Rivalry

Wiping the smeared cake from her face, Sanjana totaled one more mental strike against Rajat. He knew her well. And should have known better than to touch her.

Her half smile, shyly lowered eyes and his grinning face masked the intense rivalry between them. She danced the night away, without a care it would seem. And resisted the urge to create a situation for Rajat where urgent intervention of an orthopedic doctor would be needed! She was known to drink like a fish and did so tonight with gusto. As time inched towards midnight, she appeared quite sozzled. Not even the sharp Rajat realised that the vodka that she was drinking was just plain water with a slice of lime.

Inebriation is a great excuse to leave early. Once out of the drunken door, her glazed eyes cleared up, the pace became purposeful. She turned towards the office. Flexi-hours were a boon for her secret midnight sojourns.

For the past one month, Rajat had been privy to her personal calls received at work. She created an impression that her life was inundated with out-of-town guests. To keep them entertained and happy, she was working by the clock and partying every night. Any request to work after the hours was turned down flat. Her groggy appearance in the mornings supported this facade.

She entered the office. This was the night of triumph. Logging into the network, a quick scan revealed the success of the project.

Both Rajat and she were pitching for this prestigious assignment. The first one to submit a working module of the initial phase would get the project. Revenge was finally at hand. Not for nothing had she named the module "The Black Horse".

This was my attempt of Flash Fiction at Kala Ghoda competition.