Outside the house his assistant was waiting for them. Geetha learned his name only that day. It was Veeru and he was a year older than her.

In the car, Veeru started speaking. Talkative guy, he was. "Madam, I was in-charge of your plant. I'm sir's primary assistant." Ramit had two assistants and it seemed this one was quite a competitive guy.

"I just got out of an accident." Ramit said, effectively shutting up the guy. He did not talk anymore and put his complete focus on the road.

Geetha thought he was flustered, just how he would be if everything was normal, but soon she saw that he wasn't. She was also in no mood to talk to Ramit. It was harder than she thought, but she had to get him back. Win him back. Slowly, but surely, she told herself. Just not at the moment.

They reached the company in silence. When the car was parked, Ramit got out and went ahead without waiting for her, who was new to the environment.

"Why is he like that? That isn't my boss at all!" Veeru said when Ramit was out of earshot. "This is the first time he scolded me." 

"That's a scolding to you?" She looked at the assistant in pure and genuine confusion. Isn't this guy just as sensitive as her husband? He was more talkative, that's all. Or, she had pretty thick skin.

Veeru did not continue speaking. He did not expect the wife of his employer to be so blunt. "Let's go in," he said.

"Thanks for taking care of the plant. It's grown ½ an inch." The plant was a home plant meant to be grown for aesthetics. It grew in the shadows and it grew very slowly.

Veeru, who was oblivious to the details, did not understand how to respond. He felt she was being sarcastic but her expression was plain. He gave her an awkward and ill formed smile.

"Take me to him," she said and Veeru took her to the elevator of the building. They found Ramit there. He said nothing and they went to his company together. His company occupied a portion of the 5th floor in the huge complex.

"Good morning sir, madam," Ramit's other assistant greeted them along with three more employees. Two of them were security guards and the other seemed to be an errand boy. They greeted them back and walked further.

The company was situated to the far end of the floor. She looked at the name on the entrance. The font was unnecessarily decorative even for a game, with unruly strokes and the vagary of their offshoots. And this... was a journalism company. It was too much of an incongruity. The exaggerated serifs seemed to almost hide the company's logo above them. Even if this was a concept, it was nothing but heinous to her eyes. She sucked in her lips with a sharp breath.

Ramit looked at her, feeling that something was odd. But she just turned to look elsewhere and he could not read her face.

As Geetha looked around, the whole place felt like a circus. It was worse than any place she had ever been to. She closed her eyes for a moment for the peace and calm of nothingness. Every wall was sickly repulsive. She looked up for some solace, but put a hand on her mouth lest she curse out loud.

Just why would anyone paint all sorts of colours? That too so bright and gaudy? That too in such irregular shapes? That too including the ceiling? This was psychological harassment.

Ramit looked at her again. This time she was caught. She quickly fished out two chocolates from her bag.

"Do you want one?" She tried not to show any difficulty.

Ramit scoffed at her and continued walking. Was he really so easy all these days that she thought a chocolate would solve all their issues? With gloom, he walked down to his office.

She then quickly tore one open and ate some. Veeru was right behind her, but she did not offer him any. She was positive that she was going to eat quite some that day. She did not know if it was really just in her head, but she felt her stomach churn. She was a little picky in this regard. She liked her environment to be clean and free. She hoped with all her heart that the meeting room would be 'proper' and 'orderly'.

"Who made the walls like that?" she asked Ramit with a displeased nose crunch after taking a few quick steps.

"It's me!" A cheerful voice spread from a cubicle. The cubicles, which were 20 in number, also grossed her out with harsh colours. There was one head popping out from a neon pink cubicle.

"Ram! Happy Recovery! Hello, Ram's wife!"

"Vyan! Thanks," Ramit smiled at him.

"You only saw me now? I have been watching you since you came in!" The boy, or the wiry young man, then turned to Veeru, "Only Veeru waved at me."

Geetha leaned towards Ramit and whispered, "He looks quite young."

Vyan had sharp ears. He said with a cheeky smile, "Skipped three classes at school. Ram is 3 years my senior."

For a 21 year old guy, he still looked and acted much less than his age, Geetha thought.

"Do you like it?" Vyan asked her.

"What?"

"The interior. I painted it myself!"

"It's fine," she said, "No wonder." No wonder it's not made by a professional.

"Vyom did more work." Veeru said and explained, "That's his twin, an interior design student."

Geetha nodded, so it was made by a professional. Wild kids, she thought.

"Do you know why we didn't notice you?" she asked Vyan before answering it herself, "Because, it all looks so messy it's hard to tell apart living things from the nonliving."

Ramit was displeased with her while the other two were stunned. She caught his hard stare from her field of view and gave Vyan a perfect smile. "That was a joke. I'm Geetha, Ramit's wife."

On the side Ramit hoped no one else saw through her lie. He remembered the flat in Delhi and the room she kept for herself when they were in Paris. It was mostly plain and occupied light coloured things which camouflage with the walls sometimes. Their existence would not be felt unless they're looked for. Well, who asked her to tag along?

Veeru did not seem to get the 'joke', his face showed no response. Ramit was not even looking at them. He knew this side of hers. He enjoyed it sometimes and had seen her fall in trouble at other times. As they grew up, in those rare cases where they met someone they knew, he'd have her back to ease things out, although it wasn't really necessary. If they spoke to her a little more, they would be joining in her quirky jokes. However, this time he was not going to help her in any way.

In the end, Vyan was the only one who laughed after some awkwardness. "You sure know how to joke."

There were others in the cubicles. They also briefly greeted them.

"Ramit!" Someone called. It was a guy with red skin and blonde head. He was a European.

"Dal, how are you?"

"How are you?" The man stressed on the word you. She recollected him. He was one of Ramit's seniors who gave them a video call to wish them during their reception.

"Good. Just a little more rest should do."

"And you?" He asked her.

"What will happen to me? Nothing happened to me because he was there." She caught his hand and smiled at Dal. There was pride in her eyes. For the first time, Ramit saw that she was proud of having him by her side.

"Oho," someone in the group started and everyone around cheered them.

Ramit quietly shook her hand off and said, "Has everyone come? Let's start the meeting."

What a cute ego he had, she felt, especially knowing him to be a sweet guy. If they were alone, she would have whistled and slapped his butt. Well, for one, she was yet to start flirting with him. Back then she was a little self absorbed and didn't express much around him. But now, since her goals are all well aligned, a knot in her heart eased completely. She had to act fast and settle things. God cared what he thought about her. She was going to put in all the effort to make sure that staying with her was advantageous. That was the only leverage she could think of.

Two, she... had a long way to go after all that had been said and done.

∼•∽

They were in the conference room, which was a little different. It looked better unlike the museum outside. Other shareholders were already waiting inside. They greeted Ramit and her and someone said, "Hello, new member." It was Emma. She was also on the video call with Dal back then. The two women hugged each other. "We met finally!"

"Yeah!" Geetha gave her her perfect smile that was reserved for outsiders.

The meeting was very informal. Among the 11, Vyan was also present. She thought he would be just an employee who knew Ramit before. He briefed them about the company that sent the killer.

The killer had been a wanted criminal on the run. He was dead and due to lack of direct evidence, criminal charges could not be extended to that company only with the killer as the link.

Vyan was apparently a hacking genius. He helped the police gain some circumstantial evidence in the guise of an anonymous hire-hacker. Then they registered both civil and criminal cases against the company which hired the killer.

On the other hand, 2 other corporations questioned their investigation in court. Omniscience, the big company they partnered with, was fighting the case according to their agreement. 

After that, Veeru presented the next course of action. Those were the same data Ramit had sent him two days ago. The plan was to either start on another leak or expand their name and create a platform for journalists with different narratives to be heard. With more consensus in the second option, they decided that they needed to work with some media company in a long-term partnership to become a legible source of information to the public.

The Protectors had certain strong beliefs. The unheard narratives had to become equally mainstream, only then were a good number of people going to have the opportunity to access what's true and what's not. After all, journalism was becoming increasingly fabricated. To fight it, this was the first step. These formed their core vision.

Ramit and the others explored the idea and discussed pros and cons. It was essentially a change in the direction they had been until now, although the core idea did not change. Perhaps the incident had an impact on their thoughts. Who does not want to be safe?

With a resolution to transform Hidden from an investigative journalism company to digital journalism platform, they ended the meeting.

∼•∽

Soon it was time for lunch. Everyone would be on their way home after that.

Geetha stuck close to Ramit all the while. At the lunch table in the cafeteria on the first floor, the others had already arranged a party for them for their safe return after surviving the ordeal.

During lunch, Vyan was the most talkative. He stopped quite a few times what he was saying when he caught Geetha looking at him intently. But soon after she would give him a smile.

Feeling a little awkward and lost, he ate his meal silently. Except, he kept on messing with Dal. "Dal, you know what my grandmother's favourite dish is?"

It was a little inside joke to the natives. Although he felt that the youngster got his name wrong, he did not point it out. After all, it was an issue of the accent, he thought. So, he looked on curiously. "What is it?"

"It's dal!" Vyan burst out laughing.

Geetha gave him a disdainful look, but when she caught Ramit hiding his smile, she quietly looked down. No wonder, he made a great leader. Just before, at the conference, he was the one who spoke the most. She did not know how he did it but even as he spoke so much his presence was just right. He was not overbearing, nor compliant. Perhaps only she could see it, being an observant analyser, that he steered the whole team's decision. At the beginning, there was a mix of opinions. Slowly everyone was on one page with full participation. Look at him now, just eating his food with such a minimal presence. That balance was essential to keep the teamspirit going, she thought. Her eyes turned soft.

She gave out a chuckle unknowingly just as Emma, who was sitting between Dal and Vyan, said, "Be a little more respectful to your seniors. It's Dal. The 'a' from apple. And the 'd' from today."

Emma's eyes stopped on Geetha. Geetha decided it was nothing since witnessing someone's embarrassment did not mandate an apology. She did not bother with Emma's eyes that were looking to get a sorry out of Vyan and her. She did not laugh at Dal, after all. But Vyan did have a bad habit of calling people's names the wrong way. She contemplated if she should also ask him not to drag out the 'a' in Ramit's name when he shortened it, because it formed an entirely different name. But since it did not form a great word that way, she decided not to bother. If Ramit was uncomfortable being called such a different name, he'd have told Vyan long ago.

"Come on. Just think about it. Maybe your grandmother was actually Indian and she loved dal so your family named you that. Maybe you're actually a little percent Indian."

"Vyan, I said your name perfectly, didn't I?" Dal looked at him helpless, although he seemed pleasant with the conversation.

Vyan nodded.

"My name means valley dweller."

"In German?"

Dal nodded.

"Mine means air, the elixir of life."

"Water is the elixir of life, not air," Preethi said across the table, to which Vyan groaned.

When they were having the desserts, Vyan quickly swapped places with Dal to sit beside Preethi. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"I'm older than you." She did not even look at him.

"So what? The other two women are taken. We spend our entire time here," he said, "Do you want another cup? I'll go fetch."

Preethi rolled her eyes.

Geetha was slightly annoyed. It seemed this wasn't the first such kind of conversation between them. Vyan's actions made her feel so single.

"I don't have the slightest interest so don't waste the capacity of my ears."

Geetha raised an eyebrow. Why did that sound so familiar, embarrassing and yet so... spot on! It was a fitting description of herself. She slowly lowered her head and bent a little forward to look at Ramit's face again.

He was talking with those on the other side of the table. He didn't seem to notice anything. She felt relieved. Just then it felt like her privacy was invaded and her thoughts were put out for him to see, all too unnecessarily clearly.

When his talk ended, she tapped his thigh. "Are you alright?"

He looked at her for a split second and pulled his leg away from her.

Exasperated, she gave out a sarcastic laugh inside her head. "You seem to be pretty fine." She nodded at him with a smile that did not look real.

Soon they all had their drinks, except the couple for whom the lunch was arranged. One was healing and the other was pregnant. After a few drinks, Ramit said, "Alright everyone, I'll go home and get some rest. Please don't mind. You've taken trouble to come down to India, but I'm not able to stay for a little more while. Get home safely, Dal, Emma, Akhil, Noah, Duong, and Ali. And you guys," he turned to Vyan, Preethi, and Krishna and said, "I'll leave everything on you for a few more days. Working without a boss is the best kind of work, isn't it? Don't slack off. If you guys are lazy, our employees will also be lazy. We've a long road ahead. I'm just a call away. Veeru will help you too."

Everyone said their farewell to the couple and the two walked out.

∼•∽