A Unique Gift

FIVE

Moving on?

Vihaan greeted the stiff Majordomo of the institution with a nod and a handshake, faltering

Vihaan greeted the stiff Majordomo of the institution with a nod and a handshake, faltering somewhat when the greeter became mannequin-like instead of mirroring his joviality. Few men surrounded him, almost circling him from every side while others stood there alert.

The ambiance was familiar with Vihaan. He had witnessed the tensed environment a lot of times in his career, especially after the release of Dasis in the overseas market. He had observed how to alert people stayed around him, conscious to not make any mistake in front of him as if he would punish them if they do.

He had always been tender with people inside and outside his organization. He wasn’t one of those rude, arrogant employers who treat their human assets like machinery and lash at them, taking their inner stress out on the poor employees. He had never done that, even in the deadest situation he would always smile and try to handle the problem as smoothly as he can and that day he was feeling genuinely happy.

Since early that morning, after he had ended his meeting with Rudraksha in the restaurant. Vihaan was feeling somewhat relaxed. He felt as if positive energy was surrounding him after the intense conversation he had had with his new friend about his past love life with Veronica and the reason they ended up splitting apart.

Vihaan would not lie, He felt sympathetic towards the guy with his whole heart. The boy truly loved the girl, but the woman being an idiotic hoe didn’t deserve his affection and she ended up sleeping with one of his employees, breaking his heart into million pieces and shaming him at front of his whole staff.

Vihaan remembered how pale Rudraksha looked when he was telling him about the story of his broken heart. It looked as if each word he was saying against Veronica was piercing his heart, slicing it inch by inch.

For once, Vihaan was thankful for Komal, at least the girl did not cheat him unlike women of present world who don’t give a second thought about the true love they are getting from a man and ended up spread their legs at front of a guy who would only play with them and throw them away like a used tissue paper.

Vihaan’s smile waned, then came a raucous cheer of welcome from a flower-adorned long table to his right. Audience in the conference hall stood up in his honor, as he graciously sauntered till the center of the stage and greeted the audience with a slight nod. The Majordomo visibly jumped and turned sharply in the direction of the noise, his skin a shade paler. The old man's gnarled skin broke into his customary smile, radiating an unabashed joy. He took the file and placed it on the table and scratched his mottled scalp, a simple gesture of nervousness. He then picked up the file again and handed it to the server who appeared to have frozen momentarily and made his way to the table unaided. Students, faculty members, and local media had arrived; now the seminar could begin.

“Welcome to the Prestige Institute of innovative science and ethical hacking Sir! We are honored to have your presence here today.” the old man smiled, offering a flower bouquet of orchids to Vihaan as he welcomed him and his team to the premises.

“Aah! The pleasure is all ours Sir. Sooner or later we had to come after your entire institute is providing a lot of good brains filled with intelligence and knowledge to our business. We can never be more thankful for the human resources we have been provided by your institute.” Arnav nodded back, Vihaan’s personal assistant and a good friend.

The seminar commenced with an introductory speech and a lamp lighting ceremony in front of Devi Sarasvati. Afterward, Arnav gave an introductory speech about Iraavanan and their accomplishments till then. Their future vision and expectations with The Prestige.

And then finally, the microphone was handed over to Vihaan to address the audience.

He had been staring at the far end in the conference hall since the moment he had entered inside. He was feeling a weird feeling in the pit down his stomach since the moment he had stepped inside.

The entire hall was filled with young people no older than twenty-five or twenty-six who was sitting behind their computer systems. One hand on the cursor and other on the keyboard while their sole attention was captured by Vihaan who was standing on the pedestal in middle.

The conference hall had architecture many institutions can only dream of. The ceiling was domed higher than any cathedral and made of the most beautiful glass available. The pedestal was placed in the middle with a huge screen hanging behind it while sitting arrangements for the audience were made in a circular motion around it. It starts from a single end and revolves around the center pedestal like a huge python around a Casuarinas tree, not a sharp angle to be seen. It smelled like heaven in a hand-basket and the floor shines like the surface of a lake at sunrise. In the background was music to soothe, gentle flowing notes to take the audience’s cares far away.

“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.” Clearing his throat, Vihaan greeted the audience and enthusiasm boomed around in the ambiance as the audience cheered loudly. He was surrounded by hackers on the premises. The audiences were students pursuing ethical hacking and they were there to take guidance by the top leaders before a placement drive comes in. The hackers were excited, every single student was looking forward to learning something from the seminar and Vihaan except one.

She had been dreading her existence on the premises since the moment she had seen Vihaan stepping in. Initially, she was shocked to see him in person after so long. She was feeling her heart thumping loudly in her rib cage at a single sight of him, yet looking around in the environment. She decided to keep mum, so she would not capture unnecessary attention, especially him.

Leaning back in frustration, the hacker let some glittering beads of sweat trickle down her forehead. She was regretting coming to the seminar. Letting out a string of curses under her breath for her avoiding her mother’s words of staying back at home and help her in household chaos for her sister in law’s family was coming for a visit.

She stared at the contrasting white pixels against black as if all the URLs and fragments of code clogged the gears of her mind. Although the overheated laptop scorched her laps and the jungle of algorithms played a laser show on her glasses, she held her breath to concentrate as if her life depended on it. She was trying very hard to hide from the man standing in the middle. Sitting in the farthest corner possible, she typed furiously on her laptop coding and decoding. The hacker's eyes combed the monitor in search of a bug, moving from side to side rapidly like the eyes of a dreaming person but wide open. Nothing could be heard in the silent auditorium but the violent beating of fingers against a keyboard and the increasingly unbearable spin of the CPU cooler fan. In the air, the scent of coffee and hot electronics was replaced by sweat. The tension and suspense solidified.

She wanted to get done with her project as soon as possible so she could throw it at that old Majordomo’s face and run back to the safety of her home where there would be no fear of getting caught.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the man moving from the place he was standing and walking towards the front desk as he kept chanting about present trends in Automobile Industries as if practiced the lines for the ages. Slides move after another as Vihaan continued addressing the curious audience. Answering questions in-between.

Suddenly, a hysteric cough broke out in triumph. With a hesitant click, He heard shuffling in the farthest corner in the upper deck and suddenly saw a figure sliding down the revolving sitting arrangements, screaming for help and eyes shut closed tightly. She was sliding down the revolving arrangements due to the slip of a leg her revolving chair she was sitting on.

The wheels made a screeching sound as she traveled down till the center of pedestal, screaming with each move, fisting the handles of her revolving chair tightly.

‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Hollllllyyyyyy motherrrrrrrrr fffffffuckinggggggg nature! Somebody help me!’

She shrieked in a panic. She was sliding down the rotating floor at a very fast speed.

Too many movements of the revolving chair had it shifted from the plane surface and Komal didn't realize when she had taken the chair over a curved surface until she felt the sliding movements. She was sliding down the revolving arrangements due to the slip of a leg of her revolving chair.

She knew the stunt would cost her a broken bone or two, but there was nothing she could do to stop herself. The speed was too fast for her to jump from the chair. The wheels made a screeching sound as she traveled down till the center of pedestal, screaming with each move, fisting the handles of her revolving chair tightly, until finally, she made it to the pedestal where the man she had been hiding from was standing.

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