"Ruhan... What is my schedule for the day?" I ask clearly having by far the worst day of my twenty seven year long life. I had not slept the previous night correcting the new contract to our terms and making it more profitable for us yet more appealing to my partner.

Well that is business.

I had downed four cups of black coffee and two glasses of warm water trying to push away the sleep and finish the work fast so that I could get the deal signed by today afternoon and then move on to analyse the quarter year reports given by the finance department. That had already been verified by Ruhan.

"Nothing sir... After you sign the deal. You have to catch a flight to Kolkata." He said and I turn my chair towards him finally breaking eye contact with the draft of the papers.

"Why?" I asked practically glaring at him.

He shuddered under the intensity of my gaze and then his trembling hands slid a piece of  paper to me. Showing me, my cleared schedule.

I rub my throbbing temple.

"Why have you cleared it? Have I asked you to do so?" I asked his in a calm tone even though calmness was the last feeling on earth that I was feeling right now.

"Sir... Actually. Your.. Your."

"My what?" I asked and leaned back on my chair.

"I asked him to clear up your schedule Anurag." I sigh closing my eyes calming down my raging nerves as I hear my stepmother speaking to me. She wasn't like the typical back stabbing bitchy step mothers. She was like Yashoda.

After my mother died giving birth to me. My father's family forced him to remarry. After a lot of denial he finally agreed to the wedding.

My Aanshi maa is the only mother I have known since I could understand life. She is the one who took care of me. She is the one who made me who I am today.

She loved me like her own child and even gave the feeling of every going through pregnancy for me.

She was like an angel to me. An angel my mom sent for me. To take care of me after she left. And I would never say no to her.

"Maa..." I sighed trying to push back my tiredness and smiled softly at her.

"Why did you stay all night long again working in your office?" She asked walking towards me and taking a seat on the chair in front of my desk.

"I had work maa." I said trying to convince her.

"I haven't seen your face in three days baccha." She said with a pained look on her face.

"I'm sorry maa." I apologised genuinely.

"You can't keep eating this food. You don't come home. You don't sleep. Only work, work and work. And 2 litres of black coffee." She glared at the cups of black coffee lines on the table.

"Maa... I needed to stay awake." I tried to reason.

"One can stay awake well after taking a short and effective sleep for a minimum of 5 hours. Work for nineteen hours but sleep for five hours. No no work for seventeen hours. Two hours for eating and bathing and stuff and five hours of sleep!" She says trying to reason with me.

"Maa... Maa... calm down I get what you mean. After I get this partnership I will come home everyday. And have dinner and sleep on time."

"You will have to. Or else what will your poor wife do without you ever around?" She asked with a sudden teasing smile adorning her lips.

"My wife?" I looked at Ruhan and he looked away from me in fear.

"Why are scaring that poor guy. Ask me if you want to know?" Maa snapped her finger in front of my face and my undivided attention lands back at her.

"Yes maa. When did I get a wife?" I ask not able to suppress my glare.

"You don't have one. Yet." She said and she started giggling a little.

"Yet? Never. Maa, I can't love any girl. I have already gone on  those blind dates that you set up for me a year ago. Not a single one of them was interesting. They all were the same boring type of woman."

"I play the piano. I like to sketch. I like to look after the house and take care of thing and organize them. I would want to have any number of children my husband wants." I recite their words in a monotonous voice and hear Ruhan snort behind me.

"Literally every single one of them said the same thing. And there were a minimum of twelve girls you had selected." I groaned

"Well... I hadn't exactly asked to you to meet all twelve of them in a span of twelve day with a time slot of twenty minutes per woman." She huffed and crossed her leg one top of the other and leaned back on the chair.

"Well, I don't really have much time to spare on bullshit and distractions." I said looking back at the paper in my hand and then shoving it in Ruhan's hand.

"Type the changes, print the papers and get them back in file." I say and he takes the paper carefully.

"By when sir?" He asked trying to hide his fear.

"Forty minutes." I say and he rushes out of the room to get the work done immediately.

This is exactly why I liked Ruhan as a secretary. He was focused on his work. And did what I asked him to do with in that time span. He was resourceful and the kind of person who I needed as a workaholic and perfectionist.

"So, you will meet her." Maa said finally and I stood up from my chair and spun on my heels looking away from her.

"I will. Cause when do I not listen to you?" I asked my voice turning flat.

"Anurag Roy. This is not a blind Date. It is a marriage proposal. She is one of college classmate's daughter and is very beautiful. She is different from everyone you met Anurag." Maa said trying to convince me.

"She is a woman. How can she be any different?" I asked practically rolling my eyes.

"And what is a woman according to you?" Maa asked clearly offended by the remark.

"Maa... I didn't mean it like that. It's just that every woman I have ever met is just... not attractive to me in that way at all. I just feel like loving, having a wife and stuff is not meant for me. I respect women. The only woman who I actually even care about is you and my biological mother." I say trying to convince her taht I am not meant for marriage.

"Anurag... It's because you haven't met The Woman. You have seen women. Met them. Spoken to them. But you haven't met your woman. You have not met the one for you. You haven't met the woman  who will steal your breath away. You haven't met the woman who will fill your life with every kind of joy. Even the kinds you never knew about. So... give this proposal a chance... Please. At least for me... Please my baccha?" She asked softly walking up from her chair and standing in front of me.

"This is not done... maa. You always use your mom card on me. Fine I will meet her." I say and she looks at me as if I missed a part of the sentence. I sigh deeply closing my eyes. "And I will give this proposal a genuine chance." I complete the sentence and she pulls in into a warm hug.

"Thank you, Beta." She whispered softly.

I wrap my arms around her shoulder and place my chin on the crest of her head.

"Don't disown me by thanking me maa. I am your son only." I say trying not to feel the huge lump in heart at hearing a small simple thank you from her.

"Do you want to see her picture?" She asked looking at me.

"I don't need to see her picture maa. I am meeting her today only. I know she must be different if you said so. I trust you."

I say half heartedly.

This is just a marriage proposal.

Just a proposal.

I can always say No.