Posted:
Hey are we getting an update today? Or maybe this is your once a week day off?
Hey Sooks
First things first"And don't ever give me orders. I am as much neck deep in this shit as you are. Understand?" She said and walked out of his cabin.
"Bitch" He growled in frustration and picked up the blaring phone.
This was the best line of the update ;D
Yeah coming to other things, this was pretty emotional.
Geet's reaction to the changes in Maan's lifestyle were completely understandable, something to which I could connect very well. I was glad to read that Maan noticed all those things and was even missed her.
I guess this does happen in relationships when concern and anger get converted into sarcasm and indifference and hurt feelings are masked by awkwardness. The worst part is that the mask keeps slipping off and the real person behind it peeps out, making it impossible to forget them.
Do these relationships survive the damage and become as they were ever again? I guess not.
Screw the nostalgia.
Nice update
Disclaimer: Chapter is unedited. Apologies for errors in advance.
Chapter 7:
"Here is your coffee sir," Satya placed one of the steaming coffee mugs in front of Maan. Maan looked up from the report he was reading and accepted the coffee with a nod.
"Is everything set?" Maan asked taking a sip of coffee and released a contended sigh. Satya nodded.
"You should get admitted to hospital tonight." Satya said.
"I thought I should go on a nice exotic holiday with half a dozen women and make headlines?" Maan asked bemused. Satya shook his head.
"I think we should stick to something clich," Satya grinned. "The place is completely off limits to the press but not to your family. If you want to know what they are thinking and how they are going to react," Satya said. Maan nodded.
"You will also get to meet Geet after a whole quarter." Satya sniggered and left his cabin.
Maan removed his spectacles and rubbed his face slowly. It had been little over three months since he had taken over the position of COO of Khurana Electricals and Khurana Heavy Transport. He took another sip of hot coffee and breathed a sigh of content. The books and the organizations were a big mess. It took Maan less than three days to realize that Varun didn't care a shit about making changes or even fixing the company to ensure at least a breakeven instead of loss. He had gotten all he wanted which was heading two companies while someone else worked for the betterment of the companies. Maan knew that he wouldn't be welcomed with open arms and it was going to take a while to get the employees to trust him. But before that he had to first understand the reason and holes from where cash was leaking.
It was in the first week he had met Satya in office pantry. He was off fending himself another cup of bad coffee when he saw Satya there having similar idea as his. Satya had studied law and pursued an MBA after that. A brilliant man with exceptional capabilities was bound to desk and chained to a pathetic job. It was two in the morning and Satya was working on a contract that was to be renewed.
"Why are you so late? Isn't the regulated office hours not enough for you to perform your tasks?" Maan asked. Satya had burst out laughing. Maan had looked at him wide eyed.
"I am mostly fixing other people's crap in the morning and by evening I actually get time to start my work. The useless bunch that the management has hired has gotten your company this far." Satya said quite frankly.
"If the work is so bad here then why are you still sticking around?" Maan asked honestly. Had it been him in Satya's shoes he would have left the company a long time ago.
"I was hoping you would show up here one day and fix this bloody mess." Maan was surprised.
"Really?" He asked.
"Not really, no. Few of us knew that one day chairman would wake up from the coma of indifference and start the management cleaning up process by getting new CXOs. I am glad that he chose you," Satya said. Maan nodded and filled coffee.
"You are fired," Maan said leaving the pantry. "I cannot have a person who cleans up after lazy people. Because of you, they never learn and assume that this is how it should work. You are setting a wrong example for talented men and women like you," Maan finished. Satya looked shocked and disappointed.
"I am however offering you a new job – work for me." Maan said.
"I am, or should I say was, working for you." Satya replied.
"I mean work with me." Maan corrected himself.
"As what?" Satya asked curiously.
"I'll invent a name for that role later." Maan shrugged. Satya burst out laughing.
"I'll take your offer sir," Satya said. The men shook hands and for the next two days Satya explained the operations of Khurana Electricals and Khurana Heavy Transport. Maan was not very impressed with father's working model wherein he had appointed a common middle and senior management along with the legal department for smaller companies in Khurana Group. The strategy if failed would fail abysmally which now was the case else it would really make Khurana group a true conglomerate.
"This wasn't the chairman's idea sir. It was your brother and sister's," Satya said when Maan asked him. Maan frowned.
"Around eighty percent of the board for each of these companies constitute of same people who are closely associated with Khurana Capital or Khurana Construction. Vikram and Mitalee Khurana actually pull the strings of these companies behind the curtain where as for the world it looks like these companies are run by a board." Satya explained.
Maan knew that moment that his decision of accepting the job couldn't have been more perfect.
Maan had given Satya the complete freedom of selecting his own team for the work that was going to come. Satya hadn't disappointed him when he met the team. They were mercenaries in the world of finance and they weren't associated with any company or a representative. They acted like independent consultants and refused to become Maan's employees. Maan hadn't pressed further and had just accepted it.
He had asked Satya to drop the "sir" when he spoke to him. "Hearing 'sir' makes me uncomfortable," Maan had said seeing how they were both of same age and more than that, they were equally intelligent. Maan respected that more than the age.
"Sorry sir but I don't think I can do that. However if there comes a time when fail to recognize a rejection as a valid point of view, I will treat you as just another peer and scold you." Satya had replied. Maan had grinned and said, "Deal."
They had worked along with the team that Satya had gotten him to find the leaks in the company. He had to start patching those leaks but before that he wanted to identify every single one of them.
"Is this what I think it is?" Maan had asked Satya when he saw the list. The list of contractors and vendors who were provisioning supplies were all somehow or the other connected to the people in board or Mitalee or Vikram themselves.
"Why are Mitalee and Vikram on this? Favoring people they like is one thing but having paper companies to divert money flow is total fraudulence." Maan said turning pages in the report.
"It could be for slush fund. Books in these companies are totally mess and by diverting money elsewhere they are keeping the construction and capital business risk free and clean. The amount of lobbying they are doing for the construction business is humungous. The bridge reconstruction project is their entry to become a primary or leading contractor for public sectors. " Satya said. Maan looked thoughtful.
"But it doesn't add up. Because the share value is calculated for Khurana Group and not for Khurana Construction unless they want to…" Maan paused. Then he realized the motive of his brother and sister and their apprehension towards involving Varun with them. It wasn't about becoming heir to the Khurana Group. It was about splitting the group completely and run Khurana Construction and Khurana Capital as independent companies. And once that happens, the smaller companies book heavy losses starting the day of split and within weeks might even declare bankruptcy. And then they would intervene and purchase it out at much lower value absorbing them to their respective sector.
Maan had to give it to Vikram and Mitalee for their plan. It was the most efficient way of splitting the complete group to two parts and not four. So even if their father wanted to do something, he couldn't do a thing because he has neither role in independent companies nor the other ones since they are run by board.
"How is our plan coming up?" Maan asked Satya driving him home. It had been two months since he started working and he was busy every minute of it. He had consciously steered away from Geet and also the lifestyle he was leading all this while.
"We should start on it soon. Using next quarter results as catapult, we can pick and choose our targets."
"Has your team started narrowing the subcontractors to replace our vendors?" Maan asked looking at the rearview.
"They have done the initial filtering. You and I need to take a look at it once and make a call." Satya said looking at Maan. "Sir, are you alright?" He asked.
"Someone is following us," Maan said grimly.
"I know and from past one week am noticing it too. I think someone has looked through my apartment too," Satya said.
"Why didn't you tell me Satya?" Maan asked.
"I didn't think it would be escalated to you. Looks like this is someone serious," Satya said and frowned.
"You think its Mitalee or Vikram?" Maan asked.
"It could be. Sir, you missed a turn here. My apartment is in that area," Satya said pointing towards the road that Maan had missed.
"You apartment complex doesn't have security. Till all this cools down, don't live there," Maan said. Satya didn't respond. Twenty minutes later they arrived in front of an apartment complex.
"This is going to be your new home. Since we never negotiated on your salary I think this should be included in your new contract." Maan said opening door to an apartment. "This house has round the clock security, housekeeping and really strict visitor screening so it shouldn't be much problem." Maan said.
"It's a beautiful apartment," Satya said looking at the view. Maan shrugged.
"I think you need a chauffeur driven cars. Only that he is also going to be your bodyguard. I will arrange for one soon," Satya said.
"That's probably a good idea," Maan nodded.
Maan had initially found it cumbersome to be relying on someone else to drive him around but he found it advantageous to have some time for himself when he was been driven around.
The two of them had ensured that the data they were collecting never left the cabin and shredded any paper which they thought could give away what they were doing. Since technically they weren't performing any tasks on their own, they didn't have any residue left behind. Their blackberries however told a different story. Maan truly liked working with Satya as he also had to learn a lot from him. He was a science student and the knowledge he had in this domain was due to his reading habits. Realistically he never was in a situation where he had to take a decision which can make or break a vendor completely. He was glad that it was Satya who was teaching him and not Varun who would get the lesson right after failing several times. In their world those kinds of mistakes sometimes cost life.
"You may choose not to answer me but who is this kid?" Satya had asked Maan one day pointing to the lone photo frame which had photo of a little girl that was placed on his table. Maan looked at the photo for a moment and smiled.
"That's Geet. I took this photo after begging my mother to allow me to do so. And then I had to beg Geet to strike a pose so that I could take picture." Maan explained.
"And you still have that photo. You haven't let go of her, have you?" Satya asked.
"We don't have a simple relationship or it could be that the two of us are too f**ked up to have a simple relationship. She is someone I will to go home to someday." Maan said in absolute certainty.
"You mean 'She is someone you want to go home to someday'," Satya asked him shrewdly. It was the first time Maan truly wanted to hit Satya for being a smartass. But he wanted to answer him to end the conversation faster.
"With her it has never been a matter of 'if'; it's always a matter of 'when'." Maan replied and went back to work. Satya stared at him for moments before mimicking his actions.
Ending of quarter had also marked ending of first half of financial year and as per Khurana Group tradition, there was to be a board meeting where strategies for next quarter and next half of fiscal year was tracked.
But two days before, he had initiated an internal process to terminate contracts for the top vendors. The actual contracts were dispatched during night and the next morning it would be there in their respective owner's lawyers. And before shit hit the fan, he had to disappear for two days till the day of board meeting.
Till then he had to go underground.
-- o00o --
"Why are you here?" Geet asked Maan.
"I am bored and I don't want to be found. I will stay up in my room quietly. I promise." Maan replied.
"Why do you have a room in a hospital? That's pretty disturbing." Satya said starting at Maan. He had read several accounts of Maan in newspapers and magazine but the Maan he worked with was totally different. But this Maan was like a typical spoilt little brat and the woman with him knew exactly which buttons to push.
"Are you on VIP ward duty?" Maan asked. Geet scowled at him. Maan grinned in response.
"It's going to be awesome!!" He pumped air like a little kid. Satya was still staring. Maan finally realized that he hadn't introduced them yet so he did.
"You are prettier as an adult," Satya said as soon as Maan finished introducing Geet to him. Geet looked at him and raised an eyebrow and he turned and glared at Satya.
"He has a picture of you as a kid on his desk. It's the only photo actually I have seen in his cabin." Satya said.
"That's disturbing." Geet said and poked him in the chest. "Here we are," She added entering the VIP room that was made available for him.
"Why is it disturbing? Most girls would have been swooning about the thought behind my action." Maan said haughtily.
"I am not most girls," Geet added. "Besides, keeping my childhood photo would also mean that you have pedophilic tendencies. Ewww…." Geet mock-gagged at him. Satya burst out laughing. Maan spluttered in irritation.
"It is not pedophilic tendencies okay? I happened to think that you were very cute back then and not to mention how close we were," Maan said hotly.
"And am I not cute anymore? Is that why you don't want my picture?" Geet asked narrowing her eyes.
"When did I say that? You are beautiful Geet, no doubt about it." Maan said nodding feverishly.
"Then why can't you have a recent photo of mine?" Geet asked crossing her arm in front of her and playing full offense with Maan.
"I would like to know too sir," Satya asked Maan smiling brilliantly. Maan again glared at him.
"Okay then. I will put your current photo there – scrubs and all. But if someone asks me who that is in the picture, then what shall be my answer?" Maan asked Geet.
Geet averted her eyes and didn't respond.
To be continued.
Music Companion for the day: You're a God by Vertical Horizon
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