21st Century Life

Chapter Thirteen

For a manager's office, the place felt pretty... unique. For one, there were no signs of any sort of prized knick-knacks that would promote the manager. Instead, to make up for it, the place was designed to look more like a private space than an office room that would sit behind a local cafe. Brightly painted walls, wooden boarding with carpet, art hanging on both sides of the walls. It felt comforting, sure but was it a place where you would want your employees and clients to keep visiting you? I certainly don't think so.

My eyes took a detailed tour of the room before they came back to the person sitting across the table. She was staring at me, with her hands clasped and a soft smile on her face. It caught me off guard. To my left was Kaashi, who too was staring at me.

'Had a nice tour?' Kaashi asked.

'Yeah...' I said nervously, 'it is a nice place.'

'Thank you,' Siri replied. 'Coming back to business, are you both aware of why you are here? Did your friend, Radhika, give you any details?'

We both shook our heads. 'Not,' Kaashi said, 'she refused to tell us anything.'

Siri shot a suspicious look at us. 'Strange. So where do I begin?' these though for a moment. 'Let's begin by introducing ourselves shall we?'

We were okay with that. 'Sure,' we replied.

'Great. As you know, the name is Siri Vennila,' she began, 'But please call me Siri. I graduated from Vindhya School of Commerce last year with an undergraduate degree and inherited this cafe from my parents.'

'Your parents worked here before you?' I asked.

'Oh no. This place was left to the dust-up until a year ago. I did not want to continue my studies, at least for a while. So rather than start a new business, I thought I would try to bring this place back to life.'

Wow. If her parents had a place like this sitting in the back, rotting, they must be loaded, to say the least. I couldn't comment on how well she did on bringing this place back to life, for I never been here before, but I guess I could take her word for it.

'That is nice,' I commented. To left, Kaashi sat there quietly rolling her eyes. Unbeknownst to her, I saw that.

'Great. So what about you?' she asked, curiously.

'Well. My name is Daya and I graduated B.Tech just two weeks ago. I am currently planning for the future,' I said.

'My name is Kaashi, as you already know and I too graduated from B.Tech just two weeks ago. Looking for an opportunity as an actress.'

'As an actress?' Siri said, 'impressive.'

'Thank you!' her face shone with pride.

Dammit! How did she manage to make such a good first impression?

'I am fond of people who travel off the beaten path,' Siri said.

'Really?' Kaashi replied, her lips bloomed into a bright smile.

Off the beaten path huh? Great, that is what I am going to do now.

'But tell me, your parents must have resisted, as their lives depended on it,' Kaashi said.

'Oh god, yes. Let's us not get into that,' she replied.

'I understand,' Kaashi said nodding. Siri smiled at that.

Hold on! I need to say something clever!

'Well, with that done, let me tell you what you are here for,' Siri began.

Dammit! I screamed on the inside.

'A couple of days ago, I came across a video. A commercial, for a clothing company. Do either of you have any idea about that?'