Page 29 of Made in Mumbai

“Oh… where is Aarya?”

“He had to leave.”

“Leave? Where?”

“Back to Mumbai.”

She got to her feet — “What happened?”

“Family emergency.”

“He didn’t even say goodbye…”

“Do you want to keep discussing Aarya’s departure or can we start moving?”

“Are you always this short with everyone or I am still the special someone?”

His eyes shut. He shook his head.

“Maya,” he addressed her. “I am hungry, and they need to shut the place. Now, are you ready to leave?”

She whirled around, feeling her hair hit his face. But now the move wouldn’t be dramatic if she turned to apologise. So she strutted out.

The beauty of the noon was enhanced by the weather. The sun was bright and it was raining. What a marvel! She stepped out to catch a few drops on her palm, tempted to run out. But she was also aware of her all-white ensemble. And she had learned her lesson on the first day of this job.

“Just one selfie…” she fought with herself. And logically, she had her dupatta to wrap around herself, worse situation. And they were heading straight to the hotel in a car.

“Eeeee…” she ran out into the rain, pointed her phone to herself and took infinite selfies with the sun shining behind her.

“Come back here!” Gautam thundered.

“What?” She scowled, venturing back under the mill’s roof. He was livid, his gaze going from her face to her chest to her feet. Maya glanced down. She wasn’t wearing red underthings today. And she had pulled her dupatta over her chest. But…Oops.Ok, didn’t work.

“What is wrong with you?” He swore, pulling off his jacket and wrapping it around her shoulders. The mill workers were exiting the space, their eyes on her, and him, as he covered her. Her hair was damp, not wet, and yet he pushed it into the turned-up collar of his jacket and tightened the lapels. “Now behave, and quietly get in the car.”

Their car rolled up and he opened the door for her. She shivered, sliding in.

“We are not nineteen anymore, M! What the hell?”

She froze. Their car wound down the slope. And realisation seemed to dawn on him.

He sat back — “We will only be able to come back tomorrow now. Since today is Saturday, take the rest of the day off.”

“G, I really thought I would be able to come out of the rain unharmed…”

“I have booked our flight out for tomorrow afternoon. We will collect the samples from here and directly go to the airport.”

“Stop ignoring me.”

He did not look at her again.

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She did a solo tour of Coorg all afternoon, then came back and took a long bubble bath in her own personal tree house. GK Textiles did not cut costs when it came to employee accommodations. They all got the same type of treehouse rooms that were perched in the middle of massive trees.

It was after seven that she descended from her tree house for dinner. This was too beautiful a place to eat dinner inside her room. Even with all the sweeping views. So Maya changed into a pair of denim shorts and T-shirt and went on a stroll around the hotel property, absorbing the late-evening fog and the fresh, clean, green scent. Then she made her way to their famous mountain-view restaurant.

“Hello, welcome to Avanta. Would you like me to seat you?”

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