OS: A presentation
Part 1:
That stupid LAAD GOVERNER!!! Kushi didn't realize she had said that last word out loud until she noticed people in the canteen staring at her in confusion. With an apologetic smile, she continued to pass out meals to customers. Her dabba business what getting very popular, branching out to several other offices in the area. Her role as head of the company became more and more administrative as she took on more cooks and messengers, but she still liked to be the one to give out food to all the AR employees every once in a while, today being her first day back after a long hiatus. It reminded her of the days before she became Mrs. KKGSR and when she worked at AR, Inc. as just plain old Kushi, chatting with the lunch lady because all the office girls were too mean. Thinking about her new name reminded her of the person whose last name she now shares and whose direction all her anger headed. ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA!!! There were times before when she was angry at him, but it never felt this intense. He has spent all week going into the office early and coming home late. He even spent a couple of nights there. When he finally had crawled home close to midnight last night, she tried to convince him to eat only to have HIM yell at HER! As if she was committing some crime by worrying for him. That would have been fine. She was used to his bi-polar affections towards her and, while annoyed, she knew how to handle him. What really set her blood boiling occurred the next morning. She had just finished aarti and had come back to their room to check on him when she heard his cell phone ring. Although she knew it would be a bad idea to answer it, she did anyway because she was his wife and screw him.
"Hello."
"ARNAV! Finally you answered your phone! We still on for tonight?" said a very female voice.
"Umm, actually it's his wife, Kushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada. Who is this?"
"Uhhh uhhh nevermind. Wrong number." *click*
That was weird. Just then the bathroom door opened and Arnav came out in his office wear, to stop in his tracks when he saw her holding his phone.
"What are you doing? Give me that!"
"Someone called for you, something about meeting them tonight?"
"Uhh yeah, it's for a meeting."
"Really? Because when I told HER it was your wife, she told me it was a wrong number and hung up."
"Then it was a wrong number. Why are you telling me this?"
"She said your name!"
"You shouldn't be answering my phone anyway!!"
With that he stormed out of their room. She heard the front door slam a few minutes later. Kushi slowly closed her eyes, praying for strength, before she headed back downstairs to deal with the Inquisition she knew her family will throw at her. At the dining table, Anjali and Nani were already seated. Mami and Mama had just entered, while Payal came in through the kitchen. Kushi took a bowl of daal from Payal and helped to ladle it into everyone's thaal. She made the mistake of making eye contact with Anjali.
"Kushiji, why did Chote leave in such a rush? He didn't even it breakfast. You know how bad that is for his health."
"Yes, Kushi bitiya, you need to make sure he takes care of himself. We haven't seen him at a mealtime for a full week."
"Woh, actually Naniji, he says he has some important presentation. That's why he left so early and that's why he hasn't been around this week."
"What important presentation?"
Everyone turned their heads as Aakash approached the table.
"I don't know but it's kept him very busy. He's even slept in his office for a couple of nights."
"What do you mean? Bhai has been coming late and leaving early every day this week. I can barely get him to stay past lunch. I thought he has going to see you?"
Kushi started blushing profusely. She could see everyone's eyes on her and they realized what the words implicated. Arnav missing from home and the office, away at night without an explanation. Kushi felt her face burn as her mind raced with the possible scenarios, all with dark tragic endings. Anjali stood then.
"Everyone stop! I know where your minds are going and that is not going to happen in our household again. Chote is not like...not like him. He would never do that to Kushiji." She placed a hand on Kushi's shoulder and with a determined face said, "Trust was lost once in this house but we should not let it hang as a dark cloud over our heads forever. We need to stick together." With that she took turns looking into everyone's eyes, making sure they understood her perfectly. The events of the past few months still stayed fresh in their minds but one by one they shook off their bad memories. Plastering smiles, even if it was just for Anjali's sake.
"Anjali bitya is right. He probably has some work we don't know about." Mama smiled at Kushi before exiting the dining area, pulling Mami along before she could say anything to worsen the situation.
The morning's conversation stayed with Kushi throughout lunch. It didn't help that she had yet to see her good for nothing raakshas husband. Hmmp, where was he?! Is he avoiding me? Is he with whoever called this morning? But they didn't expect to meet until later? Yeah but that was before she stupidly told him she knew about his plans. She chided herself for missing out on a good opportunity to put her spy skills to the test. If he is cheating, then if I ever get my hands on that skanky phone girl, I swear on DM that I WILL do something drastic. Like shave her head and throw permanent paint all over her. Yeah that's a good idea. What about him? Hmmm, by the time I'm through with him he would rue the day he ever met me! RUE! Only DM could help him and even then I would politely ask her to turn a blind eye this once. All these years of worship would be worth at least that much. Nobody crosses Kushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada and gets away with it. Her thoughts continued on this murderous vein as she spent the afternoon going over the accounts for the week. Finally, her thoughts turned too dark and too loud to ignore when she threw her pen onto the table in frustration to see it skid off and hit a pair of legs standing at the other end of the table. Her eyes travelled up from the bare legs to the black skirt to the white blouse, finally landing on the face of the owner whose body she just accidently scanned. An attractive woman in her late 20s smiled at Kushi, her pearly white teeth behind pouty lips emboldened with red lipstick. Her smile didn't reach her heavily mascaraed eyes, eyes that were looking at Kushi like she was trying to rate her in some way. It made Kushi aware of her wrinkled sari after a day of work and her smudged makeup from sweat. Evidently, whatever the woman thought of Kushi didn't amount to much because her expression changed to that of victory.
"Are you Kushi Kumari Gupta?"
"'Singh Raizada. Yes." She patted her mangalsutra to make the point come home.
"You don't know me but I definitely know you. In fact, I think we are in need of a long overdue chat."
"I'm busy."
"Oh, I think you can make time for this."
Kushi gave her a look like, b*tch please, but decided she would rather know the truth then spend months in the dark like how Di had.
"Fine, what do you want?"
"Not here, let's go to the conference room where we will have more privacy. Trust me, you will definitely want this conversation to be private."
Kushi got up slowly. Her face set, making sure not to give away any emotion. As she walked up the stairs to the conference room, she felt her anger slowly get replaced with dread. No matter what happens in there, I will not lose my dignity or my self-respect. No matter what she says or how much it hurts, I WILL NOT cry in front of her. I will not beg Arnavji to stay. I will keep my head up and be strong.
With that last thought, she turned the doorknob to the conference room and entered. The room was dark, empty, the only light coming from the screen where a projector was showing the desktop of a laptop. She recognized the laptop as Arnavji's but she didn't see him in the room. She sat down at one of the chairs only to hear the door close and lock behind her. When she turned, the mysterious woman, who she was pretty sure was actually the caller from the morning, wasn't there. At the front of the room, a figure stepped out from behind the screen.
There were many words to describe Arnav Singh Raizada and nervous had never been one of them. He has always been confident, decisive, in control. All things needed to be a successful business man. However, today all of his strengths left him the second his eyes rested on the figure sitting in front of him. He has had to make some very painful decisions in the past year, which have led to even more painful speeches where the truth had to be revealed. However, he never thought in a million years he was about to do what he had to do next.
"Kushi, I'm glad you're here. There is something really important I need to talk to you about."
"Arnavji, what..."
"Please save all questions for the end of the presentation."
"What the!"
Arnav clicked a remote in his hand and a PowerPoint slide lit up the whole room.
Part 2 below. 😊
Cricket
CID
13