Page 151 of 12 Years
‘Three weeks?’
‘Maybe four or five, or even six. Doesn’t matter, bro. At the end of it, we get our deal done. That’s it. Focus on that. Don’t worry about Payal. She may be an MD or whatever, but in this deal, she’s just small fry. We’re the big guys now.’
‘I don’t feel comfortable with her being around,’ I said. ‘Can we remove her from the team?’
‘How? What do I tell them?’ Mudit said. ‘That we don’t want her on the team because you dated her in the past?’
‘Obviously not that. Find another reason?’
‘Bro, she’s the one from Blackwater who made the original investment in CloudX. She’s definitely going to be involved in such a huge acquisition.’
I kept quiet and stared at the bubbles in my champagne glass.
‘Saket, you and her, that was twelve years ago,’ Mudit said. ‘You’re over her now, right? Or does this girl still have a hold on you?’
‘No hold, of course,’ I said. ‘She has zero hold. I’m over her.’
‘Why is there an issue then?’
‘It’s just annoying and an irritation.’
‘We can all be professionals, right?’
‘I suppose so.’
‘Cool. Let Payal and her team come and do their work. Let them go through whatever information they need to. After that, we sign the final deal and collect our money. That’s it.’
‘Hmm … When do they start the due diligence?’
‘Tomorrow,’ Mudit said.
‘What? She’s going to be in officetomorrow?’
‘Technically, today,’ Mudit said, glancing at his Rolex. ‘It’s past midnight.’
The DJ increased the volume as he played an Arabic-English fusion track. The crowd at BDP went wild on the dance floor. Mudit left to join them.
I stayed behind at the bar and checked my phone.
‘Miss you, baby. Paulina wants to see you soon,’ Tania had messaged me.
‘That’s Jensen and Gloria from EY. That’s Rishabh and Sandeep from the CloudX team and, of course, you already know Max and Alan,’ Neeraj said, introducing us to the due-diligence team.
We had all assembled in the office conference room to kick things off.
‘The Blackwater team members are on their way. They should be here in two minutes. Sorry about that,’ Neeraj said.
‘That’s okay,’ Mudit said, handing out the new ID and access cards to the due-diligence team members present.
I sat next to Mudit, debating if I should leave the room. Mudit could easily handle things.
‘And here they are,’ Neeraj’s voice interrupted my thoughts even as the conference-room door opened. ‘That’s Anirudh and Payal from the Blackwater team.’
I turned my head to look at her. She looked the same as the last time I’d seen her. She wore a formal charcoal-grey business suit with pinstripes. The frame of her spectacles had changed—it was a sleek rimless pair now.
I checked my breath. I was still calm. It was interesting to see her, that’s it. No emotions stirred within me, unlike the last time around. Time does heal a lot of things.
‘Hello,’ Payal greeted everyone in the room. Our eyes met for a nanosecond and we gave each other the perfect friendly-yet-professional half-smile.
