“You didn’t tell me to do that,” came the sullen reply.
Vera took in a deep breath, trying to not snap in annoyance. Given how on edge she was, she might end up saying something irretrievably rude.
“Did you take any notes at all during the phone interviews you conducted today?” she asked instead.
“Obvio,” Olivia sniffed, nose in the air, as though she didn’t appreciate Vera questioning her.
“Great,” Vera said with remarkable patience, sending out a meeting request for early next week to the rest of her team. “Please send me an email with whatever notes you have from your call, so I know who to follow up with,” she instructed, her fingersflying over her keyboard as she composed another message. “It’ll be good if we can have our presentations ready soon. And begin compiling trendlines and hook words for marketing.”
She looked up, wondering why she hadn’t received an affirmative response when she noted a dazed Olivia staring at an oblivious Jay who was scrolling on his phone, presumably waiting for Vera to be done.
Sighing, she returned her attention to her screen, clicking on the little web browser icon again. As expected, news of Ethos’s acquisition was everywhere. At random, she expanded one article, unable to stop the knot from tightening at the pit of her belly when his picture loaded on screen. Thick eyebrows framed his cinnamon brown eyes, the square of his jaw darkened with the shadow of stubble, full lips stretched out to reveal an even set of teeth with the teeniest snaggle on his bottom canine, giving him the look of an attractive predator on the prowl. A good-looking boy at seventeen, Vihaan had grown into a distractingly handsome man. He wore his confidence as perfectly as the fit of his suit. His previously lean teenage body had filled out with muscles, making him seem even taller than before. He was all broad shoulders, blinding smiles, and brooding good looks.
And shehatedit.
Was it possible that there was a roadmap to navigate heartbreak? She wasn’t the only woman in history who’d been hurt, and she certainly wasn’t the only teen girl who’d had a first love end horribly. All the poets of the world had made a career writing about the trials of a broken heart, yet no one had managed to figure out exactlyhowone got over the love they once shared with someone.
Vera had assumed that time would dull the pain. If someone had asked her a few weeks ago, she would have been adamant that she’d gotten over Vihaan. Of course she had. How could she not? It had been far too many years for her to still cry over him.
It felt like a different lifetime when she had last seen him in person. She’d been a young woman on the brink of adulthood and completely out of her element when it came to men and relationships. Today, she’d stood in front of him as a mature woman of thirty-one, someone who was more jaded, who had seen loss, and had learned not to trust easily.
It wasn’t as if she’d spent her days wallowing in his memories after their break-up. She’d had far more urgent things in her life that had required her attention. Eventually, putting him out of her conscious mind had become second nature. But the industry she’d chosen to work in made it impossible to fully avoid news of him.
The first article she’d seen a few years ago had hit her hard. It had been yet another unexpected moment, when her defences were low. She’d been on the train on her way to work, swaying as the locomotive came to a stop. Inertia had made her stumble, and as she’d straightened, her eyes had fallen on the gossip rag another passenger was reading. She still remembered the photo on the cover—one of Vihaan leaning over to whisper into a woman’s ear, making her blush prettily. Vera had wanted to snatch the magazine and rip it to shreds. She hadn’t introspected on why she’d felt so aggrieved. Instead, she’d worked extra-long hours and drowned her sorrows with cheap alcohol at some random club Jay had invited her to.
She’d almost gone home with a guy that night but had been unable to reciprocate the interest that she was receiving.
Over time, coming across news about Vihaan had become a little less jarring. She’d prepared herself for it and had learned to ignore the odd squeeze in her chest each time his face popped up on TV screens with yet another model or actress hanging on his arm. If anything, proof of his inability to commit to a relationship only made it clear that the boy she’d fallen in love with had been a mirage. His womanising ways were no longer hidden to the world, andcertainly not to her. His promises in the past were as empty as her bank account in the present.
She told herself she should be glad she’d escaped him. He was obviously not worthy of her. She’d been confident that he would remain a closed chapter, one that she would never willingly choose to revisit. Until now.
Because, despite living in Mumbai, a city with a population of over 21 million, the forces of the universe had decided that the one man she had not wanted to meet again would also be the one man she could no longer avoid.
“You should join us if you have time,” she heard Olivia say, bringing her back to the present.Wait, what? Olivia was inviting her to something?Incredulous, she spun in her chair, realising slowly that Olivia was smiling coyly. And not at her.
“Thanks. I’ll think about it,” Jay muttered, leaning back a bit when Olivia took another step closer, placing a hand on his bicep before furiously batting her eyelashes like she had something stuck in her eye.
“All the girls will be so happy to hear that,” she simpered. “I’ll wait for you at the club.”
“Sure, thanks,” he replied, his tone blatantly dismissive. “You ready, Veeray?” he prompted, turning swiftly towards Vera and hooking his arm with hers.
“Ready?” she asked, confused, standing up when he pulled at her.
“Yep. Let’s go,” he insisted, drawing her away before Olivia could protest. Vera caught a glimpse of the annoyance on her colleague’s face when Jay picked up her handbag and slipped an arm over her shoulder, leading her down the office and towards the elevator bank.
“And now she hates me even more,” Vera sighed, not bothered by the easy familiarity that Jay showed in the way he touched her. She knew a lot of people suspected that they were dating, but the truth was that they were simply comfortable with each other.
There was not a shred of attraction that either felt for the other, beyond an appreciation for what was obvious. Jay was a good-looking man who had been offered one modelling gig after another, and recently, a movie script that she thought he should seriously consider. He’d been an anchor for their channel for many years and doing rather well for himself, so it seemed natural that he would transition into bigger projects. With the film industry knocking on his door, she suspected Jay wouldn’t remain employed at Ethos for much longer.
Had she been so inclined, Jay would have been a great choice as a boyfriend. But her life was in flux. She had no time for relationships and neither did he. Perhaps that was why they got along so well. There was no risk of romantic entanglements with each other, and there was safety in that knowledge. They were also rather similar. Both had ambition, had families they loved and wanted to protect, and were both similarly cynical about romantic love.
“You could try making my life a little easier and flirt back with Olivia instead of ignoring her,” Vera complained, knowing that it would change nothing. Jay did not suffer fools, and Olivia was not the brightest person around.
“She is boring.”
Vera shushed him, throwing a look around to make sure no one else heard Jay. It took no effort for a comment like that to snowball into gossip and she didn’t want to embarrass Olivia, no matter how antagonistic the girl had been of late.
“She doesn’t like me because she thinks I hog your attention,” Vera said, her voice low. “Can’t you pretend to be nice to her till she’s over her crush?”