||IshRa FF-By a Twist of Fate||*Mature content*Chapter 4 Page 7 Update - Page 4

Just now caught up with the updates

Chapter 3

"I know this is the company your Appa worked for Ishu. But couldn't you have asked them for 3-4 months to start? Will they give you time off for your marriage?" Madhavi Iyer asked the next morning as Ishita got ready for her first day at work. "Amma! We haven't even found a groom. What would I tell them? Oh can I join once I find a groom for myself and get married which by the way, I really don't know when its going to happen?" Ishita asked. "What do you mean you don't know when its going to happen? Panditji has said it'll happen in the next six months," Madhavi replied. "Amma! I am not the boss's wife or anything that they would keep the position waiting for me for whenever I am ready to join," Ishu replied irritated. "Well, I guess its okay. If the groom's family has a problem, you can always resign," Madhavi said. Ishita bit her tongue to stop herself from telling her Amma about the one year bond she had signed. No! It wouldn't do her any good to have to deal with Amma's emotional outburst before her first day of work. "We'll see Amma. Now wish me luck," Ishita said as she bent to touch her mother's feet. Madhavi blessed her and went to the mandir in the house and brought prasad for Ishu. "Bless you my child. May God shower all his blessings on you. My good child," Madhavi said kissing Ishu's forehead. "Only if your father were here to see this day," she said getting teary eyed. "He is always with us Amma. Don't worry," Ishu said side hugging her Amma. "Okay, I'm leaving now or I'll get late," Ishu said, heading to the door. "Wait! I'm coming with you," Madhavi said, hurrying to grab her bag. "Amma? Why are you coming with me? I'm not a child!" Ishu complained. "Ishu! Its so far away. You didn't listen to me on the day of the interview either. Let me see what kind of people you will be working with," Madhavi said. "No Amma! Do you want to embarrass me on my first day of work? I am not a kindergarten student that my mother has to drop me off on my first day. You are not coming with me and that's final!" Ishita said as she blocked the door, not letting Madhavi past. "So now I am an embarrassment to you, eh?" Madhavi said sniffling into her saree pallu. "This is what I get for taking care of you for all these years. My own daughter is embarrassed to take me to work." "Amma! You know thats not what I meant. I love you! Okay, for your peace of mind, I won't go by bus. I'll hire Narayanan Uncle's auto, okay?" Ishita conceded. "Okay.. Here, let me call Narayanan for you," Madhavi said as she pulled out her phone and made the call.

Narayanan Uncle was an auto driver in their area, somewhere in his late 50s or early 60s. Her Appa had befriended him when Appa and Amma had first moved to Delhi. Being a fellow South Indian, he had helped her Appa and Amma a lot in settling in. He was the one who had escorted Ishu to and from school and college on most days. Narayanan Uncle was like a brother to her Amma and almost a member of their family. His daughter Vandita had gone to school and college with Ishita. Vandita had gotten married straight after college while Ishita had gone on to do her MBA. Ishita bid her mother a final good bye as she heard the familiar honking of Narayanan uncle's auto downstairs and hurried off, part excited and part nervous for her first day at work.

***

As Ishita alighted from the auto, she bent to touch Narayanan uncle's feet for blessings. His eyes teared up as he said, "Bless you my child! Bless you! Vishu Sir would have been so proud today. His daughter is going to work in the same company that he did. Its a legacy my child. Its a legacy. Who knows it might become your family company and your kids might work here too!" Ishita smiled at him and waved good bye before heading in.

"Good morning Ms. Iyer. Welcome!" Aditi greeted her at the reception desk. "Thank you Aditi. And please call me Ishita!" Ishu replied. "Okay Ishita. Come on. Let me take you upstairs and show you your office," Aditi said as she led her towards the elevators. "Its great that you are here early. Mr. Bhalla is very particular about time. A couple of times he fired his secretaries just because they turned up late," Aditi said when they got into the elevator. Ishita looked at Aditi nervously. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you," Aditi said apologetically. "Its okay. I can use any info that'll help me in my job," Ishita replied smiling. "Oh well, then, Raman Sir is very particular about time. Be it the work he has assigned or the meetings he has to attend. Oh! And he is a perfectionist. He likes all his work to be perfect. Oh and he needs his coffee first thing in the morning - strong, black and no sugar. I have no idea how he drinks it. And when Shagun Ma'am comes in, no one is allowed to disturb them," Aditi said giggling. "Shagun Ma'am?" Ishita asked curiously. "Yes.. Shagun Ma'am, Raman Sir's fiancee. They've been in a relationship forever. But its weird because they've broken up more number of times than anyone would care to count and then they get back together." Aditi moved a little closer to Ishita and whispered, "I've even heard that Shagun Ma'am was caught red handed cheating on Raman Sir." Then she straightened up before saying, "I honestly don't even know why and how they are still together. Raman Sir is actually such a nice guy and Shagun Ma'am.. She is a.. You know that word that starts with a b and ends with an h and means a female dog? Yeah! That's her. No one in the office likes her. Anyways, not that any of that matters. The buzz is that they are getting married.. In the next 3-4 months or something. Shagun Ma'am has been making a lot more trips down to the office recently to plan their super posh destination wedding," Aditi said. Just then the elevator bell dinged signaling that they'd reached the 21st floor. In the short one minute elevator ride up, Ishita had already learned a lot more about her new boss than she would have found out for herself if she'd worked there for the whole year of her contract.

"Here is your seat. There is a coffee machine there. The restroom is down this hallway to your right. I hope you got the email from the IT department regarding your login credentials and your official email address last night?" Aditi asked. Ishita nodded her head. "Perfect! We still have a few minutes before Raman Sir comes in. Come, let me introduce you to the rest of Raman Sir's personal staff," Aditi said as she led Ishita down the hallway to the office area. When Ishita stepped into the office behind Aditi, she was surprised to find the office already bustling with so much activity, it was hardly 8 in the morning. "Like I said," Aditi explained, "Raman Sir likes his staff to be punctual, early even and everyone here understands that getting work done on time entails coming in early and/or leaving late."

A tall, lanky female in chic business casuals walked by them and Aditi stopped her, "Mihika Ma'am! Meet Raman Sir's new personal secretary, Ms. Ishita Iyer. And Ishita, this is Mihika Varma. She is our Senior associate, Marketing and Advertising." Mihika smiled pleasantly and Ishita developed an instant liking for her as they shook hands. "Welcome Ms. Iyer! So you are the latest entrant into the dragon's cave!" Mihika said cheerfully. "Dragon's cave?" Ishita asked worriedly. Before Mihika had a chance to explain, Mihir walked in. "Hey baby!" he called to Mihika and hugged her. Ishita looked away a tad bit embarrassed at the open display of affection. "They are engaged to be married," Aditi whispered into Ishita's ears. "Mihir Sir! This is Ms. Ishita Iyer, Raman Sir's new personal secretary and Ishita, this is Mihir Arora," Aditi started to perform introductions but Ishita cut in, "the managing director of PSR Corporation," she finished off as she extended her hand towards Mihir to shake hands with him. "Ms. Iyer! The lady who charmed THE Raman Kumar Bhalla within five minutes of the interview so much so that he had the contract ready and waiting for you before you left the building eh?" Mihir asked teasingly as he shook hands with Ishita. Ishita felt an embarrassing blush crawl up her cheeks when Mihir put it that way. "No! No! I mean, I really didn't do anything. I just needed the job desperately and I guess.. Mr. Bhalla needed a secretary just as desperately," Ishita explained. "Well, if you don't want Raman Bhai's desperation to turn into frustration on your very first day at work, you better hurry out. Its about to be 8 and Raman Bhai will be here any minute now," Mihir said. Ishita looked at her watch. 5 minutes to 8. "Oh okay. Nice meeting you all," Ishita said as she hurried back outside to her seat.

"So what are the bets this time?" Mihir asked once Ishita had left. "She said she needed the job desperately, I am guessing 1 month," Aditi said. "She looks like such a simple, naive girl. I don't think she will be able to bear the dragon's heat for a whole month. I say a week, two at the maximum," Mihika said. Mihir looked out the door, "I have a feeling she is the one."

Ishita set the coffee going before she even went to her desk. She set her bag down and took out a small idol of Ganeshji from her bag and placed it on her desk. Then she turned the computer on and logged in to pull up Mr. Bhalla's calendar for the day. She went through it for the hundredth time since she'd gotten access to it last night to make sure she knew everything he had scheduled to the minute. Then she sat twiddling her thumbs in anticipation of his arrival.

The clock hadn't even struck 8 and the elevator bell dinged making Ishita jump out of her seat. The elevator doors opened and out walked Raman Kumar Bhalla looking absolutely dapper in grey suit and trousers paired with a black shirt, dark aviators pushed up on the bridge of his sharp nose, talking on the phone. As he passed by her desk, Ishita wished him good morning but he paid no attention. When he disappeared inside his office, Ishita let out the breath she had been holding and realized her heart was thudding in her chest like she had just run a marathon. She started to sit down but was startled by the phone ringing. "Good Morning. PSR Corporation's Office. This is Ishi.." she said picking up the receiver. "Come inside," came the curt response. "Yes sir," Ishita replied and waited till he had replaced the receiver before grabbing his coffee, her letter pad and pen and hurrying inside.

"Good morn.." Ishita tried to wish him again as she placed his coffee in front of him but he cut her. "How many good mornings do you plan to say in a day?" he asked her. Ishita decided to keep mum. How would she know if he had heard her greeting if he didn't respond? "We have a very important meeting at 9," Raman started. "With the Mehta Group regarding a housing development project," Ishita chipped in. Raman looked up at her from his laptop and Ishita swallowed nervously. God! No wonder this man was called the dragon. He seemed to be shooting fire with his gaze as well, she thought. "The conference room needs to be ready by 8:45. You will be taking minutes of the meeting. Right after the meeting, the minutes of the meeting should be sent out to all the attendees and other concerned staff. Okay?" he asked. Ishita nodded her head as she wrote it down on her letter pad. He sipped at the coffee and looked up at her. She was hurriedly writing something on her letter pad. He took another sip and smiled slightly. But as soon as she looked up from her letter pad, instead of letting her know that the coffee was perfect, he simply give her another barrage of instructions. Ishita struggled to keep up with the pace of his thoughts and by the time he was done briefing Ishita, it was 8:30. She ran into the office supplies room to get stuff and set about arranging the conference room. Raman walked in just as she got done. He looked around and nodded at her. Ishita heaved a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't breathing fire at her. She ran back to her desk and readied to take notes for the meeting.

By the time the meeting got over, Ishita had sent out the minutes and done all the work that Raman had handed to her in the morning, it was past 2 in the afternoon. Ishita's stomach grumbled in hunger and she eyed the lunch box her mother had packed for her so lovingly. It had not only her favorite curd rice but also her absolute favorite homemade lemon pickle too. Just that thought of food made her stomach grumble again, a little louder this time. She eyed the door to Raman's cabin and decided that since she had finished all the work he had assigned her, she could definitely take a five minute break and eat quickly. She opened her lunch box and started to gobble down her curd rice. Just as her luck would have it, she had barely put the third spoonful in her mouth when the door to Raman's cabin opened and he stepped out. In her frantic effort to swallow the mouthful of food, Ishita started to choke.

"What are you doing?" Raman asked, shocked for a second before quickly making his way towards her. He patted her back and when that did not seem to work, he reached for the bottle of water on her table, opened it and held it to her mouth. Ishita managed to drink the water in between her bouts of cough. Raman continued patting her back and when her coughing subsided, he helped her into her chair. "Are you all right?" he asked concerned. Still catching her breath, Ishita simply nodded in response. He waited for her to calm down completely before he said, "You don't have to jump every time you see me, you know? I won't eat you up!" Ishita felt her cheeks grow warm as she turned red with embarrassment. "And we do have designated lunch time for our staff. Why were you eating as if you'd stolen someone else's food?" Raman asked. "I.. I was finishing up my work Sir and didn't notice the time," Ishita explained. Raman continued to look at her and Ishita shifted in her chair feeling uncomfortable under his scrutinizing gaze. "Well, I am off to a meeting and won't be back for the rest of the day. If you are done with all the work that I had assigned to you in the morning, you may leave," Raman said as he started to turn away. Ishita muttered in Tamil, "Paithyakaari, ivalo embarrassing situation aayidichu (Crazy woman! Such an embarrassing situation)" Raman turned around at that, "Excuse me?" he asked. "Nothing sir!" ishita clarified, "I.. I was just talking to myself." Raman looked at her like she was crazy and headed towards the elevators. "Good day to you Sir," Ishita called out as an afterthought but Raman had already gotten into the elevator.

***

Ishita closed her lunch box and put it back in her bag, all thoughts of eating and hunger banished after the embarrassment she'd just caused herself. She began tidying her desk and putting away her stuff when the phone rang. "Good afternoon. PSR Corporation's Office. This is Ishi.." she started to say when she was interrupted from the other end. "I can't get through to Raman on his mobile. Tell him I am coming to meet him in 5 minutes," a female voice said. "But Ma'am," Ishita started to explain that Mr. Bhalla was out for the rest of the day but the woman on the other end had hung up already. Ishita hung up too and sat back in her chair. Who was this woman? Forget about introducing herself, she just hung up without even waiting for a response? In any case, Ishita figured she should wait until the lady turned up so she could let her know that Raman Sir had left for the day. She pulled out her phone and decided to text her mom to say that she was coming home early and maybe they could go out for dinner tonight to celebrate her first day at work.

Half an hour later, there was still no sign of the lady who had called. She was probably not going to come in, Ishita thought as she picked up her handbag and umbrella. Just then, the elevator dinged. Ishita turned around and saw an extremely fashionable woman wearing a golden sleeveless blouse and a black and gold chiffon saree, holding onto her matching clutch, wearing impossibly high heels sauntering in. The lady did not even pause to look at her as she made her way to the door of Raman's cabin.

"Excuse me Ma'am," Ishita approached her to stop her but she paid no attention. She reached for the doorknob and realized the door was locked. "What the hell? Why is this door locked? Where is Raman?" the lady asked turning around, and finally she spotted Ishita. She gave Ishita a very condescending once over and asked, "Who are you?" "Good afternoon Ma'am. I am Ishita Iyer, Mr. Raman Kumar Bhalla's new personal secretary," Ishita replied. "Was it you I spoke to earlier on the phone? Where is Raman? I told you to tell him that I was coming, didn't I? What kind of a dumb behenji are you that you can't follow that simple an instruction?" The lady yelled in her high-pitched voice. Ishita felt indignant at the way this lady was talking to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw some of the people peeping out from the office area. "Come on! Answer me! Where is Raman?" the lady continued. "Raman Sir is out for the rest of the day Ma'am. If you would have stayed on the line long enough to hear my response, you would've gotten to know this beforehand. Now may I know who you are?" Ishita asked in as polite a tone as she could manage given how upset she actually was.

"Stupid fool! Couldn't you have told me this earlier? Wasted so much of time! And who the hell do you think you are to ask me who I am? All you need to know is that I can get you fired from your job in less than 10 seconds if I want to, get that?" the lady continued. "Ma'am I do not wish to argue with you but like I said, if you would have let me speak, I would have let you know earlier that Raman Sir was out for the rest of the day. Now, if you would like, I can take a message for Raman Sir from you for whenever he gets back," Ishita said. "How dare you? How dare you answer back to me?" the lady shouted.

"Shagun!" Ishita and the lady turned around to find Mihika standing to the side. "Mihika! What kind of a rude, dumb behenji have you made Raman's secretary? Look at the way she is talking to me. Does she not know who I am? I am going to ask Raman to fire her right now!" the lady continued. Shagun! So this was Shagun! Ishita thought as she looked her over. Raman Sir was going to marry this female? She actually felt bad for Raman Sir. Ishita wasn't normally one to judge people, but this woman was like Rakhi Sawant and Dolly Bindra rolled into one; not her looks though. She was admittedly exceptionally beautiful, dressed classy too. Only if her personality was half as classy, Ishita rued.

"Shagun.. Its Ishita's first day at work. She genuinely does not know who you are," Mihika explained. "I've been telling Raman.. I've been telling him that there needs to be a picture of me somewhere in this office. I got a photoshoot done by one of those Bollywood photographers just last week. When the prints come out, I am bringing one in and hanging it right here," she said pointing towards the wall right across Ishita's desk, "so that no one.." she turned towards Ishita sinisterly, "and I mean NO ONE in this office forgets who I am and what I can do to them." If she was trying to scare Ishita, it wasn't working. Ishita was busy feeling sorry for Raman Sir.

"You know Raman Sir does not mix business and family. He would never agree to that," Mihika said calmly. Shagun looked crossly at Mihika too before she turned her attention back to Ishita. Thats when she noticed that Ishita had her handbag on her shoulder and umbrella in hand. "And where were you taking off to? Just because Raman isn't here, does not mean you can just up and leave. You know these middle class people, want to make money without working for it. I am not going to let you get away with it," Shagun said. "I am done with my day's work and Raman Sir said that I was free to leave," Ishita replied. "Oh shut up! You are not going anywhere," Shagun said as she reached into her clutch. She pulled out a roll of paper and handed it to Ishita. "This is the guest list for our wedding. I want all their addresses and phone numbers in a list by the end of the day," she instructed. Ishita opened the paper and looked at it, "But these are just names. There might be hundreds of people in the world by these names. And as it is, I am Raman Sir's personal secretary. I only take orders from him," Ishita said as she handed back the list to Shagun. "You stupid behenji! I am Shagun Malhotra! Raman Kumar Bhalla's fiancee. You are going to say no to me? You have no idea what I can do to you!" Shagun shrieked.

"Is there anything else I can help you with today Ma'am?" Ishita asked politely. Mihika couldn't help the laughter bubbling inside of her. Her first impression of Ishita changed completely. This girl was a real fire cracker, Mihika thought amusedly as she watched how calmly, politely and professionally Ishita was giving it back to Shagun. No one really got why Raman Sir put up with Shagun, not even his family. He was a hard taskmaster when it came to work but otherwise, the man had a heart of gold. He was all about commitment and that was the reason why Shagun was still in the picture. Otherwise, after what she had done.. Mihika thought distractedly. As Shagun's high-pitched yelling reached newer ultrasonic frequencies, Mihika decided enough was enough.

"Shagun! Where is Divya? Your wedding planner?" Mihika interrupted her. "Oh Mihku.." Shagun fake drawled, "I don't understand why this world is filled with so many dumb behenjis. I specifically asked them to send me lehenga designs by Manish Malhotra with Swarovski crystals that cost no less than 1 crore, in fuchsia pink. But that stupid female! Can you believe her audacity? She sent me designs of lehengas by Sabyasachi instead that were so cheap, just 80 lakhs and there were Swarovski crystals only on the dupatta and lehenga! None whatsoever on the blouse! And the most frustrating part was they were not fuchsia pink. They were candy pink. I mean, candy pink is so last year!"

"But didn't you get Raman Sir to pay double the price to hire specifically that wedding planner?" Mihika asked. "Of course! She was the one who planned businessman Mahesh Gupta's daughter's wedding. You know the most expensive wedding ever that happened last year? Where they literally brought the whole of Udaipur to a complete standstill because of the wedding festivities and stuff?" Shagun asked, getting excited by the very thought. "If only Raman and I had been married last year, I could've forced Raman into attending the wedding and taking me along. Anyways, our wedding is going to be even more spectacular than that," Shagun said, flicking her hair away from her face.

Ishita felt her jaw would hit the floor if Shagun kept on with her list of expenditures and expectations. "I know.. I know.. It must be so difficult to manage all of this alone," Mihika commented sarcastically. "Of course. I am glad at least someone realizes how much effort I am putting in," Shagun said. Just then Shagun's phone rang and she answered, "You better have good news for me!" she barked into her phone. "Okay. I will come look at the designs right now," she said before hanging up. "I am planning to fly in special mehendi artists from Dubai. They have a kind of mehendi that is a washable ink so I can change mehendi designs for every function," Shagun announced excitedly. Mihika and Ishita looked at each other and shook their heads. "I have to head out now to select designs but thank you so much for being there for me Mihku," Shagun said hugging Mihika. "Otherwise, with the kind of people Raman has hired, I would probably go nuts." "And you," Shagun said turning towards Ishita, "Don't think I am done with you yet!" Ishita smiled politely and said, "Have a good day Ma'am." As she headed to the elevator, Shagun paused and turned to Mihika, "Mihika, have you ever watched a show called "Bridezilla"?" Mihika stifled her urge to laugh and she looked at Ishita. She could see that Ishita was doing the same. "No. Why?" Mihika asked. "Oh nothing. I overheard Divya tell one of her associates the other day that I would be the perfect choice for the show, Bridezilla. You know I only watch American shows, I don't know any of these silly Indian shows so I had no clue. Anyways, see you.." Shagun said as she got on the elevator and left.

As soon as the elevator doors closed, both Ishita and Mihika burst out laughing. "Oh my goodness! I can't take it," Mihika said laughing as she plopped down on Ishita's chair. "And look at you Ms. Iyer. Giving it back to the bridezilla eh?" Mihika said. "I just hope I don't lose my job over this," ishita said in between guffawing. "Nah! Don't worry. You won't. Raman Sir knows how Shagun is. And he has very strict personal and professional boundaries. You might have lost your job if you did end up spending all your time doing Shagun's work instead of office work," Mihika replied. Then why was he marrying her? Ishita wondered for the umpteenth time that day.

"I'm going to head out now. I am taking my Amma out to dinner today to celebrate my first day at work," Ishita said. "Oh great! Go have fun! I'll see you tomorrow," Mihika said as she got up to go back to her office. "Oh and Ms. Varma," Ishita stopped her. "Please, just call me Mihika," Mihika replied. "Mihika.. Thank you for saving me," Ishita said smiling as she cocked her head towards the elevators, referring to Shagun. "It definitely did not look like you needed any saving Ms. Iyer!" Mihika replied as she headed back to her office.

***

You have so aptly written about Shagun and our Ishu..always smart and have family values

Please keep updating and wondering how the story in chapter 1 is going to be part of story..wil wait for it

superb & interstng story cntn soon plz pm me when u updt next

Nice

awesome update

OMG superb superb superb👏...Bridezilla seriously😆😆😆...

But I am very much disappointed with the Likes and comments you are getting😭😭...You are a good writer...You deserve more likes and comments...Please send pms to your buddys yaa

Nice update...this story is getting too interesting...shagun is raman's fiancee and according to fortune teller ishita'll get married within six months...and how d first chapter relate to this story..interesting...waiting to read further...plz do update regularly... .

Read all the parts in one go.superb storyline.loved it.waiting eagerly for next part.

amazing story read all in one go..