"Hello, who is it?" Tarun answers the call without looking on the caller-id, as he is working out the last minute bugs on 'Circus Charlie II', their second project with SIDCO. 'Circus Charlie' was a good success, exactly as they were looking forward to. Though they had not crossed five thousand sales, they had around four thousand and more sales. Ashok, their handler at SIDCO was ecstatic over it and recommended for second version of the same game, with better levels more characters. It had been almost one and half month since they started on this and they were on the verge of launching it. Tomorrow they were launching it, so Tarun was working on the last minute bugs.

"Its Jenny." Her voice comes very coldly from the other side.

"Hi baby. Sorry I was busy coding honey. That's why I didn't even look at the phone." Tarun answers with a huge excitement in his tone, as he sits up on his chair.

"It's ok. Well I just came back yesterday night. My phone was dead when I left and it got pretty late when I got home. That's why I couldn't call you." Jenny speaks from the other side.

"It's ok babe. As long as you are safe, I am happy."

"Well Tarun can we meet up today evening, at the usual coffee place?"

"Sure baby. When shall we meet up?"

"Around 7."

"7? Wouldn't it get late for you honey? Let's schedule for 4."

"Seven would be fine Tarun. Well I am little tired from all the travel, so I am going to grab some sleep. Talk to you later" and she hangs up the phone abruptly.

'Huh. No 'I love you' and all. Bit strange' flashes through Tarun's mind before he shrug's it off, over the excitement that she is finally here. Rajesh and Neeraj lean over from their desks, to find an ear-ear grin in his face.

"Jenny is back I guess?" Neeraj asks, taking off his headphones. Neeraj has the habit of working with his headphones, which kind of irritates his colleagues. At the important time, when his attention would be need, it takes a real effort to catch it.

"Yes. Date today at seven. Wow man I am psyched. Don't disturb me. I am going to use this excitement to blow away all bugs" and with that announcement, Tarun sits on his desk with a steel determination and zones off.

Six hours later, Ashok comes up to their office. He has a 'not so happy' kind of expression in his face. He marches straight to Tarun's desk, who is still furiously typing away.

"Tarun" Ashok calls him in a low voice.

"Ashok, I didn't expect you here" Tarun answers as he gets up, watching his two friends in the back, equally bewildered.

"You added a new level. Though totally uncalled for when the game is five hours away from launch, it is amazing." Ashok opens up, a smile forming in his face.

"Oh thanks. I suddenly got an inspiration and I coded an extra level. It's a bonus level actually" Tarun explains.

"Well whatever works for you guys. But I will be needing the game as per the deadline we discussed. Think you can deliver?" Ashok asks, as his smile disappears from his face, concern taking its place.

"Yeah. As a matter of fact, since you are here, why don't you take the copy. I am done with the coding. Even with last minute bugs" Tarun says, handing Ashok a flash-drive.

"Wow. You guys sure can deliver. Anyway I will send the payment details by email and it should hit your account by tomorrow." Ashok says as he turns towards the door and heads out.

"You added another level at the last minute" Rajesh asks Tarun with a surprise.

"Yeah. Jenny's call made wonders man. I got hyped up and I needed to vent it out. De –bugging was not a solution, so I coded a bonus level and the start of the game lets you know about the presence of the bonus level." Tarun explains, as he starts packing his stuff.

"Dude, was this last minute risk needed? I mean we could lose sales, customers" Neeraj opens up.

"Naah man we won't. The main difference we had in this version was you carry- on with no. of lives present on the previous level to the next level. Other than that we did only some minor upgrades. But I programmed the bonus level in such a way that you will enter it only if you have all three lives on the last level. To make it little easier, the player starts the last level with all three lives, irrespective of his previous no. of lives." Tarun comforts him.

"Now if you will excuse me, I have a date to go to. Bye guys" Tarun says, as he swings his bag onto his shoulder and heads to the door.

'I hope that she will like this bracelet.' Tarun contemplates, rubbing the bulge in his pocket, as he makes his way into the café, were they had decided to meet. As he enters, he finds Jenny sitting in the corner, sipping nervously on her coffee. Surprisingly she is not alone. A guy, around his forties by his face is sitting next to her. 'Who is this guy?' debates Tarun as he makes his way to her table. Their eyes meet before he sits on the table. Tarun's eyes open wide in excitement, while the same excitement is not there in Jenny's eyes. Tarun finds something else in her eyes.

"Hey baby" Tarun exclaims as he proceeds to sit next to her. But before he is able to sit, Jenny gestures to the seat opposite to her.

"What happened honey? Who is this guy?" Tarun asks, genuinely confused, pointing towards that guy.

"Take your seat Tarun. We will explain everything" Jenny answers sternly, giving a surprisingly cold gaze.

"We?" Tarun, taken back.

"Calm down. Here, your coffee has come." as the waiter keeps Tarun's coffee beside him.

"Jenny you are scaring me honey. Is everything ok?"

Jenny lets out an audible sigh, turning towards the guy sitting next to her, as he puts his hand over her shoulder. This blows off Tarun's top, as he gets up from his seat, slamming his fists on the table, startling Jenny.

"Excuse me. What are thinking, putting your hand over my girlfriend's shoulder" Tarun screams at the top of lungs, causing the whole café to look at them.

"Tarun he is my husband. He has every right to do that" Jenny confesses.

As if somebody had cut his legs, Tarun drops in seat. He clutches his chest, supporting his heart, over which Jenny has run over a road-roller, and set it on fire. As if the ground had opened up and swallowed him, but shut before swallowing him wholly, thus crushing him, Tarun felt immense pain. He felt like drowning in a pool of acid. His whole body burnt furiously, as sweat started forming in his forehead. Wanting to calm himself, Tarun tries to inhale deeply, in vain. His lungs seem to have stopped working, not being able to suck the air in. He hits his chest hard, trying to jump-start his lungs. Involuntarily he finds himself hyperventilating, not being able to catch his breath. Tarun bends down towards the table and rests his head. Jenny and the guy sitting next to her just watch, in disbelief.

After what seems like ages, Tarun wakes up, with a huge gulp of air, bloodshot eyes, sweat dripping down his temples.

"Tarun are you ok?" Jenny inquires, with some concern.

"You tell me. You come with your joke of being married and husband and stuff"

"It's not a joke Tarun. We are married for real"

"What are you talking about?"

"This is my husband and my manager, Mr. D'souza. He had accompanied us to Delhi for the project work. There due to heavy workload and being far from you I got little depressed. He was there to support me. One night after all the meetings, we went to celebrate. My friend Tanvi had lot to drink and she passed out. So it was just me and D'souza sir. We got to talking and one thing led to another.." Jenny trails off.

"You slept with him?" Tarun asks, his anger brimming to his threshold. Jenny cringes to this comment

"Careful with your mouth. Don't talk rubbish about my wife, Tarun" Mr. D'souza chimes in. Tarun just shoots him a death glare, signaling him to back off.

"I didn't expect you to be so cheap Tarun. No we did not sleep together. We talked throughout the night and I realized that I was always attracted to him, I just never paid heed to that thought. All because of you were pressurizing me." Jenny blurts out.

"I pressurized you? Tell me when did I ever pressurized you Jenny. I gave you all the freedom you wanted" Tarun opens up, almost at tears.

"A girl needs much more than that Tarun. You were not established. Now also you are not established. I wasn't going to wait all day and night for you."

"Really jenny? That is the excuse you are going to give me?" Tarun asks, literally getting up from his seat.

"Tarun. Forget me. Move on. We had been together for only eight months. Also we didn't promise to god or anybody else that we will spend the eternity together" Jenny replies coldly.

Tarun gets up lifelessly from his table and fishes out the box from his pocket and keeps it on the table, sliding it towards Jenny. "All the best for you married life" Tarun mutters under his breath and walks away.

Tarun taps away furiously on his phone as he makes his way to the parking lot, lighting his cigarette. He zooms away with a lightning speed... to meet his friends.