ArshiFF: Strings Attached! NOTE pg53 - Page 6

Hey!

This part is very interesting,so many information about all the characters.

But the teaser sounds more interesting,Coz Arnav and Khushi gonna meet again.

Update soon.

Chapter 4

For all her faults Anjali was a perfect schemer and business woman, whatever her family members might think of her flighty-ness none actually ever questioned her business instincts, she was as ruthless as they came. So she knew she had stuck gold with Khushi, internship at AR Textile was a dream come true for a textile student and her company rarely hired fresh graduates, even for interns. Exceptions need to be made when you see a venture too profitable to slip and she was not going to let such a pretty girl out of Arnav's radar. She had seen the look he was giving her in the snap and let's just say it was enough to instigate her. Arnav was not a very expressive man and even lesser when it came to matters of heart, well she could talk for her brother, at least for a while.

Anjali made sure her driver found Madhumati Ji and left her contact details with her, a keen person like Khushi would jump on an offer like this. She was positive to see her at her office the very next day. Now she had to make an opening in some department somewhere, oh but not in finance, Aakash would charm her pants (maybe chudidar) off within a week, if only Arnav was that suave!

As soon as Payal came out of the bathroom after her nightly routine, khushi bubbled out and said 'Jiji, I think I should give the interview a try, AR Textiles like never hires fresh graduates and I think she just offered me because she knows Buabji, I'll never get a chance like this one, like ever!"

It was more of a monologue than anything, but Khushi Kumari Gupta on rail never really needed an audience. 'And anyways I might not get it, you know! There are a thousand different possibilities- what are you doing?" Khushi realized that payal was writing something and as she knew Payal didn't exactly write letters, she was curious.

'I am writing my resume, as I don't have time to get a print-out tomorrow morning and I don't want to be late for my interview, you know you should do that too. It might be a little more productive than ranting about your insecurities regarding landing an internship.' Payal threw a teasing look over her shoulder and saw a pillow fly her way, dodging it she stuck out her tongue towards her baby sister, who was now pouting like a little girl.

While across town a little girl was getting fussy and refused complying with the bed time for she missed her chote mamu and chote mamu always always kissed her goodnight, even if it was through the phone or the internet. But tonight her chote mamu was busy making the decision, whether to let the PI dig into "That-girl's" past, present and future or not. He was generally not so considerate before snooping- nope snooping was not the correct word, mercilessly tearing people's pasts, but for reasons unknown to him he was hesitant knowing her, as if she was threatening him, that can't be right no one- no one Threatened Arnav Singh Raizada!

Khushi entered AR Textiles 15minutes early; she had been up and about at 6am this morning. She had wanted to be immaculately ready for the interview, her legs were a little shivery and she was biting her bottom lip absent-mindedly, but otherwise she was fine. She wanted to pee every 5minutes and she had a death grip on her kurta but otherwise she was fine. She made her way to the reception and let them know that she was here. She was almost immediately called up to Anjali's office.

As soon as Anjali got to know that Khushi was in the building she shooed away Aakash on the pre text of dropping Chun-mun to the Kinder Garden who had accompanied Anjali to work today. Chun-mun left happily with her Aakash mamu and Anjali had the office to herself when she was informed of Khushi's whereabouts in the office, she summoned her immediately.

Khushi knocked at Anjali's door and entered when she heard a soft 'Come in' Anjali was sitting behind the desk, she smiled politely towards her and nodded to her 'Good Morning Ma'am' while politely objecting to ma'am as she was a strong believer of "begin as you plan to proceed" and informed Khushi to call her Anjali. Khushi was slightly taken aback, but uncomfortable of calling a woman at least 10 years older to her by name, she switched to Anjali Ji and Anjali also resigned on the name for the sake of middle path.

Anjali had managed a fake opening in the liaison department, which basically handled material demand by AR Fashion, their couldn't have been a better job for Khushi as that would get her in Arnav's radar from day one. Anjali had planned on a full interview to dig into khushi's background, for she, as always had a need to be through, but crises never take appointments. Anjali was called immediately to the factory, so she handed Khushi over to Mr. Shukla and briefed on her role in the department. Mr. Shukla was already informed of Khushi's VIP status in the job and about maintaining discretion; he was one of the most trusted employees in AR Textiles.

Mr. Shukla further re-assigned Khushi to AR Fashion and she was to report to a certain Mr.Aman Mathur till Fashion week was not over. Her job description was to make sure the quality of the cloth supplied was correct and up to the demands. Anjali had mentioned to Khushi before leaving that 'It's a treat for you, get a hang of the Fashion world for the next 2 weeks and then we'll get to the real job.' For if she knew her brother well enough, Khushi would never set foot in AR Textiles.

Aakash was coming out of the school building when he spotted a behind he would recognize anywhere, Oh Buoy! She was here! What was she doing here? The first thought was she might have gotten married to the loon she was set to get married in the first place, a tiny but sharp knife stabbed at his chest area, while something contracted uncomfortably in the abdominal area. His eyes flew to her forehead which thankfully was not stained with vermilion. Wait, did he just think STAINED! Oh God! He took a deep deep breath and walked towards her, she seemed to be talking to herself and in an animated way.

"Hi" Payal looked up and was taken aback, but mostly she could not believe her eyes! He was here! What the hell was he doing at a kinder garden, how had he found her!

'Hey! How are you? Shifted to Delhi? Have an interview?' Aakash said everything that came to his mind in a go and was mentally bashing him for his stupidity; what the hell was wrong with him?

Payal- "Oh My God are you stalking me?"

Aakash- "What? Why? I mean- mean huh?" It was a new experience for Aakash to be out of words, he had been accused of a lot of things in his time, but stalking was a first.

Payal was already wound up about the interview and on top of that he was here! Like she was not thinking about him enough as it is. She mentally punched herself and looked at him, he was pretty baffled.

'What are you doing here? What are even doing in Delhi? Like at a freaking Nursery School!' Payal let a puff of air out with the last sentence.

'Dartboard' was the first word that came to Aakash's mind, yup that's what his reputation for a ladies' man had come too. Karma! Ex-Girlfriends had often told him that it would come and bite him in the ass one day, well here it was and look how pathetic he looked. He re-collected himself and smiled at her.

Payal saw the slow calculated smile that came to his lips, what beautiful lips-what! No-no not lips, Smile-at-my-misery! Yup there was the fire again. 'What are you smiling at? And you still haven't told me what are doing lurking around a nursery school?'

'Don't you think, I should be the one asking all these question? You are the one who lived in Lucknow, you are the one talking to herself in front of a nursery school, for all I know you could be a lunatic with tendencies of murdering young kids and having crying bouts in the middle of the night in the middle of the road. Hmm?" Aakash talked fast almost as if making up for running out words a minute ago. A smirk had spread on his face, which was usual, but the sparkle of the pleasure had reached his eyes after a very long time.

Payal gulped a huge amount of saliva that had accumulated in her mouth, gave him the dead eyes and pushed her way while knocking his arm (more like elbow) with her shoulder. He just chuckled and thought how much of Aakash mamu was chun-mun going to see now!

When Khushi entered AR Fashions around noon, she was sweaty and a little tetchy. She realized Delhi's summer was not overrated; it was as bad as it was made to be. What made it worse was the humidity, it wasn't even as if she had moved substantially in India's weather belt Lucknow and Delhi fall under the same weather pattern, pretty much or so she had thought. The air-conditioner was a relief; she peeled out her dupatta from her neck and let the cool air seep in. She fell on the sofa at the reception area to catch her breath.

Suddenly a chill swept through the office that had nothing to do with the air-conditioner, every human in sight started correcting their clothes and straightening files at their tables. Khushi stood up in wonderment of the hustle around, she looked around and saw people running back and forth doing things with expression of horror on their faces. She saw people clearing the corridors and she was unceremoniously pushed back on the sofa she had a minute before vacated.

Arnav entered his building and grimaced at the hustle he could hear inside, it irritated him that his staff required his presence in the office to be immaculate. He had hired the best possible employees and they were by no means slackers but casual in their outlook, it had taken him all his youth to make his empire and being casual was just another thing he abhorred. He had never planned to be the kind of boss he was, but experience and instinct had driven him to be strict with his employees. He had some basic rules for him and his employees; he never tolerated office romances and impudence. As soon as he walked into the reception area, he saw a crowd around the reception table and frowned. His frown was enough to create a void for him to pass; he flicked his eyes towards people in the waiting area and saw a flash of red and stopped, it was that girl! He looked again, nothing! He reprimanded himself for thinking about her and walked straight to his cabin.

Well it seemed she had missed all the drama; she made evil eyes at the girl who had pushed her and walked towards the reception. She informed the lady at the reception that she had been sent to meet a certain Mr. Aman Mathur, before the lady at the reception could even make a move another lady came and interrupted them.

'I'll take it from here, sim' Lavanya had been noticing the girl for a while, she was pretty in her own way and then she had heard her mentioning Aman and her blood had boiled over and even before she had realized , she had walked over and taken charge of her, what for she did not know!

Khushi looked up to the lady who was now looking at her with an expression as if she had bit into a lemon. Khushi smelled a rat into the situation but smiled sweetly at her.

'Lavanya Kashyap. Head of Desinging. And you are?' Lavanya extended her hand while she awaited her reply.

Khushi took the olive brach and said 'Khushi Kumari Gupta. I am an intern with AR Textiles and Anjali ji has re-directed me to Mr. Mathur's services for the fashion week.'

Lavanya was taken aback at the familiar tone with which sequin girl had referred to Anjali ma'am, she had been working for AR Industries and have had personal contact with them for almost a decade and it had taken her almost 5 years out of that to address Anjali Jha as Anjali ma'am, she was indeed a scary woman.

'Come, I'll take you to Mr. Mathur, Sim tell Niyati to hold the fort for a while.' Lavanya twitched her fingers towards khushi and almost immediately started walking.

'Hold the fort?' Khushi could not help but ask. 'Designing in a Fashion House is the most hectic department and if the head of the department is missing, I guess you can imagine.' Lavanya without notice shifted to a mellow tone, but khushi noticed the change and said 'Ma'am, you sound terribly busy and I don't want to take any of your time, I'll be able to find my own way, if you just direct me to Mr. Mathur's office' Khushi saw her frown almost as if looking a reason.

'You know ma'am, I have been interested in designing forever, but in Lucknow we did not have any reputed course for it so I stuck with Textile, I feel blessed to have landed an opportunity to work at AR Fashion, all thanks to Anjali Ji.' It was not new for Khushi to rant unnecessarily and did not even notice the situation till Lavanya suddenly turned and gave her a look and said 'You are from Lucknow?' Khushi was so relived to not have been reprimanded, she just silently nodded.

Lavanya's mind had gone into a tizzy the second she had heard Lucknow, she stopped and looked over the sequin girl more carefully. Oh Buoy! She was HER! ASR was going to be MAD! She moved along the corridors with cautious eye for her forever livid boss. She did not knock, so was her urgency as she had spotted ASR around the corner and knowing the relationship ASR and Aman shared, she without fault knew he was heading towards Aman's cabin.

Aman looked up and saw Lavanya and sighed, he had enough of fighting for a day and then he saw disaster girl enter right behind her. His eyes flew to Lavanya's, she had her emergency eyes on. He motioned for her to come in. She entered and looked back for sequin girl, she was as clueless as a deer of a hunter on a prowl.

'Khushi this is Mr. Mathur, why don't you sit in the adjacent room while we talk? Hmm?' Khushi was taken aback but did as was told but only after greeting her new boss. Almost as soon as khushi left the room Arnav entered and upon finding both Aman and Lavanya together excused himself immediately. Lavanya sighed out.

'Aman, Anjali ma'am has sent her, it can't be a co-incidence.' She plopped herself on the seat opposite to him, he was thinking and did not immediately answer. 'La give me a second, I'll just call Anjali ma'am' Lavanya choked on hearing his name for her after so long, Aman was clueless as he was busy dialing his boss.

'Anjali ma'am, Aman here. Yes, yes I have met her. Ma'am she is that-, Oh! You know! Ma'am I think it's a bad idea. ASR is already very stressed about Fashion week and-, okay ma'am. I understand ma'am, there will be no problem ma'am. Goodday ma'am.' He kept the phone and looked up.

'Man she is scary! You know ASR is all bark but Anjali Ma'am is all freaking bite! She told me that Khushi is to work here for at least two weeks and she will be under my service. La, I am pretty screwed.' Lavanya managed another fake smile, but did not have the heart to tell him to stop, she had missed it.

'Aman, ASR is bound to find out and the girl is too bubbly to hide. You know she calls Anjali ma'am- Anjali ji? What are you going to do?' before she could get an answer for her question her beeper went off, it read 911, definitely some emergency. 'Aman I gotta go, temme if you need help, hmm?'

Aman had realized the error of calling Lavanya- La, divorced couple who work together had been known to fall into the trap all over again and he just saw himself stepping on the first step. He'll have to work with Lavanya for another 14 days and he had to battle it all over again, he was not ready to go through the heartache all over again. But right now he had disaster, no Khushi Kumari Gupta to worry about. He moved to the adjoining door and knocked.

'Khushi? Come on in.' He moved back to his chair. 'So, tell me about your specialty.' Khushi immediately drowned him with her past, present and hopeful future and there and then he decided this time fashion week was going to be a year long.

Arnav was still cursing his imagination all over again to have visualized 'her'! It was as if he turns and there she is, he had almost given up, when he heard a laughter floating through the designing department, Lavanya was as strict boss as he was, at least when it came to decorum in her workspace. He immediately opened the door and walked in. The girls back was to him, she was like a decked Christmas tree. He was yet to be noticed as he moved quietly.

Khushi had never had a better day than this, Mr. Mathur and Lavanya ma'am were very sweet and she was given easy and important jobs for her first day. Other employees were a little wary of her, she wrote it off to her being new. She had just made her first cut to her own design, during lunch she had been in the cafeteria making the details of an embroidery on a blouse, Lavanya ma'am had looked it over her shoulder and pulled her to the studio and made her do the design on a piece of cloth. She had chosen a plain red linen cloth to embroider her design, then she had matched it with a corresponding green based linen saree, she had done all the embroidery with golden and red thread, with stones that closely resembled rubies. She had been shut in the studio for over 5 hours now and when Lavanya had come back, she had approved of the design muttering something about taking it for ASR's approval. Approval word had stuck her and she had laughed out loud, she was ecstatic about it!

A chill swept through her and she knew something was wrong, but everyone in the room was oblivious to her change of mood, she turned and came across the same man, who had over-powered her senses for about a week now!

Arnav- "YOU! What the hell are you doing here? How did you enter the freaking building!"

Khushi could not believe her eyes! The Laad governor was here'Oh God where had Anjali ji sent her!

Lavanya was stilled into inaction as she heard ASR bellow on the girl, she paged Aman with 911 to her studio and willed him to have sudden adrenalin boost, she certainly couldn't handle ASR in this mood.

'What the hell are you waiting for? Get the hell out of my building right this moment.' He stalked to her and grabbed her forearm with super human power and started dragging her.

Khushi suddenly came back to earth and dug her heels to incapacitate his motive to drag her out. 'What are you doing?! Stop it! You are hurting, you brute!'

Arnav just squeezed harder and saw her flinch in pain, his eyes bore into her's and said 'I am throwing you out!'

'You can't do that! Lavanya ma'am tell him!' when she saw Lavanya getting horrified of the situation, she looked from Lavanya to Laad Governor and back again. Mr. Mathur entered and Khushi saw his eyes widen at the scene.

'ASR, just listen to me, Khushi-' when Aman saw the lost look at ASR's face for a nano-second, he looked at Khushi and said 'ASR, she is Khushi and she is an intern at AR-' before he could finish, ASR bellowed 'Well then she is FIRED!' by this time Khushi had had enough of the monster and jerked her hand out of his grip.

'Well you can't fire me! For I don't work for you!' Arnav closed his eyes for a second as if taking control of his anger. He flashed his dead eyes at Aman and took hold of Khushi's hand and marched off with her trying to resist in his wake all the way to his cabin. He pulled her in front of him as soon as he entered the office and shut the door to prying eyes.

Precap: ARS and KKG face off!

Hello people!

I don't have much to say, just keep an eye for a teaser for Chapter 5!

It should be up tomorrow by mid-night and my hope is to make it the 101^st post!

Ciao!

Chapter 3 Teaser Chapter 5

P.S. For PM's buddy me!