60. Mission completed

Suddenly the door to the hall opened and a group of people dressed in office attires, made a regal entrance. In the middle was a woman dressed in a light blue suit, who seemed to be in her early thirties, and a step behind her were two men, slightly older than her. As they walked in with several bodyguards surrounding them, everyone quietly watched with curiousity.

Bithi hastened towards them with a polite and respectful smile, and when the bodyguards moved away she bowed her head in greetings — first to the woman, then to the man on her left and right.

"Thank you Vice President, Biplab Sir and Mr Bhandari for gracing my wedding with your presence. Please take a seat."

The moment she finished her sentence, the hall buzzed with murmuring. Initially, the guests were already quite excited to meet Bithi's colleagues but the arrival of the Vice President of Jet was a full-fledged shock. They cast looks of admiration and envy at the woman who went over to Bithi and her husband, and handed them a gift bag each.

She smiled slightly and said, "Hope you have a happy married life."

"Thank you VP." The couple bowed.

"Ma'am, I hope you can at least have some snacks before leaving. I know you're busy so you won't be staying for long, but please, I request." Bithi said.

The Vice President nodded with a polite smile.

"And Sir, I had your favourite Chicken Rezala prepared. So I request you too, please don't leave without having a taste." She said to the man on the right albeit in a more friendly way.

The gray haired man widened his eyes and exclaimed, "Really? Then how can I miss it? My mouth is already watering."

He was the man whom Bithi had addressed as Biplab Sir and he was the director of the marketing department as well as her superior. Their friendly interaction left the guests in awe. He was known for having a natural friendly attitude towards everyone but the way he behaved with Bithi seemed like they were relatives rather than colleagues. And not just him, Bithi looked very comforting talking to the VP as well as the other man, like she did it everyday. Everyone watched impressively how she did not get all jittery while speaking to such high ranking seniors.

After finishing their conversation she addresed the guests, "Please let me introduce them. This is Jet's Vice President — Ms Seth, this is the marketing department's director — Mr Chandra and this is his assistant — Mr Bhandari."

Then she took them all to a secluded corner where they could enjoy refreshments without being pestered by the hyenas who were hungrily waiting for the opportunity to make connections with them.

While guiding them through the buffet, she softly asked Biplab Chandra, "Sir, will the President come?"

Ms Seth overheard her and answered, "No, Ms Bhadra. The President had to attend an important meeting so she wouldn't be able to come. But she sent her regards."

She handed her two small boxes. Bithi accepted the gift and excused herself to host the others.

After having finished greeting the very last guest, Bithi found herself a quiet place to catch her breathe when Ankita came over to her.

"Bithi Di, where is this President that everyone's talking about?" She asked curiously.

Bithi grimaced, 'Not again.'

She was tired of talking about her work life and colleagues with everyone.

But she still replied, "Oh, she's busy with some important work,"

Ankita nodded and then shifted to another topic. Bithi looked at her in amusement and laughed. Seemed like she was only curious about the President's absence because people were discussing it so much and it was of no interest to her. Instead she talked about trivial things she found strange or funny. They chatted for quite some time and Bithi noticed that be it with juice, pakoda or ice cream, Ankita's hand was always occupied, no matter what. Feeling relaxed, she let her eat in peace and went away.

Ankita was now alone on the balcony, leaning against the railing with a food plate in hand. As she lowered her eyes, the previous carefree expression was replaced with a blank look but her lips were still curved up. From afar, it looked like she was happily enjoying her food.

Some time later, Tanmoy came up to her. His back was facing the hall so no one noticed that his usual I dote on my sister smile had vanished while facing Ankita.

He stood there silently when a deep, hoarse voice sounded, "Well done, Mr Chakraborty and Thanks for your cooperation."

It was so low that only the two of them heard.

"Thanks to you too, miss...?"

"Basu," Olivia said.

"Thanks to you too, Miss Basu." Tanmoy nodded and left.

That night, Ankita called Koushik.

"Hello, Ankita?" He said.

"Hi Koushik, can you come up to your roof?" She asked.

Koushik agreed and they cut the call. Both of them reached their roof and met where the two houses faces each other.

"Koushik, we'll be leaving tomorrow morning. I came to say goodbye." Ankita said quietly, almost like a whisper that refused to come out of her throat.

Koushik became silent.

After a while, he said, "Wait a minute."

And dashed downstairs. A few minutes later he came back, holding a keychain. It had three mini-figures of the three band members of Antariksha.

"I didn't know this day would come so soon. I only have this to give you as a parting gift."

He held out his hand. Ankita took it and stared at it for a while. Then they chatted for quite some time before Ankita needed to go back.

"So, which school is it?" Koushik asked the question that had been bubbling inside him for days.

Ankita turned back and said one last word, "Ketu."

Under the moonlight, Koushik saw a smile hanging on her lips and her face was as gentle and sweet as ever.

Then, she came downstairs but there was something noticably very different about her. Completely different. Ankita slowly descended the stairs with a rigid expression. Her hands were stuffed inside her pockets and her messy hair hovered over her eyes, which she made no effort to move. Instead, she lifted a pair of dull eyes to look at the people ahead.

The members of the Dey family were seated in the living room, waiting for her.

"Good job." She gave a thumbs up and said in a flat tone.

Such attitude in that guise was a bit sudden to the people present but they quickly came back to their senses. For some time, even they forgot that this was all an act.