Chapter 31

Charan lazily strolled through Shreya's office building a little before noon. He wore a formal shirt and pants. But then he had let out his shirt with the sleeves folded to his elbows while his top two buttons were left open. So he gave a very causal and lazy vibe.

The staff there had long gotten used to seeing him. He went straight to the private elevator and kept his thumb impression and pressed the top floor. When he reached her office, she was surrounded by heaps of files as always.

But then when he approached the desk, he saw that she was actually sleeping with her head rested on the desk. He also noticed she was still in her previous day's clothes. He looked around the office. There was a blanket and pillow on the couch while a pizza box was rotting away in front of it on the small table. Charan deduced Shreya must have slept over the night here and that pizza was probably last night's dinner.

He went near to carry her to the couch but Shreya startled awake as soon as his hands landed on her shoulders. He instantly cursed himself under his breath. But still seeing that she was not completely awake, he lifted her and walked towards the couch.

Shreya looked around dazed with her eyes half-opened. But then she felt like floating all of a sudden and then after a while she landed on plush leather.

Charan carefully laid her down with her head placed on the pillow.

"Go on… get some more sleep." He said gently patting her back. But right then Pritham came barging into the office making a whole lot of noise dragging in some luggage. SO all his effort went into the drain as Shreya sat up completely awake.

Charan looked behind him at Pritham and gave him a glare. They had not officially met yet but Charan knew who he was. Akira had a picture of him from when they both hung out and of course, he had to listen to her rant for straight half an hour as to how clumsy and idiotic he was outside of a video game. And right at that moment, he couldn't agree more with his daughter.

Pritham awkwardly apologized and exited the office but the damage was already done. Shreya was completely awake.

"Hey…" she said looking up at Charan.

"Sleep some more. You look like a panda." Charan said.

But Shreya shook her head stubbornly. She then stood up went to the table and sat on her chairs.

"Sorry… did you wait long??" She asked letting out a big yawn.

"No… I just came in." Charan said and approached the desk.

"I will just refresh and come okay…" She said and got up.

Charan caught her arms and said in a serious tone, "Hey get some sleep okay?? We can talk afterward when you are free…"

"No… I need to talk to you about something. Just give me a minute." She said and walked away.

Right after 2 minutes, she came back in with a tablet. She then handed over the tablet to Charan.

Charan looked at it. There were pictures of a plot of land. Shreya then handed him a file that had dimensions and some other details of what he assumed to be of the land.

Charan frowned at her confused.

"Those are the specs of the mall project our company is currently working on. Sri corp. is the major investor in the project. And we are stuck with building design and interiors. So we need someone with your skill set." She said briefly without explaining anything. But Charan could understand the underlying implication.

"Shreya… I am grateful that you have considered me for this but I can't possibly accept this…" Charan said looking at her baffled and slightly embarrassed. His firm was very small. They never really even dreamed of getting such a big project. And even if they got such a project in the future, he wants it to be because of his professional ability and not because of his personal relationship.

Shreya saw right through him.

"Charan, you think I am an idiot who is going to give away such a huge project just because you are my boyfriend??" Shreya asked him slightly baffled.

Charan frowned taken aback by her question.

"Then why??" he asked.

"You know my company is having setbacks because of S corp. right?? It is going to take some time to solve. So in the meantime, I have proposed several projects to divert their attention while actually working on this one. It is a construction project of a mall cum a multistory luxury apartment building right in the heart of the city. I cannot approach anybody just like that since there is a risk of information leak."

"And on top of it, they have eyes and ears all over the city and inside my own company. For the time being, I need them to think they are winning. So I need someone I can absolutely trust and someone completely low key and inconspicuous. And you fit the bill to the T. You have no idea how happy I was when I got to know you were an architect."

Charan blinked several times. This did not feel real to him. He just gaped at her. He did not know what to say or what to think.

"Shreya… even then… this is just…" Charan started. This was just too huge. It was like seeing a baby who just took a few steps suddenly flying over the sky.

Shreya then handed him another file. It had the whole of his career inked including his ex-bosses recommendation letter.

Shreya continued, "I did thorough research on your work. I like your design. When I say mall and high-end apartments, everyone just ends up giving me gloss and glittery designs with blatant luxury. What I am looking for is something more creative and more comforting design. And I like your firm's designs. I did not choose you in a whim. I am a businesswoman after all. The only thing I am worried about is whether you guys can take up the volume of work. I can probably provide you with some staffs but it won't be much since there are only a handful of people I truly trust in here and none of them are architects."

Charan still just stared at her without saying anything. He was only comprehending every second word she said. It would take some time to think it through.

"Okay… I won't scare you anymore. Here is the draft contract with our proposal. You go discuss with your partners and give me an answer. But I am going to need an answer in two days. I am kinda in a rush." Shreya said at last.

Charan exited the building still completely out of it.

Right when Charan exited, Pritham let himself into the office.