Leela Singhania.
Leela is the decedent of a royal family, essentially making her a modern-day princess. She is also one of the best lawyers the city of Mumbai has seen, not only that but she's also up for senior partnership, which is all she has dr...
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I take a deep breath before raising my tightly clenched fist to knock on my boss's door. I hear a muffled, "Come in." and twist the knob open. Nalini smiles at me and gestures for me to have a seat.
"You wanted to see me?" I ask, nervously fidgeting with my fingers.
"Yes, please sit, Leela." I pull the chair back and take a seat, nervously chewing on the inside of my cheek.
"Leela, you know I've said this before but I feel like I need to say it again, you're truly one of the best lawyers we have here at the firm." I smile and nod, it's starting to sound a lot like the calm before the storm.
"Well, as you know we have the board meeting scheduled for December. Among the many things on the agenda, voting for the next senior partner is one of them..." I perk up almost immediately. I've been waiting for this opportunity since forever. If I get the senior partnership, not only will I be the youngest senior partner this firm has seen but also the one with the most wins.
"Leela, I think almost everyone on the board agrees that you'd be nothing short of perfect for this role, but..." She trails off like she can't get herself to get the words out.
"But, what?"
"Well, you see, most of the board is made up of extremely senior members, most of which are really old fashioned and don't believe that even though you are the right choice, professionally, that you should be the next senior partner because, well, you're... to put it simply, unmarried."
No fucking way. Ironically, the reason I've been putting off getting married despite my parents constantly bugging me about it is because I wanted this and then I'd be fine with getting married but I guess that's not how this is going to play out.
"Leela... the vote is in 5 months. That's quite enough time for you to find someone and at the very least get engaged to show the partners that you're serious about this. I realize how very backward all of this is but there's really not much choice here if you want the position."
"So, I just need to be engaged before the vote?"
"Technically, yes."
"Okay," I plaster on a polite smile and then ask her if I can get back to my office. She nods and all I can think about on the walk back is how much I've worked for this. I've dedicated so many sleepless nights to get where I am and just to have the fact that I put my career at the top of my priorities to be thrown in my face like that. It's not like I'm repulsed by the thought of marriage, it's just that I never had the time to get to it. My parents started bugging me about it when I turned 28, four years ago and I have no clue how I managed to put them off for so long, especially considering how persistent they can be.
~
I pack up my desk and head out. I get inside the lift and just as it's closing, a hand stops and it opens back up and in steps Rohan Ahuja. He smiles when he sees me. He's about the same age as me and he's a great lawyer at that but he's a bit of a manwhore. When I was offered this job, he'd already been working here for a few months. Outside of work, I've only seen him when some of us decided to get a drink after work.
