11. Insensibility
11
Insensibility
Vera
A lesser woman would have called in sick. Half a day of being locked inside a storage room that ended with your ex-boyfriend and current boss giving you the most explosive orgasm of your adult life would definitely have made any sensible person come up with some solid excuse to avoid work the next morning.
Being trapped, missing her meeting with her grandfather and having the office bear witness to her insult had left Vera feeling impotent and trampled over. She’d screamed and hit the closed door until her energy had been drained. Minutes had stretched into hours, confining her in an unlikely prison. Desperate for freedom, Vihaan’s supposed rescue should’ve made her feel thankful. But the moment she’d seen him, her desolation had been replaced with a furious need to snatch something from him and in so doing, reclaim the part of her that she’d lost to fear.
Not in her wildest dreams would she have believed that the resolution to those emotions would’ve come with his touch, an intimate one at that. Vera couldn’t remember when she had felt so consumed by another man. Every emotion—good and bad—had seemed to focus on a single individual to the point where she forgot everything else.
Vihaan’s touch had beckoned to something within her soul that was bigger than her conscious being. Which was why, when she felt his firm fingers trailing up the naked skin of her thigh, she hadn’t stopped him. When he’d finished inside her, she hadn’t pushed him away. What the hell had she been thinking, allowing that to happen? How could she have been so reckless? She never had unprotected sex.
But therein lay her problem. She hadn’t been thinking. Her mind had been blank, her body—a vessel of desire. She’d needed to feel something other than abject terror and despondency. What had followed had felt like relief.
Which, now that her fear had abated, made zero sense. How was Vihaan a source of relief?
She’d been tempted to bury herself in bed until logic returned, but missing work meant allowing Vihaan to think he’d gotten the best of her. So, Vera had dragged herself out the door like she normally did. Even though it’d felt like she was being squeezed by a Yeti when she’d taken the elevator up to her floor. Even though the air-conditioned offices of Ethos felt like she was filling her lungs with noxious fumes every second she stayed.
It didn’t matter that she had bags under her eyes, or that she’d zoned out at her team meeting twice, apologetically asking to postpone it so she could get her bearings straight. It didn’t matter that she’d taken her mug to the bathroom instead of the break room for a coffee refresher.
Sigh.
She trudged along slowly, blowing out yet another leaden breath that did nothing to reduce the heaviness in her chest. Just as she entered the coffee area, she noticed three of her team members huddled, so engrossed in their chat that they didn’t register her presence.
“Did you see her this morning? I wonder what’s going on.”
“Who?” Olivia asked.
“Vera. She doesn’t seem like herself today.”
“Another way for her to get attention,” Olivia guessed unkindly before scoffing, a reaction Vera wasn’t sure what to make of.
Vera didn’t know what to do. On one hand, she was eavesdropping. But it was about her, and she wanted to know what Olivia was going on about. What had she done to turn the young woman against her?
“Attention for what?” her friend questioned, as confused as Vera herself.
“Oh, just wait. She’ll find something,” Olivia huffed immediately, flipping her hair over her shoulders. “She didn’t mention the archive room to you both, did she?”
“What do you mean?”
“What she means,” Vera interrupted, understanding exactly what was happening, “is that I was trapped in the archives room yesterday. For hours.”
The shock on the three women’s faces did little to distract the twisting ache in Vera’s chest from tightening at the recollection of being in that room alone. The dank smell of old files had seeped into her skin, reminding her of the countless moments where escape had seemed impossible. Her stomach flipped, her insides rolling like they were preparing to expunge the meagre breakfast she’d consumed, right there on the clean, grey, tiled floor.
“Apart from me and whoever opened the door,” Vera continued, her palms growing increasingly clammy, “the only other person who could have known this happened is the one who locked me in.”
Vera approached the group, her focus on Olivia who was glaring at her through her round glasses. “I screamed myself hoarse yelling for help. Did you hear me and still walk away? ”
Olivia’s lips tightened as she stared stonily at Vera, ignoring the horrified gasps of her friends.
“Why?” Vera questioned, her voice cracking from strain.
Just when she thought she wouldn’t get an answer, Olivia stepped forward, her face twisted with an emotion too ugly to name.
“Because you take everything!” she hissed. “Just because you’re good looking and have everyone’s attention. I was supposed to be the team-lead, I was supposed to be the one getting noticed. Instead, I became your errand girl. I graduated with a marketing degree from Mumbai University and you? We all know you went to night school and barely scraped by. Who knows what you did to get picked instead of me. But soon, people will realise that you don’t deserve this promotion.”
“What do mean? What did you do, Olivia?”
“I can answer that,” cut in a baritone voice that made everyone go still.
Olivia stiffened, her face growing ashen as Vihaan stepped into the room, the lines of his face so severe that even Vera felt apprehension rush through her.
She’d seen him be glib, charming, self-assured, even cruel. She only realised now that she had never seen him angry. It was as if all gentility had been peeled away, leaving behind raw emotion. His jaw flexed, and Vera got the sense he was holding back from unleashing everything within him because of the audience they had.
He stalked towards them with the lithe grace of a large panther on the prowl. Vera wasn’t his prey, but she felt the shift in tension as physically as a pashmina draped over her body.
“Care to repeat what you said, Ms. Singh?” he asked in a voice so silky, it screamed danger.
“N. . . nothing,” Olivia stammered.
“If you had a question regarding Ms. Talwar’s qualifications, then you should have asked. I’m not saying you deserve an answer, but it would have been better than gossiping about her. It certainly would have been a damn sight better than leaving her stranded in a storage room.”
“I. . . I. . .”
“One would think that’s all you’ve been up to, but you’ve been actively sabotaging Ms. Talwar’s work, haven’t you?”
Vera felt the hair on her forearms rise at this revelation.
“Did you forget there are cameras on every stairwell, and that you could be caught standing outside the storage room while someone was yelling from within? Did you not think I would look into the origin of each one of the errors that came to my desk, especially when it pertains to a project I am involved in? It was easy enough to get IT to sweep for every file and check the log for changes. You left quite the trail, Ms. Singh. How clumsy. I wouldn’t suggest a career in crime though you seem to be failing spectacularly at your current profession as well.”
Olivia’s cheeks reddened at the insult.
“Sorry, sir.”
“You’re only sorry you got caught. Perhaps you forgot in your zeal to ruin Ms. Talwar’s credibility that you were using company time and resources in a way that is detrimental to Ethos,” Vihaan icily pointed out.
It seemed to finally dawn on Olivia how deeply she’d fucked up because her mouth dropped open in a soundless plea, her eyes blinking rapidly as panic set in.
“Who do you report to?” he asked, making it clear that he expected an answer despite knowing it himself.
Olivia’s voice was barely a decibel above a whisper.
“Vera.”
“That makes her your boss. Your behaviour towards your direct supervisor and your team member has been less than exemplary. Worse, you put her safety in jeopardy. You’re fired.”
“You can’t!” she cried.
He raised a haughty brow, wordlessly taunting her. Can’t I ?
“Do you want to press charges against this woman? There is enough reason to file a police complaint.”
Vera shook her head, still refusing to look at him.
“Wait, Mr. Oberoi. Please. Vera, tell him. Do something,” Olivia pleaded, reaching out towards her when Vihaan stepped forward, physically dividing the two women. He glared at Olivia’s extended hand like it had personally offended him.
“I have a business to run, and the quality of my employees is something I take seriously. See yourself out the door. If I find you on the premises again, you’ll be charged with trespassing,” he informed her, barrelling over her attempt to speak. “My patience is at an end, Ms. Singh. Do not provoke me into doing something that will leave you picking up pieces of your life for the next fifty years.”
Without sparing her another glance, he spun on his heels, coming face to face with Vera.
“You,” he huffed, tipping his chin towards her. “In my office. Now,” he barked, when she didn’t move fast enough for his liking.
Vera followed a visibly agitated Vihaan back to his cabin, standing across his desk while he seated himself and glared at her. “Did you know Olivia had ill intentions towards you?”
Her fingers clamped over the handle of the mug she held, letting it form an anchor for all her emotions. She would not break down in tears in front of him, not when he could use that against her. “She didn’t like me. I didn’t think she’d do this.”
“All the errors I have been finding in your. . .her work—did you know that she wasn’t performing as she should have been?”
“She’s had issues adjusting to my leadership.”
“Why did you put up with her horrible behaviour?” he demanded, an angry palm slamming on his desk. “Find someone to take over her work. Or—”
“Let me guess,” she interrupted, her tone laden with sarcasm. “Or, all her tasks will be reassigned to my position to increase my workload, right? Maybe you think that little scene outside is your safeguard in case I complain against you. No one will believe me because you’re the good boss who took a stand for his employee. Do your worst. I still won’t quit.”
He looked stunned for a moment, his features twisting as rage returned.
“You’re so fucking annoying. I meant one of the juniors on your team, not you. You breathe fire every time you talk to me, so why the hell didn’t you stand up for yourself in front of that bitch?”
Her eyes narrowed and she paused. Was he really angry on her behalf? How. . . unsettling.
“All you did was undermine my authority by making it seem like I couldn’t resolve tensions without your involvement,” she smoothly replied, refusing to admit to the guilt of having accused him unfairly. “If I am meant to lead my team, then let me do my job without interfering.”
His brow tugged up. “You do realise you’re talking to your boss.”
“In that case, is there anything else I can help you with before I return to work, sir ?” she insolently shot, watching the veins at the back of his hand pop out when he clenched his fist.
“Leave,” he snapped, looking as pissed off as she was.
Vera’s lips thinned into a line, glowering at him for his swift change in demeanour. She should have known all that support was for show. This is what he was at the end of the day. A rude dill-hole who was bent on trying to find a weakness to exploit.
She harrumphed for good measure before spinning on her heels, her hair swishing as she indelicately slammed his door shut behind her.
The farther she got from Vihaan, the more her ire faded. She was being watched by everyone in the office with a wariness that told her word had spread already.
Ten minutes was all it had taken for people to know that someone had been fired because of her .
She dropped into her seat and frustratedly combed her hair to one side, hiding her face.
Yeah, she admitted to herself, heaving a deeply disappointed sigh at the kind of day she’d been having. She should have called in sick.