The official HR announcement went out the same day. Gayatri wanted to move things along quickly before her father had any second thoughts. It had some vague corporate gobbledygook about how Ramesh was caught 'plagiarizing the research ideas of his peers', and his 'conduct was contrary to the high ethical standards that the firm held itself to' and other vague nonsense. In effect, Gayatri was accusing him of stealing her ideas. The HR memo went on to announce that Gayatri was being promoted to VP 'with immediate effect' and that Ramesh had been demoted to work in Gayatri's team.
Gayatri moved even more quickly to claim Ramesh's cabin, getting the IT and Admin teams to relocate her laptop and papers to his desk while his things were placed in a cardboard box and handed to him. He had to pick the box himself and find himself a desk back in the analyst bullpen.
Ramesh had no time to reflect on how quickly his life had come crashing down. No sooner had he found a desk to park his box on, he was being summoned to Gayatri's cabin.
"I thought we should lay some ground rules at the start, so that there is no confusion," Gayatri said as soon as he entered.
Ramesh nodded his head. She waited. When the response didn't come, she glared at him and said, "Yes Ma'am."
"Yes, Ma'am," Ramesh quickly realised his mistake. He was supposed to address her as Ma'am, and respond with "Yes Ma'am" whenever she said anything.
"STRIP!" came the dreaded one-word command.
Ramesh knew there was no point protesting. It would only result in a couple of slaps and him losing his clothes at the end in any case.
He didn't even hesitate, and quickly took off all his clothes, neatly folded them and kept them to a side. Gayatri sat back with an appreciative look. Here he was, her nemesis, in all his glory, standing buck naked before her for the second time this day. Awaiting her every command.
"KNEEL!"
Ramesh knelt down, his head bowed.
"Crawl over here!"
Ramesh crawled to her feet. She didn't even have to give the next command. He kissed her shoes on his own.
"First 'ground' rule: Your elbows and knees will always touch the ground when you approach me in here," Gayatri announced.
"Yes Ma'am." He continued licking her shoes.
"Ok, now for your daily instructions. You will reach office before I do. Call my driver every morning, find out my schedule and make sure you get your ass in here before I come in."
"Yes Ma'am." His tongue left her shoes only to respond these two words, and went back to licking them.
"You will wait for me at the car parking lot. I need you to carry my bags after me. You will fetch me my morning coffee, you already know how I like it."
"Yes Ma'am." *Lick, lick.*
"Your desk out there is just a formality. Your workstation is down here," Gayatri said pointing to her feet. "There's no reason you can't work on your laptop while serving as my footrest."
"Yes Ma'am." *Lick, lick*
"Outside that door, you are my assistant. In here, you are my slave. So, wear something nice to office, I don't want a shabbily dressed assistant. Shed all your clothes as you step in to this cabin, as I don't want a well dressed slave."
"Yes Ma'am." *Lick, lick* Ramesh startled a bit when she pointed to the door. He hoped to God that no one else came to the cabin since he realised he hadn't locked the door behind him when he entered.
He heard a knock on the door. Ramesh froze. Whoever walked in would have have been treated to the ridiculous sight of a fully grown man, naked as the day he was born, on all fours, his ass high up in the air as he was bent down, licking Gayatri's shoes.
"Just a minute," Gayatri called out and pointed Ramesh to the space beneath her desk. He immediately crawled in. It was quite cramped, but at least he won't be visible to the visitor.
"Come in," Gayatri called out.
Lily and Robin entered. "Hello Gayatri, congratulations on the promotion," Lily said. "I just wanted to enquire about our roles and reporting matrix now," she continued.
"You know, we both were part of Ramesh's team, assisting him with his research. After today's announcement, do we report into you, or Ramesh... or someone else?" Robin added.
Gayatri had not had time to consider what she would do with Ramesh's assistants.
"Well, Ramesh was caught committing a crime, as you know. He won't have anyone reporting into him. You both can decide if you want to work with me, or get assigned to one of the more senior partners," Gayatri responded.
"Thank you for giving us the option, Gayatri. But I'd like to be part of your team, if you would have me," Robin said. She was savvy enough to realise which way the wind was blowing when it came to the office political scene. In fact, when Ramesh was the rising star, Robin had herself approached Mr. Srinivasan to be a part of Ramesh's team.
"So would I," Lily added. She usually followed whatever Robin did.