‘Get out of your dream world, Megha!’ Priyanka hissed as she continued glaring at me ‘At least look where you’re going! I’ve already got a splitting headache and now you’ve made it worse by knocking me on my head like that!’

‘I said I’m sorry!’ I snapped back, feeling my blood pressure rising. ‘It’s not like I did it intentionally! Stop overreacting so much, will you?’

Priyanka opened her mouth to say something but Yudi suddenly grasped her elbow and firmly steered her away, saying something I couldn’t catch in her ear as they went. They walked away, just like that, leaving me standing alone, gawking after them like an idiot. I went back to my desk and sat in front of my laptop, staring vacantly at an empty presentation slide and fighting the urge to burst into tears. The office was mostly empty with the exception of a few eager beavers here and there who were valiantly hammering away at their laptops, determined to show the world that they were right there, sending important emails late on a Friday evening while the rest of the office was busy partying. I felt a strange chill settle around me, and I sucked my breath in, wrapping my arms around myself and wishing I could be anywhere but where I was right then. My standard getaway, the office terrace, was closed for the day owing to maintenance work. There was nowhere else I could go to for some solace, except the restroom.

I spent the remainder of the hour trying—and failing miserably—to get some work done. By the time I finally left for the celebratory dinner, I was feeling like a total wreck. I was among the last to reach the venue and I silently squeezed myself in at the far end of the table, hoping I could blend with the wallpaper and get away without too much participation. Thankfully, it was one of Puru’s informal, get-drunk-till-you-pass-out dinners, and most people at the table were going at their drinks with single-minded concentration less than half an hour later. Yudi was there too, devastatingly good-looking in the formal clothes he’d changed into for the occasion, with Priyanka by his side in a little black dress. Puru’s dinners normally allowed you to invite your spouse— or, as he put it, your ‘spice‘—and a lot of people had got along their friends or partners even though they were not directly involved on Bright Biscuits. Vijay hadn’t been free since Debbie was in town and I hadn’t thought of inviting anyone else. So there I was, all alone like a total loser, with neither spouse nor spice. Priyanka obviously was Yudi’s spice, I thought darkly, as I watched him smile down at her as he poured her a drink.

I felt a slight pang as I remembered the magical evening we’d spent together almost a month ago in Delhi. It seemed so distant now, almost unreal. Yudi, true to his word, hadn’t turned up for the research the next day and I had taken out my frustration on poor Chetan by snapping like a shark at him every time he tried to make polite conversation.