"Excuse me!" She was aware that her face must have turned crimson, "What’re you saying?"
But he was trying his best to bite back his smile, "Why? Am I not a nosy boss who doesn’t know how to stay..." he started snapping his fingers, "What was that?"
"It was nothing!" She tried to protest.
"Limits! Yeah. Who doesn’t know how to stay within his limits... yeah?"
With an embarrassed chuckle, Aniya pushed him aside and kept walking ahead without looking back. He was teasing her as if they were childhood friends.
"Hey!" He had jogged up to her, "my crisps."
She spun around to face him, "Weren’t these for me?" she placed her hand on her hip.
"I thought I was allowed to share," he explained, batting those longest lashes making her chuckle.
"No. You aren’t. I usually don’t share it with anyone," she squeezed her left eye shut. Her hostel building was close by, and she didn’t want anyone to see him with her. He might have sensed it too because he stopped walking abruptly.
"Well!" she offered him the rest of the crisps, "Thanks for this. If you want, you can have the rest of it."
"Are you sure?" he asked after rolling his lips between his teeth and Aniya raised a brow. Not even for a minute he made her feel like she was talking to a hotshot.
"I think I should go now," she shrugged but then her face went into that deep thinking mode.
"What?" he watched her face carefully.
"I think... I know I’m crossing the line here, Mr. Donovan, but the newcomers should get their half salary a little earlier... in case you know... they need anything..." she started waving her hands in the air, "I’m sorry... it was just a suggestion... loud thinking... Sorry for overstepping..."
"N...No. It’s ok," he raised the packet, "Thanks for this."
He saluted and then turned on his heels to jog back to the superstore.
And that was when Aniya realized that he had walked with her for three blocks while his car was parked near the market.
He preferred to walk with her.
With a smile, she swallowed hard and started walking to the building, looking repeatedly over her shoulder.
"George Clooney. You aren’t what I thought you were,"
***
Emma and Olivia were back in the evening, chatting like crazy about their trip as they sat in Aniya’s room. Olivia was telling them about a guy who resembled Tom Holland and was super cute.
"Hey, Olive," Emma poked her elbow in Olivia’s ribs, "Doesn’t Anaya look happy?" she asked Olivia and now both girls were eyeing Aniya in suspicion.
"Emma is right!" Olivia brought her face closer to hers, "Is it a guy?"
"Geez. No! Not everything revolves around guys. Sometimes a girl might like a pack of..." Aniya shrugged in exasperation.
"A pack of what?" Emma supplied, "Tampons?"
"Condoms?" Olivia tried to guess, and they both laughed at it.
"No, silly. Crisps!" Aniya winked, and her friends gave her an eye roll.
"Urgh! You’re boring Aniya!" Olivia threw the pillow at her and Aniya caught it expertly with a giggle.
***
"What about that pack of crisps?" Emma asked Paige but her eyes were on Aniya. Just an hour back, Aniya had told them about her love for the crisps.
"Nothing about it. It was just that he looked so happy while grabbing that pack as if... as if it’s too precious for him," Paige said with a carefree smile.
Aniya avoided the eye contact with her friends. They both knew that she had gone to that Mart that afternoon.
She was drinking the beef stew so intently as if it was the most important task to accomplish.
Paige was still talking about George Donovan and the rest of her friends were nodding their heads with that dreamy look.
Olivia gave a gentle jab to her ribs, "What’s going on?" she asked her in a whisper, "Are you hiding something?"
Aniya shrugged, feigning innocence, "There is nothing to hide. Remember? I’m just a maid. Paige Fletcher is his shadow," She gestured silently towards Paige.
Olivia and Emma wanted to ask more questions when the girl on the other end of the table got on her feet, with her eyes glued to her phone screen.
"Oh, My Gosh! I can’t believe it. Star Corps has released a small bonus so that we can shop out necessities at the month’s end."
"What!"
"No way!"
Other girls also started checking their phones. Including Olivia and Emma.
Aniya couldn’t check hers because her phone was still in her room.
"Wow. She is right!" Emma exclaimed excitedly, "We have indeed got a bonus. There is a message from HR saying that from next time newly appointed employees will get a small bonus before the month end. That’s impressive."
Aniya felt as if someone had squeezed the life out of her body. George Clooney had actually taken her suggestion seriously.
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