It had been two more days of wait before she was ushered into his office again.

“Ms. Karishma Gupta,” Siddharth faked such warm enthusiasm that Karishma cringed, “Please sit down.”

“Thank you, Sir,” she took a chair and sat on the edge.

“What a coincidence. My assistant was just telling me about this writer, who used to work for us in the Films division. Had once tried to pass off somebody else’s work as his own. When we caught him, he had the balls to tell us that he doesn’t care. He will get a job elsewhere. Now, we don’t want such people in the industry, do we? Your association has just banned him. Fair thing, don’t you think so?”

Karishma gulped. Was that a hint asking her to stop sending around her resumes? Not that she was getting any responses anyway.

“Don’t you think so?” Siddharth repeated his question, when she did not answer.

“Yes Sir,” her voice quivered.

“Of course. I knew you were intelligent. So, what were we to discuss?”

“My job, Sir.”

“Ah! Yes. I am so sorry. I completely forgot about it. May be we could discuss this tomorrow.”

“Sir. Nobody has been hired to replace me yet. If I could just get that job back…”

“I’m sorry Karishma. That is not possible. We’ll have to think of something else. Why are you in such a hurry?”

She had to try hard to not react to all the humiliation. But she managed to do it and replied without choking on her words, “My insurance will run out in a month, Sir. I need it for my father’s treatment.”

“Right, right… And its a pretty expensive treatment, isn’t it.”

Obviously he remembered, but he was enjoying torturing her.

“Yes Sir,” she replied meekly.

“Hmm… We must do something then. You father should not suffer. That would be very sad. Here is the thing. I need someone to manage my office at home. Be an admin cum assistant to me, you know. Only I work from there, so I don’t hire a full team of staff. My housekeeper is looking after it right now. But she doesn’t quite understand the professional settings. Would you like to take it up?”

Karishma sounded unsure.

“I know. This is not a position that will usually earn you the same salary as a daily soap writer. But let’s say we will maintain your salary. And your insurance, of course. You will be on the payroll for the same company.”

Karishma sighed. If a demotion was what was needed to keep her insurance and salary, so be it.

“Yes Sir. I would take it up.”

“That’s great. But yeah – I forgot to add a little detail.”

“Sir?” Karishma was apprehensive again. He was hell-bent upon making her life difficult!

“You will have to stay in servant quarters.” The way he said “servant quarters” made her flush with insult. He was showing her her position. Servant!! “It is – you see – not a 9-to-5 job,” he continued, “It is a 24/7 job. I work from there all the time. So, I may need you anytime.” ‘I may need you anytime’ was again said in way that made it sound like he was he was hiring a mistress. “And there are no promised holidays or vacations. You will have to get my approval if you need one.”

What was it? A slavery contract? She could go back to Delhi. Getting a job in a publishing house there won’t be difficult. Even her old employer would take her back. But… Papa’s treatment! Her hands were tied. And her tongue was tied too for a few moments.

“Yes?” Siddharth urged her to answer.

“Can… I… tell you tomorrow, Sir?”

“Of course, you can. But if my assistant has found someone else to do the job by then…”

The ego-maniac. Karishma had no clue what she was getting into. But… But there was no other way… And surely Siddharth Sen can not afford a scandal. If it does turn out to be something totally unacceptable, she could just leave.

“I accept it, Sir. When should I start?”

“Right away. Why don’t you wait outside. My assistant will help you with the formalities and also arrange to take you to your new workplace.”

“Yes Sir. Thank you, Sir,” Karishma mumbled and went out the office without waiting to see the smirk on Siddharth’s face.

—

“I hope you are comfortable,” Karishma was startled by sudden appearance of Siddharth as she was settling her stuff in.

“Y.. Yes Sir.”

“My assistant thought it was better for you to stay in the outhouse. My office is downstairs; so you will be easily accessible to me all the time.”

The writer in her always analyzed his choice of words. Ramesh was the name of his assistant. And he never referred to him by his name. It was always ‘my assistant’. And then the ‘easily accessible’ phrase. What was she? Some file? Some object that he wanted to be ‘easily accessible’.

What as happening to her? Within a week, her simple and straight-forward life had turned upside down. And right now she was pretty much at the mercy of this psychopathic man. She had always thought that such things did not happen in modern times. Apparently she was wrong. She had to get out of this mess. Finding another job in the same industry was not going to happen with Siddharth Sen being after her life. He might even get her banned by the association, as he had threatened indirectly. Going back to publishing industry was not going to earn her enough. She may have to go out of her comfort zone. Probably pick up a job at one of the call-centers. She had always looked down upon those jobs. Mindless – she had always called them. But desperate times call for desperate measures. A call-center job could not be worse than the situation she was in right now. Standing in the comfortable outhouse owned by the Siddharth Sen – and yet fearing when the ground below her feet would disappear.

“There are a bunch of scripts lying on my desk downstairs. All submitted by new writers. I need you to read through them and hand over the ones you think are good. I need it done by the nine in the morning.”

Relief and anxiety hit Karishma together. At last she won’t be mopping the floors of his office. Going through the script was a job she would be comfortable with. But did he say he needed it done by nine in the morning. She quickly looked at the huge clock on the wall. It was already half past ten at night.

“How many are there?”

“15-20 – I don’t know. Go check for yourself.”

After the day spent in waiting for him, bearing his humiliation, then shifting her stuff (as he won’t allow her even a day to do it later), she had to spend the night going through the scripts. Wonderful! He does intend to make is a 24/7 job, she rued. But at least, her health insurance was safe! Ramesh had told her that she hadn’t been officially fired from her last job. They had just ‘transferred’ her to a new position. So, there were no complications there.

—

Karishma was woken up by some noise right outside the office door. She realized that she had fallen asleep on the desk itself. She looked around and rushed into the attached bathroom to wash her face. She came out just as Siddharth was entering through the door. He looked at her curiously, but didn’t say anything. She also ignored the awkwardness of coming out of his bathroom, hastened towards the computer and fired a printout. He kept watching her silently, as she took the printout to him.

“This is a short assessment of each of those scripts…”

“I hadn’t asked for it.”

“I have sorted them in the order of quality – as far as I could judge. Three that I thought were good are in the separate pile.”

“I hadn’t asked for the report.”

“I just thought… it would be good to explain my assessment.”

“You look disoriented.”

“I… I had fallen asleep.”

“Come back in an hour.”

“Yes Sir.” Karishma was relieved. She needed time to freshen up.

—

“Where is my schedule for the day?” Siddharth barked as soon as she came back.

“I… I don’t know.”

“Who will know then?”

What all was she supposed to do here, she wondered. Didn’t he already have an assistant?

“I will call Ramesh and find out from him.”

“You are supposed to do it before I come.”

She just nodded and went to call Ramesh up.

“Why is he asking you for the schedule?” Ramesh was surprised.

“I have no clue, Ramesh. What’s going on?”

He sighed, “Never mind. I am sending you the e-mail. But I don’t know what is he doing there. All his meetings are here.”

—

“Shift the auditions and look tests here and cancel other meetings,” Siddharth said when she informed him of his schedule.

“There are some 50+ girls coming for auditions, Sir. Shifting at the last moment…”

“If they are not any smarter than you, if they don’t know what opportunity they have got, and if they are not willing to take that opportunity, that’s not my problem.”

Karishma had to bite her lips to stop herself from retorting. Ramesh was also annoyed when she told him about changes in the plans. But he had worked too long with Siddharth to question his decisions or moods. He roped in couple of more people and between them and Karishma, they managed to call all the girls and inform them about the change of venue. Karishma felt that most of them were excited by an invitation to come to his home. Ramesh with his practised patience canceled or rescheduled other meetings. Then he also came to Siddharth’s home and worked with the security to ensure smooth entry to the participants.

“What on earth is going on?” Diksha came to the outhouse office and was surprised at the commotion there.

“Auditions for the movie, Ma’am,” one of the staff informed her.

“Auditions? Here? Since when? Karishma?” she suddenly noticed her employee, “What are you doing here?”

“She is helping me run this office,” Siddharth came to the spot and saved Karishma from some embarrassing explanations.

“What the hell, Bro? You are poaching from your own company?”

“Let’s discuss this later, Diksha. You have just come back. You must be tired. Why don’t you go and take rest.”

“I think I need to go to the office and figure out what else have you turned upside down in my absence. And Karishma, we need to talk…”

“There is no need to talk,” Siddharth spoke in such fierce tone that it silenced even Diksha.

“All right. We’ll talk then,” she pointed towards Siddharth and herself, “And I am not staying here..” She left in a huff..
—

“I don’t understand you Karishma? You declined an offer to act with him and then you took up this job? Why would anyone do that?” Ramesh asked her. It had been a month of bearing Siddharth’s tantrums and she interacted a lot with Ramesh. They had developed good camaraderie.

“He is a jerk, isn’t he? Why do you work with him?” Karishma’s tone was so sharp that it startled Ramesh. But he responded calmly, “Several reasons. Pay is good. Over time, I have come to understand how to work with him. So, it isn’t that bad. And if you want to be in this industry, you don’t antagonize Siddharth Sen.”

“Right!”

“Right? So, which of these is your reason?”

“None. I have already antagonized him and this is my punishment, not choice.”

“How did you manage to antagonize him? Sure – you are no stranger to the industry?”

“I couldn’t have imagined in my worst nightmare that refusing to act would be such a blow to his ego.”

“He is so mad at you because you refused to act?”

“You sound surprised. I thought you have known him for so long…”

“I have seen him crush his rivals, the way his father would never have dreamt of doing. I have seen him… sorry to say… but exploit the girls desperate to act. But trying to crush someone who is…” Ramesh stopped as he realized he didn’t have a good word in mind. But Karishma completed it for him, “who is a nobody.”

“Well. Yeah. That is too odd even for him.”

“I also never imagined that someone of his stature… But I guess pettiness has nothing to do with your stature… It’s in you…”

“What’s your plan, then?”

Her face clouded at that.

“My plan? I am… probably waiting… for my father to die…” she choked.

“Hey… Karishma… Stop crying. What is it?”

“I am not in love with this industry Ramesh. I would love to go back to my desk in a publishing house. But I can’t manage to lose insurance cover for even a day. My father is fatally ill and is undergoing expensive treatment. I am scared of stepping out of Boss’ sight even for another job interview. What if I don’t get that job and he carries out his threat of firing me again. To make sure my father is being treated, I can’t take even a day off to go see him in Delhi. Because I am at the mercy of the great Siddharth Sen. I…”

She lost all strength and leaned on him. Ramesh hugged her lightly to comfort her.

“Ramesh!!” They separated startled on hearing Siddharth shout, “Leave now!”

“Boss…” Ramesh was tongue-tied. What was his boss thinking and whatever he thought, why should he get angry?

“You are fired!” Siddharth declared menacingly and walked away.

Karishma glanced quickly at a flabbergasted Ramesh and ran after Siddharth.

“You can’t do that!” she grumbled.

“Yeah? Since when did it become your call what I can or can not do?”

“If he goes, I go too,” she said not knowing if it was a threat at all.

“I see. Someone is not bothered about her father…”

“My father would never want to be treated at the cost of an honest man losing his job…”

“Sure. And I am so worried about you leaving, right?” Siddharth was sarcastic.

“Once I leave Mr. Siddharth Sen, I have no reasons to be discreet. Media would love to gobble up controversial stories about you. How you treat your employees would be for everyone to know. A lawsuit or two won’t hurt either…”

All his sophisticated sarcasm went away. He pulled her harshly and pinned her against a wall. With an animalistic anger and threat in his demeanour, he growled, “Don’t you dare threaten me. You have no idea what I can do.”

His physical attack on her visibly shook her and she could not utter a word as he walked away. She went back to where she had left Ramesh. But he was no longer there. Just then her mobile rang. The call was from her home.

—

To be continued