The elevator dinged and Khushi looked up from her desk to see a fuming Akaash step out. He glanced at Khushi, whose eyes were red and swollen and lashes were still wet. He had heard from one of the office staff about the incident that took place between Khushi and Arnav, earlier this morning. According to the rumors, Khushi and Arnav were making out in the elevator, and the door accidentally opened at the wrong floor.
Now, Akaash knew his little brother a little too well. He knew that his brother was capable of doing such acts, anywhere. But he also knew Khushi and had judged her by her approach towards people. He knew that Khushi was not the kind of a girl to just give herself to anyone; at least not to someone like Arnav Raizada. Agreed that he too was a womanizer, but Akaash knew to keep his personal life apart from his professional ones. Moreover, he never even dated any female from his office, forget about sleeping with her. But now Arnav had crossed his entire limit. Not only did he try to malign her character in front of the entire staff, but also tried to misbehave with their biggest client's daughter. Akaash was not going to let Arnav ruin this for him. It had always been Akaash's dream to lead the company, as his father would have wanted him to do. He respected his father's principles a lot, and hoped that someday Arnav would realize the same.
Right now, Akaash barged into Arnav's cabin, where the latter was seated at his executive chair, cross-verifying some papers. As soon as Arnav saw his brother's expression, he knew he was in for some trouble. "What the hell, Arnav?" he yelled at his little brother. "I thought you were matured enough and would give up such childish acts. What do you think you're doing with Khushi Gupta?" Arnav opened his mouth to protest, but decided not to do so, when he received a deadly glare from Akaash, whose face had turned red in anger. Akaash sat on the chair opposite to Arnav, and banged his fist on the glass of the table. "How could you, Arnav? Do you even realize how important this deal is? Why do you think I involved Khushi with the work related to the auction? Do you think that I did it because I did not have able people on my team? No. I did it only for the reason that she does not feel she is doing some meager job by being your P.A. I wanted her to feel that we are doing our level best to add weight to her C.V. And that is the only way we can be in good books with Mr. Gupta. His daughter means everything to him, and being good to her means being good to him. But you are on a spree to make her life miserable here." Akaash stood up and walked to the huge one-way mirrored frame, through which he saw Khushi sitting at her desk and writing something. "I want this girl here Arnav, and I want her to feel like she's a part of the Raizada company. And it's your responsibility to make her feel welcome here. For the time-being, I'm putting her on the HR team as a trainee, where she will report only to you, not the HR Manager. Once I seal the deal with Mr. Gupta, I do not care about what you do. I will not let your immature acts tarnish the reputation of Dad's company." He turned to face Arnav, who looked like a student in detention. No matter how arrogant Arnav was, Akaash knew he looked up to him. Akaash had always been more of a guide and a friend, than a brother.
"Sorry Akaash. I did not realize the consequences" Arnav spoke in a soft tone. But he continued dryly saying, "But I'm not sorry for what I did to her. She deserved it. No one slaps Arnav Raizada and gets away. I'm sorry that I disappointed you. I'll be careful, I promise. I will try to be nice to her, only because you want me to." Arnav got up from his seat and joined Akaash, facing Khushi. "I never wanted to pick her up for office. But since you insisted, I did that too. When her friend starting pushing herself on me, I lost control and my mind was side-tracked. It was worse when Khushi saw us in that compromising situation" Akaash took a deep breath. "Arnav, forget what has happened. Henceforth, I need you to be careful. And please, I request you to apologize to Khushi." Arnav looked at Akaash with a blank expression written on his face. "There's no way I'm going to apologize to her Akaash. Forget it. That's not happening" Arnav turned to go and sit at his seat, but Akaash placed his hand on Arnav's shoulder and turned him around so that they were face to face. "Arnav, I gave you no option. You are apologizing to her, whether you like it or not" Arnav knew that Akaash never gave up easily, especially when the company's profit was at stake. "Alright" Arnav agreed in defeat.
A knock on the door interrupted the conversation. They saw that it was Khushi waiting outside the door. "Come in Khushi" Akaash said. She meekly opened the door and walked slowly to where they stood. Her eyes were still teary. She handed over an envelope to Akaash. "My resignation letter" she said softly without looking up at either of them. Arnav's temper reached its limit, but when he saw Akaash glaring at him, he calmed down. Arnav could see the anger in Akaash's eyes, wherein he was trying to tell Arnav that the consequences would be bad if Khushi wasn't convinced that she had to stay back. Arnav went to his seat and waited for Akaash to talk to her. After all, Akaash could convince a dead person to come back to life. His smooth talk had favored him in many situations right from childhood. Arnav was confident that Akaash would make her stay, since the deal meant almost everything to him.
"Khushi, sit here" Akaash drew a chair and Khushi took a seat. He handed the letter back in her hands. "I heard what happened this morning, and I know it is not your fault. Arnav was barbaric in his behavior and he apologizes for it. Right Arnav?" Arnav and Akaash exchanged mute glances, after which Arnav looked at Khushi. It was then that a slight pang of guilt struck him. He did harass her, mentally, physically and emotionally. He knew what he did was wrong. But his ego did not permit him to accept it. Akaash cleared his throat, indicating Arnav to say Sorry to her. "I'm sorry Khushi. I misbehaved. It will not happen again" He resumed his work. It was then Khushi's turn to talk. "Mr. Akaash Raizada, I'm sorry, but I cannot work here. People are talking about me behind my back, and it is all because of your brother. For me, my reputation and character means everything. I cannot continue to work under him..." Khushi continued while Arnav could only fist his hand in anger. He would have bombed Khushi for speaking the way she did, but dared not to say a word due to Akaash's presence.
Akaash nodded his head and listened to her patiently. He knew by now, that women felt better when they spoke about their problems. His experience with numerous women had taught him that women do not seek for a solution to their problem, but just need someone to talk about their problem. Khushi was no different from any other woman. She was speaking her heart out. Akaash knew it was best to simply listen. When she was done talking, Akaash patted her shoulder and comforted her. All this was disturbingly amusing to Arnav, since he never believed in talking out problems. And he never paid attention to any other detail of a woman, except the way she kept moaning his name in bed. Akaash's voice broke his train of thoughts. "I know Khushi, I understand. And that is exactly why I have requested the HR Department to take you as a trainee. You would only report to Arnav once in two days. Further details would be told to you by the department. I want you to stay at the Raizada's, Khushi. You are one of the finest employees we have, and I wouldn't want to lose one. So please, forget about the resignation. Alright?"
After giving it some deep thought, much to Akaash's delight, Khushi agreed to stay and work under the HR Department. Arnav smiled inwardly, for he knew that there was not a single person on earth whom Akaash couldn't manipulate, except for that one girl who broke his heart into a million pieces. Brushing the thought aside, he rose to shake hands with Khushi, who refused to reciprocate the gesture. She nodded her head at him in greeting and then left to pack her things and shift to the lower floor to the IT Department. Akaash reminded Arnav not to involve with Khushi, on any grounds beside professional one. And Arnav agreed to what his brother said.
Soon, Khushi was guided to the new department, and the Manager made her feel warm, almost instantly. She was one of the trainees along with three others- two girls and one guy. She was shown her desk and was handed a few records of the previous years and was asked to make a quick study on it, where she had to prepare a report on the same in two days. Khushi quickly began her task. Of course, there were a few people who still spoke in whispers about the elevator issue. She knew that it would take some time for the issue to calm down. She turned a deaf ear to all talks, and focused on studying the records and completing her report. The day passed in a rush, and before she knew it, it was time for her to go home. She stepped out of the elevator and exited the building, only to see Rohan waiting for her. As soon as she saw him, she ran to him and gave him a big hug. "So Tweety, how was your day?" He asked and her face fell. "Long story Rohan. Can we get something to eat first?" He smiled and nodded his head, and they left the premises to proceed to a restaurant to have coffee and snacks.
They sat by the glass window, where they could see the road. After their order was served, Rohan asked her why she was tensed. And Khushi began to tell him the entire incident, right from the start - Arnav, Ananya, the slap, the elevator and much more. An hour passed and Khushi was still talking. "He was so ruthless, Rohan. How could he just spoil my name?" Rohan could only look at her. When she asked him why he was staring at her, he said, "All of this has happened because you have some soft corner for Arnav Raizada and you let him take advantage of you" Khushi wanted to protest, but Rohan wanted her to hear him out. "Khushi, I know he shouldn't have spoken ill about us without any knowledge. And slapping him wasn't wrong on your part. But don't you see it? He said that because he was jealous!" She looked at him as though he spoke in Latin. "Khushi, a guy would only say such things when he feels affection about a girl. Now, Arnav Raizada is not the guy who would feel affectionate. But he does feel possessive about you." Khushi interrupted him, saying "Why would he feel that? He has pretty women, drooling all over him. Why would he feel jealous?" "Khushi, because you are the only one who doesn't drool over him; who shows no sign of interest in him. He is annoyed with such behavior because, maybe, he is used to getting what he wants. Hence, the irritation and the jealousy when you mentioned my name."
It took a while for Khushi to digest this new discovery. Arnav was possessive about her. Sure, there was no love or affection, but there was some possessiveness. "'Rohan, you do not know how light hearted I felt speaking to you. As of Arnav, let him go to hell. He may be possessive or whatever, but I do not care about him." She held his hand and he patted her hand in response. Suddenly, Rohan's expression turned serious and nervous, which did not go unnoticed by Khushi. "What happened Rohan? Everything is fine?" He nodded his head and forced a smile. "Actually Khushi, I had to tell you something very important. And I just want to say it before it becomes too late" And Khushi's grip on his hand loosened.
Arnav's car came to an abrupt halt when he saw the car in which Khushi had come to office this morning. The car was parked outside an expensive caf, and he immediately spotted Khushi sitting next to the guy. So that is definitely Rohan. What irked Arnav was that both were holding hands. He did not realize why he was irritated though. And slowly, Khushi left his hand. He felt relieved, for unknown reasons, when he left her hand. Rohan nervously took out a tiny box from his pocket and showed it to Khushi, who was initially shocked. He then opened the box to reveal a shiny object- a ring. What the! He is proposing to her. Arnav's temper rose beyond limit. Khushi who was initially shocked, cupped her mouth and then grabbed the velvet box. She looked like her happiness knew no bounds, and looking at her smile, Rohan too smiled. She rose from her seat and hugged Rohan, with the box tightly held in her hand. So it's official now. They are dating and are getting engaged! Something had irritated him from within, and he felt restless. He shrugged his shoulders and tried to wipe off Khushi from his memory. After all, she meant nothing to him. Starting the ignition of the car, Arnav put on his black shades and drove off in a mad rush.
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