Arnav rechecked all the papers again and then flattened the corners of the already crisp sheets, out of nervousness. It was a long time since he had felt this nervous before a meeting, normally he would be confident, ready to attack whoever his clientele were but this was different he couldn't go in 'guns-blazing', he had to keep his cool and stay calm for this was a 'deal' he had to get, on all costs. He buttoned, then unbuttoned his coat, checked his reflection in his phone again, he didn't want to appear hostile. He had to appear calm, cool, in-control in order to stop himself from getting carried away by his emotions once Viraj came in through the doors because the last thing he wanted was to have a repeat episode of Viraj's living room, as that would help neither of them or Aarav, if anything it would make things worse. He reached for his glass of water and gulped a big sip. Wow! It was weird he was so nervous! He didn't understand, he had done hundreds of meeting before and never gotten nervous then why was he fidgeting today? Well then again this wasn't like any of the other meetings, this would determine his future, not just his but everyone connected to him. This would decide whether he would actually get to see his son, and not just see him but raise him. It would decide whether Di would forgive him. Whether he deserved the love and support Nani had been offering him. Whether he would be able to earn Khushi's trust and respect back. But most importantly whether he would be able to right the wrong he had done to Sheetal, whether he could do right by her son when he hadn't by his mother and thereby manage to earn her forgiveness when he met her in the hereafter. Yes, a lot depended on this meeting...
Beep! The sound of the intercom brought a halt to Arnav's thoughts. Mr Roy answered it.
'Yes? Right. Ok.' With that he put the phone down and turned to face Arnav, 'Sir that was the clerk from the lobby, he just informed me that they are here, and are making their way up as we speak.'
Arnav gave a curt nod, unable to say anything else. Suddenly the collar around his neck turned into a noose that seemed to be tightening by the second. Agitated he tugged at it, but found it as loose as always, yet the feeling of suffocation increased and started developing into nausea. He reached for the glass of water, hoping that might help this feeling of nausea and suffocation go away. In his edginess he hit his phone whilst trying to pick up the glass, causing it to slip and land on the seat next to him, bouncing up and causing the screen to lighten up. He stopped as the screen lit up, for it displayed Khushi's picture. Seeing her asleep all calm and peaceful began to spread the warmth of serenity back in him. He picked up the phone and stared hard at it for a few moments, until all the nervousness, suffocation and nausea evaporated away leaving him relaxed, peaceful and as confident as he had been when he had left Shantivan. When he had heard Khushi's voice. Had received her 'good luck Arnav ji'. He replayed that sweet voice in his mind and that did the trick: he was in full control of himself. It was funny, before, her mere presence made him lose complete control over himself and his emotions, but today it was her who brought it back to him. He smiled at the thought of her, but before the smile turned into a sigh of longing, he checked himself: he needed to stay focused during this meeting he needed to be thinking about Aarav, his son, not Khushi. Taking a deep breath and one last look at Khushi's slumbering photo, he turned the phone on silent, locked it and then got up to greet Viraj and his lawyer as the lift outside the room blinged, announcing their arrival before they entered the room.
The door opened and in walked a man Arnav had seen before causing him to stop in his advance, confused. He had been expecting Viraj but this was not him, unless he had lost immense amounts of weight, experienced massive hair-loss and grown a French-beard in the past month...oh and also gone under major facial reconstruction... Arnav smirked, internally at the thought of Viraj going under surgery, facial or otherwise, he wouldn't mind being the reason for it; but then he caught himself before his thoughts turned wild in regard to Viraj, he needed to be poised during this meeting, not impersonating 'The Hulk'.
Seeing Arnav puzzled by his arrival, the man introduced himself, 'I am Mr. Gaurav Deshmuk, LL.B. I am the lawyer of M-', but before he could continue he stopped as Arnav's face changed colour from the ordinary pink flush of his skin to a sickly pale grey of horror, as did his expression from calmness to confusion, to utter shock. It looked as though someone had brutally sucker-punched him causing all the colour, and with it everything inside of him, to drain, in a vivid yet very grotesque way.
Mr Deshmuk didn't understand this reaction and therefore turned to Mr Roy for help, but he also had turned white seeing his client in this condition. He did not understand what had brought about the change. He went at once to Arnav's side asking him what was the matter, but Arnav found his vocal chords to be paralysed.
'Mr Raizada! What is it? What is the issue? Tell me what is wrong...what can I do to help...do you feel any sort of pain? Should I call an ambulance?' But Arnav shook his head, he tried to say something but only guttural sounds came out of his mouth, nothing else. Mr Roy and Mr Deshmuk just stared at him, unable to comprehend why he was behaving this way, they couldn't decipher why the sudden turn around had come and that too moments after Mr Deshmuk had arrived.
Seeing their befuddled expressions Arnav motioned towards the door, still unable to voice the reason behind his terror. Just outside the door stood a woman Mr Roy had never seen before, she was on the phone with somebody and didn't seem to be too happy about it. Mr Roy didn't understand Arnav's anxiety, why was he so worried about the woman and then it dawned on him, Arnav had continually insisted no media coverage over this case as that would be very damaging not only to his whole family but to everyone concerned on the case. Annoyed at whoever had let the woman in, he placed Arnav in the nearest chair and stomped over to the woman clad in fashionable red pumps, skinny navy jeans, black blouse and a crisp blue blazer. She had a large Gucci hand-bag dangling on her forearm, her brown hair was tied back in a pony tail while her bony hands cradled the phone she was yelling unintelligible words into.
Mr Roy approached her with all his authority, 'Excuse me, Miss? Who gave you the permission to be here, this is a closed meeting, no outsiders allowed. I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Now.' He said indignantly.
However, she didn't seem to be bothered by him, instead she held up her index finger at him, motioning him to hold on while she ended her call, causing Mr Roy to become shocked by her imprudence.
'Ok you fool, just leave it. I'll deal with it once I get back to the office. Now don't disturb me and don't try to create anymore mishaps while I'm away!!' with that she snapped the phone shut, squeezed the bridge of her nose with her freshly manicured fingers, took a deep breath to suppress the anger she felt bubbling inside of her due to her irresponsible PA and then finally looked up at Mr Roy. 'Yes, what were you saying?'
'I-' but she cut him off, infuriating him even more at her rudeness.
'Oh yes, you were asking me to leave. Well, just to inform you I had no wish to come here myself but your client in there forced me to, so if you don't want me here tell him to stop acting so scandalously.'
'I beg your pardon. How dare you speak of my client in such a way. He has done no such thing that you accuse him of! And as I said before, this is a closed meeting and you were not invited so can you please leave before I ask someone to escort you out.' With that Mr Roy turned to buzz security but found his way blocked by Mr Deshmuk, 'Excuse me Mr Roy, but I thought you said this was going to be a civilised settlement meeting,' bewildered at Mr Deshmuk's sudden proximity, he only managed to nod as he took a step back. He didn't understand the reason behind this sudden statement from Mr Deshmuk. 'Well if that was the case than why are you being rude to my client and asking her to leave?'
'Your client?' now Mr Roy was completely baffled, what was Mr Deshmuk talking about. Wasn't this the settlement regarding Aarav, or may be that was later today and right now this was one of Mr Raizada's business meetings...but how could that be...it didn't make sense...
'Yes my client. This is Ms.-'
'Sheetal.' Croaked Arnav, finally.
****
yes you can throw all the rotten tamatars and rotten eggs you want to at me for stopping here...but give me some slack I am a writer, even if a mediocre one and so like the many great authors before me I will leave you with this un-clipped grenade until my next update...😛 which will be soon I promise as having been on the other end I know only too well that need to read the next chapter so won't leave you in limbo for too long...promise...😊
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