‘Hi, Varun!’ I began pleasantly, ‘Good meeting we had today, na? I think the new creative team looks really promising.’

‘Glad you’re so excited, Megha. Let’s not get too carried away about the new creative team, though. Please remember, they have yet to prove themselves. We have a long way to go and we shouldn’t be getting too ahead of ourselves.’

‘Sure, Varun. The idea is just to have some energy going, you know? It makes work more exciting. Umm, also I was wondering… How come that new guy Yudi was part of the meeting today? Isn’t he on the Dinky Chips account?’

Varun looked at me pompously. ‘He was there for a reason, Megha. I really don’t think you should question every minute detail on this project just because you’re leading it. If your seniors have made some decision, you can be rest assured it is in the best interests of the whole team.’

‘Sure, Varun,’ I replied, beginning to feel the last ounce of politeness seep out of my pores. ‘I’m not questioning your decision. But since I haven’t been informed about any decision regarding Yudi, I was wondering what he was doing at our meeting in the first place.’

‘Oh, Shiv and I decided that we need some solid creative input this time,’ Varun replied airily. ‘Neil and Shubhra are very new, you know. While Suketu has immense confidence in them we felt some more creative backing was required— someone with experience, someone who has proven himself. So we decided Yudi would also join in as a creative consultant on the team. I was planning to inform you eventually.’

With that he marched off, and I slumped against the vending machine as my knees suddenly decided to turn into gooey lumps of jelly. Creative consultant? Part of the team? Did this mean I had to put up with Mr Hotshot for the remainder of this project?

‘Hi there,’ drawled an uncomfortably familiar voice as the object of my ruminations materialized in front of my eyes. ‘Megha, right? Impressive presentation today. The team was pretty fired up.’

‘Thanks,’ I replied, images of my embarrassing outburst earlier that day dancing in front of my eyes. ‘And I’d like to apologize again about this morning, it was… er… totally uncalled for.’

‘Oh, that’s okay,’ smiled Yudi, revealing a deep dimple in his left cheek. ‘In fact, your little speech was quite inspiring. From a clueless small-town girl lost in the big bad city, I’m now thinking of a fiery little small town girl, all set to take the city by storm. Very melodramatic.’

‘Now wait a minute…!’ I sputtered as what he’d just said began to set alarm bells clanging in my mind. But before I could continue, Yudi broke into one of those disarming smiles again. His hazel-brown eyes crinkled up at the corners when he smiled and I noticed that his smile wasn’t mocking any more. In fact, it was a rather nice smile, the kind that made you feel like a large blob of warm butter melting slowly on hot toast. God, he was so cute! Wait a minute! What was I thinking? His voice brought me out of my reverie and I tried to focus on what he was saying.