She was wary of the day to come when she woke up the next day. The questions about her ability to understand her work at the office, her interactions with her subordinates, and managing her clients, everything would be a new experience. But she was determined to start the day on a positive note.

She freshened up and went to her mom, who was preparing breakfast in the kitchen.

“Maa, I am thinking…” she hesitated.

“Hmm...?” She asked without turning, focused on preparing the breakfast.

“I am thinking… can I wear one of your sarees today? To the office? I don’t have any of my own. So…”

Vidya turned around, beaming. “Why, of course. Come, which one do you want?”

“I don’t know, you pick one. But one that is not too heavy.”

“Okay. I will check.”

While Pooja finished her breakfast, Viday rummaged through her collection and picked out a classy cotton saree in white with red prints on the border. She also picked a red, sleeveless blouse with a string pattern on the back to go with it.

“Here, take these, wear and come over. I will help you drape the saree,” Vidya said while handing over the blouse and underskirt. Pooja complied and came back to Vidya’s room.

“Arey…you don’t need to wear a bra with this. It already has enough padding. And the bra will show from the back. I can’t believe I have to tell you this!” Vidya remarked when she went around to do the strings on the back.

“Oh!” Pooja remarked and was about to go when Vidya commented, “Where are you going? Change here. It won’t take much time.”

Still awkward about baring herself in front of her mother, Pooja turned back, removed her blouse, and tried to undo her bra. Seeing her struggle to do that, Vidya came over and undid her bra hook. Pooja took it off and put on the blouse again. This time, without the undergarment.

“Maa… I am done.” She wasn’t even finished when Vidya started to do the strings. While pulling it, she consulted her if the strings were too tight or not and finished doing it in no time. Then, it took them some time to get the saree properly draped. It came with a lot of safety pins to keep the saree in place.

“Wow… I would have never guessed!” thought Pooja.

It took some time to get the pleats in place and the folds on the aanchal over her breasts. The question was about showing enough skin without being tacky and if a simple, single cover is okay or if they should do pleats on the bust. After a bit of trial and error, they decided on the style to go with. It was followed by oxidised silver jewellery of a couple of danglers and a necklace in rustic style. She did her hair in a messy bun. She finished the look with an application of bb cream, kajal done in a style reminiscent of Deepika in Piku and a matt red lipstick.

She thanked her mom, put a collection of items she thought she would need in a handbag, including her iPad, grabbed her car keys and went to her office.

When she reached there, she could feel an air of unease. This was partly because this was Raghav's first time and partially because she knew her subordinates were afraid of her. She tried to ease everyone by smiling and wishing everyone good morning. Everyone wished her back and looked at each other, wondering if the sun had risen from the west that day.

As she settled in her office, Anu came in and briefed her about the day’s appointments. “Good morning, ma’am. Ma’am, you have a meeting with representatives of Amore Cosmetics at 10. Ms. Solanki will meet with you. After the meeting with her, they will likely ask you to accompany her to their office, where their legal team will brief you about the new role. The announcement will be made sometime later in the day. So, I have not scheduled anything else for the day.”

“Good morning, Anu. Work is not going anywhere. We will get to it. Tell me, how was your leave? Did you have fun? Did you enjoy it? Did you take care of yourself?”

Still hesitant with this new avatar of her boss, she said, “Yes, ma’am. I tried. But took some rest. That has helped. Thank you for this.”

“Don’t worry. Anyway, when Ms. Solanki arrives, direct her to the conference room. I will have the meeting there.”

“Yes, ma’am” she started to leave, stopped at the door, and turned around, “Ma’am…?” There was still a tinge of hesitancy in her voice, but she finally gave in. “You look different.”

“Different is good?” Pooja asked smilingly.

“Yes, ma’am.” With this, Anu left the office.

At around 10, Anu peeped back into her office and informed her about Ms Solanki’s arrival.

“I will be right there.”

Pooja made her way to the conference room. A woman in a formal skirt and blouse was pacing in the conference room, taking in the pictures that adorned the wall.

Pooja went ahead to introduce herself, “Hi, I am Pooja. Hope you did not have any problems coming over, and I am so sorry for cancelling the other day.”

The woman turned around with a smile and took Pooja’s extended hand. “Not at all, ma’am. By the way, I am…”

“Piyu Solanki,” Pooja finished her sentence for her. There was a whirlwind of thoughts in her mind. She was now even more perplexed as to why this was happening. First, the change and now Piyu.

Piyu, on the other hand, was taken aback by Pooja’s knowledge of her.

Pooja composed herself and smiled, “Your reputation precedes you. You are the best marketing head under 40 right now in the country, I have heard.”

Piyu smiled and was assured by this answer.

They both started on the modalities of the appointment and how Pooja’s position will be to help Piyu better manage the cosmetics marketing.

Pooja interjected, “Tell you what, there is a decent café close by. Let’s head over there. We can have this conversation there while grabbing a cuppa. We can go to your office from there. If you agree, that is.”

“Cool, sounds like a plan.”

They both headed downstairs and made their way to the café. She started to order, “I will have an espresso, and ma’am will take cold coffee with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate chips.”

Piyu looked at her bewildered. “How did you know?”

“Oh, you remind me of my childhood friend. She always ordered this combo.”

“Oh!”

There was a bit of an awkward silence, which Pooja tried to alleviate by discussing the job at hand. The rest of the chat revolved around office work and responsibilities. They discussed their career trajectories and what they plan to do in the coming years.

Over the next few hours, the appointment was finalised and announced. The company had organised a party on this occasion in the evening. Everyone was coming over to Pooja and making their introductions and how good it would be for the company. She saw Piyu at the bar, nursing her drink. She made her way to the bar, smiled at Piyu and requested a gin and tonic.

“Too much of workspeak happening over there?”

“Yeah, and frankly, I could do well to get away from that sausage fest. Too much of testosterone!”

They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Over the next few months, they would sometimes meet to discuss marketing campaigns and how the magazine could help. While these meetings were mostly professional, they got to know more intimately about each other.

On one weekend, Pooja got a message from Piyu.

“Hey, I have these complimentary tickets for this new mushaira. Wanna come?”

They discussed the details and found that it worked for both of them and agreed to meet for an early dinner before they headed for the event.

While they munched on the entrees at dinner, Piyu asked, “You don’t have a partner. Do you?”

“Yeah, never had the time to find love,” Pooja said and added mentally, “like literally!”

“Hmm…I understand.”

“What about you? Never saw you with your plus one. Did no guy catch your fancy?”

“Haha…well, a long time ago, I absolutely adored this guy. We would fight tooth and nail, but I would adore him no end. But I could never tell him. Guys at that age are asses. This is like from 15 years ago. And then later on, I discovered that I like to bat for the other team.”

“Oh…Ooooooo.” Pooja’s eyes widened. So, Piyu liked her before, and now she likes what he has become now. Was this destiny giving him a chance to rectify his mistakes? Did he also love her? Well, Pooja absolutely enjoyed her company, But what about Raghav? There were so many questions she could not find the answer to.

P.S: This story was written by Pankhuri and the storyline given to her by her friends Anupama and Shruti.