Part 6
Rakshasan & Roman Numeral
Mr Goyal asked her "Did u also think father and son just did not get along in there?" his face was dripping with shock
Ishita was humiliated and furious, she couldnt care less if R&B was an orphan... "Mujhe is baat par gussa aa raha hai ki main unprepared kyon thi"
"I hate my inefficiency Baldev.." she muutered disappointed, their office was on the 7th floor...
"Dont worry Ishita, I think theyve bought it, I think the younger guy was just getting back at his Dad"
"Baldev,... sorry.. but I think you watch Ekta Kapoor shows on TV"
They both laughed out loud on that remark... ands tepped off the elevator
"Should we meet in two hours?" "I can show you what I am able to get?" she asked
"No... lets give it a rest, I will ask my boss to have a word up the chain and talk to Mr
Bansal a bit without sharing ofcourse how we got colbbered today, we have a week, we can talk about what we need to do next? Chill Iyer"
"Sounds like coconut water" she said
"Do u like coconut water?" he asked
"Only if its inside a coconut" she grinned
They walked separate ways... she thought about every second every minute, every word that came out of her mouth, the ambience the attitude of both Bhallas... the room
The behavior, she replayed it all multiple times, Bhavna showed up with updates on the Taj Man Singh meeting... she continued to seethe
Amma called then Akka did too, Amma wanted to know if anyone liked the saree "I dont know Amma" "I had a terrible meeting earlier today" "Rakshasan" she cursed
Amma called during her lunch hour so couldnt talk but worried if all was well "Not MY office Amma A CLIENT... SAME BUILDING... U know Natarajan Uncle bought his car from a dealership?"
"Amaam" (Ya?) said Amma curious
"Its those people Ma, Excelsior Automobiles... Dad is smart and kind, son oru waste.. (he is useless)... he showed up in blue jeans and white shirt like he was at a pub, must be a college drop out Amma
Appavoda paisa veen pannindu irupaan... he must be blowing his Dad's money" she cursed and ranted
Amma laughed "You dont make any personal comments like that EVER... innikki enna achu, what happened today?" she asked shocked
"I am just irriated that a nobody showed me my place" her voice quivered...
Amma was worried "Kanna?" she enquired
"I am OK Amma... I am not used to not having the upper hand at work ille(right)? so this is a shock to me" she giggled
She looked for her laptop case to get her favorite pen out trying to push the thoughts of the disaster of a meeting
~~
He did not know what his son's handicap was, he did not know which airline he flew, Ranjan did not know a THING about his son the last 4 or so years, whatever he knew Samyukta or Manya or his assistant Dua told him'
He recalled how his son cut him off on the golf handicap comment... he let out a long hard breath and walked over to the windows... he didnt expect Raman to show for the meeting today
He did, but defiantly, not in workplace attire but in blue jeans, Ranjan had strict rules around the office the 200 or so that worked
here in Spectrum adhered to it reverentially... his own son did not...
He heard him upstairs the last couple days since hes been home... many times at 2 or 3 in the morning... jet lagged or living the 30 something life he didnt know
The help told him what he ate, if he was home etc... if his car was parked... all the help knew, in fact he only lost ONE PERSON in the fiasco, his wife
He didnt want to count the admin...
He turned away from the window and called for tea... though he felt like a stiff drink..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Raman had observed how his Dad looked at the girl, there was many reasons to look, something stirred in his lower half in approval... she went from a Burberry wearing banker to a Kalamkari wearing NGO activist
Her work was not as sparkling or as impressive as her appearance was..."tells the story of HOW she got to where she is"
Raman stood up wand walked over to the windows, his office was bigger than his Dad's and had windows almost all three sides... it still had the "Empty musty" feel to it
It was not designed by "Marliese" Marliese was a lil OTT, this was extremely tasteful... He looked at his phone... they were still in touch occasionally
"Tonite would be a good nite to get laid" he muttered inaudibly... shutting his eyes blocking the mid afternoon sun for a bit... a lil pink tongue slid over glossy pink lower lip...
He opened his eyes startled at that mental image
~~
Wednesday..
Two days passed with no mention of Excelsior at the Accounting firm... she received a HUGE BASKET OF FLOWERS, to call it a basket would be offesnive it was more like a truck or a warehouse
It was embarrassing... it had a note her entire team, A, B, C and D were all in there as the attendant wheeled it in a copier paper cart much to her embarrassment
the note said " Great to meet you and Mr Goyal Ms Iyer!! Look forward to seeing you Monday" signed Ranjan Bhalla in a scrawled handwriting
Bhavna: ishita you got flowers from a client for attending a meeting? MUJHE KOI KABHI KUCH NAHI BHEJTA
Ishita laughed... "This wasnt for the meeting this was because his son was JERK, not WAS IS A JERK."
Bhavna: Kya hua?
Ishita: I will admit I was unprepared a BIT, but he clobbered us...
Bhavna looked fearful "Ishita if we have to deploy here do I have an option of going on to some other acoount?"
I: Dont be silly...
B: Nahi... this guy sounds scary..
I:Because he is in his "Pappaji's office"
She went to down to the 5th floor to the Archies gift shop and got a nice Thank You card... blank.. and wrote out a note
"Thank you Mr Bhalla for the lovely flowers, KMPG might have to move out of the 7th floor because of the size.. we cant house the people and YOUR FLOWERS :))"
I shared them with Mr Goyal and he thanks you also"
Regards
II
No mention of his bratty son or the humiliation she faced
She had her assistant take it upstairs..
5 ish on Thursday, R&B walked into Ranjan's room as his assistant reminded him that some papers required his signatures...
Ranjan was at the Chandigarh showrooom all day... he did not think of him as "Dad" did not refer to him mentally as that either...
He picked up the three yellow green and grey folders and and found what looked like a card half in half out of its envelope
He paused and picked it up, read it... "Move out of the 7th floor because of the size of the basket"
It was signed II with a slant... her hand writing as elegant as her... if not more
What she said and who she had sent it to irked him..Ranjan and Ishita...
."she is an accountant she uses a Roman numeral to sign off" he thought later
Edited by Nisha0604 - 9 years ago