“Have you seen Ravali?” I asked Arun who is   sitting beside me. He was a new joiner and barely spoke—just a few words here and there. In the morning, when he arrived at the office, he’d say, “Hi,” and in the evening, as he left, he’d say, “Bye.”

He slowly turned his head toward me and replied, “No.”

I had been searching for her for the past hour. She had taken my phone and left the lobby. My phone is password less. Last night, I’d sexted with my girlfriend. What if Ravali went through the chat? What would she think of me? It was a strange feeling.

Two hours later, she returned to the office bay where our team members were seated. As I saw her walking toward me, I stood up, reached out, and grabbed my phone from her left hand.

“Where were you until now?” I asked, my tone slightly harsh.

“I went to the ground floor to meet my friend,” she replied calmly, before asking, “What happened? Did anyone ask about me?”

“No, nothing,” I said.

She then sat down and tried to log into her system.

She was behaving normally, but the question kept repeating in my mind: Did she read my chats? What if she did?

I thought she had some manners and wouldn’t read someone else’s personal messages.

I decided to drop the topic for the moment and focus on the task that had been assigned to me two days ago. I was supposed to complete it this morning, but I hadn’t finished yet because I had to work on documentation assigned by my manager. I was a bit confused about whether I should finish my task first or complete the documentation. My manager himself had confirmed: “Prioritize your task and then complete the documentation.” So, as my manager said, I focused on my task, which was quite difficult.

I tend to be lazy at work. I want to be productive, but I can’t seem to concentrate.

After working nonstop for three hours without taking a break, I finally completed my task. I sent an email to the client, stating that the task had been completed and verified by the user.

As soon as I sent the email, I got a message from my manager: “How’s the documentation work going?”

Man, I just completed one critical task. I’ll start on the documentation soon. I wanted to tell my manager that, but I couldn’t.

“Hi Rajesh, I just completed the task assigned by our client,” I typed, but before I could add, “I am about to start on the documentation,” he replied to my last message: “I knew that. I saw your email. That’s why I’m asking. I know you’re free now that you’ve completed your task. Please finish the documentation by this evening.”

“Does he ever relax?” I thought. Documentation work is basically his responsibility, not mine. But he wants me to finish it because he doesn’t understand the application flow.

“Sure, Rajesh,” I replied.

“Shall we go for lunch?” Ravali asked me.

"You’re an angel. I really need a break. Let’s go." I pressed Win + L to lock my laptop.

I glanced at Arun. He was staring intently at his laptop. I patted his shoulder and invited him to join us for lunch. He nodded and stood up.

Ravali called the entire team for lunch. Everyone was ready except Preethi. She had an important call to attend, so she said, "You guys can go ahead. I'll join you later."

We left the workplace and headed to the cafeteria on the ground floor. It was extremely crowded, especially around 1 PM. After searching for about 10 minutes, we finally found an empty table and some chairs. There were five of us, and we managed to sit comfortably.

I ordered chapati with chicken curry, while Ravali chose a peanut salad. The others ordered their own meals, but Sreeja had brought food from home. She sat at the table, holding our places, making sure no one else took our seats while we waited for our food.

We were all having our lunch. Then we came out of the cafeteria and started walking around the office. After a while, we headed back to our work desks.

Since I had eaten too much at lunch, it made me feel sleepy. To avoid my sleepiness, I brought coffee to my desk from the tea breakout area.

I looked at the people around me—everyone seemed sleepy. Some of them were yawning too. I just laughed at them.

As time passed, I started taking small breaks between my work.

I hadn’t completed the documentation assigned by my manager — it was messy and complicated, filled with multiple modules from my project.

By evening, as people were getting ready to leave the office, I felt completely drained. I didn’t want to continue. I needed to leave.

But how?

My manager had clearly mentioned during the afternoon, “I want an update by EOD.”

This was right after I finished another hectic task.

I checked Teams to see if he was still active. His status showed “Away – 17 minutes ago.”

Did he leave the office?

If he had, why didn’t he check in with me before going?

Maybe he forgot…

Or maybe he just assumed, “Pranay will get it done by the end of the day. He’ll manage.”

I couldn’t decide — should I stay and finish it?

Or just leave and complete it tomorrow morning?

As I was stuck in this dilemma, my phone made a soft ting.

I checked the screen — a message.

It was from her… my sweetheart.

I opened it, half-distracted.

“Hey Pranay... I'm here. In front of your office.”

I read the message and smiled — cheeks instantly blushing.

Before I could reply, another message popped up:

“Are you coming now? Should I wait? If you need to work, it’s okay... take your time. No rush.”

I quickly typed back:

“Nope, babe… I’m coming.”

Her reply came immediately:

“Aww… so sweet. I’m waiting for you.”

I smiled again, heart lighter now.

I liked her message and slid the phone into my pocket.

I shut down my laptop, still thinking about my pending task.

I’ll finish it tomorrow morning — before my manager even asks.

I walked out of the office building, heading toward the exit.

Once I reached the main road, I looked around for Shriya.

She was standing under a tree, soaking in the street view, lost in the moment.