Part 2
Rush hours
The alarm was set at 6:00 to make sure she wasn't late. If out of all things that she remembered about Sujal then it was how much disciplined he was about certain things. There were no late nights on the working days and no late mornings. If he meant sharp at eight then that meant not a minute early or late.
After she returned home last night, she had thought many times to break out of the unreasonable proposal had been laid in front of her. Yet she also knew that she needed the money in the next twelve hours or her mother's operation was never going to take place. Sujal was her only hope right then. She most bravely had told him that she would choose the nights but she just couldn't make herself agree to that at all.
Whatever it was she had to get ready to work with him in the office, which meant to breathe in the same space as him. That was going to be very difficult.
Her buzzer beeped again alerting her that she had only ten minutes to reach his office, so she quickly grabbed her bag and left out of the door to catch a taxi quickly. All the time her attention was on her watch as time ran like a marathon each second and she didn't want to be late at any costs.
Garewal industries
Garewal industries, what could be said about one of the most globally elite businesses of date. Eventhough the main base was in London, England but it had vastly spread throughout the world in not more than two years and the business which had shut down in India had bloomed to amense popularity and prosperity.
Yet when Sheena entered, she almost felt suffocated as sure to be in an office like that was like a dream come true but she found it all revolting. Not because she didn't appreciate the high class atmosphere and the hardworking people. But just because it all belonged to a self centered egoistic arrogant pig. That's how harshly she felt about Sujal.
With those running thoughts she reached the floor where his office was and waited at the reception as there were some problems with recognition. Since Sujal hadn't given her an appointment letter his receptionist was not ready to let her through.
Now of course it was Sujal's ploy to make Sheena feel the first bit of the insults coming her way. He had never chosen this but he had to admit that he had been plotting a scheme since the time she betrayed him. A scheme as to how he would teach her a lesson to never mess with Sujal Garewal ever again. Then there was the meeting in the party last night and her beauty had once again swept him off his feet and he had almost fallen for her again but his hatred was stronger which snapped him out quick enough to have set the proposal. He knew very well she won't be able to refuse because she hadn't been able to refuse him before so how was she going to do now? "Oh Sheena when I'm done with you, you'll beg me to stop yet I won't and then you'll beg for more and more and that's when I'll choose to stop."
Just as his thought ended the door of his cabin opened and she stood right in front of him. Her complexion still glowed even in all the stress she went through but he knew how to change all that. He was going to make her work so hard that all her beauty was going to go into the trash. Her deceitful beauty.
"You're late." He said most sternly without giving her another glance but of course he knew exactly what she wore and how she looked.
She could have used the same attitude yet she knew it was going to increase problems rather than decreasing. "I was on time but your receptionist had some serious issues."
He smirked, "your habit has still not changed of blaming others for your own faults." He stood up and leaned against the desk with his arms folded.
"And neither has your's for never believing anything." She looked at him with spite.
Of course he hated that and had to show who was in control. "I'm not here to discuss your character attributes. You're late today so it better not happen again." He picked something up from the table. "Come here." He ordered as if he was some sort of a king.
Sheena was not ready to tolerate that at all yet unfortunately she didn't have much choice but to abide. She walked and stood beside him.
He then showed her the papers. "Sign this contract." He then sat on his leather chair. Then he saw she looked at the papers with horror which quite amused him. "Now come on Sheena it's the contract you've made with me. Not like I'm telling you to sign our marriage agreement."
Now if she had ever hated anything then it was that sarcasm which he always thought was too funny yet it was very irritating. However just to make sure it was indeed the one he had made with her she read it. yes it was what he had said yet the way he had written the ten nights made her feel low. It appeared as if he had turned her into a courtesan.
"Now if your enquiry has ended then sign it as you'v got a lot of work to do madam." He made sure he was properly understood.
Without further delay she signed it as she also wanted to show him how much less scared she was of him. If there was anything she was scared of was herself. She was afraid of loosing herself to him again.
As all the formalities were taken care of he leaned back. "Good. Now go and make coffee for me."
"Excuse me?" she made a distasteful face.
Sujal appeared displeased. "You heard me, go and get coffee for me. You're my personal assistant. Do you understand that? Personal assistant which means you take care of all my personal requirements. Now go and get my coffee." He turned away to his file waiting for her to leave.
There wasn't anything left to do or say so she stomped off to her duty. She knew very well he did it on purpose so she had to prepare herself for more atrocities her way. Yes it would have been easier to have just given him the ten nights but her soul was just not agreeing.
After she left he put the file down and thought about her only. He knew she hated his attitude, after all that's what he wanted her to feel. Although he could still see through her eyes how sad she looked but then again she had turned his life miserable too. Yes her mother was ill and he genuinely wanted to help but he wanted his worth out of it too. "You'll give me everything Sheena with or without your will." Then he went back to his work.
If Sheena had thought that the morning was terrible then the show had just begun. No matter how headstrong she remained in fulfilling each and every task he put in front of her, she felt bad more and more. He had loaded her with emending tasks and that she had to finish in very unreasonable time limits. She was exhausted by lunch which she also couldn't enjoy because she was busy running after ordering his.
However she was hard to crack so she managed everything till dot as she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of mocking her. Even if it involved task after task and rush after rush. By the end of the day her feet felt like heavy logs and her head spun slightly yet she wasn't going to give up. Sujal had already given the check for her mother's treatement at the hospital so she had to reach before the operation took place. Yet she also knew he wasn't going to cut her slack earlier than the finish time. Yet she had to take her chances so she stepped inside his office without even bothering to knock as somehow she didn't feel any respect for him so what was the use of the formalities.
"I didn't hear a knock." He looked at her in a scary way.
She just ignored it and was less affected. "That's because I didn't knock." She stood with her hands on her hips. She sure hadn't lost that poise that she always held. The very thing which had made Sujal, fall for her before because she was totally different from everyone else. She had this 'I don't care about the world' attitude tagged with her which was highly intriguing. "I came here to ask if all the work has been done so may I leave now?"
Sujal thought over that and obviously wasn't going to agree. "What do you think of this place, a leisure club?" on purpose he didn't rasie his head out of the file to show her how less important she was. "You shall leave when your duty ends and there are still two hours left for that."
Sheena had expected that answer but somewhere she had had the hope that perhaps he would understand her as he had done in the past. But now that she thought of it, he never really had understood her. "I'm not asking for a leisure break. My mother's operation is going to happen this evening so it's very important for me to be there with her right now."
Of course he wasn't as stone hearted as she thought he was yet he still had to make it difficult for her. To show he wasn't that lenient man anymore who had done everything she had asked for or given her anything she had asked for. "I've got all the details and the operation is not even going to take place till ten at night so you'll have enough time to go there and be with her after your duty finishes."
"You really have killed the compassion in you." She looked very sad and for that instant watery look in her eyes, he almost melted yet he knew they were nothing but lying to him.
"I'm glad you noticed." He stood up with a pile of heavy files in his hand. "I want all of these put back into order and rechecked." Then he went back to his desk not waiting for an answer.
It sure burned her with rage and if she would have had the chance then she would have slammed all the files on his head. Yet she was bound down by the contract and right then she couldn't take the chances as her mother's life was at stake. She banged the door behind her almost missing the glass cracking.
Sujal was well aware of how much she should be with her mother and he had it all in control. He had got all the information and knew that she would have plenty of time before the operation took place. "If only you would have understood me, Sheena then today would have been a different story."
After Sheena returned back to her cabin she burst into tears. Never had she thought she would have had to go through all that. Never had she thought she would have had to beg in order to be with her own mother. "Aise kyu hogaye ho tum Sujal?" she continued to cry for the next minute or two but then got back to work as she knew if she didn't finish it then he would just find another way to bash her.
She was lucky that all the work was finished in time and as soon as she delievered it, it was time to leave and she didn't waste any time or even inform him and left as quickly as she could. Her mother needed her right then as it was just her in her life.
Next morning
The operation had gone successfully and her mother was now recovering. Sheena was very much relieved yet she had spent the whole night beside her without winking an eye. She couldn't think life without her mother as she needed her in each and every step she took. She was grateful to God for saving her yet she was terribly despondent about the fact that god wasn't the only one involved. The devil was also there who at one side saved her life but on the other had snatched it all from her.
Not have had any sleep in the night she was very tired and apparently had fallen into the clutches of slumber around dawn. Yet she was robbed of that peace too because her phone jerked her up. "Hello?" she spoke in her sleepy tired voice.
"You're late once again." He subtly scolded her.
It made her check the time and saw it was nine. She was so late but what could she have done as it didn't happen unintentionally. Plus she wanted a day off to be with her mother. "I'm at the hospital."
Sujal was not ready to understand. "I expect you to be here in ten minutes or else." He cut the call before Sheena could have laid him down with a lot of complaints.
"Aaargh! If only I could strangle that sufferable man with my own bare hands." She banged the phone down onto the bed and then quickly got up to leave. She wasn't going to tolerate him bad mouthing her again if she got late. This time she was going to charge on him instead.
Garewal Industries
"I think you're forgetting who you are Miss Sheena Khanna." As soon as she reached his cabin he took her school. "You're my personal assistant which means you are expected to be with me whenever I call you. No matter what." He had this firmness in his tone to show his power over her.
"You know very well where I was and that is my personal problem which I don't feel important enough to discuss with you." Her eyes still held that watery sadness which he just wanted to ignore.
He came very close, so close that she was forced to move back and leaned against the wall. He was at a very dangerous distance and that's what he wanted to see in her eyes. Fear and worry towards him so she would know her line perfectly. "Abse tumhaaree her personal problems sirf mujhse juri rehni chaheeye."
There was this powerful aura around him which made her follow eventhough she hated him so much. She had to admit he still smelt the same sweet smell which had intoxicated her numerous times and the same affect was happening then. His hypnotizing eyes had her engaged totally and she wondered what it would have had been like if they wouldn't have been the two sides of the coin.
The spell was broken with him stepping away, "then again if you can't comply then I would just be forced to..."
Sheena knew what his next line was going to be so she interrupted him, "You don't need to remind me anything." She crossed her arms across her chest. "I've gotten into this contract with my consent and I know what I've got to do." Then with a spice of sarcasm, "so SIR shall we begin today's schedule?"
He didn't answer that and just handed her a list of all the letters that needed to be typed and then had to be mailed in various places. She also left without any further communication between them.
Another tiresome day was spent with him making her run around from here to there. She did everything he asked her to do, not once showing him how tired she was. She wasn't going to let him win in that game. If torture was what he wanted to do then he could but she was never going to become his entertainment.
When the day was over, once again she left without taking the liberty to inform him. She had waited the whole day to be with her mother and worry had taken over her when she had called at lunch and had found out that there were slight problems with her breathing. She would have left everything and gone to her but Sujal had held her back so she was stuck.
The hospital
As she reached her mother's room she was relieved to see she was alright yet was put on the oxygen mask to help her breath. Instant tears fell out of her eyes to see her suffer like that but then she wiped them away quickly. She had to be strong for her otherwise she was never going to recover.
Half an hour later her phone rang and when she saw it was the monster on the otherside she so much wanted to ignore it. She couldn't understand why he couldn't leave her alone in her own time. She left the room in order for her mother to not hear. "Yes, if you're wondering where I am then I'm at the hospital with my mother."
Sujal paused for a minute before he answered. "There is a very important meeting at a party at eight tonight and you're coming with me."
"What!" she couldn't believe that guy. "I'm sorry SIR but I can't leave my mother here alone."
Like as if that excuse ever affected him. "Your mother is in a hospital where she is treated well so you don't necessarily have to be with her all the time." He sighed. "And I'm not asking I'm telling you." Then he looked at his watch. "I'm sending someone over to look after her in your absence so you've got fifteen minutes. You better not be late." He cut the call.
She kicked the bench outside in dire frustration. "What the hell does he think of himself." She wanted to yell out but she knew she couldn't so just cursed him under her breath. "Ghulaam banake rakh diya hain." Then she cursed her fate that she was bound down by the unfortunate circumstances which had forced her to become so low into accepting his digusting proposal. Her tears had flooded her face by then as she sat down sulking. Then she remembered she couldn't be late so she quickly went inside and comforted her mother that she had some important work to do. She would finish it quickly and come back. Until then her friend was going to stay with her. It was very hard for her to leave her like that with a stranger but she had to hold that much faith into Sujal that he wasn't going to send a creep.
After had made sure the man was decent she left in order to sell herself once again in front of the society with none other than the one man whom she had loved and trusted in the whole world once upon a time.
Love Friendship Dating and Relationships
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