Page 31 of Red Flags and Rishtas
to Ananya
Free for lunch after tomorrow’s meeting? We need to talk.
Regards,
Aadar Chauhan
Senior Marketing Manager
Stellar Spirits India
I spent all of last night trying to figure out what Aadar could’ve wanted to talk about. Did he want to cancel the bet? Had he sobered up and realised that it had been a completely ridiculous idea? I secretly hoped not. Even though I knew it was immature and silly, the bet had given me a strange rush of adrenaline. I’d woken up the day after the event in high spirits, determined to find my soulmate, even if it was to spite another man.
Of course, I hadn’t had much luck. I had swiped relentlessly through the weekend, looking for qualities instead of pointing out flaws, and even then, I couldn’t find a worthy enough prospect. The only dude I had matched with had not bothered tostart the conversation, and my pride forbade me from sending the first text. So that was that.
By the time Tuesday morning rolled around, I’d prepared myself for the worst – Aadar was going to back out of the bet, and I’d have no choice but to go back to my predictable dating life.
Meh, whatever.
‘Did you book the conference room?’ Pooja rang me on the intercom ten minutes before the Stellar Spirits team was scheduled to show up.
‘Yep. We can head there now, if you want,’ I spoke into the phone.
‘I’ll be there in a few. You and Ryan go ahead,’ she said before hanging up.
I scooped up my laptop and notebook, wiggling my hips as I got up to ensure my georgette long skirt wasn’t tucked inside my butt crack. When I got to Ryan’s desk, he was watching a prank compilation video on YouTube – without earphones. For someone who was neither exceptionally good at his job nor incredibly hard-working, he displayed an admirable amount of confidence in the workplace.
‘Ryan,’ I said, tapping his shoulder to get his attention, ‘it’s time for the meeting.’
‘What meeting?’ he asked sheepishly, hitting pause on his laptop keypad.
I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. ‘The Stellar Spirits team is coming down … remember?’
‘Oooh, right. I’d almost forgotten,’ he said, looking up at me with a smile.
No, Ryan, youhadforgotten.
When he continued to sit there without any sign of urgency, I began tapping my feet on the tiled floor, hoping he’d get the hint.
‘Right, well, I’ll meet you in there,’ he said, giving me another smile before he turned back to finish his video.
Ididroll my eyes then.
The conference room was occupied by a group of sales team hoggers when I got there. I tapped my imaginary watch from outside the glass doors, indicating it was time for them to leave. After what seemed to be ages, they began to shuffle out one by one.
‘Sorry, sorry, Ananya. Meeting ran long,’ said Rahul, the newly appointed head of the sales department.
I could bet he hadn’t even made a reservation for the previous time slot.
‘No worries,’ I said politely and made my way inside.
The room was freezing, the chairs were scattered around and someone had left a half-eaten sandwich on the conference table. Ryan showed up precisely two seconds after I’d finished rearranging and cleaning up, and Pooja arrived shortly after.
‘They’re not here yet?’ she asked as she set her laptop down on the long glass table.
‘They’re coming up. I just got a call from security,’ I said, pointing to the intercom at the centre of the table.
Pooja nodded at me, then turned to Ryan for help connecting her laptop to the projector. She was going to present the Best Man idea to Stellar Spirits in the hopes that they’d want to come on board as the bar sponsors. The car launch had been nothing but a trial run, and since it had gone well, there was a good chance they’d want to partner with us for a much larger project.
