Chapter 303

Diya turned the TV off and checked her outfit and opened the door trying not to show any eagerness or excitement in her face. He stood there with a beautiful bouquet, a gentle smile along with his charming good looks and his Mickey Blue eyes. "Lovely flowers for a pretty lady" he said and presented her the bouquet. She smiled and took it in grace and said "Come on in". Her cell phone rang and she said, "Excuse me for just a minute". He walked in and looked around. It was a big, definitely bigger than his apartment as this was two apartments, customized and made into a single home. He slid his hands in his pockets and walked around looking at the TV, it was a flat screen 60 inch from Sharp. Compared to the distance from where one would sit and watch it seemed a little big for that room. He thought a very good one to watch the football matches, with some popcorn and a good crowd. She was still on the phone so he looked around wondering weather to sit on the Italian style contemporary tufted back elegant peach leather sofa or sit on the interesting roomy shell that could comfortable seat two people. It didn't look comfortable so he decided to sit on the couch. She was still on the phone and seemed a little tense. Her face was tight and she looked serious. The smiling gentle eyes had turned into an intense concentrated look and she was busy looking at some papers she was holding. He knew something was going on so he decided not to disturb her. He brushed through the magazines that were on the coffee table - The vogue, Business magazine and a couple more. He was more interested in the Technology at work and picked it up. He was quiet interested in reading the magazine and he lost track of time. It discussed from how a paper plate is made to how a crane works. It was very fascinating. He was more interested in the section that discussed about robots and how and where internal combustion is used in technology. He was comfortably seated on the couch and loved the book and had almost forgotten that he was on a date and was waiting for her to be done with her phone call. Adjusting his position on the couch, one end of the heavy book accidentally touched the remote and turned the TV on, making him realize where he really was.

Diya, on the other hand, completely busy with the crisis at hand, where one of the product of hers that she offers, the customization of letter heads where the wrong logo on the wrong draft paper and was shipped to the customer. She was not sure how it happened but now was not the time to find out where it went wrong but to pacify the customer and fix the problem. She was juggling her calls with Lisa and her client. She had her laptop on the dining table and was trying to figure out what had happened. It was a bad mistake as it was a government stock paper and now they have fixed it within a couple of days notice. She had been dealing only with Lisa so for but she wanted to talk to the client directly once she knew exactly when and how she will fix it. She knew what to do but was rehearsing how she was going to talk to the client and was thinking about a few options. She was disturbed by the sound on the TV and for a minute she was angry. When she saw Akshar, she realized that she had completely forgotten about her date. She immediately told Lisa she will call her back and walked over to him. Her face had changed; it was not tense anymore, but filled with regret and apology. She also realized it was already eight thirty and had had been so patient so far. She felt very bad. "I am so sorry. This was completely unexpected and it caught me off guard. It shouldn't take long but I am so sorry to do this to you". He tone was so apologetic, Akshar couldn't help but smile. He said, "It is absolutely fine. Things like this happen. I know it is tough to run a business and you need to pay immediate attention to it. Please, it is ok." She said, "Oh, my god, Do you like Pizza, Chinese? I am sorry but the least I could do is order some food for you" and she picked up the phone and started searching the yellow pages. He walked towards her and gently took the phone from her hand and said, "It is ok. Don't worry about me." She shook her and head and he knew she was not going to be satisfied if he doesn't agree to something. So he said, "Pizza would be fine, but on one condition, let me make the call and you go ahead and get things done." She felt much better. She smiled and said, "I would like a Margarita pizza with pineapples, jalapeños and olives please."