Arshi SS Key to your heart..Chapter 15...*COMPLETED* - Page 18

Originally posted by: adventure_gurl

you did quite well, loved the update and how you described everything!

Happy Valentines Day!

Originally posted by: ravalisharma06

amazing one read it in one go!!

loved it

Khushi could not sleep..It was not the faint buzzing sound of the few mosquitoes in her room that was keeping her awake..In fact, the actual cause, she was sure, must be fast asleep in a plush king size bed in the master bedroom at Shantivan...She let out a sigh...

It was a hot and humid night...and she had left the window open..hoping that an errant wind blowing throwing Laxmi Nagar would enter her room...Her hand slowly rose to her nose-ring..the cold diamond felt smooth against her finger...His gift..a special one and a perfect one at that..what could she ever gift him...what could she...an employee of ASR possibly buy that could ever be special for him..

As she reached near the window to draw aside the curtain properly, she saw a firefly flitting around in the darkness...She was reminded of the hug that she had shared with him a few nights back...

They had parted with a small smile playing on either's lips...She had kept glancing back at him till she had reached the curve in the road to her house...She had felt her heartbeat racing as she saw him standing still..his tall silhouette against his car...

She had gone to work the next day completely uncertain as to how she will face her boss...she felt anxious and slightly embarrassed with the strange feelings she had seemed to develop recently...so engrossed was she in her thoughts that she failed to notice that Arnav was standing in front of her desk..

He lightly tapped his knuckles on the desk...shaking Khushi out of her daytime reverie...A flustered Khushi stood up and mumbled.."Sir...good morning sir..."

Smirking at her uneasiness..Arnav gave her a slight nod and asked her to get ready to go 2 the fashion show venue...As they reached the car park, Aakash and Sheetal joined them and they all traveled tot he show venue.

Khushi and Sheetal were talking to the show choreographer, discussing the choice of music for the show..and Arnav and Aakash were talking to some of the officials of the fashion week..thats when Khushi heard Arnav shout...

"What...How the hell did this happen...??!!!"

Khushi had seen Arnav in ASR mode many times in the past...most of the times, it was with Aman...but never had she seen him like this..His hand was on the collar of one of the guys he was chatting with earlier..Before Aakash could intervene, Arnav left the man and stormed out of the hall...Khusi and Sheetal watched as Aakash followed Arnav...

*************************

"I want to know how this happened...months of hard work..months of preparation..day and night our team has worked on this..and now..all gone...everything is gone..I want answers dammit.."

The sound of Arnav's palms banging down hard on the conference room's mahogany table was what greeted Sheetal and Khushi when they reached the office..

The door was open amd the whole of the office seemed to be crammed inside the room..and they could see Arnav standing at the head of the table..Aakash was standing next to him and both of them were looking devastated...Sheetal and Khushi made their way through their colleagues into the room..

Arnav was talking to Lavanya Kashyap..the creative design lead..

"I want answers..now..Ms.Lavanya..I want to know who all had access to the file..both the hard copy and the soft copy..."

"Sir.i guess...it was just me and you and Aakash sir..."

"Come on Lavanya..this is not the time for your guesses..who else..who else knew about where those files where...anyone who got their hands on their file had full details of what the design and theme and the accessories we were going to be showcasing at the show...these top secret details did not just walk out of this building and entered the mind of head designer of Singhania designs on their own..."

Arnav continued..."Both AR and Singhania designs submitted the same preview..the designs are same..the theme is same..even the accessories are similar..We would have been booked for plagiarizing now..if the Managing Director of the fashion portal was not my dear friend..But we are not off the hook..Singhania designs submitted the preview first...So if we go ahead with our designs..AR will become a laughing stock in the fashion world...Our brand name will be ruined forever.."

"Listen carefully...the contents of the file was leaked somewhere between the day we finalized the theme and the day we handed over the preview...so without wasting my time...be accurate and tell me who else had access to those files..??? .."

"ASR..apart from you, me and Aakash, the only other person who had access to the file was...your secretary..Ms Khushi Gupta"...

Khushi let out an audible gasp and found Arnav's eyes searing into her...

"You...stay...everyone else..get out..you too Aakash..."

Arnav spat out the words all the while locking eyes with Khushi..She stood there..an unknown fear gripping her..

As soon as the last person closed the conference room door, Arnav moved to the door and closed the blinds..

He then walked back to the table and opened his laptop..He opened the website of Singhania designers and clicked on the link 'Our Team'...Then he turned the device to Khushi.

"Miss Gupta..."

Khushi looked at him..startled...him calling her Ms. Gupta..distancing himself from her..as if she was a stranger..

Khushi felt a stinging pain in her heart...

Arnav, oblivious to her eyes that were welling up; or pretending to be so...continued..

"Do you know this guy...?...Have you seen him before..? "

Khushi looked at the laptop screen...

Through her tear filled eyes she could make out  the image of a man with spectacles...sitting in a design studio..She brushed away the tears to see properly..

"Take a good look Ms. Gupta..I am sure you recognize him..He is your new found friend...or was he your friend all along...How long have you pretended to be loyal to AR while you continued to feed him every detail of our collection...which we all kept painstakingly under wraps...?"

Khushi understood that the man with spectacles was the lead designer of Singhania designs...to whom someone from AR had leaked the details of the collection to be showcased. .

"Do not even think of lying to me Khushi...If you lie to me...even about a single thing..I will destroy your career and I will destroy you...I can see to it that it happens and you will be left helpless"

Khushi shuddered...She inched closer to where Arnav was and took a closer look at the man..the face...she gasped with the realization..

She knew him..She had seen him...

"Answer me dammit...have you ever seen this guy before...?" Arnav roared...

As if in a daze by the realization that had struck her...she muttered...

"Yes..I have seen him before.."

"How dare you..."Arnav..with fury blazing in his eyes..took a step towards Khushi..but controlled himself in time..

"You will pay for this..for betraying my trust..."

Khushi...agonized..looked at him and said..

"Please...Arnavji...I would never do such a thing..I know him but..."

"SHUT UP!!...I don't want to hear anything from you Ms Gupta..You are nothing but a cheat...a traitor..You will hear from my lawyers soon.."

"And Its not Arnav..Its ASR...oh..and just in case you did not realise it yet..you are fired..get out of AR... NOW..!!!."

Khushi could not take it anymore..the accusations..him mistrusting her like this..why..what was her mistake...He was not even giving her a chance to clarify...

She quietly moved past him to the door..She hesitated slightly at the threshold..wanting to take one more look at him.

She had a faint hope that if Arnav looked at her ..even just once..he would realize that she would never betray him..that she was innocent...

But then she heard something that went straight through her heart..

"Don't turn back...there is nothing left for you here..You have destroyed everything..I hate you Ms. Gupta"

Struggling to hold down a sob that rose from the bottom of her heart..she ran away from there...away from the accusatory glances of colleagues..and from the burning glance of Arnav that she could feel on her till she exited the main door of AR...

********

Two days later...

"Khushi..tum aise din bar ro rahi ho..maa babuji kitne pareshan hai..maloom hain..?"

("Khushi..you have been crying for days now...Mom and Dad are worried about you..do you realise that..?")

Payal had had enough..she knew that there was nothing that she could say or do to console Khushi..She had tried everything she could since Khushi had come home around a week back...with her face stained with tears...through the never ending sobs...

Payal had been able to piece together a picture of what had happened...that Khushi was accused of leaking sensitive information to her employer's competitors and that she was fired on the spot...

For many hours since then..Payal had lent a sympathetic ear to Khushi and her sadness filled rantings..Khushi had completely broken down...Seeing her name being tarnished on media, she was sure that her career had ended even before it began...But Payal could not let Khushi hurt herself like this..Khushi had been accused unjustly and crying over it was not going to vindicate her...But first and foremost she had to get Khushi out of her bed..

"Khushi..bahuth ho gaya...ab utho aur kitchen mein jaake maaji ki madad karo...mujhe ready honi hai..ladkewake dekhne aa rahe hai mujhe...aise hi rothi rahegi to main tumhe sambhalthe yahi pe rehna padega...aur ladke ko.. hamare ghar ke bagal mein jo rehthe hain na...divya..usko dekhna padega.chalo..rona bandh..."

("Khushi...enough is enough..now get up and go to kitchen..help mom...I have to get ready...A family is going to come here with a marriage proposal for me..if you keep crying like this, I will have to stay here to pacify you..and the guy will have to go see our neighbor Divya instead...Come on now..stop crying..")

Khushi silently slid out of the bed which had been her sanctuary and moved to the kitchen..watching a broken Khushi was painful for Payal...she knew about what had happened at her workplace...but she had full faith in Khushi's innocence and believed that at the formal inquiry..Khushi would be able to prove it...

It was almost 10.30 in the morning and the Gupta household was prepared to welcome the guests..who came soon...Babuji was chatting with the guests in the drawing room while Payal was taking the tea tray to them, with her mother by the side..Khushi stood half hidden behind the door to the drawing room.not having the energy to put on a pretend happy face when her heart was broken after facing the end to her career..

She was trying to catch a glimpse of the prospective groom when the doorbell rang..Khushi watched as Amma answered it...The first thing she saw was a paper being handed over to Amma..and then the person holding it followed inside..the Police..

Khushi was shocked...As the startled guests stood up, Babuji tried to get a hold of the situation..

"Sir...aap yaahan" ("Sir..you..here..")

"Mr.Shashi Gupta...hamare paas search warrant hai..corporate espionage case mein aapki beti Khushi Kumari Gupta ke khilaaf ek complaint darj kiya gaya tha..aur isme further investigation ke liye hunne court se yeh search warrant liya hai..please cooperate with us.."

("Mr.Shashi Gupta..we have a search warrant...your daughter is an accused in a case of corporate espionage ..andf to investigate this further, we have got this warrant from the court..please cooperate with us. ")

As the 4 members of the Gupta household stood rooted to their spots in disbelief, it was the father of the prospective groom who spoke next...

"Police..case...search warrant..humne tho socha tha ki aap aur aapke parivaar shareef log hain..eemandar log hai..aur yeh tho..acha hua yeh sab humein pehle hi maloom chala..hum jaa rahein hain..nahin judna aapke parivar se koi rishtha.."

("Police..case...search warrant.We believed that you and your family are respectable members of the society..honest people...but this is...anyways it is bettter that we got to know the reality on day 1 itself...we are leaving...we are not interested in this wedding anymore...")

As they stood up to leave, the inspector intervened...

"Jab thak yeh search khatham nahin hitha..koi kahin nahin jaayega..aur koi phpne bhi nahin karega.."

("No one is going to leave...till the search is completed..and no phone calls shall be made...")

Khushi could.not face her family...Its all because of her...Her family's reputation had been ruined...She stood behind the door...with tears rolling down her face..

After around half an hour..the search proved to be a failed endeavor...nothing incriminating turned up no proof of Khushi's interactions with the competitors...

Inspector moved towards Khushi..

"Aapka naam Khushi Kumar Gupta hain ..?"

("Your name is Khushi Kumari Gupta..?")

Khush nodded in affirmative..

"Chaliye...questioning ke liye aapko hamare saath police station thak aani hogi.."

("You will have to come with us to the police station..for questioning...")

Khushi could not bear it...the thought of being led to the police station in full view of her family and neighbors..as if she was a criminal...it completely broke her...

Shashi Gupta tried to find some solution..

"Inspector saab...lekin aapke paas warrant tho nahin hai.."

("But Inspector..you do not have a warrant for this...")

"Mr.Gupta..aap police ko law math sikhayiye..hum Ms. Gupta ko sirf questioning ke liye le jaa rahe hain.arrest nahin kar rahe hain...iske liye koi warrant zaroori nahin hain...aur aap chahe tho hum court jaake arrest warrant bhi leke aa sakthe hain..iske khilaf complaint hain..prime accused hain ye..le aoon kya? "

("Mr. Gupta...Do not try to teach us law...we are taking your daughter  only for questioning..not arresting her...so we do not need a warrant,,,and if you insist, we would be happy to come back here with a court issued warrant..there is a complaint filed against her..she is the prime accused...shall we bring the warrant? ")

Shashi Gupta stood aside as he had no answer to offer the Inspector.

Khushi was led to the jeep parked outside, with police personnel flanking her..The driber was reversing the jeep and that when she saw him...standing in front of his car..

The inspector was talking to him about the outcome of the search when he saw Khushi looking at him...He waited for the inspector to finish and moved towards her...

"Ms. Gupta..you are smarter than you appear to be..But get this in your head..we will get the proof...and I will see to it that you spend a long time in prison..cursing the moment you walked into AR with this plan of betrayal already planted in your poisoned mind..I had promised you that I will destroy you and Arnav Singh Raizada does not break promises.."

"Sir..this is a misunderstanding...hum ne kabhi aisa kuch socha bhi nahin hai...Hum begunaah hain.." Khushi requested.. 

("Sir..this is a misunderstanding..Such a thought had never even entered my mind..I am innocent...")

Arnav replied in a cold voice...

"Save this drama for the court and the press Ms Gupta..shaayad tumhare kaam aayenge..." 

("Save this drama for the court and the press Ms Gupta..It might help you win some brownie points with the judge...")

Khushi was taken away in the police jeep and as Arnav watched her sitting with bowed head in the backseat..he felt his eyes misting up..It hurt him to see her like this..but coming back to senses..he thought..Its her actions that was the root cause of all this...


So thats it..sort of a twist...would love to hear what you thought of it...Please please leave your feedback...😊

DISCLAIMER: Images credit to original uploader...

Chapter 11