I went to the door and opened it. Anjali was standing there, surrounded by quite a few of my neighbors. I was still hungover and this was a bit too much for me to process. Only one thing registered; she had again cornered me when I was vulnerable.
The aunty from next door glared at me then smiled at Anjali and said, "There you go. He is up"
Not just her but all my neighbours were staring at me and shaking their heads in disapproval. And Anjali was looking at me like she had decided I was going to die; she was just choosing the weapon.
She thanked my neighbours like she had known them for years, pushed me inside and closed the door.
"How do you know them?" I blurted. "And what did I do wrong?"
"You were not waking up. Why do I always have to go to so much trouble to wake you up?" she said.
"I was out for drinks with the team. We were out till late" I said guiltily. "I live here. Why are you here?"
She responded by advancing towards me. Badly hungover, I was in no condition to deal with her. I backed away with as much dignity as I could.
"Look Anjali, I am sorry but I did what I had to" I ventured trying to calm her down.
"I told you to not do anything crazy till I got back. You ended up doing all the crazy things you could. I don't know what to do with you. You changed the numbers without telling me. I expect to walk into a shit storm and I end up walking into a shower of roses", she snapped, shaking her head and still advancing towards me.
"You were sleeping and I didn't really change the numbers. I corrected them. And I did tell you to check the numbers", I defended myself.
"Don't act smart. I am your boss and you suppressed facts from me throughout and then you changed sales figures without my knowledge. And then you have the balls to resign", she said.
I was again with my back to the wall in my own apartment. I was desperate to be left alone and get my head together.
"Anjali, can we talk later? I am in no condition to talk to you." I said.
She was now standing right in front of me. I caught a whiff of her perfume and it started muddling my thoughts further.
"No", she said "We talk right now. You are only honest when your brain is totally screwed. Else you are busy deceiving and defying me"
I was done. "I am leaving.", I said, "You have no power over me anymore. I have resigned. You can't even fire me."
She took a look at me and moved out of my way.
"Okay, go. I won't stop you" she said.
I moved quickly towards the door before she changed her mind. Then as I passed my reflection in the refrigerator, I stopped in horror. My hair was standing up straight, I was still wearing the rumpled clothes from the previous evening. My eyes were bloodshot and swollen. I turned back defeated to see Anjali standing there suppressing her laughter.
She had read me perfectly. I was not going anywhere in this condition.
"Okay, you win.", I said. "But can I please take a shower and change first?"
"Yes, do that", she said, starting to laugh.
"Thank you" I said moving toward my bedroom.
It was a relief to be alone again. A thousand thoughts were running through my head as I stood in the shower. Having the cold water hit me at force relaxed me somewhat. I badly needed to get some sleep but obviously that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. I pulled on tracks and a t-shirt and sat on the bed to collect my thoughts. Anjali was going to grill me hard. I needed to have proper answers.
I lay back on the bed for a minute and must have dozed off. Because the next thing I knew was something heavy on my chest and the smell of peppermint and Anjali's perfume. Before I even opened my eyes, I knew what had happened. Anjali had got tired of waiting and come into the bedroom to find me. She had found me fast asleep and had promptly climbed on my chest and sat there.
"Awake?" she said sweetly. "Or do you need something extra to wake you up?"
"No, I'm awake", I said, shaking my head to clear the cobwebs. My body was only half on the bed and my back was starting to hurt.
"Since this is the position that you want to talk in", she said, "Let's talk like this"
"I need to get up", I said. "My back is hurting"
"Okay", she said, getting off me and standing aside.
I got up in a hurry and promptly fell down as my knees buckled. Anjali simply walked to me, pushed me the rest of the way down on the floor and sat on my chest again.
"You are so very predictable in these matters", she said grinning.
I sighed and closed my eyes. I opened them to see Anjali's face inches from mine.
"Tell me Das, why can't you trust me?, she asked. "Even after all that has happened over the past few days"
"Because you have every reason to turn on me" I said. "What I have done has caused you a lot of trouble and could have caused you a lot of harm. I am truly sorry but I don't think that is enough"
"I will not harm you. You have to believe that.", she said, touching her forehead to mine.
Her hair had fallen forward around our faces, forming our own tiny private space. I looked at her lovely face with her eyes looking at me quietly.
"I keep on waiting for you to make your move", I said, "And when you don't, I think its because you are just planning to do something worse and just waiting for the right time to do so. To be honest, I am a bit scared of you"
She closed her eyes when I said this but not before I saw a look of sadness momentarily cross her eyes.
"I'm sorry Anjali", I said, "You wanted me to be honest. I just told you what's on my mind."
"You are right", she said. "I am ruthless, especially to people who defy me or stand in my way. I destroy them without a second thought. I can also read people very well and easily bend them to my will. But with you my usual way is not working. I can't read you fully or know what's in your mind. And you just keep on defying me and causing trouble for me. And yet when it comes to dealing with you in my usual way, I just cant. I don't know why"
Those words made me feel worse. I said. "Since I have come to know you, I have tried to undo the harm that I have done. But I was also trying to protect myself. I hope you understand that."
She nodded and said, "Yes, because I am smart and dangerous and you are both scared of and attracted to me"
"Yeah, it's that damn peppermint and your perfume", I said before I could stop myself.
Her eyebrows rose. The heat started rising to my face.
"I mean", I started before being silenced by her lips. This time she controlled the kiss because she was on top of me and had again pinned my arms with her knees. And she made sure she blew my mind. Finally, she broke the kiss leaving me breathless.
"Peppermint huh?", she said smiling sensually. "The feeling is reciprocated Mr. Das. For some inexplicable reason I am attracted to you. But right now, I don't know what exactly that attraction means"
I managed to recover my breath and said, "Can I get another one of those please?"
"Yes, you will", she said, "And more. But I need your trust. Will you put your trust in me?"
I nodded and I meant it. My last barrier was down and I was falling under her spell.
She smiled and said, "Okay, here's your reward for starting to trust me"
Saying this, she unbuttoned her blouse, took it off and threw it on the bed. Seeing those perfect breasts encased in a lacy blue bra kind of made me ready to say anything. As she leaned down to kiss me again, I understood what irresistible attraction meant. I felt a pull deep inside me that I realized went beyond the physical.
Our lovemaking this time was slow and more intense. When the floor became too hard, we moved to the bed and kept exploring each other's bodies and passions. Nothing seemed enough. We were both insatiable.
Both of us were physically exhausted by the time our desire was spent. We slept.
It was growing dark but I was feeling too lazy to get up and switch on the light. Anjali was curled up against me with her head on my chest and a leg draped over my thighs. Her hand was slowly exploring my neck down to my shoulders.
"You are built like a tree", she said lazily.
"Well, you have done your best to uproot that tree in the past few days", I said.
"Can we continue our conversation?", she said suddenly.
I opened my eyes to see a mischievous smile playing on her lips.
"Now?", I asked incredulously. "I don't know if my brain is ready for your questions right now Anjali"
"I know", she said. "That's how I know you will speak your mind"
I closed my eyes in resignation. I knew I would not resist anything that she asked me to do. And I would tell her anything that she wanted to know.
And I knew what the first question was.
"Why did you resign?", she asked. "I had asked you not to do anything crazy. I mean you create so much trouble for me, defy me, lie to me and then, at the last moment, save my career. And then you suddenly try to remove yourself from the equation."
"I had handed you all you needed to destroy me Anjali.", I said. "I was pretty sure you would build a case against me as well. And even if you didn't, my ex-bosses would take me down with them. I had too many swords hanging over my head."
"I will do everything in my power to protect you", she said looking quietly and deeply into my eyes. "I am not a devil, you know"
I was afraid to even think anything for the fear that she could read my mind. Then a happy thought struck me.
"It all worked out for you? I asked.
She nodded. "Yes, it did. Thanks to what you did that morning. I walked into a grim meeting fully expecting to be dropped from the LDP. Instead, I got hearty congratulations on a job well done. Achieving the near impossible."
I already knew it. But hearing it from her gave me closure. At the end of the day, I had not caused any harm.
Then she suddenly said impishly, "You know that promised weekend? We hit the numbers. That means I must honour my promise"
Now my eyebrows rose. "Really?", I retorted. "And have your family castrate the whole team?"
She started laughing. Burying her head in my chest, she shook with laughter. I looked at her in disbelief. How was that even funny?
She looked up at me still laughing and managed to choke out, "You know about that? From the team? How did they take it?"
"You never meant to honour that promise!", I accused her. "So why even say something like that? Why demean yourself?"
"Well, my darling, you were a bunch of defeated losers that evening.," she said, breathless from her laughing fit. "I tried appealing to your brains but it didn't work. So, I appealed to your dicks. And it worked. And no, I had no intention of participating in any orgies"
She started laughing again.
I had one more thing on my mind. "So, all the scary stuff about your family is also made up?", I tried keeping my tone neutral but some apprehension came out.
Anjali sobered up at that. "No, that's all true."
"But then, I am sleeping with you", I sputtered. "Exactly what do you expect to happen to me?"
"Nothing", she said, with sphinx like expression. "As long as you are a gentleman and keep it a secret"
"But you are the one who came to my apartment", I said aghast, as I suddenly made the connection. "And that too you called out all the neighbors. Exactly, how do you expect me to keep a secret like that?"
"Well, you messed with me, defied me, lied to me and then planned to run away", she said. "Consider this a bit of payback. Just because I have strong feelings for you, doesn't mean that if you mess with me, I will let you off."
Her words stung me to the quick.
"I wasn't running away", I protested, sitting up on the bed. "I was just…."
My voice trailed off as I met her taunting eyes. I was close to losing this exchange as well. Changing the subject quickly, I said, "Hungry? We need to eat something. We haven't eaten the whole day"
Anjali laughed at the change of topic and nodded. I dressed and came out of the bedroom, giving her some privacy.
I called a local restaurant to place my order. They would take around ten to fifteen minutes to deliver, so I sat back on one of the sofas in the living room to wait. After a while, Anjali came out. She had showered and changed into shorts and T-shirt and looked fresh and beautiful. Looking at her, I wondered what it was that was going on between us. I knew that I was irresistibly attracted to her and I strongly suspected that she was too. But I dared not think about the word love. That was still a distant dream considering the huge chasm between her position and professional stature and mine.
My thoughts were broken by the doorbell as the food arrived. I received it and we tucked in quietly. Both of us were famished.
After some time, Anjali broke the silence. "I am not accepting your resignation", she said in a tone of finality.
After today's events, I had expected that, so I just nodded. She had asked me to trust her. So, I would trust her. It was not like I really had a choice. Not trusting her and going down the path that I had decided earlier was worse than whatever fate trusting her could bring.
"Okay, I will withdraw my resignation", I said. "What's next Anjali?"
"On Monday morning, we are meeting with the Head of Sales", she said. "I have already had a word with him".
I wanted to know more. "Did you tell him everything? What is going to happen in the meeting?"
Anjali put her hand on mine and said. "Please just trust me, Das. It will all be okay"
I nodded again. Even though I had put my trust in her, it was a new emotion for me and I still had to completely accept it. But I kept my expression neutral. Some things I still wanted to keep to myself.
It was almost 10 pm by then. Anjali had to leave. She turned down my offer to drop her home, saying that she had already booked a cab.
After she left, I went back to my bed to catch up on my much needed often rudely interrupted sleep. The last thought in my mind before I dozed off was, "Damn, I don't even know where she lives".