Chapter 15

"I am not approving these numbers. There is no way we can get AR into all these European cities in mere five years. Pick four cities out of the list you have in here and we will talk. I want us to concentrate on London for now. We have this new boutique added to ARs umbrella. Lets go from there"

11 powerful men and women sitting around the sleek silver table in the conference room nodded their heads at Arnav as he then turned to the final pages of the five year strategy blueprint in front of him. But instead of giving it proper time, the way he did it for the other pages, he simply closed the document shut, and looked up, his eyes shining with barely contained irritation.

"And as we have discussed this few times now, we are not getting in bed with Halo studios. I don't trust them or like the suggestion of owning a studio. AR outsources this work and that is not changing"

Khushi's eyes snapped up and connected with Arnav's. It was her addition to the blueprint. She really thought that having one studio as part of their brand would help them control the narration of their products a lot. Not that AR had any problem with that. But, she had calculated the numbers, and in five years, they would be at a point of making profits from the studio. She had sent her report to Arnav and other directors a week back. Every single person liked her idea. Every one except the one sitting on the opposite side of her, almost daring her to argue with him.

"You can see the numbers I have listed. AR will break even in three years and will start making profits in five. Halo is in the market right now. We have a golden opportunity to get in there. Why do we want to outsource something that we can very well do in-house and make money out of it?"

"It is not about the money"

"Alright, what is it about then?"

Arnav pinned her with his pensive stare, as Khushi refused to back down.

"It is not up for discussion"

"This is an open forum. We all have taken these hours out of our calendars so we could discuss our short and long term strategy. Discuss", she enunciated, "We need to know why is this topic an issue so we don't waste our time even thinking about such proposals going forward"

He narrowed his gaze on her, as everyone in the middle just looked back and forth between the two.

Pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers, Akaash bit back a curse.

Not fucking again!

He had been witnessing this dance between Arnav and Khushi from almost two weeks now, and he no longer had the inclination or patience to wait and see the point to which they took it this time.

So he coughed into a closed fist, attempting to draw the executives' focus to him.

"I think we should take this offline. We have top three strategies finalised for now, lets revisit the possibility of further expansion in our next meeting"

"No", Arnav spoke firmly, making Akaash give out a soft groan.

So close, he thought as Arnav stood up and rounded his chair. He then rested his arms on the back of his chair, bringing his fingertips together, and continued, his eyes not once leaving Khushi's.

"There will not be any discussions on this offline. And to answer your question Ms Gupta, yes you should know the topics that would waste our time. Next time get in touch before turning a thought you had while sipping coffee, into a proposal"

She bit down on the back of her lip and gripped her chair arms tight, hoping to stomp down the rage that was begging to erupt. She took another deep breath and opened her eyes, but before she could summon a comeback, Arnav declared the meeting adjourned and pivoted toward Aman to talk in hushed tone.

Visibly shaking with the rage she didn't want to feel, Khushi gathered her things and stood up as the room began to empty.

"Ms Gupta, a word"

Akaash looked at Khushi with an uneasy smile as Arnav nodded his head toward Aman and then Akaash to leave them alone.

Another shaky breath left her body, as Khushi sat herself down again.

"I need you to oversee the Chat bot launch scheduled for next week"

Her eyes snapped up.

"Umm, sorry, I don't think I heard you right. You need me to devote my time on something that already has half our tech team on it?"

"I can attest to the fact that your ears are in pristine condition Ms Gupta. Yes, I need you to be part of all the go/ no go calls, be there for the launch and oversee any usability issues after"

Khushi closed her eyes tight, trying to control her desire to hurl something at him.

"No"

"Excuse me?"

"No, I do not have any bandwidth to do that. We have people much suited for this job sitting four levels down along with the CTO who is right here in this building. This is a waste of my time and theirs if instead on concentrating on getting the bot to work they have to educate me on it"

He smirked then. Something that made hair at the back of her neck stand as he leaned forward slightly.

"I don't think you understood me. This is not a request. I am telling you to do this"

"Ok. Tell me one good reason why you need me on it then?"

"Because I said so", Arnav's voice raised by several decibels as he straightened himself.

"Try again Mr Raizada. Tell me why is this so important and I will carve some time out"

"I don't need to tell you anything. I am your boss, something that you have reminded me several times in the past, and you do what I tell you to do. It is as simple as that"

Khushi stood up, pushed away from the table and walked toward him, every step betraying the coiled energy tamped down under tight control. He had a strong desire to shake her and make it explode.

"I am not an intern who will jump because you said jump. You need something from me, you tell me why"

"Khushi". he hissed. A warning.

Her steps suddenly flattered as her name in that voice washed over her.

When was the last time he called her by her name. She thought she could continue this juvenile argument with him, but in that moment - with his eyes flaring in acknowledgement of the electricity that sizzled between them even amidst the damn argument they were both trying to win, and his knuckles fisted tight against his chair, she stopped. No, she didn't have it in her to continue whatever it is they were doing right now. So she paused and in a voice she prayed didn't expose how vulnerable she felt, replied.

"I will ask my assistant to get me in on those calls. But, if you need me to step on our CTO's toe any further than that, you need to tell me the reason. Otherwise, I am not inserting myself in a technical product launch which is not even in the vicinity of my area of expertise."

And with that she was gone. The glass door swinging behind her as Arnav pressed his palms to his temples, trying to lessen the intensity of his anger and desire that flowed through him.

---

The expansive space of AR's terrace was once considered to serve as a break area for every one that worked in the building. But as the work on the roof top progressed, Arnav decided to keep the access restricted to only himself. The state of the art private roof terrace was designed to give a 360-degree panoramic view of Delhi. Angular hardwood deck and red-bricked walls in the backdrop gave the entire area a very modern feel. There were several sofas and chairs scattered around the place, with the plan to make this one of the place to host clients if needed. However, Arnav had yet to host any one at all in this space. His family had access codes to the elevator that opened up to the terrace, but no one had ever wandered here. In fact Arnav remembered his Di calling this terrace as his 'man-cave'. He wondered what she thought he did here.

Another gust of wind swished past him as Arnav peered at the ant size traffic below him that moved at snail pace. Or at least that's how they appeared to be from the height of thirty seven floors.

He braced his hands on the iron railing and let out a long sigh. He could still feel the remnants of anger bubbling inside him as he fought with the image of Khushi that his mind produced every few seconds. He knew he was fighting a loosing battle with himself. When had his mind and body ever listened to him when it came to her. Wasn't that the reason why he yet again decided to argue with her in morning rather than just telling her what she wanted to know from him?

To say that he was shocked when strings of complaints against his CTO landed on his desk few days back, would have been the biggest understatement of the year. He asked his HR to start the investigation immediately and as suspected every single complaint made about him turned out to be true. The fucking asshole thought it was ok to put his arms around women while standing next to them or to ask them their dress size Or - and this one took few minutes to register in Arnav's brain - when was the last time they orgasmed. The young developer in tech department wobbled through several attempts to be able to utter that last one which the 50 year old CTO asked her while they were working late one evening. Apparently the old man thought it was ok to ask that because she looked tired and in need of excitement in her life. Arnav remembered clutching the phone in his hand with so much anger when he heard that one that it took both Akaash and Shayam together to physically restraint him so he didn't marched up to the fuckers office and punched the daylights out of him.

He still couldn't believe how he missed this. What if something more serious would have happened? Not that the verbal assault his CTO had been carrying out was any less severe, but Arnav shuddered to think what if the man Arnav once respected would have crossed a line of no return. In fact, what if there were more women who were still too scared to come forward?

He pressed his palms against his forehead and groaned in irritation.

Why didn't people like these get it in her heads that no damn title in the world could make it ok to touch or talk unprofessionally to a woman without her consent.

With the investigation now complete, Arnav was finally close to firing the CTO, which couldn't have come at the worse time as they were gearing up to introduce chat bots across all their social media platforms. He needed someone he trusted to be part of one of the most important tech launch AR had ever done.

Akaash was his first choice to help on this as he had tech experience. But with Akaash tied up completely with other work, the only other name that appeared in Arnav's mind was Khushi. But, for reasons which he knew were beyond stupid, instead of sharing the whole damn reason, he decided to dish out an order to her.

Was he turning into a sadist? Why did he then looked forward to these weird arguments that they kept on having. Arguments that started two days after Khushi decided to walk away. Or rather asked him to walk away from her.

It had almost been two weeks since that day. Two weeks of pure torture and hell. Two weeks since he started visiting this man-cave of his often just to get away from her and her thoughts. A dark humourless chuckle escaped him as he twisted the cap of the water bottle in his hand to chug a big gulp. Who was he kidding, no place on earth could help him get away from her thoughts. But at least this place helped him to let his real emotions play across his face or scream some curses or two if he wanted.

He knew he was behaving like a jerk every time he literally navigated them both to an argument, but what he didn't understand was why did she looked equally enraged with him? Didn't he do what she wanted him to?

He still remembered her broken voice that day, the way she clung to him when she asked him to forget about her. He knew she intended her words to push him or rather scare him away but they instead reinforced his belief that he wasn't alone in whatever existed between them. He knew with at most surety that she too felt something for him. He also knew that given her past she deserved time and patience. But he was after all a human and for now, he was unable to get over the fact that she was denying not just his feelings for her but also her own feelings.

And so when he saw her in the office two days after that godforsaken party, he was torn between behaving exactly the way she asked him to and shaking her until she opened her eyes to how she was punishing them both.

Unable to verbalise what they were really feeling, one thing led to another and before they knew it they were screaming at each other in the middle of the conference call about something as trivial as finalising the number of accessories their design team had proposed for the summer event. And they never looked back. From that day on they had been at each other's throats. He could always see the pain in her eyes as to what this whole thing was doing to them, but every time she saw the acknowledgment on his face she backed out.

It was as if they were back to square one. He tried several times to think of some way to get out of this loop they were stuck in but every single day ended exactly the same way as the day before.

He rotated his head with a groan, trying to ease the crick that had taken a permanent spot on his neck, as he withdrew the phone vibrating inside his pocket.

NK calling

And he sighed.

If only he could get away from all this for few days, run until she ceased to exist for him.

Another string of vibrations slithered on his palms and with one hand still on his neck he hit the green button.

"NK"

"Umm, you ok Bhai? You sound tired"

Another sigh. "I am fine NK. Just need some rest"

"Ooook" the way NK drew out the word, it was clear that he knew the exact reason of Arnav's tiredness. Given he had been part of both the CTO firing discussion and few of the verbal sparing between Arnav and Khushi.

NK then cleared his throat loudly, which sounded more sarcastic than a natural bodily reflex and continued "Right. So I wanted to check if you are free right now to do that weekly meeting on the updates about Suraj and his company? Akaash Bhai has asked me to accompany him to the Creative Artwork headquarter this evening. We are getting the sign off of our first consignment today"

"That is really great NK", he then twisted his wrist to check the time, "Aman managed to free my calendar for the next hour. So, we can meet in my cabin in 15 minutes?"

"Perfect, I will see you in a bit then"

Arnav disconnected the call and gave out a groan remembering that Khushi was suppose to be in that meeting with NK too. And he was just not in the right state of mind to see her again. Not yet at least. He didn't have enough grey matter inside his brain to fight with her twice in one day. Or may be they will set up another record today.

Fuck sake!

---

"Before we get started Bhai, I needed to run something past you. Umm..."

NK wiggled in his chair uncomfortably which made Arnav pause. He raised his eyebrows in question and NK sighed.

"Shayam Jiju said that Nani is planning an event for Anjali Di in next few weeks?"

Arnav tried to hide his smile as the reason behind NK's discomfort became clear. He was going to ask about attending the event, isn't it. At least Arnav hoped with all his heart that was the case.

"Ah yes. Nani wanted to do a puja and a small gathering of family and close friends", Arnav nodded, while keeping his voice completely neutral.

NK shifted in his seat again hoping for Arnav to understand where he was going with the whole conversation. But he knew his Bhai and there was no way in hell he was going to make this easy for him. Not when he had put everyone through his stupidity for so long. So, taking another breath, clearing his throat again, NK tried to recall the statements he had been practising since yesterday.

"Can I... ahem... I was wondering if it will be ok if I can attend too?"

Even though he was anticipating exactly this from last few seconds, Arnav's eyes still widened. Curbing a huge smile yet again that was threatening to break out, he replied in as normal voice as possible.

"NK, that is your home and family too. You don't need permission from any one to attend what goes around in there. You know you are welcome any time"

"Right. Umm, yes. Of course. But, you are sure it will be ok if I come right? I mean I don't want to impose"

And finally Arnav let his true emotions break free. He laughed loud, which startled NK as he finally looked up at Arnav, who was now walking around his desk to take a seat next to him.

He placed his hands on NK's shoulder and gave a quick squeeze and replied warmly. "You know it is more than Ok if you come. Everyone, and I mean everyone had been patiently waiting for you to finally come where you belong NK. How can you impose? As I said before too, come whenever you are ready and I am so glad that you feel ready now. I can't wait for you to be home"

And then after two whole days NK grinned, feeling a huge burden lift off his shoulders.

"Thanks Bhai"

"Any time little brother. Now let me see where others are as they are obviously late for the meeting"

"Oh no need. Akaash Bhai is on call with Wasim's team - some last minute review so when we are there this evening things are done sooner. And Khushi dropped a message few minutes back saying that she is busy and won't be able to be come"

Contradicting emotions slammed through Arnav. He wasn't sure if he was more relieved that Khushi wasn't here or was he more angry that she thought something else was more important than this meeting which had been in their calendars for weeks now. Just as always though anger won, and Arnav gritted his teeth and asked.

"Did she tell you what the hell is keeping her so busy that she couldn't make time for such an important meeting"

NK sighed. He had been part of this internal war between Arnav and Khushi from few days now. And like everyone else he had no clue of the reason behind it or courage to ask either of them about it.

"No Bhai. She didn't. Do you want to move this meeting?"

"No. I am not going to waste anymore time because of Ms. Gupta. Lets get started. What is the latest report on Acme? Did we get anything more on Suraj?"

"Alright! So, you remember Navin Seth? My informer who replaced Suraj's assistant? He reported some interesting observations. None of the executive decisions taken in Acme includes the actual executives"

"Huh" Arnav frowned as that statement didn't make any sense at all.

NK cracked a smile knowing how stupid the whole thing sounded. "What I mean is that Suraj has handful of associates that are involved in all the decision making"

"And they are the C-level executives" Arnav pressed on, still unsure of what he was hearing.

"Nope. The C-level executives are in name only. Only these so called associates are allowed behind the closed doors and included in crucial decisions. In fact no one at all is allowed to go inside Suraj's second office"

"He has two offices?"

"Yea. That was another weird thing. Apparently there is this small entrance from within Suraj's cabin that opens up into another office. The only reason Navin even knows about it is because last week Navin was looking for Suraj and he didn't find him in his usual office. But, the door to this other office was slightly ajar, and Navin made a mistake of knocking on it. Obviously Suraj appeared out of no where and bit his head off. He even threatened to fire Navin if he ever dared to even breath in the direction of that door"

"What the fuck"

"Yep! And, it gets even more interesting. Another thing my computer geek colleague found out. Here, look at the highlighted entries", NK moved a huge stack of papers that looked like bank statements in Arnav's direction and continued, "Every single month, around $100,000 gets deposited in 10 different accounts. All on first week of the month and before you ask, yes all in the currency of US Dollar. My colleague still haven't been able to pinpoint the exact source of these deposits. But, I can tell you that the money is coming from Haiti, China and Dubai"

Arnav frown deepened as none of what he was hearing made much sense.

"Acme does not do business in any of these countries. If they did our background research would have told us"

"You are right Bhai. I am trying to get more details on this. Last thing, the surveillance that we put on Suraj has not shown anything out of the ordinary, not yet at least. But if anything jumps up to me, I will let you know".

"This all sounds really great NK. I think with suspecting behaviour like these we should be able to get the board on our side when we decide to dump Acme. You think you and your colleague will be able to wrap this up by end of this month? I need us to get rid of this problem before we are in the final phases of our summer event prep."

"I will try my best Bhai. I will also tell Navin to get Suraj's schedule. We can try and get inside his second office if possible. Hopefully that will give us some much needed information to plug few holes in our investigation"

Arnav nodded again. "Sounds good"

"Ok then Bhai, I will go and find Akaash Bhai now. We will start gearing up to leave for Creative Artwork's HQ now. Did you need anything else?"

"No. I am good NK. I will see you after you both are back"

---

As she closed the last button of her top, her eyes took in the condition of the room around her- Vase fallen in one corner, flowers strewn along the path, a black pant thrown carelessly on ground and a blue shirt hanging by the window. Deep blush travelled up her face as she realised how wild they have been. She still wasn't sure how this even started, in fact she never imagined she could feel this amount of attraction for someone that too in such short duration.

A small smile broke out as she thought about him. He was every woman's dream come true. He was caring, considerate, smart, and so mysteriously handsome. He somehow also always knew the right thing to say and he understood her wants before she even voiced them out.

Her first impression about him though was not very great. In fact she thought that he was just another arrogant man, who was too full of himself. But, the more he pursued her the more she was convinced how wrong she had been. And before she knew what was happening, she was in his bed, making out as if there was no tomorrow. Even at that time, when she was willing to go all the way, he pulled back like a gentleman and said it was too soon and that he didn't want her to regret this.

She did try her best to take it slow, but within a week they were back in a similar situation and this time she didn't allow him to pull back. It had been almost a month now and they still couldn't get enough of each other. She often wondered if this was all lust or was she falling for him?

Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt as the all familiar arms went around her and she sighed.

"You know princess, you look even more beautiful when you are all lost in your thoughts"

And she blushed some more as she turned around in his arms and looped her hands across his neck.

"Flatterer! Anyways, I need to get going now. I am already very late. You know I missed an important meeting I was suppose to be in because of you"

"You say like it is bad thing. Come on babe, you need some time for yourself. And I like nothing more than to be at you beck and call. In fact, I have a brilliant idea, why don't we take the rest of the day off?"

"Really, and what will we do if I actually do what you are asking?"

"Why don't I show you instead"

His hands curled around her neck and he slammed his lips on hers, seizing every single thought inside her brain.

Finally, when breathing became a necessity, he pulled back only to attack her neck next.

Loud moan erupted out of her as she placed her tiny palms on his chest to push him away, "Ok, we need to stop", another kiss landed on her, and few seconds later she extracted herself out of his arms.

"Mmmm, I can't. I wish I could continue but it is going to be a maniac day today at work"

"Ah yes, you are getting your fabric delivery today isn't it?"

"Yes. I need to be there for the signoff once the consignment is delivered"

"Of course baby, I understand. Why don't we meet after then? What time will you be free? I can pick you up"

"Umm, the consignment should arrive by 7pm. Signoff and all other formalities may take half more hour. Lets say 8'o clock? Will that be ok with you?"

"Absolutely. I will call you later then"

Running his fingers across her cheek once more, he bent down to give her one final kiss.

She gave out a shaky smile, realising how difficult it was becoming to walk away from him every time they said good bye.

Waving her hands, she turned to step out of the room when he whispered huskily, "I will miss you Lavanya"

Blinking back happy tears she nodded back, "I will miss you too Suraj"

---

"So there you have it. This is why I need you to take over the Bot launch. It will take some time to mop up this mess and Manish won't go out easily"

Khushi looked up with a frown. Her mind still reeling with what she just heard about one of the most respected member of their team.

"Why will he cause an issue? He crossed the line. Several times. He should be behind bars"

"And he will be if I have anything to say about it. For now the investigation report from our HR that contains the recorded statement from some of the women is going to the police. I have a friend in CBI, I have already reached out to her. But, Manish doesn't think he did anything wrong"

Khushi rubbed the point between her brows as she gave an irritated growl. How did she not see a monster disguised as their CTO walked the halls of AR. She opened her mouth but Arnav simply shook his head in understanding.

"I know. But we can't teach him what he is not ready to understand. The only language he understands is of power and money. And getting fired from AR and then having police investigation launch against him, it will do a good amount of damage to both of those. I will also make sure he cannot get a job anywhere in the Fashion industry"

Khushi nodded her head and sighed in defeat. She knew this was the best outcome of this horrendous news. In fact she was almost sure that he will never get convicted in courts. Men like him usually never did, which was one of the reason why they dared to do something like this in the first place. For now she had to appease herself with the knowledge that he was at least getting thrown out of her company.

"I will talk to the tech team tomorrow. This news has to come from one of us"

"Agreed. Thanks Khushi"

"Mhmm", she looked up again with a painful smile, which he returned hesitantly. And that's when the realisation that they were talking civilly to each other after so long slammed into them like tons of bricks.

The supposed smile they both had on their faces dropped simultaneously as Khushi straightened herself with a soft curse.

"I will see you later then. Akaash and NK must be getting back from Creative's HQ"

"Yes. Of course. See you in a few", he paused, standing up as his body automatically mimicked hers.

"Khushi" he added with a barely audible whisper, and air around them changed completely.

They narrowed their eyes at each other without so much as a blink between them.

Suddenly they were closer now.

Had he moved or did she, they couldn't tell. She wore the same alarmed look that had crossed her face that day in the party, last time they stood this close to each other. Was it fear that he might take her into his arms and kiss her? Or was it an anticipation?

Few inches still between them, his hands rose with mind of their own and took hers into his.

His thumbs slowly stroked the back of her hand, and her erratic heartbeat slowed. Her body responding to him. And for a beat, she felt less alone. A feeling that was a constant companion since she asked him to walk away.

"Khushi", He whispered again, taking another step toward her.

"Arnav" she replied, her voice coming more like a quiver.

"I....", he started when a loud scream from outside reverberated the walls around them. And they broke apart.

Another loud shout followed, and Arnav withdrew completely with a loud curse, as they both turned toward the glass wall of Arnav's office that overlooked the entire floor.

"What the hell", Arnav exclaimed noticing few people running around and that's when the door of his office was pushed open by a wide-eyed, seen-a-ghost pale Lavanya.

"ASR"

"Lavanya, what's wrong?"

"You didn't hear?"

"Hear what?"

"Oh my god!! Where is the remote", she stumbled to pull the TV remote kept inside one of the drawers. She dropped it twice and finally, with hands still shaking uncontrollably she managed to switch it on and bring up the news channel.

Monotonic voice of the newsreader sailed across the room as Arnav collapsed on one of the chair, deep shock colouring his face and Khushi walked to his side clutching his hands second time that night, but this time with absolute horror.

Breaking News :

New Delhi: At least 5 people were killed and nearly 35 injured when 2 consecutive powerful bombs went off at the industrial area in the outskirts of Delhi which housed one of the biggest manufacturing company, Creative Artwork. Eyewitnesses said the blast sent cars and scooters in the area flying and left a deep crater at the scene. Police quickly cordoned off the area and started the search operation. "We are still not sure about the actual damage and are still in the process of recovering the bodies," said a local police official. He said one of the explosives was planted in a truck and another one was planted in an abandoned bicycle and may have been detonated remotely.

---

Notes for Readers:

Hello my dear lovelies! First of all sorry for posting this so late. I had some crazy weeks at work and couldn't find the right time to work on this chapter. But it is here now, so please let me your thoughts on it.

To everyone who commented & liked my previous chapters, thank you so so much!🧡

Until next time, take care & stay safe.