18 Chapter 18

A/N

Hii guyss

Hopefully, ya'll will laugh from this joke hehe

My wife left me for a Hindu guy. At least he'll treat her better...

they worship cows.

And here's just a pic of an aesthetic winter in NYC so imagine the weather to be like dat in the book right now :)

ANYWAYS enjoy 😋

(Monday) Sahana P.O.V.

I woke up to Monty licking my face, "Stop Monty," I smiled pushing his face away. I could feel the tear stains on my cheeks from crying myself to sleep last night. Just thinking about that, put a bad start to my morning.

I sighed and dragged myself off my bed to the bathroom, "Those sleeping pills did shit last night." I rubbed my face in frustration, then quickly did my morning routine. As I came out of the bathroom, patting my face dry with a towel, Monty ran up to me whining for food. "Ok boy, lemme get you some breakfast." I babied him.

After giving Monty his breakfast, I headed to the kitchen to make some for myself. I feasted on a delicious onion, vegan sausage, and spinach omelet, "Ahh, that was so good." I smiled walking to the sink to wash the dishes. I then went back to my bedroom to get ready for work.

I don't really care how my coworkers come to work.

I have a simple dress code towards both men and women in the office:

As long as you don't come in dressing like a stripper/prostitute it's acceptable.

I try to make the office environment pretty chill, so everyone is comfortable with each other. There is no point in being a strict, mean CEO with a stick up her ass, just to make people start to hate you. Having simple, important rules in my opinion, is a good way to influence the making of a productive workable office environment. And no one really violates those rules, so there is no reason for me to get mad or be strict.

I flipped through my closet, pushing clothes to the side, "God I need to go shopping."

But eventually, I found an outfit to wear:

A form-fitting patterned turtleneck, tucked in with simple jeans, and finally my everyday white sneakers with, of course, fluffy socks.

But then my worst nightmare occurred. "NOO." I said, "There's a stainnn. AHH WHY MEE!!" I looked up at the ceiling while holding my turtleneck. "Oh wait," I examined the stain a little more, "It's only on the inside! Oh thank goddd." I put a hand to my chest and let out a breath of relief. I matched the outfit with a dark grey coat and for accessories, a gold chain with my name engraved in my mother tongue, Tamil. My mom gave it to me and it's the necklace I wear everywhere.

I'm so simple it's scary.

I have no idea how I make myself look presentable. People even compliment me which is even more concerning.

After fixing my hair a little, I grabbed all my essentials, kissed Monty and closed the door.

The drive to my office wasn't very far. I specifically chose the location, so it wasn't too far away from my home. Most of the workers live close to the building too. Occasionally, there are some, where they live 25 to 30 minutes away which makes me feel bad. But I can see that they truly love their job through their hard work and are so passionate, to the point where time and distance doesn't matter to them. It brings a smile to my face every time.

I opened the door to my office building and greeted everyone who was already there, "GOOOD MORNING!!" I sang, which made everyone jump in surprise. We all laughed and they went back to work. I walked towards my desk located in the back which was slightly larger than the others, due to the amount of work I have to do, but got interrupted in the process by my wonderful secretary, Tara.

"Good morning Tarraa." I hugged her, "Morning Sahanaa." She hugged back. Tara has been my secretary from day one, and she is like a little sister to me. She has helped me when I was all over the place and was there for me when I had sudden dreams of my trauma. Those are just some of the things about how amazing she is, that I could put into words.

I don't know what I would do without her,

I really don't.

She pulled away from our hug and looked down at my schedule on her tablet, "You have a meeting in 30 minutes, discussing our next launch, lunch with the CEO of B.R.L. Beauty, casually not anything formal which she said specifically, and dinner with our staff!! Where do you want to go? Indian? Korean? Japanese?" she smiled, silently clapping her hands in excitement.

I laughed slightly and put my hands on her shoulders, "Tara, it's not my choice ya know, it's everyone's. You know I'm fine with anything." Tara nodded, "I don't there is any CEO like you." She sighed. "You know it." I smiled and winked at her. She quickly left to talk to other coworkers as I made my way to a somehow organized desk thanks to Tara, because it was messy when I left it.

Again, what would I do without her?

I sighed before setting my purse down and looked at all the wonderful stacks of papers ready to tip over and fall onto me, giving thousands of paper cuts.

And I don't have enough bandages for that shit.

"Ugh, I'm already getting a headache." I said. I looked around the room, seeing all my coworkers focused into what they were doing which both annoyed yet gave motivation to me. "You see what I have to do for ya'll!!" I said catching their attention while pointing at the papers and pouting. "You guys better treat me tonight when we go out for dinner!!" They all chuckled and nodded. I was about to start working and break through the jenga stack of papers, when Tara called me in for the meeting. I pouted, "Already? I haven't even started on this." I walked into the room, changing my facial expression as I greeted everyone and sat down, "Ok! Ready everyone?" they all nodded, and we began.

The way all the work is organized, is in departments each with a head, and there are 6 departments: Skin, Hair, Eyes, Lips, Nails, and Body. '

Every couple of weeks, we arrange a meeting just to see how everyone is doing, if any problems are occurring and how we can fix them, stuff like that.

Today as Tara mentioned, we are discussing about our new launch of skincare products, specifically water-based facial cleansers. "So, we are going to launch our 5 new water-based cleansers, each for specific skin issues or types." They nodded and flipped papers about each of the products as I continued,

"Our green tea, and pomegranate cleanser for acne-prone and sensitive skin.

The Lemon, honey and chamomile cleanser, for semi-dry to combination skin, as well as to achieve glowy radiant skin.

The citrus combo cleanser that includes, grapefruit and orange, made for oily or combination skin plus for adding extra exfoliation to produce clear skin.

Our aloe vera and cucumber cleanser made for cooling down and soothing the skin, for all types, specifically sensitive.

Blueberry and mint cleanser for damaged skin, and bringing back the original brightness, giving a youthful glowing skin.

And finally, our rice water and white tea cleanser for all skin types, specifically dry skin. The cleanser fights acne, lightens, prevents wrinkles, and produces youthful dewy skin."

They all nodded. "Any questions or suggestions before I set the date for our launch?" I asked. "Maybe, we should have a run-through on the ingredients again just in case." The head of the skin department suggested.

I nodded, "You're right, Tara can you please contact the chemists to send us the ingredients list, as soon as possible?" She nodded, "Yes, of course."

Then the head of the eye department asked, "We are doing the regular packaging with recyclable glass yes?" I smiled, "Of course. It wouldn't be us if we didn't use it right?" We all laughed. "Ok, I guess we are all set! Good job everyone, as usual, you all are the very best!!" and with that, the meeting was over.

I had lunch with the founder and CEO of B.R.L Beauty, Blaire, which was nice. We munched on some delicious Thai food, and just started chatting away. Since her makeup business only started 6 months ago, she just asked for tips on how to move and control the business.

"Don't have too many rules, limit it to about 5, and make them simple, but important. Don't be one of those stuck up CEO's, become close with all your workers," I gestured.

"Hm, ok." She nodded as I went on.

"When starting your business, think of products that haven't been sold in large quantities. For example, eyelash serum. People definitely know what it is, but is it as known and commonly used compared to cleansers?" I gestured with my hands like they were a balance scale.

"Try making the specific product you're selling be as important as other very common, well-known ones. I'm not an expert in makeup at all so I wouldn't know what products to suggest, but that's all on you and for your company to decide anyways." I smiled.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, so much for meeting me." she said, "Oh my gosh, of course, I would love to do this again! And once your company gets the hang of it, maybe we can collaborate!" I said silently clapping my hands. "I would love to, it would be an honor!" she smiled. "Ok, bye!" I said hugging her after paying for my meal. "Bye!" she waved, exiting the restaurant.

I felt my phone buzz and looked to see what it was.

Sami: Hey guysss, you wanna get dinner at 7?

I frowned because I knew I couldn't go.

Me: Aw sorryyy I'm hosting a staff dinnerr

Sami: oml it's okk go treat ur staff hehe they probably need it after all the hard work they have done because of u being a pain in the ass hehe

Me: hey 😒

Cassia: I'm down, I gotta tell u smth anyway Sami

Me: Okiee byee lyy

Sami: byee lytt

Cassia: Bye lyt

I put my phone back into my pocket and headed back to the office to finish all that goddamn paperwork.

"AH FINALLY!!"

I sat back on my chair, flipping my hair away, and threw my arms up in victory, "I'M DONE!!" I heard an applause come from around the room but was too weak to get up and bow.

"Thank you, thank you." Was all I could say. "NOW LET'S GO TO DINNER SHALL WE?" I said trying to get up, but couldn't and whined, "Ahh, someone please help meee." I said extending my arms.

Finally, one worker, Marco helped me up. "Thank you, Marcoo." I said giving him a side hug. "Y-Your welcome, Ms. Sahana." He blushed.

"Ah, ah, no it's just Sahana." I smiled poking his nose, teasing him.

"O-Ok, S-Sahana." He smiled back.

"Then, let's go!!" I said taking him with me.

It's 10:30 now, and I just came back from the dinner. It was delicious, so I have no regrets. You can't go wrong with Indian food.

I finally reached my apartment, carrying a 6-month food baby in my stomach. "Urgh, I think I ate too much. I'm so tiredd." I whined while trying to open my door, but I was struggling.

Then, I heard footsteps from my left and turned to look who it was,

and what other person could it be, than the neighbor.

"Hi." He smiled. I gave him a look and returned to opening my stupid door. "Ugh, what the hell?!" I whispered which Jai heard, unfortunately.

"Uh, you need help with that?" I shot him a glare. He immediately put his hands up, "Okie, I'll take that as a no."

"Yes, I am fine, thank you." I replied not looking at him, but I could feel his stare on me, while I struggled. "It's a simple push and turn, why the hell is it so hard??" I whispered to myself.

"Ok, you need help,"

Jai walked towards me grabbing my keys away,

"Move aside."

We stayed silent until he opened the door, and out Monty came towards us wagging his tail. "Hiiii!!" I ruffled his fur. I walked into my apartment and turned to Jai, "Um, thanks for helping me open my door."

He smiled, "No problem."

"Well then, bye." I went to go close it, but his hand stopped it.

Our eyes met and my eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "What are you doing?" He didn't respond, instead just stared.

But then he finally responded,

"Chai.." He said, still staring at me.

"Huh?"

Then I saw him suddenly come back to reality, slightly startling me.

"What I meant to say was, have some chai with me.

Just come over and drink some.

Then leave if you want to.

That's all I'm asking."

"Why do you want me to come over so badly?

And I can't, I have to feed Monty.

Plus, if you ever check the time once in a while, you'll come to the fact that it's late." I said tapping my watch.

But some of it was a lie.

I didn't have to feed Monty. Mable already did.

"You're lying," he said.

"W-what?"

"You're lying. I can see it in your eyes." Jai extended his head closer towards my face.

"Y-you don't know that." I turned my face away, slowly feeling it becoming red. I didn't realize now that I backed away from the door.

Jai now fully opened my door.

Then suddenly whined, "Please comeee. I have no good reason why, so just come pleaaasssee."

I faced him for a couple of seconds, then threw my head back, "Ugh, fine. It's only because I'm tired, so you got me at my weakest point. And don't do whatever you did just now, that was weird."

Jai tilted his head sideways, "Huh? What do you meeaann?" teasing me.

"Agh STAP STAP." I said

He started walking towards me, which made me start walking back.

"Uh, w-what are you doing, Jai?" He smiled then grabbed my wrist and started to head out the door.

"Wait, what about Monty!!" I asked,

"He's coming with us too!!" he smiled at me.

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A/N

Oh my god this was a long chapter for me it's like 2,000+ words haha😅

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Love ya'll 😘