MIRA

67. Lost deep down 🗝️

It was only when Mira reached home from work that night, did she realise that it was over for real between her and Vikranth. She googled his flight status on her phone which indicated that he had taken off an hour ago. She stared at her phone until tears trickled down her face. Why did it feel so painful, she thought. Every nerve in her body ached and stung, while her head felt heavy with a strong headache. She felt furious at Vikranth for being the cause of her pain. 

Mira let out a loud cry before she knocked over the bunch of newspapers and magazines on the centre table, along with a ceramic bowl which shattered into pieces after crashing to the floor. She cried for a good few minutes that night in her apartment💔. Next, she wiped her tears and promised herself to remove everything in her life that reminded her of him. She began with the pictures on her phone. Mira didn't think twice before doing all this, her hatred for him grew deeper with every photo she removed. 

Somehow, she couln't get herself to delete the last photo she took with him in Chennai when they had gone for the drive. Tears rolled down her cheeks when she stared at a picture of Vikranth standing with his arms wrapped around Mira's shoulders, with his contagious smile😢. She wiped her tears and went on to block all his social media accounts. 

Later that night, Mira had a shower before she cleaned up her room and fixed something quickly for dinner. Before going to sleep, Mira looked at her weary reflection in the mirror. The dark circles around her eyes were a result of sleepless nights and tiring hours at work. Suddenly at that moment, Mira recalled Vikranth's words,

''You have such big beautiful eyes, Mira.''

His youthful voice was still fresh in her memory. Even his every breath, look, touch and scent were embedded in her system. That moment, Mira realised that although she had managed to delete him from her phone, she couldn't delete him from her memory and her system. His memories will continue to haunt her and she would just have to deal with it.

Mira blinked hard as she felt a lump in her throat. She sighed before getting into bed. Falling asleep still was a challenge, but she needed the rest to function at work the following day.

***

Mira was on autopilot at work. She began to avoid any form of socialising with her colleagues. There was no time either, with a major product launch in the weeks ahead, and Vanitha was leading the project. So Mira's days went by in meetings, responding to emails and writing reports. It was exhausting, but it also meant that she was too busy to even think about anything else. 

Even then, she knew she wasn't giving her best given her emotional state. It felt like she couldn't put up with the facade outside for very long, and that was exactly what happened. One day during the project meeting just before the final launch, Vanitha lashed out at Mira,

''What is this? Why isn't the budget finalised? Mira?! I asked you to present the final budget plan for god sake! Not the tentative one! You expect me to show this to the board?! This mess?!'' she asked furiously pointing at the projector screen.

Mira's body trembled with nerves. Nobody had ever raised their voice at her in that manner. 

''Madam I-I tried getting the final budget from the finance department but-'', Mira's voice trembled

''Useless! Absolutely useless this department is! With the launch next week, you all are producing such trash work at this time!'' Vanitha's voice silenced the room completely.

''And you!'' Vanitha said glaring at Mira. ''You can't even handle basic secretarial work!'' she scowled at Mira who at this point was on the verge of tearing up.