“Are you challenging me?” Arjun enquired.
“I am simply showing you the reality, I am perfect and I have proved myself with dignity. You hate the fact that I am better, you smell of chauvinism!” Meera made fun of him.
Everyone mocked Arjun and praised Meera for her boldness and confidence.
What seemed to be a minor correction, a simple game of numbers, a small step; had a huge impact. Arjun corrected a single figure in Meera’s project report before forwarding it to the board, one decimal moved, and the dynamics changed. It made her data look inflated, a mistake like this from a perfectionist like her shattered everything. Arjun wanted to bring Meera to her knees and show that she is not perfect and he could bring her down anytime. He wanted to impress her, but nothing happened as planned.
By the next morning, Meera was suspended. Investors pulled out. She called him with a trembling voice, “Aarrjuun..Did you do it?”
“I didn’t! Why would I?” Arjun lied. He wanted her to beg for help but her self-esteem didn’t allow her.
He waited for the day, but two days later she was found dead in her bathtub drowning in a pool of blood and her wrist was slit.
Arjun was scared that what began like an ego-boosting challenge for him was the inception of his downfall.
Arjun tried to pacify himself, his guilt was killing him but still, he didn’t want to accept that he was responsible for Meera’s death. And then the ripples began and the altered report triggered an audit, which exposed missing funds in another department and led to mass layoffs. The small flame of fire spread like wildfire and that exposure was the end.
The phone bell rang and he picked up the phone with shivering hands and trembling voice, “Helloo..”
“Sir I am calling from your security your father Mr Rai has been attacked. Please come, it’s urgent!!” Arjun sat down breathless, his heart was beating abruptly, he fell down but stood up and pushed himself to go and check his father.
“One of the dismissed employees attacked Arjun’s father, mistaking him for a board member. He came in a cab, I think it’s a case of misinformation,” Arjun could hear those words as he entered the hospital.
His father died in the hospital that night.
Sleeplessness and horrific dreams engulfed his disturbed mind. He began seeing Meera’s name appear in drafts he hadn’t opened. Every document he opened contained the same line… “It’s your karma, you started it and now you deserve it!”
What seemed to be a delusion at first swallowed Arjun alive..
The police found Arjun’s body in the bathtub inside a pool of blood and his wrist was slit.
His computer was on, the final document opened and a report showed his own bank account flagged for fraud.
The timestamp?
It was filed by Arjun two days before Meera’s death. Finally, the circle was complete.
495 words excluding the title
Images from Unsplash
