Mr.CEO, Say You Remember Me

It's freaking 6: 30 a.m. in the morning and she had to drive 7 kilometres for nothing!

Anger was burning like hellfire inside her, she is still trying to adjust in this place, she never wanted to return, she never wanted to trust anybody here; but despite everything, her love for her cousin Sia was the only thing she couldn't win against. She shook her head and once again thought of negotiating and tried to convince the supplier to hand over the sample to her.

Listen! I am saying this for the last time- I am Manya Rahal, the famous designer from Milan! How can you not know me? And the reason I don't have a valid ID is that it's only been two days since I have joined ARMA's fashion house and it will take time to get one, but I really need to wrap up this work as soon as possible, so that I can go back...you can call and ask somebody for confirmation!

But she also knew that it wasn't going to work: due to her bad habit and second stage of Prosopagnosia (a disorder where a person can't remember faces), she didn't have anybody's number from the office saved in her phone apart from the HR and the Director; neither did she know anybody in this city- the city which was always supposed to be her home...but never felt like one....and the city which does feel like home, or which felt like her home once upon a time ....she had no way back to!

She shook her head again, after hearing 'no' for the second time and left the place with a volcano of anger inside her, which was about to explode. She put her foot on the accelerator, speeding her SUV above 110km/hr, taking full opportunity of the clear roads in the morning and cursing her life decisions, regretting not taking rest and still feeling the jet lag. It had almost been ten years since she left for Milan and many things had changed in this city as well. Her thoughts were taking her to an unknown maze of her own memory... totally lost to the world. Alas!

A man riding a bicycle bumped in front of the SUV. She slammed her foot on the brakes with all of the energy left in her body.

After gaining his balance back the boy looked at the SUV to confirm if the driver was safe or not,but he didn't know this near-accident was going to change his life. He saw the girl in the pink hoodie with her hair all over her face; he was dumbstruck, meanwhile the girl had opened the door and was now standing in front of him .

"Hey are you okay? Look, I am sorry but it's not entirely my fault- you bumped into me- but don't worry, I know I was wrong as well, so I am willing to pay for it. Please come to ARMA's in the afternoon, I will provide compensation for your bike," she said the whole thing without taking a breath and only looking at the bike without even glancing at the face of the boy once.

Arjun came back to his senses after hearing ARMA's: he was totally lost, seeing Manya after 12 freaking years...only God knows how much he had tried to find her and she was this close all time- in ARMA...and why wasn't she shocked- or happy to see him?

"Are you alright ? Do you not know the address ? It's okay, give me your contact details, I will ask my assistant to contact you", he realised she had been talking all this while.

"Ahm! If you don't mind please give me your contact details instead, I will contact you!"

He finally managed to blurt out, still in a daze.

Manya thought for a second and then she decided to give him the number because she was already tired from the negotiation, she didn't want another one...

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She was on the reception standing rigid, her face getting red with anger- complementing her red dress.

"How many times do I need to repeat myself that my name is not Minni and I don't know anybody in this city, so I don't know who this 'Juno' is!"

She was exploding on the poor receptionist when she got interrupted by a call, she checked the phone and saw 'ISH <3' flashing on the screen. She quickly picked the call and started talking, totally unaware of the fact that two eyes were set intently on her.

"Ish! I will kill you if I don't find you standing by me by tomorrow, keep this in mind. How dare you miss your flight, I am missing you like hell here....yeah I love you too, but I am not afraid of murdering you if you are not here by tomorrow...Now I am hanging up, I have some shit to deal with here...nah, nothing serious...

I just received some stupid flowers for some 'Minni' from an idiot who called himself 'Juno'.... I am not exactly complaining, the flowers are indeed my favourite- don't tell me you have sent these, it will add one more reason for your murder, because you know how much I hate these stupid nicknames.

Okay,then you are safe... anyways I am hanging up... yeah bye, love you more... and you better show up by tomorrow."

Having heard all of this, Arjun was feeling an anxious knot in his stomach and a rush of sudden anger towards the guy who was on the call. He was so devastated by the fact that Manya didn't even recognise him, she had also completely forgotten about him.

How could she forget him... he had been her only friend till the eighth standard... and had that incident never happened, he might still be the only one as well. So in the morning it was not like she hadn't recognised him... but rather, she didn't remember him at all.

Now what he was supposed to do and did she already have someone in her life... was he going to lose her just after finding her?

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"Mumma, who is this little girl in Messo's lap?"

This was the first interaction of little Juno with his little Minni.

"She is going to be your best friend Arjun, just like me and your Messo are!"

"Mumma is this mean she will never gooo away? She will play with me, I can share my toys with her if she wants... I will even give her my Transformer robot if she wants... can we keep her with us? Mumma please.... pleeeeasee...."

He was pleading with his puppy eyes, making his mother and Messo laugh.

When he didn't get the response from his mother, he shifted his gaze to his lovely Messo and started pleading again.

"Messo, please if she is my best friend, can't I keep her? I promise, I will be a good boy and will not fight with her, she is too cute to have fight with... but why she is not talking, maybe she don't like me?

Does she not want to be friends with me... or live with me? Messo you know, I always get bored whenever you are not here because mumma and daddy always have to go to work... I don't like to stay with Nanny... pleeeasee, please, pleeease let her stay with me!"

"Hihi, hihi... eww funny!" (You are funny!)

These were the first words he heard from her mouth, followed by;

"How can I stay here wis eww, I have my momma also na, I can't sleep without her, eww dumb! Hihi."

(How can I stay here with you... you are dumb!)

"Bad manners Manya, you know that teasing somebody is not a good habit, say sorry to Arjun... now!"

"I don't say sorry Massi, I am never wrong! Daddy calls me princess and princesses are never wrong. I won't say sorry, I won't!"

She shook her head vigorously, and it felt like she was about to cry any moment now. Arjun noticed that, and said quickly;

"It's okay Messo, she is right, she also has to go home... but can she please come to play with me?"

Manya smiled and nodded,then suddenly popped a question- "How old are eww?"

Arjun smiled at how the little one was still learning the vocab and pronunciation and replied,

"I am 3 years old and how old are you?"

"Eww are a big boy. I will be two years old, tomorrow is my birthday, will eww come to my home?"

"Yes, but where do you live? I have never seen you at Messo's house before?"

"Aeei why are eww calling her 'Messo' she is my Massi , her name is Massi... eww donn know?" (You don't know?)

"No she is Messo, her name is Messo, you don't know!"

He replied, clearly agitated.

It seemed like they were about to fight but before they got interrupted by the elders, Arjun suddenly changed his statement and said,

"Yeah I think you are right! I called her 'Messo' because I am dumb... sorry!"

"Heyy don't call eww- urself dumb, eww are not dumb... we just learn everyday, eww learn today... Do you have teddy? I wanna play... or car?"

(Hey, don't call yourself dumb, you are not dumb... we just learn everyday, and you learnt this today. Do you have a teddy? I wanna play... or a car?)

"Ohh I have both, let's go! Come to my room, come, I'll show you my toy collection. You know, my dad got me a new hot wheels set from his trip to...." as they left the room, Meenal and Swara looked at them, amused.

Meenal looked at her best friend with her eyes widened with amusement. She had a smile on her face as she exclaimed,

"Did you notice that?I have never seen Arjun behaving like this- he was acting so mature. I also really don't want Manya to leave this house-"

She was in the middle of her sentence when she got interrupted in between by Swara,

"Oh really? You too want me to be dead meat by leaving the precious, one and only daughter of the house at your place?! It's never gonna happen, so tame your imaginations- for now at least, I know your biggest dream was to see our children get married to each other but we have to wait!"

Meenal understood the message Swara was trying to convey, but she really was whipped for the cute girl, just like her son was! Just like him, she didn't want her to leave either, but she knew that it was really not possible at that moment.

However, she also had some solace in the fact that this would surely be possible someday... so she was relaxed, at least for now.

"Okay so tell me how's Sagrika Di (elder sister) and Manav Jiju (brother-in-law), and why are they not here with you?"

"Ah! Easy girl, easy- they had to preside over the preparations for the 2nd birthday of their only terror child! Like literally, Manya has got all the stubbornness from Di and an attitude with her quick temper from jiju.

It's really the first time she is playing with anybody whom she has met for the first time. She really has the princess attitude who can rant anytime to any of her subservient creatures in her castle- and by castle I mean,the whole world is her castle according to her! God knows how this girl will survive with this attitude."

"Oh come on, Swara! You are just going overboard now, but wait! Tomorrow is her birthday, right? My Goodness! She is really Arjun's soulmate: his birthday is on January 27, remember? And tomorrow is June 15, exactly 139 days after his birthday!"

"Seriously, Meenal? Nevermind, now I have to go... Let's have a look at what the kids are doing."

"Please don't go!"

"But I have to... but I will again come to play, promise!"

"Pinky promise?"

He extended his finger hesitantly, looking towards his new friend for assurance.

Manya grabbed his finger immediately with her own and squealed,

"Yes, pinky promise!"

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Knock knock! "May I come in, sir?"

Arjun came back to reality after hearing the knock on his door, "Yes, come in."

"Sir, you asked me to bring you these files before 15th June."

15 th June? Oh shit! How could he forget that it was her birthday the next day? He had never forgotten this date earlier, then how could this date have slipped from his mind? So she was asking the person to be with her tomorrow, not because she didn't not know anybody here but because she was feeling lonely... with this thought a smile also appeared on his face,eyes twinkling with mirth.

"So basically you have not changed completely...."

He murmured as he stood up and walked outside of his office, leaving his assistant completely in shock because it was the first time in three years that he had flashed such a huge smile in front of anybody.

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He stopped when he realized he was standing in front of Manya, who was asking him if he needed something with an irritated expression on her face.

Is she not recognizing me again? How can this happen, we just met today...!

"Ahm! Excuse me! Hello, mister- do you need something? May I help you, because you are standing in the entrance and blocking the entire passage. Please step aside."

He answered without thinking much, because somehow he knew that if Manya got angry it would be nearly impossible to even talk back to her, ever again in this lifetime-

"Ah! Actually we met today in the morning,remember my bike? You asked me to come here for the compensation?"

"Oh! Yeah, I recognize your voice. I am really sorry, I can't remember faces. So tell me how much does it cost?"

Can't remember faces? What does she mean ? He was looking at her in full shock,mouth agape.

She understood the situation and replied,"Actually I have been diagnosed with second stage of prosopagnosia, this is why I can't remember faces. But it's totally okay- there are few faces I want to remember anyway, and luckily I remember them well. So don't get stressed and tell me how much your bike costs?"

"An evening!"

"An evening? Pardon!"

"Actually tomorrow is my best friend's birthday and I don't have any friends in this city; I don't want to celebrate her birthday alone this year like I always have had to. So can you please keep me company-" as he was speaking, he noticed the change of colours on her face and he knew that the girl from his memories would kill him before he could finish the next sentence, he might be the youngest business tycoon in the city but that was none of her concern.

Before she could interrupt,.he smiled and resumed speaking. "I am sorry I'm really bad at jokes and pick up lines, but the part about tomorrow being my best friend's birthday is true. So can you please accompany me?"

"Hmm? It's totally okay, you don't have to say sorry-It was not your fault, I was just thinking of something. Did I scare you with my face? I apologize,I really can't help with my expressions! And I am sorry once again, I really can't come tomorrow because I don't believe in celebrating birthdays and I don't like attending parties related to birthdays,or you can put it this way- I don't really like to attend parties!"

'I don't believe in celebrating birthdays'?!

What does she mean? How can she not celebrate birthdays: is this the same girl who used to get excited one month before her birthday and awaited new surprises everyday...? What happened to her? How did she get such a change in her personality, and what did she mean that she had prosopagnosia? What happened to her photographic memory , which had been capable of remembering almost everything that ever came across her eyes...

Is this the right time to reveal that I am her childhood friend Juno, or should I wait till I figure out the entire situation?

He was in the middle of his thoughts while he felt a sudden push and saw a well-built man rushing towards Manya.

Wait what...? He was hugging her?! No wait! He kissed her on her forehead... What's going on!?

"Aww! How is my baby? Isn't she happy to see me?", while he was still processing everything that had happened, he heard these sentences from the man's mouth. 'I will kill you!'- the thoughts in his mind and Manya's voice had the same timing with the same exact words!

"How could you scare me by saying that you have missed your flight? I am really gonna kill you! Just keep this in mind! And where the hell were you- and why were you pulling these kinds of pranks on me? You know I got scared by the thought that you would not be with me tomorrow! I was really worried and scared at the same time thinking that I have to be all alone tomorrow," Manya was going on without pausing for a moment.

"Oho! Relax girl, take a deep breath. I know my bestfriend very well and even better than she knows herself - how could you believe that I would ditch you on the worst day of your life? Just take deep breaths, I am here with you now and you don't have to be scared anymore. Don't worry, we will go back to Milan- most probably by next month. And again, I am really sorry that I have made you the head designer for this project but you know that you are the best, and nothing but the best would do for me; no one can ever replace you. And now tell me, how is Sia?"

"She was thrilled to see me! Let me wrap up the work for today and we can go visit her."

'Best friend'- this word had pinched Arjun's heart so hard that he was still reeling from the pain...This was way worse than the thought of her having a boyfriend.

He didn't know why he was having this strange urge to snatch her hand from within the man's hand and hide her somewhere, where nobody could find her, hurt her...Wait, what did he mean by 'the worst day of her life'? Didn't he know it was her birthday the next day? What is going on?! And why do I find the face of this man familiar?

While Arjun had been zoned out, Ishaan had already noticed him. Walking towards him, he offered his hand, speaking,"Hello, Mr.Chauhan! I am Ishaan Arena, CEO of ARENA's fashion house. It's nice to finally meet you."

While he was introducing himself, Manya interrupted him. "Wait what! You are the CEO of ARMA's?! Then why did you hide the truth this morning and just now as well?"

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