Sana's POV

"And he's... As you all must be already knowing... Sidharth Shukla himself.... And a very close friend of mine..." Vikas introduces the guy I had accidentally met sometime ago.
Siyappa!

No, I didn't knew.
He's smirking at me... Yeah! Why not!
Looks like he believes in taking revenge.

He extends his hand towards me for a handshake, like he did with the rest of the people. I forward my hand too.
God! His palm is warm. And heavy.
His grip is firm.

Just then Jay comes forward with a lady. Seems to be his wife.
"Shehnaaz- Mahi... My wife .... Mahi... She's Shehnaaz" He introduces us.

"Hello Mam.. " I greet her.

"Oh please... Call me by my name..." She smiles at me.
I am talking to Mahi, about our where abouts.

Sidharth is behaving like nothing happened. But I can feel him looking at me. This is so confusing!

"Thank you sir" I thank Vikas while getting out of the car. He came to pick me up and then drop me back. CEO himself. He didn't let me book a cab.

"You're not welcome..." He smiles at me.
I chuckle.

"Good night! " I wish him. He then leaves.
I call Meeti instead of ringing the doorbell, it might wake up Adi.

"How was the party?" Meeti asks me once I'm in.

"Badi hi sophisticated hoti hai business parties... Background me soft music... Plain lights.. Champaign.. Lekin ek baat thi.. Jinhone party rakhi thi.. Vo lady... She's an inspiration! Rita Shukla... Unhone apne pati ka business sambhala... Aur ye orphanage banaya unki yaad me.. " I am so idolized by her.

I wanted to meet her in the party. But my luck wasn't good enough. She had alot of important people to attend.

"Aur ha... I met Jay's wife.. Mahi... She's so beautiful and yet so simple... Matlb ek Executive Director ki wife... Jo khud ek model bhi hai... Fir bhi itne pyaar se mili... So down to earth yaar!" I expressed how it felt meeting Mahi.

"Achhi bat hai... Matlab tujhe party me jaa kar maza aaya na... Tu ainvayi keh rhi thi... Bade businessman ki party hai... Mai to bore ho jaungi... " She said what I had mentioned once.

"Aur koi bhi mila kyaa?" she spoke teasingly.

"Ha mila to... Meeti yar ek siyappa peh gaya.. " I said... She looked at me worriedly.

"Ki hoya..? "

"Mai Rohan ke sath khadi thi... Tabhi ek banda mere samne se gaya... Uska wallet mere pair ke pas gir gaya... To mai usko uska wallet dene gayi... "
I told her the complete incident, till Vikas sir introduced us. And here she bursts into laughter.

"Tu ye bata dikhta kaisa hai ye banda... "She asks me curiously.

"Uski shakal dekho... Kisi model se kam nhi lagta... Like seriously... Killer eyes... Messy hairs... Pink lips... Kya rough & tough look hai yaar bande ka...🔥

Lekin muh khola to.... Sab bakwas!
Kitna ajeeb banda tha! Ek toh maine uski help ki.... Ulta mujhpe bhadak gaya!
Par mauka milne par complain bhi nhi kiya! "
I told her... His features were admirable... But not his behavior.

"Matlab hot laga tujhe... Aur isse kya farak padta hai ki usne complain kyu nhi kiya... Maaf kar diya hoga tujhe..." she said after thinking for a while.

"Hmm... Ho sakta hai... Aur mujhe koi hot vot nhi laga... Jaa soja chup chap tu... " I said immediately before she could think of it in any other way.

NEXT DAY

"Good Morning Sir... May I come in?" I asked Vikas sir for permission.
"Morning Shehnaaz, andar aao..." he aswers.

Jay is also here.
"Aapne bulaya?" I'm afraid uss khadoos se sir ko complain to nhi kardi. Vikas sir asked me, Rohan &Aliya to come. Jay is already here.
"Ha... Ek meeting hai 4 baje... Sidharth will arrive to discuss his plans regarding Ashiyaana 2.0... So everybody is to expected be prepared... Note down points you find important he mentions in his choices... Got it? "

"Yes sir." We answer in unison.

Its lunch time. Today I've got a tiffin with me. Meeti & I made alot of aloo paranthas in the morning. For breakfast and lunch.

I'm sitting with Rohan and Jay in the canteen again.

I'm nervous, more for again facing Sidharth then for the meeting.

"Kya hua Shehnaaz?" Rohan snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Kuch nhi... " I say faking a smile.
"Tu meeting ke bare me soch rahi hai?" He asks again.

I simply nod.

"Hum sab honge na vaha... There's nothing to worry about Shehnaaz... " Jay says.
I smile.

Sid's POV

"The party was successful... Thanks to all of you... Everybody did a great job!" I appreciate my employees who looked after the arrangements. Especially Yash & Riya.

Once everyone got back to work. Riya enters my cabin. To inform me with my schedule.

"Sir... You have a meeting at 4 p.m. with Mr. Gupta at his office.... "
I nod.

Meeting, that means I'll be seeing his team again. Shehnaaz also. I still remember her scared face. She must have thought I'll tell Vikas about that incident.
It's going to be fun seeing her again.

4PM

"Welcome Sid!" I just entered Vikas's cabin. Welcomed by Vikas and then Jay.

"Aur kya hal hai?" I ask Vikas.

"Good yar... Would you like to have something?" He says.

"Nhi kuch nhi chahiye... Chal meeting shuru karte hai... " I can't wait to start working with his newly made team, he was praising so much.

I enter the conference room. Four people are already present. Waiting for me.

I look at Shehnaaz. White top and dark blue straight pants. Half hairs clutched. Her cheeks are full. Must be real soft.

What am I thinking!? I shift my gaze from her to others and walk towards my seat.

"Good eveing sir..." they greet me.

"Good eveing all of you... Please take your seats... " I ask them to carry on. Riya sits beside me with her notepad out.

"Sir... We would like to know your choices regarding the layout of the house... You want it to be similar to the first one or completely modern?" A girl asked me.

"I don't want it to be completely different... I just want the kids to be comfortable enough with thier new house... "

"Would you like it to have an open kitchen?" Rohan asked. He shows me some designs.

I like this idea. He says it won't take much space from the adjoining area and would look spacious.

I am waiting if Shehnaaz has something to suggest or ask from me. She's mostly into her tab then writing something in her small diary.
Finally, she looks at me. Her lips part. To speak up.

"How do want thier rooms to be... A large room that they can share or separate rooms?" She asked.

"What do you think would be more precise?" I asked her back.

"In my opinion... Large size rooms with children sharing their space will do... " she answered.

"And why do you think so...?" I questioned again.

"Because of many reasons... Firstly if one large bedroom followed by bathrooms lined up together will make the water pipeline arrangements easy... Same goes with the electical wiring.... Less number of doors will be required secondly.... Also.."

She had not finished, when another girl... What was her name.. Yeah Aliya interrupted.

"Why do you want to reduce things... What do you think.. Its a low budget project??"

"Noo...! " Shehnaaz immediately answered.

"I was saying that it would later make the customization easy for them... Also they can make arrangements the way they would want... " she explained her perspective.

"In short you want to keep it simple... But why? If the same can be done with individual rooms... Kids can still arrange it thier way... " Aliya kind of challenged Shehnaaz.

Vikas was looking at them amused. He didn't interrupt because this small debate would finally lead to the best layouts they would start working on.

I look at Jay, he could sense the slight raise of temperature in the conversation too.

"Okay girls... It would be better if you two propose your ideas on the screen rather than with words... " He suggested them.

To this Aliya who was speaking continuously till now looked expressionless.

"I would like to show something then... " Shehnaaz stands up & walks towards the white screen.

"This is a rough sketch of what I had thought... " she connected her tab with the projector.

So she was making this all the while.
Her sketch had a hall followed by a kitchen that had a space infront of it for a long dinning table. And then a two large bedrooms having attached bathrooms each.

She explains her idea now. She had already thought of certain accommodations that would come along.

I am just amazed. Indeed she deserves to be the creative head. Her points are clear and reasonable.

"Amazing idea Shehnaaz! Its just great!" Rohan exclaimed.
I agree with his words, but why is he so excited.

Jay &Vikas are also impressed.
Once she came back to her seat. She looks at me. She wants me to say something.

Well I'm speechless.

"I liked your concept... By when can I expect its layout to be ready then?" I ask her.

"Two more days sir... " she answers.

"Okay.... I believe we'll be meeting again after two days... " I say looking at my watch, its 5.15 p.m.

"I gotta go.. I've got some work... " I stand up saying this. Followed by Riya. We move out of the conference room.

Walking towards the elevator. Vikas &Jay come forward to escort me. Vikas raises his brows at me. Asking how was the meeting according to me. I smirk in return. Telling him, it was better than expected.

"Bye bro... " I hugged both of them before getting out of the building.

Sana's POV

My heartbeats had quickened when he looked at me. Not just once. He looked at me when he entered the conference hall. When he sat down. While the discussion was going on. When I presented my idea. When I was explaining it. Also before leaving the hall.
So many times!

Have you ever felt this way when somebody looks at you? This shy vali feeling?

Undoubtedly he was handsome. My eyes liked having a view of his silky hairs.

Best of all moments was when said that he liked my concept!

Not that I wasn't hoping for this. But he directly asked for the layout. Does this mean, he is expecting something from me?

I won't dissapoint him. I'll work hard.

Aliya's behavior was different. Though she usually doesn't speak much to me.

Once I remember she had asked me for a pencil while we were discussing something. When I gave her mine, she gave it back saying she prefers using only Faber-Castell's pure black pencil for work. Not any apsara pencil.

She's quite expensive herself. Not her fault. She's typically rich.

First thing I do after coming back home is calling my parents. I really miss them. But more than that I want to make them proud.

I'm glad mummy is now on pretty good terms with Meeti. They often talk over the phone. Meeti's parents are still not in touch with her. But my parents are. She says she has got her parents back in mine.

She is a well paid Branch Manager in the bank of Maharashtra, she never faced any financial crisis luckily. But what money cannot give you is emotion. During her difficult times she wanted someone who could just hug her & say everything's going to be fine.

Now she has found some friends here, one of them is her colleague. She said he is a sweet guy and likes to spend time with Adi. But its her broken heart that is scared to fall for someone again. She says she's enough for Adi & Adi is enough for her. I don't speak much to her on this topic. She's right at her place.

God bless her! Now that I'm in the same city with her. I won't let her feel alone ever.

NEXT DAY

I am all determined to do my best with the layout. I sit on my chair focussing on the papers I've scattered all over the table. Lots of rough figures. Getting ready with some points for the discussion session held by Jay after lunch.

Having lunch with Jay & Rohan feels good. Inspite of being a senior, Jay is so comfortable to talk to.

"Meri na ek friend thi... Pure vegetarian... Uske ghar vale to har tuesday pooja karvate the mandir jaakar... Usko jab bhi non-veg khana hota tha... Mere ghar aajati thi... "
I'm telling them my friend's story.

"Jay aap gujrati ho ja fir marathi?" I ask him.

"Vaise to gujrati hu... But born & brought up in Mumbai.." He says.

"To fir non-veg khate hai aapke ghar me?" I ask again.

"Jab yaha naye naye shift hue the... Tab nhi khate the... Ek bar khaya unlogo ne chicken... Deewane hogaye hai tab se non-veg ke... " He answered, I chuckled.

Once we all settled ourselves in the discussion. Jay mentioned alot of things that weren't mentioned in yesterday's meeting, but should be taken care of.

Because Sidharth had choose the concept of my layout, we were now supposed to rectify it thoroughly. Add the essentials and finalize it.

Aliya was not happy with this. May be she wanted to put her points. But couldn't put it into a layout was the reason, she looked pissed off with herself.

In the course of 48 hours, we were done putting the layout into grid lines. All thanks to Jay, he has an excellent brain. We divided the plot into grids. I pulled it out into a basic 3D image.

Oh! Let me tell you. I'm good in graphics. Also comfortable with computers. CS was my favourite subject.

I just wish Sidharth likes this 3D.

Sid's POV

"How was the meeting with Vikas?" Mom asks, while having her morning tea.

"Great" I say.

"That's it...?" she asks again making me confused.

"Yeah.. Why? " I ask her.

"You look happy... " She answered.

" Mai khush hu uska reason hona chahiye?" I question.

"Not exactly but such is your case... Na koi deal final hui... Na contract sign hua... Just a meeting cannot be the reason..." this was her observation.

"I'm happy because its our project. And people are doing good in the making... " I reason.

"Okay... Be it any reason... You just stay happy... " Mom blesses me.

I kiss her forehead and make my way towards my car.

'Just a meeting cannot be the reason' what does it mean, I'm genuinely happy about Ashiyaana 2.0 being built. Moreover by talented people.
Though Jay & Vikas are like my brothers.

But I also like our professional relationship. We've done alot of work together and its thier phenomenal work that made it possible.

I am looking forward to how Shehnaaz will do. She is skilled but she has got competitors in her team itself.

"Sir Mr. Siddique will be arriving at 11 a.m. He wanted to meet you because he couldn't attend the party..." she informed.

"Bas isiliye?" I ask.

"We're expecting him to talk about his new venture in the marketing..." she answered.

"Hmm.. " I nod.

She passes me a folder had holds our investments' record.

Going through the pages, I can see our company has always been able to pull out good profits.

That is one of the reason one of our investor Mr. Siddique has been earning good. He recently bought a sales showroom.

I chuckle. People can't keep a hold on money.

"Good Morning Sidharth.... Kaise ho?" He entered my cabin.

"I'm good sir... aap kaise hain?" I greeted him with a handshake.

"Mai theek hu... Many many congratulations.... Tum ek aur orphanage bana rahe ho... Its a pretty sacred thing your doing... " he appreciates me.

"Thank you... Would you like to have something?" I ask him.

"Nahi... I just had breakfast... Aur batao.. Ghar pe sabhi theek hai? Rita Mam kaisi hai?"

He's not coming to the topic.

"She's good... Aap bataiye... Kaise aana hua... " now I come to the point.

"Kyu... mai tumse milne nahi aa sakta? " he asks. Abe chalna yaar, paka mat!!

"No sir! Nothing like that... " I fake him a smile.

He bored me for another half an hour. But to my surprise he didn't mention anything related to his new business.

He's gone. That matters.
Post lunch, I leave for the awaited meeting with Vikas regarding the house plan.

My eyes met hers once again, she smiles at me. I smile back.
She's wearing a pale yellow top, tucked in black pencil skirt reaching her calves.

I reach for my seat. The projector is then turned on.

Jay walks to the white screen followed by Shehnaaz. They begin with their plan.

They have already prepared its 3D model!

Its great! I want Mom to see this!

"How's it?" Vikas asks me once they are done with the presentation.

"Good job guys!" I appreciate them.
Someone's smiling alot, she's happy. Why not, its her first project and she's doing visibly great.

"Shehnaaz" Jay whispered.

"What?"

"Uska naam... "

"Pata hai"

"Usne banaya hai 3D model...." he told.

"Really?! "I'm surprised.

"Ha.. Ab jaa karle baat... " he said. I looked at him amused.

"You prepared the model?" After taking a breath I moved towards her. Then asked.

"Yes sir.. " she answered.

"Sidharth" I forward my hand. Asking her to call me by my name now.
She looks at me for a second.

"Shehnaaz" she said & we shook hands. Her small hand fitting into mine.

"So... You liked the layout?" she raised her brows.

"That's why I agreed... in the first place..."
I answered, she smiled.

"Mujhe na isi baat ki tension thi... Ki aapko ye pasand aayega ya nahi.... Vaise to pasand aana hi tha... Jay sir ke sath humne itni mehnat kari inn do dino me... Fir bhi ek doubt tha... She said. I'm smiling.

"Doubt kyu... " I ask her.

"Vo kya hai na... Aap thode gusse vale lagte ho mujhe... " she answered.

"Maine kab gussa kiya..?" I'm confused.

"Vo uss din party me... " she reminded me of our encounter.

"Mai gussa nhi tha... " I defend.

"To fir mujhe aise jaane kyu bola..." she asked, pulling out her lips for a small pout.

"You just called me a deaf in my party...! " I tell her my reason.

"Oh.. Vo to aapko sunn nhi raha tha.. Mai kab se aawaz de rhi thi... " she justified herself.

"Music loud tha.. " I say, controlling my smile.

"Achha sorry!" she accepted.

"You should be! " I say.

She raises her eye brows in surprise.
"Haawwww.... Aapko pata bhi nahi tha aur aapka wallet gir gaya tha... Mai to help karri thi aapki!! " she snapped at me. Softly.
I chuckled.

"Tum bina chillaaye bhi to wallet vapas kar sakti thi... " I keep defending myself.

"Nhi manoge na?" she asked. She's irked now.

"Ahem-ahem..." Jay cleares his throat.
I realize we were still holding hands. She had not realized this either.

We pull back our hands immediately.