Chapter 3 Meet Mahira

Mahira watched with a smile as Harry was playing the Quidditch match while the crowd was cheering loudly for their respective side of players. She sat among the bleachers cheering him and passing a smile whenever he was looking at her side, and hoping they would win like always, she waited patiently with her breath stuck in her throat when he was near to the Golden Snitch with Malfoy right on his back. I screamed his name on top of my breath when Malfoy instead of chasing the Snitch kicked Harry near his ribs and he fell to the ground.

I ran towards him and found out that he was badly injured and I bet the swelling on his head is going to turn into a bump soon. I cursed Malfoy for being an ass and went near Harry bending to his level and wrapping his arms around my shoulders to make him stand, and proceeding towards the infirmary.

I didn't realize that I was crying until he removed my tears " Common stop crying I'm alright" he tried to console.

" I am not crying for you" I whispered back trying to show him that I am not affected.

" You look cute and kissable when you cry" he purred in my ears and I blushed due to the proximity. I closed my eyes when he kissed my cheeks and rubbed on my lower lip with his thumb. He was coming close to my face and I hold my breath waiting for the kiss.......

When someone tapped on my hand, I tried to remove that hand when someone screamed "WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD" in my ears and I in my defense lift my leg and kicked the person. I woke up with a jolt on my bed when I heard someone crying like a hyena and found my dear best friend on the floor burying his face between his legs and heard him saying something like she will never let my future generation come on this earth.

In an instant, I was on my legs running towards him and placed my hand on his shoulder asking " Did it hurt too bad? I am sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you" I kept on repeating how apologetic I am until he lifted his head.

"Should I bring a pain reliever?" I asked him, receiving a look of 'are you for real' from him.

"Common I don't know about first aid for such injuries" I added back when I didn't receive a reply from him.

"Should have given a thought about my girlfriend before kicking me" he stated

"Should have given a thought before waking me up early in the morning" I countered back.

"It's already 8'o clock and we have an early morning meeting and it was you who begged me yesterday night to give a lift" he smirked.

"There is a difference between requesting and begging" I countered.

"By the way a girlfriend huh" I smirked as this idiot in front of me blushed the deepest shade of red.

"Stop talking nonsense and get ready fast, we have a meeting to attend" he answered back making his way towards the door "And yeah it was you who was blushing when I was trying to wake you up" he added before opening the door and stepped out shutting it faster before the pillow which I aimed towards him can hit him. I made my way towards the bathroom and blow a sigh, staring at my face in the mirror. I stepped into the bathtub and had a nice, warm bath before drying my skin with a towel and made my way towards the closet which is attached to the bathroom.

I wore a two-piece knee-length western skirt pairing it with a high neck white t-shirt dress, blow-drying my waist-length hair, making it into a pony, and applied some face cream and lip gloss. I looked into the mirror and felt presentable for the day. I am not into makeup not because I hate it or something like that, I just don't know how to use it and moreover, it consumes a lot of time, hats off to those women who have the patience to tolerate it.

Personally, I think a woman should wear as much makeup as she feels comfortable with, irrespective of society's perception. And if a guy doesn't like a woman with makeup then he should find someone who doesn't wear makeup. isn't it? 'enough of your self talk stupid, you have a meeting to attend' screamed my subconscious mind and with that, I went downstairs to find my mom and Adi indulged in a deep discussion about something.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked no one in particular.

Aditya POV:

Once I closed the door of butterfly's room, I went downstairs in search of Akshara aunty. Well, you must be wondering how am I roaming freely in this house. Well for starters my house is adjacent to Singhania villa, secondly, my mom and Akshara aunty are best friends, and last but not least I am Mahira's best friend from when the day she was born. (Note- he calls Mahira as butterfly and Mahira calls him lucky)

"Hey beautiful, what are you preparing," I asked Akshara aunty entering the kitchen.

"Your favorite Aloo-Paratha," She said turning around and giving me her beautiful smile.

( Aloo paratha is an Indian dish that is prepared by stuffing the mixture of mashed potato and spices inside the dough and is heated on a hot Tawa with ghee or butter)

"Did you wake her up?" she asked

"Yeah, but let me tell you, aunty your future son-in-law will drop her back to this house after the first day of marriage" we both ended up laughing at my statement.

"Why don't you marry her then, you already are used to her behavior and I will be able to see my daughter every day" She queried seriously.

"We don't share such type of relationship to marry beautiful" I shrugged

We are much involved in the conversation that we didn't see butterfly entering the kitchen until she asked us about our discussion.

"Just about who are going to eat more parathas" I quickly added before aunty could tell her about the actual topic. Well, it will make us feel awkward, and I don't want to make her uncomfortable around me.

"Absolutely me" with that she took the plate in her hands and walked towards the dining table already stuffing one paratha in her mouth.

"Easy there, eat as many as you both can, I will prepare more" aunty shouted from the kitchen.

"Hmmm as always it's yummy, you have magic in your hands aunty, I should shift to your home permanently," I said enjoying my breakfast.

"As if you don't live most of the time here" I heard butterfly whispering.

"My godmother, her home, her cooked food my wish" I smirked.

"Well, newsflash darling, the woman you are talking about is my mother" I countered back.

"She became my God-mother before being your mother" he answered as if I don't know about it.

"Stop fighting like kids and eat fast, you both have to reach office before 9" aunty scolded us entering the dining hall carrying more parathas in a hot bowl.

With that, we stopped our banter for now and ate breakfast. After breakfast, we made our way towards the parking lot where my car is parked. Once she settled in the passenger seat, I drove the car out of the premises, wheeling towards Trident Group in which I am the CEO and butterfly is right now working as an IT head. She always comes by her car but today is an exception since her driver is on leave and uncle, Dhruv bhaiya are out of the country on a business trip. (bhaiya- brother)

Once they are on the premises of the company, Adi drove them towards the basement parking so that they both can enter the office separately. No one in the office or the outside world knows the face of Mahira Singhania, they want to keep her hidden from the media and business world so that she could enjoy a normal life.

I walked inside the building towards my cabin and pinged my PA to inform butterfly and Sam to directly come to the meeting room. By now you would have understood that even though I am butterfly's best friend she is two years younger than me, so when she was in school, she made Sam her second-best friend who irritates the hell out of me but I try to tolerate her as much as I can for my butterfly.

There was a knock on the door to which I answered to enter. "Everyone is waiting for you," my PA informed peeking inside.

"Let's go," I said making my way towards the conference room, nodding at the employees who greeted me. Once we reached my PA push the door open for me.

He stepped inside catching the attention of everyone present there who stood up in respect seeing him. He walked confidently, stopping in front of the u-shaped table, and nodded at them to settle down. He sat down after everyone else, opening the file laid in front of him.

"Let's start the meeting," he said gesturing towards Mahi to start the presentation.

She looked like an inexperienced young woman in front of them. Though it did make her feel nervous she can't back down, not after she reached till here. She knows her friend won't blame her if the meeting doesn't go the way they expected but she doesn't want to disappoint him. And so she gave the presentation, one of the best in her life. The silence in the room after she spoke scared her but she kept her cool composure. Soon lights were turned on and she heard the claps booming in the conference room.

Aditya turned towards their client who has a smile on his face showing how much he was impressed with the presentation. He has a proud look on his face, he knows his butterfly has the potential to convince anyone with her presentation skills, the reason why he put the most important deal of his company in her hands, that much he trusted her.

"I am impressed " Mr. Mehta the marketing director of AM Technologies replied.

"Let's meet directly in our Delhi headquarters next Thursday and sign the deal" He added after a few seconds.

"Ok" Adi replied.

Once the clients disappeared from the conference room Aditya made his way towards Mahi and hugged the life out of her showing how happy he was.

"This calls for a celebration" he yelled holding her shoulders once she broke the hug.

"Yeah let's go" she replied making her way towards Sam and gesturing for her to join them.

"I have work to do, you guys carry on" Sam replied taking her files from the table.

"We and you know the truth that you don't wanna join us cause of me" Aditya breathed out irritated.

"It's nothing like that, you are thinking too much" Sam countered back.

"Fine let's go, don't make that puppy look" she added back while looking at me.

Three of them made their way out of the office towards the parking lot discussing where to go and at last, they settled with MC Donald's.