Page 156 of 12 Years
Another round of awkward silence followed. Should I also ask her about how she was doing? I didn’t want to. But would it be rude if I didn’t?
‘How are you doing, Payal?’ I said finally, more out of courtesy than curiosity.
Before Payal could respond, my phone began to vibrate. I’d kept it face up on the table, and Tania’s picture flashed on the screen. Payal noticed the picture for a second and looked away.
‘Sorry,’ I said, cutting the call.
‘It’s fine, you can take it,’ Payal said.
‘No, I don’t usually take personal calls during a work meeting.’
Payal nodded. Her girl brain probably connected Tania’s picture with the word ‘personal’ and figured out what was going on here.
A second later, a text message from Tania flashed on my phone screen: ‘Call me back when you can, baby.’ A cartload of hearts and kiss emojis followed the text. I don’t think Payal read the message, but she certainly noticed the emojis.
I picked up my phone and typed a quick response: ‘Sure, baby. In a work meeting. Talk later.’
I put the phone on Do Not Disturb mode and kept it aside.
‘Nice food here,’ I said, taking another bite of my shish taouk.
‘Yeah,’ Payal said. ‘So, do you really want to know?’
‘Know what?’ I said.
‘You asked me how I was doing, before that call came? In case you still wanted to know my answer to that …’
Payal Jain’s elegant yet brutal sarcasm. Still in place after so many years.
‘Of course, I do. How’s everything? Work, health, life?’
‘Work is good. Still with Blackwater, as you can see.’
‘MD now, as I can also see.’
She laughed. ‘Thank you. I got lucky. Some of my investments did well. Like CloudX.’
‘Pretty young for an MD at Blackwater.’
‘Maybe. Not young otherwise. I’m thirty-three, can you imagine?’
‘Wow,’ I said. ‘Hard to imagineyoubeing this age.’
‘That’s how old you were when we first met,’ she said.
Ah, you remember all that? I thought you got those memories erased for good, with Jain metal scrubbers.
‘True,’ I said.
‘Healthwise, I’m good, I think. God’s grace. I don’t get enough sleep though. This job! You know private equity.’
‘Yeah … But sleep is important.’
‘I know. You used to tell me all the time. The three pillars of fitness—diet, exercise and sleep.’
You remember that too? Okay.
I smiled in response.
