Chapter 4 : Heart is a free bird'
As Arnav continued the dictation, he couldn't help but admire her. The way she furrowed her eyebrows in concentration, the way she bit her lips whenever she failed to hear a word, and finally the way she smiled as she finished noting down his words.
After the dictation was over, Arnav had to praise himself for successfully managing the dictation without any mistake, especially when most of his concentration was focused upon her.
"Now, mail this to Mr. Saxena. Then, I'll be sending you the files of the deals we are aiming for this month. You can study them in detail and start the work" Arnav said.
"Sure Sir" She nodded and collecting the papers, left towards her own cabin.
~~***~~
After sending the mail, Khushi was engrossed in the stack of files brought by Aman, when her cell phone rang.
"Hello, Jeeji" Khushi talked, with a smile on her face.
"How are you, Khushi? How's the work? Are you good there? Is everything okay? This is your time. I am so scared for you. And why didn't you meet me before leaving?" Payal released a spectrum of non-stop questions at her.
"Relax, Jeeji, I am fine here. You don't need to worry. The office is good. I have no problem. And as far as meeting you is concerned, I asked Buaji about you, but she said you have been to Mandir" Khushi started, but her voice hardened by the end of the last statement which Payal easily sensed.
"Why, Jeeji? Why do you go there? You still trust him? You think things would fall back in place by kneeling and begging before him? No Jeeji. Nothing would change. I know him. He would never help us. He's nothing but a stone..."
"Khushi, shh. Calm down. I am sorry, but we can't just sit and watch everything, without.." Payal cut in, desperately.
"We are NOT sitting and watching, Jeeji. I am doing this job. And I am sure; I'll be able to pull us out of these wrong times" Khushi said, with a fierce determination on her face.
"But Khushi.."
"No, Jeeji, please trust me. Your little Sankadevi is capable of supporting our family. You please take care of Babuji. I'll manage everything else" She replied, in an emotion-loaded voice.
"Okay" Payal replied, retiringly.
"Thanks, Jeeji. Now I have to go. Have a lot of work to do" She said.
"Hmm. Bye, take care"
"Bye"
Disconnecting the call, Khushi got back to the files with forced concentration, not wanting to allow her thoughts to float away.
Life is not a bed of roses. Who knew it better than her?
~~***~~
Arnav sat in his own cabin, distanced from the lady of his thoughts by that glass partition, which was as of now, curtained.
Although he had a whole lot of presentation to revise and approve, he couldn't concentrate anywhere. Anywhere, but on the lady of his thoughts.
Since the minute he had set his eyes on her, his heart had developed a strange sort of abnormality. Not an abnormality of the sort one could go and get diagnosed and treated. This was something more complex. He felt strangely drawn to Khushi.
It was not even two days he had met her, but she was already raging within his senses. What could he name this feeling?
Attraction? Or Love at first sight?
Well, of course not love. How one can love a person one hardly knows? But don't people say love just happens? Irrespective of rationalism?
Whatever! Arnav Singh Raizada can't fall in love. Not because he's not capable of, it's because that's too unwanted for him.
All this feeling of strange ties and tugs can go to hell for all he cares. There is no love. Or so he thought.
If only people could regulate their feelings, this world would have been oblivious to all the classic love-stories one has grown up reading.
Conclusion; the heart is too obnoxious and obstinate to be under the control of mind.
It's a free bird, hard to tame. And Arnav Singh Raizada was yet to learn this lesson of life.
~~***~~
"ASR, I got the details of that previous tender we had lost. It seems like.." As Aman stepped in his boss' cabin filling him with the news, his voice trailed off as he noticed him lost in thoughts.
"ASR?" He called, taking a seat.
"Yeah?" Arnav said on a reflex, snapping out of the thoughts.
"I said I have got the details of that tender you had asked for" Aman repeated.
"Did you find anything important?" Arnav asked, getting back to his normal self.
"Yeah, important and surprising too! After all the investigation we carried out, it looks like someone from our company has been selling out our confidential data"
"Not a surprise. This world is full of such cheap-minded people who can sell even their family for a few bundles, this was just some data" Arnav said with acidity in his voice, his mind going back to some old bitter memories of his life.
"Hmm" Aman said, knowing well that Arnav was more talking to himself.
"Find out who that bas***d is and kick him out of the office, literally and figuratively" Arnav said, clenching and unclenching his fists to overcome the sudden wave of anger that was threatening to drown him.
"Okay" Aman said and waited, giving Arnav time to recover. No one loved to talk when ASR was in one of his worst moods, not even Aman.
"I have few more things to discuss upon" He started, once Arnav's countenance softened back.
"Go on" He said, reading the mails and replying to them.
"That Nainital conference has been pre-poned" Aman informed.
"To when?"
"Day after tomorrow"
"Are we ready for it?" Arnav asked, looking up from the laptop screen.
"Fully" Aman said.
"Ok then. We'll go on with it" Arnav said, resuming his typing.
"Anything more?" Arnav asked, when he realised Aman was still standing in the cabin.
"Yes. Are you okay?"
"I am"
"Okay, take care" Aman said as he rose up from the chair and then walked out.
~~***~~
"Come to my cabin" Arnav said in the intercom.
As he put down the receiver, his eyes automatically turned to look at that curtained glass door and the window blinds next to the door.
In the same minute, the curtain was drawn aside and the door opened, letting out Khushi Gupta.
She elegantly walked up to him with an infectious smile on her face. He smiled too, though mentally.
"Yes, Arnav Sir?" She asked, standing before his working table.
"Take a seat, Khushi" He said, steering his thoughts away from the sweetness of her voice, which as of now sounded even sweeter as she addressed him as 'Arnav Sir'.
"Did you study the Nainital Conference file?" He started.
"Yes Sir, I did" She replied.
"Good. I would like you to know that the conference has been rescheduled. Now it will be held day after tomorrow. So I want you to go through the file once again and mail me its summary. I would check it and suggest you further changes if needed. And I also want you to prepare a presentation of our company's previous three years growth rate along with the benefits and achievements. That would put weight to our chances of bagging the deal"
"Sure Sir" She replied, giving him occasional glances when he was not looking, or so she thought.
"Anything else, Sir?" she asked embarrassingly looking down at her writing-pad as he for once caught her red-handed, looking him.
"Get your bags packed" He said amused, seeing her nose getting red.
"Bags?" She asked, snapping her head up.
"Yeah. We have to attend the Nainital conference right?" He said.
"We?" She asked.
"Of course we, Khushi. You are my PA, remember? And the PA has to follow his boss. Or do you expect me to attend my meetings without a PA?" Arnav asked.
"Oh okay. How long we'll have to stay there?" She asked, hesitating.
"Two days. We'll be leaving tomorrow evening. And after attending the meeting day after to it, we'll return back by the evening of it" Arnav explained.
"Is there any problem?" he asked when he didn't reply.
"No no. There's no problem, Sir" She quickly said, smiling.
"Are you sure?" He asked, seeing that the smile didn't reach her eyes.
"Yeah. I'll just have to convince my Buaji. She's from old school of thoughts, actually" Khushi said, sighing.
"If you want, shall I talk to her? I know how to deal with old bees" Arnav laughed, seeing Khushi's expression as he called her Buaji an old bee.
"Actually I have my Nani back at home. She is the principal of that old school" He said.
"Really? You have a Nani?" she asked excitedly.
"Yeah. You don't?" He asked, once again amused by the childish glee in her eyes.
But then that glee vanished nowhere as he asked the question. And seeing her face falling, he quickly regretting asking it.
"No, I don't. Actually I don't know my Nani. I don't have my real parents, you know" She told, with a pained smile.
"They passed away when I was two. My Maasi adopted me. My Amma. So I sort of have no relatives beside my family. It's just me, Amma, Babuji, Jeeji and Buaji" She said.
"So, Sheetal?" Arnav asked, recalling the irritating woman.
"She is related to us by Amma's side. Nothing much! She is more like an outsider. I talk to her because she was in my college. That's all. And she is a nuisance sometimes. Actually most of the times" Khushi told with her grin returning back.
Something about Arnav was special. Talking to him felt so natural. All her problems lay forgotten as they talked more.
Arnav asked more about her college, friends and family. Answering all his questions Khushi carefully avoided telling him about her ill Babuji, their need of money, etc. That portion was not to be discussed, was her mental rule. She didn't want her new boss to know how wretched her life was and gain his sympathy.
As they talked more and more, Khushi grew more and more comfortable around him.
He also told her about his family, especially about Anjali. Judging by the enthusiasm with which he talked about Anjali, Khushi could easily guess Anjali was the one he loved most, like she loved her Jeeji the most.
"Hey Devi Maiya, I am so late. Buaji isn't going to spare me" Khushi almost screamed, out of nowhere taking Arnav by surprise.
"Calm down, Khushi. PAs normally don't freak out before their bosses, until the latter wants them to" Arnav said, enjoying her myriad expressions.
"Oh, I am sorry, Sir" She quickly apologized, coming out of the trance she was led into, realizing this was her boss she was talking with.
All this time she was talking to him, it was like she was transported to a different world. A place of devoid of all realities. He never seemed like a boss, but a person she could trust upon, talk with. Was he really such a good person or was he too like...others?
"That's okay, Khushi. I already told you, you can be yourself around me. I don't mind" He replied, with a genuine smile but something had changed in the air. Khushi didn't seem any more comfortable. Instead he could see a struggle in her eyes.
"I have to leave now, Arnav Sir" She said, getting up from her chair, not making any effort to meet his eyes. His eyes had already robbed her of her senses twice, one during early morning when she bumped into him and literally landed in his arms. And the second time being, a few minutes back when she let herself drown in his caramel depths.
She was not here to get attracted to her boss. She was here to work hard, help her family. She couldn't afford falling for a man, not until she plucks out each thorn of sorrow from her life.
'Focus Khushi' she said to herself, as she stood up to leave.
"Is it really late for you? Shall I drop you?" Arnav asked, being a gentleman he was, he couldn't let her go all by herself.
"No thank you, Sir, I'll manage" She said, acknowledging and hurrying out of the cabin.
8:16 p.m.' the wall-clock in Arnav's room said.
~~***~~
As Khushi winded her work and packed her stuff to leave, it was already 8:30. Calculating the time, she got worried. It would take her 30 good minutes to reach home, provided she gets a cab in time.
That means 9 p.m. Not really late by her standard, but very late by Buaji's standards.
She came out of the building, and walked up to the office gate in quick strides.
To say she was greatly surprised would be the only statement to justify her state of mind, for there already stood Arnav Singh Raizada, leaning against the door of his white SUV with his hands crossed against his chest. Doing what? Of course waiting for her!
*******
Edited by Pearl_Oyster - 7 years ago
Cricket
330