The Devil's Harem

“Swish!” A car zigzagged its way through the lanes and stopped among the cars with a screech.

From it got off Alex with his jacket in his hands. He looked a bit more mature with that light stubble growing on his face. His hair was dishevelled and his eyes baggy. Though there was still that charm on his face, one could easily tell that he was not in the best of his shape. He looked tired, and his eyes depressed. This was something usual with Alex these days.

Days had gone by pretty fast, and it was already three weeks since the last time he saw Margaret. The temperature had dramatically dropped, and the weather had turned chilly. And along with the city, the fog had shrouded Alex’s life.

Things have not changed much for Alex in the last few weeks. His life that was already going down had just taken a big dip. He used to have a loving and cheerful life, but now everything seems to be falling apart. Until two months back, his mornings were cheerful. He would have fun with his father, get pampered by his mother and enjoy his time staring with a love-struck gaze at Cristiano. But now everything has gone downhill. His father didn’t have time for him. His mother was still angry over that conversation they had. There was no news of Margaret. Karen was out of the loop for a while, and Cristiano is on the losing side more often than not. How much he longs for those days. Just was happening in his life?

Well, George was back for one, but it did not change things much. He was hardly at home or even at the company. One moment, Alex would see him in his office, but he would be gone by the time he came back again. And whenever he tried asking around, he would get the same response,

‘We don’t know,’

.....

It was like they had been hypnotised to say so. It had been two weeks since George came back, and Alex had a lot of questions and things to clarify with George, but he couldn’t. They don’t have their meals together anymore. They come to work in different cars. And the last time they talked to each other, George congratulated him on working together with Jessica and left.

His father used to be like an open book, ready to be read by anyone. But now, he was shrouded in mystery. Alex wanted to know what happened with him in Ullu, or was he on the call that day? Because he could swear that he heard him.

Similarly, things with Martha have also been the same. She was still giving him the silent treatment, only conversing when she had something important to convey to Alex. His father avoiding him was something Alex could handle, and to some extent, he did not care about it, but with Martha, it was different. He tried his best to engage with her, be it trying to make her laugh or anger her into scolding him, Alex tried it all, but Martha would look at him with this poker face and move on with her work.

Jessica, on the other hand, has changed dramatically. They must have known each other for a little more than two months now. First, she looked at him in scorn, then it transformed to hate. Then there was a little spark, which extinguished very soon. But now, it was like the honeymoon period. Every morning she would send him good morning messages, followed by random Hi, Hellos. It did bloat his ego to a certain extent, but in the long term, it was hazardous to his well being. If Margaret even got the whiff of it, it would be a nightmare for him.

But speaking of Margaret, it was not going that well with her either. Every morning he would not forget to peek over the fence if someone was there. The evenings were somewhat more helpful. The darkness made it easy for him to guess. If not for her assurance that she wanted to be with him, he would have really thought that he was nothing but an acquaintance to her. After their last meeting, when she dropped the bomb on him, she had gone even more irregular with her texts, and calls were out of the question.

But that conversation made him doubt his character. Thinking about Margaret’s words and his recent fling with Jessica, Alex could not help but remember his conversation with Karen, where he held his views on a relationship on very high ground.

In his conversation with Karen, he talked so highly of himself and how he believed in finding that soulmate instead of going around testing the waters.

While he was supposedly a virgin until two months back. After he had started working in Theation, he had two all-out battles in the bed with two different girls. And it was primarily against his idea of cheating. Well, Alex can always argue that that time with Susan was before he got together with Margaret, and fair enough, it was true. But Jessica was a different matter. He was already committed to Margaret, and he had to be loyal to her.

But what surprised Alex more was that Margaret did not create a scene or hold him accountable for that. She knows about it but wants him to forget that it ever happened.

‘Why was that?’ No matter how much Alex thought about it, there was only one possible explanation that came to his mind, and he did not like that.

‘Is she doing the same?’ This fear could not help but bloom in his heart, but those loving eyes of Margaret never let it nurture and take over.

Suddenly Alex felt like he did not know anyone around him. Everyone seems to have been disguising themselves behind a mask. He wanted to trust them, but every time he thought about them, he would end up doubting their motive.

But that was all on his social side. Unlike his social life, which was a mess, his work life was on the rise from the moment he took charge of the daily operations of the company.

His policies were, in general, supported by those working in ‘AR’. It was all because he was not stingy in treating them.

The first thing Alex did after joining ‘AR’ was to reduce the burden on the employees. He extended the deadline for the projects by a week, which sufficiently gave the employees a breather but the investors and the artists were not very happy with his decision.

With the delay in the project, the cost of production increased, which the investors did not appreciate. And since it was not earlier decided upon, the burnt of it was bore by ‘AR.’ And to help him in that, Daniel was in the forefront. Daniel would give him pointers and help in understanding the legal terms of the contract. Wish Karen could have been here to help him.

The next big thing he had to take care of was to get the work done before they fully concentrated on the joint venture was get done these projects. And the production teams were very more than happy to work harder than usual. The earlier they get done with their work, the more they get to spend time at home before they start working with Theation. And yesterday, the last of the team was also done with their series. Now all that was left was the final editing.

Alex had, by large, changed the policies of the company. Earlier, when a television series was produced, they would start airing the episodes after a couple of episodes had been done. This was preferred by the management because it helped them understand the audience’s reaction and change the storyline accordingly, but it put an extra burden on the technical and production team. Every week was a new deadline for them which further implicated their physical and mental well being.

Alex brought a change to it. He put a hold on this practice going forward. From now on, he was going to put his trust in the production team rather than those management nerds who go by the numbers. He announced that from now on until the project had been done and dusted, it was not going to be aired. He chose to put those working for him above some marginal profit.

Now, this was something appreciated by his staff, but would Jessica, who loved toiling those under her, would love that idea? he did not know.

Lost in thoughts about everything that was going on with his life, Alex slowly and not paying much attention to his surroundings, made way to the elevator.

*Ding!

As soon as the elevator door opened, Alex pressed the button and closed his eyes. But soon, the elevator stopped, and the door opened.

Curious, Alex opened his eyes to see who was there, but his heart skipped a beat, and his hair stood up, not in fear but in disgust. It was a familiar face, a face he would never want to see.

* * * * *

(Any guesses for who is in front of Alex?)