| Injustice

In the morning, I woke up to Gloria Gaynor's song "I Will Survive." Varsha was cooking something in the kitchen, and the clattering of utensils could be heard.

She placed a cup of tea beside my bed and softly said, "Have your tea," then picked up her bag and left. With the sound of the door shutting, the entire house fell into silence.

I got up and drank my tea. I didn't feel like going to the office today, but I had to.

Upon reaching the office, the first thing I did was look toward Rajat's desk—he hadn't arrived yet. I had just turned on my computer when Rajeev and Pratibha entered the office together.

Pratibha: "Hey, how are you feeling now?"

Me: "Better than yesterday."

Rajeev: "Good to hear! Come on, let's go for tea."

Me: "You guys go ahead, I need to talk to Rajat."

Rajeev: "Oh, it'll take him some time to get here, and do you really think he'll start working on your request the moment he arrives? That guy is crooked. Mark my words—he'll make you wait again today. So don't waste your time on him. Come, have something to eat and drink. If you stress over it, he'll enjoy making you wait even more. Trust me."

Me: "Say whatever you want, I'm not going."

Rajeev and Pratibha gave me a helpless look and walked off, as if they didn't even know me.

I laughed and got busy with my work. Just then, an email arrived. I checked it—it was from the airline. They had approved the refunds and sent a waiver code, with a note stating that the waiver code was valid only for today, so all refunds had to be processed by the end of the day.

Fifty bookings. How was I going to manage them all today? But there was no choice—I had to get it done.

From a distance, I saw Rajat entering the office with Shikha.

Shikha was the most beautiful and attractive woman in the office. Many people wanted to talk to her, but she was usually seen only with Sanket Sir and Rajat. She barely interacted with anyone else in the office. If she did speak, it was with an air of authority, as if she were the manager herself. Because of this, many people avoided her, including me, Pratibha, and Rajeev.

Rajeev and Shikha absolutely despised each other. Once, she had tried to boss him around, and Rajeev had put her in her place. She had created a huge scene—crying and complaining. Even Sanket Sir had called Rajeev to his office, but Rajeev hadn't apologized. Eventually, the matter was forgotten, but the animosity between them remained.

I always admired Rajeev's fearless attitude. How did he have so much courage? Wasn't he afraid of losing his job? I, on the other hand, always surrendered. I throw my pride to keep the job.

Rajat sat at his desk. Any moment now, Shikha would bring him his coffee. I decided to approach him after that.

By then, Rajeev and Pratibha had returned.

I went to Rajat and, in a somewhat pleading tone, said, "Good morning. Could you please check the transaction file and tell me the name of the person who took the commission on these bookings?"

Without looking at me, Rajat took a sip of his coffee and said, "Madam, I just got here. Let me breathe first. I'll check it—what's the hurry? We have the whole day ahead."

Me: "Alright."

Ugh, Rajeev was right.

I went back to my desk and silently got back to work. Hours passed. The office felt unusually quiet today—or was it just me?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two chairs moving toward me.

Rajeev: "Are you coming to lunch, or are you planning to starve us along with you? You really don't care about us, do you? Heartless."

Pratibha: "Come on, what are you so busy with?"

I figured it was best to go with them.

Me: "I'm sorry, let's go."

As I opened my bag, I let out a frustrated sigh. "Oh no! I forgot my tiffin."

Rajeev: "No problem, you can eat from ours. Now stop making excuses and come before I go mad with hunger and punch Rajat in the face."

Me: "Alright, alright! Don't get angry brother let's go ."

Rajeev: "If you were my sister, I'd be ashamed. So don't call me your brother—it'll ruin my reputation. I'm still considering whether to even call you my friend."

Me: "Are we going or not? Otherwise, I'll get back to work."

Rajeev & Pratibha: "Don't you dare! Come on, now."

The cafeteria was bustling as usual, glowing like a sky full of stars.

Both of them split their tiffins with me. My portion was the biggest, and it made me feel guilty. Even though they insisted I didn't need to, I ordered extra food for everyone. It felt like a mini party for the three of us.

Pratibha: "You look really happy today. What's the reason?"

Rajeev: "She's working like a machine, that's why. She doesn't care about appraisals, appreciation, promotions, or salary hikes. She gets excited over fixing errors—especially other people's. Seriously, HR found the perfect simpleton employee—more work for less pay! Let's all applaud her."

Me: "Are you done? The airline emailed today saying all fifty bookings must be refunded today, or there'll be no refund at all. So I have to do it."

Pratibha: "That's great news! Let's split the bookings between us. We'll finish by evening."

Rajeev: "You guys do whatever you want—I'm not helping. If it were me, I wouldn't even touch this case. Why should I fix someone else's mistake? I'd have sat on Rajat's head until he gave me the name. But look at this fool, working so hard to cover up someone else's error."

Me: "I wouldn't have let you two do the bookings anyway. My name is already attached to this case. I don't want to drag you both into it."

Rajeev: "Wow, the epitome of greatness. Should I give you a medal?"

Just then, the tea vendor called out, "Three teas." I jumped up so quickly that my chair toppled over with a loud thud, making everyone in the cafeteria turn to look at us.

Rajeev smirked, picking up the chair. "If only you showed this much urgency in life, who knows where you'd be by now."

I wanted to punch him, and somehow, he seemed to sense it.

Still smirking, he said, "Go get the tea first—then you can hit me."

Back at my desk, Rajeev asked, "What did Rajat say?"

Me: "Why ask when you already know?"

Rajeev: "Just wanted confirmation that I was right."

Me: "Yes, you were right. Happy?"

Rajeev: "Of course. So, are you coming to the party? Now that the airline has approved the refund, everything is settled."

Me: "Sanket Sir will decide. I'll finish submitting everything tomorrow. Let's see what he says."

Rajeev: "If you come to the party, I promise I'll find out who did this and get you the evidence."

Me: "I don't have money to waste on a party, so I probably won't come."

Rajeev: "I'll cover it. You can repay me in EMIs."

Me: "Why would I take a loan from you just to attend a party?"

Rajiv: "Think about it. If you really want that person's name, Rajat doesn't seem interested in revealing it. He looks quite happy tearing your reputation apart. Where else will he find someone as dumb and deaf as you?"

Saying this, Rajiv smiled, and I swear, I was reaching my limit.

After returning from the break, I completed all the refunds, sent emails to everyone, and also called the customer to confirm their refunds, customer was happy.

Then, I went to Rajat.

"Sir, have you checked the transaction file?"

For the first time all day, Rajat looked at me and smiled.

"Congratulations! You've accomplished the impossible. This will create a great impact on our clients, and now I can tell the higher-ups that even though you made a mistake, you handled it with complete professionalism. Don't worry, your job is safe. Go back to work."

"Sir, but this wasn't my mistake. I worked on this case because I wasn't even given a choice. I was told either to fix it or resign. At that moment, I had no other option but to work on it."

Rajat: "Now that everything is sorted, why are you digging up old graves? What's the point of making a fuss? Jobs have ups and downs—you can't hold onto everything. That's not how a job works. Go back to work, or take an extra break. You've worked under a lot of stress. Relax for a while and then return."

I don't know what came over me, but I immediately turned around and walked straight to Sanket Sir's office.

Sanket Sir: "Come in. Oh, Avni, have a seat. What's the matter?"

Today, his voice was a little softer, which only made me angrier. Controlling my emotions, I started speaking.

"Sir, I need to check the transaction file. These bookings are not mine."

Sanket Sir immediately picked up the phone and called someone to his office. Within minutes, Rajat walked in.

Rajat: "Sir, you called me?"

Sanket Sir: "Yes. Look, Avni is saying these bookings are not hers. Is that true?"

Rajat: "Sir, I already explained to her—just let it go. Dragging this out will only make things harder for her. First of all, no one else can make a booking from her ID unless she herself shared her login credentials. That's a security breach, which could directly cost her job. But she's not listening to me. Anyway, the booking shows her ID, and now that the whole issue is resolved, we should just close the matter."

Sanket Sir: "Avni, Rajat is right. Focus on your work. Just make sure something like this doesn't happen again in the future."

I couldn't believe it. The same people who were ready to fire me over this mistake didn't even want to acknowledge someone else's fault. Why? I couldn't understand anything.

I tried to explain how unfair is this, but they were just not listening to me. So I came back from there.

Seeing me on the verge of tears, Rajiv said in a calm voice, "I told you," while lightly tapping his fingers on the desk.

I said, "Here, take a thousand rupees. I'm coming to the party. I want that person's name, with evidence."

He was shocked but immediately took the money from my hands, and started counting the notes, then smiled and said, "Now that's the spirit."