Page 99 of One Indian Girl

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‘Yes. More than half of Hong Kong is country parks. Beautiful hikes.’

‘I have heard.’

‘Hope you see a bit of this city and not just this office.’

‘I will. Just want this portfolio out of the way,’ I said and then covered my mouth as I yawned.

‘Radhika, you need to go home.’

‘I will. Soon. What brings you to the office?’

‘Left my mobile phone behind yesterday. Just picking it up for the hike.’

He went into his office and came out after a few minutes. He saw me staring at my spreadsheet.

‘Still here? Go rest.’

I smiled.

‘Twenty more minutes. Tops,’ I said.

‘I’m leaving. Good work, Radhika.’

‘Thanks. Bye, Neel, have a nice hike,’ I said, eyes on my monitor.

He walked away from me and paused. He turned around and came back.

‘Radhika, there’s something I want to tell you.’

‘Okay,’ I said and shifted my gaze to him.

‘There’s a confidential deal. Some distressed companies don’t like the world to know they are in distress. It can affect their business.’

‘Sure, I understand,’ I said.

‘This one is in the Philippines. Only the Goldman Sachs Asia head and I know about it. I can’t even discuss it in the morning meeting.’

‘Oh, okay,’ I said.

‘I need an associate on the deal. Would you like to be on it?’

The prospect of more work in my current exhausted state made me feel even more tired. However, to be in a confidential deal and work with a partner meant a lot.

‘Sure,’ I said. ‘What’s the timing?’

‘You finish the bid. Then I will brief you. We’ll also need to meet the company people.’

‘Sure. What sector is it?’

‘I’ll tell you. Real soon. Bye now. And get out of here fast,’ he said.

What the hell, I said to myself. Debu had unfriended me on Facebook. For the first time in Hong Kong I had finished work early and come back to my hotel at 5 p.m. The team had liked my final presentation on the portfolio. We had submitted a bid for fourteen cents on the dollar for the loans. Exhausted, I had been looking forward to a calm evening in the hotel and a good long sleep. However, I made the mistake of opening my laptop and logging on to Facebook. Like an idiot, I searched for Debashish Sen’s profile. I couldn’t find him on my friends’ list.

Damn. I typed his name for the third time. Yes, he had unfriended me. I could understand why. Actually, I could not understand why. I wasn’t some stalking witch who would cast an evil eye on his posts and pictures. Sure, we had broken up. People break up. They don’t have to vanish like this.

I didn’t have his phone number anymore. I had deleted all his previous emails. I felt like calling Avinash to ask for Debu’s contacts again. I stopped myself and turned on the TV instead. Most of the channels were in Chinese. One channel showed a soap opera. I couldn’t understand one word. However, I saw a girl on the screen cry, probably for her lost love. I don’t know what it triggered in me, but I joined her. I clutched my pillow tight and cried. I had resisted this so perfectly for weeks. Ever since I came to Hong Kong I had buried myself in work. I thought I had made great progress with my break-up. Now I was back to square one.

Why did he unfriend me?I cried even more. I switched off the hotel room lights, opened the minibar and found little whisky and vodka bottles. I drank four of them, bottoms up, and lay down in bed. My head hurt as it sifted through images of Debu.Will I ever get over him?