A Meeting With A Business Tycoon

Finally, we were in office.

As I entered the room, everyone greeted me in an unusually friendly way. There was pity in their eyes and they treated me like a martyred hero. It irritated me.

I smiled at everyone and explained that I was fine enough to be in office and not feeling sick at all. After a lot of small talk, I found my way out.

"So, this is your office? Quite charming, I must say," Armaan said, snickering behind me.

I knew he was mocking me, but he did seem reluctantly impressed.

"No, this is not my office," I hissed and pointed him to follow me, "this is my office." My name on the door corroborated it.

He couldn't help his gasp of exclamation.

"So, what exactly do you do here?" "I am the senior editor here, and the chief journalist," I replied proudly.

"Wow! And how about your friend Zara?" he seemed too interested in the answer, and I couldn't stop a twinge of jealousy.

"Same, but she is in a different division. She covers crime and I cover the rest."

We talked as I went through my daily motions, checking messages and emails. Strange, but my appointment calendar had only one entry – a meeting with Mr. Oberoi, one of the leading business tycoons in the country.

I went next door to Zara's cabin to ask about it. She looked like she was in the middle of a disaster.

"Hey, why is my work list empty" I asked.

"Nothing babe. It is just that I was on leave with you the previous week. But they delegated your work because you were in a coma, not mine. They knew I was coming back for sure. So now I have a ton of stuff pending."

I couldn't stifle the shock.

"Miranda didn't think I'd survive?"

Zara gave me a look of exasperation.

"No, she just thought you'd rest longer. Apparently, everyone except you thought you'd need rest."

I offered to help, but she shooed me away, to "relax".

"Work relaxes me," I scoffed.

"Why don't you work on that interview?" She barely even looked up from the file.

"Yes, why wasn't that shuffled?"

This time she looked up and smiled. "Well apparently you made quite an impression on Mr. Oberoi. Miranda tried to shuffle it but he refused to interview with anyone else. What did you say to him?"

This made me giggle but I did feel Armaan stiffen beside me. I looked at him, he seemed off, but I just couldn't ask in front of Zara. I answered her instead.

"He doesn't talk to journalists, so I pulled some strings, and used some personal points to get the interview."

"What personal points?"

"Nothing major; you know his son is in a coma…" I trailed off, feeling an eerie sense of Deja-vu.

"Amrita?" Zara brought me back.

"Nothing, I just feel like I have talked about this to someone before. Anyway, I should go back in my office and prepare." I moved, but Armaan didn't follow.

"Ok, I am going," I announced again.

"Bye, babe." Zara smiled but he didn't move.