MG FF: Femme Fatale (1) Link to new thread Pg1 - Page 27

Femme Fatale

Chapter two:

Mirage

Rules for agents 2:

No life beyond work

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Dots of yellow….flakes of red….patches of black in her vision.

Wafts of sounds came but barely coherent.

"All dead with the exception of the girl." A sympathetic voice murmured, like a chime amongst the ringing of the machines.

"Is it true that the girl was-" fascination and horror in the words but cut off before they could escape.

"Shhh!" Sternly quietened. "She is here!"

And she was left with the oppression of silence.

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Meera Shah slowly explored the east wing of the mansion. The wing was big enough to fit in a moderate sized house such was the opulence and excess of the Khurana family. Meera knew from both Savitri Devi and from various newspapers that the house of over 100 years old.

Well at least they believe in keeping up to date, Meera thought with a smile as she took in the latest gadgets around the place. Everything was top of the line and obviously expensive.

Hmmm….I need to brush up my neo-classical architecture knowledge, Meera thought as she plotted out her re-designing plans. We cannot steal the heritage from this place, the history that lingers in the air.

It was as she was crossing the corridor, while making all these plans, that she saw a young man walk towards her. 

He was strikingly handsome and suave, though he had a face that depicted emotions openly. She could see that he wasn't the type to have any pretence, despite not even knowing him.

"Hi" He sounded genial and cheerful. "You must be Miss Shah, the decorator. My grandmother told me about you."

"Hello" She returned the smile, "You must be Mrs Khurana's grandson."

"Vicky Khurana."  He gave the charming grin that the Khurana men had trademarked. Meera could feel his genuine interest, not as a flirt but more as a curiosity. It was refreshing to see that he wasn't condescending or snobbish despite his status.

"Meera Shah, as you probably know." Meera took his hand to shake, "and of course I knew who you were. It's a rare day when I don't see a Khurana in the newspaper."

"Is that a compliment?" He smirked, trying to test her mettle, "Or an insult?"

"It is neither, just a fact." She said without any inflection. "You can't deny the attention media gives to your family. The Khurana's are after all famous."

"Some of us are even infamous." He laughed at his own comment. "We tend to get into trouble"

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Silence in contemplating the conundrum that had been forced up on them. Of course it wasn't a problem without a solution but the question was which path to take.

It had been so long since emotions had any place in any of their lives, so it was an alien feeling to feel even the barest drop of sentiment. Single minded determination had been the only path, till now, the thought entered the mind.

The past is gone but it leaves a mark that remains omnipresent in the future. It had been the biggest coincidence that the Khurana's would come back into the equation after all that had happened.

As the head of this organisation that wasn't truly an organisation it was necessary to make decisions that were better for the wider population instead of what was personally and morally correct. But it was only today that the Boss felt it as a handicap.

It had been a long preoccupation to wonder what would come of coming face to face with them but now that it was so close, it brought up apprehension.

But a job is a job. An agent can never let any emotions or their past effect what is their duty. It doesn't matter if we are for hire or not part of any government organisation, our honour code demands this.

Protecting Maan Singh Khurana could not be an emotional decision, it needed to be done with clinical distance and absolute dedication.

So picking up the phone the important call was made. "Agent 2, how is everything going?"

"According to plan." Agent 2's voice held no doubt. "My cover is working."

"No one suspects?" The cover was essential.

"Not the least"

"Good"

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She is weird, Maan thought with amusement, there is no other way to describe her. It was her first day at the job, indeed her first hour but already Maan had made that judgement.

She was quirky and didn't seem to have a worry at all. People usually were nervous or at least hid behind professionalism on their first day but she was smiling as if she had worked here her whole life.

Today she was again wearing traditional clothes but to add to her uniqueness she had stuck a pen and a pencil in her hair.

"You look like you have horns" Maan tried not to snigger at her as he didn't want her to cry on her first day.

But Geet Handa wasn't a withering flower, she merely took out her phone and checked herself. "You are right, they do look like horns. I look like a cow."  Any normal girl would have fixed her hair and taken out the offending objects but she merely put her phone away and looked up at him with a smile. "MOO! MOO!"

Did she just make cow sounds? Maan's eyes started watering as he tried to not laugh. "What are you doing Geet?"

"Nothing Sir" She went back to writing as if nothing had happened, as if she hadn't just "moo-ed". Shaking his head Maan tried to get back to work but a few minutes later he need her help.

"GEET!" He called out loudly to get her waning attention. "I need the Chopra file"

"It's there." She waved a hand towards his right, on the table. And there was the file, as if waiting for him. Indeed she seemed….do I dare say it?...bored!

"Hmmm…..good." He tried to test her again, after all this was her first day and she wasn't going to get everything right. "I want you to find me the figures and estimates for the Shillings project."

Geet didn't even bat an eyelash. "Sure. When do you need it?"

"As soon as you can give it." He raised an eyebrow in challenge.

"Okay." She gave a sunny smile and stood up, ready to leave but right at the door she turned around. "Oh by the way, I am not sleeping with you."

Maan nearly choked on air at the comment. From any woman, the comment would surprise him but from her it was mystifying. "What?!"

"Well according to my statistics, you end up seducing or sleeping with 20% of females in your close vicinity. That rate goes down to 5% as an employee but because I am in the young female age bracket it goes up to 35%. So I can approximate that there was a 15% chance that you would attempt to seduce me but I am hoping that with my statement it has reduced to 1%, if not less."

Maan wondered if she was insane, it would certainly explain her random comment. Maybe she needs a psychiatrist. Well we do offer our employees free health insurance.

But he was Maan Singh Khurana and he could remain speechless for only seconds. "Interesting statistics, seems like someone has done their research"

"But of course!" Geet sounded offended. "One always should do research before any new endeavour or job"

Maan's smile widened, very interesting. "Well quite accurate I would say but you are forgetting that the percentage of women who I am able to…..well convince to my way of thinking increased with more time they spend with me. And you'll be spending considerable amount of time with me"

Geet took his suggestion seriously, not even a tad bit embarrassed or even amused. "Fair point, you are apparently handsome and charming" She said this dismissively, as if not agreeing, " I guess I must stay more vigilant!" For some random reason that only Geet would know she gave him a salute and left the room.

Hmmm…maybe Mrs Chada should have a very long break! Maan thought while laughing. This girl is more entertaining than any other employee!

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She was silent.

No sound could come out.

Silence was comforting….silence brewed denial.

Everyone tried to make her talk.

Their endless chatter would make her head spin. Why couldn't they remain quite?

But one day he came……and he remained silent.

He didn't ask questions neither did he expect her to speak.

It was comforting to have a companion in her solitude, a contradiction.

But then he spoke, "I am your family now"

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AUTHOR's NOTE:

Hope you all enjoyed that😆

I am overwhelmed with the response this story is getting, hope I don't dissappoint you all!

I know that there seems to be some convulated parts...but they will make sense later on.

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-SanjanA