Romance The Debugging of Desire

[vickyxon]

The glass walls of Bavi’s cabin felt thinner than usual. As she sat across from Shri, the air still thick with the residual heat of his "Zero-Day" proposal, a sharp rap on the glass shattered the encryption.

It was Meera and Preeti, their faces pressed against the pane like two nosy debugging tools. Meera pointed at her watch, then at the cafeteria downstairs. Bavi felt a jolt of anxiety. The "Security Stress Test" lie was safe in HR, but the "Social Engineering" of her peers was a much more volatile variable.

"I have to go," Bavi whispered, her voice regaining its Senior Lead sharpness. "Stay at your desk. Don't look at me when I walk out."

"Understood, Lead," Shri murmured, stepping back with a polite, subordinate nod that would have fooled anyone—except the woman whose neck was still tingling from his breath. "I’ll get back to the... 'thermal optimization' logs."

The cafeteria was a sea of noise and the smell of spicy Chettinad chicken. As Bavi sat down, Meera didn't even wait for her to open her salad container before launching the first probe.

"So, Bavi," Meera leaned in, her voice dropping to a theatrical whisper. "We saw you going into the Compliance office. And we saw Shri hanging around your cabin like a lost puppy afterward. Is the 'Stress Test' as intense as it looks?"

Bavi’s fork froze halfway to her mouth. "It’s a standard physical security audit, Meera. We’re identifying vulnerabilities in the garage and server rooms. It’s strictly technical."

"Strictly technical," Preeti repeated, smirking as she tore a piece of naan. "Is that why your face turns that specific shade of 'Server Room Blue' every time his name is mentioned? Even Karthik said the 'Thermal Data' from your report was... impressive."

Bavi felt a bead of sweat trace the line of her spine. The "Thermal Data" comment hit too close to the heat signatures Meenakshi had shown her.

"Karthik talks too much," Bavi snapped, trying to maintain her "Firewall."

"Oh, come on!" Meera laughed, nudging Bavi’s arm. "The whole floor saw the 'Performance Peaks' on the monitor during the dashboard review. You two were practically vibrating. If that’s a 'Simulation,' I want to sign up for the next round of testing. Is he as... 'hands-on' with the hardware as he is with the code?"

"He’s a Junior," Bavi said, her voice trembling slightly. "There is no 'Integration' happening, Meera. We are just... optimizing the system."

"Right," Preeti chimed in, her eyes dancing with mischief. "And I suppose the fact that he was seen at the 24-hour pharmacy last night was also part of the 'Security Audit'?"

Bavi’s heart stopped. The "Emergency Patch." She hadn't seen Shri at the pharmacy, but if someone had...

"He wasn't—" Bavi started, then caught herself. A denial was a confession. "I don't track his personal movements, Preeti. I only track his 'Commits'."

"Well, he’s definitely 'Committing' to something," Meera chuckled. "The boy looks like he’s running on a 5G connection while the rest of us are on dial-up. Just be careful, Lead. If the 'Sync' gets any louder, the entire OMR is going to hear the crash."

Bavi looked down at her salad, her appetite completely purged. Under the table, her knees were pressed tight, the "drenched" sensation returning as she thought of Shri’s PG. The colleagues were teasing her, pulling her leg with the precision of a QA team finding bugs, but they had no idea that the "System Crash" had already happened—and she was currently living in the wreckage.