Chapter 2

[MEMBERSONLY]

As he entered his office floor, everyone stood up to greet him. While nodding he made his way into his cabin stopping only for a second at his door, to tilt his head towards the work station on his right and bark 'Miss Gupta. Dictation. In my office now'. And he disappeared the next second leaving a visibly resigned to her fate Miss Gupta, full name Miss Khushi Gupta, his secretary of four months, collecting a notepad and a pen and making her way into the office all the while trying to ignore the sympathetic looks of rest of the office that were directed towards her.

'May I come in sir'  she sought permission from the door creaked open.

'Hmmm'  he grunted.

She entered and stood behind the chairs, with notepad and pen in position to start taking dictation though her boss was busy on his laptop. She did not want to give him any reason to start spitting his venomous fire again. If she would idly stand there waiting for him to finish then he would yell, if she would remind him to start the dictation then also he would insult her in some way for opening her mouth. She had learnt this the hard way, so nowadays she is used to of staying prepared for what she had been called in to do with all senses on high alert.

After painfully suffocating 5 minutes he looked up from his laptop screen, irritated at not getting a reason from her to start his tirade, and started dictating. Well, the whole day still lays ahead and there will be plenty of times to let this girl know, yet again, what he thinks of her.

Arnav Singh Raizada, age 32 years, height 5'11'', fair complexion, handsome face with hair cropped short, soft brown eyes and a friendly smile always in place. No one could guess by his looks that he was one of the most cunning and ruthless Corporate Lawyer of Mumbai city. 

Loaded with corporate secrets ranging from dangerous to heinous he had connections seeping deep into political lobbies. He was very young for the kind of success he had garnered in the field of law, but he deserved every bit of it as he had worked his butt off for it as a fresher, working for as long as 19 hours a day, following cases at the expense of his health and safety along with impressing right kind of people and skillfully winning his initial small cases in the court. After 11 years of toiling and finally with a push of luck he was now a partner in highly prestigious Ruia and Raizada Associates, of which he was the only active partner. Childless Mr. Ruia had handed over the reins of this law firm to Arnav 2 years back and had retired to Lonawala with his wife to enjoy the remaining days of their lives.

ASR, as he was known to the world for he hated being addressed as Mr. Raizada for reasons unknown, was the best boss one could ask for. A tough task master but very responsible towards the people on his payroll. He was also quite considerate towards the demands of life of his employees where there were no cars to commute and difficulties that come with public transport, impromptu leaves that were needed for sick kids or spouses, advances on salaries which were required for varied reasons and that inter-office bonding was the only social life for some people.Get his work done right and on time, after that he did not bother with anyone. He was kind of aloof and cold in that sense. But having said that, he was also a very generous person who would order lunch for all 52 people of staff on his personal account, whenever their firm would win a case, which was quite often.

His staff was in an awe of him, all of them but one. Khushi Gupta. She had joined the firm as a secretary to one of the senior lawyer and had impressed her boss with with her promptness, dedication and diligence. Work atmosphere in R&R Associates was already good and her boss had liked her work. Her life was set. But fate had other plans. Arnav Singh Raizada, the owner of the firm who was fighting a very high-profile case in Supreme Court since last two months that time, had come back to Mumbai. And in her life. Like a volcano yearning to erupt. He had seen her in a meeting after two days of his arrival and before she knew it she was hastily transferred to the post of HIS secretary the very next day without any explanations. 

Now Khushi Gupta was a beautiful girl with extraordinary charms that only good breeding and values could inculcate. And talking of beauty, she was a classic-era goddess with lush long hair reaching her waist, a glittering nose pin on her delicate nose and love for glass bangles still intact in her heart. Always dressed in impeccably modest and aesthetic chudidaar suits she looked like a descendant of Madhubala-Meenakumari era, only with a slender figure. Her pink lips stood apart on her face that was of pale complexion and her eyes were epitome of soulfulness. Add to it her very classy Lucknowi ways to talk, and it did not take her much time to become the fancy of all males in the office. And everyone thought that this all-round package was the reason ASR wanted her to be his secretary. He was a hot-blooded male afterall who was active on dating scene and that he was marking his territory by keeping her near himself, breaking a few amorous hearts in office.

But everybody's misconception was soon cleared. And that too very rudely.

'Ji ASR'  Khushi had said on something.

'SIR. It's Sir for you and don't you bloody forget that'  he bit out not caring for the office party that was going on and the audience they had, making her eyes tear up.

While whole office called him by his popular name ASR, making them his co-workers, Khushi was singled out to be his assistant, his help, his minion.

'Sir hum jaayen?'  she asked after a grueling meeting where she was taking minutes.

'Hum?'  he mocked and leaned as if to hoping to see someone standing behind her. ' Who else is there Miss. Gupta?'  he asked.

'Sir, I mean me'  she felt so stupid in front of clients and paralegals who were watching the verbal exchange with amusement.

'Better. Stop talking as if you are some kind of royalty. Now leave'  he had jibed unnecessarily.

Hurt Khushi always tried to talk in English with him after that for Lucknowi style of 'hum' was ingrained in her as a way to address herself.

The whole office was gaping at ASR's office where the sounds were coming from. Poor Miss Gupta was being yelled at, again.

'Did word 'urgent' not ring any bell in your pea-sized brain? Mr. Daskumar is an important client and you did not connect his call through. You... incompetent ... useless girl'  he shouted on the top his lungs.

'Sir, but you only said no calls'  Khushi tried to present her point, albeit squeakily.

'COMMON SENSE. Use it sometimes. You have been bloody hell working here LONG enough to know how important his account is to the firm' he bellowed.

Khushi gulped. She had done what she was told, if only this man would appreciate that instead of cutting her into shards.

'NOW GET OUT'  he spat, and all but burned her down with fury emitting from his eyes.

'Sorry Sir. Won't happen again' she swallowed her self-respect.

She had then dragged her feet to her desk amid pitiful glances, and had frequented ladies room that day to sob her heart out. She knew that it wasn't that big a mistake and had someone else been in her place, they would have been let go without even as much as a warning as it was HIS orders to not transfer any calls. 

People had no clue why Khushi Gupta was subjected to such terrible behavior from their fair and nice boss. What the hell did she do to bring out such anger in him? They tried to fish for answers from Khushi but she always maintained a stoic silence on the topic. As it is ASR was ripping her sanity apart, finding faults in her for no reasons, now she did not want to give gossip mongers more fuel than they already had. Her nonchalant silence took away the joy from gossiping and hence kept things somewhat under control. She had decided that staff can think whatever they want but she would never share the details of her insults to anyone to gain sympathy. The boss would not appreciate it for sure and she had long stopped opening her heart out anyways. 

She badly needed this job to survive in this city. Mumbai was a very costly place and she had realized that within two days of arriving here. She had a house to run and money to save for Keshav's treatment. And R&R had a policy to pay a part of medical expense incurred by family members of the staff if you have been working here for one year or more. She was counting big time on that and that was the reason she endured all unfair accusations and rudeness of her boss instead of resigning. For Keshav she could bear burning in hell, and when she thought of it like this, putting up with ASR's behavior was like a piece of cake. Keshav, her younger brother, the only ray of hope in her cursed life was much more important than her pride or ego.

It has already been 6 months of working at R&R for her. 6 more months and she will qualify for the medical plan. Till then she will try to save as much as she can on her part. She was now quite sure that she won't be fired, which was her greatest fear after being assigned to ASR four months back. He would have fired her a long ago if that was his intention. Seems like that was not the case as he has just stuck with insulting her, showing her her place and making her life more miserable than it already was. And if that is what gives him peace then so be it. She knew he was being atrocious and unreasonable, but her own guilt would always find a way to justify the treatment he was dishing out. And however bad it got, she could not muster up the guts to question this feral anger of his, because she knew she was the reason of it.

Karma has strange ways of nabbing you for a payback, and hers has nabbed her in the strangest way possible.

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