I blurted out the details of the situation we were in, my words tumbling over one another as they rushed out at top speed. Yudi heard me out patiently, looking progressively more relaxed as I narrated the sequence of events. He was looking positively amused as I ended, a smile even lurking around the corners of his mouth, but he remained impressively straight-faced and continued in the same kind vein. ‘Don’t worry, Megha, we can easily handle this. I’m heading back to office now anyway so I’ll pick up your stuff and give it to Neil before the research kicks off tomorrow. No stress. Don’t look so worried.’

He smiled at me and for a minute I felt he was about to reach out and take my hand or pat my head or something, but suddenly seeming to change his mind, he drew back and buried his hands deep in his cargo pockets instead.

‘Thanks a lot, Yudi!’ I smiled at him, suddenly feeling very foolish. He had made it seem so easy! He probably thought I was a total imbecile incapable of handling the tiniest problem. ‘Umm… thanks,’ I said again like a total idiot. ‘I’ll SMS you the details of the research venue, where Neil is staying, etc. Will you let me know when you give the stuff to Neil?’

Yudi nodded, still looking at me thoughtfully, but didn’t say anything so I said goodbye and left, feeling like a total nitwit. I wasn’t feeling any better as I made my way home later that evening. Yudi had messaged me saying that he had successfully retrieved the parcel Neil had forgotten in office and would call me once he met Neil and handed it over. He probably thought I was a complete loser who couldn’t handle the smallest work-related crisis without completely falling apart. In spite of all my bravado and normal hot-headed behaviour I had demonstrated only too well that I couldn’t stay on top of things when it came to what was my responsibility. And when things had blown up in my face, I’d gone cowering to him asking for help despite being all high and mighty earlier and acting like I didn’t need him.

But despite all these dark thoughts occupying centre stage in my mind there was another little intruder that was really bothering me. It had nothing to do with the near miss on the Bright Biscuits research that could have had disastrous consequences, or my clumsy handling of the situation, or Yudi probably thinking I was a total loser who couldn’t handle her job. It was much more than that. From amongst all the clutter in my mind was emerging the rapidly growing realization that over the last few weeks I had developed an unfortunately humongous crush on Mr Yudhishtir Joshi.

Seven

Soft strains of the Bhairavi Raga wafted into the room as I opened my eyes and raised a hand to shield them from the sun merrily filtering in through the venetian blinds by my bed. Panicking, I looked at my watch and then sank back into the pillows with the combined surge of relief and joy you get when you wake up thinking you’re late for work, only to realize that it’s a Saturday.