"Oh my god, Viya," she gasped between giggles. "The way you ran out of that conference room. It looked like some ghost was chasing you. I have never seen anyone move that fast."
I shot her a desperate look.
"Please do not tease me right now, Akshita. I need to work. I need to make sure my presentation is perfect. If I fail to present my idea clearly tomorrow, he might fire me."
That only made her laugh harder. She clutched her stomach, her eyes watering with mirth.
"Fire you? Viya, he was impressed. Did you not see his face? Vikrant was practically glowing with pride. You did amazing in there."
I shook my head, unconvinced.
"You do not understand. This is the CEO. Armaan Khanna himself. I cannot mess this up."
Akshita finally stopped laughing and put a hand on my shoulder, her expression turning more serious.
"You are going to be fine. Better than fine. You are brilliant, Viya. Just show him what you showed us today, and he will see it too."
I wanted to believe her. I really did. But the anxiety was already coiling in my stomach like a snake, squeezing tighter with each passing moment.
I spent the rest of the afternoon at my desk, my fingers flying across the keyboard as I worked on refining my code. I opened multiple windows, cross referencing documentation, runningtests, fixing bugs, optimizing algorithms. The world around me faded away until there was nothing but the screen in front of me and the problem I was trying to solve.
This was what I loved about coding. When I was deep in the work, nothing else mattered. Not my confusing marriage. Not my uncertain future. Not the fact that I had somehow ended up married to my own boss. Just the clean logic of code, the satisfaction of watching something complex come together piece by piece.
At seven o'clock, Akshita appeared beside my desk, already wearing her bag and jacket.
"Viya, it is time to go home. You have been staring at that screen for hours."
I barely looked up.
"I just need to finish this one section."
"You said that an hour ago. Come on. You can work on it more tomorrow morning. You need to rest."
I finally tore my eyes away from the monitor and looked at her. She had that stubborn expression on her face, the one that meant she was not going to take no for an answer.
"Fine," I sighed. "But I am taking my laptop with me. I want to keep working on it at home."
Akshita rolled her eyes but did not argue. She helped me pack up my things, and we walked out of the office together. She gave mea quick hug before heading to catch her bus, and I flagged down an auto.
The ride home felt longer than usual, my mind already racing ahead to tomorrow's presentation. What if he asked questions I could not answer? What if my solution was not as good as I thought it was? What if I embarrassed myself in front of him?
When I reached the Khanna house, Mamta ji was waiting in the foyer. She smiled when she saw me.
"Welcome home, beta. Dadi ji has gone out for satsang at the temple. She will be back late tonight. And Armaan sir has not returned from the office yet. Are you hungry? Should I serve dinner?"
The thought of eating made my stomach twist uncomfortably. I was too anxious, too focused on the work I still needed to do.
"Thank you, Mamta ji, but I will eat later. I have some work to finish first."
She looked concerned but nodded.
"Alright, beta. But do not stay up too late. You need to take care of yourself."
I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile and headed upstairs to the bedroom. Our bedroom. The thought still felt strange every time it crossed my mind.
Once inside, I quickly changed out of my salwar kameez and into comfortable cotton pajamas. I pulled my hair out of its braid andlet it fall loose around my shoulders. Then I grabbed my laptop, settled cross legged on the bed, and dove back into my work.
Lines of code scrolled across the screen. I typed, deleted, retyped. I ran simulations. I tested different approaches. I made notes in a separate document about how I would explain each component of my solution.
