My Secret Longing

In a compromising position

A week went by after You Know Who insulted me at my house. I didn't see him at all after that. He didn't call me and stopped coming to the embassy. It seemed too good to be true, him leaving me alone. I was worried that he might be up to something. I had seen a side of him that always made me uneasy. He would go to any level to get something he wanted. For instance, who would make a real estate agency block someone's lease? So a week of silence, instead of giving me relief, felt like the calm before the storm.

The Monday next week, I went to the embassy quite early as Mr. Mishra called me on Sunday evening to be prepared for a meeting with a client at their office. He never called, even when there were very critical diplomatic issues. I was a little nervous when I entered the embassy that day. Mr. Mishra intercepted me at the office lobby and asked me to join him in the car. He said it would take an hour to reach the client's place, and we had to leave.

When we were halfway from the embassy to the client's place, my suspicion about that sneaky scheming sly bastard became true. The client who we were meeting was none other than Mr. Raul Rey. Since the junior executive who took over the project got sick, I was called to fill his place, which I was removed from earlier because of Raul. Mr. Mishra wanted me to give an account of the project proposal and how it had progressed. I was given half an hour during the drive to get to know the advancements in the project after I got dropped from it. I felt like an active volcano waiting to explode at how Raul strung along even my boss in his vicious schemes.

When we reached his office building, I started counting backward from one hundred to calm myself. His headquarters resembled him in its veneer, cold and impersonal. I looked around the sleek lobby and the ultra-modern furniture and was scoffing when someone cleared their throat behind me. Even without turning back, I knew it was him, I masked my face with a business-like polite smile, which I didn't feel one bit. When I turned and looked at him, I barely managed to retain the fake politeness and said, " Hello, Mr. Rey, a nice office you have here." Nobody could have missed the sarcasm dripping from my comment because its modern minimalist full of crap decor irritated me.

He didn't miss a beat and, with a knowing smirk, said, " I am glad you like my humble head office." Actually, nothing was humble about that gigantic steel and glass trap. Not to give in to his goading, I changed the subject, "Mr. Rey, shall we commence the meeting? Mr. Mishra has an afternoon appointment with the french embassy." He didn't say anything, just signaled for us to follow him to the conference room.

When I entered the room, I thought some of Raul's board of directors would be present but only his assistant Daniel was there getting the room ready. Something about that entire scene felt off, but I couldn't guess it. I didn't have to wait long because what he said next confirmed my hunch, " Miss Bhavishya, will you be kind enough to present your project report so that I can get a clear idea of our progress. I was swamped with the Japanese project and lost track of this." His knowing smirk and the double entendre were not lost on me. But before I was about to say go to hell, Mr. Mishra intervened and said, "Yes, Mr. Rey, no problem." When I was about to ask for a pointer for the screen, Raul said, "Miss Bhavishya, Daniel has already loaded your earlier presentation. Just walk me through it orally." Orally, my foot, he could have gone through that slide in about five minutes, but Nah!! Mighty Mr.Rey had to make me stand before him and explain it as he didn't see me for a week.

His manipulations knew no bounds. It was another reason why I couldn't accept his proposal. I am the kind of person who gets fooled on April 1st even before getting out of bed. With that convoluted brain of his, he sure could walk all over me if I let him. I could handle any kind of situation regarding work, but when it came to my personal life, I had no clue, especially in matters that involved Raul.