‘At least let Madhu aunty take care of you.’ He pulled his phone out of his pocket. ‘I’ll tell Dilip to bring the car.’
I’d spiral and drive myself insane if I had nothing to do all day.
‘Jai.’ I grabbed his wrist. ‘I promise I’m okay. I’m not going home.’
He studied me. I held his gaze, refusing to back down. ‘Fine. But I’m getting you some food. And I want you at your desk all day. No running around the office.’
That was the best I was going to get. ‘Yes, boss.’
Just as we walked out of his office, the elevator doors pinged open. Sharanji stepped out with his wife, son and Dadiji.
‘Jai sahab, Ananyaji, namaste!’ he greeted us.
‘Namaste,’ we replied in unison.
‘How are you?’ I asked.
‘Great, thanks to Bhagwan Krishna and the two of you,’ he said.
‘Oh, no, please, we didn’t—’
‘If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t even have dreamed of any of this,’ he said, waving his hand around, gesturing to the whole office. ‘We would have spent our entire lives in our little Bhagalpur. But you have transformed our lives. Thank you.’
Jai and I glanced at each other.
This is what he wanted to do. His Dadaji wanted to do.
‘We thankyou,’ Jai replied. ‘You—’
‘Sharanji, namaste!’ Vikram sir stepped out of his office and walked towards us.
And right beside him was Rekha.
She watched us both, trying to read the situation.
‘It doesn’t take much to connect the dots...You love him.’
My heart sank.
‘Mom,’ Jai said, surprised. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Vikram forgot a file at home. I thought it was important, so I brought it,’ she said. ‘Turns out it wasn’t.’
I lowered my eyes, forcing myself to remain calm.She’ll leave soon. In just a minute.
They made more small talk, but their voices garbled as though I was underwater. My breath shallowed.
‘… go.’
‘I’ll be right there.’
Footsteps faded.
‘Ananya.’ A warm hand touched my arm. ‘You sure you’re okay?’
I exhaled softly, looked up and nodded.
‘Take care,’ Jai said. ‘I’ll see you soon.’
