Game of love

Shruti was habituated of having her way through out her life, she was the pretty daughter of a well to do family, smart, prettily dressed. She was madly in love with Brij, her bachelor boss, who just was not interested to warm up to her, the reason was even more infuriating, he was in love with a colleague of her, who was atleast four or five years older than him and eight years older than her. Shree was not her competitor in any way, she was ordinary, from ordinary family back ground, the ordinary next door girl. And to add up to the frustration she was not even the least romantically interested in Brij. She treated him with the same affection she used to treat the bell boy of the office, even that was not able to douse the flame burning in Brij’s heart.

She requested her best friends to help her, her friends thought it was their duty to help her, hence they plotted a plan. Just like youngsters they thought that out of sight is out of mind will be the best modus operandi.

Hence they decided that they will make Shree leave the office and once she is out of office Shruti will play her charm on Brij. Shruti started to mingle with Shree hiding her true intention. Shree accepted her with open arms because she found no reason to mistrust a girl who was seven or eight years younger than her and was always sweet to her.

Shruti slowly started to play her game, she used to do things deliberately which she knew will infuriate or trouble Shree. She discovered that Shree had one big weak point, she was not a good actor, if she was upset about some thing it used to reflect on her face and she hated double standard people, she instantly turned cold towards them and pushed them away from her.

She discussed this weakness with her friends and they decided to zero on it, they all of a sudden surrounded Shree showing overwhelming affection for her. Shree was pleasantly surprised, because she had an inferiority complex about her shy nature, she always thought that people think that she is boring. Hence, when that bright group of boys and girls surrounded her she became overwhelmed. She never suspected that it was a trap.

Shruti and her friends used to show deep affection for her when Brij or his father was there but the moment they used to move away they used to show her cold shoulder, but veiled in politeness, so she could not say any thing against them. They used to move around her as a group pretending to be charmed by her personality. Slowly they started their game, they used to wait for the moment she had to go out of her cabin and used to tamper her works.

Initially she used to think that it was her fault but slowly she became sure that some one was tampering her work, and for that getting rebuked from Brij’s father became an every day’s affair. Even Brij had to tell her that she should concentrate on her work. She could not complain to them like a school kid that some one was tampering her work. Nor did she suspected for a second that an entire group was against her, because they did not showed overwhelming affection for Shruti. they have left their personal life out of the territory of the office. In office they were just colleagues.

Shree was blindly looking for a single culprit, she had her suspicion on Shruti because she had realized by her talks that she was smitten by Brij, she have felt Brij’s eyes on her but did not entertained him because she was aware of her social status, hence, she in her foolish thought process thought that Shruti also knows the same and does not counts her as her rival, but her inner self was telling her that she was reading Shruti wrong. She committed her second blunder by confiding in her friends that she had suspicions on Shruti.

They understood that they have the trump card in their hands, they vehemently discussed the matter amongst themselves in a manner that Brij overheard it and thought that Shree was jealous of Shruti because she was pretty, young and more efficient.

That formed the first crack in Brij’s heart which they expertly made wide, they slow poisoned Brij’s mind in one hand and on the other hand they made Shree’s staying in the office impossible. They painted her image black in Brij and his father’s eyes. And canvassed Shruti so much that Shruti’s dream was fulfilled, Brij fell for her and Shree changed her job.

Time passed on, Brij and Shruti got married, they had a lovely daughter. One day Brij was visiting the office of one of his friends when he saw Shree working there, as a manager. He was surprised. He asked his friend how much he rates Shree as a staff and to his utter shock he told him that she is one of the most efficient, perfectionist and well mannered employees.

She has transformed his office and made an energetic team out of his employees who were divided into small spheres before she became their manager. Brij was surprised, he indirectly told the story that happened in his office, hiding that one of them was his wife, his friend laughed and told him that’s a common office politics of small offices, they do it to throw out efficient workers so that the competition dies.

He expertly explained the things that happened in Brij’s office from the office politics angle, a veil lifted from his eyes, he went back to his home in a grim mood. Shruti came to meet him with a warm smile. He returned her a blank gaze.

He softly narrated the story told to him by his friends and saw the colour fading away from the face of his wife. After confirming his suspicion, he asked her only one question, did you had to be this cheap to have the thing you wanted but some one else deserved?