To whomsoever it may concern,
My grandmother, when I was little, had always said that if I ever did commit a sin, I'd go straight to hell. I didn't know at that time that she was talking about working in your company.
Of course, the only deadly sin I've ever committed in my life, till now, was joining your company in the first place.
The company's professional ethics suck, and the superiors are all psychotic. The logo doesn't even make sense.
This is a really cheap company, and I fear that I work here a second more, I'd probably lose my common sense.
So I quit, right now.
Thankfully,
Samskruthi.
With such an awesome resignation letter, I quit my job. I didn't even bother to type it on a computer and print it out, I just photocopied the handwritten one I'd written on the spot and distributed it to the Human Resources.
It was a rather impulsive decision. But I didn't regret it at all. At least, it hadn't still sunk in. I was still basking in the glory of my action. I looked around at the other people looked at me longingly, who were slightly jealous that I had guts to do it, and they didn't.
I'd always hated that company. Everyone was crude, and the company provided a fake image of 'caring for the people, the environment, and society'. Whatever, I could overlook that. The nail on the coffin was that the team leader had the guts to steal my test case programs and give it to her boyfriend. Couldn't she have just asked? When confronted, she'd shrugged, and had the audacity to say that, that was how life worked.
"Hmm. Too bad your boyfriend doesn't." I'd returned.
She'd immediately gone into rant mode and said I was incompetent and heartless, and that I couldn't even help others, right in front of everyone in a fake loud voice. And everyone agreed with her, since she was the chairman's daughter.
Immediately, I'd lost my patience and I'd strode towards my desk and began writing my resignation letter. And that is the story of how my masterpiece-awesome resignation letter came to be.
I clutched the cardboard box, containing my cactus plant I'd placed on my desk and certain files and folders related to my programs, tightly. And since I was a petty person, I stole a large number of white papers and pens during the final goodbye to the company.
There was no turning back now.
It was already dusk, and I made my way carefully towards my apartment complex. I loved living alone. It gave me a sense of freedom unparalleled to nothing else. My parents lived with my sister and helped her take care of her kids. My brother -in- law worked in the merchant navy and came home only once every eight months or so, and my sister begged my parents to live with her. She'd invited me too. I'd actually lived there for a very short while, only for a day or two, and my laptop was broken, my novels torn to pieces and my favourite t-shirt scribbled upon with house paint. Those brats.
Living alone was the best thing ever. Now that I was now jobless, I'd now do things I couldn't do before, like learn how to drive, go to the gym and lose weight and watch movies all night. Like girls' sleepover party every day, but alone.
Climbing up the stairs frantically, I was finally relieved to be in the corridor of my wonderful home, and exhaled deeply. I took another step and stumbled in shock.
There was a guy lying on the floor, in front of the door of my house! This was so scary!
I approached him slowly, and called out to him. "Oi, you. Hey, hey , you there. Oi. This is my house.I'll complain-"
I stopped when I realised that the guy was totally drunk and passed out in front of my house.
I couldn't see his face as he was lying facing onto the floor. He was wearing jeans and black t-shirt. Just who was he? How was I supposed to enter the house now?
I decided to use another tactic. I pinched the skin of his elbow very hard using just the tips of my nails. He didn't budge at all.
Now I decided to use both my hands. I pinched the same spot with both my hands. With a sudden jerk he jumped up and looked sideways.
I was so surprised by his reaction that I punched my cactus plant right onto his face.
He made a 'owww' sound and passed out again. Taking advantage of his change in position, I quickly opened the door and went inside my house. I locked it safely.
As time progressed, I realised that I'd probably done something cruel. He was already drunk, and I'd smashed a cactus onto his face. I felt a little guilty, and so I took out a few painkillers and a bottle of orange juice from my fridge and opened the door. He was still lying down.
I opened his curled fingers and placed the bottle. He immediately clutched it tightly. I put the strips of painkillers into his shirt pocket since it was peeking out. He should be okay.
The next morning I opened the door to find that he was gone. Good riddance.
I'd made myself pooris with chole masala with the recipe I'd noted down while watching a cookery show.
Time to enjoy the bachelor life!
Oops, forgot about the parents!
Even though I was twenty three years old, the fact that I had to break it to my parents scared me. They'd go into drama mode. I made my way towards my sister's house like a stealthy cat. I pressed the doorbell several times before my sister opened the door.
"The kids are running about. Help me catch them." She ordered me.
I pulled her aside. "Sis, I am afraid, I have to break a very important news. Promise me you won't get shocked." She narrowed her eyes at me and her face changed to a serious expression.
"Y-yes." She nodded.
"I quit my job. I'll look for a new one though, don't worry." I said.
She regained her face very quickly and playfully jabbed me on the shoulder. "That's it? I thought you got a boyfriend or something."
"No, it's just my job. " I said. "The team leader -" I trailed off.
Wait. Why would me getting a boyfriend be shocking?
The reaction of my parents was much more severe. My mom at first denied it, saying I was only playing a prank on her. Even though I had to assure her several times that it was not April first, and that I absolutely wasn't doing this to put on extended family's Whatsapp group, she refused to believe it. She only accepted when my father finally confirmed it was true. And then she began to rant.
"Don't rant, mom." I said. "I'll find another job. Within three months, max."
"You better. Or else, I'll have to put up your profile." She said.
'Put up your profile' was my mother's newest way of scaring me to do things her own way. It meant that she'd put up my profile on a matchmaking site. How scary!
"Mom, please don't do that! That's embarrassing." I begged.
After putting up with a hour more of my family's daily shenanigans, and pleased that my situation was made fun of, which was much better than being at the receiving end of a more dramatic intervention(?), I began to make my way towards my house.
At the foot of the steps, I found myself head-to-head with the apartment secretary, Mrs Anand.
"Samskruthi, come here!" She yelled. She had a tendency to call me by my full name.
"Yes, Aunty." I obliged.
"You have a new neighbour! He's my nephew. Come, let me introduce you to him." She said, and grabbed my arm. She was a rather forceful person, but occasionally she offered me sweets, so I liked her.
We stopped at the door opposite mine, and she knocked softly. The door opened to reveal someone I would have never thought.
It was the drunk guy from yesterday. He was now wearing track pants and a white shirt. He was rather good looking, and girls might probably go crazy over him. But he was a drunkard, and I hated those kind of people the most!
First impression is the best impression.
"Aunt!" He exclaimed and turned to look at me, confusion spreading on his face, probably wondering why I looked so familiar.
"Rudhra, this is Samskruthi. Samskruthi, this is Rudhra, my nephew. Both of you are neighbours from now on! Please get along!" She beamed.
He let out his hand to shake, but I pretended not to notice it. I kept smiling at his aunt.
"Rudhra! What happened to your face? It's so red and bruised!" She shrieked all of a sudden. Only then I noticed the red on his face, which was most definitely due to my deflating his face with my cactus plant.
"Oh, that? A man was harassing a woman on the road yesterday. I got injured while saving her." He said smoothly. His aunt beamed and sad something in the lines of 'what a nice man you are'.
Pfft. What an outrageous lie! This guy was the funniest. Did he not remember anything?
But I wasn't someone who'd rat out people in front of others. So I kept quiet about it.
"What do you do?" I asked, rather brashly.
His aunt answered for me. "He's a model. Earlier, he used to travel all over India. But now he decided to settle in Chennai."
"Ohh. Was it his Officer's Choice? Or his own?" I asked, feeling pleased with my pun.
He gazed towards me sharply when I said that, and he probably began to remember the events of yesterday. His aunt, however didn't catch the joke. "No, dear. He works as a model. They don't have officers, I think."
"Is that so?" I asked, half interested.
After the horrible introductions, I excused myself with a polite good bye and lounged on my sofa, reading my favourite novel.
Within a few minutes, the doorbell rang. It was Rudhra, the drunkard.
"What do you want?" I said, in a irritated tone.
"Were you the one who left me those painkillers and juice yesterday?" He asked me, coming straight to the point.
"Yes. I did."
"Thank you very much. It was much appreciated." He said, and he looked down, as if he was shy. Wasn't he a model? Weren't models supposed to be naturally confident?
"No problem. I always help those in need." I said.
He nodded and looked sideways until his gaze landed on the cactus plant I'd kept in the hallway. Oops.
"I thought it was all a dream, but apparently its all true. You attacked me with that plant, didn't you?"
"What! I didn't!" I said immediately.
He went towards the plant and picked it up. He then placed it near his face. "Look, the pattern of the cactus matches with the impression on my face. Why did you ruin a model's face?" He asked me angrily.
My own anger surged up. "You passed out in front of my house! Be thankful that I didn't complain to the apartment secretary."
"You be thankful that I didn't say to her that you were the one who attacked me with a cactus for no reason." He returned.
"I am very thankful for saving my cactus from harassment." I said, and wiggled my index finger at him.
The look of defeat spread on his face."Why are you at home on a Wednesday morning? Don't tell me, you don't have a job?" He said, trying to change the subject. But what the hell, he had guessed it right!
"So are you."
"I work at Adonis Agency or AA. My assignment starts only tomorrow." He said.
"No one asked. By the way, Alcoholics Anonymous suits you better."
"You are so lame. Is that why you gave me painkillers? Because you crushed my face?" He asked me.
"Yes." I said truthfully.
"Why the juice then?" He asked, curiously.
"As compensation." I said.
"Why you little....? Can a bottle of juice compensate for my face?" He said, and came closer towards me.
"Probably not. It was already very ugly to begin with." I said and slammed the door on him.
Little did I know that it would be start of our story.
A/N:
*Officer's Choice is the name of an alcohol brand in India.
*It's considered polite and correct to call elders by Uncle or Aunt, even if they aren't related to you, in India.
I've had it in drafts for so long that I forgot about it. Please let me know what you think about it.