Chapter 13

Chapter 9

"Hey Subbu bear...Khushi in?"

Payal looked up from the diary she had been checking against yesterday's phone calls with, her eyes wide and mouth opened in a dramatic fashion.

"Khushi?! What happened to the Witch from the wild west' or Medusa'?! Tumhaari tabeeyat toh theek hai na, Razzie?!"

And even while she was asking him the question, she could see the answer plainly in his eyes and also the resolution to not part with it and sighing she let it pass with a shake of her head telling him that Khushi was in her room in a serious tone of her own, her eyes following him as he moved towards his destination, the gravity in his steps not failing to be observed by her and she felt a shiver of anticipation run down her spine - something was definitely going to happen, if not now then soon enough - Payal Subramaniam could bet her entire month's salary on it!

But before you bet anything, Payal, you need to earn it she told herself, shaking away her thoughts and getting back to the diary in her hand before the table in front of her was thumped lightly and letting out an annoying huff at the constant disturbance, she looked up only to find herself staring right up at the ever nervous Akash Malik.

"Hello, Sir. Your meeting is scheduled in Conference Hall 2. If you would please proceed to my left and then take a right. It's the first door to your left." Payal let it all out in a hurry, afraid of the catastrophes that seemed to always follow Akash Malik - no sooner would he step in the office would something not so amazing would happen - from Arnav and Khushi's clashes to Payal's own nose revolting against her!

That man was bad news, Payal Subramaniam had decided to herself, and hence it was in the health (quite literally) of Gupta Home Designs - Your home, Our dream' that he be dealt with and made to leave as soon as possible!

But it wouldn't be her life if everything worked out smooth and easy, would it, she would ask herself later that day as she nursed her swollen hand with a packet of frozen peas working as an ice pack while the canteen uncle waited on her while she sat on one of the tables ruing her phooti kismet (again quite literally), remembering with a barely disguised fury at how exactly she had ended up in the particular predicament.

When she had looked up and announced the venue of the meeting that Akash Malik was to have with Arnav and Khushi, she had expected him to stammer his assent and then scamper off, what she had not expected (more importantly) was the fact that he would drop the damn heavy packet he was carrying for some damned reason right on her hand that had rested unsuspecting on the table.

But he had.

And now she was stuck here in the canteen with a sodden packet of frozen peas trying to dispitte her pain, knowing that what she really was trying to evaporate was the strange urgent need to catch hold of Akash Malik and rattle him enough to shake all of those pearly white teeth and preferably make them drop on the ground and turn him into a budha way before time!

But alas.

He was a client, and she a recptionist. There was nothing much she could do except fume in silence massaging her hand with a cold compress and push back all thoughts of murdering Akash Malik in his sleep...she could maybe do that the day Arnav and Khushi finished his stupid house and then he would no longer be a client and she could do as she pleased with him.

And something akin to an evil laughter most suited to characters like Cruella and Mother Gothel erupted from Payal Subramaniam's being as she thought of various ways to get rid of Akash Malik's ever dangerous presence in her life.

*****

On the other hand, an already disgruntled Arnav entered Conference Hall 2 only to witness a sight which threw his disgruntlement out of the window and filled him with the insuppressible urge to pick up Akash Malik by the collar and fling him out of the window.

There he sat, like he owned the damn place, talking to Khushi, like he had known her for nearly 20 years and not him.

BLOODY JACKASS.

Arnav roared in his mind when in reality he could do nothing but step in the room and throw back the door behind him with more force than necessary making it hit the frame hard and more importantly making the said couple' jump in their skin.

"Should we get to work now? I have a feeling we spend entirely too much time on pleasantries around here to get any real work done." Arnav bit out, not bothering to check the reaction of either party to his little starting speech, pulling out a chair and depositing himself on it, switching on his laptop and looking up only when it had blinked to an awakened state but even then with an air of try and contradict me, Malik'.

What he had however underestimated or maybe not taken into account at all with all his rage at Akash was that Khushi, the only one who could match his rage step to step, was also in the same room and a very important part of his jibe and that she, unlike Akash Malik who looked like a deer caught in headlights, could take him head on whenever and wherever.

And so she did.

"Yes, of course. We do spend entirely too much time on pleasantries here but what can we do when there are so many things and people who make the experience of working with this company so utterly unpleasant. Someone has to make up, no Arnav?"

Arnav looked up sharply at her, his eyebrows scrunching up in anger at what was being implied and more importantly at what was being defended and before he could really reflect on what was itching to come out of his mouth, he gave it a green signal.

"Yes yes. Things must be made pleasant for clients around here, especially clients so utterly special like Mr. Malik right here, right Miss. Gupta? He must be kept happy and rightly so considering what a special part he has become of the company!"

But to Arnav's credit he realized what he had implied the second after the words left his being and with that also came that evening when something similar had been uttered by him and what had followed as he saw Khushi's eyes widen and fill with a hurt that pierced him right through to his heart but before he could say or do anything to control the damage, Khushi excused herself from the meeting and made her way out of the same door that he had all but banged shut on coming in and for the second time in not even 5 minutes, Conference Hall 2 was made witness to a sound not very suitable for the health of human ears.

*****

Akash Malik while sitting glued to his chair as the exchange of words and something else took place between the two architects assigned, rather unfortunately, to his project without saying a single word but absorbing all that was left unsaid between the two.

And he knew without the smidge of a doubt that what he had witnessed just now had much more below the surface than what was being shown, he had started guessing at that right from the first moment Arnav had threatened to bite his head off with just his narrowed eyes and set jaw.

And now he knew it with the same certainty with which he knew he had fallen in love with the pretty receptionist (he should really really figure out her name!) outside who seemed to hate his guts and why wouldn't she?! He never failed to do something utterly idiotic whenever he came face to face with her, even if accidentally like choosing the one flower in the whole wide world which she was allergic to to earlier this morning when he had dropped his small briefcase on her hand when he had glimpsed those beautiful sparkling brown eyes after a whole of four torturous days of not being able to see her! Well...he had seen her alright then and also seen the same beautiful sparkling brown eyes fill with pain and then irritation as the briefcase hit her square on her upturned palm the same time his jaw hit the ground.

Sigh.

What was he talking about again...oh yes! No time to digress, Akash, he told himself sternly steering back his thoughts to the man (and woman) at hand who looked like a fish out of water, his mouth agape and his eyes still trained at the door and Akash Malik knew without even sharing one decent conversation with Arnav Singh Raizada that as certainly as Akash loved PR, Arnav had fallen for Khushi.

And with even more certainty that Arnav had no idea about Akash loving PR, he thought instead that Akash felt something for Khushi and that had him in knots.

Knots which threatened (and more often than not succeeded) in breaking apart all his patience and making him say things as hurtful as he had just uttered and do things stupid-er than even Akash could manage.

And the words left Akash Malik before he could ponder on them, or on the equation he lacked with Arnav to say those words without any hesitation like he did.

"I like the pretty receptionist, Arnav, not Khushi. And I am quite certain she doesn't harbor any such feelings for me either so you can really relax a bit."

Next Chapter - Page 88

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*Not proof read


And there we have it. Who knew Akash would say this to Arnav of all people! ;) :D

Thanks so much for your wonderful response to the last chapter and the discussions that ensued as a result of me playing the devil's advocate for Arnav Singh Raizada! Lol! Just to make it clear generally to all - I was not playing favourites by defending Arnav. I was just trying to present a point of view different than what many of you had just to give way to a discussion because as a writer I love having those debates and discussions. And as the author of this story, any love or conversely hatred for any of my characters fills me with a pride as I take it to mean that you are reacting to the story enough to make opinions of its characters and story, so please dont think otherwise! :)

Also I am sorry for the delay in updating this chapter, I have been really busy and have a really bleh schedule! So please excuse all possible delays! I wrote this chapter at a stretch and a major reason was all of yours response to the last chapter, so I guess I really mean it when I say your response and feedback inspires me to write! :)

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