‘What can I do?’ I shrugged. ‘It’s too late now.’

‘No, it isn’t!’ Yudi snapped. ‘I’ll tell you what you’re going to do. You’re going to go to the conference and you’re going to go up there on the stage and present. You are going to be the one up there presenting the Bright Biscuits launch.’

‘What?’ I gaped at Yudi, my jaw ready to hit the floor. Was he nuts?

Yudi stood up purposefully and yanked me to my feet with one hand. ‘Get dressed,’ he said in a commandeering voice. ‘I’m driving you to the conference and we need to leave in the next twenty minutes if we’re going to make it in time for the Bright Biscuits presentation.’

‘But but—I’ve oiled my hair!’ I whined like a complete wimp.

Yudi shot me an exasperated look. ‘So wash it,’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘Or do you want me to do it for you?’ He looked at me with a glint in his eyes and I flushed.

‘Fine,’ I said, raising my hands. ‘I’ll go. But I really don’t know what I’m doing!’

‘I know what I’m doing, Megha. Trust me,’ Yudi said sincerely and took my hands in his. I looked into his now-familiar, strangely comforting brown eyes.

‘Okay, Yudi,’ I said. ‘I will.’

Ten minutes later I stepped out of the shower with freshly shampooed and conditioned hair. Sammy rushed in as I was blow-drying my hair and helped me with my makeup. GF protocol required all employees to be dressed for the conference in semi-formals and I had had a tough time deciding what to wear. I had finally settled on a fitted black dress with a piped belt cinched a little below the bust and a pencil skirt that fell till a little below my knees. I slipped on one of Sammy’s elegant sterling silver chains and matching drop earrings, and shoved my feet into my black leather pumps.

Surveying myself in the mirror uncertainly, I turned to Sammy. ‘Do you think I look all right?’

‘No, dude!’ Sammy looked at me and shook her head. ‘You look mind-blowing! Now get outta here before you miss your own presentation!’

‘Umm, Sammy, one last thing… That guy out there, he’s Yudi,’ I mumbled, looking nervously at Sammy. ‘You know, the guy I told you about?’

‘I know,’ Sammy nodded. ‘I spoke to him while you were in the shower.’

‘I don’t know what to do about him, Sammy. The guy drives me nuts. You remember you had told me to wait and watch? What did you mean exactly?’

‘Huh?’ Sammy looked at me like I was nuts. ‘Dude, I don’t remember what I said and I have no idea what I meant, but when you’ve got a guy who looks like that, all you need to do is watch! Now GO!’

Twenty-five minutes later we were zipping wordlessly through the crazy Mumbai traffic in Yudi’s car. It was Friday-evening rush hour but we were heading in the opposite direction to peak hour traffic and had made good time so far. Besides, Yudi seemed to know a lot of shortcuts and was ingeniously gunning his black sedan through narrow little lanes that had helped us cover double the distance than we would have done on the regular route. I shot a sidelong glance at Yudi as he gripped the steering wheel and focused on overtaking a belligerent Tata Sumo that was currently blocking our way. He had changed quickly into business formals while he was at Sammy’s place; she had lent him Aryan’s nursery to get ready in, and he was now looking devastatingly gorgeous in his black formals.