#2 Arshi FF - The Other Half - 28 Dec - Note - pg 68 - Page 5

Oh yeah, uh huh

"What made you hire Satwik Mishtan Bhandar? How did you hear of them?" Arnav wanted to know how Nath heard of Khushi's business. Nath paused and frowned. "Who?" He asked in confusion. "The catering company, Satwik Mishtan Bhandar. How did you hear of them?"Arnav repeated.

"I hired Cookz Limited, Arnav. Not Satwik Mis whatever it is you said." Nath informed him, not realizing the iciness that had suddenly gripped Arnav's body. "Anyway, I've got to go now. Catch up later." Nath hung up, leaving Arnav staring at Khushi across the cabin glass.

He felt the earlier moments of teasing, of her blushing, her vulnerability, her.. her everything.. all of it went away.

She'd lied to him.

And if there was one thing he hated more than losing control, it was lies.

"Go down to the spare office and help them out with their work." Arnav barked the order at Khushi who stood there with her eyes on the floor. She merely nodded and turned to leave. "And you're not allowed to leave until I say so. Do you understand?" Arnav stared at her pointedly. "Yes, Arnavji" Khushi whispered.

On her way to the spare office, Khushi was lost in her thoughts. She was not able to understand why Arnavji was suddenly acting so cold and distant towards her. For the past two days, he had been this way. She'd tried asking if everything was alright, but he hadn't said anything. In fact, apart from giving her curt orders, he had all but ignored her. This was baffling to her, since just two days ago she had massaged his head when he'd had the headache, she'd spilt the coffee on him, he had taken off his blazer and teased her..

And now he'd taken a complete turn and was cold towards her. She headed down to the spare office which looked completely run down. The building itself looked unstable, the interior filled with stacks of bricks, tiles and some poles that were leaning against the wall. Upon asking one of the men supervising the area, she got to know that the building was under renovation, and their fashion material that was stored there was being taken out to place in another warehouse. She wondered why she, the PA to ASR, was here instead of being by his side.

Arnav eyed his laptop with a furious glare. His fists clenched until his nails were biting into his palms. He tried hard to concentrate on his work, but the empty cabin from across his own wasn't letting him be in peace. Despite having sent the distraction, namely Khushi, away, he was still distracted.

He'd tried not to jump to conclusions or give into his famous ASR anger. But dammit, the girl was seriously testing his patience. He analyzed everything that had happened in the past few days, and couldn't help but suspect the innocent looking, cute and foolish PA of his.

She'd come into his life like a storm, giving no warning whatsoever. She drove him mad with her constant chatter, her innocent remarks, her expressive eyes, her beauty, her cuteness..

Two days ago, after he'd found out from Nath that he had hired Cookz Limited and not Khushi's company, he'd been in a bad mood. His first instinct was to summon her into his cabin and fire questions at her. Why had she lied? Why had she told him she was the caterer when she was not? And if she wasn't the caterer, then why was she at Nath's party? Just what was going on?

He was tempted to ask her these questions, but by then his back to back meetings had started and his presence was a requirement so he pushed all his doubts aside and went to clinch some much needed deals for his company. But the time he had come out of his back to back meetings, he realized Khushi had already left for the day since it was close to 6:30pm. He too decided to go home early, freshen up and then think through things calmly.

Except that he wasn't able to be calm once he got home as he remembered about that camera that was planted in his room. That very camera must have been how Nath found out about Arnav's profit margin and hence refused to close their deal. Nath must have paid someone to spy on him. Arnav was still figuring out what to do with the camera and how to go about finding out who planted it when he decided to let the camera be, since he didn't want to spook Nath.

And as for finding out who planted it, he got his answer that very evening when he was speaking with Nani over dinner. "Nani, has anyone been to my room lately? Anyone outside of our immediate family?" He tried asking casually. Nani frowned and thought hard. "No Chotte, why?"

Arnav sighed. "Nothing, just asking." He muttered and played around with his food. "Is everything okay? Oh yes, that day when Khushi bitiya came over to meet us and show us her sari designs, she mentioned something about putting a file in your room. Did you not find it?" Nani inquired and Arnav's head snapped up to meet Nani's questioning gaze. "Khushi was in my room." It wasn't a question, rather it was a statement that he was making to himself as he remembered that night.

"Khushi?" His husky voice tingled her spine and she sneaked a peek at him. Fortunately for her, his dinner meeting had gone well, which was why he didn't sport his usual angry ASR face. "What are you doing here?" He questioned her, his mind still reeling with the feel of having her in his arms again, though not as close as he'd liked. Khushi looked at him nervously and then shook her head. "I was just here because.. because I thought I saw Laxmiji come into your room. We were playing together. Mehh Mehh" She smiled at him.

She'd looked nervous, uncomfortable. She told him she was in his room to see Laxmi, so why had she told Nani she was putting a file in his room? What file? He hasn't asked for any, not had he seen one in his room. So she was lying again. But to whom? What was she really doing in his room? Unless.. his stomach dropped. Was she the one who planted those cameras? Was she spying on him for Nath? Was that why she'd insisted on coming to his house alone and was trying to leave as soon as he got back? Was that why she was at Nath's party and lied to him?

With his mind swirling in these thoughts, he'd excused himself from dinner and went straight to his room. He paced his room and when he started to get suffocated, he went to the poolside and sat in the open space, finding his gaze darting here and there every few seconds, trying to determine whether there were any more cameras. Frustrated with the sudden dread that filled his body, he grabbed his phone and placed a call to Aman before abruptly cutting the call. Someone could be listening to his conversation.

So instead he texted his right hand man at 11pm. Find me everything you can about Khushi Kumari Gupta. See if she has any relationship with Suresh Nath. Get back to me as soon as possible, by tomorrow morning preferably.' He sent the text and impatiently waited for a reply. His phone buzzed with a short vibration and he read it quickly. Will do, Sir.' That was the reason why Aman was still his right hand man. He did as asked, without delay, and never asked unnecessary questions.

The following day, a short and inconclusive report on Khushi Kumari Gupta was brought on his desk in the form of a file. "This is all I could find for now, Sir. I can probably get more information, if I know what exactly it is I am looking for." Aman directly said. Arnav knew that Aman liked Khushi. That much was clear when Aman defended Khushi the day she supposedly came late to office because of Pam's stupid coffee prank and Arnav had told Khushi to stay back as punished for not being punctual. Aman was trying to find out why Arnav had suddenly asked for a report on Khushi now, after having hired her. But instead of answering him, Arnav greedily took in the details in the file with sharp eyes, missing nothing as he went over the short report.

Speed report on Khushi Kumari Gupta as requested by Arnav Singh Raizada

Name: Khushi Kumari Gupta [KKG]

Age: 21

Marital status: Single

Occupation: Sweet chef and temporary PA to Arnav Singh Raizada

Company: Satwik Mishtan Bhandar and AR Designs (temporary)

Father: Shashi Jayant Gupta

Age: 55

Occupation: Retired

Mother: Garima Shashi Gupta

Age: 50

Occupation: Housewife

Others:

KKG is sole breadwinner of the household. KKG has an older sister, Payal Gupta, aged 23, unmarried, does on and off freelance work of sweets and chikankari saris. KKG has an aunt, Madhumati Gupta, aged 53, widowed.

KKG comes from a middle class family. Taken over father's sweet shop business. Graduated with decent grades. KKG is not associated in any personal relationships as yet. KKG is not associated in any professional relationships. No known mutual relationships between KKG and Arnav Singh Raizada. No known crimes. Further details not known. Further deductions inconclusive.

End of report.

"What the hell is this?" Arnav threw the file aside, his annoyance plain and clear. "Which agency did you hire to gather information? This is called a report? There is nothing here of importance. Nothing that tells me what I need to know!" Arnav ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

Aman shifted on his feet. "And just what is it that you need to know, Sir? Also yes, this is all the information the agency could find in such limited time. As I have said, they can dig deeper and get more, if you give them some more time." Aman added.

"They have one day. That's all they have. I want more. Okay?" Arnav stared at Aman and said in a stern voice. Accepting that his boss wasn't going to add more, Aman sighed and left.

The next day, Aman arrived with another report. The report seemed thicker than the previous one and Arnav immediately dismissed him and settled down to read it with no disruptions. After flipping through the pages and reading carefully, Arnav's mood was grim. If he was impatient to know more about his PA, now he was not so sure he was happy that he knew.

He decided then and there that he needed to be away from her. That was why the next instance he had called her up to his office and displayed the cold behavior as he had been for the past day.

"Go down to the spare office and help them out with their work." Arnav barked the order at Khushi who stood there with her eyes on the floor. She merely nodded and turned to leave. "And you're not allowed to leave until I say so. Do you understand?" Arnav stared at her pointedly. "Yes, Arnavji" Khushi whispered.

Arnav watched her leave, his heart squeezing as she called out his name in her sweet voice. His face hardened the next moment as he remembered the details in the file. The file had reflected what he already knew. Khushi had been to his house that night, intentionally arriving at a time she knew he wouldn't be home. Khushi had been at Nath's party. The report had photographs of Khushi and Nath meeting in the corner, speaking. Arnav knew now.

Khushi was the mole.

The report hadn't exclusively stated that Khushi and Nath had a relationship. However, what other conclusion was Arnav to come to?

He felt his heart break a little. He laughed the next second, scoffing at himself. Heart? For him it was just a muscle that pumped to keep him alive.

As dreadful as it was to know that Khushi was not what she appeared to be, he wasn't all that surprised. After all, he knew it was too good to be true. There was just no way Khushi was this young, cute, innocent chatty child-woman that she portrayed to be. No, she wasn't.

She was manipulative, calculative, scheming and betraying, just like they always were. And why not? She was from a middle class family after all. He knew there was a catch. Coming to his office, pretending to offer sweets, all just to get in touch with him, just to spy on him. And he had unintentionally and unknowingly made it all easier on her by hiring her on the spot. What a fool. The ASR, fooled by some middle class innocent acting girl who pretended to be someone she wasn't.

Don't be mistaken, he was very much ready to go and confront Khushi. But what good would that do? He had come across many such disloyal and betraying people in his business world, and the first thing they did was deny everything and play the victim. And with this unwanted effect that Khushi had on him, he wasn't sure that he would be able to control himself if she tried to act innocent in front of him again. He may very well inflict some pain on her, and he didn't want to do that, not yet.

Right now, Khushi was off at the spare office. He had deliberately sent her there, needing some time and space from her. He also needed a game plan to figure out what the next step would be, and he had to decide what he was going to do with her.

Of course the only good news amongst all of this was that he'd managed to get a confirmed report that his office and his personal phone wasn't bugged. Which meant that no one was keeping tabs on him here at his office. So only his room was bugged.

It was close to 5:45pm and Arnav was still as a statue, seated on his chair, debating his next move. Thinking through with a calm mind, he picked up his phone and dialed Khushi's number.

"Arnavji?" Her hopeful voice came through the phone and Arnav cursed his heart for softening just the tiniest bit. He forced himself to sound neutral. "Khushi. You may leave now." He allowed her to go home for the day.

"Okay, Arnavji. Um.. there's actually something I wanted to ask you-" Khushi hesitantly voiced out. Arnav narrowed his eyes at how she added just the right amount of delicateness to her voice. What was she playing at now?

"Khushi, I have to go. We will talk later. Be at the spare office tomorrow morning sharp 8am. And just to remind you, the prayers is coming up in the next five days. Better balance your time and start preparing for it." Arnav bit out. Khushi panicked. She needed to speak to him urgently. But he wasn't listening. And 8am? Her office hours were from 9am to 6pm. But she could go ealirer, that wasn't the problem. The problem was someone else..

"Okay, 8am it is. The work for the prayers will be handled. But Arnavji, I really need to speak to you about something, about Shya- hello? Hello.. Arnavji? Hello, are you there?" Khushi spoke into the phone, listening intently. But all she could hear was the dial tone. He'd hung up.

Khushi looked down at her phone disappointedly. She tried calling him a few times, and by the end of the day she'd given him four calls. He'd ignored the first three, and the last one didn't go through because by then he had shut off his phone.

"Arnavji.." Khushi whispered into the night as she went to sleep, restlessly shifting in her bed as she thought about the meeting that Shyamji, his jijaji, had requested, the next day.

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