73 Chapter 73

All day, Ankur had begged Mala to take him for a drive. Riding in the car was one of his favorite things in the world. It allowed him to get a new perspective on the world. When he was in the car, the world was made of fast moving images. He was amazed at the way they sped around him. He had spent the day bringing Mala's sandals to her and pointing out the window. Mala was far too busy trying to clean the house to have time for a drive, so she just evaded his requests.

Raj walked into his flat, still upset from the day at work, to see Ankur hopping from foot to foot and flapping his arms as he shouted angrily.

"What are you doing? Can't you just shut up and behave for once?" Raj yelled at Ankur.

The loud noise of Raj's voice only upset Ankur more and made him shout even louder. Mala looked at Raj, confused and angry, as she led Ankur to his room and started his favourite music on the computer. It was sure to calm him.

Ankur loved music. It was the one thing that could always make him relax. Mala had bought a variety of speakers for him. They were in every room of the house. She even bought one him for the bathroom so that she could lure him into the tub when it was time for a bath.

After turning on the music and getting Ankur settled, she locked his door and went to the kitchen to prepare tea for Raj. She looked at Raj, sitting in the living room. He didn't look like himself. He looked tired and upset. She knew on the inside, he was scolding himself for snapping at Ankur like that.

Mala and Raj were both thankful that Sneha wasn't home to see what happened. Luckily, she was at her math lessons.

After a few minutes, Ankur became silent as the music absorbed him until the outside world didn't exist. Music was the only auditory stimuli he loved, apart from Mala's occasional "mom talk." While the music made the outside world disappear, Mala was his connection to it. He knew she always understood him.

Mala handed Raj the tea and he sipped it slowly, trying to recollect the events of the day. He wanted to tell Mala everything and, from the way she looked at him, he knew she had a lot of questions. But it wouldn't be fair to burden her with his trouble. She already had to deal with so much, he couldn't add more to her miseries. He just smiled at her, and thought about next day's plans.

Tomorrow he would go to Vivek and apologize.

The next day, Raj went straight to Vivek's office, but Vivek's secretary stopped him. "Sorry, he's going to be late today," she said.

Raj slumped back to his own office as he waited for Vivek's arrival, growing more and more anxious with each passing second. Several times, he picked up his phone and started to dial Vivek's number, but always stopped himself. He didn't want to seem desperate.

His thoughts and worries crashed down on him like a tidal wave. He had to come up with the perfect lie to convince Vivek to let him keep job. Or, he could go directly to the government officials and give them the results. No, Raj needed to settle this with Vivek.

By noon, Raj was wracked with nerves. He went to Vivek's office once again, but again Vivek's secretary said he wasn't there. The news of Raj and Vivek's fallout had spread through the office like fire. The secretary was well aware of it. Everyone was. She had mastered the art of not showing her excitement. With a frigid voice she said, "He might not even come in today."