Chapter 29

As usual, riding in Aryan’s car meant silence, but Imlie refused to wait even a few minutes into the car ride before she launched into her questions.

“Why is today an important day? I thought your board meeting was next week? Also I didn’t ask you yesterday, but what is this story Radhika was talking about? Is someone covering it at the paper? I’m only asking because, well she seemed like she was in a really fragile state when I met her, so perhaps you should let whichever reporter is working on her story know they should be really careful with her?” Imlie shot these questions in quick succession, and before she knew it she was rambling on without actually waiting for Aryan to answer anything.

Aryan braked hard at an intersection, jerking Imlie forward, only her seatbelt preventing her from smacking her head on the dashboard.

“You really need to tell me which desh ki dushman gave you a license, ABP!” Imlie shot at him, rubbing her collarbone under the seatbelt.

Aryan groaned, “I was having such a good day, and you just have to find a way to steal that from me don’t you. Also I don’t have to answer any of your questions, I know how to do my job…and as for the Radhika story, don’t worry about it.”

Imlie looked at him, he did not look back, he purposefully kept his attention on the intersection light, waiting impatiently for the signal to turn green. Imlie wasn’t like Didi or Maa, Aryan could easily lie to her like he lied to anyone else. The problem was, Aryan almost never lied. He hid things, sure, but he never outright lied, or even obfuscated, unless it was absolutely necessary, and that too only in business, never with people in his personal life.

'Snap out of it,’ Aryan thought, ‘Imlie and how she’s managed to sneak into your personal life is not what you have to focus on today. You have bigger fish to fry today. Also if you can’t find a way to lie convincingly, just keep your mouth shut.’

Imlie looked closely at him, he was clearly nervous about something, but none of her questions should have made him nervous. Of course they should have annoyed him, Imlie knew he’d probably refuse to answer any of them, but she’d never seen him so hell bent on not talking about…something. She couldn’t figure out which of her questions had sparked this behavior. She pushed her luck.

“ABP, has anyone ever told you you’re a horrible liar?” Imlie asked, keeping her tone light.

Aryan turned into the parking lot of the Bhaskar Times and parked the car. He looked at her as he took off his seatbelt, “No. Has anyone ever told you you’re incredibly annoying?” He opened the door and walked towards the office. Imlie followed suit.

She caught up with his stride to the office, “No. Because I’m delightful, and you know it. Now I know you don’t need me telling you how to do your job, but I was just mentioning it because I really like Radhika, she seems really nice, so if you know which senior reporter is covering her story, maybe they’ll want someone working under them, if Radhika agrees—“

Aryan pulled open the lobby door, ignoring Imlie, but he couldn’t ignore what interrupted Imlie.

“Finally, the Great Aryan Singh Rathore, CEO of Bhaskar Times, has graced his office with his presence.” The man said as he walked to meet Aryan.

Aryan didn’t need to look at him to recognize the man, he’d watched enough interviews and talks he’d given at various financial conferences over the past few years to prep for today. Sunil Khanna was standing before him.

Aryan looked to his right, Imlie was looking at Mr. Khanna with a confused look on her face. She looked at Aryan, but before she could ask the question Aryan saw bubbling inside her, he said, “Imlie, go upstairs.”

Imlie started, “But—“

Aryan kept his cool, “No buts, this doesn’t concern you. Get to work.”

Khanna, who had been sneering at Aryan, finally looked at Imlie, and his sneer widened.

“Who’s this? Is she your secretary?” Khanna asked Aryan, looking Imlie up and down, “Very nice ch—“

“Mr. Khanna, I can guess what this is about, I understand your frustration, but I’m going to have to ask you to remain professional.” Aryan interjected, fighting back a snarl. He looked at Imlie again, who was clearly gearing up to punch Khanna for the way he’d looked at her, “Imlie, I said. Get. To. Work.”

Imlie looked at Aryan, and decided this was not the battle she wanted to have right now. She was more curious as to what this rude and frankly gross man wanted from Aryan, but if she stood here any longer, she’d probably do something incredibly stupid like slap the guy, so she walked past them and towards the elevator. She looked back at Aryan and he gave her the slightest of nods as the elevator closed. Imlie wasn’t sure if that nod was to reassure her, or perhaps himself.

Aryan decided it was smart to have this conversation with Khanna outside of the office, but he needed to get the legal team on task immediately, “Mr. Khanna, it’s a pleasure to meet you, though I wish it were under better circumstances. Whatever you have to say, let’s do it outside of the office. Shall we go to a café, or I can call and have a restaurant or two open early for this—“

Khanna turned and walked to the elevator, “You’re not an idiot, Aryan, you know exactly what this is about, you know I’m going to file suit, in fact my lawyers will be showing up with the details in just a few, we’ll have this conversation in your office.”

When Aryan didn’t follow, Khanna turned around and raised an eyebrow, “I would think you’d want to have the Bhaskar Times legal team close, it’s not like you went to law school, right?”

Aryan gritted his teeth, and followed Khanna into the now opening elevator doors.

It took Imlie all of thirty seconds to figure out what was going on. As soon as she walked into the office, she heard the excited conversation about the front page. She picked up today’s edition of the paper, and above the fold, she saw a picture of the same man, Mr. Khanna, that she’d seen downstairs. The byline: Aditya Kumar Tripathi. After a quick skim she realized why this Mr. Khanna was in such a bad mood, and why he’d shown up to the paper’s offices. She looked around almost instinctively, for Aditya. She spotted him sitting at his desk, chatting happily with another journalist. She had admired the fearlessness with which Aditya reported on anyone and everyone powerful, carefully revealing their mistakes and crimes for the public. But today, she felt that something had gone very wrong. She wasn’t at all versed in the financial reporting Aditya had done here, in fact, she’d read all of her ex-husband’s articles over the past year, and the ones going back since the beginning of his career, Aditya had never written about the financial sector before. She didn’t trust Aditya anymore, as a man, but she knew he was a dedicated and honest reporter…at least most of the time. But she couldn’t get the sneer and smug expression of Mr. Khanna from downstairs out of her head. And then the elevator doors opened.

Khanna strode into the office, with Aryan following him. Imlie saw Aryan texting on his phone, he didn’t seem nervous, and the angry face he’d made at Khanna downstairs seemed to have been replaced by his signature unbothered expression.

Khanna strolled around the office, in between cubicles, and every reporter, secretary, and staff member quieted down slowly, realizing who had just entered.

Khanna absentmindedly picked underneath his fingernails, and then looked around at everyone, finally turning on his heel to face Aryan.

“So, Aryan,” Khanna started, in a much louder voice than necessary, “Who’s the imbecile you hired who wrote the story? I’d like to meet him.”

Aryan took a breath, “Mr. Khanna, I don’t know if that’s necessary right now—“

Khanna interrupted, in a deadly cold tone, “I, think it’s absolutely necessary.”

Imlie looked closely at Aryan, and all she felt was confused. This was not the Aryan she knew. Aryan Singh Rathore was never nervous. He never let anyone interrupt him, or walk all over him. And the fact that Aryan looked nervous right now, didn’t make sense.

Imlie glanced quickly at Aditya, wondering if he’d realized what was going on, but she needn’t have bothered. Aditya stood up from his desk and walked over to Khanna and Aryan. Imlie definitely knew something was wrong now. She’d lived with Aditya for a year of her life, she knew exactly when he looked taken aback or confused, and she knew exactly the way his face smiled when he tried to hide his stress.

Aditya walked to Sunil Khanna and Aryan, trying to keep his face even. He was no stranger to powerful people hating his reporting, or even calling his editors for a retraction. But he had never, not once in his ten years of reporting, seen someone react this quickly to something he’d written. He had always been completely confident in his reporting, but the look on Khanna’s face, and his attitude, it shook something inside him. Aditya cursed himself in his head, he’d been so overwhelmed and frustrated by Imlie the past few days, that now he was doubting his work, the one thing he knew he’d never fail at. He put on a slight smile and spoke in the calmest voice he could muster, “I see you’ve read the paper today, Mr. Khanna. How did you like my reporting.”

Khanna looked at Aditya, and then at Aryan, and then he started laughing. A soft chuckle at first, and then louder. Then he faced Aditya, but his words were for Aryan, and they were loud enough for the whole office to hear, “I don’t know what second-rate journalism school this…this boy, went to, Aryan. But I have to say, I’m more disappointed in you. We’ve never met, but your reputation precedes you in Delhi, Aryan. I was surprised when I’d found out you’d decided to buy a newspaper, and now I’m going to offer you some financial advice for free, you should cut your losses. You clearly don’t know how to manage a paper if you have journalists who are willing to sell libel as investigative reporting. I expect a retraction, and an answer to my lawsuit by Monday, Aryan.” Khanna turned to leave, he’d done what he’d come for. He’d wanted to see the reporter he was going to crush, and scare the living daylights out of Aryan Singh Rathore.

“Excuse me, Mr. Khanna, but there is nothing wrong with my reporting. The truth is, you’re just a fraudster who hides behind the honest work of others at your company.” Aditya interjected, “Now, I have to agree with you about Mr. Rathore’s management skills, but don’t try to intimidate me into a retraction.”

Khanna looked at Aditya, his face livid now. He’d been amused by the gall of this boy just a minute ago, but now he’d gone too far.

“You know nothing about me, boy. I’ve built more and made more money than you could see in ten lifetimes, and I didn’t do that by cheating. And if you take that smug tone with me one more time, I promise you’ll live to regret it.”

Imlie was fighting the urge to pull Aditya away from this conversation. He was making it worse for himself. She didn’t know if his reporting was accurate or not, but she did know that this Khanna character’s bite had to be a lot worse than his bark. Then her eyes traveled to Aryan, who hadn’t said a word, and the expression on his face startled and confused Imlie even more. He was…smirking. It was completely out of place considering the current situation. Then, as soon as she’d seen it, he’d stopped, as Khanna turned to Aryan.

“Where in hell did you find such an incompetent reporter, Aryan? I mean I think my ten-year-old nephew could have written a better piece and followed the facts better. I know it’s been a while since my accounting days, but even I could read financial statements better than him, and this fool clearly only talked to the most untrustworthy sources he could find at the firm.”

Aditya tried to jump in, but Aryan spoke first, “Mr. Khanna, our legal team, as yours did, will undoubtedly review the piece and the accompanying sources and come to a decision as fast as possible. Bhaskar Times of course does not want to be in a position where it loses credibility and unfairly maligns a business leader like yourself. I’ll wait for your legal team to serve us the papers, and call you to set up another meeting about next steps. Does that sound good?”

Khanna lifted his chin, he hadn’t figured out exactly what was going on in Aryan’s head up until this point, except that he clearly had a weird attachment to that girl who’d come in with him. But with these words, Khanna guessed his visit had worked, Aryan was a businessman after all, not a die-hard liberal reporter, “Fine. And I expect a retraction no later than in tomorrow’s paper, the lawsuit currently reflects the losses I’ve already incurred because of just a few hours of this story being out in the markets, I will be telling my lawyers to add to it, and to add punitive damages, if I don’t get that retraction.”

Aditya finally had enough, listening to Aryan’s obsequiousness to this fraud sent him over the edge. He interjected, preventing Khanna from leaving the office yet again, “Wow, where does one get a more honest CEO than The Aryan Singh Rathore.” Aditya walked closer to Aryan, not bothering to lower his voice, “Aren’t you ashamed, to be in the pocket of a fraud like this? Is this why you bought Bhaskar Times, so you could hide the stories you and your fellow business goons didn’t like?”

Imlie sensed trouble as soon as Aditya had started speaking, she cursed him silently for derailing this situation to its worst possible point. Her fingernails cut into her palms as she saw Aryan’s nostrils flare. She was sure he was going to hit Aditya now. For as long as Imlie had known Aryan, she’d realized he hated a lot of things, he got annoyed by everything, but the one thing he couldn’t stand, was someone questioning his honesty, his reputation, or his skill. Imlie stood up, not knowing whether she should run over to hold Aryan back or if she should try to shut Aditya up for his own good, but she didn’t get a chance to do either.

“Mr. Aditya Kumar Tripathi, Pehli baat, I have no idea whether you have been on the receiving end of a lawsuit before, but it is common practice not to instigate the opposing side further, whether you’re in the right or not. Doosri baat, yeh tumhara baap ka office nahin hai. I have no idea how you made it this long at this paper without being fired, in fact, I don’t even know if you still want this job, it doesn’t seem like it. But, have the goddamn sense not to throw accusations at anyone without the evidence to back it up—“ (This isn’t your father’s office.) Aryan had to fight the urge to punch this man, but he also had to fight the urge to hug him. Everything was going even more perfectly than he’d imagined, even if this imbecile had just dared to question his integrity.

Aditya sneered, “Aur teesri baat udhaar rahi? Right?” (And the third point is a debt, right?)

Aryan laughed, a sincere laugh, it was a good joke, and also this man was just too easy to play, “Good joke, Mr. Tripathi, but no. Teesri baat, If you ever, make the mistake of questioning my integrity again, then you won’t just regret it, it will be the last second you live in life as a journalist. Got it?”

Aditya wanted to punch Aryan, he’d not just stolen Imlie from him, Aryan was trying to take everything, including his career, his identity from him.

Aryan took a step back, and lifted his chin, fighting back another smirk. Without looking at Khanna, Aryan said, “Mr. Khanna, my legal team will contact yours. Have a great day.”

Khanna took one last look at the two of them, especially Aditya. If there was one thing Khanna hated, it was unearned ego in a man. “Fine. Also, it looks like you need some HR advice, I have some great consultants I can send your way.” Khanna turned and walked into the elevators.

After the doors closed, Aryan gave Aditya an almost murderous look, “I didn’t want to say this in front of Khanna, but what in God’s name is wrong with you?!” Sure, Aryan was insulted, but what he needed now, was Aditya’s ego to go into overdrive, and what better way than to dress him down for the second time in less than five minutes. “Do you not know when to open your mouth and when to shut it? You don’t talk to someone suing you like that, what the hell man?”

Aditya sneered, “Sorry, Mr. Rathore, I didn’t learn lawsuit etiquette at my college. Us middle-class folk don’t spend our lives figuring out how to cheat the legal system.”

Aryan rubbed his temples, he didn’t have to even pretend to act frustrated anymore, this imbecile was actually doing it for him, “I’ve never met someone with a bigger ego and inferiority complex than you. It should really be studied. You don’t have to be rich or a business owner to know the basics of the legal system in this country, I’m sure you’ve covered a lawsuit or two in the ten years of experience at Bhaskar Times that you’re always gloating about.” Aryan’s eyes fell on Imlie, and he knew he shouldn’t have done it, but he honestly hadn’t said it to rile Aditya up, but because he was actually impressed with her, “Hell, Imlie’s doing a report on a pharmaceutical lawsuit now, and she’s only a junior reporter here.”

Imlie met Aryan’s eyes, and Aryan could tell he’d blundered.

Aditya looked at the two of them, “So now, you’re comparing me to a reporter with less than a year of experience, who’s only written a couple of small editorials and Bollywood interviews?” He laughed derisively, “Honestly, you two should just get married and make it official.

Before Imlie could intervene, Aryan interjected, “Aditya! Again you are making the mistake of misunderstanding the person in front of you, throwing out unfounded accusations, and ultimately embarrassing yourself in front of everyone here. I have to talk to the legal team, and I advise you go find a lawyer of your own, because this is not going to be easy.”

Aryan strode into his office, leaving Aditya seething behind him. Imlie’s eyes were on Aryan as he ended the conversation, the disaster actually, and for a split second, she saw that smirk again.