“This is bad Sree, Really bad !” said Shalu looking sideways at her manager and friend Sreekanth with concern. He has just shown her the latest quarterly reports of Omkari Sarees looking gloomy. He was supposed to present them at the upcoming board meeting that was happening the next day in front of the entire board of directors which included their boss Tanveer Omakari.
“I know Shalu. I know. A 10% drop in sales this time. It was 8% in the last quarter and 5% in the quarter before that. I only barely escaped, getting fired last time. I still get nightmares from the way he yelled at me in front of the whole board during the last meeting.” Sreekanth said shuddering at the memory. “This time I am surely done for.”
Shalu didn’t know what to say as she too thought he could be right. Tanveer was notorious for his boiling temper and firing people on the spot. Working closely with Sreekanth as the lead fashion designer for Omakari Sarees she was aware how hard he worked and the losses incurred wasn’t for lack of trying. She looked sadly at his sulking face and wished there was something she could do to help.
“Hey don’t loose hope now yet. ” Shalu said going around the table to stand beside him and patting him sympathetically on his shoulder. “Tanveer Sir might take it easy on you this time as its pandemic season. Its not just us. Most businesses are incurring losses.”
As always Sreekanth’s heart rate began to pick up as Shalu came close to him. As though being pulled by a powerful magnet his eyes automatically travelled to the her creamy waist. Shalu smirked and snapped her fingers in front of his face. “My face is up her Mister.”
“Mmmm not interested. This is a much more pleasant vision.” Sreekath quipped back laughing but not taking his eyes off of her waist. He knew Shalu didn’t really minded. He knew her well enough by now and had learned many of her tricks. Though she pretended otherwise Shalu was very much aware of the allure of her midriff and never hesitated to use it to her advantage. For instance whenever she wanted to ask something of Sreekanth that he won’t usually allow, like taking extended leaves and asking other favors she would make sure she is flaunting her creamy hips to its full effect and capture his attention before asking it. And he in turn in his horny and captivated state ends up giving Shalu whatever she asks for.
Shalu flicks his forehead and says with mock anger “Hey stop that! We are having a serious discussion here”. And moves her pallu to better cover her waist for good effect. Sreekanth pouts and finally looks up and sheepishly grin at her mock angry face which somehow made her look even cuter. What was it about her that made her so alluring? He wondered. Suddenly an idea flashed to his mind.
“Hey Shalu !! I have an idea. What if you do the presentation in my place?” he asked suddenly.
Shalu was taken aback at the odd request. “Me? How is that going to help? Are you trying to get me fired as well along with you?”
“Of course not. Don’t be silly. But you presenting may help tame his temper down and potentially save my job. You have that effect on people.“
“I highly doubt that is going to help at all Sree. Besides, it is a board meeting. Only upper-level management is going to be there. It would make no sense for me to even participate.“
“Oh don’t be silly Shalu. You are our top designer. Everybody knows and respects you. Your views and opinions are highly valued by everyone. Nobody is going to question you being there.”
“Perhaps! Still, I can’t see how me doing the presentation is gonna make any difference. The results are still the same. The only difference it will make is that instead of just you, I will also end up being at the receiving point of his wrath.”
“I highly doubt that. Because I have never seen him so much as raise his voice against you while he rolls over everyone else here like a bulldozer. He likes you and values you. Just do what you always do when you want something from me. Look pretty, put on that dazzling smile, and flaunt these yummy curves.” He says and teasingly pokes Shalu’s waist with the back of his pen. The reaction was instantaneous. Shalu breaks out in giggles and scoots away with a “Hey !! Stop that.” But doesn’t reprimand him nor deny his claims. She was used to such occasional teasings from him. But as he always stayed within limits of her comfort levels she didn’t really mind it.
“So what do you say? “ He asks again.
Shalu thought about what he said. There was some point what he said. Tanveer had never raised her voice against her and did give her a lot of respect. Plus she also found him quite attractive.
“Fine. But if I do this, you will owe me big time Mr.Sreekanth Shivraj. Because what you are asking me to do is nothing short of jumping in front of an angry tiger.” she says mockingly pointing her index finger in front of his nose.
“Absolutely!! Help me out and I will owe you big time. You can ask anything you want.” Sreekanth says looking happy and relieved.
“Hmm Fine. I’ll do it.”
*******************************************
Tanveer Omkari was a genius. But he was also an extremely short-tempered and impatient man. Perhaps this eccentric nature of his was what made him the most successful CEO, Omkari Enterprises ever had. After taking over the leadership of the family business from his father Rajveer Omkari over a decade ago he has grown the once small garment business into a giant conglomerate. Omkari Sarees was quickly becoming one of the most sought after saree brands in India. And the new jewelry business venture Omkari Diamonds and Jewellers was also looking promising. Getting on his wrong side was a nightmare for most of his employees especially the top-level management who answered directly to him as he was notorious for firing his employees on a whim whenever things don’t go the way he expected.
This was the reason why Sreekanth, the Manager of Omkari Sarees was sitting terrified in the meeting room as the board meeting went underway. Tanveer already seemed to be in a bad mood as he rounded up on the manager of his budding Jewellery Business, Xavier. And it was his turn next as soon as he was done with him.
“Seriously Xavier? These are the best models you could find for doing our jewelry ad?” Tanveer asked aghast. Xavier wanted to yell back an indignant ‘Yes!’ because they were indeed the only models he could find that were willing to do the ad. But something told him doing that was a sure-fire way to lose his job. So he smartly kept quiet and let Tanveer do his ranting.
‘What is the most basic requirement I told you that our model should have,” Tanveer asked in a deadly calm yet menacing voice.
Xavier, gulped nervously as he answered. “That she should have a well-maintained belly and a beautiful navel.”
“Oh, so you do remember that. Then please tell me which one of these skinny wenches you brought me even remotely fits that description?” Tanveer exploded sliding the laptop he was viewing the profiles on across the table in his direction. Xavier winced as he brought up his hands to catch the laptop in time.
“It’s not that these were the best I could find Sir. It’s just that these were the only ones that were willing to perform the scenes required to do this ad. Perhaps if we change up the scenes a little. Remove that sword scene for example…More models will come forward”.
Tanveer breathed hard. “That sword scene you just mentioned is the most crucial scene of this whole ad. It is the scene that I am banking on the most. It is the scene that will imprint the name of our brand in the minds of public. Removing that scene is non-negotiable.”
Shalu who was seated beside Sreekanth on the opposite side of the table observed the proceedings with interest. Navel? Sword Scene? Unwilling models? What the hell was going on? Working entirely in the garment division Shalu was cut off from the proceedings of other departments and had little to no idea what was going on there.
“I understand sir. But all the models and actresses we had on our top preference list declined the offer despite the huge sum of money we offered. They are not comfortable doing scenes that will objectify and bring attention to their navel at such a huge scale.”
“We are not settling for mediocrity just because some of them declined the offer, Xavier. Reach out to more modeling agencies. Reach out to more actresses. I am giving you one more month to find a suitable candidate. One more month !!. I don’t want to hear any more excuses. Is that clear?” Tanveer asked warningly.
Xavier nodded looking highly relieved at being off the hook for the time being. “Ofcourse. Thank You sir. I won’t let you down.”
Tanveer gave him one last warning look before turning his attention to Sreekanth. “Sree…, you are up !!.”
Sreekanth gulped and turned towards Shalu. She nodded and stood up bracing herself for the impending disaster. “Sir, Shalini will present the report in my place.”
Tanveer’s lips stretched into a rare smile as Shalu stood up along with Sreekanth. He nodded indicating he doesn’t mind at all. And judging by the sudden pique of interest around the table at the sight of Shalu, nobody else minded either.
Shalu took a deep breath and walked towards the presentation screen placed on the wall as Sreekanth hooked up the projector into his laptop and began playing the slides. And Shalu started her magic. She smiled dazzlingly at the men seated all around the table, enjoying the sight of them caving under her sensual appeal and charisma as she started her presentation.
Earlier in the day, before coming to the meeting room she had briefly stepped into the washroom to apply some last-minute makeup and pulled down the waistline of her designer net saree an extra few inches than she usually does. She carefully adjusted the pleats to expose a generous amount of her curvaceous waist yet made sure it was covering her sexy navel although only by a few centimeters.
As a result of that tiny preparation she now had the undivided attention of every single person in the room. Though the figures and statistics she was presenting were far from ideal, everyone kept looking at her as though she was presenting the most wonderful news in the world. It was obvious from their looks that they couldn’t care less about what she was saying and were more interested in enjoying the sight of her mesmerizing waist. Because of the sheer nature of the net saree, she was wearing they could also see dark outlines of her gorgeous navel lying hidden behind that piece of fabric. They were following every movement of her body, hoping for a single slip that would bring out that sacred pit out in the open for everyone to behold and they didn’t want to miss the sight even if it happened just for a few milliseconds.
Even Sreekanth who was no stranger to these tricks of Shalu, watched her performance in awe and excitement. Whenever she wanted to take extra long leaves or some other favors from him she would switch into this seductive mode that starts with a subtle cock of her hips that jut out that delicious expanse of her mesmerizing waist in a alluring way. The sight would instantly make him weak on his knees. Add to that her mouthwatering navel which she lets play peek and boo behind her pallu with subtle movements, he would pretty much goes blank. He would let her get away with just about anything when she was being like that mostly because he would be too entranced by her sensuality to notice anything she was saying.
And today he was hoping she would perform her belly enchantment on the room at large. He took a subtle look around and sniggered to himself watching the entranced faces of those old buggers. And then he caught sight of Tanveer’s face. Sreekanth could tell he too was enjoying the visual delight of just watching Shalu. But unlike the others he wasn’t oblivious to the things she was saying. He seemed to be hanging on to her every word and wasn’t looking entirely too pleased. That was not a good sign. Shalu was only one slide away from presenting the portion that contained the graphical representation of garment sales in the last 4 months now. Just as he dreaded as soon as that slide came on screen Tanveer’s eyes narrowed. He suddenly turned his gaze towards him, anger writ on his face. Sreekanth could almost sense the impending explosion.
But then something amazing happened. Tanveer turned his gaze towards Shalu one more time and his anger immediately evaporated from his face and got replaced with a look of someone who has just found some long lost treasure he has been looking for. Sreekanth followed his eyes to see what has grabbed his attention like that and froze on his seat himself as he was presented with a sight he himself has only seen a few times.
Shalu who has been observing Tanveer’s reactions out of the corner of her eyes decided to take out the final trick in her playbook. A last ditch attempt to tame down his temper. She raised her hands pretending to adjust her flowing mane of wavy hair which she has left loose over her shoulder giving her saree pallu the tiny shift it required to bring her stunning navel out in the open. And it had the desired effect she was hoping for. Tanveer’s expression froze as his eyes immediately beheld one of the biggest and beautiful navel he ever saw in his entire life. He stared at her navel without blinking as though afraid the vision will disappear if he so much as blinked. And it wasn’t just him. Shalu heated up feeling the penetrating gaze of every single person in the room boring into her navel. Though she would let her navel play peek and boo behind her pallu a lot of times it was a extremely rare sight for her to put it out on open display like she was doing now. She had never done this even with Sreekanth. But then again he was never that hard to please as just flashing her side waist alone with momentary flashes of her navel does the job. She checked his reaction now and inwardly smirked at his utterly gobsmacked expression at the sight of her navel. She had the full room under the spell of her navel now.
Blushing furiously Shalu decided to quickly conclude her presentation and get out of there before Tanveer had a chance to get back his bearings. However, before she could proceed any further she was stopped by Tanveer with a raise of his arm. She was slightly taken aback. It still didn’t work on him?
Tanveer abruptly stood up with a small bang on the table that immediately captured the attention of everyone in the room on him. “Thank you for that beautiful presentation Shalini. ” He said looking at her with small smile. Shalu nodded confused.
“Gentleman !! Thank you for coming. This meeting is adjourned. You may all go now.” He said looking at the room in large. Everyone looked at each other confused at the abrupt way in which Tanveer concluded the meeting.
“Sreekanth, Shalini and Xavier. Meet me in my office before you go. Rest of you have a great day ahead.” he told to the room at large. He turned to look at Shalini and like being pulled by some unknown magnetic force, his attention was drawn towards her navel again. This time however Shalini readjusted her pallu to cover her navel wondering if Tanveer has caught on to her little trick. Tanveer smirked at her before turning and walking out of the meeting room.