Silent Whispers
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
The Second First Time
Arnav gingerly
knocked on the aging door, hoping his brother was home. It was the first time
in over a year that he was visiting the small apartment on the outskirts of
town that Akash had moved into, abandoning all the luxuries of Shantivaan without even a blink of an eye.
Of course, it
was another thing that Arnav had wanted to make this trip more times than he
could remember, though he never dared to follow through. His brother had already shown his prowess for
blatancy when he had read that infamous article in the New Delhi Times. There was no doubt he wouldn't do the same if
their conversation steered even an inch in the wrong direction. And given how silent things have gotten
between them, Arnav just couldn't give another wedge the chance to drive them
apart.
The door
slowly opened to reveal a tired-looking Akash. "Bhai?" he said, surprise coloring
his face. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything
is fine," he replied, calm. "Are you busy?"
"No, of
course not. Come in."
Akash stepped
aside to let him enter. Arnav walked through the aging studio apartment,
noticing every corner filled with canvases, some completed, some blank and the
rest somewhere in between. A couch and a few tables occupied the hall, while a
kitchen and bathroom angled off on the edges of the room.
For the first
time in his life, Arnav felt as if he walked into his brother's privacy.
"It's not
big," Akash murmured, who seemed to be watching him anxiously. "But it's
convenient."
"It's your house," Arnav said simply,
understanding his apprehension and wishing he could change it. "And for me,
that's all that matters."
He appeared surprised
to hear that.
"And as much
as we can continue talking about your real estate investments," Arnav said,
keeping his voice light. He didn't and couldn't
let the awkwardness to settle. " I am here to talk about something
important."
Akash watched
with careful eyes in response, reminding Arnav almost instantly of him as a
child. Then too, he pulled the same face every time he got rewarded instead of
punished for some deliberate mischief.
Suppressing a
grin, for Akash appeared quite adorable, Arnav pulled out his cell phone and
sat on the soft red sofa as though this wasn't
the first time they were having a conversation unsupervised by their sister in
almost a year.
"I believe
you are aware of Anju's relationship," Arnav began, keeping his eyes on his
phone, but not really reading the messages it displayed. "And more than that,
are okay with it since you haven't raised any glaring objections to it."
Akash
remained rooted to the floor.
"Shyam is a
good man... I may not know him as well as you do, but I do believe he is the one
for her, so much so that I think it's time they got married."
He was still
silent.
"Nani is yet
to confirm it with the priests, but there seems to be an auspicious day a month
from today. If you approve, we can finalize it for the wedding. Needless to
say, this is the first of the family, so we have-"
"Stop."
Arnav broke
off, finally taking his eyes off his phone. Akash was staring at him with a mixture
of incredulity and remorse.
"Why are you
doing this?" he asked, blunt.
"Err... I am
not sure what you mean."
"You know exactly what I mean Bhai. You're
pretending as if both of us haven't been avoiding each other for the past eight
months, as if you aren't choosing every word like you are threading on thin
ice, as if everything is normal between us! Why?!"
Arnav stood
up. "I don't understand... do you want
me to scream my lungs out at you?"
"Yes!" he fumed. "As a matter of fact I
do! I want you to be pissed off with me for everything I put you through in the
last few months! I want you to yell at me for being stupid and insensitive! I
want you to do everything except be
the bigger person here and take the first step to fixing this!!"
Arnav's
shoulders fell. They had come exactly to the point he had desperately wanted to
avoid. "Akash..."
He shook his
head, his voice falling with disgrace. "You don't get it Bhai... you are the better one out of the two of us.
You know exactly when to compromise and when to fight, when to talk and when to
listen, when to forgive and when to criticize. Even now, you are here to fix
the damage before it's late."
Arnav didn't reply.
"You are here
to give me a considerate way back into the family... because we both know I've said some things that I can
never take back no matter what."
He finally
cleared his throat. "Well, you are wrong... No one can give you a way back into
this family, because you never left it in the first place."
"Bhai-"
"Do you truly
believe you are the first person in this world to have said things they are not
proud of?" he interrupted. "Well, you aren't... it's human tendency to utter
things that may not always be true. And the people who know the difference
between that, between what you mean and what you say... those are the ones you call family."
Akash stared
at him in wonder.
"And before
you find another excuse to feel guilty," Arnav continued with a small smile.
"Let me remind you that if our roles were reversed and you were in my place,
you would have said the same thing, perhaps with even more conviction than I."
To his great
surprise, Akash unpredictably stepped forward to embrace him. Arnav felt as if
his heart, which he didn't even know was agape, was whole again. It was so very
strange.
Despite being
so inherently different, both of them somehow always managed to adhere. Perhaps
it was in their blood, or their upbringing or just their plain hearts, but
whatever it was, it was enough for Arnav to realize that despite all the
secrets and misunderstandings, they were always going to be incomplete without
the other.
"Thank you," Akash
mumbled, stepping away. "And I am so sorry
for not trusting you..."
"You know Maa
once said to me that it takes two men to make one brother," Arnav replied. "If
you feel guilty for what happened, then so do I. If you are sorry for what you
said, then I am sorry for what I did."
"No, don't
be... if me and Khushi broke up, it's because we wanted to. It had nothing to do
with you."
"Maybe not-"
"Forget it
Bhai. I don't want to remember all the mistakes we made."
Arnav
reluctantly nodded, knowing that there was no point digging skeletons they had
only just buried.
"Besides, you
still haven't even asked me the big question yet."
A line appeared
on his forehead. "What's that?"
"Oh come on
Bhai... I am not that naive to not
understand that you would be the first person to know when my shares are not
mine anymore."
Arnav averted
his eyes.
"What?" Akash
asked, taken aback. "Aren't you going to ask me why I gave them away? Or for
that matter tell me I am making a very big mistake?"
He took his
time to answer, choosing his words with great care. "Did you know our company's
legal advisor -Sid- has been my friend longer than he has been a lawyer?"
"Okay...?"
Akash said, not following the point.
"So naturally,
he called me the minute you decided
to take your name off those shares."
Akash bit his
lip.
"Which brings
me to my point: if I really did want
to tell you that you are making a mistake, I would not have waited this long. I
would have told you the day you had the first intention, almost a month ago
now."
Akash
nervously dug his hands into his pockets. "So... you are not mad then?"
"No," he
replied calmly. "If anything, I was happy that you at least acknowledged those
shares are yours, even if it was for a short while."
"I didn't
want to disrespect your sentiment Bhai-"
"You don't
owe me an explanation."
"I know, but
I still want to give you one."
Arnav was
surprised.
"I can't say
the family business is not for me and still accept a third of its profits. It's
not right. I either have to be on that end, or this, but not in-between. I
haven't attended a single board meeting in my life Bhai, and yet I have as much
authority as you? How is that fair? At least Anjali knows what is going on... she
makes an effort to keep up, but me? I don't know anything."
He listened
patiently, knowing exactly where Akash was heading with the conversation.
"So, I
thought it was best to get rid of my namesake ownership. And before you ask me
why Khushi, I want to tell you straight up that she was the first person who
came to my mind. And the reason is very simple: she gets me. I know she will never do anything that goes against your
sentiments or mine. If, like you say, these shares are really mine, then I can't see anyone doing a
better job of taking care of them than her.
Can you?"
Arnav was
mum. There was no doubt whatsoever that Khushi was more than capable of
handling a third of AR Designs. And
perhaps, like his brother said, she would handle them in a way that kept their
family's essence alive in many years to come.
But that
wasn't what bothered Arnav about the new dynamic. No, what bothered him was something
else entirely.
* * *
Khushi took a
deep breath, failing miserably to calm her already strained heart. Today was
her first day in AR Designs as a
shareholder, and even though things were very different from the last time she
had her first day there, albeit as an intern, it felt just as nerve wracking,
if not more.
While the
news channels had mostly stayed away from this development over the weekend,
she knew after today there would be no hiding. Today was her meeting with the
entire board of directors, and without question, every single one of them would
be questioning how she acquired a third of the company literally overnight.
"Good morning
ma'am," greeted the receptionist, a chirpy girl in her early twenties.
"Please Meera,"
Khushi replied, rolling her eyes. This was first time she had addressed her as ma'am.
"Don't make me any more nervous than I already am."
Meera
grinned. "You will be fine. The meeting is in boardroom three."
Khushi nodded
and proceeded to the staircase when she heard a booming voice:
"Miss Gupta!
What's the hurry?"
She whipped
around to find the grinning face of Jai, Arnav's faithful manager and her good
friend, though he had a knack of putting her on the spot more often than not.
"Let me at least
congratulate you," Jai continued, striding towards her. "After all, this is
quite a big promotion!"
"Shut-up,"
she muttered. "You don't have to let the whole office know, okay?"
"Oh the whole
office knows already," he replied nonchalantly. "Boss sent everyone an email
this morning."
Her jaw
dropped in horror. "He did what?!"
"Yeah, he
sent an email, calling for a meeting with the entire staff to introduce the new
boss."
Khushi wished
the ground would just open up and swallow her right then and there. At least
she would be saved from the embarrassment of walking up in front of the entire company,
who until a year ago were her colleagues, and proclaim her position as an owner.
"So tell me,"
Jai said seriously, lowering his voice and leaning in. "Is boss really this
generous in bed? Or did it not even come to that?"
She glared at
him, fuming. "I swear Jai, one more
joke about me and Arnav and-"
"And what?"
he asked mischievously. "You will fire me? Bring it on Gupta. I am excited to
finally have some fun in this place!"
Khushi gritted
her teeth and turned away, frustrated. She knew he was merely pulling her leg. Jai
was much too familiar with her to simply believe that her new position was
because of her relationship with Arnav; but what about the rest of the company?
Did they understand her in the few short weeks she worked here? Or did they assume that her new role in the
company was courtesy of some favors from the Raizada family?
The answer
was not hard to guess.
"By the way,
just a heads up," Jai said casually, walking up the stairs with her. "They are
going to be talking about Joshi and Sons today."
Khushi
stopped. "What about Joshi and Sons?"
He held out a
file for her. "It's all in here. You should definitely give it read before the
meeting. After all it's your first one as a shareholder."
She was moved.
"Thank you Jai... Despite getting on my nerves most of the time, you are actually
very helpful."
"I am just
looking out for myself," he answered with a wink. "Who can I joke about if you
are thrown out of AR Designs?"
She shook her
head in mock exasperation, before heading up to boardroom three. Like most
rooms in the company, even this one was elegantly designed and contemporarily
furnished. It was obvious that not only did Anjali know her brother's taste,
but knew it well.
Without
wasting time, Khushi sat down at the long table in the center of the room and
began reading the file. She was almost halfway through when a small voice spoke
in her ear:
"Don't you
think you are a tad bit over prepared for this meeting?"
Khushi jumped, goose bumps appearing at the
nape of her neck. "Dammit Arnav," she muttered, clutching her racing heart.
"Giving me a heart attack minutes before I meet the board is not a good idea."
Arnav
straightened up with a smirk. "I was merely seeing how fried your brain is. Did
you get any sleep last night?"
She shrugged.
"Does it matter? I am still going to look like a fool."
He watched
her closely.
"And instead
of helping me, I hear you are making things worse."
"I beg to
differ."
"Really? So
it's not true that you called the
entire company for a meeting this afternoon, to introduce me as their new
boss?"
Arnav
narrowed his eyes. "Who told you that?"
"Jai."
He sighed and
took a seat beside her. "Of course he would. I clearly am paying him way too much, considering how much time
he has for unimportant things."
"So you don't
even think it's important to tell me
that you called for a meeting?"
"Of course
not," he replied, still very calm. "I just don't think now is the time to enlighten you about it."
"Yes, because
the time to tell me was yesterday."
He pulled her
chair closer, until their knees were pressed up against each other. "Khushi,"
he stressed. "It's protocol to call for a company meeting - I know you know that. Besides, how long do
you plan on avoiding this news? Forget this afternoon, you are going to have a
room full of people staring at you with the same questions in twenty minutes."
Khushi looked
down at her lap, tense. "I know."
"I don't
think you do," he said frankly. "How are you going to convince the entire board
of directors that you are the right person to own these shares if you,
yourself, are not convinced?"
"Are you convinced?"
Her question
seemed to throw him off guard. "Convinced that you can take these shares? Or convinced that you want to take them?"
She blinked.
Only he could turn a question around
and throw it back at her.
"About the former,"
he continued, understanding he wasn't going to get a reply. "The answer is yes,
I am convinced that you are more than capable of handling these shares. About
the latter, however... I am not sure."
She snorted.
"You are always sure about something... I don't think you don't know the answer to that."
"You think
so?" he asked, though the question appeared to be directed more towards himself,
than her. "Maybe I will be sure after you answer this then: For more than a
year now, I have been practically begging you to re-join this company, as a
project lead, a manager... you name it. I don't think I have offered anyone as many positions as I offered you.
And all it takes Akash is one cup of coffee over brunch, and you agree to take
ownership of his shares. What am I missing?"
Khushi stared
back at him, trying to find words for an answer. His question, to be honest,
wasn't surprising. She had been expecting it since the second she agreed to
Akash's request. However, now that it was all out in the open, she found that
she didn't have a fitting reply.
"Does my
answer really make a difference to you?" she finally said.
A line
appeared on his forehead. He didn't follow the point she was trying to make.
So she rephrased: "Does it bother you that I listened
to Akash, but not you?"
He snorted in
answer. "I would be outright lying to myself if I thought Akash was unimportant
to you. You know him and more than that, you value him in your life."
"That doesn't
answer my question."
"No Khushi,"
he replied, unperturbed. "It doesn't bother me that you listened to Akash. What
bothers me is that you are keeping things from me."
She avoided
his eyes. "That's because there is nothing for you to know."
Arnav sighed
in disappointment, but chose not to push his point.
"Besides,
shouldn't you be more curious about how me and Akash are talking again?"
"What's there
to be curious about?" he said monotonously, leaning back in his chair. "Both of
you miss each other, and not to mention, feel guilty about what happened. All
you needed was little push from Lavanya."
She shook her
head in exasperation. "Should I even bother asking how you knew that?"
"Akash mentioned
it when I went to visit him yesterday at his apartment."
Khushi's eyes
widened in disbelief. "You went to
Akash's apartment?"
He shrugged.
"What's so shocking? He is my brother..."
"Thank you
for that Mr. Obvious. What made you go there when both of you have been royally
ignoring each other for like a year now?"
"It's ironic
how you're the one asking. Until two
days ago, you were sailing in the same boat."
"Hardly...
Akash is not my brother. My relationship
with him is no where as complicated as yours."
Arnav nodded
absentmindedly. "You do have a point there. But it seems that the complexity of
our bond is what made the reconciliation easy.
We both care too much about the other to continue our cold war, if I can
even call it that."
"What do you
mean?"
"I mean I
kept my distance these past few months because I thought he needed time to adjust.
And Akash had stayed away because he felt too guilty for what he said in a fit
of rage... so that means all this time, we weren't even fighting."
"Sounds normal
to me," she replied with a grin. "A classic brotherly thing to do."
He smiled. "I
am just relieved things are somewhat back in their place."
"Except for
this meeting," she replied, glancing at the clock hanging behind him; they had
only a few minutes left to spare.
"Like always you
are over prepared."
"Hardly... I
wish you had given me a heads up. If Jai didn't-"
"Jai again? I
seriously need to give him more work."
She glared at
him. "On the contrary, he deserves a promotion. He did quite a bit of research
on Joshi and Sons. Did you know that they have been doing illegal deals for
almost a decade now? I mean, I knew
my father was crooked, but seeing it on paper like this? No wonder his stocks
crashed! With this much-"
Khushi broke
off, a sudden realization knocking her breathless. "That's it!" she squealed in excitement, all panic of the impending
meeting gone. "That's what made his stocks crash! Someone leaked this
information to his investors!"
She looked
wildly at Arnav, her heart pounding at the abrupt epiphany, but to her great
disappointment, there was absolutely no surprise on his face. Instead, he sat
calmly in his chair, his chin propped up on his fingers, watching her as if she
materialized from an animated film.
"What?" she asked,
frowning. "Why are you looking at me like that? Don't you know what this
means?"
He simply
looked on.
"Arnav! Say something!"
He pointedly leaned
forward and asked, "What should I say? Who do you think leaked the information
to the investors?"
Khushi's mouth hung open in astonishment. "You leaked the news?!"
"Well, not me
personally; but I definitely was the
inspiration behind the one who did."
She couldn't
believe her ears. After recovering from the initial shock of hearing about her
father's company plummeting on Saturday, she didn't give much thought about
what could have possibly caused it. The news wasmuch too gratifying for her worry about the why.
While her
brother had mostly ignored the information, for he wanted nothing to do with
Shashi, she took personal pleasure in watching the news channels announcing the
continual drop of Joshi & Sons,
so much so that she had even forgotten to ask Arnav how he knew about the news
beforehand.
But now, it
was all starting to make sense.
"Why didn't
you tell me?" she asked, staring at him with a mixture of awe and regret. "I
can't believe I missed something so obvious... Even Jai figured it out-"
"He didn't,"
Arnav interrupted, oddly calm. "That file is mine. Jai - with good intentions I
am sure - must have slipped it off my desk."
She turned
blankly to the file in response, finally seeing the details she missed in haste
and mentally slapping herself for it. There was no way Jai could have put together all of this within a fortnight.
Gaining this much information took dedicated time and effort; it was obvious
that only one person, other than her, who would do that.
"I know what
you are thinking," he said, misunderstanding her silence. "The reason I didn't
give you this file myself is because this is my opinion on Joshi & Sons and it by no means has to be yours...
You own an equal share of the company now. Your decisions cannot be swayed with me."
She shook her
head, brushing away his explanation. "That's not what I am thinking."
His forehead
crumpled.
"I am trying
to understand why you are doing all
this," she murmured. "Is it because of what my father did...?"
The corners
of his mouth slightly pulled up as though he was waiting for her to ask that
question. "It's because I love you," he replied, stretching out to caress her
hand.
"You didn't
have to... The last thing I want is for you to carry my baggage."
"And the last
thing I want is for you to have any
baggage. You chose this profession because of him... in fact a lot of things in
your life are because of him. And I hate
that, more than I hate him for what
he has done to you. So I am willing to do whatever it takes to change that,
starting with his business."
Khushi stared
at him in wonder, trying to understand how many more times she was going to
feel like she was meeting him for the very first time.
"I don't know
who you are," she whispered. "But I know for sure you are not from here."
He smiled her
favorite crooked smile and said, "Maybe this is will convince you otherwise,"
before cupping her cheek and pulling her into a kiss.
"Ahem."
They broke
apart, rather grudgingly, to see a smirking Anjali at the door. Khushi flushed
in embarrassment, while Arnav nonchalantly adjusted his collar and said:
"You are
quite early."
"Sorry Bhai,"
Anjali replied, though her tone was far from being apologetic. "I thought I would
come early to wish Khushi luck, but looks like I will be third wheeling
instead."
"Hilarious."
"If you want,
I can wait outside for a few more minutes."
Arnav rolled
his eyes and stood up to take his seat at the head of the table. Biting back
the urge to stop him, for his warm presence kept all her nervousness at bay,
Khushi gloomily looked down at her lap, when-
"Aren't you
coming?"
It was Arnav,
who was glancing over his shoulder to where she was seated. A line appeared on
her forehead in response.
"You are
sitting with me today," he said. It wasn't a question, and neither was it an
order. It was something that asserted his right and yet, gave her the significance.
In some
strange way, it was the most touching thing he had said to her all day.
So without
another word, she stood up and followed him to the end of the table before
sitting down to his left. Anjali, already seated to his right, grinned at her unabashed.
As if on the
cue, the door opened to reveal a few early comers, some familiar, others new.
To Khushi's relief, many of them warmly congratulated her before taking their
respective seats. Soon Arnav was calling
for attention and the meeting began in full swing.
In the days
that would follow, Khushi wouldn't remember much of the meeting, other than the
fact that she unnecessarily wasted sleep over it. As Jai foretold, the entire hour
was centered on the fall of Joshi &
Sons' shares and the new competitive position of AR Designs in the market.
Khushi found
she could keep up even without having
read Arnav's research. She matched stride to stride with the rest of the
members, despite being the newest and the least experienced. By the time they
wrapped up, she felt as if a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders and she
had grown a foot or two.
"Now that
wasn't so bad, was it?" Arnav asked.
Khushi looked
up from her laptop, on which she was finishing up her notes. The boardroom was
empty, except for the two of them. "Bad? No. But it could've been better."
"Oh, lighten
up! You did well."
She
suppressed a smile. "Who is giving me the compliment? My boyfriend or business
partner?"
"Fiance," he corrected.
Khushi
resisted the urge to stick out her tongue at him and turned back to her laptop.
From the corner of her eyes, she saw him lean on the edge of the desk.
"If it's
worth anything," he said slowly. "You are better than me. I wasn't nearly as
intelligent as you when I was your age. Everything I know today is from experience,
but you... you have a natural sense of what to do and what not to do. It's
impressive."
She couldn't
help but grin at that. Hitting the save button, she closed her screen and stood
up. "Thank you... but I am not that much younger than you."
Arnav chuckled.
"You are younger than you think. And I am older than I look."
She crossed
her arms. "Don't give me another reason to re-think your proposal."
"Re-think all
you want baby," he murmured, pulling her into his embrace. "But when the time
comes for you to decide, you will
choose me."
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