Page 25 of Made in Mumbai
“I didn’t hire you to dance around my office. And I definitely didn’t invite him to flirt with my staff. I have ignored your antics these last few weeks because they were harmless. I will not do so now that there is an outsider here, judging us for our work culture. Do you understand?”
“He looks like a fun guy, he won’t…”
“I said, do you understand?”
“‘Course I do,” she clipped through her stiffest imitation of Queen Elizabeth.
“This is not a joke here. Talk like an adult when I am talking to you.”
“Then you behave like an adult too! Seriously, Gautam… you have a chip on your shoulder with everybody here but with me there is some extra special extra large chip. I mean, I get it. I was a mean little shit to you all those years ago. I was a teenager and shocked when your boss came like that and began to beat you. My first reaction was to be angry and disgusted. Imagine, you are a girl in a big city like Mumbai and spend a whole dayandnight with a boy you meet for the first time, and come morning, you discover that most of what he told you was lies! I am not saying I wasn’t nasty… just that I am not proud of it now. I wasn’t proud of it the next day when I thought about it.”
Silence. Time ticked by, silently. He did not look away from her.
“Communicate to Rustom that he and that boy from Amber Raisingh have this working week to come up with the final fabric designs,” he went on, as if she hadn’t puked all their dirty history on his desk just now. “Their requirements need to be completely drafted on paper before we begin sourcing. You may go now.”
She pushed to her feet, then lay her hands on his desk and leaned in. It was a mighty intimidating move. She had dreamt of doing this to somebody ever since she had seen 90s villains do it.
“You know what,” she snarled to him. “You play a very good ‘ignore game.’ But you know what happened to that cat who closed its eyes and thought the world couldn’t see it?” She cocked her head to one side, thinking of a quick, threatening response to her own rhetoric.Shit, stupid Maya, why can’t you just taunt and be on your way?!
Seconds ticked by. His brow went up. More seconds ticked by.Shit, shit, shit.
“Think,” she challenged airily. “Think, Mr. Kumar.”
Then turned with a whirl of her hair and strutted out, hoping he had bought it. Something fell behind her and… did she hear a snort? Maya peeked over her shoulder. He was straightening the pen stand that she had toppled and hadn’t even realised. His face was that same emotionless mask. Had he snorted?
————————————————————
“Hey, what’s with your boss, bro?” Aarya asked, finishing off the last of the sketches to slot into her binder. “Ever since I came here, he is either not visible or giving me cold looks when he is.”
“That’s his resting bitch face,” Maya muttered. Rustom sputtered. He had begun to laugh at her jokes now, not openly but in small bursts.
“Even his office staff… I had met Sahyadri during the negotiations but here she acts completely different. Everyone upstairs is different, in fact.”
“Look,” Maya informed, “upstairs is boring, white collar, stiff, yes-boss. Bichchoo gang area.”
“Hmm? Mereko toh Eagle gang mehich rehneka hai.”
Her mouth dropped open. They had exchanged a lot many songs and dialogues over the last week but this one trumped them all.
“Ek kaam kar usko bula,” she sang.
“Hotel mein khana khila,” he sang back.
“Samundar kinaare leja ke yeh bol de kullam khulla!!! Oh my god! You are my soulmate. Josh fans are rare diamonds in the world.”
He laughed, snapping his Apple Pencil on the iPad’s edge and siting back. “Do you want to go out after work today? It’s a Friday, we will finish these submissions, there’ll be good crowd around. What say? Up for a drink and some dinner?”
“Sure. Rustom bhai, you wanna come?”
“Third wheeling? No, thank you…”
“It’s not like that…”
“Hey, Maya?” Leo called out. “You guys ready to show the final sketches to Gautam Sir?”
“It’s not six yet.”
“He called. He has half an hour available now. He can take you.”
