Powers that be and decisions should be
She sat up in shock
Not knowing what she wanted anymore, her job was precious to her, but she had been so blown away by the discovery on Sunday night
She hadnt given her job much thought afterwards...
She went to work Monday and Tuesday more to prove a point and to forget nausea and less to make a solid contribution
It had somehow automatically switched in her head
She didnt know when it happened or if it had been happening progressively over the last 6 months
Or in the last two since Ritu came on board
Something had changed...
she felt hungry and tired
She had slept more in the last three days than she had in her entire life, she was unable to comprehend all the rapid changes occuring emotionally and physically
Rakshasan was still driving her insane
He had pretty much worked the whole fricking day
she missed him...
Mahavir pinged, dinner was ready
She changed into a wrap around skirt and cotton blouse with puffed sleeves in sea green, braided her hair neatly, wore a bigger bindi to make herself "feel better"
And went down
ranjan smiled seeing her
"did u like the rasam?
She nodded and shook her head
Her insides burned at the memory of retching the rasam out,
the pepper and lemon not a good combination on its way out
"I am unable to keep anything in" she mumbled
"Tch tch" Ranjan shook his head
It was a routine evening at MM
The patio lights were on the lawns were being watered with the sprinkler
The weather was a lil cooler now, the kitchen smelled like food
Chana dal, aloo gobi with tamatar and jeera rice was the menu, along with freshly made rotis
R&B stepped down 20 minutes after she did
The sight of the food being served on her plate caused her saliva to bubble up
"I dont feel good" she whispered to hubs
He set his fork down and linked his fingers and rested his chin on it
"Do u want to have some juice?" he asked caringly
She shook her head her tear drops flying
"Toone daanta isko?" Ranjan asked
He stared at the man like he was saying "u need to stay out of this"
"Kha le puttar" he blew air kisses
she continued staring at her husband
"I know I am going to throw up" she whispered
"Haan theek hai to kar lena throw" Ranjan translated coloquially
She bit into a roti and slowly ate with dal, took over 20 minutes to eat one
And ate 5 spoons of pineapple raita in another 25 minutes
"Do u want to go for a a walk?" R&B asked
"Lawn mein?" she asked
"Or outside"
"Bahar rehne de" Ranjan advised
R&B nodded
Mahavir pampered her "Meetha dein aapko, khayiyega?"
She shook her head weakly
"IV karegi?" Ranjan asked
R&B nodded "If she wont eat"
"I EAT" II shrieked
Ranjan laughed out loud
R&B half smiled
"Ya keep it down I meant" he corrected himself, the warrior was ready to slay
He wandered the patio listening to music, she walked over after helping Mahavir with the dishes
he held her hand... and and pulled her closer
"Thittinena I am going up" she said
(If u scold me)
Ranjan sat in the patio, turned the fan on and read on his ipad
they walked around the house, it was LONG walking path, the house sat on almost an acre? two acres
the grass was moist under her feet
He didnt talk as usual, she didnt either after 28 minutes she was done
"Going up" she said
He nodded and walked a couple rounds, checking email on the phone
Ranjan dozed... he turned the patio lights off and turned on the swamp coolers
and went up
She was in bed without changing
He changed into his sweats and slid in
she turned towards him, he gathered her closed
A loud moan escaped her at the long awaited embrace
He kissed her cheek firmly
"Can we talk about work?" she asked guaded
"Not right now" he dismissed, but gently
She leaned weakly, shutting her eyes
"I have to go to work u know" she said...
He didnt respond
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unawares of this blow up, Ranjan texted Mr Bansal, Bally's boss
"Do u have a minute Om?" Ranjan texted
Mr B called him
"Kya haal chaal hai yaar?"
"Good goo Omi... dinner all done?"
Mr B was a handful of years younger than Ranjan but they were really good friends
"Kha liya yaa, peg haath mein lehar baitha hoon" Omi said
"Hey how is the Punjab deployment going?'
"I dont know, did u want an update? arent u getting one regularly?" Mr B asked
"Yes yes I am... I am just curious.. I wanted to slow down deployment a bit in systems outside of NCR" Ranjan began
"Gaon mein gaon ke transaction processing?" Mr B mocked
"If u can call Amritsar and Bhatinda gaon, then ya, sure" Ranjan agreed smiling
"Aur kya seva karen batao" Mr B asked
"Just kind of cap off for now, with the whole labor thing I need to sit back and regroup my resources" Ranjan lied
"U know 70% of ur sales comes from NCR, Punjab Haryana and UP are less than 35% altogether" Mr B reminded Ranjan
"I know I know... this SW project is a smal thing, but I want to slow down for a couple months?"
"sure sure we will bill u for delayed deployment" Mr B cleverly snuck a clause in
"Delay, delay times two, delay times 4 kuch bhi le le bhai" Ranjan laughed
"Arey wah u seem to be in a generous mood" Mr B said
Ranjan checked himself quickly "Yes I mean we can talk about what we legitimately owe for any delay" he reworded his gush like a true biz man
"Aur koi seva?" Mr B asked
"Thats it for now" Mr B said "Ek game golf ka ho jaaye?"
"Jee zaroor Sat ko milte hain?" Mr B promised
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the decision would cascade to Bally and from him to Ritu by 11 AM on Thursday. Much to her unhappiness
"Client's call" Bally would warn her, so she shouldnt lose it...
"This is insane we are 60% done with deployment they want to pause?" she would rant
"Get something on my calendar at 2 ish?" Bally offered
When Bally would text her again around 10 ish to tell her "II is still sick"
Ritu would re-read the text with distinct resentment
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