4. THE DEAL

HANA

     ' I found out about your marriage with Cillian. Please call me. Explain what is happening there.'

      The message was sent 13 hours ago. And I am still waiting for Violet's reply with a ramen bowl on my bed. I know it is unhealthy. I feel full after completing this bowl. I am eating it anyway. I feel physically full, but mentally, it is not enough. Shalini said that it is not about food but about having an emotional need that food can't fulfil. She read it somewhere it seems. 

      I always eat more. She always eats less. Lucky her. When I was about to finish the ramen I made, I got a call from an unknown number. I immediately swiped it and kept it at my ear. "Violet," I said with a hope.

      "Um..nope." I heard a male voice from the other side. 

      I instantly knew who it was, and I hated that I was able to recognise his voice. "What do you want?" I snapped at him.

      "You." He simply said.

      I rolled my eyes at that word. "Stop playing games, Bash. I barely know you."

      "We can change that." He said from the other end.

      What the hell is this man?

      "What do you want from me?" I asked him. 

      "Your time." He said. "I need you to do a few things for me."

      "Like?"

      He gave a pause, and I thought the line went dead. "Be a spy." He said slowly.

      "Ha ha ha. Bye." I said, and I almost hung up before he said, "Your sister."

      "I can take care of my sister, Bash. Look out for your own ass." I said and hung up.

      My phone blinked with a popup, and eagerly reached out for it, hoping that it was from Violet. But it is from Bash. 

BASH: Just hear me out. It is a good deal.

      I tossed the phone away. It was midnight when my phone rang again. 

      "I am not doing that Bash," I said as soon as I lifted it. But I heard Violet's voice on the other end.

      "Which Bash?" She asked me.

      I instantly sat up, and whatever sleep I had due to exhaustion faded away in seconds. 

        "Violet," I shouted. "Why didn't you call me?" I asked her. "It has been three fucking months."

       "I know." She sighed. "I am sorry. Father has been so angry, and he started to observe our every move. I don't want to get you caught."

      "You should have sent me a message," I tell her.

      "I know. I am so sorry. How are you?" She asked me.

      "I am fine. Tell me this first. Did father ask you to marry Cillian after I fled?"

       She became silent before she answered. "They are still discussing it, Hana. Last week, Cillian's grandmother came home and said that she would like to marry me with Cillian."

        "That's it. I am coming. I will not let them touch you. This is all my fault." I rushed to my wardrobe to pack my clothes.

        "No, wait." She yelled from the other side. "It wasn't fixed. I already talked with Dad. Also, today, Cillian said he is reconsidering getting married to another Levine. I think it is almost cancelled."

        Is that a coincidence or is Bash trying to prove a point?

        "I am coming anyway," I said.

        "No. Father will kill you the moment he sees you. There is nothing you could do by coming here, Hana. Please stay there. And how did you know about this?" She asked me with a suspicious tone.

        "I met Cillian's cousin here. Bash. He told me."

       "Bash? The guy we mistook for Cillian at a party five years ago?"

       I didn't remember that. But I said yes anyway. I never noticed anything at the parties my parents took me to.

       I heard a noise from the other end.

       "I will call you again. Bye." She said and hung up before I said wait.

       Wait. I want to tell you about so many things. Shalini has been a big help ever since I got here. It gets lonely sometimes. I couldn't sleep. I don't know whom to talk to about it. Call me sometime. Let's talk.

      All the unsaid words hang in the air around me. It has always been me when I was a teenager. I never shared my darkest secrets with anyone. And I was fine with it. It is totally different now. I am not enough for myself. It didn't hit me how miserably I wanted to talk to someone about my situation until Violet called me.

        I am so sick of this.

        My phone rang again. This time I saw the number, and picked it.             

       "Sorry to disappoint you, sweetheart. It's Bash again." He said.

       I remained silent. But he continued.

       "How about I cancel your sister's marriage with Cillian, and you do the job for me?" He offered.

        'There is nothing you could do by coming here.' Violet's words ran through my head again. What if I can do something from here? What if Bash is not joking? It doesn't hurt to hope.

       "I don't know you. You don't know me. Why are you doing this? I don't think you are helping me. And whatever you get out of this is probably less than what I will gain." 

      "Come and meet me at Dunes tomorrow at 9 AM. I will explain." He ordered. 

      I didn't like the tone of it. "7. I will be there at 7 PM." I answered and hung up.

      What am I even getting myself into?

                                                                    *

      "Do you like raisins? How do you feel about a date?" I heard Mateo say from behind me as I walked toward my desk.

        I still have no idea why he struggles to collect a pick-up line every day. I once caught a website with 100 Best Pickup Lines For Flirting on his monitor. He was googling it so that he could use it on me. I know I am too good for this guy in every term but beauty. 

           I am certainly not a pretty girl, not even close to my sister, Violet. I will either scowl or I will roll my eyes. The world is like that. That's not my fault. I don't have an hourglass body shape or am curvy like the women in my circle. I am lean, and whenever I eat a lot, which I always do, my stomach bloats. That's exactly something a woman should control, says my mom. 

   The only thing I love about myself is my long hair which reaches my waist, and my bow-shaped lips. Most importantly, my hidden dimple which only comes out when my lips spread widely. That means I have to laugh like that. But Misha says I laugh like a donkey, so people wouldn't want to see that. 

       "You have already used that line." I reminded him.

       "Shit." He cursed to himself. "I will come up with a good one." 

        He was rushing to his desk, the next second. I shook my head in disbelief. 

       "Hi yaar." Shalini greeted me with a cheerful smile. She is wearing a mustard button-up sheath dress, and damn, the lady killed it. "What happened yesterday?" She asked me.

       "First of all, I absolutely adore your dress," I tell her.

      She smiled at me. "Now tell me what happened yesterday." She said, drawing her chair towards my desk.

       I am ashamed to say that I have been terminated, and I have a one-month notice period. Also, I can't hide it from her forever.

       "I think I will quit," I told her.

       "What? She immediately got up from her seat, her eyes widened in shock. 

      I put my finger on my mouth. "Shh. Sit." I tell her.

      All she did was hold her hips with her hands. "Why are they making you quit?" She demanded an answer.

      "Sit down, please." I tried to calm her. 

       She threw her thumb above her shoulder. "Let's get out for a second, shall we?" She said, and I obeyed.

       After ten minutes of explanation, she is still furious, and I am panting with all the talk.

       "I told you many times. The only reason I am working in this project is because you are there. I am not staying in this project if you are not staying." She told me firmly. 

       "It will be fine," I assured her. "I think I am going to get another."

      "What about me?" She pouted. "I will go back to India."

        It took me another half an hour to make her stop from strangling our manager.

                                                               *

       I wore a simple A-line maxi dress and a white shrug for my appointment with Bash. He will step out of the car with a tuxedo on for all I care. But I settled for whatever I was comfortable with. It is just a cafe, perhaps the most aesthetic and expensive cafe where you get the most expensive coffee in the city. 

      I was when I sat in the cafe. I feel like I am making decisions too fast. But Violet's life is on line like my life was once. I can't delay it. Then again, I knew nothing about Bash.

      I counted ten numbers like my therapist once assisted. Then I started what I usually do. I observed my surroundings. The cafe is cute. The walls are painted in pastel green. There is a book shelf in one corner. My fingers ached to reach to them. But I controlled myself. 

      I sat near a glass window that was looking over the city. Just like I expected, Bash stepped out in a black suit as if he came for a meeting with some CEO. He caught everyone's attention when he walked. I will agree that he is hot. But I am not sweating.

     "Hello." He said once he got settled in. 

     "Hi," I said.

     "Did you order anything? What do you want, chocolate ice cream or pastry......"

      "Cold coffee," I told him, crossing my hands across my chest.

 Now that we were sitting close to him for almost ten minutes, I observed how truly beautiful his eyes were, sea green eyes- like they had in the lenses, with a dark ring around the iris to give beauty and depth. They reminded me of the deep ocean and infinite space. It is really hard to believe that they are real. 

       He removed his suit. He has broad shoulders, a narrow waist and long legs. I am sure he is chiselled with a clean, hard shape as though he was carved out of a stone. I wonder if Cillian looks like him in close. 

      "Had a good time checking me out?" He has asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts. 

      I rolled my eyes. "No one in their right mind checks you out, Bash," I tell him.

      He looked over my shoulder and smirked. I followed his gaze to find a girl practically drooling at him. When I looked back at him, he was raising his eyebrow with the same smirk plastered on his face.

      "I ...um...I am just thinking...." I tried to explain.

      "You are thinking?" He asked.

      "How good you look if..."

      "If?" He asked me, his eyes brightened with anticipation.

      I leaned toward him, and he did the same. 

     "If you played a Jesus Christ role." I continued. "You would be perfect."

      He didn't expect this. His smirk vanished, and it was my turn to smirk.

      "I was giving you a compliment," I told him.

      "I would rather be the villain." He said.

      I narrowed my eyebrows at his words.

      He sinks more into his seat. "Come on. Girls love villains."

      I nod my head. "Lucky for me. I prefer heroes." 

      Why the hell am I talking to him about the useless stuff? I don't know. 

      "I was talking about girls who look like girls."

       I crossed my hands across my chest. "Are we done? Can I go?" I asked him.

        I raised his hands. "Just curious. One question before we start our negotiation."

        "I didn't even accept your offer yet." I reminded him.

       "You will." He said with so much confidence. "Now back to the question," He leaned toward the table, his hands folded on it, "What if you fall in love with a Villain? What would you do?"

        "I will never fall in love," I stressed on the word love, and he gave a cut nod.

        He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and cleared his throat before he started. "Nimbus National Bank. They are our clients."

       I was stunned at that statement. When did the company I work for become his company? When I received a termination letter, I thought he pulled some strings since he is influential. I thought he was some client to our company. But I never imagined he would be a part of the company that pays me. I shook my head.

       "Wait. How is Trigo Technologies related to you or any of your family?"

       "We bought it." He said, "Very recently."

       He laughed at my plight. "Didn't check the news, did we? It actually belonged to a friend of Cillian. He was supposed to be here. But what to do? His bride ran away. He got a lot of shit to deal with."

       "You sure love him so much," I commented.

      "Anyway back to the topic, the Bank has observed several thefts and credit card frauds recently. He gave a file to me and studied all the reports mentioned."

       "It is an ATO, account takeover. They got access to so many customer's account details." I said after seeing the report.

       He nodded his head, agreeing with me. "When we first received the report, we investigated all the bank employees. Everything is fine there. Someone from inside Trigo is selling the customers' credentials. We have a tight security. We don't allow phones, pen- drives or anything that may be used for data sharing. Thorough checking was done when you entered and exited. Still, the fraud is happening. Transactions are done without the customer's acknowledgement. We received several concerns like that. The CEO of the bank wants an immediate solution."

      "How is that even possible? We won't have access to CVV or OTPs."

      "For a cybercriminal, what we had is enough. Someone is helping the fraudsters to steal the credentials."

      "With the security we have, it is highly impossible," I stated.

      "But it is happening. You specialised in fraud analytics. I want you to join that project. The project manager is hiring new people. Shifting from one project to another is quite natural here. So no one will doubt you."

       I shook my head. "You could hire people better than me. You don't have to go to the lengths where you threaten my job and my sister's life just so you could find out the fraud happening in one of the projects taken over by one of your companies. I don't trust you. There is something else."

      "There is nothing, Hana. I chose you because I can trust you."

      "I left your cousin at the altar." I reminded him.

      "That's exactly why I trust you. You don't do things for money."

      "Trust me. I need money."

      "I know," he said coolly. "I will give a seventy-five per cent raise." He offered. And I knew right then that he was up to something. 

        "I hardly have two years of experience in fraud analytics." I tried to make him understand.

         There is more I gain and less he receives. Why is he offering me a such good deal? Why didn't he tell Cillian about me?