Kanika's POV
-At the Publishing House-
I slumped in my chair with a deep sigh. I wanted that chair to gulp me. I wanted to disappear in its depths, away from the world. I stared blankly at my emails open on the desktop screen. I haven't been able to focus properly on anything after meeting Anant that day. I don't even know what goes on inside that head of his.
"Kanika, Aarav sir is calling for you in his cabin." Avika, a colleague, informed me, making me rise from my slumber of thoughts. Why was he calling me now? 'We haven't had any contact after that meeting at the wedding. Saturday and Sunday went as they are. On Monday, he had other business. On Tuesday, I was busy contacting a few authors, and today is Wednesday when he finally decides to call me. Is he ignoring me intentionally, or is he really busy?'
I went and knocked on the door to his cabin. "Come in," he responded.
"You called for me?"
"I needed the report on the authors we contracted on a monthly contract basis, and are due for renewal and analysis on their work and how it is progressing." He demanded his eyes fixed on his laptop screen.
"And?" I noted down the things he said in my mini notebook, which I always keep with me to remember things.
"The ones that are due for renewal, contact them and get their responses."
"Anything else?"
"For now, that's all." With that, he dismissed me, but I stood there for a few seconds expecting him to say something.
"Do you have something to say?" He asked, finally lifting his face to look at me, making eye contact with mine.
"I… Umm… Abou–" before I could try to say something, his phone rang, but he didn't pick up, just simply silenced it.
"Yeah, you were saying something," he told me to proceed, but his phone rang again, making him frown at his phone. 'I wonder who is calling for him to make that expression.'
"Can it wait? Or is it something important?" He asked, removing his glasses and accepting the call.
"It's ok, I will excuse myself," I whispered so that I was not loud or audible to the person on call, and left the cabin.
'I am sure he is having some misunderstandings cooking up in his brain related to Anant and me, and I want to clear them out. I want to make sure he isn't thinking something idiotic.'
__________________________
I yawned and stretched in my chair. I have been sitting in the same spot for so long to complete the reports that my back is hurting. I looked at my watch; it was 2:40 pm, and people were returning to their desks after lunch. I still had work left, but my brain refused to process in hunger, so I went to the canteen for some sandwiches and coffee.
I went to the canteen. It wasn't very crowded as lunch time was almost over. I took my sandwiches and coffee and went to an empty seat to eat peacefully.
"Mind if I sit here?" Aarav asked politely to join me with his black coffee. And sat in front of me.
"You were telling me something," he mentioned.
"When? What?" I asked in confusion.
"In the cabin, when I called you, but we were interrupted by the call." He tried to make me recall.
"Uhh, right, I was telling you something, but what was it?" I closed my eyes, trying to remember what I wanted to talk about.
"Yes, I remember it was about the othe–" This time it was my phone that rang, and it was from an author who was supposed to come today with his draft.
"I have to take this, sorry." I excused myself from the seat and went outside the canteen to a little quieter corner and came back after a minute or two.
"Who was it?" Aarav asked curiously.
"An author who was supposed to come today with his draft. We were expecting him in the morning before noon, but something came up, so he will be arriving now, and I have to go meet him." I gulped down the coffee and picked up one sandwich in my hand. "You can have the second one," I said as I left in a hurry.
I arrived at the office waiting area and spotted a well-groomed man sitting there on a sofa in black pants and a light blue shirt with rolled up sleeves, and approached him.
"Hello, umm.. Rahul right? I am Kanika, assistant editor, the one you talked to on the call." I confirmed.
"Yeah, I am Rahul, sorry for causing trouble regarding time and all." he extended his hand for a handshake.
"Oh, it's fine, we all have things that need more attention." I shook hands with him, and we proceeded to sit down. "So, about the draft and contract. We will proceed only after going through the drafts. If we feel like yes, they complete the requirements, then we will proceed further, and I will set up your meeting with the editor-in-chief." I explained.
He passed me the draft for his book. 'He said that it's still ongoing, but he wants to start preparing for the physical copy and publication.' I turned the pages, and from the first page itself, I knew it wasn't his, but I read more of it to make sure of it. Maybe I was wrong, maybe it just had a similar plot, maybe just a coincidence, but I wasn't. It was a plagiarized work.
"So this is your original work?" I inquired, knowing I was going to get lied to for a response.
"Yes." I was amazed by how confidently he lied. He was proud of his lie.
"It's good. I will talk with the Editor about this and set up a meeting as soon as possible." I said with a tight smile as he left.
'Only God knows how much I controlled myself from smashing his head into the glass table near us like in action movies.'
'The reason I know for sure that it's not his original work? This work belongs to Kitsune. It belongs to me.'