RiKara OS Gallery: A Beauty Undefined

It Happened That Night

OS#7: It Happened that Night

Omkara Singh Oberoi sat with the half-empty beer bottle in his hand contemplating how exactly he was going to climb onto the Golden Gate Bridge of urban San Fransisco and launch himself into the deep black waters of the Bay below. He wasn't going to lie, at least not in his final hours. He had argued, rehearsed and thought about this exact scene in his head multiple times in the past. But he had never had the guts to pull through and actually take what had so obviously been anything but his. A lot had been riding on him ever since he had joined his overbearing father's business. His name, reputation, stocks, partnerships, the list went on.

Tej Singh Oberoi never took anything less than perfect and Om had worked his butt off to do everything to please his father. From getting all A's in high school to going to Harvard Business School for a prestigious degree, he had loaned sweat, blood and tears to his father's feet only to be returned with an expounding interest of disappointment and disapproval, and the hit to the company's stocks was the last nail in the coffin.

Om had travelled across the country to New York City for a business meeting with an upcoming French duo who had sent their designs in and were noticed for their innovative and chic styling. He had been impressed to say the least. The clothing line they had been designing had gotten a lot of positive responses from his colleagues and he was inclined to build a partnership with them in order to further his father's business and take Oberoi Labels to soaring heights. When they had met, the ideas for the new line had been even more racy and exquisite, and Om was excited to have his first successful deal in hand. He had gone out that night for a formal dinner with the designers to seal the deal and then headed to the bar where he had picked up a lovely blonde model and had ravished the designer clothes from her body, in celebration of his new venture.

When he had returned home the next day and shared the news with his father, Tej had just looked up from his business files and had given him a nod. But to Omkara, it was something.

Two months later, production started and by Fall the clothes were being distributed throughout the shopping outlets in the West Coast of USA. People were loving the line and Tej had held a grand party for the success of his son's hard work.

But that was when everything changed.

News broke out that the clothes had been copied from designers based in South Bombay and they were threatening to sue the company for stealing their designs. Frantic, Om had tried contacting the French designers he had partnered with, but it was like they had vanished in thin air. Thieves they were, for they had stolen the designs and launched the company into a big corporate mess and a media scandal. Oberoi Labels' stocks were falling faster than one could blink and Tej Singh Oberoi was devastated. The company that he had worked 25 years to build was crumbling into a mess because of his careless son. He was now in loss and at the mercy of multiple investors who had poured their money into making his business.

_____

Omkara had picked up 3 strong bottles of beer that night and had headed to the Bridge, knowing that he would need to be sloshed if he wanted to continue with what he had planned to do. He was on his 2nd bottle when he heard a sweet feminine voice behind him.

"Is that beer?"

He turned to squint through his long hair into the night glare of the city lights as a petite figure of a woman came to him. It was hard to tell with the oversized trench coat, the skinny pair of worn out, ripped jeans and the out-of-fashion black boots that clinked on the sidewalk as she settled herself next to him. The only thing that he liked about her was the gold lights of color at the ends of her hair that made her seem like a white-washed American. But he knew better. She took the bottle from him and tilted her head back to gulp a large sip of his cold beer. Then she sighed and turned to him, her hazel eyes unwavering and bright.