Chapter 16

Chapter 16: The Inauguration Party

It was 6:30 PM, Rohan and Khushi were sitting in Rohan's car since the past ten minutes.

"Rohan, I can't do this..." Khushi said nervously.

"Me either..." Rohan said gulping.

"What do we do?" Khushi asked.

"Let's disappear." He said wiping off the sweat from his forehead.

Khushi nodded, "Yeah, that's the only way. Let's run away."

"Yeah, I own a cottage just outside the city; we can go there." Rohan said, his hand inching towards the ignition to start the car.

Both of them jumped out of their skins as there was knock or rather banging on Rohan's side of the window.

Susie, one of Khushi's Assistant Designer's was standing outside with her hands on her hips. Rohan fumbled with the button a few times before managing to slide down the window.

"At what point are you guys planning to come inside." She said icily. "I know you two are the bosses and all but right now you have to come in. Half of the staff is in a state of a nervous break down and the rest half are experiencing panic attacks in varying degrees of intensity. And the party starts in exactly 30 minutes."

"Yeah we'll be there in 2 minutes." Khushi answered and Susie hurried away.

"I thought we were running away." Rohan looked as if he himself was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Get a grip Rohan, we can't leave everyone at this point. Who will boost the staff's morale if we break down?" Khushi tried to put up a brave face. "Besides you were the one boasting that you weren't nervous right?"

Khushi opened the door and got out of the car and pulled Rohan out as well. As they entered the studio, they saw that some employees had defeated expressions on their faces and sat clueless, while others kept fidgeting around, occasionally yelling at someone. Khushi looked at Rohan who looked like he would any time go ahead and join the yelling group.

She took in a deep breath and smiled broadly. "Hello everyone... How's it going?" She said loud enough to instantly gain everyone's attention.

There were relieved murmurs of "Khushi" and "Rohan" as the anxiety started to disappear from most of the faces.

"Why the long faces guys? It's party time." She said beaming at everyone. She nudged Rohan in the ribs to say something.

Rohan swallowed hard and spoke. "Umm... Yeah, party time. Guys we have been slogging away for the last three months." He said rapidly gaining confidence. "Now's the time bask in the glory of our success. And yes we ARE going to be successful. That's a promise."

Everyone clapped and cheered.

"Alright, now get ready and take your positions. The real thing is about to begin. Let's show the world what we are." Khushi said as she saw the cloud of gloom drift away. Everyone scattered away much more confident.

Khushi smiled at Rohan, "This is the time of our success. We can't miss it for the world."

"Yep, not a chance." He smiled back. "And yes, I was too nervous to notice earlier. But you look ravishing."

~~~~~~

There was a small fashion show after which the party began. As hoped by every one the designs were very much liked and praised.

Everyone was eager to meet and congratulate the young and beautiful Head Designer of Emerald. But Khushi was nowhere to be seen. And Rohan had begun to wonder where she was.

After taking a bow along with the show-stopper and other models, she had been around until the lights came on. But after that she had disappeared. Not finding her any where around he ran upstairs to her cabin. He relaxed to find her there but was worried the next moment to see her sitting on her chair, her face buried in her arms on the table. He rushed to her side.

"Khushi? What happened? Are you unwell? Are you feeling nervous again? Baby we did it. Everyone liked our work. So relax." He said trying to soothe her.

Khushi lifted her head to look at him with terror filled eyes, "Who invited Arnav Singh Raizada?" She asked in a choked voice...

She was standing on the ramp with the Show-stopper when the lights came on. The first thing she saw was a pair of Honey brown eyes that she feared above all; staring at her. A chill had run down her spine. She had hastily got off the ramp and before any one could notice, she had run upstairs to her cabin.

Rohan was stunned to see the amount of fear in her eyes. "I don't know." He replied uncertainly. "Maybe Dad did. I had told you that he'll be inviting a few of his business associates, right? Now let's go down. Every one wants to meet you."

"I c-can't come down while he's there." She replied.

Rohan sighed in exasperation, "Khushi, I don't know what differences you had with him, and to be honest, I don't care. But I do care for Emerald and everyone associated to it. And I know that you care too. So for Emerald's sake, come. Don't let an Ex-Boss ruin our special day." He said firmly.

Ex-Boss? He wasn't just an Ex-Boss, he was a devil who wanted to destroy my life. And even now when I was just starting to recover, on the verge of a new beginning, why did he have to come to spoil it all? She thought frustrated. But Rohan was right, I will not spoil my special day for that man.

~~~~~~

As she walked down with Rohan, she could feel a piercing gaze on her, but determinedly kept her eyes away from that direction.

To say Arnav was shocked to see Khushi on the ramp as the head designer of Rohan Chaudhry's studio would be an understatement. He couldn't believe his eyes. Every day of the past 10 months he had driven to Khushi's place parked the car in a secluded corner and waited for a glimpse of her, just to check if she was alright, to make sure that she was recovering. But had never been successful, her father had forbidden him from seeing her and he didn't want to disrespect his wishes and now here, where he was least expecting, she was right in front of him. She looked like a goddess in the emerald green saree with gold and silver embroidery and latkans, surely one of her own creations. Arnav had stared for a long time. But when the lights had been turned on, her eyes had met his and he had seen the same fear, hurt and loathing that made him hate himself. He wanted to talk to her, soothe her, make her pain and fear go away but he knew that was an impossibility now. She would never want to talk to him. It seemed she didn't wish to see his face at all.

The way she had fled from the ramp made it quite clear that she had not fully recovered. The same fear that he had seen in her eyes on two prior occasions was still there in her eyes. And he was the sole cause of the fear. He Arnav Singh Raizada, who prided over his intellect, had committed the gravest crime of his life without using his brain.

He saw her talking to people but could sense her nervousness and discomfort. He also noticed that every few minutes she glanced at Rohan who gave her a reassuring nod. Did he know? Had she told him about the past? No. Couldn't be... She hadn't told her family even then why would she tell a third person. Well he didn't exactly look like a third person. His presence did seem to comfort her. And for some reason Arnav didn't like it. Didn't like it at all. But this is exactly what I want, right? I want her to be normal, happy again. He thought to himself. Rohan was giving her the reassurance that I will never be able to give her. So what's wrong in that? She deserves to be happy.

But he somehow couldn't bring himself to be happy about it. His conscience was eating him. I am the one who hurt her. I should be the one who should heal her. How else will I be able to repent...?

Ignorant as he was about her aspirations when she was working with him, he had no clue that she was so talented. He had been impressed with the designs during the fashion show. Which was something, as Arnav Singh Raizada was extremely hard to impress when it came to Fashion. But Khushi seemed to be a natural, gifted.

He saw that Rohan and Khushi were finally standing alone and walked up to them.

"Congrats Rohan. You have certainly hit the bulls eye in the first go." Arnav said shaking hands with him.

"Thank you Mr. Raizada, that means a lot coming from you." Rohan replied genuinely pleased by Arnav's compliment.

Khushi was about to turn around and walk away when Arnav spoke to her.

"Hello Khushi, I'm so glad to see you here. Never knew you were so talented. Your designs are certainly commendable." He said seriously and held out his hand to her.

Her eyes widened as she saw his hand approaching and took a step back quickly. She just nodded without meeting his eyes, ignoring his hand completely.

Arnav's hand clenched into a fist as he pulled it back.

"Mr. Raizada, I'm sorry but Khushi is feeling somewhat out of sorts. But I'm sure she is glad that you liked her designs." Rohan said smiling apologetically at Arnav.

Khushi looked up at Rohan in shock. Why was he giving all these explanations? It didn't really matter how she behaved with Arnav Singh Raizada. He didn't deserve polite behaviour.

"Excuse me Rohan. I'll just check how the others are doing. You carry on." She said and melted away in the crowd.

Arnav looked at her retreating figure longingly. At this point of time he would have gladly taken even the lashing Khushi had given him the last time they had met. But this cold and silent Khushi was something beyond his endurance.

Arnav noticed that for the rest of the party Khushi purposefully maintained a distance from him. If he happened to get anywhere near her, she would mysteriously disappear from there. He remembered the words she had said that no matter how much he apologised, it would never be enough. Well now that he had found a way to approach her, he was ready to apologise if he had to do it till his last breath... and yet he knew that would never be enough but he had to do it right? And he would, he decided. He had a plan and if everything went well then...

-X-X-X-X-X-X-

I see that Rohan's character has been accepted in a positive way and I'm glad as he is definitely a great guy and a much needed friend to Khushi. About his heartbreak if he gets too close to Khushi... Well can't comment on it yet...

Thank you for all your lovely comments not being able to reply much right now but you guys really rock...

Chapter 17: The Big Opportunity

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