Khushi slumped into one of the chair's around the round table as she stared at the piece of paper in her hand. LETTER OF TERMINATION. It read in big black letters. How could this be happening she stared at in shock. How could so many things go wrong in just the first three hours of her employment. Correction not even employment but internship. How could she get fired before she even got hired? What a feat you have Khushi Kumari Gupta. Brilliant!! Slouching back, she closed her eyes and recalled everything that had taken place that day, trying to figure out where she had gone wrong.
She had woken up later then she had intended, therefore had uttered a quick prayer before DM, wrapped a piece of toast in tissue paper and hurried down the stairs with Payal screeching at her from behind to slow down on the stairs and wishing her the best of luck.
She had entered the office smiling and ready for what the day had in store for her only she hadn't had the slightest clue what it exactly intended to offer her. The receptionist had greeted her with her back, but she didn't take much heed of it and went into the D-Squat, there she found most of the people from yesterday some already getting stared while others socializing as they unpacked the things that they felt they would require. Pink-dress was here too, only she was wearing blue today, a sky blue, strapless dress, that came to her knees and had a neat little slit to allow her to move her legs with comfort. Her hair was wrapped in a high bun and she wore matching blue studs in her ears, while an assortment of white, blue and silver chains decorated her neck and right wrists. The left had a simple, but very beautiful silver chained watch. She looked up when Khushi walked in, but realizing who it was gave a look of disgust that made her, otherwise very pretty face, look quite ugly. The one talking to her, dressed in an equally short and revealing outfit, gave her a similar look and turned away. Khushi, understood why Pink-dress didn't like her, but she didn't understand the Parrot Green Dress's problem. Nevertheless she smiled and headed towards them to make peace.
'Hi I'm Khushi.' Khushi began, but was rudely cut off by Green-dress before she could carry on.
'And we are not interested.' She said in a crudely. However, taking the high road Khushi continued, now looking directly at Pink-Dress.
'We didn't get off to a good start yesterday, I just wanted to apologize for what happened and hoped that we could be friends.'
'Hah. Of course you wish to be my friend, who doesn't, but sorry...Shalwar-Suit, that ain't going to happen. Not everyone has the luck to befriend Ishiqa.' She snarked in the third person.
'It's Khushi and I figured it would be good if we were all friends here, it would make these two weeks so much more enjoyable.' Khushi tried.
'Whatever... Shalwar-Suit and FYI none us here is your friend or mine for that matter, we are all competitors here or have you thrown in the towel already. I wouldn't blame you, you never stood much of a chance as it was.' She said sizing her up with distaste.
Khushi opened her mouth to say how she didn't think it should be that way, just because they were competing didn't mean they had to act like enemies but at that moment a voice behind her caught her attention.
'Hey you! Shalwar-Suit come here!' she turned around to find the receptionist huffing from the doorway between the reception and the office area. She looked quite frazzled. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes held fear in them. Khushi walked over towards her not wanting to upset her further by disobeying her command, but also stood up for herself by stating that her name was Khushi, implying how she didn't appreciate the address she had just been given.
'Yes whatever, I have a job for you. I need you to go to the conference room and serve the refreshments to the delegates that are coming over.' She said as she started guiding Khushi by the arm towards the conference room.
'Wha-? But I thought Mihraj ji said we were not supposed to go there as it was only for the formal meetings which we won't be dealing with.' Khushi asked in confusion.
'Forget Mihraj and do as I tell you.' She barked.
'Why? I mean no offense but my work here is to design the clothes, not serve as a tea-boy.' Stated Khushi.
'You will have no work if you don't do as I say,' she snapped stopping in front of the doorway that led down to the conference room and the staging area. 'Listen, honey, you should be glad of the opportunity I am providing you with.' She began.
'Why?' asked Khushi curiously.
'Because,' she said impatiently, 'You will get to meet one of the founding partners of LaANK today, impress him and you will have the job. No shh listen,' she stopped Khushi as Khushi opened her mouth to say she had already met him yesterday, 'now when you go in don't say anything ok, just be invisible. Serve the refreshments and then retreat to the corner only come out of it when they require another drink or biscuit ok? Do not participate in the meeting or draw attention to yourself, otherwise the consequences will be dire. Ok? Now go, before they arrive!' with that she pushed Khushi into the corridor and hastened away to her desk. Not understanding what had just happened, but banking on the opportunity to see the friendly face of NK again Khushi made her way to the conference room.
'Have you dealt with your mistake?!' a cold, angry voice greeted Khushi as she entered the conference room, which itself was cold, not just the air but the atmosphere. It lacked all the colours and liveliness of the office space outside. Here it felt like she was in a proper office conference room, with the standard rectangular table, the blue/black swivel chair and a wall made of windows on the opposite side. The refreshments table to the corner on her left and the vicious voice to her right. On the wall behind that person was a weird looking painting of a vase, which the owner of the voice seemed to be looking at. He spoke into the phone on the desk next to his chair, the speaker of which was on. As he was away from the chair and the phone, for he was now investigating the corner of the painting. His back was to Khushi, so she couldn't see who this man was, while he hadn't turned to acknowledge her, leaving her wondering whether he had heard her come in or not.
'Yes, sir. I have just sent in a replacement she should be there.' Came the terrified voice of the receptionist from the speaker.
'Hmpf.' He grunted. 'Once the sponsors are here, lead them directly to the conference room. And find out where the hell NK is, he should be here for this!' he snapped into the phone before cutting the line. 'Don't just stand there and stare at my back, get to work. Start arranging the biscuit trays and place them on the table, then bring me my mug of coffee. Strong, with two teaspoons of milk, no sugar.' He commanded, without even turning to look at her. Annoyed at his lack of politeness, Khushi did as he asked, thinking it better not to appeal against it, he didn't seem like the man who would take heed of her words rather would probably end up firing her for it. He seemed to have that sort of an authority, she could tell from the fear she heard in the receptionist's voice and then there was his voice which reeked with authority.
Khushi huddled over to the refreshments table and began un-wrapping the biscuit trays. They were a whole assortment of freshly baked biscuits that smelled delicious. Being a sweet tooth herself she ached to try one but refrained herself, thinking that the man on the other side of the room wouldn't approve. Besides she figured, she could snuff some while the meeting was going on, the receptionist had told her to be invisible, so while the people were conferring may be she could sneak one or two, she thought mischievously. She placed the trays on the table, equally spaced between every four chairs so that everyone would be able to reach and then went back to make Sour-voice's coffee. Who drunk mostly black coffee with no sugar. Ugh how bitter. No wonder there was no sweetness in the man's approach. She hated the taste of coffee herself, it was too bland for her. She didn't understand how people liked it. Once the coffee was done she made her way to the man in the black suit. He was in his chair now, at the top of the table, his head bent over some papers so she still couldn't see this unpleasant person's face. As she approached him she steadied her hands, something about his vicinity unnerved her, even with two chairs separating them she could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing. His coldness extended around him making anyone cautious in his surroundings. Her eyes were on him as she drew closer, which was a mistake, for if she had heeded caution she would have kept them on the floor, allowing her to see the table leg that jutted out. But as they were trained on him out of curiosity and thrill, she didn't see and disaster struck.
Her foot tripped over the leg, causing her to disbalance, thereby making the treacherous mug jerk out of her hands and throw-up all its' contents on to the man's polished Italian shoes.
'What the -?!' he jerked up, anger rising in his voice, as Khushi kneeled down to retrieve the mug and try to salvage the damage to his shoes.
'Sorry, sorry, sorry. My foot got stuck on the table leg and it fell. I didn't mean too I'm so so-' Khushi stopped as the face from her nightmares came face-to-face with her. 'HIC' Khushi hiccupped as she saw Arnav Singh Raizada squat down to see who had dared spill coffee on him. It was a nervous reaction, she often got hiccups when confronted with sudden fright. Many a nights she had woken up with the hiccups from nightmares and Payal had consoled her. But there was no Payal here today, only this man. Who seemed equally shocked to find her of all people under his table.
She had woken up later then she had intended, therefore had uttered a quick prayer before DM, wrapped a piece of toast in tissue paper and hurried down the stairs with Payal screeching at her from behind to slow down on the stairs and wishing her the best of luck.
She had entered the office smiling and ready for what the day had in store for her only she hadn't had the slightest clue what it exactly intended to offer her. The receptionist had greeted her with her back, but she didn't take much heed of it and went into the D-Squat, there she found most of the people from yesterday some already getting stared while others socializing as they unpacked the things that they felt they would require. Pink-dress was here too, only she was wearing blue today, a sky blue, strapless dress, that came to her knees and had a neat little slit to allow her to move her legs with comfort. Her hair was wrapped in a high bun and she wore matching blue studs in her ears, while an assortment of white, blue and silver chains decorated her neck and right wrists. The left had a simple, but very beautiful silver chained watch. She looked up when Khushi walked in, but realizing who it was gave a look of disgust that made her, otherwise very pretty face, look quite ugly. The one talking to her, dressed in an equally short and revealing outfit, gave her a similar look and turned away. Khushi, understood why Pink-dress didn't like her, but she didn't understand the Parrot Green Dress's problem. Nevertheless she smiled and headed towards them to make peace.
'Hi I'm Khushi.' Khushi began, but was rudely cut off by Green-dress before she could carry on.
'And we are not interested.' She said in a crudely. However, taking the high road Khushi continued, now looking directly at Pink-Dress.
'We didn't get off to a good start yesterday, I just wanted to apologize for what happened and hoped that we could be friends.'
'Hah. Of course you wish to be my friend, who doesn't, but sorry...Shalwar-Suit, that ain't going to happen. Not everyone has the luck to befriend Ishiqa.' She snarked in the third person.
'It's Khushi and I figured it would be good if we were all friends here, it would make these two weeks so much more enjoyable.' Khushi tried.
'Whatever... Shalwar-Suit and FYI none us here is your friend or mine for that matter, we are all competitors here or have you thrown in the towel already. I wouldn't blame you, you never stood much of a chance as it was.' She said sizing her up with distaste.
Khushi opened her mouth to say how she didn't think it should be that way, just because they were competing didn't mean they had to act like enemies but at that moment a voice behind her caught her attention.
'Hey you! Shalwar-Suit come here!' she turned around to find the receptionist huffing from the doorway between the reception and the office area. She looked quite frazzled. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes held fear in them. Khushi walked over towards her not wanting to upset her further by disobeying her command, but also stood up for herself by stating that her name was Khushi, implying how she didn't appreciate the address she had just been given.
'Yes whatever, I have a job for you. I need you to go to the conference room and serve the refreshments to the delegates that are coming over.' She said as she started guiding Khushi by the arm towards the conference room.
'Wha-? But I thought Mihraj ji said we were not supposed to go there as it was only for the formal meetings which we won't be dealing with.' Khushi asked in confusion.
'Forget Mihraj and do as I tell you.' She barked.
'Why? I mean no offense but my work here is to design the clothes, not serve as a tea-boy.' Stated Khushi.
'You will have no work if you don't do as I say,' she snapped stopping in front of the doorway that led down to the conference room and the staging area. 'Listen, honey, you should be glad of the opportunity I am providing you with.' She began.
'Why?' asked Khushi curiously.
'Because,' she said impatiently, 'You will get to meet one of the founding partners of LaANK today, impress him and you will have the job. No shh listen,' she stopped Khushi as Khushi opened her mouth to say she had already met him yesterday, 'now when you go in don't say anything ok, just be invisible. Serve the refreshments and then retreat to the corner only come out of it when they require another drink or biscuit ok? Do not participate in the meeting or draw attention to yourself, otherwise the consequences will be dire. Ok? Now go, before they arrive!' with that she pushed Khushi into the corridor and hastened away to her desk. Not understanding what had just happened, but banking on the opportunity to see the friendly face of NK again Khushi made her way to the conference room.
'Have you dealt with your mistake?!' a cold, angry voice greeted Khushi as she entered the conference room, which itself was cold, not just the air but the atmosphere. It lacked all the colours and liveliness of the office space outside. Here it felt like she was in a proper office conference room, with the standard rectangular table, the blue/black swivel chair and a wall made of windows on the opposite side. The refreshments table to the corner on her left and the vicious voice to her right. On the wall behind that person was a weird looking painting of a vase, which the owner of the voice seemed to be looking at. He spoke into the phone on the desk next to his chair, the speaker of which was on. As he was away from the chair and the phone, for he was now investigating the corner of the painting. His back was to Khushi, so she couldn't see who this man was, while he hadn't turned to acknowledge her, leaving her wondering whether he had heard her come in or not.
'Yes, sir. I have just sent in a replacement she should be there.' Came the terrified voice of the receptionist from the speaker.
'Hmpf.' He grunted. 'Once the sponsors are here, lead them directly to the conference room. And find out where the hell NK is, he should be here for this!' he snapped into the phone before cutting the line. 'Don't just stand there and stare at my back, get to work. Start arranging the biscuit trays and place them on the table, then bring me my mug of coffee. Strong, with two teaspoons of milk, no sugar.' He commanded, without even turning to look at her. Annoyed at his lack of politeness, Khushi did as he asked, thinking it better not to appeal against it, he didn't seem like the man who would take heed of her words rather would probably end up firing her for it. He seemed to have that sort of an authority, she could tell from the fear she heard in the receptionist's voice and then there was his voice which reeked with authority.
Khushi huddled over to the refreshments table and began un-wrapping the biscuit trays. They were a whole assortment of freshly baked biscuits that smelled delicious. Being a sweet tooth herself she ached to try one but refrained herself, thinking that the man on the other side of the room wouldn't approve. Besides she figured, she could snuff some while the meeting was going on, the receptionist had told her to be invisible, so while the people were conferring may be she could sneak one or two, she thought mischievously. She placed the trays on the table, equally spaced between every four chairs so that everyone would be able to reach and then went back to make Sour-voice's coffee. Who drunk mostly black coffee with no sugar. Ugh how bitter. No wonder there was no sweetness in the man's approach. She hated the taste of coffee herself, it was too bland for her. She didn't understand how people liked it. Once the coffee was done she made her way to the man in the black suit. He was in his chair now, at the top of the table, his head bent over some papers so she still couldn't see this unpleasant person's face. As she approached him she steadied her hands, something about his vicinity unnerved her, even with two chairs separating them she could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing. His coldness extended around him making anyone cautious in his surroundings. Her eyes were on him as she drew closer, which was a mistake, for if she had heeded caution she would have kept them on the floor, allowing her to see the table leg that jutted out. But as they were trained on him out of curiosity and thrill, she didn't see and disaster struck.
Her foot tripped over the leg, causing her to disbalance, thereby making the treacherous mug jerk out of her hands and throw-up all its' contents on to the man's polished Italian shoes.
'What the -?!' he jerked up, anger rising in his voice, as Khushi kneeled down to retrieve the mug and try to salvage the damage to his shoes.
'Sorry, sorry, sorry. My foot got stuck on the table leg and it fell. I didn't mean too I'm so so-' Khushi stopped as the face from her nightmares came face-to-face with her. 'HIC' Khushi hiccupped as she saw Arnav Singh Raizada squat down to see who had dared spill coffee on him. It was a nervous reaction, she often got hiccups when confronted with sudden fright. Many a nights she had woken up with the hiccups from nightmares and Payal had consoled her. But there was no Payal here today, only this man. Who seemed equally shocked to find her of all people under his table.
*****
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