Chapter 1

~ CHAPTER 1 ~

"What the?!"

Arnav Singh Raizada spit the mouthful sip of dark sugary concoction he had ever the misfortune to drink and dumped the mug on the desk.

"Irene, get in here please" he said with suppressed rage as he pressed the button on the intercom with as much calm he could muster. This was turning out to be one hell of a day. He had dozed off last night in the office after working late on a new project proposal and now this!

Arnav cherished his morning coffee. It wasn't just a ritual to him, it was a tradition. He could not believe his trusted assistant had gotten it wrong after making it for him exactly the way he liked for as long he could remember. Mrs. Irene D'Mello was a matronly lady of about fifty years of age and had been with him for over half a decade now and he couldn't think why she would suddenly decide to forget how to make his coffee, which for the record, she had been preparing for him since about that long.

"M..May I come in S..Sir ?"

Arnav turned his head to the door of his office as he heard a soft, hesitant female voice stammer ask permission to enter. As he looked at the young girl who stood on the threshold, nervously twisting the end of the pallu of her salwar, he amended it to a strange, soft, hesitant female voice.

"Who the hell are you? Where's Irene?" he asked the almost trembling girl.

"W..woh..S..Sir.. Mrs D'Mello is on sick leave for next 2 weeks. I..I'm her r...replacement, Khushi Kumari Gupta" she replied meekly.

"What's wrong with Irene? She was fine yesterday and who the hell made this undrinkable concoction? " Arnav was really irritated. He desperately needed that cup of elixir now.

"I heard she is hospitalized with a severe case of flu S..Sir . She didn't have time to leave instructions for the replacement. The HRD Head assigned me here as I came in for work today" she looked as if she wanted but took a deep breath and bravely carried on "I..I made that coffee Sir. I didn't know how you take yours. I'm sorry Sir. I'll make it again if would tell me how you would like it"

Arnav stared at the young, pretty girl in front of him and sighed. It was one of those mornings. He couldn't honestly blame the girl for his bad mood. He did need a good cup of coffee though.

"Ok Miss Gupta, the first thing you need to know is that I'm a diabetic and please spare me that sugary syrup anymore. Make mine with a teaspoon of sugarfree and just a hint of cream. All right? I'll let someone orient you on the duties as my assistant later. Now get me a cup of coffee that I can actually drink" he waved his hand in dismissal as he turned away from her .

-----xxx----

Khushi backed out of cabin as fast as she could and let out a breath she had been holding during the whole scene in Mr. Raizada's office. It was just her luck that within 6 months of joining the office she, a lowly secretary from the secretary pool, was standing in front of the Emperor Raizada himself! She was a fairly ambition-less person, a rarity in today's world she was sure, except for the need to be independent. She never dreamed of wealth, fame and career promotions. It wasn't because she disapproved of those dreams, or that she was lazy to achieve those things. She believed in working hard. it was just that she had grown up with so less that she had learned to happy with what she had and never pine for what she didn't. Being an orphan at the age of 5 and growing up in an orphanage had made her put things in perspective if nothing else. If she got more, she would be happy but she wasn't going to waste her life regretting what she didn't have rather than rejoicing in what she did have.

Now here was an opportunity many in the company would die for and it had fallen into her lap and she had to say, she had a hard time adjusting to it. Being Arnav Singh Raizada's Assisstant was a huge deal and she really wasn't sure she was up to it yet. May be in another year or so, she reasoned, when she had gotten a bit more experience. Agreed she was the best in shorthand and typing from her pool, but there were many who had more experience of corporate world than her.

But through some quirk of fate she had been picked to replace the Impeccable Irene D'Mello and Khushi's only wish was that she didn't humiliate herself by the time she had to leave. But looking at the morning coffee disaster, things didn't seem to be off to a flying start.

But no matter, Khushi thought with her ever present optimism as she made a fresh cup of coffee for Mr. Raizada exactly the way he wanted it, she would make no allowance for mistakes anymore. And on the bright side Mr. Raizada hadn't looked like the monster everyone in her pool kept referring to. He had seemed like a fair man, consider the fact that he hadn't fired her on the spot for trying to murder him, though unwittingly, by adding 4 tsp of sugar in his coffee!

Now that she thought back on it, he had looked rather tired and his eyes had looked as if they had a world of sadness in them though he had the face of a fallen angel and the body of a greek God. Khushi gave herself a pat on her head and shook her head as if to clear nonsensical imaginings from her mind and hurried back to Mr. Raizada's office once again to offer his coffee.

-----xxx-----

"Hmmm.."

Khushi shifted the weight to her right leg from her left nervously as Mr. Mysterious Raizada made a non-committal sound as he took the first sip. Now what did that "hmmm" mean? Did that mean it was "hmmm very good" or "hmmm you need a new job"? Khushi wondered worriedly as he took another sip and stared at her with his enigmatic hazel eyes.

"What are you still doing here Ms. Gupta ?" Arnav asked "Don't you have work to do? One of the senior secretaries would be over to your cabin in a few mins to orient you. Also order some flowers to be sent to Mrs D'Mello and ask the accounts dept to take care of her hospital bill. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sir"

Khushi ran out before he could say another word and Arnav couldn't help but chuckle at his pretty, new, temporary assistant. She seemed to be one strange woman. In spite of his complicated life, he had no dearth of new wanna-be's trying to hit on him. But this one hadn't made any such moves and that alone would make him keep her as his assistant if nothing else. He was still picking up the pieces of his broken life and broken dreams. He didn't want another headache in the office. And what's more? She made wonderful coffee too, better than the one Irene made actually, he thought as he leaned back in chair and savored the hot beverage in his hand.

May be the day wasn't a complete bust after all.

------xxx-----

It had been a couple of days since Khushi had been assigned to the executive level. She had been oriented by a jovial executive called NK Malhotra on her first day and they had hit it off very well. NK was an harmless flirt and once he had realized Khushi wasn't going to give in to his well- honed techniques, he had given in gracefully and become her friend.

Khushi had quickly acclimatized herself with Mr. Arnav "Rolex" Raizada's routine. She could literally guess the time from his routine in just a couple of days! Her boss was one tough cookie. He reminded Khushi of the "dark, brooding hero" s of the M & B novels that she used to read in high school. Or was it "Mr. Darcy" from Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice" ? In any matter, he spoke so little that Khushi wondered if he thought his words would be charged by the hour! And she hadn't seen even a hint of smile cross his lips since she had become his temporary secretary.

Worst of all, his eyes still continued to haunt her with their hidden angst. She even dreamed of them now! Geez Khushi! Great going. It isn't even a week working directly for the "Magician of the Indian Buisness" and she had begun to have illusions! Why would one of "Youngest billionaire's in the world" be unhappy?

"Khushi, aren't you coming for lunch?" Lavanya breezed into Khushi's cabin as she asked the question. Lavanya was NK's secretary and Khushi had liked her on their first meeting after NK had introduced them. Lavanya was a chirpy, pretty girl who had so much energy that Khushi sometimes got exhausted just by looking at her. But she had become a friend in the short time of their acquaintance. Khushi could also see that whenever La and NK were together sparks flew. But since it didn't look as if both of them had acknowledged it yet, Khushi didn't comment on it.

"Khushi, did you see the page 3 today?" In addition to being a good friend, La was also a font of information.

"No La. You know I don't see such news. Why? Is there anything special ?" Khushi asked as she slung her purse on her shoulder and came around her table.

"They have caught a picture of Sheetal partying in one of the hi-fi clubs in US!" La squealed as she opened her purse and spread the page which showed a woman in really short dress partying hard.

"Ermm. Not to burst your bubble La. But who is she ?" Khushi stared at the photo to see if the woman looked familiar.

"Get outta here Khush! You don't know who Sheetal is?!"

"Is she a famous model? I'm sorry, I don't really know much about Page 3 stuff" Khushi smiled self-consciously.

"I know, I know" La nodded "But how could you not know Sheetal Singh Raizada? You work for her husband for God's sake!"

Khushi stood there incredulously in a stupefied silence. Arnav Singh Raizada was married?!

~ END OF CHAPTER # 1 ~

[NOCOPY]