Sara's Trilemma

Gain & Loss

A fat woman and her jazz band replaced the twinkling stage after the phase one of the auctions got over. Her deep and sensuous voice filled and echoed in the room with saxophone sound. Guessing the opportunity, I decided to excuse myself from the table. As I stood up to leave, she warned with her fierce gaze, that I needed to be stay put. Sensing what was next, I braced myself as the Parker couple advanced in our direction, greeting people who stood in a row. The intimidation was too strong with only their presence, I instinctively took a step back and stood behind Anamika.

Sid turned and told me to step forward by gesturing with his hand. But it seemed that he didn't understand my lack of interest in that matter! Especially when our table had other CEO's of Live Money, Daily News, and FitnessFirst. Anamika confidently took a step forward and introduced herself again. James Parker shook her hands formally with a warm smile and enquired her of her experience and expectations.

I looked through the slits between Anamika and Sid, sighing in relief as I thought I was saved from the intimidating formality and that I was spared for my benefit. I enjoyed being in the periphery for further two minutes wherein they interacted with the other CEOs. My first instinct was that they didn't bother about the people who were far below their level, as for instance, they didn't interact with Sid, but did only handshake. Though Maya Parker looked at him, throughout the short conversation. I couldn't know her expression as her face was partially hidden behind the veil of her hair.

"Who is the young lady standing behind you, Mr. Siddharth," she called out, as her gaze seemed to have found me.

That had me frozen with fear. But I recovered with a full smile and stepped forward.

"Mrs. Parker, may I introduce you to Miss Sara Anand, working with Anamika in Purple," Sid said while moving sideways to expose my full form under their scrutiny.

Maya smiled knowingly and shook hands, perhaps more time than necessary. "It's nice to meet a young, ambitious women, who drives JP publications!" With that, she passed her gaze to Siddharth, who in turn gazed at me with a hint of a smile on his face.

"It's an honor, Mrs. Parker. And Mr. Parker," I said, with a confident smile and straightened stance.

Mr. Parker curiously looked at the watch, again at me and then said, "Well I suppose we should sit down and have some drinks before the dinner is served. I hope the seats here are not taken." He teased and sat on our previous table. Wasting no more second, the rest followed and eagerly sat down on the round table. Sensing another embarrassment that could be followed, I sat down last, ending up on Sid's left side.

"So Anamika, How is your Kid? I have been told you have a wonderful son!" Mr. Parker began, sitting upright yet looked laid back.

She eagerly told him about Arav and how she manages both family and job front. He too congratulated on how she handled her job and how Purple is doing good in India. Turning to me, he asked, "What about your family, Miss Anand?"

"Sir, I am still unmarried," I replied quickly, hoping that his curiosity was satisfied.

"What about your parents?" This time Maya asked the question.

"Mrs. Parker, unfortunately, I am not in contact with my parents," I replied in a clear tone. "It's been several years since I moved back to India. They live in DC."

"That's unfortunate indeed," she said, changing the subject to Anamika again.

I was glad that they didn't pry further, which would have brought the unpleasant memories out of me. I expected some sort of surprise from Sid as I misinformed him about my parents, though he regarded me with a close eye, not giving away any emotions.