Free If God Was A Banker by Ravi Subramanian

But he had pulled himself up quickly and had left the room, trying not to embarrass the two lovers.
    But Natasha was extremely embarrassed. 'Tomorrow the whole office would know about it. Well, maybe not. After all, Aditya is a gentleman. He will not make life uncomfortable for me.'
    The passion suddenly evaporated. The mood was gone. Both of them got up, wore their clothes, and stepped out of the women's rest room. They walked down to the parking. No one spoke. Sundeep knew that this was not his day. He had lost out twice. With Natasha, he knew, he would get many opportunities. Kalpana was gone for good.

 
24
New York
    'W hy did things have to reach this stage?' thought Sundeep as Louisa brought in his sandwich. She had also got him a cup of black coffee. She knew that he would ask for it.
    He had a great career. Both he and Swami had a fabulous run at New York International Bank. They had been recognised for the success of the India retail business. Huge bonuses and stock options had come their way.
    Both of them had big, well-paying jobs. Both of them had good, happy families. Then why did this happen?
    He had himself to blame for this. Everything he could aspire for was within his reach: money, power, fame, career... Everything was going fine until Suneel Dutt arrived on the scene.

 
25
    T he next twelve months were very hectic. NYB's aggressive foray into retail business was spearheaded successfully by Swami and Sundeep. International recognition came their way. With Aditya, both of them won global accolades for having built their success story on limited resources.
    Swami and Kalpana got married in a small ceremony in Woodlands hotel in Chennai. Kalpana's parents wanted an extravagant wedding, but Swami insisted that it had to be a simple affair. He was worried that the extravagance might put off his middle class relatives. Kalpana's parents were happy to oblige. Aditya attended the wedding along with Sundeep and Natasha. Even Ramu Kaka had accompanied them. Swami was his favourite.
    Swami and Kalpana had chosen Kodaikanal, a small pristine hill station in the hills south of Chennai, for their honeymoon. Swami couldn't afford anything more extravagant and Kalpana was quite happy to go to Kodai.
    But, on their second night together, Swami was being apologetic about being unable to take Kalpana to an exotic foreign locale. 'How does it matter? I would be disappointed if you had any sightseeing plans on our honeymoon?' Kalpana was trying to be at her seductive best and smiled at Swami as she switched off the lights.

 
26
    S wami and Sundeep become hot commodities in the global community of NYB. Aditya had ensured that they get the required recognition and visibility internationally. They kept getting invites for various seminars and conferences across the globe. 'Retail Financing in Emerging Markets.' Swami could now deliver a lecture on this topic even in his sleep.
    At the Annual Retail Banking Conference, a conference for the Country CEOs, Swami and Sundeep were special invitees. The global chairman of NYB presented both of them with a Rising Star award. They had finally arrived.
    Barring the Sundeep-Kalpana hiccup, life had been very kind to all of them.
    Sundeep and Natasha got engaged and married after six months. Probably the guilt of getting caught in the loo pushed them into marriage so soon.
    The initial success in the automobile loans business gave NYB confidence in its ability to deliver in retail business. Credit cards was next in line. Aditya had set a precedent with the businesses that he had begun. The group started expecting such high results from India in almost all the businesses. Aditya had become a rock star head of business.
    One day, Sundeep got a call from Aditya. 'What are you doing, my friend?' Sundeep knew that Aditya spoke like this only if something was troubling him. 'Nothing, Aditya. Just closing things for the day. Lots of pending work.'
    'Why don't we go for a drink on the way out?