A boy is left behind by his mother and is rescued by a stranger. Soon after, two people are killed.
Twenty five years later, emotions are resurfacing. Ayaan Agnihotri learns that his rescuer is no more but the truth runs deeper than that. So, he emb...
Ruth Johnson was a woman you must take on if you wish to die of listening. She was called all kind of names throughout her life. But the namers could not stand long before her incessant chatter and ran away within minutes. This became her weapon against bullying in school. Now, at the age of 37, she went for blind dates never hearing back from the guy. Well, every super power has its downsides too.
The habit of talking introduced her to the debate society where a professor encouraged her to take up law as her profession. She practised corporate law during the early stage of her career. However, a few years later, she, together with her twin brother, opened the legal consultancy, Johnson Associates.
Ishika saw a mentor in Ruth. Despite wielding an incredible power never to be lost for conversation topics, Ruth revealed what she wanted, in a way that the listener couldn't ignore. For Ruth, Ishika was the energetic kid impatient to learn everything there was to learn. When someone like Ishika came to her door when she was looking to hire more staff, Ruth found it difficult to turn down the talent she saw budding in the young lawyer.
Apart from Aakriti and Jhanvi, Ruth was the one to help Ishika plan her game. It was due to her support that Ishika could work with Agnihotris using an alias.
"You are dead. You are done for. Do you know what just happened? Actually, even I'm not sure how this happened under my watch. This is bad, Ish, I tell you, it's bad. But you know, it's not ugly yet. Maybe we can save our ass; you see what I mean?" Ruth went on to ramble.
"Ruth! What happened?" Ishika asked, taking in deep breaths. She kept the phone on speaker and sat cross-legged before it on the floor. She needed to stay calm.
"Ish, that stupid Ryan Johnson wrote an email to Agnihotri Manufacturing saying there is no 'Deepshika Verma' on our payroll. Don't know who asked him to reply. I was going to discuss it with you and then respond. The poster boy of clean inbox had to go and answer and let the Agnihotris know that you are not Deepshika Verma."
"Calm down. Calm down. What email?"
"Oh, we received an email saying Agnihotri Manufacturing is terminating the services with Johnson Associates. Ms Deepshika Verma shall not be required on the cases with effect from..."
"Ruth, Ayaan didn't tell me anything about this. In fact, I should have received a copy of that email."
"Were you at their offices yesterday?"
"No. Since Aakriti is no more; the company is mayhem. So I informed them that I would work remotely until things come into order."
"Surely, things are not in order. Look, our agreement was with Aakriti. You are Deepshika to them. You are Ishika to us. Now the client is asking us to call back Deepshika Verma whom we don't know. Do you see what the broth has boiled down to?"
"Yes." Deepshika looked at the tile flooring. Imagining two adjacent tiles as Agnihotri Manufacturing and Johnson Associates, she could be at Agnihotri only if she was from Johnson. What if she was not from Johnson?
She was not on a business visa. So, she didn't have to worry about having it cancelled and being stranded in an unknown country. As an Overseas Citizen of India, she could stay in India as long as she wanted. To execute her plans, she only needed to be in India where the action was decided. The information she had from Aakriti and Jhanvi along with Ayaan's support was more important for her. She made her decision.
Ruth was going on and on about how she never communicated to her brother of Ishika's assignment, her procrastination in calling her up, and the other times her procrastination had trapped her in a fix.
"Ruth, I quit." Ishika said, in a single breath. She had regrets, but they could be handled later.
"What did you say?" Ruth remained silent, waiting for an answer.
"I will send you a resignation letter backdated a week ago. But you receive it only today. Technically, the postal rule says the information is considered communicated when the email is sent. The delivery to the recipient doesn't matter. So, Ryan would not be wrong to say I am not on your payroll."
Ruth asked, in an unsure tone. "I get it. You are coming back after this is over, right?" Ishika did not answer for she didn't have an answer. "Ishika, you are coming back, right? You will join Johnson Associates again?"
"Yes... yes. I will come back once this is done."
"Fair enough. And, that's a brilliant idea. How will you tackle the names?"
"I will send you by email signing as Ishika. I will submit a copy to Agnihotri Manufacturing signing as Deepshika. They are too busy sorting themselves to cross check with you."
"Amazing. Email me soon. In the meanwhile, I will find Ryan and put a sock in his mouth."
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What do you think of Ruth?
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