Chapter 10

"I think I am loosing my mind", Akaash moved his fingers through his hair in irritation as he finished looking through the report sent from ARs legal team, "It is as if the same information is written in million different ways"

Shayam, who sat next to him sighed. "Yea. Other than few insurance claims issues which were eventually resolved and few loan repayment hiccups, Acme is clean"

"So, what now? We have a go/ no-go call with Suraj's team tomorrow. Do we give them a go to get started with their production then?"

Arnav was quite, his eyes still narrowed on his screen, looking at the conclusion that their legal team highlighted in red.

"Bhai... what are you thinking?"

He took a deep breath, but instead of answering Akaash, his eyes moved up his screen and landed straight on to Khushi, who too had her head buried in the screen in front of her. She hasn't spoken a word in last half hour since they started reviewing these reports about Suraj and his company.

Arnav sighed.

May be it was too soon for her to be here. It had been just a week since that fateful night. Madhumati did manage the feat of keeping her at home for all these days - insisting that she needed a break. But last evening, just as he was about to walk out his office - he saw her office come to life. She was back at her desk, brows scrunched up at her laptop, fingers moving over her keyboard. He remembered exhaling in relief - almost as if he was holding his breath for 7 continuous days and his lungs finally figured out how to function again.

But looking at her now, he felt like it was still too soon. May be he should have asked her to take some more days off. May be he should do that now.

He opened his mouth to voice this thought, when Khushi finally looked up. Her eyes shining, as if she knew something none of them did.

"This name here - I knew I recognised it. Here, look at page 9. This co-signer on one of Acme's loan - Jeffery Goldberg from Arma Associates - he or that company doesn't exist. Arma Associates was a shell corporation which went defunct in its first year"

All heads snapped at each other, startled with what they just heard.

"Umm, what?", Akaash narrowed his eyes as he looked at the page that Khushi pointed at.

"How do you know this? There is nothing of this sort highlighted by our legal"

"I know, I am sorry Shayam. I am not questioning the legal team at all. There is no way to verify this information. The only reason I know this is because back when I was at Wharton, one of my flat mate, a Finance major, did a project on analysing the biggest frauds of 21st century in America. I remember seeing this name come up in her research"

"I am shocked our legal didn't find this", Shayam shook his head with irritation, "Are you still in touch with this person Khushi? Or we can get in touch with Wharton - get a copy of this project. I need to know the sources she has cited, so we can get proof about this"

"No, we lost contact. And even if you contact Wharton, you will not get anything from them. Few days after she submitted this project - she was requested by the dean to redact all the sensitive information about the corporations she named in her project. And after this redaction, their was nothing left in that project worth reading. She finally scraped the whole thing and submitted an alternate project"

"What the hell - why?", Akaash spoke this time

"They said their was an ongoing federal investigation and several names that she had listed in that project were the targets. Selected projects and dissertations of university like Wharton are published publicly. And that would have hurt the case they were building. At least that's what she told me. Anyways, the whole thing was buried"

"How did she find this sensitive information in the first place?"

"She came from a very influential political family. I am sure she knew more than she dared to put in that project. But long story short, Acme is not what they seem. I believe there is something going on with these people. And if they have a suspicious company associated with them that early on, who knows what else is in their company history that we have no way to verify"

Akaash and Shyam nodded their heads with matching grimace and went on to reading the entire page that started this whole conversation.

Khushi then looked over at Arnav, who all throughout this had not spoken a word. She shifted in her chair uncomfortably. Her work had always been her solace in her otherwise turbulent life. But, when she stepped foot in office last evening, she felt awful. The feeling of deep embarrassment of loosing her temper with Arnav had not left her mind even once in the last week. In fact, deep down she was shocked not to find a termination email in her inbox, which in her opinion would have been completely justified.

Every one from Raizada family had called to check in on her in last 7 days. Everyone except Arnav. After that night when she offloaded her own issues on him so rudely, he had yet to speak to her.

And now, sitting across him, waiting for him to acknowledge what she just shared with everyone felt scarier than most things she had every been scared of. Was he so disappointed and shocked by her behaviour that he didn't trust her judgment and knowledge anymore? Was he regretting his decision to promote her, now that he had seen her at one of her weakest points? Was he thinking about how to politely fire her?

Thoughts after thoughts rushed through her mind, when suddenly he looked up. His eyes connecting with hers and she exhaled sharply.

"I don't think Acme will do anything to hurt AR in any way. It is their reputation at stake. I am sure they know that if they don't deliver quality product on time, AR will swallow them"

"But Arnav...", Before Khushi could complete her sentence, he gave her another intense look and continued.

"I heard what you said Khushi. But I don't want to terminate our contract with them. We already have another vendor for all our fabrics. Acme is responsible for the accessories and only a very small percentage of one of our fabric. I don't see a need to change anything at this point now. The contract with them remains unchanged"

With finality in his tone, he then looked at Akaash, "Before you meet Suraj's team tomorrow, I want to go over the specifics of the accessories they will be supplying. I want our in-house team on it. Ask Lavanya to coordinate with her team and get some resources on it."

"Sure Bhai. I am free after 11. If you want we can go over it then"

Arnav nodded and then turned toward Shayam, "Jiju, I need our legal team to go over our contract with Acme with a fine tooth comb. It needs to be airtight with no wiggle room at all. Can we sit with the person who is heading the Acme negotiations?"

"Yea, lets do this before lunch"

"Sounds good", he then picked up his phone, "Aman, can you set up a half hour catch up will all department heads for 1 pm today"

He then nodded his head toward Akaash and Shayam, who walked out of his office a minute later leaving Khushi alone with Arnav.

"I had few things to handle, I will see you at 1 pm then", Khushi was still not happy with Arnav's decision, but decided to keep her opinion to herself for now.

"You are not happy with my decision, are you?", Arnav spoke in a soft whisper

And he is a mind reader too. "My job is to give inputs to the best of my capability, but eventually it is your decision to make"

"Then why are you upset?"

"I am not upset?"

Arnav tilted his head, eyes boring into hers in challenge and Khushi sighed.

"Look, we can all deduce that Acme is involved in something illegal or at least it was back when it started. And they are conveniently hiding it because they have connections with right people. May be there is a way to do something about them, but once they get AR in their company's resume, they will be that much more difficult to stop. I know they cannot possibly think of hurting our event. We are too huge for them, but what about small businesses they may have hurt in past or will hurt in future? Once Acme gets us listed as one of their client, their market value will sky rocket and that would give them even wider berth to play around. I am just not sure how I feel about it"

Arnav's heart soared leaving him astounded yet again with the amazing woman in front of him. He almost laughed at himself for still being this awed by her beautiful mind. It did not matter how she was trying to handle the scars of her past, but the way she handled crisis at work, it was still unmatched. Suddenly Payal's words came rushing into his memory.

I am not sure what you are planning to do with everything I just told you about Khushi. But, you need to understand one thing Bhai, never try to tell her what to do. I can see your concern for her. But, if she decides to come back to office tomorrow, don't resist that. The one way Khushi had managed to deal with her emotions is through keeping her mind occupied. Don't try to take that away from her by forcing her to rest or take a break.

He could see exactly what she meant. As he looked at Khushi, he felt his heart constrict with unknown emotion. Her brilliance had always amazed him, but, after knowing everything about her, he felt his respect for her growing leaps and bounds. He always felt betrayed by his own fate when he lost both his parents at a young age. But after knowing Khushi's past, he felt his view take a big shift. At least the time he had with his parent were full of happy memories, something that still gave him strength in days when nothing seemed right. Khushi never even got a chance to experience that selfless care and love. His fingers curled into a fist as he felt a strong urge to walk up to her and pull her into his arms and dispel all her pain.

"Anyways, that's what I think. I will see you all in some time".

Her voice pulled him out of his stupor, as he noticed her standing with her laptop in hand ready to leave his office.

"I will see you at 1", he confirmed, hoping he didn't miss something else she said while he was busy day dreaming.

She walked up to the door, and then paused. Taking a deep breath, she then turned toward Arnav again, who raised his eyebrows in question.

"I...", another deep breath, "I am sorry for that day Arnav. I know we didn't get a chance to talk after. I...umm.. I was all twisted up in my own issues and took it out on you. I know you were trying to help. I hope you can forget whatever I said that night"

And before Arnav could react, she was gone.

He was awestruck!

Did she just apologize? He was not expecting her to bring up that night at all... but he was coming to accept the fact that when it came to Khushi he should stop expecting anything at all.

---

"Lavanya, pull some of your resources and tell them to give 50% of their time on accessories. Not just owning the actual design but working with Acme to cross check what they are doing on daily basis, just as a contingency", Arnav then looked around the room "Going forward I want a weekly status report from all the departments. Aman will coordinate and set it up. That will be all. I will talk to you all later"

Everyone nodded their heads, and started dispersing out the conference room they were all sitting in.

"Akaash, Khushi, Shayam - can you stay back. I need to discuss something else"

They all waited for the room to clear and then turned toward Arnav in question.

"We need to continue investigating Acme"

"What. I thought you didn't wanted to get into any more details", Came a loud surprised tone from Shayam.

"I am not saying that I have changed my mind about their contract Jiju. It still stays as it is. But, I want to know what kind of skeletons these people are hiding in there closet. If there is something deeper than few bank frauds and association to a defunct company. If there is a slightest possibility that any of this can be leaked to press, then I want to know about it before everyone else. Just so we are ready with our response so nothing blows back on AR"

"But we have exhausted all our legal channels. You know we keep coming back empty"

"We don't have to go through the protocols this time then. Let's get someone who can do this off the books"

Shayam shifted in chair as he saw the smirk on Arnav's face. He knew him well enough to know that Arnav already had decided on the next course of action.

"And who can do this off the books work for us. I know you already have someone in your mind for this"

Arnav's smile broadened as he uttered the one name he was dying to say from the time Khushi gave that little speech to him in conference room about letting such alleged criminals get away.

"NK...I think we should call NK"

"WHAT!!! Bhai, come on. You know that will just create more complications. I cannot be part of another mini war"

"That's ancient history Akaash. It has been a year since the whole debacle. Everyone has moved on"

Before Akaash could argue any further with Arnav, Khushi, who was still unable to understand the topic in progress, finally interrupted.

"Err... Can I please ask who is NK?"

Akaash exhaled loudly. "He is our little brother"

She narrowed her eyes and looked toward Arnav who just nodded his head confirming what Akaash said. How did she miss this? They had another family member? How did she not notice that in those huge family portraits that hung on Raizada mansion's walls.

"He lives in London. He has been there for 6 years now. And, ma and papa, they don't talk to him anymore"

"Oh, umm ok..", Khushi nodded, clearly uncomfortable with her lack of experience in family dynamics and shocked that anything less that perfect existed in Raizada household.

"Around 1 or so year back, we all took a trip to London to surprise him on his birthday, but in turn we all received a shock. You see my brother was not alone in his house that night. There were 2 more guys and some 3 girls, all high on drugs. Obviously Ma and Papa and especially Nani went berserk after witnessing his bachelor pad. But, instead of apologising to them, or calming them down, NK screamed at them for invading his privacy. Anyways, this so called cold war has been going on since then. Neither he is ready to accept his mistake nor they are in any hurry to forgive him"

"Wow. Umm, really sorry to hear that", Khushi replied sincerely, "But, how can NK help us with Acme situation?"

"NK was part of a huge network TV in London. Now he is a freelance crime journalist. He still has many connections in the network and his sources are excellent. Now, whatever background check we have been doing on Suraj and others at Acme, even they are aware of it because it's all legal. And maybe that's the reason we are not finding anything. If we go any further poking around about them, it will look suspicions. Involving NK would be perfect and it will stay within the family", Arnav spoke

"Hm, It does makes sense. And may be it is time for NK to come home. It's been too long and, this will give the nudge that may be Mama and Mami need. Akaash, are you ok with this?" , Shayam asked softly knowing very well how close him and NK were.

Akaash gave out a shaky breath, suddenly feeling the absence of his little brother. "Yea, I am Jiju and you are right, it will be for the best. This juvenile behaviour of NK has been going for far too long. Either he wants to be a part of the family or not. One sorry to his own parent won't take away his pride"

"I will call him today and tell him to fly here as soon as possible", Arnav said as he got up from his seat and kept both his hands on Akaash's shoulder and gave him a squeeze, reminding him that he was right here. Akaash looked up and gave him a reassuring smile patting his hands with his own, wordlessly telling him thanks.

This exchange didn't go unnoticed by Khushi, who just stared at Arnav, astonished by the compassion she heard in his voice despite the fact that the words were all business.

---

Later that evening, Khushi made her way to Arnav's office again, balancing her laptop in one hand and coffee in another; all charged up for discussing the final designs they just received from Lavanya. But, the moment she entered his cabin, she screamed in horror.

Arnav was leaning on one side of his table. Sleeves of his crisp white shirt rolled up to his elbow, his jacket flung carelessly on one of the couch and his tie on one of the the chair. His forearm was stretched in front of him. His eyes knitted in concentration, as his right hand holding a syringe inched its way toward his exposed upper arm. But, before he could continue, a loud shriek made his stop.

"I thought this NK guy was the only one who did drugs. How can you do this? Is this a everyday thing? I cannot believe this. Do you need some help? I mean there are so many rehabs that do excellent work. Does Akaash knows about this? Why are you not saying anything?"

As Khushi went on and on, Arnav's confused expressions changed to a smile while finally took the form of a full blown laugh. As Khushi narrowed her eyes, Arnav quickly recovered and replied to her with a warm smile.

"Khushi, do you always start screaming on people before even giving them a chance to explain or is it just me who gets this special treatment. This is an insulin shot. I am diabetic. And, in case you don't believe me, you can come here and check it yourself"

Khushi's eyes widened as she understood her mistake. Mumbling a quick apology, she took her seat on the couch and got busy pulling up the designs she needed Arnav's opinion on, earning another hearty laugh from him.

Cleaning himself up, Arnav made his way towards the couch to join Khushi who still looked busy with her laptop.

"Ok, hit me. What did you think of the designs?"

"Hm. They are really good. Although, I thought of one change that we can make. I found some of your old designs in the archive and I think we can tweak them and use them in our event"

Arnav frowned, not sure about which of his old designs she was talking about. In fact he was shocked knowing that she was in their archives. Given that she was now officially responsible for the innovation & changes in his company, it shouldn't have surprised him that she will have ideas on top of what their design team had put together. His eyes zeroed in on her fingers that were moving furiously over her keyboard. They then, with mind of their own, travelled up and landed on her face. Her eyes shining and lower lip tucked between her teeth - her tell that she was brimming with barely contained excitement. He felt the familiar but still unknown emotion that he had been feeling around her and about her from last few days squeeze that beating organ inside his chest and before he could stop himself, his mind wandered back to that awful night.

As they made their way back to Raizada House, Arnav could sense how devastated Payal felt after reliving the horrid past of her sister. But, he felt incapable of consoling her. So, after dropping her at home, he madly drove around the city. After driving for around 2 hours, he pulled over at an empty park and got out of his car. As he walked towards the cliff at the end of the parkland - winter rain cascading down his body and his mind replaying everything that Payal told him - he lost it. He brutally closed his fist, his knuckles turning white and he screamed - with all the pent up frustration of not able to do anything for Khushi, with heart wrenching sadness of seeing her incapable of accepting care and love because of those people. The kind of pain she endured, she could have gone either way. She could have destroyed her life completely. But, she managed to pull herself up. Use that beautiful brain of hers and make herself into something so irreplaceable at AR. He sat down on the ground and finally, permitted himself to cry, like he wanted to from the moment she ran out his arms, from the moment he came to know how much pain she carried in her heart.

Second time that day, he felt the urge to take her in his arms wash over him. Need to reassure her that she was no longer alone gripped his mind. And then, she was looking at him, her laptop now turned toward him.

"These are the designs I have shortlisted from the ones that Lavanya sent me. But...", she then changed the window on the screen and pulled up 3 designs she downloaded from their archive, "I was thinking, how about we do a bridal line as a part of our main event? I know we have already decided on our lines, but I was thinking that we should have 1 segment for bridal wear. And we should showcase Indian bride in the finale with these designs. Lavanya told me that one of this is yours? From back when you started AR? What do you think?"

Getting no response she looked up. "Arnav?"

Arnav didn't realize that he was still staring at her, watching those pouty lips move. The only thing he heard her saying was introducing something different in their main event.

Here he was going out of his mind thinking about her pain and there she was coming up with innovative ideas for their event. He looked at Khushi as her eyes knitted together, expecting him to reply but he still didn't know what to say to her. He didn't even know the question. He tried to instruct the part of his brain that formed sentences to come up with something intelligible, but his mind refused to cooperate.

"Arnav, are you ok? Is it your insulin? Do you want me call someone?"

Khushi stood up, worry colouring her forehead. But, she barely moved an inch when his fingers curled around her wrist, arresting her movement, and he rose too.

His touch sent a jolt up her arm and made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Her stomach dipped as her eyes first dropped on her own wrist where his fingers were holding her and then they travelled up to his eyes. She gasped, almost shivering, feeling the intensity that emanated from his eyes. And then before she could react or say anything, Arnav allowed the bottled up frustration and emotions of last week overtake him and before he could stop himself she was enveloped in a tight warm hug.

---

Note for Readers:

Hello lovely people! Hope you all are doing well and being safe in these tough times.

To everyone who commented & liked my previous posts - thank you all so much. Reading what you think always makes my day!❤️

To all the silent readers - hope to hear from you all too on these chapters☺️

Until next time - take care & stay healthy you all🤗