Strange Aroma in the Elevator

Firewall

"What the hell do you mean by a bug in our program? Didn't you test it before deployment?" Miara yelled at the staff members, there was a continuous escalation in their software that got the software to behave abnormally.

Miara was furious at the responsible team. The manager of the team moved forward and bowed his head in shame "I'm sorry, I didn't train the new employees appropriately, they ended up making mistakes, I'm sorry," he apologized

Miara looked at him with narrowed eyes "You're fired," she announced, and no one interfered, the manager shivered in fear but didn't let out a word. He knew the consequences of making mistakes in Vibetech. "And all of you, forget about any hike and promotions this year,"

She was about to leave when one of the new employees stepped in "It was me, I failed to find the bug and the deployment escalated, please forgive Mr. Jha, he didn't do anything," a guy in his late thirties spoke looking down, there was pin-drop silence in the conference room, none of the older staff spoke a word knowing how bad this was going to end up.

Miara nodded her head at him "Fine, you're fired as well, pack your stuff and leave by the end of the day," she left after that. The employees looked at each other and gulped thanking their stars for not being at the end of her wrath.

Miara entered her office and pulled out her laptop, she looked at the code that caused all this mess, she groaned when she found the source of the problem, "I shouldn't hire newbies anymore, they made such silly mistakes that cost millions," she mumbled while solving the problem.

She gathered all the team members and explained how the code works and made them recreate it without any bugs, this time. That alone took up most of her time.

She tiredly pulled out her phone and called her only friend "Hey, " she said when he finally picked up.

"Hey, What's up?" He asked, his voice was cheerful as always.

She sighed "Do you wanna grab lunch?" He hummed before replying

"Sure but we have to eat here in my cafeteria, I have a scheduled surgery later," he said and they agreed to eat together.

She was about to escape from her office but Ronit stood by her car, she sighed looking at the outfit he was wearing, this was too much for a simple bodyguard, he wore a black two-piece suit with shiny formal boots, she approached him and looked at him signing.

"Can't you wear something a little low profile like jeans or something, I'm not going with you if you keep insisting on wearing this," she crossed her arms in front of her and glared at him, he rolled his eyes at her and opened the car door.

"This is my uniform, Miara, I have to wear this," he said before getting into the driver's seat, and he knew where she was heading so he just drove there.

"I'll pick you up later, have a good lunch," he yelled out the window when Miara slammed the door and walked away without talking to him, he chuckled at her little tantrum already being used to it.

He drove towards the parking lot and stayed there until she called for him which was highly unlikely.

She was wearing ripped jeans and a funnel shirt with sports shoes, her hair was pulled in a messy ponytail. people stared at her as she walks in, She hardly cared about her looks as she was naturally beautiful, she didn't have to put too much effort into her appearance.

"I'm here," she called him up and looked around for him as she waited around the waiting area.

" I'm almost there," he answered speed-walking towards her.

She hung up on him and sat on one of the chairs and she observed her surroundings and found a lot of new faces, as a resident Kabir has been working here for two years so that gave her a rough count of all the employees that worked here.

She saw Kabir approaching her and stood up, "What took you so long? Were you trying to starve me?" She rebuked him, he put his arm around her neck and pulled her closer.

"I was on the third floor and the elevator was acting up, stop being such a brat, and let's go," he pulled her nose while dragging her towards the cafeteria.

Both of them grabbed a full meal and sat on an empty table. "So, what happened?" He asked her as he chewed on the rise.

"There was an issue with the program, had to fire a couple of people today" she replied while putting adding chilies to her soup. He watched her as his face scrunched up looking at the number of chilies she kept adding to her soup.

"Stop eating spicy food, you will end up dead before your time," he told her taking the shaker away. She rolled her eyes at him and are her food.

"What's up with you today?" She asked him.

"Remember the new doctor I told you about, the neurologist, he operated on a very critical patient last night, was barely able to save him but it was so intense to watch, you should have been there you would know why I feel how I feel about him," he told her smiling like a fool.

Talking about an operation reminds her of the surgery she saw from the window. That was intense as well.

She pointed at his chin "there is something on your chin" she said and he rubbed it vigorously. "It's drool, your drooling, again," she teased him and he rolled his eyes at her.

"I'm serious, it was magnificent, oh there he is, don't look," she looked, she turned around and saw a doctor walking to stand in a line. "I told you not to look," he groaned but she ignored him

She checked him out, tall with broad shoulder, dark hair, brown skin, and good posture, there wasn't anything wow, about him the way Kabir kept phrasing him but there was hardly anyone she ever liked so he was considered average in her books.

She turned to look at her best friend and smiled as he waited for her approval "He is a catch, you should try asking him out," he ignored her because it was absurd.

"I don't even know if he likes guys, let's just push it in the future, but please don't overreact and spill in front of him," he begged her and she looked at him confused.

"Why?" She asked not getting it.

"Because he is walking in our direction, don't be yourself, and try to act normal," he warned her in a low voice

She looked at him annoyed with his bluntness but complied.

"Dr. Kabir, great work today, hello, I'm Raj Malhotra, nice to meet you," the doctor smiled at Miara introducing himself.

She smiled back at him " hello, I'm Miara Ahuja, Kabir's best friend, nice to meet you too," she replied tasing Kabir subtly through her eyes "why don't you join us," she gestured toward the chair next to Kabir and smiled when he sat down.

Kabir's face turned light pink as he smiled all teeth at the 'hot' doctor. She smiled at them.

"What were you talking about?" Dr. Raj asked eating his food.

"Miara was telling me about a problem in their company," Kabir answered for her.

"Your company?" He asked looking at Maira, she smiled at him.

"Yeah, I own the Vibetech," she said eating her food not waiting for his reply.

"Vibetech, oh the IT company that is collaborating with this hospital," he nodded his head connecting the dots.

Miara looked at him suspiciously, he figured the look on her face and explained himself "I heard it from the nurses when there was the breakout,"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about it, someone broke up our security system," Kabir looked tensed recalling the incident.

"Security breach in my software?" She asked him shocked "when?"

"The night before you left for Paris," he said drinking his water.

"Night before my flight... Oh," the bulb in her head lit up.

Kabir narrowed his eyes at her knowing the meaning behind her expression" What did you do?"

She smiled at him sheepishly "there wasn't a breach, I was testing the new upgrade in the software," Raj looked impressed with the revelation whereas Kabir looked annoyed.

"Why would you break-in in your software, the IT crew was on high alert," he asked stabbing the piece of carrot.

She played with the hem of her sleeve and smiled at him innocently "I was trying to test it in every possible way, including the unethical hacking," Kabir didn't seem surprised with her reckless behavior but Raj was almost at the edge of his seat with excitement.

"Damn, how did you do that? Don't you have to be, super-smart to break in like that," he asked dumbly, she gave Kabir a look, and he stared at her with warnings.

"It was my code so it was easy but it is highly impossible to break in if it is someone that isn't me," she explained going back to her food.

Dr. Raj nodded his head and ate his food, he looked behind her and called out to someone "Oh, Dr. Ayaan" he smiled at him.

Miara turned to look at the person behind her and saw the doctor from last night. Unknowingly she checked him out, he was taller than six feet, had dark silky hair, fair skin, and dark eyes, he had broad shoulders and the posture of his body was straight. But the empty expression on his face dulled his looks.

He nodded at Raj and went in the other direction, Maira turned back at Kabir and Raj, Raj looked embarrassed but covered it up with a smile.

"That's Doctor Ayaan Kapoor, he joined us a few days ago with other residents, He is a General Surgeon" Kabir explained finishing his food.

Raj laughed before speaking "We just call him Ice Prince, " Maira and Kabir shared a look

"Ice Prince? " she asked finishing her lunch as well.

"Yeah, the girls came up with the nickname during their college years, one of them is here with us, she said that he was their university topper but didn't have many friends, he was always alone and when someone approaches him he uses to shut them out or simply leave, as we could see he doesn't socialize much, but my father wants me to befriend him since he the best in his field," Raj explained stuffing his face with the last bite

Hearing Raj speak about that Doctor made Miara wonder about him, she turned her head to look for him and found him sitting in the far corner alone.

She shook her head and decided it wasn't worth her time and left after hugging Kabir tightly, he smiled at her as he walked to her car. They said their goodbyes

"Did you eat?" She asked Ronit the moment he drives off. He smiled ad her through the review mirror

"Yes, the most expensive meal, I billed it to the company so thanks for the meal," he got cheeky with her but she ignored him.

He laughed before driving towards Vibetech head office.