To Love or Not To Love

Chapter 6

When Khushi Kumari Gupta found out that ASR wanted her to meet with him, she momentarily considered absconding. She wanted to forget she had ever come face to face with the devil. Her emotional wounds were just beginning to heal. 

The very thought of sitting across from him, in his own office made her break into a cold sweat. He had harassed her enough. What more did he want?

On receiving the diktat, she declined it. The messenger looked flabbergasted. Nobody said "No" to ASR.

"You don't know what he is capable of", the messenger tried to reason with Khushi.

"I very well know what he is capable of," she replied. "I have suffered his cruelty and I do not wish to ever meet such a heartless man ever again in my life." She tried to calm herself. She didn't believe in shooting the messenger. Lowering her pitch to sound as polite as possible she said: "Please let him know that I do not wish to meet him, neither today, nor tomorrow, nor ever again in my life. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work. I don't have time to waste on inconsequential people."

ASR smirked listening to Khushi Gupta's colorful vocabulary. Ever since he had started attaining entrepreneurial success, he had been called many names by women. None of them matched the girl's zeal. She was refusing to meet him. This was going to be more fun than he had thought. He dialed a number on his speed dial "Aman, get D'Silva to get me as much information on one Mr. Shashi Gupta who lives in Vibhuti Khand, Gomti Nagar."

Two hours later, ASR was browsing a 40-page file with Shashi Gupta's name on it. The file detailed all of his personal, professional and financial information. He studied the file for 10 minutes, photocopied two of its pages, put them in a brown envelope, with a photograph and a note. The envelope was addressed to Khushi Kumari Gupta.