Chapter 42
[MEMBERSONLY]
Chapter 42: The Shocking News
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The remaining two days in Chandigarh passed quite pleasantly. Arnav had no idea that life could be so wonderful. Since Khushi had forgiven him, some strange change had occurred in their relationship that also changed their behaviour towards each other. After becoming friends, the mood between them had turned lighter.
Khushi didn't hesitate anymore to call him at least twice when she was at work to check if he had eaten and taken his medicines or if he is resting. On any other occasion, with anyone else, Arnav would have gotten annoyed and snapped that he was perfectly fine now and didn't need to rest but the mere feeling that Khushi cared for him was so out of the world that he would wait eagerly for her to call and speak to her and even do as she said.
Before they knew, the week was over and it was time for them to return back to Delhi. The night before, Khushi was sitting on a couch reading a novel and Arnav was looking at her exasperatedly from the bed.
"Khushi enough. You should sleep now." He said impatiently, "We have to start for Delhi, early morning."
"Hmmm..." She replied without taking her eyes off the book.
When she didn't move for another five minutes, he got up to snatch the book away from her. Guessing his moves, she immediately moved the book behind her before he could make a grab, giving him a naughty grin.
"Five minutes Arnav. Pllleeeaaassseee, I am on such an interesting part." She pleaded making a small face. "Just two more pages."
He pressed his lips together and nodded. "Fine, just two pages, alright? Make it fast." He said pretending to be stern and sat looking at her as she continued with her reading. An hour later, he was still sitting next to her, admiring the different emotions flicker across her face as she went through chapter after chapter of the book. He marvelled at how she would scrunch her eyebrows in deep concentration or all of a sudden break into a wide smile or how her eyes would widen sometimes and she would start biting her nails. He didn't realise even when Khushi gave a satisfactory smile and turned the last page, closing the book. She looked up to find him staring at her and chuckled.
"Arnav, I'm done." She said shaking his arm.
"Huh?" He said blinking his eyes furiously. "Done with the two pages?"
Khushi started laughing now. "No. I finished the entire book." She said waving the closed book in front of his eyes."
"What? How?" He said giving her a confused look.
She gestured with her eyes for him to look at the clock. His eyes widened to find that the time was past midnight. He looked back at her a little embarrassed and could see that she was pressing her lips, trying not to laugh.
He gritted his teeth, stood up and turned away in frustration, "What rubbish Khushi? You said only two pages and now it's so late. We have to start early tomorrow morning."
"Relax Arnav. We'll make it." She said and moved towards the bed.
"Set the Alarm." He said before moving in the bathroom and she nodded.
~~~~~~
Arnav woke up next morning as the sunrays hit his face. Rubbing his eyes he sat up and leaned against the headrest. He saw Khushi sleeping peacefully on her side of the bed with her back towards him. He sat looking at her and as the last remnants of sleep vanished from his eyes he realised that the room was too bright with sunlight. He checked the time to see that it was 7:30 and his eyes widened. They were supposed to start for Delhi at 6:30. He wondered what had happened and if the alarm hadn't gone off and shook Khushi by the shoulder.
"Khushi? Khushi wake up." He said urgently.
"Mmm... Arnav... 10 minutes... Please..." She mumbled in sleep.
"Khushi we are late. Look at the time. It's 7:30. Didn't you set the Alarm?" He said still shaking her vigorously.
Pouting like a child she too got up and leaned back against the headrest. "Yeah, I did. I don't know what happened. It didn't go off." She replied frowning.
"I think we should hurry. If we start within an hour, we can still make it home for lunch." He said and rushed in the bathroom. When he came out, he was shocked to see that Khushi had gone back to sleep, pulling the quilt over her head to hide from the sunlight.
"Khushi..." He said annoyed. "What's wrong with you? Get up."
He was loud enough for Khushi to wake up and glare at him. "Why are you in such a rush? Relax."
"Everyone will be waiting for us for Lunch at home." He said. "Now get up right away before I come there and pick you up."
"Yeah alright." She said getting up and rolling her eyes. But she took her own sweet time, having her bath and then getting ready and then pleasantly chatting with Sandhya as she served her breakfast.
By the time their bags were put into the car and Khushi came out to get into it, it was ten o'clock and Arnav was practically emitting fumes.
He didn't speak to her at all as they started with their journey, not wanting to yell at her but she could see how his jaw would just not unclench and wondered how the windshield had not yet cracked with the constant death glare he was giving.
Along with the clenched jaw, his nostrils flared as well when having no choice, he had to stop the car at a restaurant for lunch at one o'clock. Without even looking at her he got out of the car and stormed in and Khushi followed him quietly.
As they sat eating, she peeked at him through her lashes and saw that he was concentrating on his food.
"I purposely didn't set the alarm." She confessed in a small voice, making him pause for a moment but then he continued with his food. "Actually I had informed Naniji last night that we will not be coming for lunch."
He placed his spoon in his plate and looked at her steadily without blinking, waiting for her to continue.
She bit her lip nervously and continued. "Actually I didn't want to travel for five hours continuously after what happened while we were going towards Chandigarh. I thought if we started late there would be no option but to stop for lunch."
"So that's why you took so long to get ready this morning and sat reading till late last night?" He asked.
She nodded, a small smile playing on her lips. "Well last night if you had stopped me after the two pages, I would have surely stopped reading." He couldn't help lowering his eyes and smiling a little at that. She saw him smiling and relaxed. "And anyways, what is the rush to reach home early? I have spoken to Akash Jiju, he has told me that you don't have any meetings lined up today and it will be best if you take rest after reaching home."
"As you say." He replied shaking his head and smiled at her.
~~~~~~
After reaching home, Nani and Mami were a little curious as to why all of a sudden Khushi was taking extra interest in Arnav's medicines and daily routines. Nani asked her once about it when she saw Khushi fussing and making Arnav drink juice. Khushi was about to answer Nani but she saw Arnav glaring at her in case she blurted out about the accident and made some excuse.
Nani didn't say anything about it but she was surely amazed that Arnav never protested or got angry at Khushi. She was happy about it.
As days passed, Arnav and Khushi's friendship only grew, both looking out for each other and not hesitating to talk about anything. Payal and Akash were happy too as they didn't have to make extra efforts to make the couple join them for outings, in fact these days Arnav would himself take Khushi out for shopping or dinner.
~~~~~~
At work Khushi was having a very busy time as these days Rohan paid very little attention to the Studio. In fact he was so busy assisting his father that he hardly visited and Khushi was practically handling the entire business, occasionally consulting Rohan when needed. All the designing work was now handled by her team of designers and she mostly supervised their work and concentrated on the clients.
One afternoon she was sitting in her cabin going through some paperwork when there was a knock on the door and she looked up to see Rohan enter. She was quite surprised to see him as he hadn't visited in over a month now and hadn't even mentioned about coming here, the last time they had spoken.
"Rohan? Hi! What a pleasant surprise!" Khushi smiled and got up to greet him.
"Hi Khushi!" He replied formally.
Khushi was a little surprised by his behaviour. Normally he would always be cheerful and happy to come to the Studio since it was his first project. But today he looked quite serious and maybe even upset about something.
"Is everything alright Rohan? You seem worried about something." She asked.
Rohan sat on the sofa in her cabin and she took a seat opposite to him.
"Khushi I need to talk to you about something and it is really serious." Rohan looked at her in a no nonsense manner."
She nodded, "Yes Rohan. Tell me what is it?"
"You know why we started this studio right? My father wanted me to prove myself." He said.
"Yes I know. But why are you bringing it up now." She asked confused.
He hesitated for a moment and then spoke. "Actually Khushi... Dad thinks... He thinks the purpose for which Emerald Design Studio was started has been fulfilled. RC Creations already has a bridal section in it and there is no need to have a separate studio anymore."
Khushi felt as if the earth beneath her feet was shaking and her head spun a little. In complete shock, she barely whispered, "Which means?"
Rohan rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his palms. "Dad and the Board of Directors have decided to close Emerald."
"Nooo..." Khushi's heart sank. She sat in shock for quite some time and then spoke. "But why Rohan, it's not like we are performing bad. The figures are excellent. We are in remarkable profit. And how could YOU let this happen? Does Emerald not mean anything to you now?" She looked at him helplessly.
"I hate it Khushi, trust me I hate it. I have been fighting against it for over a month now. That's why I haven't been visiting much. But this morning they had a board meeting where majority voted in favour of closing Emerald stating that it was just another extra entity. All willing employees will be absorbed into RC Creations. They especially don't want to lose a designer like you." Rohan replied.
"But I am a partner in Emerald too. Ain't I? Didn't they think of notifying me before taking such a big decision?" Khushi tried to argue but Rohan just shook his head helplessly.
"You and I are partners in the profit Khushi. That's it. We can't make decisions about the continuation of the studio. The decision is made and as you know Emerald essentially runs under RC. As per policies, the Board of Directors have every right to close it down if they decide." He replied.
"Dad has asked us to stop taking new projects and complete the existing projects as soon as possible. We... we... have one month." He completed helplessly.
"So soon?" Khushi was feeling as if the world was ending for her.
"We have to notify everyone here by this weekend so that they can decide if they would like to join RC Creations after the month is over. Do you want me to do it? I can speak to them right now." Rohan asked looking at Khushi's devastated state.
Khushi was on the verge of breaking down but she took a deep breath and replied. "No. I'll speak to every one in a couple of days. It may come as a shock to them if you announce it abruptly today." Though Rohan and Khushi had started the studio together, the staff was closer to Khushi that Rohan as she was present with them all the time.
Rohan nodded. "Once every one has been informed, they will start with the shut down and merging process."
"So it's not started yet?" Khushi asked in a blank voice.
"No. They are waiting for a week so that all the employees here are aware of this decision and have the time to decide if they want to leave or stay." He replied.
She just nodded.
"Khushi I really want you to think about this. It would be great if you decide to join RC Creations. We can continue to work together that way." Rohan almost pleaded.
Khushi looked at him with pain in her eyes. "I need to first accept the fact that this is actually happening Rohan, then I might be able to think about the future."
Rohan sighed and nodded. "I should leave now." He said and left from there.
Khushi sat where she was for a long time. She had gone completely blank. She felt as if the purpose of her life was being taken away from her. Her thoughts were interrupted when her phone started ringing on her desk. She rubbed her face with her palms and got up to answer the phone.
"Hi Khushi, I'm waiting outside." Arnav spoke.
"Arnav? What are you doing here so early?" She asked puzzled.
Arnav could sense there was something off about Khushi's voice. "Khushi are you alright? You asked me to take you to the temple this morning, remember? We had decided that I'll pick you up at 5:30. It's time." He said.
"Oh! Is it that late already? I didn't notice. Alright I'm coming." She replied in a dead voice.
In a trance she wrapped up her work. Informed her assistant Susie that she was leaving and to close the studio on time and walked out. One look at her and Arnav immediately knew that something was wrong, the way she was walking towards him lifelessly.
He immediately came forward and held her shoulders. "Khushi? What happened? Why do you look so lost? Is everything alright?"
Khushi looked up helplessly into his eyes that were full of concern. Something about the look in his eyes made her lose her control and she collapsed on his chest breaking down completely. As she continued to cry, Arnav helplessly comforted her, his worry growing by the minute.
After a while when her sobs subsided a little he guided her towards the car and made her sit and drink some water. He drove the car to the Mandir and took Khushi to sit under a large banyan tree. In the calm atmosphere of the temple, in the presence of her Devi Maiya, Khushi felt a little better.
"Khushi what has happened please tell me." He said cupping her cheek with one hand.
"Arnav... they... they are closing down my Emerald." She said and buried her face in her palms, dissolving into tears again.
"What? Who? Why?" Arnav was shocked to here it.
Khushi calmed herself and told him everything that Rohan had told her this afternoon.
"It's not about the work Arnav. It's the studio. Emerald has become a part of my life. I practically live it. I can't imagine it not existing in about a month. What do I do Arnav? I feel so lost. Like the meaning of my life is being taken away from me." She spoke.
Arnav put a comforting arm around her shoulder. He could understand what she was going through. He imagined what he would feel like if someone told him one day that there would be no AR and he shuddered at the thought.
"Khushi. Don't worry. Everything will be alright." He soothed her. "If you want you can join AR and manage the bridal division there."
She looked up at him in shock and he too froze realising what he had just said. Both of them knew that Khushi would never again step into AR let alone work there. Gathering himself he amended. "I mean we'll work out something Khushi, relax."
Khushi shook her head and closed her eyes, letting a few more tears escape. "Emerald is all I know. Nothing can replace it." She sobbed like a child.
They sat there for a long time. Arnav kept looking at her thinking hard. He then picked his phone up and made a call.
"Hello Akash, I want you to do something for me... Fix up an appointment with Ram Chaudhry from RC Creations. I want to meet him about buying Emerald Design Studio." Khushi gasped and stared at him speechlessly. But he continued to speak. "Yes Khushi's studio. They are planning to close it down and I want to take it over. Call them immediately and get the appointment fixed, preferably for tomorrow itself, before their shut down procedure begins."
"Arnav..." Khushi breathed wide eyed.
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