Reigning The Man

| E I G H T

E I G H T

Riccha kept tossing in her bed. For some reason, she was unable to sleep. The room she was staying in was quite spacious. There was her bed, placed in the middle towards the back wall, with a tiny room closet to her right. To her left was a small desk with a night lamp placed on top.

This room was a guest room. Riccha was technically a guest. However, her uncle told her to stay with them however long she needed to. Riccha was extremely grateful.

It was four thirteen in the morning. Stifling a yawn, she pulled her covers away and sat upright. It was terribly dark. Feeling scared to walk outside her room to get a glass of water, she laid back down and heaved a sigh. She was going to get sleep bags the next morning.

Riccha stirred. She rolled around and pushed herself into a cat position. Squinting her eyes open, she checked the clock. It was nine o clock.

Oh crap.

A quick glance at her phone told her she was in deep trouble. There were eight missed calls from Sohail and fourteen text messages from him.

She skittered into her personal bathroom and did her morning duties as quickly as possible without the usual bathroom karaoke. Riccha had no time to apply makeup however. She dressed into her formal shirt and skirt wear and walked into the kitchen while brushing her hair into a sleek ponytail.

Her aunt was in the kitchen whipping up some pancakes, while her uncle was heating some milk. Her nana on the other hand was reading the newspaper on the dining table.

"Slept well?" her nana asked, right before Riccha stifled another yawn. She chuckled. "I asked that too soon. Here, have some coffee," she said, handing over the mug to Riccha.

Riccha gratefully took a swig. "I'm actually running quite late. Got to leave," she said, placing the empty coffee mug down and grabbed her purse from the table.

"Have some pancakes beta. I made some just for you."

"Sorry Aunt Sapna. I really have to go. Otherwise I'm going to get murdered."

Shashi took the milk out of the microwave and looked at her. "How are you going to get there?"

Riccha slapped a hand to her forehead. "I have no idea. I'll just get a cab or go by bus." She headed towards the door.

"Do you know where the office is?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Riccha's hand paused on the doorknob. "No, I don't."

"Alright. Your first job as Sohail's secretary is to set an appointment with him for me. Can you do that?"

"Er, yes sir, alright. But for what?"

"For the funding of course."

"Right. That was silly of me." Riccha walked into the balcony in the side of the apartment and dialed Sohail.

"Where the h-" he started, but Riccha cut him off. "Are you busy at 10 o clock?"

After a moment's silence, Sohail replied. "No, but -"

"Okay, great! I've set an appointment for you with Mr. Shashi at 10 o clock."

"Will he still give us the funds?"

"I don't know. I'm just your PA. You're going to have to find out." Riccha hung up.

At 9:45, she rushed into her new office, which was only ten minutes away from her Uncle's place.