I wish I could disappear right now.

"Uh, Janice, this is my colleague Jeet," I reply, my face heating up in embarrassment.

"Oh gosh! I am so sorry," Janice claps her hand to her mouth, "I mistook him for your husband. I mean, you just disappeared one day and we heard stories that you eloped with your secret lover.. I just assumed ..I.. I am so sorry." Janice stutters, clearly mortified at the blunder.

Derek nudged her, "We're getting late," he nods towards the road.

"We have a flight to catch for the next leg of our honeymoon. It was so nice meeting you Tarana. Let's connect on Insta," Janice gives me her username and a long hug before leaving.

After they left, I turn to Jeet. Gone was his relaxed demeanor from a few minutes ago. His lips were pursed tightly, his expression stony.

"Janice was always a chatterbox," I laugh nervously, "She has foot in mouth syndrome." Jeet doesn't reply, instead concentrating on stopping a cab. As I sit in the cab, Jeet closed the door after me.

"I have some work in the vicinity," he says, looking down. "You go ahead, I will come after some time." With that he turns on his heels and walks away, not giving me a chance to say anything.

As the cab heads to the train station, my mind is racing with the things Janice said. "you just disappeared"...... "we heard stories" ......"you eloped".... "your secret lover."

O dear Lord! What lies have they spread about me? They almost ruined my life, and if that wasn't enough, they also ruined my reputation.

It's been nearly six years and I believed that I could finally put my past behind me, but now it came back to haunt me.

"Baba, Ma, I miss you guys so much. This would never have happened if you were still around."

My parents protected me, cocooned me from the harsh realities of the world. As long as they were there, I never experienced the ugly side of life. But once they were gone, my life changed forever. Unwittingly, tear flow down my cheeks.

The cab driver glances at me from his rearview mirror, but wisely does not say anything. I wipe my tears away. "Get a grip on yourself Tarana! Crying is not going to change anything," I rebuke myself once more.

I have to pull myself together. No matter what rumors are spread against me, I know the truth and that's enough. I no longer have to answer to anyone. It's me against the world and I am ready to face all odds. Living in a city like Mumbai helps builds one's resilience and grit. That's what Mumbai has done for me - it made me mentally stronger. I can take care of myself now.

********************************

I reach the office and brief Nivedita on my meetings and the deals I have struck with the newspapers. She seems satisfied but does not say anything except for an occasional 'OK' or 'fine.'

After my debriefing, I go back to my work station and look around the department. No sign of Jeet. I ask Purvi and Khushboo, but they haven't seen him either.

The rest of the day flies in a blur with the reports and ad campaign material that I have to come up with in addition to coordinating the arrangements for the launch.

At 3:45 in the evening I receive a call from Nivedita. "Tarana," as usual she is brisk and curt, "There is a meeting to discuss the preparations for the launch in the XMR in 15 minutes. You need to be there."

I collect my notes, agreements with the newspaper and other materials for the meeting and head to the executive board room on the 17th floor.

The Executive Meeting Room or Ex.M.R. now further shortened to XMR is the largest of the many meeting rooms in this building. It is usually reserved for meetings with VIP guests or with the Board of Directors.

XMR was filling up with the Vice Presidents and Heads of Departments. Some came alone and some with their assistants. The VPs & HODs sat around the conference table with their assistants sitting on the chairs behind, near the wall. I take a seat behind the chair designated for Nivedita, who sat next to her boss, Mr. Madan Uppala, Vice President of Business Development.

The meeting was being chaired by the General Manager Mr. Asif Kashazgi.

Nivedita hurries in, fashionably late as usual, making sure that all eyes are on her, mumbling insincere apologies for being stuck with 'urgent' work.

As I look at her making her way to her chair, I spot Jeet sitting alone in a far corner of the room opposite to me, in one of the 'assistants' chair. Cold caramel eyes meet mine, which he quickly shifts to look at the speaker.

I turn my attention to Mr. Kashazgi who is briefing everyone on the reason for re-launching of the brand of DeGlobal. DeGlobal has multiple businesses but so far, they each have their own separate identity. The idea is to unify all the businesses under one corporate identity and raise the status and value level of the brand. It also will roll out the plan for the use of smart technology as well as being environment friendly through all its various businesses.

There were lots of oohs and aahs as Mr. Kashazgi spoke of the various plans and details of the future growth of the Company. For some reason, the GM kept glancing towards Jeet. After his talk, Mr. Kashazgi then wanted a report from all the department heads of their preparations and plans for the launch.

The department heads gave their explanation of the work being done by their team. Some were very appreciative of their entire team and their work while others mentioned specific people in their departments who were doing a commendable job.

Nivedita beckoned to me by snapping her fingers. When I came close to her she whispered, "Tarana give me all your notes and plans for the launch, I haven't got mine." 

'Right, she would have it, if she actually worked on it,' snarky voice in my head mumbles.

I give all my notes to Nivedita and quickly brief her on the preparations we have made. I secretly hope Nivedita would mention how I managed to get great deals on the advertisements and guaranteed news report on the launch. I was really proud of this achievement, no matter how small, that I could negotiate deals and benefit my Company.

It was Nivedita's turn to speak and she quickly launches into a speech how the department under her guidance is working to make the launch a great success.

"I am looking into every aspect of the work that is going on," she trills. "As you know it takes a lot of effort to make sure that everything goes smoothly, and everyone is doing their job without slacking. No work gets done without being pushed and then too, I have to give all the ideas." Even though I am sitting behind her, I can feel the dramatic rolling of her eyes.

She takes the prints of the logos from my bunch of papers and hands them over to the GM. "I have already started working on the new brand logo, some samples of my ideas are here. See this one? This is my idea of united DeG companies under the parent company."

"Also, the newspapers have already been notified and advertisements have been booked for an entire week.

In fact, I have negotiated very good deals with the newspapers to publish full page advertisements for half price, which has saved us a lot of money and I also got an assurance for a guaranteed news article on their business front page." She ends with a huge smile.

All people sitting around the table smile and nod appreciatively.

Wait!

WHAATT?????

I cannot believe my ears. Nivedita Shoora just took credit for all the work done by our department without so much as a passing acknowledgement of not only my, but of the whole team's efforts. She made it sound like she was the one who broke her back working while the entire team was just lazing and wasting time when in reality, the truth was exactly the opposite.

The logo designs were entirely the ideas of the design team with a bare minimum input from Nivedita. They spent countless hours coming up with new and innovative ideas while Nivedita was nowhere to be seen, always having excuses to leave the office. Before this meeting she had seen the designs maybe only once; that too in a passing glance.

"I leave it up to you, you guys know what you have to do," she had said when the team had gone to show her their designs.

Purvi was so happy with one of her design which everyone in the department including me thought was brilliant.

It was so creative, simple yet encompassed the DeWorld businesses entirely. She was very excited to show it to the top management and hopefully get a commendation from Mr. Dev Grewal.

But Nivedita is now receiving all the accolades which were rightfully due to the entire PR team, because she blatantly lied that the design was HER idea.

I can hear murmurs of appreciation. Mr. Kashazgi is complimenting Nivedita on her excellent efforts and being such a valued member of the firm.

I can't hear anything else through the sound of blood rushing to my ears. I just stare in stupor at Nivedita's back as she flips her fake blonde hair before sitting.

I seethe in anger, hurt and betrayal at what Nivedita has just done. Even if she did not want to credit any one person, the least she could have done is said it was a team effort and everyone contributed equally. She is our leader, she should make every effort to encourage and build the team, not glorify herself at our expense.

I turn my head away to hide the angry tears threatening to spill. Instinctively I look at Jeet, since he was with me during my meetings with the newspaper offices. Jeet is looking at Nivedita and I can see by the way he's looking at her that he's furious.

His mouth, what I can see under his beard, is pursed angrily and his eyes are narrowed to slits. Even though he's sitting far from me, I can feel the anger radiating off him.

And that makes me happy. To know that he's an ally. Even if he has no say in the matter, it heartens me to know that he is as upset as I am. I can't reason why it matters so much.

Jeet turns his head and notices me looking at me. Immediately his face softens, and he gives me a slight smile and nods his head as if to apologise for what just happened. That makes me happier.

I don't feel so morose anymore even though I am still pissed about what Nivedita did.

I need to talk to her. Tell her what she did was wrong and unfair.

Once the meeting is over, everyone is scrambling to leave as it is already 7:45 p.m. - way past the office closing time of 6:00 p.m. Jeet left as surreptitiously as he had arrived. I did not see him leave, not that I was paying close attention to him.

I stay back for Nivedita so that I can talk to her. However, she hurries to speak to the GM who is walking out the door.

I collect all my belongings and follow behind her trying to catch her attention, but she deliberately ignores me and walks into the elevator with Mr. Kashazgi, animatedly telling him something. By the time I reach them, the elevator door closes, and I am left staring at my reflection in the shiny metallic door of the elevator.

I don't know when she will finish her discussion and I cannot afford to stay back so late. The managers can leave whatever time they please, they have their comfortable chauffeur driven cars waiting for them.

Since my office is located in a business area, the crowds and vehicles start thinning after 7 p.m. and the place wears an eerily deserted look. I once waited in office completing an urgent assignment till 10 p.m. only because Purvi was dropping me home in her car.

The place looked like a ghost town, hit by a zombie apocalypse. Save for some occasional cars whizzing past, the area was eerily silent with the tall buildings standing like silent sentinels, waiting for the morning to bring the streets to life with the swarms of people and the cacophony of honking vehicles.

I hurry to the bus stand to catch the 8:30 bus. I hope that I have not missed it already.

I check my phone clock, its 8:24 I think I made it in time. Still I get a little worried as there is no one else at the stop. To pass the time till the bus arrives I browse through my phone for messages when I hear a very unwelcome voice.

"Tarana, what are you doing here so late?"

Double crap!!

Deepak Ashay.

I wish I could disappear right now.