6 Occupational Hazard #2
She then looked at me and said, ‘This is David Miller from International.’
I took a pause before offering him my hand, uncertain about the proper way to greet a superior in a setting like this. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’
‘The pleasure’s mine. You’ve done a wonderful job tonight. And the food is exquisite,’ he said, gesturing towards the charcuterie plate on the table.
His black-rimmed spectacles intensified the shadows in his eyes, so he looked like he was being stern even when he smiled.
‘Thank you. And I’ll convey your compliments to the chef,’ I said, and he nodded.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Pooja exhaling a subtle release of tension. I realised that this was the first time she was introducing me to a higher-up from the company outside of work hours. Did this mean I was joining the ranks?
‘I love the Best Man idea, by the way. It could really be something if the execution is tasteful,’ he said after a minute.
‘We won’t let you down,’ I said, stealing a glance in my boss’s direction.
‘To fresh ideas,’ she said, raising her wine glass in my direction. ‘May we never run out of them.’
A little while later, Rajat appeared at our side, looking frantic. Pooja and I left David in the care of Hina and her unnamed date and followed him to the corner in front of the washrooms.
‘What is it?’ I asked, failing to mask the anxiety in my voice.
‘It’s Kiara,’ he said, tugging at the sleeves of his oversized blazer nervously.
‘Oh, she’s here? Great,’ Pooja said, taking another sip of her wine.
The three of us turned our heads to look at the booth where the car was parked. A buzz was forming around it. She was perched on the bonnet, her long legs stretching out seductively as she posed.
‘Yeah. Um, she is, but she won’t shoot at the bar,’ he said.
‘What? Why?’ I asked.
‘She says she’s on an alcohol cleanse … and uh, she won’t endorse a product she doesn’t consume,’ he said.
I let out a puff of air. Was I to believe that she was going to be sober for the entire night?
‘Who needs alcohol when you can just …’ Pooja said as she touched her nose and winked at me.
When neither of us said anything more, Rajat ran back to the influencer he was in charge of.
‘Um, Pooja,’ I began, wondering why she hadn’t started screaming at me yet.
‘Yeah?’
‘The Stellar Spirits guys are expecting her as a promoter,’ I said.
‘Of course they are. But as long as we didn’t promise them anyth—’
I cut her off. ‘I kinda did,’ I said, then added after a pause, ‘On email.’
The wine-induced softness that had made its way to her face swiftly disappeared.
‘What?’ she whisper-screamed.
I tried my best to explain the special circumstances under which I’d broken this cardinal rule, but obviously, I couldn’t give her anything more.
‘You have to fix this, Ananya,’ she said, her voice cold.
‘I know, yes. I will,’ I said, glancing at Kiara, who was now socialising with some of the other influencers.
‘No, not her. She won’t do it,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Make good with the Stellar Spirits rep. Get him drunk, make sure he has one hell of a night. If he doesn’t make a big deal out of this, neither will his team.’
I nodded at her, assuring her that I’d fix it.
She didn’t look convinced, but she left me to deal with it on my own.
I filtered the crowd with my eyes, searching for the one person I’d hoped to avoid tonight.
The idea of ‘making good’ with him, whatever that meant, made me want to throw up.
But unless I wanted to kiss my promotion goodbye, I’d have to do exactly that.
I spotted him walking away from the bar, two drinks in his hand. He was making his way towards the rear end of the room. I followed him, soldiering through the ever-growing crowd of the party. Ryan hindered my pursuit when he crashed into me in front of the car booth.
‘Watch it,’ he said, then changed his tone when he looked up. ‘Oh, it’s you.’
He filled me in about the latest crisis he was dealing with. I patted his arm, telling him I had to go deal with mine.
My pit stop with Ryan had given Aadar a longer head start, and when I finally emerged from the crowd, I found him smiling at the person I’d forgotten I’d brought with me to the party.
I turned around immediately, burying myself in the mass of people once again. I retrieved my phone from my trousers and called Vrinda, hoping she’d pick up. She did, on the second ring.
‘Dude, come to the washroom. Right. Now.’ I had to almost shout to be heard over the chatter.
I only moved away when I saw her excusing herself from the table. Once we were inside the washroom, I checked the cubicles to ensure we were alone.
‘Annie … you didn’t tell me he was cute!’ she squealed, clutching my arms.
‘V, this is serious. Why the hell were you talking to him?’ I asked.
She turned towards the mirror, a tiny frown forming on her face as she said, ‘He came over to talk to me. Just now.’
‘What did he say?’ I asked, ignoring the fact that she sounded a little cross.
She pulled at the neckline of her dress, adjusting the amount of cleavage she wanted to be displayed.
‘That he felt like he’d seen me somewhere,’ she said, then added in a lighter, playful tone, ‘I think he was hitting on me.’
‘Oh God, V. He has seen you somewhere,’ I said, holding up my phone to remind her of our little Instagram adventure.
‘Oh shit,’ she said, turning to face me.
A woman entered the washroom, and we lowered our voices as she went inside.
‘What do we do now? He can’t find out you and I are best friends,’ I said, trying to limit the panic in my voice.
‘Yeah, or he’ll know you were stalking him,’ she said with a giggle.
I threw her an I-don’t-need-this-right-now look, and she held up her hands in surrender.
‘I’ll book myself a cab home,’ she said, sounding just a tad bit disappointed.
‘I’m really sorry I couldn’t spend more time with you tonight,’ I said, pouting innocently at my best friend. ‘I’ll make it up to you.’
She hugged me, asking if I could steal a bottle of whisky for her to leave with.
‘Just one?’ I asked, making her laugh.
I waited with her in the washroom while her cabbie showed up, filling her in about what had happened with Kiara.
‘So, you’re going to spend the evening chatting up Mr Aadar Chauhan, huh?’ she asked, teasing.
‘Please, stop that,’ I said and punched her arm lightly.
‘I’m just saying,’ she said, shrugging casually, ‘it could’ve been worse … he could’ve been ugly.’
‘Now that would’ve helped.’
It took me a good fifteen minutes to find him because he’d left the room altogether. I panicked when I saw him standing outside the main door, assuming he was waiting for the valet.
‘Are you leaving already?’ I asked, stepping onto the pavement.
If he was surprised to see me, he didn’t show it. ‘Nope.’
He held up his left hand and took a drag from his cigarette.
‘That thing will kill you, you know,’ I said, stepping away from the door and closer to him.
He turned his head to look at me and slowly exhaled the smoke.
‘Did you come out here in the heat to give me a health warning?’ His face was devoid of any expression.
This wasn’t working. I realised that if I wanted him to warm up to me, I’d have to make a genuine effort. So even though it made me want to cringe, I decided it was officially time to kiss Aadar’s ass.
‘I just feel like we got off on the wrong foot,’ I said, trying to sound sincere. ‘And tonight’s a good time to change that.’
That seemed to amuse him.
‘All right,’ he said after a brief pause. ‘How do you propose we do that?’
I could tell he was trying to figure me out, but I was glad he didn’t straight up refuse my peace offering.
‘You could get me a drink to start with,’ I said, then mock whispered, ‘don’t worry, it’s free.’
‘Ha ha,’ he said, but he had a hint of a smile on his face. I waited for him to crush the cigarette and then led the way back indoors.
‘What are you drinking?’ he asked me at the bar, which was getting noisier by the minute.
I’d had a bit of everything up until now, thanks to the stolen sips and drinks. Usually I preferred wine or beer over any other type of alcohol. But I pointed at his empty whisky glass. Tonight, I needed to be on his level.
With our drinks in our hands, we gravitated towards an empty table in one of the quieter corners of the room. I placed my glass on the high table and leaned on it with my elbows, taking a moment to appreciate the turnout tonight.
‘Looks pretty different than that day, huh?’ Aadar asked, following my gaze.
‘I worked very hard to make sure of it,’ I said.
‘I bet,’ he said with a hint of sarcasm, which he must’ve regretted because he changed the topic with a compliment. ‘Nice suit, by the way.’
‘You too,’ I said, pointing to his black-and-blue woven Italian tuxedo.
Three out of the four times I’d met this man, he’d been dressed in formals. I wondered if that was because he knew he looked pretty good in them.
‘So, explored any more rishtas?’ I asked and he chuckled.
‘Been on any more Tinder dates?’ he retorted.
‘Yeah, two,’ I said, unfazed.
He took a second to sip the drink in his hand.
‘You’re telling me you’ve been on two dates with two different guys since the last time I saw you?’
I placed my glass back on the table, a little harder than I’d meant to. ‘Are you slut-shaming me?’
‘No, no, I’m not. I’m just … surprised you had the time. With all this in the pipeline,’ he said, gesturing at the room around us.
‘I made the time. I have a rule …’ I trailed off.
I was revealing too much. Talking to him about my love life made me uneasy. He was no doubt going to judge me for it. But I did have to keep the conversation going somehow …
‘Do tell,’ he said, feigning interest.
Just answer his question , I instructed myself. You can do it.
‘I go on one date every week. Give or take,’ I finally divulged.
‘Wow,’ he said. ‘And how many weeks has this rule lived to see?’