||Can I Have Your Number?||ArHiSS: NewNote pg65 - Page 3

It was well past midnight the same day as Arnav strode into his eerily quiet mansion and up to his room. He had managed to stop the Mehras from leaving and clear the misunderstanding that had clearly occurred at the conference before he had arrived. Thankfully, their contract with AR was saved, but his PA's phone in the hands of that random girl worried him.

He had made it clear that it was his company phone, and that she would be stealing if she kept it, yet he didn't want to report it to the police. After their initial conversation, he was tempted to do so immediately but something had changed his mind when he witnessed her performance in the hotel lobby.

She could not be dangerous, not with that long, neat plait and tight salwar kameez with obnoxiously noticeable pom poms dangling from her shoulders. Arnav knew it wasn't a lie that she was not Sim's friend, or from any rival company for that matter. However, he needed a new PA immediately as his old one seemed to have made a dash for it. All his emails and messages were routed to that number, and he needed someone to remind him of his work schedule for the month. There was no possible way he could let the girl keep the phone.

Making up his mind, he dialed his old PA's number, forgetting about how late it was.

o o o O o o o

Khushi had just finished calling the hotel to update them with her new phone number, stressing on how important it was not to call her previous number. The last thing she wanted was for them to call that thief and tell him about her precious ring that they had finally found.

She also called Payal, whose number she knew by heart, to pass on her new number to the rest of her friends in case one of them found her ring. Exhausted from the day's events, she was just about to sink into her warm bed when her stupid new phone began ringing again.

Khushi groaned as she realized it was Arnav. Why couldn't he leave her alone and just buy a new phone or hire a new PA? "What?" she snapped.

"Excuse me?" She heard him respond on the other end. Khushi could just picture his handsome face scowling as he talked, and then immediately dismissed the thought. She was an engaged woman, engaged. Besides, it didn't matter how good looking he was. He was annoying, rude, and just like a Laad Governor! However, her thoughts were once again interrupted with his stern and angry voice. "Just because you stalled those men for me does not mean you can keep this phone. I don't think you understand. This is my company's phone. You cannot just take it; I could report you for theft! I could have you behind bars within a day."

Khushi actually stilled in fear as his words hit her. He wouldn't have her arrested, would he? Did he not realize how important it was for her to have a cell phone?

"Haww, you can't do that! I mean, please, please don't do that! I promise you that I will send you every single message, email, voice recording, anything that is sent to you. I promise! I'll forward everything!" Khushi pleaded, "I will almost be your unofficial PA, and the only payment I'd need in return is to keep the phone. See? I'm actually saving your company money!"

"That won't work."

God, this man was a devil. Why didn't he understand? She needed a phone number; she needed to be notified immediately if anyone found her ring, and if she gave her home number, she could accidentally miss the call. "Why won't it work? I promise I will do everything I said! Just give me a chance, just one day. I will send everything, and if you're not satisfied by the end of tomorrow, I will give the phone back."

Arnav sighed. This woman was crazy, nuts, absolutely pagal. Why should he even trust her? She was random stranger, yet she had actually helped him today. Still, he couldn't take such a big chance with someone he hardly knew as his PA handled some of his most confidential emails. It seemed as if she had read his mind, because a second later she quickly said, "And I won't read anything, nothing! Promise, I won't even open a single email. Please just don't report me!"

Khushi, taking the silence on the other line as a yes, beamed. "Thank you so much! Thank you, thank you Arnav sir! I really appreciate it!." She clicked the end button as soon as she had finished, cutting his protests off midway.

A second later she received a text from him.

'One day. Only one day. I do not even know why I am agreeing to this. If you mess up, I'll have you arrested.'

Khushi's eyes grew wide and she fumed as she texted back.

'You can't have me arrested. You agreed to let me keep the phone for a day so it's not stealing anymore :P'

'Don't talk to me like that, or else I'm taking back what I said.'

Gulping, Khushi texted one last time.

'Goodnight, I really really appreciate it, thanks! :)"

'My night is spoiled because of you.'

'Laad governor!' Khushi thought infuriated, turning the lights off in her bedroom and snuggling into her pillow. Nothing ruined her night enough to forgo her beauty sleep.

o o o O o o o

Khushi was awaken with numerous beeps and groaned, pushing her face further into her pillow until her Buaji threw her bedroom door open.

"Sankadevi! You are so lazy! It's already 8 AM and you're not awake yet?" She marched over to Khushi's bed and pulled her bedsheets off. "You are so lucky that someone like Shyam has agreed to marry you."

Khushi grumbled under her breath and slowly got up, "I am up Buaji. I had a long night yesterday." She hated it when her aunt shoved it down her throat that Shyam was too good for her. In fact, she wouldn't even be in this situation if her parents had not passed away in a car accident when she was just ten years old. Not having any other close relatives, Khushi was sent to her widowed aunt's house and though her Buaji had taken good care of her, she had always scolded Khushi for some reason or another.

Shyam had been a tenant in their house for a few months about half an year ago, and during his stay, he had taken an interest in Khushi that was not reciprocated. However, her Buaji had forced her into the alliance just recently by convincing her that no other good proposal would come her way and that Shyam was more than Khushi could ever hope for. She had also played with Khushi's emotions by claiming that her health was receding and that she would never forgive her if Khushi did not get married before she passed away.

'You can't even do this much for me Khusi?' her Buaji had pleaded. 'After you parents passed away, I took you in even though I did not need to. I raised you like a daughter and this is how you repay me?'

Khushi closed her eyes to will the hurt away. It was not that Shyam was a bad person or even unattractive, but whenever she looked at him, she felt nothing. There was no emotion involved in their relationship as far as she was concerned. Her Buaji snapped her out of her reverie and left after warning her to get dressed quickly.

Sighing, she grabbed her new found cell phone off her desk and not wanting to face the wrath of the Laad Governor again, began forwarding all the emails and messages he had received. There were quite a few from a certain 'Lavanya Kashyap' and Khushi was tempted to open them due to interesting subjects the girl had written. The first was 'YOUR INITIALS SHOULD BE ASS, NOT ASR' and the second 'I HATE YOU!'

Giggling internally, Khushi resisted the temptation and was about to forward another email when the phone starting ringing. Though she did not recognize the number, she picked up to tell them that it was not Sim's number anymore when the voice on the other line immediately starting speaking. The voice was deeper than natural, as if someone had tried to disguise their voice.

"Don't say anything, everything is under control. Remember, the blame is on the sky."

With that, they had cut the call and Khushi just stared at the phone. 'Kya? What was that even about? Didn't even make any sense!'

Shrugging, she proceeded to the bathroom to take a nice, long shower and drown away all her worries.

o o o O o o o

Arnav glanced down as his phone beeped repeatedly with new emails for that day.

'So Khushi sent them like she promised,' he thought, scanning through them to make sure that she had not missed any important ones that he was expecting. He did not want to admit it, but she had sent them even earlier than his former PA. In fact, anyone could be a better PA than Sim, but the last thing he was going to tell this Khushi was that she was better than his former employee. 'No matter how efficient she turns out to be, I will take the phone back today evening. I can't risk anything, not with the recent happenings at AR.'

His company, AR Designs, had always been one of the most reputed businesses of the fashion industry, but recently it had not been faring well. Although the contract with the Mehras had been saved, his company faced a series of rejections and refusals from every company that he had tried to do business with for the past month only because they had just sealed a contract for someone else. Arnav couldn't understand what was happening, and he began to grow suspicious of everyone working for him, fearing an insider. In fact, he had been conducting interviews for all his employees gradually over the weeks, hoping to come up with some information but nothing had come up yet.

This was possibly why he had let Khushi keep his company phone for a day. She seemed desperate, and she had done him a big favor by helping save the contract with the Mehras.

Thinking of her personalized singing greeting, Arnav smirked again. 'Pagal. What kind of a song was that anyway?'

o o o O o o o

The rest of the day passed by rather uneventfully for Khushi as she forwarded every single message that she received for Arnav.

'This is hard, maybe I should just Buaji for a new phone!' she considered, but as soon as she envisioned her aunt's fiery face as she told her that someone had stolen her cell phone she dropped the idea.

It was almost evening and Khushi was slightly tense about what Arnav had decided about her future with this cell phone when Buaji knocked on door. "Oye Sankadevi! Shyam babua is coming in a few minutes to take you out to dinner. Get ready quickly, and dress nicely!" Her Buaji was normally against young men and women meeting before marriage but Shyam had manipulated her aunt beyond repair

Groaning, Khushi dragged herself to her closet. Her evenings with Shyam were so boring, and for a girl like her, she could not stand uninteresting people. It was extremely unfair how she was being forced to marry him, but she refused to cry about it now as she had already spent a good two days doing just that after she had agreed to the marriage. Her only hope was that Shyam would sense her disinterest and cancel the marriage himself, but if he ever complained to her Buaji about her, than Khushi would never hear the end of it so she pretended to look as interested as she could possibly look while actually feeling completely uninterested.

The true reason behind her dislike for him was because he had not even heeded her words when she had informed him that she was against their marriage. She had almost begged him to cancel the marriage himself and tell his Buaji that she did not interest him but he had flatly refused every time, saying that he could not do it because he really did love her. The fact that neither her own aunt nor this man claiming to love her actually cared about her feelings had torn her apart, but over the months, she had accustomed herself to the fact that she would just have to marry him and adjust.

'He Devi Maiyya, what color would a person like Shyam hate?' Khushi pondered, rifling through her churidars and saris. She never wore a sari when she went out with Shyam, not daring to expose the slightest bit of skin. Finally picking out an ugly brown salwar kameez with a bit too many sequins and sparkles, she dressed herself and waited outside the small house, convincing Buaji that brown was her Shyam Babua's favorite color.

Shyam arrived a few minutes later, dressed in a plain white shirt and dress pants. He smiled a little too widely for Khushi's preference though she saw him scan her outfit in distaste. She bit back a grin and tried to smile back, though she stiffened when she touched her arm.

"I'll just greet Buaji and then we'll go, okay?" Shyam said, grazing her arm much too long for Khushi to handle. She shrugged away as slyly as she could and nodded.

He proceeded to go inside but stopped suddenly, "and did you find your engagement ring Khushi?"

She fidgeted nervously. "Um, not exactly, but I've told the hotel to contact me immediately once they find it. I'm sure it's there somewhere."

Shyam narrowed his eyes slightly, clearly displeased. "Right, well, I'll have to buy a new one if you don't find it, but I hope you're not as careless this time."

Khushi kept her head low as she felt her cheeks heating in embarrassment. The tension eased slightly as Shyam constantly chatted the entire way to the restaurant, and she actually felt a little better as she realized that for once it was a place that served Indian food. 'Atleast I will get jalebis!'

They were in the middle of an uninteresting dinner as usual when Khushi felt her phone ringing and that English song that seemed very awkward for their current setting blaring.

Shyam immediately looked up. "You got a new phone? Is that why your old number wasn't working? You should have told me Khushi."

"I, I was going to. I just got it today," Khushi lied, as she picked up the call and the annoying ringtone stopped playing.

"Why the hell haven't you been replying to my texts?" the Laad Governor's voice blared at her. "If you've forgotten, I need my phone back today."

Oh God, he could not have called at a worse time.

"Look, can we talk about this later?" Khushi said nervously, using her sweetest voice possible and inching away from Shyam.

"No, we cannot. Tell me where you are. I need to pick up my phone."

"This is a really bad time," Khushi continued, smiling a little at Shyam as he looked at her curiously. "I'll call you in about an hour, I promise."

"I'll be busy in an hour," Arnav said through gritted teeth. "Look, you really don't have a choice. If you don't tell me where you are, then I'll just have the phone tracked and find you anyway."

"Haww! Then I will give it to you tomorrow!" Khushi exclaimed. "Besides, what have I done wrong? I thought I was being a perfect PA!" By now, Shyam was giving her an almost suspicious look and she really hated Arnav at the moment for the bad timing. No matter how good looking he was. 'Ugh, where did that come from?'

Arnav frowned at her stubborn behavior. "This isn't about you being a good PA or not. This is about the fact that I have no idea who you are and cannot trust you with some of the most important information that my company receives, so will you tell me or should I track you?"

Gulping, Khushi cast a look at her annoyed fianc and told Arnav the name of the restaurant, deeming it a useless case anyway. After ending the conversation, she immediately said, "Shyamji, you see, um, that was my boss and he just needed to collect this phone for some work purpose."

"Khushi, you're working? Since when? You know that I don't prefer that you work. Will you quit this job after we're married?"

She felt her insides boil at his statement. What was wrong with her working? After their marriage, she needed something to keep herself busy and entertained or she might die of the boredom. However, she maintained her cool to escape her Buaji's wrath once they got home. "Yes Shyamji, I was actually going to quit in a few days. Please don't tell Buaji about this. Actually, I was kind of working from home to help her out with the wedding costs and she would feel bad if she knew." Khushi applauded herself with the brilliant excuse and bit into the jalebi that the waiter had just brought over.

Shyam suddenly looked more at ease and smiled at her, "Oh I see. That was kind of you Khushi, but you don't have to worry about money when we marry." He reached over the table to take her hands in his and she stiffened at the unwelcome contact, thinking of ways that she could quickly pull away. There was more awkward silence for a few minutes until Khushi finished her jalebis and they got up to leave. However, someone at the entrance of the small restaurant caught her attention. It was Arnav, dressed in a clean, crisp suit that looked similar to the one she had first seen him in.

Khushi gasped and pulled her hand from her fianc's hold, ignoring Shyam's startled expression as she made eye contact with Arnav. She was seeing him up close for the first time, and she swallowed as his intense, hazel eyes gazed at her with a mix of anger, confusion, and something else that she couldn't understand.

o o o O o o o

As soon as Khushi had told him where she was at, Arnav had searched the address and left immediately, suddenly wary of how he had so easily let a girl keep his PA's phone for an entire day. For all he knew, she could be working with an insider at his company and Arnav would never forgive himself if that were the case. All he knew at that moment was that he needed that phone back as soon as possible.

Arriving at the tiny, roadside restaurant, he marched inside, well aware of how his attire contrasted greatly with the authentic Indian environment.

It did not take long to spot her with her long plait that looked exactly as it had yesterday, but this time, he got a good look at her face as she turned towards him and had to admit that she was very attractive. He caught himself staring into her dark brown eyes for a little too long and suddenly realizing what he was doing, shook himself from his thoughts and strode over to her in two quick strides.

Ignoring the odd look that the man next to her was shooting him, he held his palm out towards Khushi. "Phone, now."

Arnav watched her tremble a bit, whether because she was intimidated by him or because she was losing her phone he didn't know. He couldn't understand why he was beginning to feel guilty, as it was rightfully his phone and she had stolen it, but seeing her pout as she reached into her small clutch and pull it out tugged ever so slightly at his heart.

"Can't I keep it for another day?" she pleaded, looking at him in a way that was very hard to refuse. It was almost like snatching away candy from a five year old, but Arnav shook his head and was about to grab the phone from her hands when the man next to her stopped him.

Shyam watched Arnav with distaste, as he was treating Khushi very rudely. "Why can't she keep it for another day? Maybe she needs it, and I am sure she is forwarding everything that she needs to you. You should behave better with your employees."

Had Arnav heard right? Since when was this girl his employee? What lies was she feeding to people around her? "What the! She's not-" He was about to correct the man when he glanced at Khushi shaking her head slightly but forcefully as if it go along with. Arnav paused, and even though her antics were getting on his nerves, she might have had a good reason to make up such a lie.

Glancing at her pleading face and large brown eyes once more, Arnav decided to wait another day to pick up the phone. He would get it when she was in a less awkward situation. He finally said, "Fine, tomorrow, but no later than that."

Arnav knew he was being completely careless again but his instinct was telling him that Khushi could be trusted and that she was not someone hired to sabotage AR. Besides, Aman had told him yesterday that Sim really had made a dash for it so her story about how she had discovered the phone in the trash was probably true.

'Tomorrow for sure,' Arnav thought, feeling better about his decision as he saw a smile grow across her features. He left without another word, but not before seeing the man defending Khushi take her hand in his and the grin fading from her cute face. 'Cute? Where did that come from?

A/N: all likes/comment/criticisms appreciated. and i hope i succeeded in making shyam as annoying as possible