Just Lik3 H3aven NOTE EPILOGUE page 140 19/3 - Page 22

The morning in Juneja house was nothing out of ordinary. The usual hustle and bustle in the house was missing as it was Saturday and every one had decided to sleep in late. " Everyone" included only our dear old "Preet". Gayatri and Lalit had gone to mandir for pooja and kiran and kulraj with their three musketeers had gone to the park, as it was a lovely day, and they didn't want to waste it by being coped up in the house. " Preet wake up its 11 o clock!" Meher said upon entering the room. Instead of getting up Preet simply pulled the blanket over his head making her frown. " Preeeet! Wake up! That's enough!" Preet ignored her again. Getting annoyed meher yelled at the top of her voice " PREET JUNEJA!" she shouted. In response to her, preet finally pulled the blanket away from his sleepy face. " What is it meher? Cant you just let me sleep?" he said groggily. Meher just glared at him and walked away. Preet went back to sleep with a smile on his face. The next thing he knew was that some one had emptied a jug of water on him making him sit up with a start and glowering at the devil responsible in horror! Meher smirked at him " I am so glad that you're finally up my dear husband" she mocked trying to control her laughter at his surprised expression. " Why you..." he lunged at her but she danced out of his reach, laughing. " Get dressed you have to go and get some vegetables", she said catching her breath. " WHAT! YOU WOKE ME UP TO GET YOU VEGETABLES! " Preet said incredulously. " yes its Saturday and there are no servants so you'll have to fill in", Meher replied in a teasing tone. " How do you know that I'll get them for you?" preet said. " Oh I am sure you will as you cant disobey maa now can you?" meher replied. Preet simply glared at her knowing full well that she was right. He looked down at his shirt realizing that he was drenched in water. " Fine", he replied. " Just get me a new shirt and I'll go", he grumbled. He pulled his shirt off and walked towards the bathroom. As he glanced at meher, she dropped her gaze but he couldn't help noticing that her cheeks were bright pink. He used to get that a lot back in Canada when during swimming competitions girls used to check out his well-toned body. Smirking, preet entered the bathroom. Leaving he door slightly ajar. He washed and brushed his teeth. As he looked into the mirror he saw meher standing near the door. " No peeking meher, I know you are checking me out!" he said smirking. Meher blushed but still managed to reply defiantly. " I am waiting with your shirt. I was so not checking you out". " Sure you weren't", preet answered grinning. He grabbed the shirt from her and pulled it on. Meher handed him a list and he nodded at her. " Okay I'll see you in an hour or so. Bye." and walked out of the room grinning. Meher simply shook her head at his retreating back. " Yeh nai sudhre ga " she thought to herself as she made up the bed. She couldn't believe that he had let her off so easily for throwing water at him. "Meher is going to pay for what she did" preet thought as he drove to the grocery store. Grinning he planned how to get back at her.

Greeting Mrs. Gupta Heer seated herself on he kitchen table, helping herself to the delicious parathas. She was ravenous. Two days without food had not registered onto her until now as she took the first bite and couldn't stop as her poor stomach demanded more and more. Finishing her food in less than 15 minutes, heer smiled apologetically at the old caretaker at her sudden hunger. " I uh'" she started but Mrs. Gupta cut her off. " No dear. I understand perfectly. You need to restore your strength. Bohat kamzoor hogai ho" she said handing her a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Heer thanked her and strolled out. She was still smarting from what Prem had said earlier in their room when she saw him heading towards his car busy talking to some one on the phone. Surprised she went towards him. " Where are you going?" she asked. Looking back at her prem replied. " Just some business problem nothing serious", he smiled. " Oh! Kab wapas aaoge?" she asked softly. " I'll be back by 7", and put his hand over her mouth before she could ask the reason. " I'll tell you everything when I'll get back. Right now you just concentrate on your assignment," he added winking at her. Her eyes narrowed and she scowled at him. " Yeah I think I will" she sniffed and walked back to the house. "Thank god that took her mind of it" prem thought, as he wasn't ready to tell her everything so soon. Heer had gone through a lot for the past few days and he just wanted her to relax here. I'll tell her everything tomorrow, he decided. Thinking that he got in his car and sped away.

Parking in front of the big mansion, Prem took a deep breath. Just looking at the house had his anger shooting up. " Calm down" Prem thought to himself, rubbing his temples in order to release his mind of the fury that he was feeling at the moment. Finally gaining control of his mounting anger, Prem stepped out of the car carrying a briefcase as he headed inside.

" You are finally here. Very punctual I must say. I like it when people are on time", rishab drawled coming down the huge staircase. " I like to be punctual", Prem replied dryly. " Is it just me or are you sounding like Prem?" Rishab answered, a small smirk played on his lips as he went towards the bar counter. " I have to don't I? That's my job remember?" prem replied sarcastically. " True. So what do have for me?" rishab asked as he fixed scotch and soda for prem and a glass of Martini for himself. " Here's your drink". " Yeah right as if heer would absolutely love it when I'll come home half drunk. Have any back up plan for that old pal?" Prem said looking with disgust at the wineglass. " One sip wont hurt", said Rishab. " No thank you. May be another time", he added hastily as he shuffled through the papers looking for the file for project minutiae. Here's the file that you asked for. You can study it, as I don't have a clue to what it says". Rishab quickly went through the particulars which the Juneja's had decided. " Hmmm not bad but I can do better than them. Good job". " No problem. So what are your plans now? What are you going to do with it?" Prem prodded carefully as he knew that he was treading on dangerous waters. Rishab was always careful when discussing such matters with him but he was too pleased with him to hide anything today.

" They have set their bid at 100 crore which is very good but even if they'll win they don't have the justification to do it. The infrastructure requires more work and more money and they cant provide that as they are bankrupt and in debt to me. The question is where did they get all this money from?" Rishab wondered loudly. " I know. Gayatri Juneja is shareholder of their company by 51%. This is her personal money that she had kept for her family but since they needed this contract to boost the company's current position and to get back the house which is yours right now, gayatri gave every penny to save the family" prem replied careful to not to let his emotions clog his words. " Uh-hun. So the old crackpot is back on her feet? Excellent!" Rishab laughed. It took prem's every ounce of energy to stop himself from standing up and busting up his arrogant face with his fist. Thank god rishab had his back to him while he said it else everything would have been destroyed. Without noticing any change rishab went on as he helped himself to another glass. " I'll put my bid to 99 crore." " Hmm. Well I'd better get going. I want my installment for this month", Prem said. " What's the hurry?" Asked Rishab. " I just need it" Prem replied shortly. " Okay". Saying that Rishab went out of the room. Getting his chance prem quickly went through the project details of Rishab's plans. He quickly wrote down the important points and put his notebook back in his briefcase. He did that just in time too as Rishab came outside from another room carrying another briefcase. "Here's your 1 crore. 5 months. In 5 months the juneja's will be on the streets begging for my mercy! 5 months, 5 crores. Do my work splendidly. No mistakes" he reminded prem. " like I said Gaurav Sharma sirf dimag se kaam karta hai"; Prem replied smirking back at him as he walked out.

Getting into his car. Prem dialed a number. He had lied to Rishab. The money was not of Gayatri's. It belonged to Aman. Aman Nanda. " Hey Aman. Yeah can you meet me at the construction site? Yeah. The work is done. I went through his file. Yeah. Okay I'll see u in half an hour". Saying that prem backed out of the driveway and sped away stopping at a coffee shop on his way as he was having a splitting headache and needed caffeine.