Prabhu's POV

It was already 11 PM. I parked my car, got into the lift, and pressed #7 to reach my apartment floor. It had been a long day in the office. I had to finish a huge project and also make sure that everything was ready for tomorrow's client meeting. Tomorrow, I would have to go to the office early so I could finish that damn presentation for our new project.

The ting sound of the lift broke my chain of thought. I entered my two-bedroom apartment, took a shower, and changed into comfortable cotton shorts. 

I set an alarm on my mobile for work the next day and opened my WhatsApp.

I had 30 texts: 1 goodnight text from my Amma (Amma means "Mom" in Tamil) and others from my cousin Janaki and my sister Vidhya.

They are best friends and are studying CA (Chartered Accountancy) at the same institution. They were so close because they studied in the same school since kindergarten and also because they were family.

My parent's 25th wedding anniversary was coming in 2 weeks. Janaki and Vidhya wanted to get some presents and decorative items for the celebration. They were staying in the hostel, and they needed me to be their driver and their luggage porter for the weekend. That's why they sent those 30 messages, to confirm the shopping.

I sent them, "OK," and drifted off to sleep within a few minutes.

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I woke up at 5 AM, finished my morning routine, and went to the nearby playground for jogging. I came home after 30 minutes and did exercises for 30 minutes.

I called my friend and team leader, Akash, to confirm the time of the new client's meeting. I love cooking, but I don't have enough time today to cook. I reached the office and completed the presentation and the reports from the last project and forwarded them to Akash for approval.

The meeting was scheduled for after lunch. So I ordered Thalapakati mutton biriyani and chicken fry for lunch.

(Biriyani is a kind of rice made with spices and meat. The Thalapakati hotel is famous for its delicious biriyani in Tamilnadu.)

During lunchtime, my colleagues at the next table were speaking of the company's plan to fire some people for various reasons. I was wondering what the reason could be for a sudden firing and how those people would manage.

After a satisfactory lunch, I checked my email for approval from my team leader. But to my surprise, I was asked to handle the meeting with the new clients, which was supposed to be led by Akash. Anyway, I successfully finished the meeting and forwarded the report to Akash.

There was something odd happening in the office. Usually, team leaders would handle those meetings. And Akash's behaviour was quite different today. He had been acting weird the whole time during the client meeting. I had to ask him after the workday was over.

So I concentrated on preparing the new project details, which had to be shared with our team.

When I opened the email to send it for Akash's approval, I got a new email from the company's board.

My mind rewinds to the conversation between my colleagues during lunch. I was nervous about opening it because I started this job only 10 months ago. Usually, newcomers are more likely to be fired from multinational companies. So I was having second thoughts about opening it. My mind was protesting my wish to open the email. I took a deep breath before deciding what to do.