4. The Stage is Set
4
The Stage is Set
Vera
W here was the refund on her life? She wanted to speak to the damn manager who ran this establishment.
Vera scowled at the screen in front of her, reading the news she wished wasn’t true.
Ethos had been acquired. By him .
She’d hoped it was a terrible nightmare that she was trapped in when his name had been announced, her body going cold when he’d walked into the room. She’d shrunk into the shadows while he spoke, his baritone voice evoking an emotion that left her with no air in her lungs.
It had been too sudden and unexpected—this meeting. And she knew she hadn’t been the only one surprised.
Her fingers tightened around the flimsy cup in her hand as she tried her damndest to resist the urge to crush it. Her frown deepened as she stared at the tepid drink within. Ugh, this was not coffee . It was a travesty; a crime that had gone unreported. It was water with a pinch of mud in it.
Was she being a little too dramatic? Maybe. If not for the cost cutting measures in her life, she’d have ordered a creamy latte with a cinnamon sugar sprinkle from the coffee shop across the street. It was one of the few things she indulged in when her tight finances allowed it.
Strapped for money or not, today she deserved a pick-me-up. After all, coming face to face with the man who’d taken her virginity and smashed her dignity wasn’t something a woman dealt with every day. Seeing her ex-boyfriend for the first time in almost a decade and a half counted as a good reason to splurge on that special caffeine hit.
“If you glare any harder, that paper cup will go up in flames,” a gruff voice called, interrupting her thoughts.
“Like the rest of my life,” she muttered, paying no heed to her friend. In the periphery of her vision, she saw his grey slacks stop next to her desk, his long fingers tapping the wooden surface before flying in front of her screen in an annoying bid for her attention. She swatted at him with irritation, making him grin.
Jay Jaiswal—JJ for short—was an anchor at their channel, and possibly Vera’s only friend. He knew her too well to be put off by her bad mood. He seemed annoyingly upbeat as usual, and it was rubbing her the wrong way. He propped one hip on the edge of her workstation before tinkering with her Post-its, fanning them over and over.
“Why do you look like you slept with a hanger in your mouth?” she almost growled, plucking the stack of notes out of his hand before he ended up permanently curving them.
“No reason,” he shrugged. “Just realised that coming into work got interesting again.”
“What do you know?” she asked suspiciously. Jay had been present for the private company meeting but had left before her, so there was no way he’d witnessed her awkward attempt to escape or her tense encounter with Vihaan.
“Not much. Why? Is there something you’re not telling me?” Shrewd eyes locked on her face.
“Nothing.”
“Oh yeah? You were thinking this hard about nothing?”
“I was trying to think about how much money I would get on the black market for one of my kidneys so I could quit work.”
“If you’re doing it anyway, I’d sell both. Things always sell better in a pair,” he suggested casually, grunting in surprise when she retaliated by smacking his belly with the back of her hand. An unwilling smile tugged at the edge of her lips when Jay bent over dramatically, pretending to be in pain. The sound of shuffling feet beside them had her turning, glancing up to find Olivia staring at her with the same pinched expression she always wore.
“I finished calling the people on the list you emailed me,” she announced, her frown permanent.
Why Olivia had felt the need to personally deliver this message instead of simply emailing her, Vera didn’t know. She said nothing however, thanking her for completing the task.
“Did you happen to forward the summaries to me?” Vera asked.
“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 fingers flying 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 she hated it.
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 exactly how one 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, and certainly 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?”
“I can’t fake niceness. If Olivia doesn’t like you, it’s not because of me.”
“It totally is, you oblivious doorknob.”
Her insult only made Jay snort in amusement.
“Maybe a little. But it’s also because you were promoted over her.”
It was true, but she had no way of changing that situation. She’d been promoted just last month, and she’d worked incredibly hard for it. Even so, she didn’t want strife within her own team. They’d once been co-workers but now, Vera was Olivia’s direct superior, something that had been hard for the younger girl to accept.
“Cheer up, I’ll take you for a late coffee. And before you give me grief,” Jay added, halting the refusal that was on the tip of her tongue, “I need a favour. Consider coffee a payment.”
“What’s the favour?” she asked, eyes narrowed as she tilted her head up to look at him.
“My cousin needs a roommate to help with expenses. It’s a good community, short transit to work. And I know for a fact that the rent fits into your budget.”
Stunned, Vera’s mouth dropped open, staring at him like he’d shown up to a funeral wearing a pink tutu.
“What?” Jay asked, scratching his neck self-consciously. “You are still looking for a new apartment to sublet, aren’t you?!”
“Yes!”
“So, there you go. Help me out. If you’re her roommate, at least I won’t be worried about her picking a random person off the streets.”
Vera couldn’t help but laugh at that, a small shred of relief in a day that had been otherwise quite stressful. She needed to move out of her current living space in less than a month and she’d been hitting dead-ends on all the rentals she’d seen.
“I’ll call her after work and set you two up to meet so you can view the apartment. Cool?”
“Thank you, JJ,” she said, hugging him affectionately.
“Anytime, Veeray.” He ruffled her hair, using the nickname that rhymed with his.
As they broke apart, Vera felt the hair on the back of her nape stand up, a sudden chill climbing up her spine. Jay leaned forward then, impatiently pressing the button to the elevator a few more times .
That’s when Vera saw Vihaan, standing a few feet away with a well-dressed woman holding an iPad right beside him.
Oddly enough, both of them were staring at her.
Vera saw his gaze shift towards Jay, narrowing ever so slightly, his jaw flexing like he was clenching it hard enough to cause a fracture. When he glanced at her again, she felt caught, unable to sever their connection. The seconds stretched between them like a taut string ready to snap at the slightest tug.
The ping of the elevator broke whatever trance she’d been under. Chin tilted up, she spun on her heels and purposefully strode in.
As the metal doors closed, finally hiding her from Vihaan’s view, Vera let out a trapped breath. Unaware of the little exchange between his friend and new boss, Jay continued to tell Vera all about his cousin and the apartment he’d take her to see, while she did her best to follow along.
Her mind however was stuck on Vihaan, only one thought continuously echoing within her brain like a mantra.
She hated him. She hated him. She hated him.
She shivered, trying to shake off the feeling of his eyes on her— as if he’d physically touched her. Both in the conference room as well as in the hallway just now, Vihaan’s gaze had swept over her, taking in every change her body had undergone in the multitude of years since they’d last occupied the same space. She almost wished he’d stared at her breasts or leered like a lecher. It would have been easier to explain her discomfort then. But he’d done nothing of the sort.
Except, when their eyes met, he’d lingered. As if he’d been looking to see something more than her body, her clothes, or some aspect that she could brush off as superficial.
She hated him, it was true.
But she hated far more that one look from him made her feel seventeen again.