PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Part 1
Aarti was going through a pile of mails on her table, she scanned through the mails, picked the important ones. She was expecting payment from one of their customers, so she tore open the mail first. She saw the amount written and found something off. She searched for her billing papers and sure enough the amount paid was lesser than the amount billed. Her immediate thought that there was some mistake, in order to rectify it she called them. Her person of contact in the company was one Mr Khanna and straight away dialled his mobile number to get some clarifications. She said "hello" but the male voice who answered was not Mr Khanna.
"May I speak to Mr Khanna," she asked with some urgency in her voice.
"He is not here right now, he left his phone behind. Can I help you?" the person on the other side answered.
"I'm Aarti Dubey, I have received a cheque for your previous company's order and there seem to be some discrepancy. I need to speak to Mr Khanna urgently," she continued.
"Ms Dubey, believe me there is no mistake in the amount paid. Half of the lights you sent us didn't work. How can we pay you in full?" he spoke.
"Who are you?" Aarti asked annoyed.
"I'm Yash Schindia," he replied.
"Mr Schindia, when you received the lights you didn't complain about this, then why now? Is this how you do business, by refusing to pay us small suppliers?"
The conversation began to sound more like argument whereby they were counterattacking with words.
"You know that is such a big accusation you are making. We are the biggest wedding planning company in Bhopal and we never ...," he said.
"I don't care if you are the smallest or the biggest company, you receive the goods so you have to pay for it. Why don't you check with the person who received the goods? " Aarti interrupted him.
He hung up the phone. Aarti was dumbstruck, if need be she will go to their place and collect their payment, she thought to herself.
Another half-hour past when someone called asking for her. She recognised the person as the one she spoke to earlier.
"I have checked with my people here, indeed the goods received were in good condition, you will get your balance payment in a week's time," he said.
"That's it, aren't you going to say sorry?" she queried him.
"No, besides you were rude to me too. So I will take it as we are even," he answered her back.
He just hung up the phone again. The phone conversation left a bad impression and created a mutual dislike.
Their second meeting only cemented the contempt they had for each other.
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Aarti rushed to her friend's place after finishing some work. Vidhi's parents were looking for a potential groom for their daughter hence the tea party at their place. They wanted the girl and the boy to meet first under normal circumstances and then if there was mutual like, things can proceed accordingly. Vidhi was Aarti's closest friend and she absolutely adored her and her wish was that she would find someone worthy of her. For that reason she hurriedly did all her work and went there without even getting a change and not looking her best.
When she got there, the guests were already there. Vidhi's parents invited some of their friends and neighbours too although none were informed about this special meeting, they didn't want the situation to be too awkward. Aarti quickly searched for Vidhi, standing away from others shyly. Aarti teased her and her face reddened. A little while later someone introduced the boy and the girl and Aarti observed this from a far.
Aarti eyes moved around to search for faces she was familiar with. Out of sudden a lady, a known face wrapped her arms in hers and told her she is introducing a guy to Aarti. Aarti was genuinely not interested yet the lady insisted she should at least meet him first.
"Aarti, he is handsome and rich. And you know he is a widower, he will be perfect for you," the lady tried to talk her into it.
"I'm not going to take no for an answer," she continued.
The lady basically dragged her to one spot where a gentleman was standing alone by himself.
She introduced both of them.
"Aarti, this is Yash Schindia. He owns a wedding planning and event management company, they are well known in Bhopal. I'm sure you must have heard of them.
Aarti was surprised to hear the name but maintained her composure.
"Yash, this is Aarti Dubey. She helps with her father's business, she is a very capable person. It's a pity her ex-husband could not appreciate her."
It was Yash's turn to be taken back a bit. The lady left them after the brief introduction and the situation turned very awkward for both of them. They hardly spoke one word to each other, stood there looking at the other side more and when the awkwardness was unbearable they moved away.
Later Aarti was busy mingling with other guests, from time to time she observed how unfriendly he was standing fixed at one position not attempting to make conversations with anyone. At one point they were standing close with back facing each other. She saw his friend approaching him and heard their conversation. Yash was unaware Aarti was behind him.
"Yash, I think I like her, she is the nicest person I have met," his friend told me honestly.
Yash smirked and said, "Well I'm glad you met someone you liked unlike me. My bad luck that someone tried to shove a divorcee at me and mind you she is a very disagreeable person and talking is her forte. She could talk her way out of anything."
Aarti heard the whole conversation, felt really bad and made her mind up about Yash Schindia.
Aarti quietly moved from there, she was eager to talk to Vidhi. Vidhi was equally smitten by the person, his name was Pankaj. Their conversation revolved around Pankaj, he said this and that , Vidhi excitedly provided all the details. As soon as the conversation shifted to Pankaj's friend, Aarti had only one thing to say,
"Ushe zyada badtameez aur akdu adhami koyi ho hi nahi shakta."
"I hate, hate him."
The evening progressed very well for Vidhi and Pankaj, they were almost a couple by the end of it. Aarti was really pleased for her. After a few days Vidhi called Aarti.
"Aarti, I need a favour from you. Pankaj is asking me out for a date and maa said I'm only allowed to go if there is a chaperone. Please..please Aarti say yes," Vidhi asked her hesitantly.
"I will do anything for you, this is a small thing," Aarti replied her.
"Thank you so much Aarti, you are the best," Vidhi shrieked in excitement.
"Hmmm... wait a minute, Yash Schindia won't be tagging along right. If he is going to be there then I'm not coming," Aarti said.
"Oh! No..No... He won't be there," Vidhi told her.
The day arrived, Vidhi and Aarti set out to meet Pankaj at a cafe. Vidhi went in first while Aarti parked her scooter. She entered the place, looked around and saw Vidhi waving at her. Her gaze dropped on the next person standing to her, she saw Yash Schindia. All she wanted to do was to run away from the place.
Edited by Sdaren - 11 years ago
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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