Author's POV:

The office was unnaturally quiet, the usual hum of phones and keyboards replaced by a sterile stillness. Shruthi sat alone, the fluorescent lights buzzing faintly above her. She'd been diligently sifting through a complex merger case, her pen scratching notes on a legal pad. But the silence, the sheer weight of being the only person present, was starting to press in. A dull ache began behind her eyes. A day off for Vaani, she thought, a faint flicker of envy passing through her. Smart.