Chapter 8: The past is behind… Is it?

The happiness in Sonia’s life was the new normal. She was spreading this to everyone around
specially to her customers. And she was enjoying company of her special friend. She can be seen
blushing every time there is a new text message. Though none of them wanted to term it as love
but the connection wasn’t just a friendship.

One day the weather was cloudy and the chill breeze of winter morning made it impossible for her
to leave her blanket. Like every lazy millennial she took her phone and checked the weather. It was
about to rain as per the weather prediction. This was just the excuse she wanted to give herself to
skip office. She decided to call her boss and tell him that she is sick. She brought in some heaviness
in her voice and dialled boss. Even after three rings he did not answered. She felt even better, now
she will not have to fake things, just a text will do. Without even waiting for the reply she assumed
her leave is sanctioned. She took the blanket and slept again.

At around 11 she got up to a phone call. She checked the phone it was Aditya. She received the
phone with a smile.

‘Hi, Sonia just heard from my driver that you are on a sick leave. Everything fine?’

‘Yeah everything is fine. I just wanted to take some time off for myself.’

‘So what you do on a holiday’

‘Nothing happening. I just read some books and enjoy my tea.’

‘oh, I love tea along with maggi’ his voice was amusing

Sonia spontaneously replied, ‘even I like the combo and I can prepare really well.’

‘Ok then I will see you around at 6 pm evening at your place. Send me the address.’

Sonia went off guard with Aditya self-inviting himself to her place. She has never had any guest at
her place and some guy coming was a different feeling. She stood up and looked around, the place
was a mess. She was trying to find some reason to refuse him because she felt that she had took the
day off for rest not for work. But in reality she was too nervous and to make someone part of her
personal zone was too much to take.

Somehow she gave up all the excuses and started cleaning the house. It was a tiring job and she was
hungry also. She finished the job and ate her meal. There were still 3 hours for him to come if he is
punctual, so she went to market and bought groceries for the evening. On her way back it started
raining heavily. She rushed home but even then she was drenched. She changed quickly but she was
shivering. She got into her blanket and closed her eyes. She laid their and lost track of time.

Suddenly she heard the doorbell and realised he is actually very punctual. She hurriedly opened the
door. He was looking stunning in his black coat over a jade turtle neck. The shade made his eyes look
even more bright. He gave a warm smile and handed over a box of warm chocolate muffins. His
presence is so comforting that her nervousness just melted away. They sat on the couch in the
corridor. She then told him that she was too cold so she was just lying in the blanket and haven’t
made the tea. The confession was so adorable that he got caught in that moment. She went to the
kitchen and came back in 15 mins with tea and maggi. They spent the rest of the evening with tea
and chit chat. By the time he left she was in a different zone.

Now Aditya would regularly visit her place. Within a month all the delivery guys were familiar of the
address and they were familiar with each other. The things between them went to the next level.
Sonia, for the first opened up about her past and told him how she ended up in the current position.
By the time she finished her eyes were moist. He put arm around and she leaned on his shoulder. It
was a kind of comfort she had never felt in her life.

Life was going like this only until one fine evening she was working in her kitchen when she heard
her phone ring. She looked at the watch; it was 7:30 pm. She thought it will be Aditya but it was a
call from her boss. He has never called after office so she thought it must be something very urgent
that he is calling at odd hours.

She took the call, urgency evident in her voice, ‘Good evening sir’

Her boss replied in a excited voice, ‘Sonia, I have a good news for you’

Sonia thought what kind of good news is it which cannot wait till next day morning. But she calmly
continued, ‘so what is it please tell’

‘I got a new proposal for you. We have to sanction a credit limit worth Rs. 5.00 crore’

Sonia turned grim hearing this. Getting new business is not something that should excite someone to
this level. She wasn’t willing to discuss anything further so she plainly replied, ‘sure sir, we will see to
it tomorrow. It’s too late, good night.’

Her mood was suddenly low. In their bank, branch managers are given power to approve credit limit
to small and medium businesses upto a limit of Rs. 5.00 crore. The proposal is processed by officer in
branch only. Though it sounds very simple but the unusual excitement and odd timed call made her
uneasy.

Sonia reached office next morning and went to her desk. Before she could even switch on her
computer she got a call from her boss to come to his cabin. The excitement from last night was still
evident in his body language. He pushed a file towards her and said, ‘this is the file of the case. The
business is very good and so are the owners.’

Sonia said nothing; she could not find words to say anything so she just took the file and left his
cabin. Now she was worried about the case. Her boss is new to the city and he knew nothing about
the file till yesterday evening. Today he has all the praises about it. She wondered what could have
made him make such an opinion so quickly. Her thoughts were suddenly drifting towards a very
negative zone. She was interrupted by a customer and she was back into the real world. She was
discussing issues with the customer but her mind was preoccupied with the file. It wasn’t a good
feeling and she wanted to shrug it. After trying for a while she just left the office and went out for
walk.

After a while she resumed work and checked email. It was some important data reporting with a
deadline till evening. She saw the time and realised that she has wasted a lot of time and it would be
difficult to finish the work in time. Then she put her phone in silent mode and started work. By the
time she finished the report it was almost time to day end.

She felt mentally and physically exhausted. She sat on sofa with a cup of tea. The moment she took
out her phone her boss called her to his cabin. She left the tea on the table and went to his cabin. He
did not even gave her time to sit and straight away asked, ‘what about the file I gave you in the
cabin.’

She could not understand the question, ‘what about it?’

‘Do not sound so naïve. I gave you the file for analysis and I want to know the update.’

She was pissed now and replied, ‘you have just now signed the report and you are aware that the
data compilation took entire day. The work I was doing finished just now. I wasn’t wasting time on
something personal, this work was also given by you.’

The atmosphere in the cabin was heating up and this has happened for the first time. They both
were staring into each other’s eyes. She got up and said, ‘I will look into this tomorrow’ and left the
cabin without waiting for the reaction. She went to her desk, closed all the files and left office.

She was quite furious when she reached home. She could not understand what to do about it. She
was pacing in the balcony when she received a call from Aditya. A mere flash of his name on the
phone made her calm. He informed that he is out of station and driving back to home. They kept
talking to each other for almost 2 hours until he reached home. By the time she was done with the
phone call she was at ease. She had her dinner and went to bed. She thought maybe she was over
reacting to the situation. Every boss is under pressure to bring in new business since he is newly
promoted to this position may be it is just over excitement. She slept with this thought.

Next day she reached office on a lighter mode and checked all the emails before started working on
the file. Just then her boss arrived. The moment she saw him she stood up and greeted him with a
warm smile. This was a little extra but she wanted to make up for the previous day. He replied to
her very plainly but that was fine with her.

She took the file and the moment she opened it she was stunned. The file was neatly made. It had all
the documents which she might require. She started flipping papers and her energy started dipping.
The papers were perfect and this wasn’t good. She had been dealing with loans system long enough
to understand that if things are to perfect then there are professionals involved. These professionals
usually camouflage the flaws in the proposal to make it look good and a lot of money is involved in
this.

Sonia felt the panic rising in her and she was breathing heavy. Her colleagues noticed the uneasiness
in her. She could sense people watching her and she tried to control but the all in vain. The madam
sitting on the other side of the hall got up and came to her table. She asked her if she is fine. Sonia
could not say anything so she tried to avoid conversation but she still insisted. To this Sonia made
some story and they had conversation for a while. By the time she went back to her seat Sonia was
normal.
She tried again to start work on the file but meanwhile one of her existing customer came. He
urgently required a bank guarantee to be submitted in the ministry for filing a tender. The urgency of
work was more like a relief rather than pressure. She took the tender documents and went to her
boss. She went into the cabin and discussed the case. She said that the requirement of the client can
be fulfilled and it is a very handsome profit for the bank as well. Despite explaining the benefits she
found him not very much interested in the job so she continued explaining the benefits. Then there
was a long pause. She could sense the reluctance of her boss but she could not understand the
reason for it after all the customer was ready to give deposit equivalent to the value of guarantee.
She waited for a verdict but then took his silence as denial. She eventually stood up and started to
leave. Just then boss said, ‘Alright, just finish this job as soon as possible’. She was surprised at the
change of heart but she ignored all that and continued her job.

It took her almost 4 hours to finish the job but she was satisfied with the work. It was lunch time so
she went to have lunch with other collegues. She returned to her desk and took the file again but
she could not focus. She also had some prior commitments for the day so she closed the file and
finished those. she ordered tea for herself and just then her boss called in. She immediately went in
the cabin.

The moment she entered his cabin he asked her in a commanding tone, ‘did you analysed the file I
gave’. He knew the answer yet he wanted to hear from her.

Sonia could not utter a word. He banged on the table and asked again, ‘did you finished the job’

She replied meekly, ‘No.’

This was the moment he was waiting for, ‘you were supposed to finish the job today and you haven’t
even started the work. You have all the time to gossip and tea but not for work. Did you skip your
lunch today?’

Sonia just looked at him. He continued in even higher pitch, ‘this file should be your top priority. I
have targets to achieve and with this attitude of yours I cannot even reach half way. Just leave and
finish the job.’

She left the cabin with moist eyes. The moment she came out she wanted to weep but she
controlled. Her face turned. Tears blurred her vision. The accusations were too much for her to
handle.

She had wiped her past and worked like a clean slate yet she was again standing at the same
position. She was again accused of being inefficient and the past was standing in front of her like it
was never gone.