Prologue

NEW YORK

It was barely noon, but the darkening sky & barely visible sunlight outside told a different story. Sighing deeply, Khushi eyed the draft email on her screen one last time before pressing the send button. This was the last item on her to do list - she was sure this was it, but still she couldn’t shake this feeling gnawing at her that she was forgetting something.

She closed her eyes and pressed her now throbbing temple with her fingers, and almost flinched when she heard a loud knock, followed by the footsteps of Mia, her assistant who as usual entered her office, talking.

“I just got off the call with the administration in Delhi - they have emailed all the key numbers and addresses. You can check it in flight, but here - I have printed the most important details for you. Also, this is suppose to be a surprise but since I know you are not found of it - everyone will be waiting for you in first floor foyer at 4pm. Just a small farewell party. Ah and also...”

And, as Mia continued her unending list of information, Khushi couldn’t stop herself from feeling myriads of emotions all rolled together to make the thumping in her head worse.

She was going to miss this office and every single person in it - there was no doubt in her mind about it. But, what was just dawning on her was that she will have to create this sense of trust with a whole range of new people all over again - not something she was good at or was found of. This office, this routine she had from last nine years, was almost synonymous to her whole life and right now she had no idea how she was going to get by without all this.

“Also, Times called - they are happy to fit their interview with you tomorrow morning. In fact they may be able to get someone at the airport lounge. And, their editor said...”

"I know you are really good at running things for me, but this is a new record. I have never seen you tell me all your plans in one go. Come on, I am here for one more day. You can continue to bombard me with all these details tomorrow ”

“I know, I know! I just...” sighed Mia “This all feels weird. From the time I joined AR, I have worked for you. It is strange that from day after I will be reporting to someone else. I will no longer be responsible for assisting you. For the record, I learned a lot for you Khushi. Most of us did. We will really miss you. I wish you didn’t had to go”

Khushi's eyes softened. Wasn’t she too thinking the exact same thing. It was strange but this city, this office, her staff - they were all there for her at that time in her life when she was in desperate need of normalcy. They were it for her as far as her circle of friends or acquaintances were concerned. She almost chuckled thinking how strange this sounded even to herself, and how will Mia react if she voiced this to her.

"I will miss you all too Mia. I hoped I didn’t had to leave, but for me to step into the role of CIO for AR, I have to work out of the headquarters. Need to spend some time with the management there. I know this will be a change but I need you to make sure Sally feels comfortable here. She is really great and I am confident she will be able to do my role here well”

Mia nodded, & gave a big broad smile, and did something she never dared in all her years of working for Khushi - she hugged her with teary eyes, which to her happy surprise, Khushi returned with equal fervour.

Once alone in her office again, Khushi’s mind wandered as she looked around her cabin and the rows of cubicles just outside that she could see from one of her glass wall. Yes, the upcoming responsibility was huge, it was challenging and she was so looking forward to it. Actually, one of the things she was most excited about was to finally get the chance to spend time with their CEO.

In her nine years of working in AR, Arnav Singh Raizada or ASR - as most of the staff liked to call him, travelled to their New York branch several times - but by some weird coincidence they always missed each other. There was a time when she was at home sick with high fever, then there was a strange situation of her meeting overrunning in opposite part of the city while he spent the day in her office or then the most laughable one was when their entire office was suppose to meet at one of the charity benefits and she ended up getting stuck in the elevator for three hours. And so, for reasons beyond anyone’s logic, they crossed each other’s path several times but were yet to meet.

Two months back, when she was being interviewed for the position of Chief Innovation Officer for AR, she did end up spending one complete hour on a video conference with him along with other C-level execs, but that call did nothing to quench her curiosity about him.

She obviously knew and heard a lot about him - people used plethora of adjectives to describe him, but one that was the most common was Perfection. People called him epitome of perfection - not a word she believed in. But then may be her CEO was perfection, because to be at the helm of a multi-billion dollar company at such a young age was not something just anyone could manage.

Khushi closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she sank into her seat.

In two days she will meet her boss. In two days she would be in India.

In two days she would be home. After almost ten years she would be home.

Yes she did go home for four days almost six years back. But that was not something she wanted to think about or remember.

In all these years, she never even once showed an inclination of video calling the only sister she had, never came face to face with her Buaji. Hell! She didn’t even attend her Jiji’s marriage, in fact she didn’t even bother opening the wedding invite nor showed any interest in talking to him after it.

Suddenly Khushi felt ashamed. It’s been more than four years for Jiji’s marriage and not once did she asked her if she was happy. She closed her eyes in concentration - trying to remember the name of her Jiji’s husband but she came up blank. How could she not even remember the name of the man her sister was married to??

She felt her eyes welling up as she felt the dread of facing Buaji & Jiji again. She felt the familiar nausea taking over as she recalled her bimonthly calls she made to them more out of obligation than love. They sounded happy, and she didn’t bother going into more details than necessary .

And now after all this time, she would be home.

How will she face them? Will they forgive her for the distance she created between them & her?

Will they understand that she was no longer the Khushi they remembered. Will they understand that she will never be that girl again.

---

DELHI (AR HEADQUARTERS)

“You should have the reports you asked for in your inbox now. Also, Khanna's reached out - the meeting is fixed for next Wednesday. Was there anything else?”

Arnav, who was still focused reading the company report in front of him, his eyes not once leaving the glowing screen gave a soft hmm - the sound that Aman, in all his years of working for him had come to know like the back of his hand. He typed away some more information he needed to remember as he waited for Arnav to reply.

“Ok, yes - Wednesday is great. I need Akaash & Shayam in it too. I don't want to get thrown off by their legal jargons like last time”

“Got it. Anything else?”

“Yeah! Umm, what time is Ms. Gupta arriving? I think it will be good if she too can be in this meeting. She has been following up on this deal from the start & it will be good for our existing & new partners to start getting use to talking to her too”

Nodding, Aman took out his phone to check Khushi’s schedule.

“She will be here by Monday morning. I will inform her current EA about this meeting. Also I think for few initial days she will have to share the EA here with Akaash - believe Mia, her current EA has been transitioning the responsibilities, but I will get them to coordinate"

"Wait, what happened with the new person we interviewed - Kiran, was it her name? I thought she would have been onboarded by now?", Arnav frowned

"Yes, she was confirmed - but, at the last minute she backed off due to some personal reasons. And so far Khushi hasn't approved any one else we interviewed. From what I understand, its not easy to impress her. ", Aman chuckled to himself & continued "Another perfectionist in our midst - how will we lowly commoner ever get time to breathe"

He said it in a low tone pretending to get it past Arnav, but when he looked up & met Arnav's raised eyebrows, "Damn did I say that out loud? I blame lack of caffeine. Another cup for you too?"

"You know I can fire you, right?”

“Umm, I will make sure that coffee is extra special then”

As Aman left with a mock salute, Arnav laughed out loud and clicked open Khushi's bio that was shared with him few months back when her internal interview for CIO position was underway.

Yes Aman was right. If Khushi’s reputation & her work was any proof, she indeed was a perfectionist. In fact many times Arnav felt that he was talking to his own female counterpart. She was brilliant, intelligent, and absolutely fierce, just like him. And this was one of the reason why she was was being promoted this early on into their C-level circle. He always wanted to meet her, but it was so strange how they kept missing each other due to some or the other reason.

Well finally, he would be meeting Ms. Gupta or as many people who knew her nicknamed her “Female ASR”!”