The Innocent Mistake

The Innocent Mistake - 8

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"Hello.. Yes, Arun. I was out on some important work... Oh! I am logging in right away. Just give me two minutes.", Rajiv said opening his laptop. He was in the parking lot of Crystal Diagnostics Centre while Sana was inside for her scanning.

Connecting to his phone data, he immediately got into the call with his office colleagues.

"Hello everyone..", Rajiv greeted everyone upon connecting to the teams.

"Rajiv, where did you save the master data file last night?", Sam asked on call. His tone disquieted Rajiv.

"In the shared drive..", Rajiv said in a perturbed tone.

"The file is blank Rajiv.", Arun said.

"What? How can it be?", Rajiv exclaimed in flurry. He immediately scrolled to the path in the shared drive and checked the file. It was indeed blank.

"Did you save a copy of it elsewhere?", Asked Lucy.

"No, but..", Rajiv nervously stuttered.

"Rajiv, do you realise that it is month's long effort? We have a client meeting next month.", Lucy said exasperated with Rajiv's carelessness.

"I.. I understand Lucy, but I don't know how..", Rajiv was in loss of words.

"Listen mate, I can't ask the client for an extension because they are already annoyed by our ongoing delays. I don't know what you are going to do but I want everything to go as per the schedule and keep in mind that there will be no compromises on the quality whatsoever.", Sam said.

"Okay Sam.. I agree", Rajiv agreed. He dropped off from the call and sighed holding his head in hand in tension. His phone rang and it was Arun.

"Yes, Arun", Rajiv said.

"Rajiv, you know how annoyed Sam and Lucy are at the moment. We all know that it's going to be a tough job to recreate the whole file. You've fucked up a big time my friend.", Arun said.

"I.. I know.. Arun, I think I have a copy of it saved in another system which I saved last month while working on it. If it's still there then I think I can still pick it up from there and work extra hours to meet the deadlines.", Said Rajiv

"Why didn't you say that in the meeting?", Arun asked.

"Because I don't know if it is still there. I just want to confirm before opening my mouth.", Rajiv said.

"Hmmm.. Rajiv, I suggest you come to the office right away. You've been working from home for a week now. If you keep working from home then they won't notice your efforts and seriousness. You can lose your job, buddy. Until you get everything sorted just make sure you are in the office.", Arun suggests.

"Hmmm.. okay..", Rajiv hummed before disconnecting.

"Arrrggghhh.. Damn!! Damn!! Damn!!", Rajiv hit the steering wheel in frustration. There were multiple honks which dragged attention of people around in parking lot. Among them was the cleaning boy who was emptying waste into the dumpster.

"Kapoor uncle..", uttered the boy in surprise.

It was none other than Sidharth who had taken up a petty job in the building with the help of people who had picked him up from the container that he travelled in.

Though Sidharth was joyed to find Rajiv which indirectly meant finding Sana, he couldn't approach him because of various reasons. One, his illegal immigration, two his innocent but grave mistake and last, Rajiv was his friend of his father which meant his parents would learn about his whereabouts and it wasn't a good idea especially after he had stolen his brother's money.