five License to Spill
five
License to Spill
The elevator doors closed before I could catch up with Neil, so I ran down the three flights of stairs, showcasing an athleticism I didn’t know I possessed.
But when I reached the ground floor, he was nowhere in sight.
The security guard only shrugged when I described who I was looking for, entirely unmoved by my sense of urgency. And then it hit me.
I found him in the reserved section of the basement parking lot, leaning against a silver Mercedes-Benz GLE.
His laptop bag was carelessly placed over the hood of the car and he was scrolling on his phone, as though he had all the time in the world.
A fresh surge of fumes rose up within me as I marched towards him.
What business did he have looking so at ease after waging a full-blown war on my peace of mind? ‘You,’ I said, a little out of breath, ‘Where do you think you’re going?’
He looked up from his phone, his forehead creasing in confusion when he found me standing in front of him, hands on my hips. ‘Uh … home?’ he said, straightening up a little. ‘Or maybe to the gym. Haven’t decided yet.’
His imperturbability threatened to short-circuit my brain. ‘No,’ I said, crossing my arms, trying to regain my composure.
‘No what?’
‘You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on,’ I said, taking another step forward.
‘I’m not sure what you’re talking about,’ he said in a tone that implied he knew exactly what I was talking about.
We stayed that way in a tense little standoff until he finally spoke. ‘You know,’ he said, the corners of his mouth curving up ever so slightly. ‘You’ve got a lot of attitude for someone standing on very shaky ground.’
His words hit me like a gut punch. There it is, I thought. He knows. It’s over.
I nodded, the anger that had fuelled me moments ago fizzling out into helplessness. Defeat. Resignation. ‘When are you going to do it?’ I asked, looking away.
He didn’t say anything for a bit, no doubt enjoying the dejection that had taken over my features. ‘I’m not planning to rat you out, Kavya, if that’s what you’re asking,’ he said.
Silence stretched between us. I could feel his unrelenting gaze on me, waiting for me to meet his eye. A tightness gripped my chest as my brain struggled to catch up with his words.
‘Why?’ I asked after a few seconds, at a loss.
‘Because I don’t see how that would help me,’ he said, his voice devoid of emotion. When I just continued to stare at him dumbly, he added, ‘There are far better ways to use this info.’
Better ways? What … what kind of ways did he mean?
The words seemed to hang in the air, heavy and suggestive. Indignation prickled under my skin as I realized what he was hinting at. I opened my mouth to cuss him out, but before I could bite his head off, he yanked my wrist and pulled me into him.
‘What the fu—’
‘Shhh,’ he cut me off, tilting his head sideways towards the sound of footsteps approaching. They belonged, I realized, to Varun.
Neil manoeuvred us into the narrow gap between his car and a concrete pillar, hiding us from my boss’s view.
My back brushed against the cold cement and his chest formed a wall in front of me, his grip on my wrist never loosening.
My breath came out shallow and fast, every cell in my body tangled in a mixture of outrage, panic and the electric awareness of how close he was—close enough to smell his smoky, no doubt expensive cologne.
Neither of us moved. The echo of Varun’s steps drew nearer, then faded, followed by the low rumble of an engine starting.
We stayed locked in place until the sound of his car pulling away finally broke the spell.
‘I’m not,’ I hissed as I wrenched my wrist free, ‘going to sleep with you.’
He bobbed his head back in amusement, as if I’d said the most absurd thing in the world. ‘You think I’m hoping to get laid?’ His broad shoulders shook with laughter. ‘Trust me, I don’t need any help in that department.’
I hated to admit it, but he kind of had a point there. If Tanya’s intel was to be believed, he had gathered two unsolicited phone numbers and three invites to ‘hang out’ from various ladies in the grand total of two days he had been at the office.
‘Then what the hell do you want from me?’ I snapped.
‘Get in the car.’
I narrowed my eyes at him and he just shrugged. ‘Unless you’d rather wait for Rajat uncle to find us here, discussing how you’ve been conning him all this while.’
I bit my lip, considering my options. I could do as he said and find out whatever twisted, unethical BS his scheming brain had cooked up … or I could walk away clinging to my leftover dignity and watch my career go up in flames.
So, of course, I opened the passenger door of his stupid, shiny Mercedes and got in.
‘Are you going to explain?’ I asked
Neil kept his focus on the road ahead, even though we were stuck in the same spot we had been in for the last twenty minutes.
‘Explain what?’ he asked just as the traffic signal turned green. ‘Come on, come on, come on.’
The twenty or so cars in front of us continued to move at a snail’s pace, making it clear we weren’t going to make the cut this time around either.
It didn’t really bother me, to be honest. If anything, Neil’s growing impatience was comforting.
It felt like a strange win—knowing that people in fancy cars were not automatically excused from the miseries of Mumbai traffic.
He cursed when the signal turned red just as we were about to cross the threshold.
‘Patience, Mr Mercedes,’ I said sweetly, folding my arms. ‘The universe doesn’t bend to your will.’
He raised an eyebrow, finally taking his eyes off the road. ‘Maybe not the universe. You, on the other hand …’
I rolled my eyes. ‘May I know what it is I’m being blackmailed to do?’
He scrunched his nose. ‘That’s such an ugly word. Let’s just call it an agreement between friends.’
I scoffed. ‘I’m not your friend.’
‘Suit yourself,’ he said, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. ‘You’ll still have to hold up your end of the bargain if you want me to keep your secret safe, though.’
‘And what is my end, exactly?’
He shrugged, as if his next words should’ve been obvious. ‘No more boring work … actually, no more work, period.’
‘Huh?’
‘You heard me …’
I peered at him, trying to figure out what he meant. So, what? He just wanted to take off and come back to collect his internship letter in two months? This guy really was used to getting free rides, huh? But even if I could disregard how I felt about that, what was I supposed to say to my boss?
‘I’m not sure how Varun will feel about you suddenly going MIA …’
‘I’ll come to the office, obviously,’ he said. ‘I’m not some spoiled brat.’
Before I could laugh in his face, a knock on his window made me jump. A young boy held up a bunch of red roses, mouthing something we couldn’t hear. Neil shook his head, but the boy continued to knock enthusiastically. When he refused to leave, Neil sighed and rolled down his window.
‘... get them for your girlfriend, please bhaiya,’ the boy was saying.
‘She’s not …’ Neil trailed off as the boy chucked the flowers inside and they fell squarely in his lap.
‘Brilliant,’ he muttered, fishing out a five hundred rupee note from his wallet and handing it to the kid, who ran off grinning like he’d just won the lottery.
Instead of presenting them to his ‘girlfriend’, he tossed the flowers on the back seat without a word.
I pressed my lips together. Chivalry really was dead.
‘You’re telling me you’ll come to the office everyday ...’ I said, steering the conversation back again. ‘And pretend to work?’
‘You do catch on fast, don’t you?’
I shot him a glare. ‘But why?’
He only shrugged.
‘And what the hell will you do all day?’
‘Whatever I feel like. That’s not your concern,’ he said, brushing me off.
I frowned, genuinely confused. Why would anyone want to waste months of their life sitting at an office doing absolutely nothing? ‘You do know you can just quit if you don’t want to be here, right?’
He just shook his head and said, ‘Nope, can’t.’
I stared at him for clues, but his face didn’t give anything away.
Nothing about this made sense. If he didn’t want this internship, why use his pull to get it in the first place?
And if all he was after was a neat little line on his resume, I’m sure his Rajat ‘uncle’ would’ve obliged him … why go through all this trouble?
Sighing loudly, I said, ‘There’s a mountain of banners sitting on our desks. Who’s going to design them?’
‘Hmm, let me see …’ he said with a finger on his chin to mock me. ‘You.’
My response died in my throat when he slammed his foot on the accelerator. My head hit the back of the seat as the car shot forward, tearing past the traffic signal at a speed unfit for Mumbai roads.
The city blurred past me as I scrambled to gather my thoughts.
What did this mean for me? Varun had tossed me this so-called intern as a consolation prize, a placeholder to keep me afloat until they made some real, qualified hires.
But if Neil spent two months warming a chair while I killed myself over the same endless to-do lists, what would that prove?
There would be no spike in my productivity and would show that I couldn’t handle even the smallest team.
My boss wouldn’t see a girl pulling double shifts to cover for a useless intern.
He’d see someone who was failing the leadership test. And I couldn’t let that happen.
‘Neil, you were assigned to me to help me get through this ridiculous workload,’ I began, trying to reason with him. ‘If I still can’t get things done, no one’s going to think you’re useless … they’re going to think I am.’
He cocked his head to one side in agreement. A small smile played on his lips as he said, ‘True. Not my problem, though.’
As we merged onto the New Prabhadevi road towards Worli, the tall towers of Lower Parel started giving way to old school buildings and bungalows.
Much like the shifting skyline in my rearview mirror, my thoughts raced by until the uncomfortable realization settled like a rock in my stomach.
He was using me. And there was very little I could do about it.
‘Will you at least tell me what you’re getting out of this?’ I finally asked. ‘I mean, aren’t you a little old to be wasting your time on an internship you don’t even care about?’
He didn’t respond for a few moments. When he did, he was clenching his jaw. ‘I don’t need to care about the internship. I just need to finish it.’
But why? What could possibly make this farce of an internship matter so much? I wanted to push, but his expression made it clear he was in no mood to open up to me.
‘That’s not really an answer,’ I muttered, more to myself than to him.
‘Well, it’s the only one you’re getting,’ he said, just as a kaali-peeli swerved dangerously close to my side of the car.
He swore under his breath and cut the wheel to the right, letting the taxi screech past. For half a second, he flicked his eyes towards me, the faintest trace of concern there.
It vanished immediately when I nodded at him.
‘One last question,’ I said, looking down at my strappy sandals.
He clicked his tongue in mock exasperation.
‘How did you figure it out …’ I asked, my voice low. ‘My secret?’
He let out a low, throaty chuckle. ‘You didn’t make it very tough, to be honest. I was already suspicious when you had nothing to offer about your time at NYU …
but then when Kenzo said he’d never heard of you …
’ He shook his head in amusement. ‘All old students have access to the alumni database. So I looked you up.’
I took an unsteady breath, willing my nerves to calm down. He was right. I hadn’t made it tough. Him finding out so easily … it wasn’t bad luck. It was carelessness. My cheeks burned with the humiliating truth.
‘Relax, most people wouldn’t have bothered checking. I’m just annoyingly thorough,’ he offered by way of consolation before turning the corner onto Worli Sea Face.
For a moment, I let myself forget about the mess I’d landed myself in and admire the beauty in front of me.
The sea stretched as far as the eye could see, waves breaking gently against stone walls and filling the evening breeze with a tinge of salt.
Along the road was an unusual mix of homes—old bungalows with sloping tiled roofs and bougainvillea spilling over their gates, side by side with glossy multi-storey houses whose glass balconies jutted out towards the water.
I found myself wondering what it would be like to wake up to this view, to open your windows and have the ocean greet you first thing in the morning.
‘You live here?’ I asked, a hint of wonder seeping into my voice despite my best efforts to conceal it.
‘Down the road,’ he said, then turned to face me. ‘Where should I drop you off?’
Right. Time to go back to my side of the town. ‘The nearest station is fine.’
Neil leaned over to tap the car’s console, his arm grazing mine in the process.
Almost instinctively, my fingers brushed the spot, a flicker of how he’d gripped my wrist in the parking lot flashing through my mind before I shoved the memory aside.
When ‘Gravity’ by John Mayer filled the car, the memory receded, replaced by mild surprise at his taste in music.
‘I don’t mind dropping you home,’ he offered, surprisingly polite for a blackmailing bastard.
I passed him a tight-lipped smile. ‘I live in Andheri.’
He chuckled, making a sharp U-turn that made me reach for the door handle. ‘Nearest station it is.’