Chapter Three: An Unresolved Past

4 years ago

Mahi

@Mannmohanaa

CHAPTER THREE 

An Unresolved Past

...

Anushka calmly greeted all the clients that were seated in the conference hall, after the presentation.

“I must say, such a short notice presentation seemed impressive,” the PR head of Symphony Systems told her.

“Yup, we’ve an accomplished team here, and a remarkable team lead as well" she responded, satisfied with the efforts.

She was indeed proud and beaming.

After everyone had left, she marched straight into his cabin.

“So, Mr. Team Lead, you did it.”

“Again,” stressed Varun, half chuckling.

“Yeah yeah, good.”

“Oh, I see. Good it is!”

“I’m sorry,” she quickly said.

“Wait what?”

But she had already left by the time he could get over the shock. 

As he followed her outside the cabin, the corridor boomed with colorful streamers and small round balloons.

“Congratulations!!!” yelled the whole staff. Anushka too couldn’t contain herself from smiling freely, still softly admiring him and his stupid fandom moments from a distance, as people huddled up to click selfies with the #SuperManager.

An office party was the inevitable outcome of grabbing a big contract in such adverse situations.

Antara seemed out of place. With everyone celebrating in groups to the rounds of drinks being passed, she found it odd. Weird. It was her first day technically and she had already disturbed the work flow and caused unintentional trouble. 

She was about to leave when Rachit waved at her from one end of the room. 

He signalled her to come up.

“Here, coffee" he said, half mockingly. It was a direct reference to their small accident.

“Yeah,” she said, smiling rather foolishly and carefully taking the cup.

Some random blaringly loud hip hop music started playing in the lobby.

The irritation on her face was visible. 

“Me too, ugh,” he said, noticing her expression.

“Can never get these” she rambled.

Rachit started hunting for his airpods on his desk. He instantly gave one to her and played his evergreen playlist.

“Wow, where did you get these from?” she asked.

“I don’t reveal my resources so easily" he teased.

“Alright, send it to me then!”

“Number please” he smiled, pleased with himself.

“That was quick and smooth. But since it’s music, here you go!”

She asked for his number and was about to call him when something diverted her mind.

“Dare you say that again!” Varun yelled at an employee. “You are expected to maintain decorum at all times" he said calmly but his hand on the other man's collar made the move anything but friendly.

Rachit and Antara looked at him in a state of shock. He was never THIS angry.

“What happened?” walked in Anushka. 

“Nothing, just random talks," Varun said, whilst tapping the other’s shoulder.

The man left in a flash, visibly unnerved. 

The whole jubilant mood went fuzzy in a minute. It was a wrap. 

“What just happened?” Antara asked.

“I… I don’t know” he said. “Let’s find out,” he told her to follow him.

“Murarilal, now don’t bother me so much" he nudged him. 

“Alright. So basically this group of guys were passing shady comments about Anushka's promotion and…”

“Gotcha,” he said, feeling suddenly enlightened. “Damn, should’ve guessed!”

He removed a green note from his pocket and handed it over. Corporate rules were stringent.

“I still don’t understand…”

“Oh lord. This one’s a long story. Some other day, I’m really tired.”

“Actually, wait. Let’s reserve this for tomorrow’s lunch time gossip.”

.

It was a long wait until the lunchtime. As soon as the clock struck 12.30, she walked into his cubicle. 

They settled on the corner table in the canteen.

“Sad story yaa. Varun and Anushka both had joined together two years ago. They were one of the most competent people the company had ever seen. They got along well too and in no time, became the most formidable team, capable of tackling anything. But then when the promotions and appraisals happened this year, a month ago to be precise, the Vice President’s post went to Anushka. A bit of a shocker cause Varun was clearly a little more accomplished than she was. And then the rift started, though I refuse to believe that the strong bond they had got affected by such a thing.”

“Wait but what’s this got to do with the fight?”

“There was a rumour that Anushka had unethically won the favor of someone extremely influential in the Board of Directors. And people still chat about it.”

Antara still kept wondering over the facts.

“I believe we’ve had enough of gossip for a day. So let’s leave?”

.

She looked at her watch again, for the nth time in the morning. Rachit was no where to be seen. His desk may empty and that was as surprising as red rain or blue sunshine. She was visibly irritated. 

It had been a little over a week after her joining and by now, she was used to his presence all this time. Afterall, he was the only one she could talk to, in the office.

“Coffee?” 

It was Anushka. 

Antara got up, taken aback.

“Don’t worry, I don’t bite pretty women” she laughed. Taking the mug from her hand, they slowly strolled their way to her cabin. 

She apologised for all the confusion ever since Antara came on board and it was only today she had realised they hadn’t made her feel welcome at all. 

After her client site details, she headed back to the HR to get her laptop and documents. And it was there she saw the list of on field employees and Rachit was one of them. He was posted in Bangalore for a week.

Also, the company seemed to be getting a big investment from Singapore, which had everyone in high spirits.

Elsewhere, Rachit stared blankly at the screen saver of his phone. Just when he was contemplating a hack into the employee database to get Antara's number, something flashed in the notification panel.

Hey. 

His face lit up. It was her!