everything. I'm sorry for leaving abruptly that day. I just.... Got emotional…. I think? I shouldn't have…..", Tanya faltered guiltily with a soft expression.

Dhruv remembered the ruckus his cute monster had created just because Tanya touched him once. A sweet smile automatically brewed on his face which he quickly wiped it off as it would be impolite.

"I'm very sorry, Tanya. I…. Its my mistake… I should've said something! I couldn't come to meet you and apologize in person. Thanks a lot for coming today.", Dhruv motioned her to take a seat and went around his desk to sit.

"It's all okay, Dhruv… So, um….. how's Riya now? Is she still angry on me?", she asked concerned.

"She's fine… She wasn't exactly angry on you, Tanya. Recently, she has been stressed about work. Because of the leg sprain, she couldn't go to office physically, so seems like others have messed with the process. You understand how painful it is, right?"

"I'm really sorry she acted that way towards you…", Dhruv apologized again but he knew how Riya enjoyed playing candy crush at home letting him clean up all the mess.

"It's okay, Dhruv! Please don't apologize. I know you mean well!", she smiled but started twirling her necklace hesitated about something.

"What is it?", he asked.

"What?", she asked through her worried doe eyes.

"You want to ask something, but holding back… What is it?", Dhruv asked again with a playful smirk.

Tanya looked at him with a pained expression, "This is it…. You…. Why do you understand me so well, Dhruv? You can guess my moods easily even before I say it loud. You do everything for me… I was very happy too, but out of the blue you got married, even before mine! And then started distancing yourself from me… It hurts so much… You were my only friend, Dhruv. My partner in crime. We were friends for a long time.. Would you have been okay if I avoided you?", she asked breathing heavily. She was never good at confrontations.

"Is this...….", she pursed her lips before continuing again, "Is this because of Riya? Did she tell you not to talk to me? Is she... being jealous or possessive?", she questioned him embarrassed.

Tanya never wanted to ask him. She felt strange and couldn't comprehend if she was getting these feelings because of the marriage coming close or because she was really worried about losing Dhruv. But she couldn't keep it inside anymore. Dhruv was definitely acting different, and she wanted to at least know why. After all, she was the one who came in his life before Riya. How could he ignore her suddenly?

Dhruv inhaled and sighed deeply.

He never knew this day would come. He assumed she wouldn't care about him. As soon as he knew about Tanya and Niranjan's wedding, he started distancing himself from them, but it was sad that she only noticed it now.

"Tanya….", he spoke softly.

"Yeah?", her eyes still probed him for an answer.

"I love you….. Do you love me?", he asked.

Her eyes widened in disbelief.