Hello my lovely people! I decided to put in a note of warning here. This is a pretty long (and possibly boring) part. So, I wanted give you guys a fair warning. There are no Arnav Khushi scenes here. There is a bit of reference to Shyam. Unfortunately, I have to move the story forward, so there was no other way. Otherwise, my FF will turn into one shots and that's not what I want. It's to reduce such parts that I've kept this one long and have tried to cover as much as possible. In that attempt, the story may seem a bit rushed. Please bear with me :-)
~Part 23~
By the time Arnav changed, watered his plants, and went downstairs, breakfast was served. He noticed that Khushi refused look in his direction, leave alone meet his eyes. He could see that she made sure that she was never even near him, leave alone be alone with him. Finally, they sat down in their usual positions opposite each other and ate.
Khushi had put all her concentration into avoiding Arnav. That was difficult considering they were in the same house and in the same room right now. She made sure to be around Nani or Anjali all the time. Even when she had to go to the kitchen, she made sure to call Jaiprakash with her by some excuse.
Arnav had carefully considered his options to make her stay back. He didn't think talking to her directly was the best option at this point. He briefly considered making some excuse to Anjali Di, but realized that she already has way too much context and would probably guess what he was up to.
He remembered that Akash had met Khushi's family and would probably be able to gauge what's going on in her house. After breakfast, while Khushi and Anjali were clearing up, he called Akash out for a walk and spoke to him rather breezily about how he was involving Khushi in some work and would not be able to relieve her from work by Wednesday.
"The problem is that I don't think I'll be the best person to talk to Khushi about this. Tum jaante ho na what the situation between us is. Plus, I know there's some stuff happening in her house in Lucknow. You've met her family, right?"
"Bhai.. family matlab I've met her sister Payal" said Akash rather uncomfortably.
"That's perfect. I know that her sister and her Buaji have gone to Lucknow together and expect her to join them by Wednesday. In fact, she is staying with us in the first place coz they went back."
"What?! Payal has left Delhi?!" exclaimed Akash.
"Er yes, what's wrong?" said Arnav.
"Oh.. er.. nothing.. just surprised."
"See Akash, right now I'm only thinking about how Khushi's leaving may not be the best thing for us. We don't have the time or bandwidth to find another employee at such short notice. While I was too involved in trying to get her fired, I did notice that she was able to cope with different kinds of work and take care of all of them. We have a bunch of projects starting tomorrow and Khushi might be perfect to oversee all the logistics in office so that things function smoothly."
"Yeah Bhai that makes sense. So what's the problem? Did she say that she wants to leave by Wednesday?"
"That's just the thing. I called her coz Arjun wanted her to attend the launch and then she has been working in the office. She was just serving her last week with AR and then was gonna collect her salary and leave Delhi. There are some problems back home apparently. I think it's in her best interest too if she stays back and continues to work with us. She can help her folks with the salary. I don't mind letting her continue to stay with us in case security is an issue."
"Oh OK. What were you hoping that I could help with? Why did you ask me if I know Payal?"
Here goes nothing, thought Arnav and said "See, I was wondering if you can reach out to Payal somehow and find out the situation in her house. If it's mostly a financial crunch, I think you should be able to convince her to let Khushi work here coz I don't think she's going to be able to help as much financially by working anywhere in Lucknow. You can assure her that we can let her stay with us since she would obviously be worried about Khushi's security when they are not around."
Akash tried not to look too excited as he replied "Oh I think that's a brilliant idea Bhai. Obviously she won't be happy letting Khushi be in Delhi alone. If that's the case I think I'll ask her to come here and stay with Khushi too."
"What?!"
"Er.. I mean.. Let me talk to her. I don't want to be too pushy you see. I'll let you know how it goes."
He tried to hurry away, when Arnav stopped to ask "Fine fine, but do you have her number?"
"Oh" said Akash "Er.. No.. but I'm sure I can figure something out.. from Khushi's employment files or something. Let me dig around a bit. Leave it to me Bhai."
"Ok cool" said Arnav, relieved.
In spite of it being a Sunday, Akash pulled some strings with their staff and managed to get Khushi's Lucknow number literally within an hour. He dialled the number and waited.
"Hello?" his heart raced when he realized that Payal picked up the phone.
"Er.. hello.. Payal?"
"Ji.. Aap kaun?"
"Er.. Payal.. er.. mai Akash bol rahaa hu.. er.. Akash Singh Raizada.. er Bhai ka bhai.. er mera matlab hai ki Arnav Singh Raizada ka bhai.."
"Oh.. Akash ji.. er .. ji kahiye.. sab theek toh hai na? Khushi theek toh hai na?"
"Haan haan Khushi bilkul theek hai. Woh actually maine issliye phone kiya ki.. matlab.. dekhiye mai aur bhai aaj subah baat kar rahe the.. kal se humaare office mei kaafi projects shuru ho rahi hai toh zyaada kaam hai.. toh hum soch rahe the ki agar Khushi ji contract ko khatam karne ke baad AR group ke saath permanently kaam karengi toh.. matlab aapka kya khyaal hai?"
"Ji? Akashi ji ye toh.."
"Dekhiye Payal, pehle meri puri baat sun lijiye phir faisla bataiyega. Bhai bataa rahe the ki aapke ghar pe kuch financial problems chal rahe hai.. agar iss waqt Khushi Delhi mei kaam karengi toh ghar pe zyaada madad kar payengi.. Humaara bhi mushkil hal ho jaayega kyunki hume itne kam waqt mei naye employee ko nahi dhoondna padega.."
Payal thought for a bit and said "Dekhiye Akash ji aap sahi keh rahe hai.. lekin zara sochiye hum Khushi ko akele Delhi mei kab tak rehne de sakte hai? Humaara matlab hai ki contract ki vaje se hum ek hafte ke liye maan gaye the.. woh bhi kyunki woh aap logo ke ghar par reh rahi hai.. lekin yahaa ke haalaat aise hai ki humaari Buaji filhaal vaapis Delhi nahi jaayengi.. Lucknow mei humaare ghar par humaare amma bauji ke saath hi rukengi.. toh aise mei.."
"Theek hai Payal ji agar aisa hai toh I've another proposal for you.. aap chaahe toh aap aake Khushi ke saath humaare ghar pe reh sakti hai.. toh unke akele hone ka problem solved.."
"Ji?! Ye aap kya keh rahe hai? Khushi toh wahaa kaam karti hai.. hum aake.."
"Aap chaahe toh aap bhi humaare saath kaam kar sakti hai.. mera matlab hai mere saath.. Like I said, we are going to be very busy.. kaafi travel karna padega etc. Khushi office ke aur Bhai ke kaam sambhaal legi.. jab mai aur Bhai alag alag projects pe kaam karenge toh I could do with some help too.. toh aap mere saath kaam kar sakti hai.."
"Akash ji hum.."
"Payal.. don't tell me now.. Mera number le lijiye aur sochke mujhe iss number pe call karke bataaiye.. aapka faisla sunke mai aur Bhai Khushi se baat karenge.. jaldbaazi mei faisla mat kijiye.. I think this isa good thing for all of us involved.. So.. kya mai aapka call expect karu?"
There was a momentary pause. Then, Payal said "Akash ji aap sahi keh rahe hai. Khushi aur hum Delhi mei naukri karenge toh amma bauji ki madad ho jayegi.. Hum unse baat karke unko manaa lenge.. aap Khushi ko bataa dijiye ki hum jald se jald pahunch rahe hai.."
Akash smiled "Thank you Payal.. Mai Khushi ko bataa dunga.. Let me know when you are coming.. Mai aapko.. er I mean I'll arrange for you to be picked up.."
"Thank you Akash ji.. kyunki aapne kahaa ki kaam kal se shuru ho rahaa hai, hum kal tak pahunchne ki koshish karenge.. amma bauji se baat karke aapko phone kar denge"
"Theek hai.. Bye Payal, see you soon" Akash hung up and punched the air.
He jogged to Arnav's room where Arnav was working on the laptop. "Done Bhai!" he said grinning.
Arnav looked up and said "what?"
"Payal se baat ho gayi meri.. woh kal tak aa rahi hai.."
"Kya?! Tum ye baat karnewaale the?"
"Er.. mera matlab hai ki.. listen to me Bhai.. like I said, she was very concerned about leaving Khushi alone here.. so I offered her a job with me and asked her to come and stay with Khushi.. either way, I've been thinking of hiring help for myself since Khushi will be with you and can oversee work in office in general.."
"Oh.. I guess that makes sense.. so does that mean Khushi and Payal will go back and stay with their aunt then?" said Arnav uneasily. The brothers looked at each other wearily.
Akash said "You know what? I don't think so. I think we should offer to let them stay here with us. I mean, their Buaji is staying back in Lucknow, so I don't think they should stay alone, right? They are our responsibility since they will work with AR."
"Yeah of course. Yeah they can just stay with us. Di ko bataa denge"
"Haan Bhai. Mai Khushi ko bataa deta hu. Payal wanted me to let her know that she'll arrive soon."
Arnav said "You don't bother.. Khushi ko mai bol dunga.." He started to walk off when Akash stopped him.
"Bhai I wanted to tell you something funny. I told you I'll dig up Khushi's employment files for the number, right? So, I had to talk to a bunch of people from several of our offices and outlets to finally get the details. Guess who got her this job in the first place? Jeejaji! Can you believe that?"
Arnav stared at Akash. "What? Jeejaji got Khushi this job?"
"Yeah Bhai. Even I was quite surprised. But, the manager at the other office said that the job was supposed to be for that office, but due to some mix up, she ended up at the main office. But he read out Jeejaji's full name for me. He, of course, didn't know he's our Jeejaji. He just said that she was referred by Shyam Jha. How nice of him na? Anyway, I'm gonna go get some water, don't forget to talk to Khushi" said Akash and left the room.
Arnav was still thinking about what Akash said. Something did not seem right. How is it possible that Jeejaji referred Khushi? He thought of all the times that Khushi's name came up in his house. Several times from his mouth and some other times from his Di's. A few times from Maami and Naani too. He clearly remembered saying her full name in front of his Jeejaji a couple of times. If he had gotten Khushi the job, how is it possible that he didn't recognize her name? Especially when they spoke of a Khushi work in AR? Where Jeejaji himself got her the job?
He thought of the times when Jeejaji met Khushi. He realized that was none. Somehow, they always seemed to miss each other. He thought of Khushi's reactions at the mention of his Jeejaji and realized that no one has really said his full name in front of Khushi. Arnav felt a sinking feeling in his heart. Something really wasn't adding up and he had a bad feeling about it.
He decided to bring it up with Khushi casually. Anyway, he had to talk to her about the job. He went out of his room just in time to see Khushi walk into hers.
"Khushi" he called from his door and she stopped in her tracks. He knew she was tensed because of the way he had been behaving with her. Right now, however, he had other things on his mind. "Mujhe tumse kuch baat karni hai" he said and walked towards her. She was staring at him. He gestured her inside her room and said "andar baat karte hai."
They went in and he asked her to sit on a chair while he took the one opposite it.
"First of all, meri poori baat sun lena, beech mei kuudke kuch mat bolna" he started.
She scowled, but didn't say anything. "Good" he said and started "Mai aur Akash aaj baat kar rahe the. We have a lot of important projects starting and we dont have the time to go looking for new employees. Tum office mei kaam kar chuki ho. Mai jaanta hu ki haalaat ajeeb the. Lekin ab sab badal gaya hai. Mai soch raha tha ki iss contract ko aur usse judi baato ko bhulaake you should starting working with AR permanently. As my executive assistant. Tumhara job description includes arranging everything for me and also taking care of the logistics in office. Before you jump, puuri baat suno. Akash Payal se baat kar chuka hai. Woh bhi sochit hain ki iss waqt tumhaare ghar ke liye achcha hoga ki tum dono Delhi mei kaam karo. Issliye Payal bhi kal tak Delhi aane ki koshish kar rahi hai. Woh Akash ke saath kaam karnewaali hai. I know this is a lot of information, so think about it. Aur ek baar apni behen ko phone karlo. Toh sab samajh jaaogi."
Khushi was sitting open mouthed. It really was a lot of information. Akash sir? Jiji? She wondered what had been happening in the past hour.
Arnav got up to leave, then turned around and said "Oh by the way, tumhe Shyam Jha ne refer kiya tha?"
Khushi looked up, a bit distracted. "Ji.. aap jaante hai unhe?"
Arnav closed his eyes briefly as he felt the sinking feeling deepen. Then he said "Shaayad.. unless we're talking about different people.. Kya woh recently ek accident ki vaje se crutch use kar rahe hai?"
"Haan wahi hai Shyam ji.."
"Tum kaise jaanti oh unko?"
"Woh pehle hume Lucknow mei mile the.. Phir Delhi mei Buaji ke ghar pe woh kiraai pe rehte the.. unhone humaari kaafi madad ki.."
"Oh.. theek hai.. tum Payal ko call kar lo.. I'll see you later"
Arnav felt like his worst nightmares were coming true as he was walking out of Khushi's room.
~End of Part 23~
Anupamaa
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