Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Repentance and Justice

Memories Continued..

Next day when Arnav reached his office, he found Khushi's handwritten resignation letter on his desk. It was written with a trembling hand & was smudgy where her tears had fallen. He looked at it emotionlessly. Just then there was a knock on his cabin door & he indicated the person to enter.

It was Akash, "Bhai, I need to talk to you. It's important."

Arnav was a bit surprised at his brother's tone & expression. It looked as though Akash was upset with him, which was very unlike him. "Sure Akash, sit."

"Bhai did you fire Khushi?" He asked directly almost glaring at Arnav.

"Yes but..."

"Bhai did you accuse her of trying to... With Me?" He asked unable to say the disgusting words.

Arnav just stared at him, was that his brother glaring at him? Akash was the coolest person on earth. Arnav had always thought of him as his antithesis when it came to composure.

"Bhai did you even let her explain herself or just threw her out in one of your famous rages." Akash said sarcastically. "Di is right, your temper knows no bounds. Bhai, Khushi is a very ethical person who comes from a family with traditional values. How could you behave that way? And don't you know me at all? Did you think I would not realise if she was up to something. I am with the staff more than YOU are. If there was anything wrong about Khushi's character, I would have heard it before you. For God's sake Bhai.. What's wrong with you? Did you even bother to verify the facts?"

It was the longest speech Arnav had ever heard from his brother. But what Akash said did make sense somehow. He hadn't verified the facts. He hadn't let her explain herself. He hadn't thought at all. He had just reacted in a fit of rage. He started feeling uncomfortable. Had he actually victimized the wrong person?

His train of thoughts was broken by another knock. He asked the person to enter. It was Karan. He had an uneasy feeling that he was going to hear something similar from Karan.

"Sir, I met Khushi last evening," Karan said directly coming to the point. "Her sister called me when Khushi reached home in a... disturbed state. I hear that you believe there is something going on between the two of us, am I right?" When Arnav didn't respond he continued, "Yes sir there IS something between us."

Arnav's fists clenched on hearing that.

"We are childhood friends.. I, Khushi & Pari.. I don't know if you know Pari but she works here too & is my fiance." Karan said trying hard to be calm & not to yell at his boss.

Arnav didn't know what to think. His stomach churned. What Karan & Akash said clearly implied that Khushi had no indecent intentions towards them. Which left only Shyam.. Could he be trusted? Arnav was suddenly not very sure of that. He ran his hand through his hair when there was a third knock at his door.

"What the..?" He exclaimed. What seemed to be the entire female staff of AR Group, right from the housekeeping girls to the Management & HR, entered his cabin.

Neha, the HR Representative of AR stepped forward & placed a stack of letters in front of him.

"What's all this?" Arnav asked pointing towards the stack.

"These are our resignation letters Sir." Neha answered. "All of us would like to resign from our jobs?"

"What?" He stood up shocked. "What's all this nonsense?" he demanded.

"It's true Sir." Neha replied calmly. "Rather than getting humiliated like Khushi, we would like to resign with dignity."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Sir, every girl standing in this cabin has at least once gone through Shyam Jha's misconduct." Neha began to explain, "His actions had been of minor nature until now so none of us has reported him yet. But after what happened to Khushi yesterday... I hope you know that all she was trying to do was pick up fallen documents when Shyam caught on to her & pulled her on himself."

Arnav's head had started to spin. The image that had been torturing him since yesterday started to take a whole new meaning, torturing him even further. Neha paused for a moment & continued, "It looks like Shyam Jha has YOUR favour too, since you fired Khushi taking into consideration only His word. Sir, in this scenario it wouldn't be long before each one of us will be soon facing the same fate as Khushi. Hence, Sir we would like to resign before anything like that happens to anyone of us."

Everyone waited patiently for him to say something. It was a while before Arnav could speak. "I... I realise what I have done... I shouldn't have treated Khushi the way I... I did. The safety of the female staff of AR is our... r-responsibility & I assure you that none of you will ever face any kind of misconduct in future. I do not favour anyone. Every employee of AR is the same for me. And I promise that Shyam Jha will get what he deserves. Please get back to work."

"Sir will Khushi be back?" A few of the girls asked.

Arnav didn't know how to answer. His mouth had gone dry. Deep down he knew that Khushi would never be back in this office.. in his life.. after what he had done.. "I really don't know, to be honest but I promise that I will try."

"Thank you Sir." Everyone including Akash & Karan left except for Pari.

"Sir, My Name is Pari Khanna. I'm Khushi's closest friend. I was with her last night. After a lot of coaxing she told me parts of what happened yesterday. I'm not convinced with her version of the story. All she says is that after you saw her & Shyam, you yelled at her & fired her."

Arnav was shocked to hear that. After what he had done to her she was still trying to hide his misdoings? He felt ashamed of himself.

"Sir Khushi is in TRAUMA. I know her since childhood, accusations & being yelled at couldn't do that to her. She isn't so weak. Something happened here yesterday that completely broke her from within." Pari said giving him a cold glare.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Arnav said not meeting Pari's eyes.

"Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada, My friend hasn't stopped crying one moment since yesterday. Every time anyone mentions YOUR name in front of her she gets worse. She woke up six times last night trembling with fear and yelling 'Arnav Sir No.. Please listen to me.' Does that help?" Pari was herself trembling with fury.

"Miss Khanna, Get back to work." Arnav said turning away from her. He heard the door close & knew she had left.

~~~~~~

Khushi was in trauma.. Yet she hadn't told anyone about how monstrous he had behaved.. She couldn't bear to hear his name.. She was having nightmares because of him.. It was all his fault.. He sank down on his chair & buried his face in his hands unable to control his tears anymore..

After a few minutes he raised his head, a mad glint in his eyes "Shyam Jha.. You are going to pay for this." He said aloud & walked out of his cabin. Everyone stared as they saw ASR storm into Shyam's cabin & pull him out by the collar. ASR pinned him by a wall & his hand caught his neck in a tight grip. "You framed Khushi..Accept it."

"Sir No, Khushi was trying to frame me." Shyam said choking.

Arnav's grip tightened over his neck & "WHAM!!!" with his other hand he had punched him in the face so hard that Shyam's face had started bleeding.

"Don't you dare.. Don't you dare lie you creep.. I am aware that your behaviour has been disrespectful with the entire female staff. You caught her unawares last evening and fed me with false tales."Arnav growled at him. "Accept it before I kill you..."

Shyam was choking by now, he just nodded. "WHAM!!!" This time when Arnav's fist met Shyam's nose there was a nasty crunching sound. His nose would never look the same again. He again punched him this time in his gut. He wanted to hurt the dog as much as he could.

Akash came forward then & pulled his brother back. "Bhai let go.."

Arnav left Shyam & he fell on the floor in a heap, writhing in pain. "Akash" With pure hatred in his eyes Arnav looked at Shyam & roared, "Clean this filth from this place and get a termination letter prepared for him for Sexual Harassment to Female Staff. Make sure he never gets even a peon's job anywhere in Delhi."

"Yes Bhai." Akash said promptly.

Everyone watching had an awed look on their face. But Arnav didn't see any of it. He went back to his office & slammed the door behind him.

He sank down on his knees curling up. He felt powerless... inhuman... 'SEXUAL HARASSMENT TO FEMALE STAFF' His own words echoed in his head making his head pound. His insides were burning as if someone had mixed acid along with his blood. Guilt like he had never felt before filled his system like fire, consuming him. He felt like a criminal. He would never be able to face himself again...

~~~~~~

Next day Arnav had visited Khushi's home but on hearing who he was, her father had denied him from seeing Khushi & asked him to leave. He had sent Akash after that, who was luckier.

When Akash had come to meet Khushi, her parents weren't home. Payal was with her. Payal had heard from Khushi that Akash was a nice person so she let him see her. Akash was shocked to see the drastic change in Khushi within just 2 days. She looked weak and as pale as a ghost and her eyes which used to be filled with life and laughter had a blank, dead look. He understood what Karan meant when he had said that, there was more to this story than what met the eye. Khushi had been working with his brother for nearly six months now & was familiar to his temper. Just some yelling could not have this effect on her.

She was blankly staring straight in front of her, not looking at anything when Akash softly called to her, "Khushi?"

She flinched at the sound & turned her gaze on him. It took a while for her to recognise the man standing in front of her, "Akash Sir?" she barely whispered & burst into tears.

Akash waited patiently for her to recover. Eventually she recovered enough to ask him to sit.

"Khushi I'm here to ask you to come back to work." Akash said.

"NO!!!" She yelled. "I can never go back to that place; NEVER." She said with terror filled eyes. "I will never be able to face him."

"Khushi there is no need to be scared of Shyam. Bhai knows the truth now. Shyam has been fired & everyone wants you back." Akash told her.

The only thing that registered in her numb brain was that HE new the truth. "I will never come back." Khushi repeated in a dead voice.

"Khushi? Have you been harmed...? Physically?"Akash asked her.

Khushi shuddered at the thought of being harmed.

"Khushi, just tell me. We'll not let that Shyam get away with it." Akash spoke.

"Shyam?" Khushi said a bit surprised. It wasn't Shyam who had harmed her... It was Arnav. It was Arnav who had damaged her to the point that there could be no repair. But it looked like every one seemed to know only HER version of the story. That was fine; she would prefer going along with it.

"It's not that Akash Sir. Some things once lost cannot be brought back." With that she went back to staring blankly at nothing in particular.

End of Memories...

shraddska2012-08-18 16:45:53