One Indian Girl by Chetan Bhagat

made me feel comfortable, but I found it easy to talk to him.
‘You should come here with your wife,’ I said.
‘Huh?’ he said, slightly surprised. ‘Yeah, Kusum would love this place. Who wouldn’t?’
‘So you guys met in college? Love at first sight?’ I said. I don’t know if I had overstepped the
line. After three glasses of champagne, all so-called lines seem pretty blurred anyway.
‘Yeah, you could say that, yeah,’ Neel said, after deliberating for a second.
‘Sorry, didn’t mean to pry.’
‘No, it’s fine. Kusum and I were in the same class. She was born and brought up in the USA. I
mostly lived in the UK. Both of us were desis, yet Westernized. I guess we connected.’
‘How wonderful,’ I said.
‘Yeah. Absolutely,’ he said. He became quiet. He took a big sip from his glass and spoke
again. ‘How about you? In love pretty hard? Moving countries.’
‘Never again. This love business is not for me,’ I said. I took a knife and cut across the heart-
shaped cake.
‘That’s symbolic,’ he said. ‘A knife through your bleeding red velvet heart.’
I laughed.
‘Pretty much what happened. Discarded like used tissue. Switched like a TV channel,’ I said.
‘Ouch, I am sorry,’ Neel said. ‘Though, excuse me, I am a bit surprised.’
‘Surprised?’
‘Like who were you dating? Brad Pitt?’
I laughed. ‘Not really. Just a regular guy. Job on Madison Avenue. Why?’
‘How on earth could any guy leave you?’ Neel said.
His words felt like cold menthol balm on my bruised, wounded heart. I could have cried, but
girls who cry in front of their bosses are losers, and those who do in front of the boss’s boss are the
biggest losers.
‘I am not.. .that.. .great,’ I fumbled for words. What I wanted to say was ‘Tell me more about
why I am great.’
‘Are you kidding me?’ Neel said and counted on his fingers. ‘You are smart, successful, fun to
talk to, young, hard-working, funny and, well, I shouldn’t be saying this as your senior, but you
know.. .’ He paused mid-sentence.
‘You know—what?’ I said.
‘I don’t want to talk out of turn.’
‘It’s okay.’
‘Well, you know, you look pretty good. Very good, in fact.’
Wow, did Neel Gupta just try a line on me? But wait, did Neel Gupta actually find me good-
looking? And did he mean all those other wonderful things he just said?
I felt loads of self-esteem shots being injected into my bloodstream.
‘You are just saying all this to make me feel good,’ I said. It meant, say more.
‘No. Why would I? I mean it. You are, professionally and personally, one of the most amazing
people I have ever met,’ Neel said.
I swear I felt the sand shift beneath me. Neel stared me right in the eyes. We had a moment of
silence as I heard the splashing waves. I absorbed his compliment. Someone as cool as Neel found
me attractive. It was all too much. Something had to short-circuit in me as I gave the most idiotic
response.
‘It’s okay if I send Marcos the term sheet by tomorrow evening, right?’ I said.