FF(Arhi): Lavender [Thread 2 link - p. 159] - Page 35

hahah.. love their relationship and banter!! hahaha good chapter!

part 12
La's reaction was too good...
kinda very funny...
cont soon dear...

Oh i am loving Lee so much..

The way the shock of AJR sniffing Bee hit her again and again and again..
This is what one needs at times like these...a girl pal like Lee..

would love to see how they move forward from this sniffing business..coz try as much as they might..pretending that is didnt happen never works..

As Moksha famously put it-' You can not share the same relationship with a person after sniffing them.'

plz update soon...I am loving this story...khushi is educated working woman, wears decent office wear...she n lavanya good frnds...
ASR is khadoos yet values khushi..
Damn m so excited for next part...plz update soon...

i totally LOVEEE this lavanya...

Originally posted by: Krishnaluv94

Boogz, is that you?

No. This is her mother.
Who are you? WHY ARE YOU STALKING HER?!?! HUH? I'm calling the police.

Originally posted by: Boogle.Schiz

No. This is her mother.
Who are you? WHY ARE YOU STALKING HER?!?! HUH? I'm calling the police.

Well, Boogz's mother-ji, I don't want to be arrested! I was just asking if I was hallucinating or not, cause that doesn't happen to me often. :)

Chapter 13: Colossal

"What??" she looked around to make sure no one heard her outburst before she looking back at Sushant. "Why? Who told you?"

"The boss. Just about an hour ago. You were in a meeting, so he told me to tell you."

"And he didn't give you a reason? I mean, he didn't tell you why the decision to add Rajeev to this project was made now?"

Sushant shook his head. "Maybe he wanted to talk to you about it?"

"Shit!" she looked away and muttered under her breath before turning back to Sushant. "Have you seen Rajeev yet?"

"No, he is still in with the boss. They have been in there for a half hour."

She saw her hand come up and forced it back down to clutch the table so that she wouldn't bite her nails.

"Alright., Sushant. Thanks for letting me know. I'll deal with it."

Sushant nodded and left and she walked out of the conference room to her office with her files in hand.

Before she reached there though, she saw the ASR's room open and Rajeev come out. He didn't look all that pleased initially, but then he raised his head and saw her and his trademark smirk came on. It was the smirk that he saved just for her, entitled prick that he was.

When he was near enough, he paused. "It appears that the Mohan Industries project has another lead project manager."

"Co-project manager." She amended calmly, trying not to rise to his provocation.

"If the old project manager was doing such a fine job, then there wouldn't really be a need to assign a new one, now would there?" he asked, lifting a smarmy eyebrow in that prickly way of his.

"I am sure Mr. Raizada had his reasons for bringing on another lead." She said, although why she bothered she didn't know.

"Yes, of course there is a reason. It's called competency, Khushi. When it's lacking, new measures become necessary."

"Is that the reason that was given?" she asked, her ire rising now despite the best of intentions.

"In more or less words, yes." He said before giving another one of his condescending smiles and walking away.

Under any other circumstance, she would have not taken the bait and would have returned to her office instead to cool off. However, in light of the events of two weeks past and her frustration about his continued indifference and obvious obliviousness to her reciprocated indifference made her walk to his room right then and there.

"Come in." she heard him say when she knocked. She entered the room and closed the door behind her.

He was by the window and turned towards her. "Khushi, great. I was just about to see if you were out of your meeting yet..." he started but she cut him off.

"If you had issues with my performance on the Mohan Industries project, you should have brought it up with me before going behind my back to bring another project manager on board."

"What..." he started, but she put her palm up to stop him before plugging ahead, "And if this is some sort of payback for what I said two Sundays ago, then again, I wish you had brought it up with me directly without finding a way to punish me like this."

She saw his expression change from confusion to anger now and she heard the by now overly familiar "What the!" but this time she could a different force behind the utterance. He was truly angry.

It suddenly made her aware of how impulsively she had barged into his office and hurled accusations at him. He could fire her for it, she knew, regardless of whether she was right or wrong. Such insubordination was not dared by any of his employees; neither was he a man who tolerated it.

When she didn't continue, he cocked an eyebrow and asked, "What? Are you done? There's nothing else that you would like to throw my way? No other allegations? Maybe a sexual harassment suit?" he asked now as he walked towards her.

She held her ground and watched him as he came closer. "No?" he asked again, derisively.

Whatever second thoughts she had had a moment earlier receded as her anger returned. "No, but your approach always make a good case for torturous intimidation. I am sure Human Resources could have a field day with that."

"Are you threatening me?" he asked, his voice low, when he was at arm's length.

"I wouldn't dare sir. You are after all the owner of this company. Any claim of actual employees' rights is merely an illusion. It would be moot to try any such avenues even if I had a wish to."

"Oh, don't sell yourself short, Khushi. I am sure that if you really wanted to get me hung, you wouldn't go to Human Resources. You would just go to the press. So, save me the ill-treated-helpless-employee speech."

She stared at him, amazed at the poison in his words. They had always bickered before, but it had never come from a place of genuine distrust towards each other's intentions.

How a silly kiss had changed everything...

"If I wanted to go to the press, sir, why would I have waited until now?" she asked, curious about his logic.

"Oh come on, Khushi. Don't be stupid. What happened two weeks ago is a trump card. Why would you waste it unnecessarily if you can hold it off for future blackmail?"

"What?" she asked, her eyes widening in surprise. He evidently thought far worse of what she was capable of than she had realized.

"Don't backtrack now. Not after barging into my office and hurling accusations. I don't fall for such innocent acts."

"Sir, I have worked for you for eight years. I have never had to 'act innocent' before to get anything from you or this company. I am hardly likely to start now."

"But you have never had any leverage on me in the past eight years. Things are a bit different now, aren't they?"

She shook her head in disbelief at how quickly things had spiraled out of control. "I can't tell if you truly have such a low opinion of my character or if you are merely projecting your irritation with what you did onto me."

She saw his hostility waver for a moment, but then his face became impassive as he said, "If you are done here, you can leave. I have a meeting in a few minutes."

She stared at him for a moment before nodding once. Things were a titanic mess and talking about it right now would only make it worse.

Just as she turned away and caught the doorknob, he spoke again. "What happened two weeks ago was a colossal mistake and one I regret greatly. You can be assured that whatever madness seized me in the moment has passed completely. If you feel threatened from it, you are welcome to file a complaint against me or leave the company. It will not affect your severance pay or a reference letter in accordance with your job performance thus far. Rajeev was assigned to the project as a co-lead because I received a call from Mr. Shyam Mohan this morning indicating that he is widening the scope of the deal. It would be impossible to handle that by yourself and Sushant. The project would minimally need two leads and three other members. I have asked John and Laila to join as members as well. It had nothing to do with diminishing your authority, questioning your competence, or punishing you for events past."

She was gripping the door-knob with all her might by the time he finished his speech. To say that she was mortified was an understatement.

She managed to turn to face him one last time and she tried to control her voice as she said, "I am sorry."

"Aren't we all?" he answered before he turned back to his desk, effectively dismissing her.

-----

Awesome!!!! first to comment :)

oh snap! she just got told!!! oh man arnav is pissed.. i wonder how she is going to make it up to him!