A night before the increment

A wicked smile flashed on Vikas’s face as he gently squeezed Tanya’s hand in his office cabin. The discomfort was quite evident on her face yet she didn’t react. With the kind of financial crises her family was going through, she couldn’t have afforded to upset his boss; for her long due increment was under his approval. Tanya’s family conditions were not unknown to Vikas and he knew how to turn the situation in his favor. Post giving hints, he one day made his intentions and condition to sign the increment papers quite evident to Tanya. After days of thinking and tolerating Vikas’s misbehavior, Tanya agreed to what he wanted. Vikas then announced Tanya to be his helping hand in the up-coming project and instructed her to accompany him to Mumbai for a sudden yet important official tour. Vikas’s wife had gone to her home town to spend a few days there. While her parents passed away a few years back, she yet often took some short trips to Ahmedabad to visit her friends’ & relatives. And Vikas could not have found a better time to take Tanya along and convert the official tour to a fun one. Summing up his work in 2 days, Vikas and Tanya left the company guest house to check-in to a five star hotel in Lonavla. Vikas couldn’t have fulfilled his desires at the company guest house, for he had collogues and an image to maintain. “You can’t have fun at the cost of your own job”, he knew and booked a room for 2 days.

Every step that Tanya took towards the room felt like walking on the red hot coals. At an age of 23, she had faced a lot in life but never did anything of this sort was imagined by her. But succumbing to the situation was all she could do to get some monitory help for her family. As they started walking towards the elevator, Vikas heard someone calling his name. It was Kabir, Vikas’s collage friend and post greeting him Vikas instructed Tanya to head to the room but the situation was quite evident to Kabir by then. A few drinks and a chat of 40 minute at the hotel lounge made both Kabir and Vikas realize that they were here with their respective colleagues and the night was supposed to be a fun filled one. Same day, same hotel, same situation and mutually facing rooms; they couldn’t control but laugh out loud. The drinks had started playing its game in their heads.

The doorbells was rung together to match the theme of the night, where everything happening with them was a mirror image sort. While Vikas couldn’t have waited any longer to enter his room, the other door opened first. Embraced in Kabir’s arms, at the entrance of his room, was Mira, Vikas’s wife. They exchanged a look and the moment froze.