The Mountain Girl – The Conspiracy- Part 4

Series 1

Part 4:

Gone was the open blue sky of yesterday. Neither the sunlight was knocking through Nivedita's window panel nor was she in a mood to curl in her blanket for a longer time performing her childish act. The gloom of her mood was reflected in the weather too. At first she assumed that she was up too early but then the sight of her wall clock hanging at the right side of her bed made her realize she was not. Her wall clock was positioned right below her green zero watt led bulb, this light bulb stays in operation the whole night. If you think she is afraid of the dark let me clarify, "No she is not". She is not among those girls who would try hard to tear their vocal cords, when they have to face the darkness. She has a rational explanation for every sophistication, she believes that the darkness can swallow our racing thoughts and steal our body heat. Also darkness lay silent and is a host of our imagined fear, a fear of loneliness. Her loneliness was prone to darkness and this light bulb was a proof of victory over this sickness.

Nivedita poked her head out of her blanket and swung her feet over the side of the bed and sat up, rubbing the crust of her eyes. She landed her feet above the fury rug positioned at the side of her bed and slipped her foot inside her berry purple fur room slipper and walked towards her balcony. She felt like inhaling some fresh air today. Her head is hitting so hard, maybe due to reduced sleep last night. Once a victim of insomnia it took her long enough to heal her internal system still she is not among those people who would roll over and doze off. At night she usually lie in her bed watching the color of her light bulb slowly seeping back into the walls and with thousands of thoughts she wear the protective blanket of night and new dreams then finally explore the world of multiverse universe to wake after only a couple of fitful hours of sleep but last night her number of fitful hours were shortened than usual.

Earlier in the morning, she witnessed that the blue color of the sky had been broken by transitory wisps of white. The Grey color threaded across the sky in thicker bands the street-lamps shone poorly into the eternal twilight, she could predict the arrival of rain. There was no sign from Joey till now, maybe he was not in a mood to express his love today and she felt like a sinner. She rushed towards her kitchen and made a hot coffee to treat her for this delinquency she performed the day before. The aroma of her strong black coffee gave her some relief. Today, there was no enthusiasm in her work. In fact she doesn't feel like going to work, but she has to corrugate what she has messed up. Before even getting dressed, she remembered to keep the umbrella in her bag.

The angry boss had already entered the office before she did, he usually arrived late but today maybe he was in a mood for bullfighting, what can she say it was all her own doing. She was called into his cabin within just a few seconds as she entered the office door, she placed her bag and walked towards her boss cabin. She just took a small glance at Mr. Shaman he looked as if his veins were pulsing in his temples. Though his boss was not a kind of a harsh man who would unnecessarily throw his punitive words to his staff but this time the act was definitely a punishable one, Nivedita stood still with her lowered eyebrows.

So, Ms. Nivedita spoke with a little loud but not so defensive voice, "Suggest me something, how do you think of handling this situation".

Lifting her chin a little, she just pursed her lips, unaware where to start and what to define.

Ms. Nivedita we are the only two people in this room, Mr. Shaman spoke again.

"My sincere apologies sir, but I am not sure how this happened I always recheck all the address and the packages several times and keep the billing and handling record before I hand it over to the shipment department and then they make a final packing and label the address, afore my handover the packages are unlabeled", she managed to give an explanation with a fumbling voice.

"I see", her boss responded with a deep voice. But Ms. Nivedita explanation isn't going to work, the client has issued a legal warrant, your apology and explanation is not going to save my company's reputation.

With a trembling voice she managed to ask; "Is it Mr. Joey's company who has filed a complaint?".

Her boss with a how have you even dared to ask looks just replied with a simple, "No".

Even in this situation of torment Nivedita breathed a sigh of relief.

Somewhere, thoughts of black clouds levitate her mind. The Shipment No- H25678 belongs to Mr. Grewal who also happens to be a very close family friend of her boss, also this wasn't the first incident with the company to receive a legal notice from the client. The situation then was handled with utmost privacy but what is the matter now, her eyes were moist. Just then the glass panel of her boss's cabin hit with splattering rain drops, the tears she was holding dripped from the clouds. The clouds swirled lightly and the pale grey color of the cloud suggested a possible storm. Just then a lightning roared loud threatening her of the possible danger. A stream of water came pouring from the roof and made a pitter patter sound on Ocean Container Line's board hanging outside the window.

She was asked to leave the cabin, right after reaching her desk she checked her phone with a hope of Joey's message flashing on the top demanding her photograph, to her dismay there was not even a hello. She felt like the universe was falling upon her and every meteoroid hitting her in a row one after another. She remembered the moment when Joey placed his hands on her shoulder's back and dragged her towards his chest and how she rested her head without any hesitation on his shoulder. That was what she needed the most right now. She gave her emotional pressure a break to check the shipment record details from 27th July 2020. She opened her record sheet and also asked for the punching details from her technical team. After tallying both the records she came to the conclusion that she correctly handed the package to the shipment department and the note was also updated in their software. She felt like a big weight lifted off her shoulder. She then rushed to the shipment department to check the duty manager from that day who approved the packaging and dispatch of the bundles. Another hit to her head, the records clearly mentioned the name of the person who cleared the shipment that evening; Ms. Reena A.K Shaman, wife of my boss Mr. A.K Shaman.

Now the turmoil, twisted like a coil inside Nivedita's heart. When she got a threatening email from her boss, hasn't the company even once gone through their records before even mentioning her name and warning her to take full responsibility of the legal actions imposed by the client. Moreover, what is giving her a dizzy shot is the close relation between my boss and the client Mr. Grewal. Is it possible that there might be something going around between them two? Who knows, many things might happen between the opulent classes, which is beyond the reach of working class people like Nivedita. Is she just being crushed between the conspiracies of two mammoths? The cataclysm of interrogation won't stop inside her. She took a print of all the records from the software and walked through her boss's cabin door. With a grind expression she placed all the paper on her boss' table and gave him proof of her innocence; a perplexed look on his boss's face can be witnessed from above the frames of his black plastic rimmed eyeglasses. When her boss lifted to read those papers he gave a "I am not aware of this expression", then with a blurred voice he said, "Thank you Ms. Nivedita I will look into this matter, I release you from the obligations placed earlier, you may go to your seat and start your work".

She thanked her god for holding her hands and not letting her fall into the grave of chagrin. She is relieved from the workplace humiliation, what story will she serve when she meets Joey? After all will it be convenient to discuss her workplace blunder with him, knowing that he is a regular client now. She must explain something, after all she can't let this incident fracture her newly threaded relationship. Another arrow hit her heart. She checked her phone again, no sign of him, her heart sinks.

P.S: The thought of his body, his whisper in my imagination, and I am weakened. There are no judgements, no concentration, only desire and the agony of waiting, please tell me you are not mad at me.