Meant to Be note on page 162 - Page 22

Meant to be

part 14

Raji was checking the files once again she never minded though she had already checked twice before . Tomorrow morning they are having the presentation with Vishvanadhan sir before their final presentation to the clients in the evening...she didn't want to left no stones unturned...that was not only a big project to the company but also the first project for Karthik as a TL...so she was more cautious than ever before...Karthik delegate her a job of coordinating the works of the team members...

Everything was fine or would say perfect on her part...she had given all her best efforts to see a small contended smile on the corner of his lips...

While she was immersed in his thoughts...Angel approached her..

"Hi Raji..."she said in a friendly way..

"Hi.."she said hesitantly...as they two were not in good terms ever ...

"Raji I need ur favour ma.."she asked in a honey coated voice..

"Yenna favour..?" she was wondering of all the people why she was asking a favor from her...

Angel took out a pen drive from her pocket...

"Indha pen drive la some files copy pannum.." angel asked...

"Yenna file..." Raji asked in confusion...

"Andha "SBI" project details unkitta irukku nu koushik sonnaaru.. andha project ku basic presentation ready panni mail anupanumaam..it s very urgent ma...innikulla mudikanumaam..illainnaa yennai kaaichi yeduthuduvaaru..unakku dhaan avarai pathi nallaa theriyume..."

She looked worried..and even seemed scared..

Hearing Koushik's name Raji felt pity on her..because she very well knew how wrathful Koushik would be when it comes to work ...

"Naan ungalukku mail anuparen Angel..."

"No.. No... andha file size romba perusu.. mail la attach aagaadhu nu Koushik sonnaru.."

She used Koushik's name often to get a desired result...as Angle predicted... hearing Koushik's name Raji decided to help Angel without hesitation...

"Ok give.."she took a pen drive from her..

Before inserting the pen drive she asked..

"Idhula virus yedhuvum illaiye...?"she wanted to confirm..

"No.. No.. it's a new one..."she assured her..

While she was copying the file ..she got a call from Koushik ,ordering her to meet him immediately...

Raji got nervous due to the urgent call from Koushik...

She asked Angel to lock her system after she copied the file ...and went to meet Koushik...

Angel smiled evilly ...

At Koushik's room he gave her so much work without even giving a break to breath..

When she finally left his room it was almost 6...

She came to her place unlocked the system, she had nothing to do as she had already finalized everything so she just had to shut down her system before leaving to home...

When she was about to shut down suddenly her instinct asked her to check the files..

She had checked everything once again and she found all were fine...at that time she heard karthik's voice there...which brings a smile to her instantly...

"Hi guys ,all are excited ?of course I am excited...yellaame pakkaavaa ready pannitom so will blast in presentation ok...?"he showed his thumps up ...

Angel and Padhu showed their thumbs up in return..

"Annaa, first time naan oru neat work panni iruken...neeenga kavala padaadheenga..Vichu sir chummaa asandhuduvaaru paarunga na..." Padhu said with his trade mark innocent smile..

Then he looked at Raji as if asking everything were fine?

She assured him with the blink of her eyes...with a satisfied smile he had left...

She followed his retreating back till he disappeared behind the door with dazed eyes...

Then she looked back at her screen with eyes full of dreams...suddenly she noticed one pop up folder...she opened it not even having a second thought...as she opened it her system was corrupted with the virus attack and her system was crashed in front of her eyes..

As everything happened in a jiffy She couldn't do anything rather than watching all their hard work being destroyed within a few seconds in front of her eyes...

She tried to operate her system but it was totally blacked out..

Her heart beat stopped for a second and beats frantically after realized the intensity of the circumstance...

"OMG... what a blunder I have done..?"

She immediately called Karthik and asked him to come at once...

Karthik rushed back to his office after he got a call from Raji ..he could clearly visualize the tension in her voice...

As he reached her cubical he had seen her literally banging the system with an extremely horrified face...

"What happened Raji?" She jumped back with his sudden voice...

Her hands were shivering her forehead covered with sweat ..the anguish in her face insisted him that something was terribly wrong...

"Yenna aachi Raji..."

He repeated the same question ,with a thudding heart..wishing that nothing would be serious as his innate feelings said ..

She gulped hard..suddenly she felt short of words ...her whole body was shivering and her eyes started pouring out and finally she blurted out..

"System crash aagiduchi "

Karthik went blank for a moment...if it was a normal day he would have been shaken by her terrorized face..but his mind didn't even registered her miserable state...only her words reverberated in his ears...

"System crash aagiduchi..."He couldn't think beyond that..

He hurriedly tried to boot her system..but its all down ..he could only stare back at the blank screen...

"How..?" it came as a mere whisper from his mouth...

Raji was even more panicked seeing his grave face...

"Karthik ..a.a dhu...vandhu..."she stuttered ...

"Yeppadi nu keten.."he asked in a very cold voice which he had never used with her...

She explained everything gulping hard the chocked feeling in her throat...

"How could you be this much reckless Raji.."

She had no words to defend...its all her mistake ...she looked at his face dumb strucked..

"Naalaikku presentation...inniku vandhu ... naama oru maasam kashta pattu panna yellaa work um pochi nu yevlo saadhaaranamaa solra..?"More than anger his voice reflected pain which hurted her even more..

"Yeppadi Raji ...nee ippadi sodhappuvannu naan konjam kooda yedhir paarkala... Angel ,Padhu ivanga dhaan sodhappuvaangannu ..i was keen on those people ,not even thought of warning u once... because I trusted u more than myself...but what have u given in return..?a big blow on my face..."

She was awe struck...she had never seen him this much broken...and his each words piercing her heart like a needle...

"It was my first project and it was a great failure... all credit goes to u..."

"Karthik..."her throat chocked even to say his name..

"I am sorry.." she said in a very meek voice..

"Don't say it ..u let me down Raji.."he said with a defeated tone..

A fresh layer of tear flowed down from her eyes hearing his words...

"No Karthik,I worked very hard only to make u feel proud...I always wished ur success than anything else.."

"Then how did u let this happen..?Yen ivlo careless ah irundha..?"he asked in disbelief...

She had no words to justify her mistake as she couldn't confess to him that she was busily drooling him while she opened the folder...she bent her head in shame...

"We will call the IT people and retrieve the data..."

She tried to be bold and inflict confidence in him too...

"No .. "we".. hereafter..its just "me" and "You" between us.. From now on.."

She looked at him in shock...

The aversion in his eyes drenched her heart in pain...

"I will take care of it further...u may go now..u have done enough damage.. no more is required"

He said without even sparing her a glance...

She looked at him in utter shock as if she had a tight slap ...

"Karthik" she tried to call him ..but he cut it in mid and said rudely..

"I said just leave.." and he stormed out with the hard disc in his hand...

She felt miserable...

She could take his anger but not his indifference...the cold voice and aversion in his eyes killing her within...She felt a big wall was raised in between them...

Her heart seemed stop working seeing him leaving her like a dust..

Her tears of despair dropped on the floor endlessly...

to be continued...