Adultery When the unthinkable happens... by Ramesh1990-COMPLETED

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Ramesh 4/4

Sometime after seven Mr. Rao buzzed me. Immediately I went inside his spacious cabin and took a seat before him. He nodded and then pressed the intercom again, this time asking Preeti to come in. Presently, she also came in. I stole a look at her face – it was the face of steel safe – totally bereft of emotions. ‘Goodness! What’s the matter with her’, I thought.

Mr. Rao came to the point direct.

“Ramesh, during your interaction with the HK officials; did you give them any reason to be annoyed with you?”

“What?” I blurted out. My head was spinning. For a moment, I didn’t trust my senses.

Mr. Rao nodded and repeated the question, “Any reason at all that you can think off that they might be displeased with you?”

I shook my head. I hadn’t the faintest idea where this all was leading to. The room started to spin around me. Meekly, I began to mumble the words feebly. “Sir, you can ask the interpreter there who was there throughout. And later on you were there too. And so also was Preeti, when Mr. Ching had taken us out for lunch…”

“Then how do you explain”, Mr. Rao bristled, “the fact that HK Corp has made their acceptance of the contract conditional to our sacking you off from this company with immediate effect?”

That was a body blow. I felt as if hit by a lorry. The room started to spin before me. I hadn’t the faintest idea how to respond to that.

Mr. Rao softened his voice. “Look Ramesh, I am sorry. London insists that you be relieved today. It is all beyond me. There is a six month severance package – but you must sign a voluntary resignation for that.” He gestured towards Preeti. “She will look after the details. Go now.”

I nodded dumbly and got up to leave. As I opened the door, Mr. Rao’s voice rang out “It was a pleasure to have you here and Ramesh, I am truly sorry.”

Once outside, I marched to my cabin, Preeti trailing me. I sat down at my cubicle and opened the laptop to write my resignation. My hands shook. She came around and opened the folder she was carrying and held out a letter. It was my resignation. ‘This bitch is efficient, if not anything else’, I said to myself as I took it and signed it over. She laid out a sheaf of other documents – standard issue HR stuff – and I signed them out as well. She collected them all and then handed me the cheque, which at a glance, I found to contain exactly seven months of my salary.

“Ramesh, please wipe out the personal contacts from the phone and the laptop before you hand those over. I will get you a box to carry your personal belongings.” She marched away.

The reality of the situation was dawning upon me now. It was no game but a stark truth – the company had let go off me in a blink – in order to secure the HKC account. That was the whole truth. I smiled bitterly as I remembered the famous advice – never to fall in love with your company for you never know when the company ceases to love you.

Onto practical matters. The party with the boys was out now and there was no reason to inform them – those were youngsters – let them enjoy their time under the sun while it lasts – no need to alarm them – better yet let them not know anything. Same went for the two senior managers as well. The only other who mattered was Preeti – and of course there wasn’t anything to tell her. Probably, she knew more, maybe the real reason – not that any of it mattered any more. The only call I had to make was to Kajol, but what was I going to tell her now. I didn’t trust myself to speak objectively, but it had to be done. I punched her number.

“Kajo, I am in a terrible hurry now. May get very late when I return … Let us talk tomorrow.”

“Oh sure! Everything alright there?”, she asked.

“Yeah ok! Have to go now. Talk to you later … Oh Kajo, am changing this number. Don’t call on this number. I will call you on the new number … bye yeah!” I cut the connection.

Opened the address book. Select all – delete all. Ditto for the messages. Then I took out the sim and smashed it venting out all my fury on the plastic bit. Next I cleaned up the lappy transferring some personal stuff into a flash drive. I handed the phone and the lappy to Preeti, who had come with a cardboard box to let me clean my drawers. Furiously, I took out the few personal stuff, that attested to my presence here. Finally, I took off the company id that I had worn as a dog-tag for the last five years here and handed it over to her.

“Bye Preeti”, I said looking her in the eye.

“Ramesh, are you going to be alright?”

“Sure, you take care.” I didn’t wait for her reply and marched out.

At the entrance to our apartment, I found an off duty guard loitering about. I handed him over some money with instructions to get a bottle and some snacks. Tonight I was going to be dead drunk …

* * *

The repeated ringing of the doorbell woke me up. It was the maid, whom I dismissed at the doorstep and went back to sleep. By the time I woke up again, it was noon. Bleary eyed, I went to the bathroom and later on settled down with a cup of tea. Later, when my head had cleared off, I went out to deposit the severance cheque – for one never knows if the company might renege on its commitment, and later on had lunch outside. Next I got a new sim card and purchased a phone. When I returned home, it was nearing four. I did a double take when I found someone standing near the door of my apartment. That was Preeti.

“What are you doing here?”, I asked as I inserted the key.

“Let’s go inside”, she said and suddenly I had a bit of hope. Had the company changed its mind and wanted me back?

We sat down in the drawing room. She was looking around.

“How are you doing?”, she asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Tell me why you are here”, I said.

She started fidgeting, crossing and uncrossing her fingers. Her expression was tight. I sensed she was battling with something. Moving closer to her I took her hand in mine.

“Preeti, don’t feel sorry for me. These things happen – in the corporate world. Admittedly, I got the raw end of the deal. But that is not the end of the world you see. I am sure, I will find something in a couple of days time.” I patted her hand. After all she was very young and very inexperienced.

If anything, my words seemed to unnerve her more. Her face grew extremely agitated. To calm her down I told her “After all, it is not your fault, you know … … nothing to do with you … … you know that.”

“It’s not that”, she blurted out suddenly, “and I don’t know how to tell you this. But I have been sent with a proposition.” Her eyes were blazing at me.

“That’s ok. Just tell me. Does the company want me back now? If so, then I will have to think very hard before joining again.”

“Oh shut up and listen will you?”, she thundered. “I am not here on behalf of the company and there is no job for you there. I have been sent by Rao to make you an offer.”

She had my full attention now. “What does he want?”, I asked.

“I don’t know how to say this. But Rao wants to arrange a job for you with others, even a better paying one in return for you to agree to have Kajol as a surrogate mother.”

“What surrogate?”, I said not quite understanding.

Preeti drew a sharp breath and then spoke. Her face colored up. “Mrs. Rao can’t bear a child and they have none. He wants Kajol to bear his child in return for his getting you a job.”

“You bitch”, I flung her hand away and she cringed as if receiving a physical blow, “how dare you … … what nonsense … …”

I could barely speak. I was frothing at the mouth.

She sat motionless, palms joined at her lap. My mind was racing. What a preposterous idea. How dare that bastard even suggest such? For an instant, I felt like marching directly to his office and beating the shit out of him. I clenched and unclenched my fist.

“Why don’t you ask Kajol – what she thinks of the proposal”, Preeti almost whispered.

“Shut up you whore”, I raged at her and she shrunk back. Tears appeared at her eyes and a couple of drops rolled down. I looked at her and felt contrite. After all, she was just a messenger conveying Rao’s proposition. She was as much a victim of Rao’s machination as I was.

“Why did he pick on on Kajol”, I asked.

“Easy, she is in the prime of youth, just the child bearing age. Moreover her beauty and no doubt her intellect, and the fact that she is already married – I think these are the criteria he would have considered. Look”, she pleaded, “Why don’t you discuss this with her – atleast once and find out what she thinks of this.”

I leaned back wearily against the headrest and exhaled deeply. “How can you think of such a thing? The only reason we didn’t get into the family way was because she is doing her doctorate, which she would be completing in a couple of months time. Thereafter we will have the choice of her career and family.”

“All the more important that you should speak to her now”, Preeti said.

“Why?”, I asked.

“There are things that you will see once your temper cools down. It is not only the carrot that Rao is showing you. There is also the stick. You can pretty much take it guaranteed for that should you refuse, then it will be extremely difficult for you to find a job in the industry – given his clout and connections. Of course you can forget any referral in your cv right now.”

Suddenly, things became clearer for I was caught in the harsh glare of unforgiving reality. The job market for my type of experience and specialization was extremely limited and every word that Preeti spoke, had a ring of truth to it.

I bowed my head. “That bastard”, I hissed, “you think he will actually do that to me?”

Preeti looked at me with a level gaze. “You know him for much longer than me. What do you think?”

With that she got up to leave. At the door she told me to just think it over and not to do anything rash. I returned back to the drawing room and collapsed on the sofa.

The whole world had closed down on me. It was dark, dark and completely dark.