The 7th Floor

"7th floor" he murmured to himself. He loved this city - Bombay. He never liked to call it Mumbai. He lived here for 23 years if his life before he moved to Bengaluru for his MBA and then job. He knew she had packed her bags and had come to Bombay. She had left a message on the fridge when she had come in his absence to pick up the last box of  her stuff. The sound of the lift broke his thoughts. The doorman respectfully cued; he had to enter the lift. He wanted this lift to turn into a rocket ship and he reached the 7th floor in seconds. he couldn't take this suspense that was building up. After 4 years he was finally going to get answers. Answers that no one, except her, could give. The wait had been too long... This journey to the seventh floor was killing him now!

Ananya was called by her company CEO. He was once again proud of her. Three consecutive years Ananya was awarded for her excellence in the industry which in turn put a spotlight on the agency each year. Hatrick! And that was a sure rarity and every person working at the firm was super proud of her. Ananya knew she worked for herself; not for her team, not for the company and not for the man sitting on the other side of the table.

At 10 A.M. when she entered her office, it had a bouquet of 52 long stemmed red roses with a card that read ‘Like Always made me proud! Here are 52 roses for the 52 weeks you slogged your ass off. Once you read this meet me in my office. – Love Kushagra’. Ananya dropped her bag on the chair and picked up the card and read. She thought, ‘He doesn’t leave one chance! He knows everything and I am not looking for any sort of commitment now. But he… just doesn’t stop trying! He is really sweet, humble, smart, and intelligent and have practically had all sorts of conversation with him. Agency has seen the youngest CEO. I don’t give a fuck to these rumours. Enticing him to jump the corporate ladder… huh… People talk. I have lived with that. But my concern is how do I get this message across to him I am not interested!’
She was standing near the window flipping the card in her hand. She had the best office in the firm. It overlooked a huge hoarding which always showcased the ad that their agency designed. It faced the vast sea face and the Mumbai skyline – ‘Nah! This is my Bombay! Arjun hated when someone called Mumba…” she stopped her thoughts. Tears welled up in her eyes. And she zapped herself out of it. 4 years not a day had passed when she didn’t think about him. She composed herself and wiped the kajal that had smudged, with a tissue. She put on her best smile and moved towards Kushagra’s office.
He was smiled and jumped off his chair to greet her and gave her a hug.

“Congratulations!”

“Thanks!” she kept it short; she didn’t want any conversation to start.

“You remember Chief’s parting words. He was right! She’ll make it big in a flash and everyone would stop to stare at this spark of white light. He had called last night to ask if you were happy. And if you weren’t then I should take “special” care.” he emphasised by making double quotes with his fingers and continued “Sadly she doesn’t want me to take care of her but she wants to take care of herself!” he winked.

R.Subramanium, fondly called as Chief, was the ex-CEO of the agency; Ananya and Kushagra are working for. Ananya had worked with him for 6 years and had won her first award under his constant support and guidance. He had retired 8 months back. He was her father figure. For two years in Begaluru, she was in constant e-mail correspondence with him. It was only because of him she had the courage to come back.

Ananya smiled and rolled her eyes. She was never prepared to answer or tackle this situation. Almost a month from today Kushagra had proposed. And she said a blunt ‘no’ without explaining why. He didn’t give up and still tried every single day to woo her. She was scared that some day if she gets vulnerable she might just succumb. She fought with herself every single day.

“Okay, talking business. Barista dude had called. Wants to meet. Needed some help with that.” She cut the mush and got straight to the point. They discussed about and she wished to wrap it up soon and exit. She picked up the papers which was her scratch pad for now. When she was near the door he called, “Ananya, please think about it” he said with a hopeful voice. She hated that she looked back and said “I’m sorry, Kushagra. Can’t happen!” And she tried to smile and walked out. She closed the door behind her, let out a sigh and looked up.

She couldn’t believe her eyes. At the reception desk, standing with a trophy leaning on the desk with his left hand in his pocket, he smiled and winked at her, “Sssup?”