Chapter Three

She decided against driving the Swift to Franky's, and jumped into an auto rickshaw instead. She wondered why she had been called in such short notice. As the wind pulled out strands of hair, neatly tucked into her clip, Priyanka imagined the look on Dheeraj’s face when she would walk in. He would glance at his watch and look up at her disapprovingly, even if she was on time. She snapped back to reality when the driver pulled over outside the eatery, with a sudden jerk. ‘Show off’, she mumbled to herself, as she paid him. Franky’s was almost empty. She saw Dheeraj sitting at the last table, his eyes glued to the television set. He looked at his watch, then at her, and nodded his head disapprovingly.

She narrowed her eyes, “I think I’m ten minutes early today”. “Whatever makes you feel happy Simi”, he hit back, sarcastically. “Don’t call me that, I’m not Simi”, she hated people calling her Simi. That name took her back to the life that she had left behind. Simi was dead. Now, there was only Priyanka.

Dheeraj ignored her tantrum, as if she hadn’t spoken at all. He leaned closer and said, “Sir isn’t too happy with Farzad. Last week’s mix up cost Sir a lot and he doesn’t want to risk goof ups like that again. Farzad’s getting fired, but we haven’t broken the good news to him yet. You’re in charge of his farewell party.” Priyanka was surprised. She banged her fists down on the table, knocking Dheeraj’s empty coffee cup over, “Why isn’t Daisy doing this? This isn’t my job.” Dheeraj looked up sleepily, “Just do it, ok. If Sir loses his head, you’ve had it!”

But Priyanka knew something was amiss. Daisy always took care of farewells within the firm. Why was she being asked to do it now?

She pulled out her cell phone, “Are you going to tell me or not?”. Dheeraj grabbed the cell phone from her hand, “Fine, Daisy had an accident last night. She’s in City Hospital, go drop by with flowers or something later.” Dheeraj seldom lost his cool, but Priyanka couldn’t blame him. Afterall, Daisy was his ex wife, and he still loved her. But she had only used him as a ladder, and once the ladder wasn't of any more use, she filed for a divorce. This hurt Priyanka all the more, because she loved him. But he was through with love and relationships, especially within the firm or so it seemed.

It took Priyanka a while to find her voice, “Where’s Farzad now?”.. Dheeraj didn’t look up, but kept fiddling with his PDA, “Fire & Ice, I confirmed with Manoj. Farzad’s pretty drunk right now.” She got up to leave, “K, I’ll call you back after the “big party” then, take care..”. He mumbled something, and she left.

Once she walked out the door, he looked up and whispered, almost to himself, “You take care too, Simi….”