Chapter 21

Crap.

He sounded pretty angry. In fact, so angry, Khushi felt she was paralysed right there, one hand pressing the receiver and the other being nibbled between her teeth.

But hang on! She had done nothing wrong!

"I don't know what you mean," she said racking her brains for witty arguments she could throw at his face.

"I told you, dammit! I'm talking about that bloody OurSupport number you've splashed all over today's London Times! That one-sided, unbalanced story you made up! Pretty tawdry effort, I should say."

What? Tawdry? One-sided and unbalanced? Made up?

"It's not tawdry! And certainly not made up! I can prove everything I said, Mr Arnav Singh Raizada!"

"Yeah? And getting our side of the story did not seem necessary to you? I guess you were too busy writing your article, right? You rather feed people with your good story rather than putting a more balance article, blotched with some facts from OurSupport," he told her scathingly.

Khushi felt her own temper rising beyond her bounds.

"Well, Mr Raizada, I did try to get your side of the story, but apparently, you're such a busy man! Your great pompous ass could not stay in your office where it should be when I called yesterday, so I was made to talk to someone else. She knew very well I was writing this piece!"

There was dead silence for a few minutes.

"Who did you speak to?" he asked, calmer now.

"F**k-... Fakhreen Sukhmani," she replied, calming down too. Khushi realised she was panting slightly; well, she had never lost her temper like that! "I asked her a few clear questions about the matter but she told me to fax them to her. And guess what? I never got a reply. When I called again later on, it went on voicemail. What did you expect me to do? I had a deadline."

"Why the f**k did you speak to Sukhmani? OurSupport is my client, not hers, dammit!"

"Don't you think I told her? But she said you were away!"

"You told her who you were writing for?"

"She did not bother asking, so I didn't bother to tell her."

God! She was getting really irritated right now.

"For your information, Khushi-"

"Whatever it is, Mr Arnav Singh Raizada, thanks for your information, but I don't need it! She did not bother to ask, that makes it none of my fault! She thought it was nothing important, did she? Well she was totally wrong! Maybe that'll teach you guys to treat everyone to respect people, not just those you think are worth it!"

She heard him sigh loudly, and she could almost see him, sitting on one of those great leather armchairs big businessmen use at their offices, pinching the bridge of his nose and try to control his rage.

"Khushi, if you're doing this because of what happened the other day... if this is a petty revenge-"

She clenched her fist around the receiver. She could not believe he was saying this to her.

"Don't you bloody insult me, Mr Raizada! I'm not that kind of girl! I'm just helping a friend if you want to know!" she yelled at him, pouring all the rage she had stored up since weeks after the 'Suitcase Incident', as she called it.

"Don't you dare make this personal! I was completely professional in my approach and I even gave you every opportunity to give me your side of things and if you blew up each of them, then I'm very sorry, but it's out of my hands. Goodbye!"

***

He stared at the receiver, his eyes wide in shock, after she had finished with her outburst and crashed the phone to disconnect.

So, Khushi Kumaari Gupta knew how to yell at someone and she also swore at people. Well, okay, not 'people' exactly, him, but still... And she knew how to defend herself.

Was this the same, shy girl he had met more than a month ago? Was this the same girl who could never have a proper conversation with him, who could not talk to him without stammering?

"Bloody hell," he whispered to himself, grinning at the receiver and he gently put it down. "She's unbelievable."

The eighth wonder of the world.

All the people in the streets got scared of him by just one glare of his. And he had just roared mercilessly at this girl who held the appearance of a lamb. But surely enough,l'apparence ne fait pas le moine. All that is gold does not shine. Khushi Kumaari Gupta was a lioness in disguise. She had rivalled his roars with her own and in the end she had won. She had been able to shup him up and have the last word.

Pretty courageous of her to challenge the ASR.

But he would deal with her later. In a blink of the eye, she wiped off his grin and called his assistant.

"Ya, Aman? Send Miss Sukhmani in."

***

An hour later, the phone rang again. Khushi gritted her teeth and stared at it hoping that both the phone and Arnav Singh Raizada's head would blast into zillions of fragments. But obviously that was not going to happen. She sighed picked up.

Stay cool. Relax. Don't panic. He's not worth it.

"Hello," she muttered a cold greeting. She knew it was him. She just knew it was-

"Hi, Khushi! Giles Clifton here!"

"Oh, hi!" she replied truly surprised. She had been expecting Mr Raizada trying to blow up her head again all along!

"Hey, listen, I've just got First Hour Tea on the phone, minutes before I called you! You know the TV show? With Eric Brennan and Madeleine Hein? They're interested in your story."

"What?" Khushi frowned stupidly.

"There's this thing they're doing on finance, Khushi. Every week, a finance expert is invited on their show to give advice and things like that. They'd run out of ideas about what to do next 'cause they've covered almost everything. But then this scandal you brought up gave them an idea, when they read your article..."

Okay... so, Eric and Madeleine read her article... they read it themselves?

"So, they want you on their show tomorrow morning. You talk about the windfall, warn the viewers and all. What say? This kind of... thing interests you? Or I can tell them you're busy."

"No!" her mouth had suddenly gone dry. "No... tell them..." she licked her lips slowly. "Tell them I'm interested."

After she had disconnected, Khushi stared in front of her blankly for quite some time. The blare of a horn outside, tore her out of her daze and suddenly she was yelling like mad.

"I'm going to be on TV!"