Page 179 of 12 Years
‘No, I know the term sheet,’ I said.
‘Good. Three and a half is still a good price,’ Payal said before standing up to leave the room.
I was on my way out when I ran into Payal in the office lift lobby.
‘Done for the day?’ I said.
‘No, I still have work to do. Just going down to the café to get some lunch,’ Payal said.
‘At 5 p.m.?’
‘Yeah. I lost track of time. How about you? Done with work?’
‘Yes. Leaving early today,’ I said. ‘It’s the first day of Navratri. I usually go to the temple today.’
‘Oh nice. There’s a temple in Dubai?’
‘Yeah, in Jebel Ali. I’ll go home first, change and then go.’
The lift arrived and we got in.
‘That was a tough meeting,’ I said.
‘Yeah. Sorry if I was too firm.’
‘No, I understand. You were doing your job. I would do the same if I were in your place,’ I said.
‘Really? You’re not upset with me?’
‘No. I appreciate you doing your work professionally.’
‘Thank you. You sure you’re okay? It’s half a billion dollars.’
‘It does sting, but you made sense. Anyway, it’s just business. Forget upset, I’m proud of you,’ I said, and corrected myself immediately, ‘sorry, I mean, you should be proud of yourself.’
She looked at me and smiled. ‘Means a lot coming from you,’ she said.
What did she mean by that? Nobody can decode girls, I tell you.
The lift reached the ground floor.
‘Have a nice evening,’ Payal said as we exited the lift. ‘Say a prayer on my behalf, please.’
‘Sure,’ I said. ‘And you have a nice evening too.’ I was almost at the entrance when I stopped and called after her. ‘Payal.’
She turned around. ‘Yes?’
‘Do you want to come to the temple with me?’
‘When? Now?’ she said.
‘No. Have your lunch. Finish your work. I’m going home first anyway. The temple is open until nine. We can go a little later. Say, around eight?’
‘Okay,’ Payal said. ‘But I’d like to go change too. I’m wearing a corporate suit.’
‘So what? God isn’t going to judge you for that.’
Payal laughed. She still had that same beautiful laugh, the one I remembered from when I’d seen her at the comedy club twelve years ago. ‘I’ll still go to my hotel room and change into something more traditional.’
