I gaped at Yudi, too dumbstruck for words. This guy had some nerve! I’d never been spoken to so rudely before by anyone from the agency, even on occasions when I’d had one of my infamous outbursts! I opened my mouth to retort angrily but Suketu beat me to it.

‘Relax, Yudi,’ he said soothingly. ‘Megha had discussed her involvement in the creative aspects of this project with me earlier. I think she has some good ideas and I see no problem with her getting involved. What’s more, Neil and Shubhra are okay with it too, so there’s no harm done.’

‘Then I don’t think you know what you’re doing, Suketu,’ Yudi said coldly. ‘You know very well the potential pitfalls when brand managers get involved in what is clearly not their territory.’

‘Don’t tell me what to do, Yudi!’ Suketu stood up, his eyes glinting dangerously. ‘I know my job better than anyone else. And lest you forget, I happen to be in charge of this project. If you have a problem with the way we’re working, I suggest you stop working with us. I’ll have a word with Shiv.’

I looked at Yudi, expecting some more fireworks, but to my surprise he laughed. ‘Fine, Suketu, have it your way. I’m not going anywhere, though. This project is a responsibility assigned to me and I’m not going to be got rid of so easily. Besides, with such diverse talent coming in on this project, I think my inputs are going to be necessary.’ He gave me a long, hard look as he spoke the last few words and strode out of the room.

I sat down on the nearest chair with a thump. I felt the breath going out of me only to be replaced with a hot surge of anger. What the hell was wrong with me? Why was I behaving like a spineless worm around this Yudi character? Did he really think he could get away with whatever he’d said?

‘Megha.’ I felt a placatory hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Suketu standing beside me with a concerned look on his face. ‘Don’t take this personally, okay? That’s just the way Yudi is. He’s… temperamental. His creative genius comes with a foul temper that’s difficult for a lot of people to handle.’

‘Oh I can handle him all right!’ I snapped. ‘I’m just debating whether tearing him apart limb by limb or feeding him to wild dogs is the right way to handle him. What a jerk!’

‘Oh, he’s not that bad,’ Neil laughed. ‘Yudi is a great guy, actually. It just takes most people time to get to know him.’

‘Well, I’m not interested in knowing him!’ I snapped and then coloured as I realized how rude I had just sounded. ‘Sorry, Neil. I’m just really pissed off right now.’

‘Chill, Megha,’ Suketu said, ‘No hard feelings. I’m seriously considering getting Yudi off this project if that makes you feel any better.’

I sighed. I was not going to let this little tiff with Yudi ruin the progress we had made on Bright Biscuits so far. ‘No, Suketu. Don’t take him off the project. He may be temperamental but he’s also really good at his job and we need his inputs, especially now that we’ve reached such a crucial juncture in the project. Yudi has been associated with some of the best work in the current crop of Indian ad films; I don’t want him taken off the project at this stage.’