Office Story

"Boss, you cannot ask us to work on weekends. It goes against the National Holiday Act of our constitution," Gagan said in an adamant voice. He had planned to take Fenny to a resort for some relaxation. It was good for her health and the baby. Now his irresponsible boss, who doesn't show his face on a weekday, suddenly asks them to come on a Sunday. It is unacceptable.

Gagan would never have dared to talk like this if it was a typical boss. But Aditya did not have the aura of a boss, even a little bit. So, people who worked for him tended to forget that this person could fire them. Also, Aditya did not administer the concept of 'rewards and punishments' to have a good hold on his employees. He usually overdid the rewards part and ignored the punishments. But this was only applicable to these people who worked under 'Ishaan'. The same could not be said for those under 'Rudra'.

"Is there a law like that?" Aditya asked with mild amusement as he looked at the disgruntled expression of Gagan. Aditya had already decided to give a day off on Monday, beforehand.

Tya had already displayed the mentioned law in his mind. He also showed all the related court cases and the various judgments on this topic.

"Of course, there is a law like that. Otherwise, how could we employees protect ourselves from being exploited from you guys?" Gagan said in a confident tone. He did not know about that law. Gagan had heard one of his relatives talking about that act. Also, it's not like he was going to book a case against his boss for asking them to work for one weekend.

Gagan or any of the other employees liked their boss very much. Ishaan had god-level programming skills, was jovial, and the employees always felt relaxed around him. It was just that their boss did not seem to like to come to the office. He would pass instructions and forget about them, which left them feeling as if their work was not essential to their boss.

Aditya smiled as he asked Gagan, "then, when are you going to file a case?"

Gagan was stunned when he heard these words. He coughed as he said, "well since it's the first time, let's leave it. Why did you ask us to come?"

Aditya also grinned and did not poke further. He knew that the law was only applicable to the public sector; it had no hold over private companies. But he did not puncture Gagan's hope. In a way, these people were being pampered by Aditya. For one, the plan that Aditya had for these employees has become a little inconsequential. Now, he did not have very high expectations from them. Aditya just wanted a group of people to do the standard and straightforward work for him.

Aditya did not have a lot of requirement for technical expertise from these people, anymore. Tya could easily do the work of a corporation, all by himself. So, he did not care about these people's efficiency as long as they had good work ethics and met his expectations (which were very low). Aditya did not have plans to make huge money from this company after he saw Tya's prowess on the web. It was just a matter of time before he found a more convenient method of making money.

Aditya would be satisfied as long as he made a reasonable sum from this company. This money was for 'legal spending' while the funds that Tya 'earned' was not convenient to show off.

The three objectives that Aditya wanted to fulfil as 'Ishaan' were 'Money', 'Fame' and 'Bait'. Money is not a problem anymore. Fame and being a 'Bait' are interconnected to the purpose that Aditya was contacted by that 'Organisation'. With the new clue he found, in regards to Raipath family, Aditya did not place much importance on this objective as well. But he did not completely disregard it as an additional clue is always welcome, but it was not critical anymore.

On the other hand, Aditya had more significant plans for Thomas and others. They were going to be critical in his plan for rescuing his parents. Their place was something that Tya and Aditya could not complete. That was the reason that he did not mind exposing his camouflaging technique to these people. They would know about it in the future anyway. So, Aditya spent more time on training them. This preference of Aditya led to him being unavailable to Gagan and others.

By this, it did not mean that Aditya did not have any plans for these people anymore. It was just that training these people was not his priority right now.

"Didn't I ask only you and Kapil sir to be here? Why did so many people come along?" Aditya asked as he looked at Jagvi, Charita, Abhiram and others who were looking at him from outside the room. Some were examining the mainframe computers with enthusiasm.

Gagan looked at those people as he said, "Well, some wanted to take your guidance, and some wanted to see you as you have not come even once in the last week. Boss, how come you are so busy that you can't come even once?"

'Because I have to go to school,' Aditya bitterly thought but did not speak. If he was not regular to school, in the first week itself, he might end up hurting Maahi. So, Aditya did not have time to come to the office. Aditya had decided that he would wait for another week after which he could take up the role of being an 'irregular student'. Even Maahi couldn't complain much. There was a cultural fest followed by a sports day in the coming week. Aditya decided that he would wait till the sports competition was over.

Aditya had quite a few plans for the coming months. Finally, Aditya had the first-hand experience of the entity in the web that was protecting the interests of that 'organisation'. Tya gave a list of requirements which Aditya had to implement if he wanted to track his parents' whereabouts through a phone call. Also, he had to establish his base in those 15 villages.

Aditya had plans to visit Mumbai as it was the base of the 'Organisation' in India. He wanted to see if he could find any other clues. Now that he knew about Raipath family's link, it would be a lot easier. Aditya was quite surprised that the Raipath family had not made any movements in regards to his provocation. Everything was normal on their side.

Aditya had three theories behind that action. One, the Raipath family did not care about him, like how an elephant ignores an ant. Two, they were too busy with some critical mission, to deal with him. And three, this was the most dangerous, they were already weaving a net for him, but their actions were so secretive that Aditya could not perceive them.

Aditya had Thomas and others lay low for a few days. With Tya's new abilities, it was not hard for Aditya to watch his back.

Aditya shook his head lightly as he stood up and walked towards his employees. Now that he was here, Aditya might as well train them a little. He turned off the Li-Fi (blue laser-like light) in his glove as it could not function when he moved. Also, it would be distracting for others. The Wi-Fi module turned on automatically.

Abhiram and others asked their doubts about the 'Web 3.0' application, which was going to be their first product. They were very excited as this application was fabulous. It allowed people to see clothes in 3D and even try them on, without having to go to the store. So if one wanted to see if a pair of shoes suited his feet, he could take out his smartphone and use the rear-view camera to view your feet. The application would construct the pair of shoes over his feet, based on his feet size and the shoe design.

So, one could see if the shoe fit or if they were any discrepancies. The same went for clothes or jewellery. This application improved the shopping experience and removed the trouble of returning clothes if they didn't fit you. They were many companies working towards this goal, but Tya's 'Augmented Reality' algorithms pushed all of them behind by many years. Once this product was released, Aditya was sure that their company would rake in hundreds of millions of dollars in the form of investments.

Aditya expression hardened when he saw that the distracted appearance of Charita. Her eyes would become glassy when she looked at him as if she was thinking about something else.

"Pay attention to the project, or I will kick you out of this company," Aditya coldly warned as he looked at her with a stern expression. First of all, he did not have much time to train them. And, when he finally got the chance, this woman was not taking advantage of it. Aditya had not hired them to play love games. He did not mind a little fun, as long as they did their job. But if she was going to let it affect her work, he will not think twice about firing her.

Charita lightly shivered when she saw the grim expression on Aditya's face. She did not expect that Ishaan was capable of such harsh words when she saw his cold expression. Her eyes reddened as Charita pursed her lips to stop them from quivering. Her fingers mildly trembled as she started taking notes. Jagvi was also shocked, but she did not make a sound.

Aditya resumed his speech as he explained his plans and vision for this application. As long as anyone asked a doubt, Aditya would explain it citing many interesting examples. He would also cover all angles, taking those problems into account, which they might encounter in the future.

Aditya wanted Kapil sir and Gagan to employ a few maintenance services for these mainframe computers. After a few hours of training, just as Aditya was about to wrap the lesson, his phone rang.

Aditya looked at the name and went straight to his room. Aditya as 'Ishaan' had a deep, baritone voice, different from his voice which was still, in the state of development. It was Taarini who called him, so he had to modify his voice. After making sure that no one was around, Aditya accepted the call.

"Aditya, do you have some time to spare, tonight?" Taarini asked in her characteristic cold voice.

"Yeah, sure. Is everything all right?" Aditya asked with care.

"Yes, nothing to worry, I wanted to speak about something," Taarini said as her voice softened a little.

"Okay, I will be there." Aditya did not ask any details as it was more convenient to talk in person.

Aditya cut the call and stepped towards the open kitchen in the main office space. As these people had come to meet him on the weekend, he felt that he had to treat them to some delicacies in today's lunch.

Aditya went for continental cuisine today. With the help of Tya, he could prepare the most authentic dishes. He selected Roast Lamb Salad, Stuffed Jacket Potatoes, Chick Pea Soup and Batter Fish. Jagvi came to help him as usual, but Charita sat as she stared at her laptop screen.

Aditya sighed as he looked at Charita. Aditya asked as he arranged a salad around the lamb meat, "Jagvi, is Charita from a filthy rich family?"

Jagvi looked puzzled as she nodded at Aditya. Aditya nodded as he deep-fried the potatoes in oil. He then asked, "Is she the only child and pampered very much?"

Jagvi giggled as she nodded. She understood what Aditya was implying. Aditya shook his head as he muttered, "no wonder."

Aditya arranged a dish, especially. He took it and placed it in front of Charita. She did not even look at the plate as she continued to stare at the screen. Her small, delicate nose wriggled a little as a fragrant aroma of the dish caused her to salivate. She swallowed her saliva and ignored Aditya.

Aditya looked at her gulping motion with amusement as he said, "alright, I should not have spoken harshly to you before. Come, eat."

Charita's lips trembled a little but did not budge. Aditya gritted his teeth as he remembered all those gifts that she had given him before. She had also put a lot of effort into her project if you ignored the last few days. Aditya apologised, "I am sorry, okay."

Wah!

Charita's mouth opened finally, but instead of smiling, she started crying. All her grievances about Aditya's harsh words or the fact that he already had a girlfriend, came spilling out. Aditya was dumbstruck when he saw Charita crying. He instinctively looked around to see if his father was here.

During his childhood, he had once bullied Kumari, which resulted in her crying. When his father had found out about it, he…, in short, it was a nightmare.

Aditya doubted if he did the right thing when he saw Charita crying. He did not know what to do. Aditya looked at Jagvi for help who shook her head helplessly, but her eyes were filled with relief. She was happy that Charita was finally releasing her grief.

Aditya couldn't ignore her, so he patted Charita's shoulder as he said, "Don't cry, everything will be alright."

Before Aditya could check if his comforting worked, Charita sprang from her chair as she hugged him tightly in front of everyone and continued crying. Aditya instinctively raised his hands to push her away, but in the end, he could only stand helplessly.