Chapter 1
"Nita! When ASR is here, let him know that Ms. Grewal is waiting for him in the conference room and that the lawyer is on the way" Aman instructed his assistant on his way to his cabin.
"Yes Sir!" said Nita and sat in her chair which she hadn't occupied for the past 2 hours and the fact that she was tying knot in a week with her boyfriend of 8 months and fianc of 2 months, had taken a toll on her emotional and physical composure, what with being dragged out for shopping every minute she spent outside work. Just a few more hours and then she was off for 20 days for her wedding. She only prayed that she pulls through the rest of the day without any hitch. Only, her prayers were not destined to be answered.
Nita was jerked back to reality rudely by a voice which the entire office remembered, respected and feared even in sleep,.
"Where is she?"
Every time she looked into that face, she managed to feel a shiver run through her spine, a little stronger when he was angry, which was quite often. And every time, she managed to fumble and curse Aman, to have left her to deal with the devil.
"SSS...Sir! She is waiting in your room."
Fate
And the tornado called Arnav Singh Raizada whirled towards his room.
Nita, pitied the woman, Ms. Grewal, for the storm that was about to strike her.
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Anjali was going through the designs on her table that were to be finalized for summer collection. She had been on it for the past two hours and was badly in need of a coffee to reduce the nagging pain that had developed in her head. As if on cue, Lavanya walked in with two cups of coffee and placed one in front of her. Anjali gratefully accepted her cup and took a sip with great relief. Settling down on a chair opposite to her and sipping on her cup, Lavanya asked,
"Where is Mr. Gupta? Isn't he supposed to be here half an hour back?"
With that question Anjali's thoughts flew back to the first time she met him. Shyam Gupta. It was at a party thrown to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the commemoration of their construction company, Gupta Constructions, to which the who's who of business circle of Delhi were invited. Arnav was out of town on business and hence Anjali had attended the party. Shyam's pleasing personality, immense knowledge in his field of architecture and construction business, the way his family dotted on him, didn't take much time to make her like him. Shyam had spent most of his time by her side that evening. Anjali had asked him if he could help her with the remodeling of her designing unit at AR and he had readily accepted. They had met once after that for work and today he was coming to have a look at the space to finalize on the blue print.
Anjali leaned back on her chair with a sigh and answered,
"He called a while back and informed that he was running late. He must be here at anytime"
"And he is here"
Hearing a male voice both the women lifted their heads to see Shyam standing at the door accompanied by a young woman. He looked handsome dressed in a formal wear, hair set in order but what caught anyone's attention was the charming smile that adorned his face. He looked at Lavanya briefly, throwing a cordial nod in her direction before turning his attention to Anjali. Lavanya found his smile broadening instantly and glance turning appreciative at Anjali's appearance which was nothing less than ethereal in one of AR's ethnic collections.
"Mr. Gupta, pleasure to meet you. Ms. Gupta, very happy to see you here"
Before the woman could respond, Shyam cut in,
"I thought we became comfortable with first names during our last meeting." Turning to Lavanya, he enquired, "How are you Ms. Kashyap? I don't think you have met my sister. This is Khushi. Khushi, Ms. Lavanya Kashyap here is AR's head designer."
Lavanya looked at Khushi properly and the designer in her couldn't help but appreciate her choice of attire. Dressed in a beige colored tunic top paired with a stole wrapped around her neck, with a pair of black pant complimenting her top, she looked an epitome of elegance and beauty. Her straightened waist length hair and a few shoulder length bangs that bordered her unblemished face sans make up enhanced her simplicity. Lavanya extended her hand for a hand shake but had to withdraw when Khushi did not even look at her and settled for a half-hearted Hi'
Lavanya was a little taken aback by the rude behavior from the sister of such a cordial man, but didn't show it. Effect of a rich, careless upbringing, perhaps.
Shyam decided to alleviate the little awkwardness and spoke,
"Actually Anjali, there is a reason why Khushi is here today. You know she is actively involved in the activities of SPARC'. They have planned a fund raiser program. Khushi feels that the presence of ASR will increase the participation from the corporate world and would get media coverage and that would ultimately help the cause. I am trying to convince her to settle for a representation from AR, but she is very insistent. What do you think? Will ASR be upto it?" asked Shyam with a little hesitation.
Lavanya realized that the discussion didn't need her and decided to check with Aman if ASR's meeting with Ms. Grewal had begun. She raised to excuse herself and leave, only to be stopped by Anjali.
"Lavanya, I would want you to be present when Shyam sees the facility and give your inputs. If you are going to meet Aman, why don't you take Khushi to Arnav's room? She can discuss about the program with him until we finish our meeting. That way we will save time."
"But M'am do you think today would be good for this, what with his meeting with the journalist and"
Anjali cut her in and gave a reassuring smile, "Don't worry Lavanya! Arnav knows to behave well with guests"
Shyam looked at Khushi and asked with concern, "Will you be okay Chutki? We can do it some other day too. You have plenty of time."
"Relax Bhaiyya! I have come this far, I am not coming back without meeting him. Don't worry. Shall we go Ms. Kashyap?"
Khushi stood up and turned in her place and Lavanya realized her mistake.
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"You must be aware of the write up that came in the "World of business" last week, aren't you?"
Shyam nodded his head in affirmation. They were walking back with Lavanya to Anjali's room after surveying the facility to be remodeled.
"I knew it was crap, the moment I saw it. I have seen and gone through enough of media stunts to know which is real and which is fake, Anjali".
"But Chote has not taken it lightly. He hasn't given a damn about stories written about him, but when it comes to me..."
"That's how brothers are Anjali. I am extremely protective about Khushi too."
"He has called the journalist here. I don't know what he is having in his mind. I thought he would threaten the editor with legal action. This girl is just a tool"
"Relax Anjali! I am sure he knows what he is doing"
They met with Nita around the turning of the corridor leading to Anjali's room.
"When did Arnav turn in, Nita?"
"About ten minutes ago, M'am"
"Then he must be in the conference room Shyam. Are you sure you want to wait in his room until he is back? Khushi would be alone too"
"Conference room M'am? But Sir has gone to his room M'am. That's where Ms. Grewal is waiting."
"Ms. Grewal?" asked Anjali, now panic picking up speed.
"Yes M'am. Ms. Khushi Grewal, the journalist from World of Business'?
Lavanya interjected, "But she is waiting in the conference room. OMG! What did you say her name is? Khushi? M'am" she turned to Anjali, whose face had lost color.
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Arnav stood silently by his room's entrance as if to gather all the calmness that existed in the universe and took in the appearance of the woman who sat in his room in one of the chairs opposite his across the humongous table set in the center of his room. She had long hair that touched her waist. Nothing much was visible beyond the cascade of her hair. She hadn't taken notice of his entry as she seemed to have been absorbed in presumably a book which peeked out of her profile. He quickly strode across the room towards the window on his side of the room and looked out trying to gather some patience. And then he turned around to look at her. She still hadn't noticed him and to her credit she had earphones plugged to her ears, probably listening to music, without a care to the damage she is threatening to do to his life. He closed his eyes in frustration and turned around to look out of the window again and raised his voice enough to be heard despite whatever that was filling her ears and said,
"Ms. Khushi"
Startled at hearing a voice, Khushi abruptly pulled her earphones. After a moment's silence, she composed herself and replied,
"Mr. Raizada?"
"So you finally realize that you are not alone in this room. You must be waiting for a long time now, isn't it?"
She was momentarily taken aback by the lack of amiability in his voice, but didn't show it. She had heard that Arnav Singh Raizada was not a very friendly man, but was not prepared for the coldness that oozed out of his voice.
"Yeah you can say that. I was determined to..."
"I can see the power of your determination Ms. Khushi. It is so powerful to the extent that you won't hesitate to belittle a woman, about whom you know nothing, isn't it?"
"Excuse me?"
At this, he turned to her.
"You media people have a misconception about pen being mightier than a sword, isn't it? You showed my sister in a poor light, you thought, I would surrender to the power of media and consent to give you an interview?"
She didn't look at him and fumbled with her words.
"I don't know what you are talking about. I am here to talk about..."
"I don't give a damn to what you want to talk about. You will only tell me who gave you that disgusting photograph that gave you the guts to write that disgusting story about my sister. TELL . ME . WHO!!" He yelled at the top of his voice making Khushi jump out of her seat and knock off the book she was reading in the process. Khushi trembled and spoke in a shaken voice,
"Mr. Raizada! I am sure there is a misunderstanding. I am not who you are thinking."
She still wasn't looking at him and that irritated him immensely.
"Precisely ! You are a cunning, conniving b**ch who would do anything to scale up the ladder in your profession. What was the price for my interview? A promotion or much more?"
Khushi cringed at the suggestion behind his accusation. She just wanted to leave and reached for her phone in her pocket to call Shyam. As she started punching buttons, it was ruthlessly snatched and thrown against the wall.
"I am not a patient man. Tell me Who . is . behind . this? Where . did . you . get . the . photograph . from?"
Shocked beyond measure at the turn of events, Khushi spoke,
"You are clearly unwilling to listen. I refuse to speak to you. I want to leave"
That did it for Arnav. He roughly grabbed her upper arms and said menacingly,
"Like hell you will leave. Look at me"
She squirmed under his hold but stubbornly refused to look at him.
Arnav roared, "Look at me when I am talking to you"
The door opened and Anjali, Shyam and Lavanya rushed in, worry written all over their faces. And at the same moment a volcano erupted.
"Enough!!"
With all the might she seemed to have possess, Khushi jerked herself from Arnav's hold and pushed him back. She trembled with rage and shouted in a voice that she didn't know she had,
"I won't look at you. I don't want to see the face of a man who doesn't treat a woman with respect and accuses her who he doesn't even know, driven by assumptions. I would never want to look into the eyes of a man, who calls a woman names, even if I can"
A painful silence followed with different emotions etched on the different faces of the people who occupied the room. But one face was totally emotionless and that was Khushi's.
She bent to the floor to sweep her hands here and there to search for her book. Her fragile pale hands stumbled upon a few pieces of her broken phone and just like that a few tears sprang in her eyes. That was when Shyam finally came out of his stupor and found his own voice. At that moment he hated his inability to protect his little sister and called out in a broken whisper.
"Chutki"
Khushi suspended her action and stood up and in no time Shyam was besides her holding her hand. She flung herself on him and cried. "I want to leave Bhaiyya!! Take me from here. I was wrong. I should have listened to you"
"Sshh!! Its not your fault dear!! I should not have left you alone. Let's go!"
Saying thus, Shyam led his sister out of the room. He didn't trust himself to have a control on his temper and consciously avoided looking at Arnav, lest he unleashed his consuming anger on him. He stopped before Anjali. "I should have trusted my judgment rather than your words, Anjali. Your brother certainly knows how to behave with his guests. Good bye!!"
Anjali hung her head in shame at the outcome and gave a resigned look to her brother before leaving him to face the truth.
And Arnav stood right where Khushi had left him, looking at the open book on the floor, which glared back at him accusingly, with script written in Braille.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Mannat Har Khushi Paane Ki
10