Aditya had had the morning from hell. The rain had poured while he was on his daily run which left him a snivelling mess when he finally arrived home to see his fiancée drunk though the clock had only ticked seven am, of course, she'd been out all night, this was a regular occurrence, afterall.

He knew what was next, she'd try and seduce him, he'd say no and it would end with her throwing words and objects at him that left him bruised, scarred and more scared than he'd like to admit, and how could he ever prevent her? He was a man, she a woman and no one ever believed the man, he'd learnt that the hard way.

He'd initially decided not to go to work, but the thought of sitting alone stewing in his own emotions didn't sound as good as seeing his crazy assistant who always put a smile on his face and now, more than ever, he needed something to smile about.

Sliding the glass door across, he stopped in his steps as Zoya huffed loudly, the white scarf wound from shoulder to waist in a tight knot around her hips, with each bounce the tail end of it would hit her white salwar and her hands would wipe away dust from the baby pink kameez. Lifting her hair from the uncomfortable position it was caught in between the dupatta and her neck, he bent down "Not to disturb you, but what are you doing?"

With one hand on her back and a bunch of files in the other that also rested beneath her chin, she dropped them sloppily onto the desk when he touched her, spinning around she crossed her arms, eyes blinking away tears "Hoodaaaa" she cried, "You have no idea how long that took me to sort out and now I have to do it again" tutting, she surfed them over the mahogany desk with two hands, swiped her arm over her forehead and blew a strand of hair away that had reached her forehead.

Double taking at the expanse of papers strewn over the ground, he lifted a foot to step over some, shook his head and tried to get through the other way, then finally swore under his breath, "I can't get past".

She shrugged "Not my problem, feel free to clear the mess you made" Offering him a pointed glare, she continued.

"I made?" Pinching his nose, he dropped his blazer over the sofa. "You dropped it" he accused.

"Yes, and who made me drop it? It's not nice to sneak up behind someone, Hooda, but I'll let you off" From the corner of her eye she watched him bite back a groan as he tried to clear some things from the floor. "You okay?"

"What? Why are you asking me that?"

Zoya stopped what she was doing. "No need to be so defensive, you just seem like you're in pain, can't a gal ask a guy how he's doing?" When she heard no response, she sucked in a harsh breath and turned to face him "Sorry, did I say a word you didn't understand? Let me repeat" Her voice raised an octave, "Are. You. Okay?" The words left her mouth at a pace slower than a snail slithering across the ground.

Aditya looked up slowly "No, I heard, it's just, that people don't tend to ask me anything about myself, especially not how I am" he hated to sound so sad about it, he wasn't, it wasn't anyone's job to care for him, but sometimes he wished it was, just so someone would notice that even someone as successful as him wasn't okay.

She frowned "You still haven't answered my question" she pointed out before deciding that all of that would change very soon, no one should ever not be used to someone asking how they are. Clapping enthusiastically upon finding a file, she picked it up "Got you, right, I'm going to take the old files to the storeroom and then we need to talk about that picture up there" Gesturing to it, she leant against the door.

Following her gaze, his brows joined "What about that picture? I quite like it".

"Really? You don't see the problem? So what we've worked out is not only is Hooda deaf, he's blind also" Before he could interrupt, she stood underneath it. "Listen, buddy, take it from me, that picture is the thing of nightmares and if you want people to come and see you more then they can't have Mona Lisa glaring down at them like they're naughty kids, that's my job" she winked, "Hey, we should have a photoshoot of me and put up a scary picture of me for when I'm not here".

"What do you mean when you're not here? Where are you going?"

"Oh, uh" her smile dropped, "You know when I'm ill or something" She coughed away the squeakiness from her voice and avoided his eyes.

"Right, well the Mona Lisa is a piece of art" his tone was gruff, "And no I do not want a picture of you on my wall, what would Mahi say?" Try all he could, Aditya knew there would be no convincing her.

"Duh" Zoya rolled her eyes back, he really was stupid. "That's exactly why we should do it and why do you need the Mona Lisa when you have the best piece of art right in front of you e.g. me" she pointed to herself, "Zoya Siddiqui, right here in the flesh" doing a little dramatic spin, she curtsied.

"Do you have any idea how expensive that painting was? It isn't even the real thing" his eyes bulged, did she not know how priceless a painting like that was?

"Do you have any idea how expensive I am?" She retorted, "And you have the real thing right before your eyes, I'm telling you, move the painting and watch the magic work" Not listening to any further arguments, she made her way out of his office, ignoring his calls of her name for her to not walk away from him.

A million and one stairs later, breathless and sweatier than porn stars in a porno, she finally reached the storeroom, placed the files down and moved her hands to her hips- this just would not do!

Aditya shoved his chair back at the loud whistle on the speakers that had remained untouched for years, walking to the middle of the office, he stopped a running woman "What's going on?"

"Zoya didi said if we all help clean today then we can have tomorrow off, sorry, gotta go" she ran off.

His jaw dropped "Exactly who's meant to be the boss here?" He shouted, head shaking as he rushed back to the phone and typed in a number.

Sipping her tea, Zoya reached for the phone, crossed her legs over the table and put on her best posh voice: "Hello, this is Queen Siddiqui, how can I help you, peasant?" She giggled.

"Zoya" he growled, "Get my workers back where they're meant to be and stop promising them things I haven't agreed to".

He was seconds from pulling his hair out when she said: "If you come to help us I'll give you the day off too" She fluttered her lashes, "Come on, you know you want tooooo".

"I don't want to" he affirmed, the last thing he wanted was a day at home with no work to distract him, it was his only escape.

"Why not? You'll get to spend the day with me and Aman, that's my brother, he's just like me, aw you'll love him" she assured.

"Just like you?" He couldn't breathe, his chest hurt "Isn't one of you enough?" This was a nightmare come true!

"Oh, don't be such a spoilsport, I'm your absolute fav, deny it all you want" She filed her nails, phone caught between her ear and shoulder. Gasping when the phone pinged the notice that he'd hung up, she furiously typed another number, "Hi Hooda, it's me, your fav, anyway-".

Aditya almost had a heart attack, just when he'd thought he'd gotten rid of her, she'd come back again. "How on earth do you have my number, Zoya?" His response was quizzical, eyes darting around the room as if trying to find out where she was watching him from.

"Uh, you're my boss, why wouldn't I have it?"

"No, no" his head shook, "Only my family have my personal number, you've met none of them, all you need is my work number, so how did you get it?"

"Listen" she began, only for him to butt in.

"No, you listen, how do you have my number? Don't think I've forgotten just how easily you managed to find the plot for this place, exactly how did you get any of these things?"

"Uh oh" she pulled a face, he was onto her, and if he found out who she really was and why she was here then she'd have to leave before her work was finished. "Why worry about specifics?" Her voice was nonchalant, so much so he could imagine just how she would be standing looking at her nails in boredom. "I wanted to ask why you cut me off. Do you know how rude that was?" She hoped he'd drop the previous subject.

"You took away all my staff" his fist slammed on the desk, "You couldn't clean yourself becauseeee?" Aditya trailed off.

"If you think after walking all the way up those stairs, which I've counted, by the way, there's over a thousand".

"There's thirty, stop being dramatic" he exhaled, leaning back as he tried not to take in anything she said.

"Same thing, and no I can't stop being dramatic, where was I before you so rudely interrupted me?" She huffed, "Oh yeah, if you think after doing that, that I'd clean all these cobwebs, you have another thing coming, it isn't in my job description, I tell you, I have a permanent stitch because of those blasted stairs, but no, you never ask me how I'm feeling, jheeze, Hooda, anyone would think you don't care about me" Zoya teased, strangely her most cherished part of the day was mocking her boss, longing to make him laugh, just once.

"Has anyone ever told you that you talk way too much and that your attitude is terrible?"

Without missing a beat, she replied "Funnily enough, yes, has anyone ever told you that all you do is state facts? You're like um" her fingers snapped, "What is it called? A dictionary museum, that's it, have some fun for a while and stop taking everything so seriously" ordering him about always brought her so much joy.

"Miss Siddiqui" he practically roared, fire basically leaking from his ears and nostrils.

"Yesss, can't you just stick to one name?"

"Please delete my number" Aditya was no fool, he knew she'd never do as he asked, but that seemed so unimportant right now, what he wanted to find out was who she was.

"But then who would you call when your mornings are as terrible as they were today?"

His jaw slacked "How did you know?"

"Because no one takes that long to answer" Then the phone cut off leaving both of them surprised at just what had taken place. Peering down at the new email from her brother, a wide grin spread out over her lips as she read it.

'Got another great review, hope all is going well with the 'boss' 😉 will show you when you're home!'