Chapter 6 - Just The Start
She tapped her feet, bit her nails & frantically checked her phone every few minutes, gaining skeptical looks from everyone else.
She swore the bus was going a lot slower than usual today.
Unable to keep her impatience under control any longer, Geet hurried to the front of the bus, grabbing one of the rails as she almost toppled over with the driver taking a sharp turn. Blowing her fringe out of her eyes with her breath, she asked "Do you not think you can drive this any faster?"
The driver glared. "You're not the only one in a hurry."
"But I am, Mr- er, Sir! I'm half an hour late for work!"
"That's not my problem."
"There is no gratitude these days, that's the problem with people and society and- STOP!"
The passengers all looked worriedly ahead at Geet's sudden shriek. The driver poked a finger in his ear, certain his eardrum had just burst with the young lady's sharp shrill.
"'I'll just get off at this earlier stop, I'll get there quicker running than on this bus! Thanks anyway!" She hurried off the bus, her bag strapped across her body, & ran to the KC offices.
"Thank god I wore my flats today," she muttered. "And trousers, there's no way I'd be able to climb those endless flights of stairs in a skirt again. Note to self Geet, buy more trousers. And maybe trainers too..."
She slipped in through the revolving door, secured her bag strap & pushed her fringe aside as she ran up the stairs two by two, motivating herself by imagining to be an Olympian athlete running for the marathon of her career.
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Sasha walked into Maan's office, only to be greeted with pieces of paper at the door.
"Maan?" she asked worriedly, seeing the sheer state of his office. It seemed he had managed to turn everything upside down in the last half an hour since he had arrived.
But nothing surprised her more than seeing a tired looking, delirious Maan turn around. He smiled weakly, with numerous files in his hand, before sinking into his chair & typing away furiously.
She walked up to his desk. "What's going on?"
"Meeting."
"Meeting?"
"Can't talk, must work."
"But-"
A flushed Geet burst through the door, sending the papers flying with the sudden gush of wind. "I completed the marathon!" she grinned, her hands up in the air, then sank onto the nearby small chair, grimacing as she placed a hand over her stomach. "I'm going to puke."
"Did you just run up those flights of stairs, Miss Handa?"
"No, I ran up the side of the building."
Sasha scoffed. "The lift is now working."
"You have got to be kidding me." Geet looked at Maan, & her eyes widened. "What happened to you, sir?"
"Can't talk, must work."
"Huh?"
Geet stood to Maan's left, peering over his shoulder.
"You have to run a meeting?!"
Maan stopped typing, to shake off the cramp from his hand. "My father only told me about it last night. He says last minute preparation is the only way I will pick up the pace."
"But you have like, virtually no experience."
Sasha's mouth gaped at Geet's courage to badmouth her boss in front of the man himself, but Geet just shrugged. "What? Everyone knows it."
"I Googled 'how to conduct business meetings' & I've just been running off the those tips. Now if you'll excuse me, I really can't talk & I desperately need to work. The meeting is at 11, I have an hour & a half left."
Sasha was about to say something when her phone beeped, & she left the office without another word. Geet shook her head at Maan's so called preparation; papers & files were everywhere, the powerpoint presentation he was working on had minimal detail- nowhere near enough to present to an army of executives - and he himself looked ready to drop dead any minute.
She pulled a chair beside him & nudged his arm. "Let me help."
"No need."
"You don't know what you're doing."
He turned to face Geet, his eyes ablaze. "And you think you have experience in managing a business, do you?"
"I-"
"I don't want to hear it. I don't need some two bit secretary telling me what to do."
He continued typing away furiously. Geet, annoyed with his cold behaviour, moved away to her small chair & pulled her notepad out, making a note to order a new keyboard for him, then proceeded to relax with a magazine. If he didn't want her advice, so be it. If he made a fool out of himself at the meeting, that was his problem, not hers.
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Adjusting his tie, Maan stood nervously outside the conference room. He was aware that everyone else was already there, waiting for his entrance. Inspecting his profile in one of the mirrors on the glossy walls, he adjusted his thick mass of hair.
"I need some more hair gel," he said to himself.
Someone cleared their throat, & he turned around to find Manish facing him with a stern expression on his face. "Don't let me down, son," he warned, before walking into the conference room.
Maan gulped, loosening his tie, then followed.
The room was backed with the familiar faces that were behind the success of KC. His father sat at the top of the table, right at the back, with the other execs sat around. He didn't fail to notice Dev & Pammi also there, side by side, Pammi with a sly expression on his face whilst Dev looked calm & collected.
"Good morning everyone," Maan said as he placed the file open, & looked up for a reaction.
Silence.
"We'll continue then." Locating his presentation onto the laptop before him & screening it onto the projector, he began.
"The net profits of KC was up by a significant percentage in the last quarter, and-"
"By how much, Mr Khurana?"
"What?"
Bewildered, he looked at Mr Sharma, a close confidante of his fathers & a lifelong employee at KC.
"Good question, Mr Sharma," Maan laughed nervously. "Let me just, er, check the file." Maan hurried flipped the pages of the file. Pammi scoffed, shaking her head & nudged Dev, who rolled his eyes. The movement didn't go unnoticed by Manish, who clenched his fist.
Disapproved murmurs fluttered around the room, & Maan glanced around nervously, before meeting the deathly gaze of Manish. He quickly cleared his throat.
"I will email the exact figures to each of you when the meeting is over, I apologise for that minor error. Let's focus on the presentation & see how we as a business can expand. We've based our projects fairly close to our HQ here in Delhi, and I think we should go further afield. Like Mumbai."
"What would be the benefits of moving afield?" Dev asked, twirling his pen in the air.
"It's the capital city, we'd garner huge promotion & interest from similar companies & businesses worldwide."
"Do you think it's worth the risk? The world is suffering in a struggling economy. Investing large amounts into a Mumbai project would detract attention from our other projects, projects which major companies have already invested in. Surely the best acumen is to improve our existing plans rather than create a new one."
A shrill, cold silence lingered in the air, as Maan pierced his eyes into Dev's, who had the smallest hint of a smile lurking across his face. Frustrated & annoyed beyond belief, realising that his plans were evidently not up to scratch, and to avoid an early death at the hands of his father, he stormed out of the conference room.
"Maan, get back here!" Manish called after him. He slammed his fist onto the table, making it shake. The other employees nervously filed out, along with Dev, but Pammi remained; to give Manish a smile of satisfaction before following suit.
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"Oh my gosh, this blue nail varnish is gorgeous!" Geet stared in awe at the advertisement in the fashion magazine. "It's a must have."
She folded the edge of the magazine over to bookmark it, when the door slammed against the wall as Maan burst in, throwing his tie across the room.
"The meeting went well then, did it?"
"Don't say a goddamn word! I need to get out here."
He stormed out of the office. Geet considered if she should stay here or follow him. She slung her bag & rolled her magazine in her hands as she hurried out of his office, & managed to slip in the lift with him just before it closed shut.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Joining you for a coffee."
"I'm not going for a coffee."
"You are now."
Maan frowned at her, but she seemed adamant, & he wasn't in the mood for arguing. He followed her as she walked out of the building, & turned left.
"My car's this way."
"We're not driving. Let's walk. It's a beautiful day."
He was about to protest when Geet dragged him along by his jacket. "The fresh air will clear your head."
She let go once they were outside the vicinity of KC. "I know this great coffee shop. It's so quaint & cute, like it belongs in a village." Her expression grew melancholic. "I miss home."
"You're from a village?"
Geet looked at him & grinned. "Hoshiarpur. Punjaban lady right here."
Maan glanced at her modern attire. "You don't look it."
"That's because I've spent the last 3 years studying at university."
"You're a graduate? In what?"
"You'll see," she winked, then stopped as they reached the shop. She nestled down in a window seat, Maan opposite her, & ordered two lattes.
Geet shook her bag off as she opened it & pulled out her qualification papers. She pushed them towards Maan, who held them up. After a minute, his eyes peeked out from the top of the papers. Geet wiggled her eyebrows.
"I'm sorry," he said, lowering the papers. "I had no idea you studied at Delhi University. Or that you have a degree in-"
"Business & management. It's okay. I guess you would have known, if you'd have bothered to ask."
Maan gaped at her.
"But bygones are bygones," she smiled, wavering the subject. "You totally sucked at the meeting, didn't you?"
He sighed & leaned back. "I didn't even know what I was talking about. How am I going to do this, become CEO? It's near nigh impossible."
"The word impossible itself is I'm possible," Geet explained, gaining an eyebrow raise from Maan."I didn't realise I was in an English Language lesson," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You're missing the point. What I'm trying to say is that nothing is impossible. You can easily groom yourself into becoming a CEO. With my help."
Maan opened his mouth to protest but Geet cut him off. "No excuses. You can't use the no experience thing against me now, because I've studied for 3 years about this kind of thing. And we've all seen how well you can do this on your own. The best thing you can do is accept my help. Deal?"
He contemplated his options, then placed his hand into hers. "Deal."
As soon as his skin touched hers, he felt an electric pang, one which coursed through his whole body. He pulled away, confused, and then looked at Geet to see if she had felt the same. But she appeared indifferent to the sensation, instead smiling at the waiter who brought over their coffees. He shook it off, instead taking a sip from the undeniably delicious latte & looking casually out of the window.
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Applying one last coat of deathly red lipstick, Pammi pouted into the bathroom mirror and shoved the lipstick into her bag. Swinging out of the bathroom, she was prepared to go to her so called nephew & heir apparent Maan & inform him of what a failure he was, like every good aunty did. But she was surprised to find his office vacant.
Walking towards the reception booth, she asked around for his clumsy secretary who she had briefly caught a glimpse of once, but even she was nowhere to be seen.
She sighed, realising her rehearsed ambush on Maan would have to wait until tomorrow, as she had a socialite party to attend. She stopped by Dev's office to say goodbye, then sauntered out of the building.
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"Yes Tasha, I'm on my way... 5 mins away... I just got let out of office for lunch." Sasha looked both ways before crossing the road, as she spoke into her phone. "Order me a pizza, ok? With-"
She stopped in her tracks as her eyes fell on the sight across the road. There, sat in a little cafe, were Maan & Geet, casually talking away like they didn't have a care in the world.
"I'll call you back," she spoke with gritted teeth, before cutting the call & walking the opposite way.
Anupamaa
