The Coffee Mug

Night Shift Ends

Two days have passed since their encounter at her home but she is still not able to pull herself together. She too skipped the last shift.She is all set to leave for her home as the intercom buzzes in.

"Reena, Verma this side. Come to my office. Immediately"

She dares to ask the reason but the line is dead already.

"You requested my presence, sir."

He picks up his head from the file in hand,  "Yes, come in. Have a seat."

She follows and pulls one of the chairs in front of his desk and starts to prepare the list of answers to the questions she may be asked.

After a minute has passed Verma holds out an envelope, "Here, it is yours."

"What's this sir?"

"You will have to open the seal in order to know that and I am instructed not to do so."

"Oh! Alright. Thank you."

She gathers up her courage on her way to her cabin, preparing herself for the content she will be reading. She needs to leave soon but she can spare a few minutes before everyone leaves for the cab. She opens the envelope, there's a letter inside. "Am I fired?", she thinks in her mind. Skimming through the greetings section she finally reads the main content :

"Your shift has been changed. Now your office timings are 9:30 A.M to 5:30 P.M."

If she would have received this letter a month or two back, she would have jumped out in joy but right now she has an unexplained feeling. It seems as if the letter has failed to make her feel different from what she has been feeling lately. She looks away from the letter and the coffee mug catches her eye. The mark of coffee still acknowledging her daily dose. Tonight she missed the warmth of the coffee or perhaps she missed something else. But neither the coffee nor the owner of the mug showed up.

She will be left in dark about the fact that the person responsible for assigning the shifts is Rohit.