To Love or Not To Love

Chapter 16

Located on New Delhi's popular commercial strip, Tolstoy Marg, the offices of AR Designs were a masterpiece, designed to the tune of so-called modern-day "iconic" constructions. Built entirely from greenish-hued fiberglass, the building was asymmetrical in shape – broad at the top, bulging in between and narrow at the bottom. At a glance, it looked like a well-endowed model with no head! An art connoisseur had once jokingly referred to it as "The Monalisa" and the name had somehow stuck.

The architect of AR Designs had apparently had not had his fill with this experimental ultra-modern piece and proceeded to infuse a dash of the Roman era by putting huge traditional fountain pieces and well-carved colonnades right at the entrance of this huge building.

The perimeters of the building were decorated with exotic gardens. On a pleasant day, a majority of the AR employees could be found on the lush green grass their sketchpads and laptops, under the pretext of "soaking up all the creativity Mother Nature had to offer."

It was this sight that greeted Khushi Gupta when she got out of her auto-rickshaw outside the AR Designs building. She was enthralled with the beauty of the creation that lay sprawled in front of her. For a minute Khushi felt transported to a completely different world, that of the wonderland and the wizard, where she was Alice, Snow-White or even Cinderella. But she only had to turn around and look at the road to see the stark contrast between reality and this "dream town" that AR Designs had managed to create within one of India's bustling cities.

*****

Khushi walked up to the reception slowly, taking in the ambiance of the place. A part of her screamed out, all of this was wrong and that she didn't deserve any of this, but her logical mind knew it was too late to think about any of that. As she walked past the water fountain and through the giant Roman colonnades that fiercely guarded the the gates to the organization that was the door to her dreams and aspirations, a slight tear formed around the corner of her eye, threatening to spill at any moment.

Khushi went in, introduced herself at the reception and slowly made her way towards the elevator that would take her to the Conference Room.

*****

As she was stepping out of the elevator,  Khushi had bumped into a tiny bespectacled woman, spilling the contents of a file she was carrying.

"I'm so sorry about this", Khushi apologized while bending down to retrieve the strewn pieces of paper.  The woman kept standing and staring at her as if trying to place where she had seen Khushi before.

Unaware, Khushi finished putting all the papers back into the file and got up to hand it back to her.

"Have we met before?" the woman asked Khushi.

"I don't think so."

"Hmm, it's just that your face looks extremely familiar. I could've bet I've seen you before somewhere."

"It doesn't really matter. Now is as good a time as any for an introduction. Hi. I'm Khushi Kumari Gupta", she extended her hand for a shake.

"Anjali Jha," said the bespectacled lady, taking Khushi's hand.

"Pleased to meet you Anjaliji."

"Same here."

Khushi glanced at her watch. It was 2.03. "I had a meeting at 2 and its already past that time. I'd better rush. Would you, by any chance, know the way to the Conference room?'

"Yes, go down the corridor and take the first right. The room to your left is the Conference Room."

"Thank you so much. Sorry for what happened and it was a pleasure meeting you," saying Khushi rushed down the corridor.

*****

Anjali Jha paused for a while absently staring at Khushi's retreating figure. Something was nagging her at the back of her mind. She knew she had seen Khushi somewhere and yet she was unable to place the girl.

Khushi was here to meet someone in the Conference Room, Anjali mused. She took out her phone and dialed a number: "This is Anjali. I want to know who has booked the Conference Room for 2."

The statement was followed by a long pause.

"Lavanya Kashyap? And has she submitted an agenda for the meeting?"

Another pause.

"A handover with AR's next Business Developer? Thanks."

A small frown marred Anjali's otherwise perfect demeanor. This didn't add up. Something wasn't right. And suddenly, Anjali remembered where she had seen Khushi. This was the girl in green who had fallen into Chhote's arms at the inaugural Fashion Show in Lucknow. Chhote was her brother, CEO of AR Designs, Arnav Singh Raizada. It was a nickname she had given him at birth. She still called him by that name 32 years later.  

All the details of the case came flooding back to her. Anjali had worked on it herself, to make sure she had the ground covered, should the girl ever chose to file a defamation or mental harassment suit against AR. She had fully expected a settlement call; a call that never came.

The girl wasn't a gold-digger. Else, she would have never given up such a golden opportunity to extract a fortune out of AR Designs. But then apparently, she was to be ASR's next business developer.

Something didn't feel right. That was good enough to warrant digging deeper. Her gut instinct had never been wrong. She knew AR formally issued an offer letter to all of Chhote's "Business Developers". It was something Anjali had insisted on, to protect both AR and ASR. A rightful termination of employment, with valid reasons and an appropriate notice period, could never be contested in court.

She picked up her phone and dialed the HR. "I want to see the appointment letter of one Ms. Khushi Gupta. And I want it in the next 10 minutes."

****

Lavanya was already waiting for Khushi in the Conference Room when she arrived.

"Hello Lavanyaji," she said, trying to catch her breath.

Dressed in blue jeans and a white chikankari kurta, with the only make-up adorning her face - the black of the kohl underneath her eyes, Khushi personified innocence. Lavanya smiled, looking fondly at the girl who exuded positivity and joy. Then her smile faded. She hoped that when ASR was done with her, there would still be some of the positivity and innocence left. She would have loved to tell Khushi to run as far away from ASR as possible, but it was too late. She only prayed that Khushi had the mental and emotional strength to go through what ASR had in store for her.

Sweeping her emotions under the carpet Lavanya said: "Hi Khushi, you're late." After a pause, she added: "It's not me. It's ASR. ASR hates people who are late."

When Khushi gave her a confused look, Lavanya shrugged.

"Come, sit down and let me go through everything you might need to know for the role. I won't be reachable after next week, so if there is something you're not sure about, talk to Jade. She is ASR's secretary and knows everything about him under the sun."

And then for the next half hour, Lavanya proceeded to tell Khushi everything about ASR, his food habits, his dietary restrictions, his preferences, and his likes and dislikes.

Halfway through her diatribe she paused to look at Khushi and found the girl staring back at her with a blank expression on her face. Understanding the look on her face a bit too well, Lavanya said kindly: "Khushi you might best take notes on what I'm telling you. ASR hates it when anyone makes a mistake. And you really don't want to see his anger."

This was the second person that was telling her this. Khushi wondered, why was everyone so scared of ASR? True, he wasn't the nicest of persons to know, but... what had she signed up for? And just like that, in a perfectly air-conditioned room, Khushi's palms began to sweat.