The Wrong Woman

39. Mouna

The talk between us had gotten heavy after that and while I feared it would change how Dhruv spoke to me the following day, he smiled at me like he always did. I was at work, looking through my notes again when Tara came up to me.

"Good news," she said, "the meeting can be moved up to tomorrow if you want."

T-Tomorrow? She had said if I wanted, and I did not want that as I was in no way ready for it. "I'll keep it on the normal date," I said. "I have a few more things I need to prepare."

She hummed, narrowing her eyes. "Well, then, I won't stop you. You've been doing well, so far and your stories are...decent. Just don't let anything happen between then and now."

I gulped and watched as she stalked away through the bustling quarters. Preethi clicked her tongue, placing a hand lightly on my arm. "Don't let her get to you, she says that to everyone."

"Deep down she has a good heart?" I asked, thinking of my boss Raj. I didn't think he had a heart. Speaking of, I thought, how is Rani faring with him? With her confidence, I was sure she could keep him in line. I laughed to myself and Preethi squinted at me from behind her glasses.

"She has a good heart deep deep deep down within her."

That made me laugh even harder.

My phone vibrated in my hand. Dhruv was calling me. I excused myself from Preethi and headed out the glass doors and down the hall where the toilet was located. "Hello?" I said into the phone.

"I don't know how you're going to take this but I want you to listen to me."

"Dhruv? What is it? You're scaring me." I could hear the echo of my heart beat in my ears.

"Someone came in today asking about Kippie. Apparently we forgot to take down her pet profile on the website."

My throat went dry. "Does that mean...?"

"...Yeah. They want to adopt her."

I wanted to ask Dhruv to find a way to say no or even say that we were willing to adopt. But I had to think about the long term—would Rani be able to provide for her? They had made it quite clear that Rani despised animals. It wasn't fair for Rani nor was it fair for Kippie. "This is good, right?" I tried to say, forcing my voice to be upbeat. Kippie had only been at our house for two whole days and I already felt like a family member was being taken away. I blinked back the burning sensation behind my lids and laughed.

"Rani." Dhruv's soft voice of concern was enough to send me over the edge so for a moment, I didn't speak. I tried to control the sniffles. "Remind me not to get you another dog in the future." That wasn't the response I had been expecting and I stopped sniffling long enough for him to chuckle. "It worked."

"You're so rude. This is serious!"

"I'm being serious. If I'd have known you would get hurt, I wouldn't have suggested the idea at all."

"It's not your fault, Dhruv."

"I know."

"I didn't think I'd get attached, either. It was unexpected." I sighed. "When is this happening?"

"Today, if possible. Which is why I called you."

"Can I come?"

"I don't think any of us expect you to stay back while Kippie's being adopted." After we hung up, I rushed over to Preethi to let her know what was going on.

"Please tell Tara that I'll make up for this by working overtime another day," I begged. Without waiting for a response, I grabbed my bag and rushed out. I headed back to the house, got her blue bag and kissed her on the head before going to Dhruv's workplace.