Chapter 15 - How To Hire Your Girlfriend 101

Arjun was done with one of his morning sync up call with his team and was thinking on how to set his plans in motion when the very man he was wishing to talk to walked into his room.

"Arjun!" It was his father's close friend, uncle Dinesh, who handled their resort business in the south. He beamed at Arjun, calling him by his name, as he walked in majestically.

"Hi uncle, what a surprise!" Arjun got up from his chair, ecstatic on seeing his favourite uncle. "I was planning on calling you. I thought you would be in Mumbai."

Dinesh walked over to the set of sofas arranged on one side of the room for visitors and plopped down on one, answering, "Yeah, I was visiting one of my friends here. It's his daughter's wedding tomorrow. Thought I could drop by to see how you are doing now that you have chosen a new office."

Arjun walked over to him and sat down opposite to him, smiling. "More like surveying if I am doing a good job here," he remarked.

Dinesh laughed. "You have always done a good job and that hardly needs any validation from me." He studied Arjun for a moment and then asked warily, "Why and what were planning on calling me for? It has to be something about work if you were actually thinking of the plausibility. If it was personal you would have dialled me straight away."

"As expected of you, uncle," Arjun grinned clapping his hands. "You have good intuition. It is about work."

"About the new resorts you were planning to build?"

"Yes, the very same."

"Good. I wanted to see what you are actually planning too." Dinesh shifted in his seat to sit more comfortably and bade, "Shall we begin?"

Arjun masked his pleasure of getting what he wanted the easy way, and started explaining his plans for the new business. He made sure to reveal only half of the ideas, just the ones he had thought about.

"I think this wouldn't be enough," Dinesh observed in a complaining tone.

Arjun shrugged with his lips puckered in an expression that said 'yeah'. He leaned forward and adding a tint of mysteriousness to his tone, said, "I know. Which is why I want to introduce you to someone who knows how to fill in those gaps and add more value to this project."

"Who is it?" Dinesh questioned casually, tending to a cup of coffee that was offered to him a few minute ago.

"You will see. She is amazing, really creative, very talented and knows the work." Arjun couldn't hide the pride he felt talking about Miss. D.

"She's not your employee here?"

"Nope."

"Where does she work then?"

"Marketing team of Blue Heads."

"The educational gaming company? I heard they are doing well these days."

"Yes, the very same."

"Fine. When are you arranging the meeting?"

"How about dinner today? Since the wedding you are attending is tomorrow, I guess you can spare today evening for me?"

"Sounds good. But Arjun, I have never heard you speak so well of anyone before. I might end up having high expectations. I hope I don't get disappointed." Dinesh seemed serious as he directed Arjun to be wary of him.

Arjun smiled understandingly. "Uncle, it's not fair. Just drop in with an open mind. Don't pressurise us."

As soon as uncle Dinesh left, Arjun texted Miss. D. "Hey, dinner today at eight?"

"Sure, if my manager doesn't dump a sudden task on me," came the reply.

"I want you to meet someone," he typed in.

"Who?"

"My favourite uncle."

She read the message, but took a couple of minutes before responding. "Is this some kind of a formal meeting?"

Arjun could see she was anxious. Meeting the family of your significant other isn't exactly a cool activity one could do without any preparation.

"No. He is a chilled out person. I don't accept just anyone as my favourite person," he replied. "Don't worry at all. I'll be there," he texted as follow up.

"Ok. Where's the dinner location?"

"I'll pick you up at 7:30."

Arjun was prepped enough. He had confidence in his girl's skills. His only concern was about the anxiety Miss. D would be feeling.

True enough, when he stopped his car in front of her office building where she was standing and waiting for him, he could see the uneasiness in her eyes.

"Tell me about him," she asked him as soon as she got into the car. "Does he like the calm and controlled people or can we be free-spirited? Does he hate it when people talk too much or too little?"

"Miss. D, relax," he tried to assure her, holding her shoulders in a way to calm her down. "You can speak to him just like how you would talk to anyone new you meet. Don't think too much about impressing him. You are a natural. Just be yourself. You shine the best when you are yourself."

She gulped, then gazed into his deep, calm eye and nodded slowly. "Okay. I am just going to speak whatever I feel like."

"That's better." He grinned and put his hand to the side of her face affectionately, saying, "You will be great, I know it."

Uncle Dinesh turned up mere minutes after Arjun and Miss. D seated at their table in a hotel restaurant. She was telling him something about her roommate's birthday party they were planning when Dinesh walked in. He was dressed too formally for a casual dinner.

"Hey," he greeted them brightly as they stood up welcoming him.

"Hi uncle," Arjun beamed at him. "Right on time." He proceeded to introduce his uncle and Miss. D to each other.

"This is my favourite uncle, Dinesh," he told Miss. D. "He manages the resort business along the west coast." He then turned to Dinesh and indicating at Miss. D, introduced her to him, "This is Advika. My soulmate, girlfriend, everything."

If Dinesh felt a heavy surprise, he skilfully masked it by first raising his eyebrows at Arjun and then turning to Advika to make her acquaintance. "Hello Advika. I heard a lot about you."

It wasn't exactly what he had expected. Dinesh had come over for dinner expecting Arjun to introduce him to a skilled subject matter expert whom they could scout for their office. What Arjun led him to was instead a girl he was in a relationship with. The mismatch of expectations was too much to begin with. As he peered at Arjun who was building a conversation between the three of them, he realized there was something else to Arjun's intentions of making him meet his girlfriend.

Just as he suspected, Arjun skilfully steered the conversation to the resort project he was working on and gave an open ending to Advika by bringing up the ideas they had discussed the previous night.

Advika, having no idea what it was about, simply started relaying her thoughts and ideas about their business to Dinesh. Dinesh, who hadn't expected her to be so knowledgeable, prodded her with some questions and slowly the discussion went with just Advika and Dinesh talking business.

Arjun sat back watching the two ideate, debate and exchanged their views, a mischievous smile playing on his face. He had foreseen them both hitting it off.

"I must say, Advika, you are quite remarkable," Dinesh remarked with a chuckle over dessert.

"Thanks uncle, although I must admit, I had expected you to be a bit uptight. You are fun to have around." She laughed with him.

"Yeah, well, I hate being old-fashioned," Dinesh smirked.

As the dinner came to a close, Arjun offered to drive both Advika and Dinesh to their respective homes.

"Okay, Arjun, I can see through that head of yours," Dinesh remarked as soon as Advika went inside her house. He and Arjun were sitting in his car, about to start driving to the hotel Dinesh was staying at.

"I knew you would," Arjun affirmed as he started driving.

"You didn't arrange this dinner just so you could introduce your girlfriend to me. Besides, when did you meet her? Your father doesn't know about your relationship, does he?"

"You are right. This dinner plan was to let you see how talented my girlfriend is. And I haven't told my parents yet, although I doubt he already knows. He has his sources and he would have suspected it as soon as I shifted to Bangalore. But, that's not the point. What do you think of her?"

"She is a gem," Dinesh stated. "She has it all, the right brain, and her heart at the right place. Where did you meet her?"

"In my hometown, three years ago. Although we got to be together only a few months back."

"She would do really good if she were to join your office," Dinesh said, and then something clicked into place. "You wanted me to validate offering her a place in your team, so it wouldn't look like the Vice President of the company is pulling strings to get his girlfriend a job. Am I right?"

"Not exactly," Arjun sighed. "I cannot offer to hire her," he admitted. "You have seen her, so you can guess how she would react if I all of a sudden ask her to join me. I will look like a jerk and she would never accept it."

"Yeah, she does look like she would never entertain any of this," Dinesh noted. "But, she would be such an asset to the company."

"Exactly," Arjun seconded. "Which is why I want you to hire her."

"Me?" Dinesh was surprised.

"Yes. You do like her work, don't you?"

"I do. But, why should it be me?"

"Because you have quite the convincing and negotiation skills," Arjun reasoned. "You would know how to offer her the job, what to offer her as compensation and how to convince her. No one would be perfect for this than you. Besides, if she joins the team for the sustainability retreats project, she would be reporting to you too in the management team. Wouldn't you want to hire the best for your team?"

Dinesh laughed. "I should say Arjun, you have grown smart over all these years. A little sly too, if I can be frank. You want her in your team, but don't want your name sullied or your relationship get even a little rocky. So, you made sure I met her, had an informal interview which was the discussion we had during dinner, and then suggested I hire her. You get what you want and I get what I want. That is pretty smart of you. I see you are learning the tricks already."

"It sounds a little bad when you put it like that, uncle," Arjun protested. "I just want the best employees in my company. And she happens t be the best. I can't help it."

"Fine," Dinesh decided. "I will get her on board. It's going to take some time. But, I will convince her."

"Thank you so much, uncle," Arjun said it with relief. "I knew you would agree."

"Yeah, it's because she is really that good. Not because I have a soft spot for you," Dinesh clarified. "I don't mix business with personal life. And I believe you don't too, which is why I am here."

"You are right."

They reached the hotel. Before Dinesh got out of the car he turned to Arjun and said, "Be careful that you don't lose her ever, Arjun. She will really balance you out so much. When you get to my age, through all the experiences people like me have, we can see through people. She is perfect for you."

Arjun smiled at him. "Yes, she is."

"Your parents are going to love her," Dinesh continued. "But, just in case, if anyone opposes your relationship, send me a word."

"Why? You are going to fight with them for me?"

Dinesh scoffed. "No. But I will offer you both refuge."

Arjun chuckled. That was so much like his favourite uncle indeed.