He looked at me and reached for my hand. ‘Ready?’

‘Yeah,’ I nodded and took a deep breath.

‘Okay, let’s get this show on the road!’

We swung the doors open and walked in. The ballroom was in pitch darkness except for the large stage at the far end which was glowing like a helium balloon. Puru was on stage bouncing up and down as he called out the names of the top sales performers for the last year. The sales guys were bounding up on stage one by one as their names were called out, their faces exploding with joy while they received their trophies. The latest Himesh chartbuster was blasting in full force, the sales guys and Puru jigging up and down in tune to it. Yudi and I were standing at the head of the narrow, darkened aisle with the entire GF sales team seated in the dark on either side of us. The marketing and agency guys normally sat up front, close to the stage to allow for easy access since they were the ones who did all the presentations. The sales guys on either side of us exploded with loud cheers and applause as Puru called out the name of a particularly popular young sales officer. Yudi gripped my hand tighter and started walking through the narrow lane behind the last row.

‘We need to get backstage now!’ he whispered and quickened his pace. The Bright Biscuits presentation was slotted right after the sales awards ceremony and we had no time to lose. We reached the backstage area and I handed over my laptop to the IT team to set it up for the presentation.

One of the young management trainees—who was also part of the organizing committee and backstage in-charge for the conference—came running up to me. ‘You’re on in five minutes, Megha!’

I nodded at her with a smile and looked at Yudi. This was it. Yudi reached out and took my other hand as well. ‘Break a leg! You’re totally going to rock.’

I smiled at him, looking deep into his eyes, wishing for a moment that I could just stay there forever, just like that. Someone emerged from the shadows as Yudi let go of my hands and I felt a jolt run through me as I looked at Shiv.

‘Megha!’ he said, smiling warmly at me, a far cry from his behaviour the day before. ‘So are you all set to present?’

‘Huh?’ I was a little stunned at this volte-face. ‘What? I mean, yes—yes, I am. Umm… Shiv?’

‘I know, I know.’ Shiv smiled at me ‘This must all be a little confusing for you. But right now just focus on the presentation, okay? We’ll have a chat this evening, after the last session for the day.’

The music playing loudly in the background ended abruptly and the MC took the stage. I nodded at Shiv and turned around to watch the MC as he gave some spiel about the ‘mind-blasting’ awards presentation.