Chapter 6: The Lunch

Meanwhile in the office the bullying had resumed and had intensified. Everyday Ram was made to watch multiple deepfaked videos of his wife. He had not gotten time to eat lunch or even go to the bathroom since he got married. He worked from nine to nine everyday. Everyone would just find a reason to hit him. By the end of every day, he would have new bruises. To make matters worse, Rajesh had started demanding to invite him for lunch in their house so that he can ogle his wife up close, take photos and make better deepfakes.

After his sister left the village, everyday Ram’s mother would call him and ask about her daughter, if there was any development in the search, if he was searching and how he was searching. She would cry and cuss at the Gods.

It was unbearable for Ram. So finally he accepted, and he invited his boss for lunch. After coming home that day, Ram revealed to Nisha that his boss, Rajesh was going to come to their home for lunch on next Sunday.

Ram noticed Nisha acting a little weird. He guessed it because she didn’t want to show their small house and their poverty to his boss. She took some time but then said okay.

Nisha was a very happy and positive person. She would always give a wide smile to everyone. She laughed with everyone, she was friendly with everyone.

He was afraid that Rajesh might take that in the wrong way. He was scared of what Rajesh might do to her. He assured himself Rajesh won’t do anything in his house, surrounded by other houses. But he didn’t want to take any chances.

“Hmm ... can you hmmm act a little mature and professional in front of my boss?”, he asked Nisha.

Nisha immediately agreed.

The day arrived. From the moment Rajesh stepped inside, Nisha acted like a different person. She didn’t laugh at all, she didn’t even smile. Instead she just gave neutral small nods. Even her face was different. She seemed more rigid and harsh. She didn’t let him touch her, even for handshakes.

Rajesh started ogling her from the moment he stepped in. He must have realised that Nisha didn’t appreciate the stares and the sexual double entendres. He caught her giving a disgusted look when she found Rajesh looking at her chest.

Ram felt like everyone was tense. He didn’t know why Nisha was acting that way but he thought maybe she took his instructions to her heart. But then he thought that was good.

Rajesh soon was forced to act normal. He stopped looking at her like a ripe fruit. He started making family friendly jokes and praising Ram. Only that seemed to get positive reactions from Nisha - small smiles and nods.

By the time Nisha served lunch, Ram felt the situation was a lot less tense.

Rajesh started talking about the company, what it is currently doing, the current market, his vision for the future and so on. Ram didn’t know why he was telling them these or if anything he was telling was true.

“ ... to achieve our target, we need to spend more on marketing. I have already secured the funds to do so in the next quarter. We are looking for models. I was thinking Nisha could be one of our models. She is certainly as beautiful as most of the models we have looked.” he said.

Ram was horrified and when he looked at Nisha, he was happy to see the same horrified expression.

“Ummm. I can’t”, she replied.

“Why not?”, Rajesh asked.

“No. I am not comfortable with...”, she started to say.

“Don’t worry! We will never ask you to do anything you are not absolutely comfortable with ... plus your husband would be with you at all times. There would be no problem ... trust me.”, Rajesh said, sounding sincere...

“I am really not...”, she started to say but Rajesh grabbed her hand. It startled her.