Something I Never Told You by Shravya Bhinder

Author:Shravya Bhinder
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789353054755
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2019-02-06T05:00:00+00:00

NEXT DAY AT WORK

I was late, which was not unusual. I had hardly slept the previous night, so it was nearly impossible for me to arrive on time, and I reached the office at 10.30 a.m. sharp, precisely an hour late. I expected the entire team to be at work and planned to talk to Adira during the break to clear the air.

Everyone was at their desks, sitting and pretending to work except Adira. She didn’t seem to be in. I occupied my seat and started my pretence. A few months into the job, I had mastered the art. I thought of asking Rajbir about Adira’s absence but as luck would have it, Rajbir too was busy the entire day. He had back-to-back meetings, and it didn’t look right to invade the only breathing space that he had during his lunch hour for a personal inquiry. But I had to know, so I decided to talk to Prateek, another senior guy in the administration team, who was in charge of attendance. My luck never favours me, and that day was no exception. Prateek was also not available since he was working from home.

I did not know who else to ask about Adira’s whereabouts but resolved not to think the worst and kept trying her number. I had to wait until the next day for a meeting with Prateek, so most of my first day back at work was spent worrying about Adira. I wrote and rewrote a report three times before getting it right and sending it to the client, only to realize that I had sent the email to a wrong email id, such was my state of mind.

At around 5 p.m., luckily, I spotted Sakshi, Adira’s friend, strolling towards the pantry for a coffee break. I followed her in there like a puppy.

‘Sakshi!’ I called her name a little too loudly. Three other girls turned their heads towards me and laughed in unison. Lowering my head to hide my embarrassment, I walked towards Sakshi and smiled to initiate a conversation. I had hardly spoken to her at work since we had become team members or during our stay in Melbourne. Now when I think of it, I know why Sakshi’s face had a Why are you talking to me? look when I inquired about her life.

‘So, where is Adira?’ I finally managed to ask when I realized that she was already bored of the conversation and had started fidgeting with her phone. It was an indication that the conversation was about to end, and so was her break.

‘I am not sure, yaar. Her phone is switched off. I thought you might know. She did not even turn up for Angad’s birthday last night when we had made plans to party at . . .’ Sakshi had a story to tell, but her audience was not interested in knowing the details of Angad’s birthday. So I interrupted her abruptly and shamelessly, something I am not very proud of. ‘Oh, okay, I am not on a break.

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