One I Remember

2015-12-24, 6:36 am

It was Monday morning. Hashini had prepared milk rice and she could see my excitement while I was eating.

‘Slow down my little brother’ she said.

‘I am going to take the car this week. But from next week I am thinking of taking the train. Think that’s the better way.’ I told her.

‘Okay, okay, First you go to work and see’ she said.

Although she is only 3 years older than me, she is quite matured. I think it’s a girl thing.

‘I forwarded two applications today for those finance positions. Could you please make sure they get hired’ I asked her.
I have already told her how I met Sanjaya and Nimesh and how I feel about robbing their chances. So I practically begged her to give them those two positions so I can clear my consciousness.

‘Yes I saw them in my inbox. Don’t worry; I will take care of it. You focus what’s on your hand today’ she said.

It was about 8am when I came to the office. Danushka has not arrived yet. But Thiwanka came smiling at me when he saw me.

‘Hey welcome to Z TV’ he said.

‘Thank you Thiwanka. I think I am bit early today. I didn’t know how long it was going to take me to drive here. I certainly didn’t want to show up late for my first day’

‘Yes, that is true. I can stay with you until Danu come to office. He should be here anytime. Oh by the way, we call him Danu’ He explained.

‘So where are you from?’ I asked.

‘I am originally from Warakapola. I went to village school before moving to Colombo to do Graphic Design course. Nowadays I stay in a boarding place near Kirullapana’ he said.

‘I live in Ragama. I also thought about finding a nearby place..maybe one room apartment. Let me know if you see anything around here’ I said.

‘Around here, it’s going to super expensive. If you are okay with Kirullapana area, I can certainly look into that. You just have to take 138 and usually it is half an hour trip to here.’ he said.

‘Sure, Kirullapana is fine’ I said.

That’s when I saw Danushka coming to the office. Thiwanka left me suddenly when he saw Danushka. I waited at the reception till 8.30.
‘What are you doing? Came to office early and waiting for Danushka to call me’ I sent a text to Jerome.

‘At the hospital with Dad… He was fainting in the morning so we decided to check him up with the doctor’ he replied.

‘That’s good. I will see you in the evening. Hugzz’ I replied. Then I heard receptionist calling my name.

‘Danushka sir wants to see you’ she said.

I went to Danushka’s room. It was full of trophies and the wall was decorated with many accolades. There were few pictures of him in rugby jersey. He went to Kingswood, I remember that school colors. That is where “appachi’s” went too.

‘I assume Thiwanka has already told you everything?’ he said.

‘Not really, we just exchanged some personal details. He didn’t say anything that is work related’ I said.

‘That’s good then. First thing you must remember here is to keep you status intact. Don’t get too close to people who are under you and then you won’t be able to control them. Always try to keep your distance with them. If you have any problem, you come to me first’ he sounded very much like some of my Kandy relatives.

‘I will remember that Danushka’ I said to him.

‘Are you still doing competitive swimming? He asked.

‘No, I don’t have time for that. You need to train few hours every day, if you were to be in the competitive arena. I just don’t have that much stamina now. But I do swim fair distance on the weekends’ I said.

‘Same here. I got offers to play for a rugby club in Colombo. But it’s difficult to make such commitment with a job like this. You have to pick one or another, right’

I nodded my head with approval.

‘You can call me Danu by the way. Did you have breakfast?’ he started munching a sandwich.

‘Yes, my sister made Kiribath in the morning’ I replied. That is when my phone buzzed. Jerome has sent a text. I didn’t replay. Danushka heard the buzz.

‘Is that your girlfriend?’ he asked.

This guy wants to know everything, I thought.

‘Yes, someone like that’ I said smilingly.

‘You got a nice car. You don’t want to drive that car everyday here. It’s going to ruin it. Try to think some other arrangement’

‘I was already thinking of taking train for time being and later finding a place near Kirullapana’ I said.

‘That is a good area and you can get a decent place for a fair price’ he said.

After he was done with the breakfast, he explained my duties and took me around the office and introduced me to his colleagues. Because I handle sensitive information, I was given a room next to Danushka’s office. During the lunch time, Danushka came to my room.

‘Did you bring lunch’ he asked.

‘No, I didn’t’

‘Lets go out for lunch then. This one is on my account’ he said.

I saw Thiwanka when we were walking to the vehicle but he avoided us. We drove to nearby restaurant. While we were easting, I looked at Danushka. It seems that his mind was somewhere else and he was just taking food without knowing what’s on the plate. We came to office soon after and the rest of the day went without an event. I was busy trying to absorb as much information as possible. I highlighted the areas that I didn’t understand and decided to ask Danushka about them tomorrow. Around 3pm Danushka left the office in a hurry. Could be a meeting I thought. That’s when I decided to check my phone. After Jerome’s text, I put the phone on the silent mode. Jerome has sent me 12 texts during the lunch time to see how I was doing. I was supposed to call him during lunch, I remembered. I replied him quickly and got back to work. When I was about to leave, Thiwanka came to my room. Thiwanka has a slim built average height body. His skin is dark but clean. What caught my attention was the way he walks. It has some effeminate quality to it. It could be the way he was born, so I didn’t want to judge him further. If I wanted to know about it, I should ask him, I thought. But now I have more important things to do.

‘One of my friends called me and said there is a one room apartment in his street for rent. Do you want his contact info?’ he said.

‘Sure, I will call him on my way home. Thank you Thiwanka.’ I said.

‘You seem like a nice person’ he said.

‘That’s too early to judge anyone. We just got to know each other today, right’ I said.

‘That’s true. But I have good sense when it comes to judging people. Even with that, I always find myself among wrong people’ He said.

I didn’t want to probe what he meant by that. Its too soon for that. My mind was on something else.

‘Do you know where Danushka sir went suddenly? ‘I should not have asked this from Thiwanka. But its too late now.

‘I don’t know. I have to go now. So see you tomorrow then’ he left.

I was really tired when I went home that day. I cannot imagine that I have to do this every day for the rest of my life. I remember the famous saying ‘be careful what you wish for’ so true. I went to Jerome but he was sleeping. His mum told me that they spent the entire day at the hospital taking reports and stuff. They were all tired when came home.

‘He didn’t even take dinner, Randika’ aunty Sitha said sadly.

‘Tell him that I came to see him’ I left.

That night I slept dreamless.

Part 9 next.