||~Something About You~||#6 *COMPLETED* - Page 80

As Aman trailed off in a discreet tone, Arnav remembered, 'Of course, it was the night of his date with Khushi!' He nodded in Aman's direction to indicate that he followed Aman up till now & he should thus continue, & Aman did without further pre-amble, "ASR, Kapoor was in that party. He was heavily drunk, of course, & on a chance, I overheard him telling his companions about how his engagement broke, because his fiances sister couldn't resist him. & if he hadn't been taking any names, it would have been just fine.. You see, many of the guests had asked Mr. Doshi about you around the beginning of the party. & after some bragging about his influence over women, Kapoor mentioned your absence & commented that.. you were probably busy with Khushiji as after you've returned home, she seemed to be the 'flavor of the month' for you. Um.. ASR, the more his companions showed interests, the more crude his words got." Aman paused as he debated with himself about whether or not to convey the next part of his report to Arnav, as judging by the hard set of his jaw, the way his eyes seemed to glow & the menacing way his eyebrows seemed to have arched high over his forehead, Arnav was definitely in the throes of one of his infamous raging fits.

But then, Aman remembered the way his otherwise reserved & reticent boss had talked Aman's ears off with instructions, suggestions & then at last questions, before his date with Khushi that Sunday when Aman had to go to that pitiful cocktail party. He also remembered how Arnav had spent hours locked up in his cabin, making Aman hold up important calls & meetings till he had finished altering Khushi's dresses. How he had instructed Aman to take care of the caterers & florists for Khushi, because he seemed too desperate to have some alone time with her. & Aman was no fool. He had been working with this man in close quarters, side by side, for more than 11 hours a day, for over 2 months now. There was no deal going on in the AR Corps that Aman didn't know about, including the volatile deal going on between his boss & his boss's soon-to-be family & currently just family friend Khushiji, & thus, Aman knew very well, who was on the other side of that very important phone call that his boss had attended to during the imperative MGM this morning. & so, Aman decided, ASR would appreciate full disclosure & complete honesty, when it came to Khushiji.

Taking in a deep breath, Aman continued, "I wanted to be sure before informing you, so I checked into the matter. Kapoor regularly dishes out gossip about you & Khushiji in the circles he frequents. His defamation is harmful to the point of being character assassination actually. & the bad news is, the details of his broken engagement were never publicized by either of the families, so he is now getting away with his twisted version of the happenings. & due to his respectable & elite family, his words aren't immediately brushed away as a drunkard's babble. He's actually becoming quite a menace, ASR. Two of our business associates did ask me at the party whether you really are seeing someone so soon after your return. & by seeing, they didn't mean seeing. Now they were old people, snobbish & from the last generation, so I wouldn't worry about their snooping, but at the rate Kapoor is going, he might be a problem to you & your.. Erm.. Khushiji!"

& as soon as Aman finished talking he wished he had some more information to supply or even that, he was a person who could talk random rubbish to fill in uncomfortable silences, because the instant pin-drop silence that fell over the cabin was actually foreboding. He saw the nerve on Arnav's cheek twitch alarmingly fast as he seemed to be staring down at something on his leather-top executive desk, & following his line of vision, Aman's eyes fell on the sparklingly exquisite ring lying carelessly over the tabletop & after waiting some time more for Arnav to say something, Aman cleared his throat again, & started, "ASR-" But he was cut off by the rapid instructions that issued from his boss's mouth, "Locate Karan. ASAP. Cancel my schedule for the rest of the day. See to it that the cars & drivers reach home by time, & everything is properly taken care off."

Aman followed his boss perfectly. The rest of the wedding functions would take place in the Raizada farmhouse in Gurgaaon itself, & both the families were leaving for the farmhouse today itself, after lunch. The families were splitting the costs of the wedding planners, decorators, caterers, & although a good number of the invited guests from Delhi had their own neighboring farmhouses, those who didn't & their respective relatives from Lucknow were put up in several guesthouses & resorts near the farmhouse. Aman knew all the details as most of the transactions were processed by him. He had already arranged for extra company cars & drivers to take all the Raizadas & the Guptas to the Raizada farmhouse premises as per Arnav's instructions. & there was a reason why Aman had become an unspoken favorite of his boss in the short span of a couple of months. He had followed Arnav's instructions to the T, even making sure all the cars were 3,500 cc SUVs & the tanks were fuelled up to 3/4^th of their capacity. He fulfilled every whims & weird wishes of Arnav without a second question or a moment's hesitation. But today Aman did hesitate. He didn't feel today was the day for Arnav to go after Kapoor, when everyone was expecting him to play the duties of a gracious host down at the farmhouse.

Aman shifted uncomfortably on his feet because he was about to do something he hadn't done till now & he didn't even know why the hell he was doing it, when he knew it was a bad idea, & for the first time ever he differed with his boss, "ASR, I don't think today is the day to have a tussle with someone as slimy as Kapoor. When Anjaliji called a while ago, you did promise her-" Arnav threw a swift quelling glance which promptly shut Aman up, & then he barked out decisively, "Do as you're told.. & go bring some accounts or inventories files to keep me busy till you locate him!" & then he reached over, took the ring up in his hand again & started twirling it between his fingers with so much concentration that Aman knew this conversation was over till he came back with the actual whereabouts of Karan Kapoor.

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It was almost 9pm when Arnav left his office premises accompanied by Aman for the nightclub that Aman had located Karan Kapoor to. Karan hadn't left his parents' bungalow the whole day, maybe sleeping off last night's hang over & had only crawled out to party after his friends had shown up outside his house to pick him up. As soon as hey had settled on a club, Aman had informed Arnav, & without another word they had set off with Arnav leading the way.

When they reached the exclusive nightclub, there was a slight delay at the gate while Aman cleared their identification with the bouncer, & taking the opportunity, Aman tried one last time, "ASR, if things got out of hand here-" Arnav held up a hand in front of Aman's face to stop him as he informed Aman curtly, "Don't worry. I know when to stop." When they entered the inside area of the nightclub, Arnav paused for a brief moment to get used to the dimmed light & then spotting Karan by the side of the bar, surrounded by more than a few of his friends, Arnav purposefully strode towards him, his face an incensed mask. Reaching immediately behind him, Arnav tapped Karan sharply on his right shoulder. Karan jovially turned, thinking it was one of his friends, & the moment he saw Arnav's thunderous face, the smile on his face froze. But almost instantly, possibly due to his high-society upbringing, Karan recovered himself, & greeted Arnav as if they were old friends, "Hey! Arnav!.. I didn't fancy seeing you here!!" & before he could pretend further, Arnav bit out, "Didn't fancy.. or didn't wish?"

& just like that, the gloves were off. Karan knew his pretences weren't gonna be of any use, so looking surreptitiously around his eavesdropping friends, he hissed furiously at Arnav, "What's all this about, huh? You guys got what you wanted anyways! You wanted Payal to get married to your brother, right? So, I know the wedding's this weekend! What now, huh?" Arnav's eyes narrowed dangerously & as he took a step towards Karan, Karan took several stumbling steps backward, & Arnav said in a tight voice, controlling his rage somehow, "Remember the envelope? The one containing your priors?.. The deal was, you don't spread any lies, & I don't spread your truth all over the city! But, I know for a fact that you have defaulted on your end of the deal!" As soon as he had mentioned the envelope & Karan's priors, he had seen Karan's eyes spew venom at him, & as he stopped, Karan almost spat at him, "Don't think I am on your property right now, OK? So you can't just get away with threatening to kill me, got that?" He shouted loud enough for everyone around them to hear it.

Arnav didn't even bother to look around at the people who gasped at the mention of his threat, & he said in a voice filled with cold fury, "I don't need to be on my own territory to deal with a filthy rat like you! & you?  You can't even confess to speaking about me behind my back! So, stop doing something you don't even have the guts to do to my face, otherwise, it may actually be fatal for you!" & Karan visibly blanched by the time Arnav finished, & when Arnav just glared at him, he spluttered, "I didn't.. When did I talk about you behind your back?!" & then Karan's eyes fell on Aman & he swiftly exchanged looks with a few of his mates, & then he finally turned his suddenly sharp eyes at Arnav, "Oh! So that's what this is all about! Khushi?!" & it was really Karan's misfortune more than anything else that he didn't notice the way Arnav's hands fisted as he took the name. & he continued, now in a visibly relaxed way, "Now I get it! I was right! You know, I suspected this all along! I mean, other wise, why would you take it to such a personal level as to threaten me? & even now you're here, when Payal & your brother are getting married soon! Because, you want Khushi!.. Well, who doesn't, Arnav? Have you looked at that perky little ass?.. Uh, of course, you have! But between you & me?.. Arre, even just one of us would be too good for her! & two of us?.. It's like her life whole would be set!! I mean, that sexy little sassy, mouthy tease won't even know what-" & he was so busy looking at his friends while bragging about his being correct about Arnav & Khushi that, he hadn't even noticed Arnav charging towards him the moment he had mentioned Khushi's behind & before he could finish, Arnav rammed into him headfirst & took him down.

Aman saw with a stillness stemming from horror how both the men hit the hard concrete floor of the night club with a shocking thud. By the time Aman came to his senses as one of Karan's female friends screamed, he saw Arnav was straddling Karan, & as his left hand was clenching Karan's throat in a death grip, his right fist was showering blow after blow of deadly punches over Karan's ribcages. & the horrific thing was, the whole scene was silent as Arnav didn't make a single sound & Karan couldn't, for the life of him, make one. Suddenly as he was about to choke out, Karan made a desperate flailing movement & throwing Arnav off balance, he angrily threw a solid punch that hit Arnav squarely across his jaw. As Arnav lost his balance & started sliding off Karan, Karan half sat up & smashed his right hand in a powerful knock that hit Arnav's right shoulder, sending him sprawled on his back into the floor.

But before Karan could properly get back to his feet, & take refuge behind his friends, Arnav pulled him by his left knee & as Karan lost his balance, Arnav twisted Karan's whole body to land the latter on his ass on the floor before Arnav, & then swiftly moving forward, Arnav pinned Karan to the ground with his left knee pressed to Karan's stomach & again wrapping his left hand around Karan's throat, Aranv started ramming blow after blow after blow of short, hammering punches at Karan's jaw. After almost 10seconds of this, Aman saw Karan's body going nearly limp, & he looked with appalled disbelief that Arnav didn't even know the state of his opponent! He was hammering like a machine, silently & dispassionately, & Aman realized that, that was probably the only thing that was saving Arnav from Karan's livid friends. Karan's friends were much more well-built then the very lean Arnav, & knowing the background they hailed from, Aman didn't doubt that some of them could have firearms with them right then, but looking at Arnav's possessed face & the dark aura surrounding him, none of them dared to go close to him. & only when a female friend of Karan's came crying to Aman & clutched at his arm to beg him to stop Arnav from killing Karan totally, did Aman realize that this time, his boss didn't have any control over himself, & taking in a deep breath, Aman stepped in bracing himself, & hugged Arnav across his torso tightly from the back & pulled hard till he felt Arnav letting go of Karan, & all the while Aman kept chanting in Arnav's right ear, "ASR, please.. Anjaliji & Khushiji are waiting.."

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