Paying the Price

This story was written in response to a prompt received during a weekly meet of the writers club Bangalore in December 2020  

Deepak walked into the office at 9.30 AM.As usual he was late He kept his things on the desk in his cubicle. There was no one around. What had happened? Where have all these people gone he wondered. After what appeared to be  ages, which was in fact,  half an hour later, they started to troop in. He called out to his friend Rahul. But he seemed to sort of avoid him or had he not heard him?  When Richa whose cubicle was next to his, came he asked her why everyone had disappeared. She said that a new member has joined the team and the manager had called a meeting to introduce her.  

Oh okay Deepak said casually and then turned around to see the new girl walking in He did not know what hit him. He stared at her unabashedly. No girl had affected him in this manner. The first thing that caught his eye was the gorgeous figure. But once he looked at her face, her beautiful wide dark eyes with velvety eyelashes monopolized all his attention. That was before she flashed her lovely smile that blossomed like a flower radiating in the morning sun.

“Hello I am Chetana”  She stretched her  hand. “ Looks like we didn’t meet at the introductory meeting. I joined this morning as the assistant manager. I have three  years of experience.”

Deepak felt weak in the knees. He found that his mouth had gone dry and he had literally become tongue tied. It was very rare that he was placed in such a situation as he was known as the guy with the gift of the gab. But now, he just managed to nod and say a feeble “Hi”.   

He found his friend  Rahul staring at them  from his cubicle  across the room.  Others had begun to get down to the routine  work of the morning. Rahul ‘s eyes appeared sullen and glowering at the same time; was there also  a tinge of insecurity? Why such an overreaction? he wondered  After all, the girl had only just joined  the office.  However, when he thought of it over at lunch time, he felt he knew why Rahul was behaving the way he was. After all,  Chetana had affected him, knocked the winds out of his sails in the same manner.

 In the four years they had served the company , he could not remember a day when Rahul and he haven’t eaten lunch together. Today however, he said he was busy with some urgent stuff and that he Deepak could go ahead with lunch. Deepak had known Rahul right from their college days and it was a happy event when they both got campus placement in the same company.  Others had got married one after the other. Presently, it was only him and Rahul who were the remaining eligible bachelors in the office. Looks like his dear friend would soon become a foe!  After all, lovely Chetana was too good to lose. He could not imagine a life without having this angel by his side.  “If that is the price, so be it” thought  Deepak as he pushed his plate aside and  got up to return to the routine of the second half  of the work  day.