MIRA

60. Chennai Calling!☀️

It had been only three days since Mira was back from Kochi after Preeti's wedding. She was counting down days to her Chennai trip and each day felt like eternity as Mira couldn't wait to see Vikranth again! He even had said the same thing to her before leaving for the airport back in Kochi when Mira had said,

''See you soon in Chennai Vicks!''

He leaned in closer and said softly, ''I'll be waiting...'' with a wink! Mira's heart flipped that second. 

Added to that was the wedding hangover, it finally struck Mira that Preeti would no longer share the flat with her as she would now live with Harish whose apartment was about 30 minutes away from her place. Mira managed to see Preeti one last time in Kochi the day after the Gopals left to properly wish her the best for her new chapter.

It was emotional but Preeti assured her that they would keep meeting up once she was back in Bangalore with Harish. Then she told Mira that she would be staying with her in-laws in Chennai for the next month or so before moving back to Bangalore.

***

It was back to routine in Bangalore and Mira was finding it harder to not reminisce the days in Kochi. As she walked into work on Monday, she realised how the serious and quiet atmosphere was a contrast to the whole wedding-atmosphere filled with all the fun and frolic, which was only a few days ago. Most of all, though she denied it, Mira missed Vikranth the most.

He had been texting her since he got back to Chennai. What Mira found really cute was his effort to constantly text her as he didn't want to repeat his mistakes, which meant she received texts from him even at work and she sneaked in replies to them too.

A week before Mira's Chennai trip, her office organised a farewell party for her boss Arvind since it was his last official day. It was at this farewell party that Mira was introduced to her new boss, Vanitha Nair. Vanitha was a middle-aged, slim lady that wore a maroon and grey palazzo kurta set. Her hair was black and crisply cut to a bob. She wore thin-rimmed black glasses and her appearance was enough to shake Mira's nerves.

 Arvind gave his farewell speech, before handing over to Vanitha for a brief introduction. She spoke for less than a minute and said something about looking forward to working with everyone here. As she spoke, Arvind's words rang in her head, '...she's very particular about deadlines and punctuality.' There was already tension around the air now as even Mira's colleagues were sensing the discipline vibes that their new boss was giving them.

''Miraaa...there she is...'' Arvind said walking over to her with Vanitha who now had a peculiar smile. 

''Actually Mira was on leave for sometime so you wouldn't have seen her around...'' Arvind clarified to Vanitha who glanced at Mira.

Mira introduced herself formally to Vanitha who immediately said,

''I understand that you will be going to Chennai next week... for the Marketing conference?''

Mira blinked and said, ''Ehh...yes. I will.''

Vanitha simply nodded in acknowledgement before Arvind added laughing,

''As you can see, Vanitha has already taken over unofficially and she asked me to brief her on the progress of everyone in our department. So don't worry about updating her yourself, as she's already up-to-date regarding you all...''

Vanitha flashed her peculiar smile again. There was something about her smile that made Mira all nervous, as if she had done something wrong. This is why Mira was relieved when Vanitha excused herself to talk to other senior members in the department.