Project Parvati

Part I: Thirteen

My heart pounded in my chest, my face heating up so much that I found my sense of hearing slowly fade away. I felt tears form in the corners of my eyes.

"It was an internship. You lost an internship. I told Arjun to terminate your internship entirely. You should be happy that it is only a suspension. For one week. Ugh." Priestly rolled her eyes, folding her arms.

"Thank you, Mahajan. That's enough." Arjun furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips.

So that's what her name was.

Mahajan grinned before leaving the room. My eyes subconsciously traced her path as she took her dramatic exeunt. She closed the door behind her, and I turned back towards Arjun. Too shocked to say anything, I simply raised my eyebrows, my lips parting in denial.

"Go on a vacation, Meera. Go back to Chennai, to your family."

I furrowed my eyebrows. My family was here, in Mumbai. What was he talking about?

I looked at him, confused. He quietly picked up the Parker pen on his desk and looked at it. He then fidgeted with the wires of his earphones, following which he looked up at me, hopefully.

Oh. He was wired.

"Sir-"

"I understand that this must come as a shock to you but please understand that the company has decided to suspend you purely on the basis of your behaviour with your colleagues and your superiors. You are talented, I'll give you that. But, we must ensure a healthy working environment for all our employees."

I bit my lip, nodding slowly. However, I still didn't understand why he wanted me to go to Chennai.

Arjun bent down to one of his drawers, digging something out.

"Since booking your tickets is the least our company can do, we have booked you on a flight that leaves in five hours. You might want to hurry." He slid a sheet of paper, folded in half, across the table.

I picked it up but just as I was about to unfold it-

"Thank you, Meera. You are dismissed."

I nodded, pursing my lips together and walked out of his cabin. The sheet of paper looked at me hopefully, waiting to be opened.

Alright, my bad. I was super curious to know what was inside. My fingers carefully unfolded the sheet.

The first thing I noticed on the sheet was a phone number, scrawled across the page in a hurry, with a red gel pen, but surprisingly legible. My eyes traced the number to the name on the right, circled multiple times with the same red pen so much that the ink had dissolved a few spots in the area.

And then it hit me. On the creased sheet of paper, was a printed ticket, of course. But, it wasn't mine.

It was Sid's.