Chapter 14

The next morning I wake up to find myself alone in bed, with all the drapes closed making the room dark. I glance over at the clock on the nightstand to see it’s almost seven o’clock.

We went to bed late last night, so it surprises me that he is not here. Beside me, sleeping. It’s unlike him to get out of bed without waking me. I glance at my phone to see if there’s a message, but find nothing.

Does he regret what he said last night?

Is that why he’s not here?

Panic strikes me, and I quickly get out of bed to check if he is in the bathroom, but find it empty. Even the walk in closet door has been left open with the lights off.

I slowly make my way outside to see him nowhere around. Not in the main open living area or the terrace.

Maybe he went into the office early, but then he has never left without saying bye.

You could just call him.

As I make my way inside from the terrace to call him, I realize I haven’t checked his study. When I approach the door I smile hearing his voice, finally having located him.

I lightly knock on the door, before opening it slowly. He turns to smile at me, sitting at his desk, urging me to come in waving his hand.

I walk into his modern, sleek space with all the amenities needed to make this a comfortable home office. The room is bright and open with the morning sun lighting it. As I look out through the floor to ceiling windows, the Hudson River glimmers, warming my heart.

His voice comes out rather abrupt, as he tries to wrap up his call.

“Send me the corrected proposal in the next few hours.  And, work with Lavanya on the meeting details. Just so I am clear, this needs to be resolved today.  I don’t want any delays, understood?”

Does he always have to be direct and curt with people?

I dread the day when he speaks to me that way. Let’s hope I remain on his good side for a long time to come.

“Good morning, my sweetheart”

“Good morning, baby.” I smile walking over to his desk, and sit down on his lap wrapping my arms around his neck.

“Do you know how worried I got when I didn’t see you in bed? At least you should have woken me.”

“Why would I do that, when you were peacefully sleeping? You hardly slept last night. Plus I was right here. Wait, did you think I ran away from my own house?” He chuckles.

“Woh… um… I… just thought maybe after last night you might not have meant…”

“Khushi, I meant everything I said. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” He leans down, placing a gentle kiss on my lips.

“Would you like to Skype your parents from here?”

“It’s okay, I will do it once I get in the office. I have a nine o’clock meeting so will speak with them before I start my day. Shall I make us some breakfast?”

“Nah, breakfast can wait… think, I want some meetha first.”

“What?! Now?”

He nods, curving his lip in a sinful smile.

“Well then, Mr. Raizada, you will have to catch me first.” I get up, and run quickly out of the study towards the bedroom, with him running after me.

“Run all you want, Ms. Gupta, but I always get what I want. And, I know you will enjoy what I have in mind.”

He follows me into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. I climb into bed, and whisper into his ears as he joins me.

“I bet I will.”

A couple of hours later, the first thing I do when I get to the office is Skype my parents.  After speaking to them it seems things are better, though my mother is still feeling anxious that something is not right. I try to convince her otherwise, and may have succeeded. Mostly because she gets a glimpse of me through Skype, not to mention a promise of a daily check in until she can shake this feeling off.

She keeps reiterating that a mother’s intuition is never wrong, which I think she is overthinking things as she misses me.

Arnav had asked me to text him to inform him how they are after I speak with them. So, I quickly send him a text that all is well with the Gupta clan.

After that I get engrossed with work. This week is going to be extremely busy for the both of us with the acquisitions for the startups going through the final process before AR takes over. Also, there are a few new marketing campaigns that are being rolled out for a couple of existing companies that I have spearheaded. As I look at my schedule it seems I have back to back meetings almost every day this week.

How am I going to get through this week without pulling out my hair?

As the week goes by, my schedule is all the over place, and the work keeps piling up with no end in sight. And, on top of that, Aakash has the flu, so he is out of commission which means my workload doubles.

For the first time in my career, I am having a difficult time keeping up. Which in itself is unusual, since I should be used to the workload. It’s nothing that I can’t handle.

This has also meant I haven’t seen Arnav for the past few days outside of work.  Neither of us have had time to think about our relationship or miss each other with the amount of work we have.

“Excuse me, Khushi…”

I am broken out of my thoughts, hearing Lavanya’s voice at my door.

“Hi Lavanya, please come in. Did you need anything?”

“No, I was just passing by, and noticed you here. Aren’t you supposed to be in the meeting with Finance that ASR requested on Monday?”

“Yes, but that’s not till later this afternoon.” I glance over at my calendar for confirmation, but it appears that the meeting is taking place now.

How could that be?

When I looked at my calendar this morning, this particular meeting was later in the day.

“No, the meeting is now, it started fifteen minutes ago.  You should hurry… ASR specifically wanted you there since you had the revised figures for next quarter.”

“Oh shit… thank you Lavanya!”

I grab my things and quickly make my way to the Executive conference room.  As I approach the room, Arnav’s piercing gaze is fixed on me through the glass wall.

And, he does not look pleased.

I take a deep breath before walking inside, then take the empty seat across him.

“Hey Khushi, we were wondering where you were. I am just walking ASR through the numbers you sent over yesterday.”

“Sorry for being late Michael, please continue.”

The head of finance and his team continue with their presentation.  Thankfully, I had sent them the information to be incorporated into the presentation yesterday, otherwise the outcome would be different right now.

I look over at Arnav or should I say ASR, to gauge his reaction, but it’s blank, not looking in my direction.

A few minutes later, a text appears on the screen of my phone. I sigh, as the storm makes its way at me in full force.

“You’re LATE!”

“I am sorry, but there was a mix up…”

“You need to do a better job staying on top of your schedule. This is the third meeting you are walking in late in the past couple of weeks.”

How do I even reply to this when he is right?

“Agreed.”

He shakes his head, looking at my response before focusing back on the presentation.

I can’t help but feel overwhelmed at the moment, knowing he is disappointed.  The one thing he does not tolerate is being late, and I know if it was anyone else he would have put them in their place in front of everyone when they walked in the meeting.

An hour later when the meeting wraps up, I gather my things to make my way out of the conference room, but stop when Arnav calls out for me.

“Ms. Gupta, I need you to stay back for a few minutes.”

I look back at him, and see he is wrapping up his conversation with Michael.

“Khushi, thanks for your input, and working with me this week. That really helped shape up the impactful presentation today. It looks like this will be AR’s most profitable quarter all because of the work you have implemented.”

A small smile makes its way on my lips at the accomplishment for AR and Arnav. I know he must have been thrilled with this news.

“Sure, but we still have a long way to go to meet the long term goal.  We did have a great quarter though, all thanks to the team.

A couple of minutes later, Arnav and I are alone in the room. The nerves take over with the tension filtering in the air.

“What’s going on with you?” His tone is low, but stern.

“I don’t know what happened… I was under the assumption this meeting was later in the day.  Which, I know is not an excuse for me not being here on time.”

“Khushi, this isn’t the first time… you were late for two meetings last week. How is it that you can handle your excessive workload, work with everyone in the office, but you can’t keep track of your schedule?  You walking in late today gets overshadowed from the work you did for this meeting.  If this continues, you will lose credibility with the people in this office.  And, I refuse to allow that to happen.”

“I didn’t do this intentionally. Don’t you think I realize this doesn’t look good?  There is just a lot going on right now…”

“Stop making excuses, and figure out what is happening around you. Am I clear?”

I cringe at his tone, and look away to compose myself before answering him.

“Yes, very clear.”

“Good. I will see you later.”  He says softly getting up, and walks out of the room, leaving me behind without a second glance.

I hold back my mixed emotions, conscious that I am surrounded by glass walls, visible to everyone outside this room.

What the hell is happening to me?

*****

“Are you ready?”

The familiar voice at my office door at the end of the work day, causes me to close my eyes.

Since we haven’t been able to spend any time together the last few days, we made plans to go out to dinner tonight. But after what happened earlier today in the conference room, I am not in a mood to go out.

“There are still a few things that I need to take care of, so I am going to be late.  Why don’t you go home, and I will see you tomorrow?”

“Okay. Guess, I will see you tomorrow Ms. Gupta.”

I look up from my screen hearing his unexpected response to find him leaning against the doorframe with a faint smile.

“Good night.” He says, slowly turning around to leave.

Did he just leave?

I get up from my seat in disbelief that he actually left, and debate whether I should call him back. But I stop myself, and walk over to the window.

This was not what I expected him to do. He always pushes us to have a conversation when there’s a problem between us. Making it a point that we communicate with each other, when I tend to hold back from him.

What happened today?

Isn’t this what I wanted? It was me that told him to leave, and that too, without even looking at him. I chose to ignore him, then why am I expecting more? A bit hypocritical, I would say on my part.

There is no question that I disappointed him today. But doesn’t he want to know what happened?

This was bound to happen when you are in a relationship in the place of business. And that too, with your boss.

How is he able to separate the professional and personal part in our relationship?

Why do I struggle with it?

What am I going to do if this continues?

Hearing my phone vibrate with an incoming message, I turn to walk back to my desk. And immediately smile, reading the text.

“Hi Sweetheart. This is your boyfriend. What are you doing?”

As I look at my phone, I realize I need to figure out a way to talk to him. It won’t be easy, but I need to do this.  

“Hi my boyfriend! I am still at work 🙁 … but I should be done soon.”

“Why the sad face?  Is your boss being a jerk to you? Tell me, and I can take care of it…”

I can’t help but smile knowing he is doing this for me, to make me feel better…

“It was a bad day, and my boss had every right to be a jerk.”

“How about we go out for dinner, and you can tell me about your day?  And if you are up to it,  we can talk about what a jerk your boss is ;). Please say yes…”

“Well… he’s not a jerk all time, only sometimes.  And, yes to dinner 🙂  Give me five minutes to get my things. Where are you?”

“Right here.”

Startled to hear his husky voice, the phone slips out of my hand landing directly on the floor.

“Oh my God, Arnav, you scared me!”  I yell, shaking my head.

“By no means was that my intention…”

He walks towards my desk, and picks up my phone before handing it to me, then pulls me into his arms. I close my eyes at feeling content in his arms, even after what happened earlier.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Tum theek ho?” He asks pulling away slowly, his gaze fixed on mine as he caresses my face. In response, I simply smile, before turning away to gather my things.

“Where would you like to go for dinner?”  He inquires, while walking out of my office.

“Actually, I am not very hungry, so whatever you’re in the mood for is fine with me.”

He shakes his head, and then stares at me as we approach the elevator.

“If that’s the case, we can go to your place or mine, and order in. You and I both know that we need to talk. It’s probably best we stay in tonight. Where do you prefer we go?”

I take a deep breath, knowing he is right.

“My place, if that’s okay with you?”

He nods, and we head to my apartment in complete silence in his car.

Once we get there, I freshen up and change out of my work clothes while he orders dinner. I decide to take a quick shower to shake off the tiredness and put on a pair of night shorts with t-shirt.

As I make my way to the living room, tying my wet hair into a messy bun, he stares at me for a moment, before he speaks.

“I ordered Patsy’s. Pasta and salad. It should be here in twenty minutes.”

He walks closer to me, raising his hand to my neck, and wipes the moisture away with his thumb. I close my eyes as this slightest touch sends shivers down my spine.  

How I have missed his touch this week.

“I am going to freshen up.” He says, abruptly pulling away.

I understand why he does so.  Who can blame him, when I have barely said anything to him. It’s time to change the tense atmosphere that I have created between us. We will have our talk, but for now I want to spend time with my Arnav.

“Sure. If you want to take a shower, your towel is in the bathroom. Oh, I actually moved your night clothes in the big dresser, top left drawer.  And, your t-shirts are hung up in the closet. I will set-up the table.”

As I turn to make my way to the kitchen, he grasps my hand to stop me. I turn around to see him staring at me confused.

“You want me to stay tonight?”

I can’t help but laugh at our situation, which brings a smile to his face as he shakes his head.

“Why wouldn’t I want my boyfriend to stay tonight? Now go, before the food gets here.”  I say, pushing him away.

“Paagal…”  He mumbles, walking away to the bathroom.

After the food arrives, I decide to check on him to see what’s taking him so long.

“Arnav, food is here…” I announce, walking inside the bedroom to stop at the door, as he looks up at me sitting at the edge of the bed.

“When did you do this?”

“Earlier this week. I ordered the prints online, and put it in the frame. I love this picture of us on the carousel. You look so happy saying ‘meetha’. I also got one for you too, figured you can put it at your place.”  Sitting down next to him, I wrap my arm inside his.

“If you would allow it, I would put this picture on my desk in the office. But for now, bedroom it is. Thank you, I love it, and you.”  

He leans down bringing his lips to mine for a gentle kiss, which turns passionate instantly.   

Hearing my stomach rumble, I feel a smirk on his lips, as we slowly pull away.

“Looks like someone is hungry… let’s eat, then we need to talk about today.”

*****

An hour later, we sit down in the living room for the much needed conversation. But there’s silence, until he breaks it.

“Khushi, I know you’re upset with me about what I said in the conference room. But do you understand why?”

“Yes, but it still hurts. This is exactly what I was referring about- separating the two. It’s obvious you can leave our personal relationship at the door, but I can’t seem to do that at times. All I kept thinking about was letting you down. Do you know how vulnerable I felt when you walked out of the room? I know what had happened is wrong, but you didn’t even give me a chance to explain.”

“I did what I did because this is about you, about your credibility. If this continues, I won’t be able to sit back and watch people accuse you of being incompetent. Because that’s not the person I hired. My Khushi has become my right hand in every sense. You have accomplished so much in the last couple of months, and I can’t allow your hard work to go to waste for being late to meetings. This is not you. So, actually I am not leaving our personal relationship at the door. If I did, you and I both know the outcome would have been different when you walked in the conference room today. I need to fix this.” He stands up in frustration, running his hand through his hair.

“I have figured out what’s going on, but you are not going to fix this. I need to fix this. Please, let me handle this myself.”

He looks at me incredulously as I approach him.

I prepare myself for the anger that is simmering in his gaze. I can’t back down, this is about me, and I need to take control of the situation.

“There is no way I am letting you deal with this on your own. You are being set-up. Can you not see that?!”

“Of course, I see it!  I have known since last week. Just give me some time to take care of this. Please Arnav, let me do this on my own.”

“Why didn’t you tell me if you knew?”

“I wasn’t sure at first, and that’s why I didn’t say anything. But today it was apparent. I know what I need to do, and you need to let me take care of my problems. What are people going to think if you help me with this? It’s going to look like you are giving me preferential treatment, when you have never done that for anyone…”

“I don’t care what people think.”

I glare at him for being irrational, and unable to hold back, I answer back firmly.

“Well, I do. So you need to back off.”

He stares at me for a few minutes, as I refuse to back down. He takes a deep breath, and turns away.

“If this is what you want… fine. Just to be clear, I don’t agree. I going to bed now, tomorrow is going to be long day, and I am tired. Goodnight.”

He comes close, and places a kiss on my forehead, before walking towards the bedroom.

I am sorry Arnav, but I have to do this,  I need to fix this mess, and make you proud.

*****

The next morning once I get to the office, the only thing at the forefront of my mind is to get to the bottom of what has transpired with the deliberate mix-up with my schedule.

After the scheduling issues last week, I had found it odd. Especially since one of the meetings was with Arnav, our one on one. Being impatient to see me, he had texted me after five minutes to hurry up. I had made up an excuse with him saying I was stuck on a conference call to justify being late. Which wasn’t entirely a lie, since I had still been on a call.

I have an intuition who is behind this, but I need evidence before I can take the appropriate measures.  

This is why I had not mentioned it to him last night. He would have fired the person based on an assumption, which could have led to a lawsuit. And AR cannot afford that risk right now when they’re expanding in the States. My job is to build a brand for AR in the marketplace, and I cannot allow it to be tarnished because of me. Both, professionally and personally.

The first thing I do is look at my schedule from last week, what’s on my computer versus what is on the print out that I receive daily in the morning.  And sure enough, I spot the misalignment between the two.

Hearing a knock at my door, I put the papers away.

“Come in.”

“Good morning, Khushi. I hope I am not disturbing you. Do you have a few minutes?”

“Sure Lavanya, please come in.”

She does a quick glance outside, before coming in, and closed the door behind.

“I hope you don’t think I am interfering, but after what happened yesterday… I looked into a few things, and this doesn’t look like a mix up.”  Lavanya hands me the printouts of Arnav, Aakash, and my calendar highlighting the discrepancies.

“Also, Khushi, it looks like this person might be accessing your email as well. I was accepting a meeting invite that came on your behalf for ASR regarding the upcoming expansion, but then I looked up to see you walking out of his office, which was strange. I didn’t think anything of it, but after yesterday, I don’t know…”

The latest news leaves me stunned, that someone was physically accessing my computer. After taking a look at the printout of the email, then searching for it in my sent items, there is no trace of it. The email has been deleted.

“This happened when I went to get Mr. Raizada’s signature on a press release. I remember leaving my laptop open here in a rush, for thirty minutes. Shit!”

“You mean Shitall?”

I raise my eyebrow, and then it hits me what she meant. I can’t help but smile at how appropriate that sounds at the moment.

“Yes, it has to be her. But there is no solid evidence. There are no cameras in my office that would capture that she accessed my email. Even the meetings, they were just moved around, but were put back in the original time slots. It could be pinned as a mix up.”

“But she can’t get away with this. I really like you Khushi, everyone in this office does. No one would want to see you get framed. Why don’t you talk to ASR or Aakash? Maybe they have a solution.”

“I really appreciate you looking out for me. It means so much to me that I have friend here that I can trust. I will talk to Aakash next week, when he is back in the office. As for Mr. Raizada, I will wait till I have proof, and I know exactly what to do.  Will you help me?”

“Whatever you need,  just let me know what I need to do.”

“Well, let’s get ready to take her down!”

Later that day, I meet with Aman, and explain the situation to him.  He suggests some technology solutions that will track the meeting movements which Lavanya will monitor, along with cloning my email to take periodic snapshots. I also ask him to install a wireless camera behind my desk to capture what happens when I am not in my office.

Since it’s Friday, we decide to execute our plan early next week. Also, it will give Aman time to install the camera in my office over the weekend when she is not here to notice.

Now the hard part will be keeping this from Arnav during the weekend.

Later, once everyone has left the office, I decide to go see what our plans are for the weekend. I know he is upset from last night, and has barely talked to me today. But for the weekend I would prefer to put this aside and not think about it.

“Hi baby…” I say walking inside his office, closing the door behind me.

He raises a questioning eyebrow, as I make my way towards his desk.

“You’re in a good mood.”

“Well, that all depends on what we are doing this weekend.”  Leaning against his desk, I smile down at him.

“Then you are not going to like this… it doesn’t look like we will be able to do anything together this weekend. NK is here in the city spending the weekend at my place. And, I think Aakash is coming as well to catch up on work. Sorry…”

There’s something about his tone that makes me wonder if he is doing this to avoid me. But I shake that off, since it works out for me.

“It’s fine I understand. After all I can’t be selfish, and ask you to spend every weekend with me. I am going to head home now. Have a good time this weekend.”

I lean down, and place a gentle kiss on his lips, then turn to walk away. But he grabs my hand, getting up from the chair as he pulls me closer to him.

“Why can’t you be selfish for once? Damn it, I want you to selfish. Over me, over us. I am giving you the right to ask for whatever you want from me, but you are still running from this relationship.”

“How can you say that?  It seems like you are confusing work and our relationship at this moment.  We could probably use the time to ourselves this weekend.”

“Maybe we can. Have a nice weekend, Ms. Gupta.” He sighs, turning away to face his monitor to continue working.

Is he that upset that he can’t even speak to me properly?

How can I be selfish when I can’t even say I love you? What right do I really have over him?

Could he be right that I am still running from our relationship?

These are the questions that haunt me the entire weekend. But being away from him gives me time to reflect on our relationship, and, one thing becomes apparent. Despite our differences, we miss each other.  

Since we’ve been together practically every single day since I started working at AR, it’s lonely without the other. One of us has called or texted the other this weekend to check in, proving that our relationship is strong.

He has even said I love you on several occasions prior to hanging up the phone. But, I know he is disheartened by the fact that I will not allow him to help me.

Yet again, I feel that I have disappointed him, when all he has ever done in this relationship is given me everything.

So doesn’t he deserve that back?

I want to give him everything. I want a forever. And most of all, I want to be able to tell him that I love him.

But first, I need to handle my professional issue.

Monday morning I am on a mission, meeting with Lavanya, and Aman to put our plan in motion. And, if all goes well, we can put this behind us by Wednesday.

During the next few days, Lavanya and I monitor her every movement. It seems she has moved some meetings on my calendar, which I catch and log.  I have left my office unattended, leaving my laptop open to see what she does. We finally catch her red handed on camera.  She has sent Arnav an incorrect presentation from my email, changing out my recommendations and figures.

As I am walking back to my office after delivering the evidence to HR so we can take action against Sheetal, Arnav calls out for me from down the hall. And he is beyond furious.

“Ms. Gupta, in my office. Now!”  

As I look around making my way to his office, I look over at Sheetal who has a smirk on her face.   

Little does she know, what is about to happen to her once I am done with him.

After I walk inside his office, he slams the door shut, and I flinch hearing what comes out of his mouth.

“What the fuck is going on, Khushi?!”

In that instant, the anger inside of me boils over. I have pushed aside his distant attitude this week at work, but now he is just being ridiculous.

“You know what, you need to calm down! I don’t appreciate you speaking with me this way at all.”

“I have had enough of this shit. There’s the meetings, and now I get a presentation which is clearly not something you put together. I need answers, and I need them NOW…”

“There is no point talking to you right now.”

The rage built up between us right now needs to be directed at someone outside of this office. And I need to go handle that before dealing with him.

I close my eyes, and take a deep breath before I continue.

“I have already told you, I am handling this and it will be resolved soon. As a matter of fact before this hour is up.  So if you will excuse me, ASR… I have something important to take care of.”

Keeping a strong front, I turn around, and start walking towards the door.  As I am about to open it, I hear something crashing loudly onto the floor, but I leave his office without glancing back.

When I walk out, I have no time to think about him, since Lavanya approaches me.

“Everything is set, once you call Sheetal into your office, Aman will shut off her ID. And, we will have security outside your door, so they can walk her out. Did you tell ASR?”

“No I didn’t, it’s best HR reaches out to him with the specifics. For now, I need to go handle her.”

“All the best, Khushi!” She smiles at me, and pulls me into an embrace which warms my heart.

“Thank you so much… if it weren’t for you and Aman, I could not have pulled this off.”

“There are no thanks in friendship… now, go get her. It looks like she is walking back to her desk.”

“Sheetal, can I see you in my office?”

“Can’t this wait till tomorrow?  It’s almost five o’clock, and I need to leave on-time today.”

“This won’t take long. In my office. Now!”

Without waiting for a response I walk to my office, and stand by the door.  After she walks in I close the door behind her, and then take a seat at my desk.

“Sit down…”

“I am not sure what is so important that could not wait till tomorrow. Just because ASR yelled at you, doesn’t mean you can treat me this way.”

There is no hiding the incredulity on my face at the audacity of this woman to speak to me this way.

“Oh, you see, that’s where you are mistaken. I have every right to have you in here for the crap you’ve been pulling for the last couple of weeks. Tell me, do I look that stupid? Did you really think that I wouldn’t catch on? Well, I have news for you. I know exactly what you have been doing.”

“What do you, um… mean? Just because you have had issues, doesn’t mean you can blame it on me, and ASR is going to believe you. I haven’t done anything.”

“It’s not a question about him believing you or me, since I have proof. You have been manipulating my calendar, and going into my email, for which, by the way, I can take legal actions against you.”

“There is no proof, you have nothing- I am going to talk to HR and tell them that you are harassing me.” She stands up, and pushes her chair back.

“Leaving so soon? Don’t you want to see the proof I have? I suggest you sit right back down.” I stand up, and hand her the folder with the information I have gathered.

Based on her expression, I know I have hit the target, and can’t help but smile, crossing my arms across my chest.

“Oh, and one more thing, you see that?”  I point at the bookshelf behind my desk.

“That’s a camera, which has recorded you accessing my laptop and sending out emails. You might have deleted the email, but we have it on the video. Here is a copy of it, feel free to view it over and over again. It will keep you entertained and remind you how you got fired.”

“Um… I… um… don’t know what you are talking about…” Her voice cracks, but she tries to mask it by looking away.

“You know exactly what I am referring to. What I don’t understand is why would you do this? There was no need for this, especially since I have been nothing but supportive.”

“You want to know why? Because I don’t like you. You came here, taking over this place, and everyone. All I hear is Khushi this or Khushi that, it’s rather irritating. Even ASR gives you way too much importance, and for what reason… I don’t know. I don’t get it. But I had had enough, and wanted you out.”

“Well guess what Sheetal, it’s you who is going out. You are fired!”

“You can’t do that!”

“Oh yes I can, and I just did. Here is your termination letter. Your personal belongings will be mailed to your home.  And I would like to give you some advice, if you have an issue with your employer, instead of framing them, either talk to them or get a new job. Consider yourself lucky that I am not taking legal actions against you. Best of luck. Now, get the hell out of my office!” I walk over to the door to let security escort her out.  

Once she leaves, Aman and Lavanya come in to make sure everything is okay.

“Thank you both, I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you. I owe you both a treat for your help.”

“There is no need to thank us, but you can treat us to lunch tomorrow.”

“Aman, all you think about is food.  We don’t need a treat either, Khushi. It’s good she is out before doing some serious damage.”

“I agree, it’s good she is no longer here… but lunch is on me tomorrow. Though it’s nothing compared to what you both have done for me.  Now, let’s go home. I want to put this day behind me.”

An hour later, when I am leaving the office, I sigh, glancing at his closed door.

By now, he should know what transpired since HR was going to give him a full report.

I hope I have proven to him that I am more than capable of handling things on my own when it’s work related.

In a way, this was a test of our relationship. No matter what we say about separating the two, it’s not easy.  Our personal feelings will always get in the way, which is natural since we care for one another. It would be unnatural, if we didn’t let our feelings come into play to support or protect the other.

But we need to do a better job handling and controlling our emotions.

What happened between us today cannot happen again.  He needs to trust me.

Walking into an empty apartment, I feel overwhelmed with the loneliness that I have felt this past week. I miss my home, my parents, and most of all I miss my Arnav.

Taking a deep breath, I try to suppress the tears that threaten to fall. But I am so emotionally drained that I can’t push them back as they break free, and run down my face.

Feeling exhaustion taking over, I lie down on the sofa, and close my eyes in an attempt to get rid of the dull ache inside my heart.

My eyes open later, hearing the doorbell. I look around noticing it’s dark, and that I’m still in my work clothes.

How long have I been asleep?

The throbbing pain in my head makes it feel heavy, and I want to curse the person at my door for waking me up.

Hearing the bell again, I grumble walking over to open the door.

It’s Arnav, standing with his head tilted, holding a beautiful bouquet of exotic calla lilies in his hand.

“Hi…” He whispers holding out the lilies towards me.

But something stops me from running into his arms, or even accepting the flowers.

All I want to do is snap at him for the past week, for today, and now, for waking me up.

“Is there something I can help you with…ASR? It is after business hours, though…”

“Actually there is, Ms. Gupta.  And, you’re the only one who can do it…”

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Thank you for your patience, and reading. Hoping to update the next chapter sooner than later.