PART 2. PLAN No. 1. KEEP FRIENDS CLOSE, LOVER CLOSER!

It was 9 o'clock in the night when Anjali entered Khushi's room stealthily. She looked around the room searching for Khushi and her eyes alighted when she saw Khushi's sleeping form on the bed. She slowly walked towards the bed and sitting by the bed, she slowly patted Khushi's hair. Bechaari Khushiji!

Paayal entered the room with a dinner tray filled with food in her hands. She looked at the scene in front of her and with a smile walked towards the bed. Placing the tray at the bedside table, she sat on the other side of Khushi and slowly brushed her hair out of her face.

"Lagta hai bahut thak gayi hai! Office se aate hi so gayi!", Paayal whispered.

Anjali nodded as she looked at Paayal, "Haan! Aaj pehla din tha na inka! Isliye aadat nahi hai! Aur kuch din ruko, phir inhein bhi aath aath ghante kaam karne ki aadat lag jaayegi! Phir yeh bhi Aakash aur Chote ki tarah har waqt kaam ki baat karegi!"

Paayal giggled and then looked back at Khushi with a sigh, "Kitne chain se so rahi hai yeh!"

Anjali nodded, "Haan Paayalji! Lekin humein inhein uthaana hi padega! Dopahar ke lunch ke baad se inhonein kuch nahi khaaya hoga. Aise hum inhein bhooke pet toh sone nahi de sakte na!"

Paayal nodded and with sadness in her heart started nudging Khushi, "Khushi! Khushi uth jaaona! Dekho hum tumhaare liye khaana laaye hain!"

"Uthiye Khushiji! Khaane khaake phir waapis so jaayiye!", Anjali pleaded.

Khushi blearily opened her eyes and seeing them sat up with a start, "Aap dono! Yahaan?"

Both the ladies smiled at her and Anjali replied, "Haan! Hum yahaan! Aap itni thaki hui thi ki hum dono ne socha ki yahaan aake aapko neend se uthaaye aur apne haathon se aaj aapko khaana khilaaye!"

Saying her piece, Anjali spooned the daal rice into Khushi's mouth. A shocked Khushi could do nothing but chew the food and swallow it. Anjali continued to spoon feed her and soon the whole daal rice was into Khushi's stomach.

"Hum chaas leke aate hain!", Paayal muttered and slipped away. Anjali frowned when she saw that Khushi's face seemed to be a bit upset.

"Kya baat hai Khushiji? Aap bade udaas lag rahe ho?", Anjali questioned her. Khushi shrugged and Anjali huffed. She cupped Khushi's face and asked, "Kya baat hai Khushiji? Aap humein nahi bataayenge?"

Khushi took a deep breath and launched her monologue, "Aaj Arnavji ne humein itna sataaya, itna sataaya ki poochiye mat! Shaam tak toh humaari haalat rone waali hogayi thi!"

Anjali looked at Khushi in alarm, "Aisa kya kiya Chote ne?"

Khushi pouted, "Kya kiya? Poochiye kya nahi kiya! Arnavji ne..."

FEW HOURS BACK, AROUND 11 IN THE MORNING...

Khushi happily looked around as the accounting system was explained to her. She was joining as Junior Accountant and after given a tour of the office, Aakash dropped her off with the Accounting and Finance Manager who was now doing the explanation. Saying his piece the manager assigned her a cubicle and went back to his cabin. Khushi sat on her chair with a big smile on her face. Today was her first day at AR and she was very eager to prove her efficiency and worth and also prove to Arnav and Aakash that their decision to give her the job was correct.

But before Khushi could start her work, her phone ran shrilly. Khushi looked at the phone in confusion. Yeh kyun baj raha hai? She shrugged and picked it up, only to hear Arnav growl at her to come to his cabin and cut the connection. Khushi blinked at this abrupt order and looked at the phone in surprise for a while. Hey Devi Maiyya! Itni sakti se baat ki? Thoda pyaar se bolte toh inka kya jaata! Aur phone bhi patak diya! Arnavji na sach mein paagal hogaye hain! She made a face and got up. Grabbing a notepad and pen, she trudged towards the lift. Her Accounts Department was in the floor below the main office and that meant she had to use the lift to reach Arnav's cabin. Entering the main office, Khushi walked towards Arnav's cabin.

The moment Khushi entered the cabin, Arnav ordered her to go through the file he was holding in his hand and check the accounts in it. Khushi ignored his rude behavior - Hey Devi Maiyya! Hamesha itne akdupan dikhaake thak nahi jaate! - and took the file happily. She opened the file only to stop in surprise. The calculations in the file seem to be computerized. Yeh toh computer pe banaaya gaya hai! Ise kyun check karne bol rahe hain? She thought for a while and then shrugged. Humein kya karna hai yeh sab sochke? Yeh saalon se yahaan kaam kar rahe hain! Agar humein yeh kaam diya hai toh soch samajhke hi diya hoga! She shrugged and turned to get out of the cabin when -

"Khushi! Kahaan jaa rahi ho?", Arnav questioned.

Khushi turned around and smiled at him, "Apne Office mein! Wahaan baithke yeh check karenge!"

Arnav frowned, "Maine tumhein jaane ko kahaan?"

Khushi shook her head, "Nahi!"

"Toh kahaan jaa rahi ho tum? Yahin chair pe baitho aur yeh file ko check karo!", Arnav ordered.

With a pouting face, Khushi nodded and sat down on the chair right in front of Arnav's chair with Arnav's desk in between them and started to check the file.

Khushi checked the file once, then twice and then the third time but there were no mistakes in it. Toh Arnav ne humein yeh file diya kyun? She shrugged. Shaayad humaari kaabiliyat check karne! Par use check karne ke liye toh iss file mein mistakes honi chaahiye! Bina mistake waali file mein mistake dhundhne ka kya matlab?

Confused by all this, Khushi looked up to see Arnav not there. She got up to search for him and turned around only to slam right into him. He caught her by her waist and this made her come in very close proximity of him. She gulped as she stared at him with wide eyes. Her mouth went dry at the intense look in his eyes and her heart thudded against her rib cage wildly. Butterflies ran around her stomach and fire caught on to the place where Arnav gripped her. For a second she was lost into his eyes. Suddenly, his desk phone rang shattering their moment and Arnav glared at her, "Dekhke nahi chal sakti! Har waqt takraana jaroori hai kya?" Khushi stumbled back in shock as Arnav moved away. Khushi opened her mouth to defend herself but shut it. Jaane de Khushi! Iss Akdu se kya ladna!

Khushi smiled sarcastically at Arnav as he took his seat, "Humne yeh file check kar liya hai! Woh bhi teen baar! Ismein koi mistakes nahi hai! Ab jab yeh kaam hogaya toh hum jaake humaare Manager ke diye hue kaam karein?" Not waiting for his response, she stormed off in annoyance. Samajhte kya hain yeh khudko! Jab dekho taane maarte rehte hain! She continued to rant but in truth she was trying to forget the feelings Arnav evoked in her when he held her in his arms. Hey Devi Maiyya! She thought and she felt a shiver run down her body as she remembered the intensity of Arnav's eyes.

It was lunch break by the time she reached her cubicle and she sighed. Pehle pata hota ki lunch break honewaali hai toh hum upar se neeche aate hi nahi! She huffed and turned towards the lift again to go up. She was supposed to have lunch with her Aakash Jeej as per order of Paayal who did not want her little sister to eat from canteen. So Khushi was getting the lunch made by Paayal and delivered by the driver.

Khushi sighed as she reached the lift and noticed that the lift was out of order. Hey Devi Maiyya! Chado ab seediyaan! Unfortunately for Khushi, Aakash's cabin was in the same floor as Arnav's and Khushi had to climb the stairs to reach the floor.

Once lunch was over, Khushi had to get down the stairs again as the lift was yet to work. Thankfully, she got to sit and work in her cabin for atleast half hour before Arnav called her again.

When Khushi arrived at his cabin after climbing the stairs again, Arnav ordered her to enter the vouchers of the day manually into the day book. Khushi blinked in surprise. Iske liye toh Tally hai! Manual kaam kyun karna! Aur computer se toh yeh kaam aadhe ghante mein ho jaata hai! When she conveyed her thoughts to Arnav, Arnav hissed at her to not question his orders and slammed the vouchers in front of her.

Khushi looked at the vouchers with wide eyes. There were so many of them. Sabko manual entry karna hoga! Hey Devi Maiyya! Sighing at the tedious job lying in front of her, she took a deep breath and started working. By the time she was done with it, it was time to go home and as she spent the whole time with Arnav, Arnav ordered her to bring her bag from her cubicle and join him as they will go home together. When she tried to protest that she could join him directly at the parking lot as she want to save the extra stair climbing trip, Arnav had sent a single glare her way and Khushi's protest died in her throat.

Looking a bit upset at having to climb the stairs down and up, Khushi went on to get her bag. Once she was back up with her bag and a tired look on her face, she wondered how Arnav would react when he would come to know that the lift was not working and they had to take the stairs. She smiled smugly as she imagined his anger filled expression.

Arnav came out of his cabin and started walking away. Khushi followed him with confusion. Yeh uss taraf kahaan chale? Lift toh ulti taraf hai! Arnav led them deeper into the office far away from the lift area and when he stopped, Khushi looked in shock. Right in front of them was another elevator. It was on the other side of the office and Khushi never noticed it. Doosri lift thi? Aur hum itne der se seediyaan chad rahe the? Hey Devi Maiyya!

Dismayed at her own stupidity, Khushi wandered into the lift with Arnav and soon was on the way towards their home.

"Aur is tarah aaj Office mein humaari bahut buri haalat hui! Aur Office ke pehle din, hum Office ka kaam chod, Arnavji ki wajah se timepass kar rahe the!", Khushi wailed as she hugged Anjali with a sad face. Anjali sighed at the horrible day Khushi had faced.

"Don't worry Khushiji! Hum Chote se baat karenge ki aapko baar baar upar bulaaye nahi aur aapko apne post ka kaam karne chod dein! Theek hain?", Anjali enquired and Khushi nodded.

Soon, Paayal was back with chaas and Paayal and Anjali were able to cheer Khushi up with their anecdotes.

FIVE YEARS LATER...

"Aur phir tumhaari bua ne Arnavji se baat ki aur uss din se unhonein humein baar baar upar bulaana band kardiya!", Khushi ended the next chapter of her story as she looked at a gurgling Arushi.

Arnav smiled at their interaction. If only he knew about the lift drama, he would not have called Khushi up so many times. He sighed as he remembered that day, but of course his recollection of that day was quite different from what Khushi's recollection was.

FIVE YEARS BACK...

"Aman! Send me the latest account reports!", Arnav announced into his phone and slammed it down. From the moment he entered his cabin, he had paced to and fro the room, trying to think of a reason to call Khushi into his cabin. If only she was his secretary, he would have numerous reasons to call her in. Kya Khushi tum bhi! Padhai karni thi toh secretary ke post ke liye karti, Accounts ki kyun padhai ki! Mere poore plan ko barbaad kar diya!

Arnav's plan was quite simple. He would call Khushi into his cabin with every single reason he could think of and he would make sure that she spent as much time as possible with him. But right after entering his office, he plan hits its first snag as Arnav could not think of any reasonable excuse that would bring Khushi into his cabin. Finally, the idea of asking her to check account reports came to him and he grasped the idea with both hands. Once Aman came over with the report he asked Khushi to come in and once she had entered he gave her the job of checking his accounts. He made sure she sat right in front of him so that he could stare at her while she worked. Haaye! Kya nazaara hai! Devi Maiyya kare yeh nazaara mujhe roz dekhne mile!

After a while, Arnav realised that Khushi was recounting the numbers and he was sure that soon she would finish her job and go away. That is when he was struck with brilliant of crashing into her. Carefully he got out of his chair not wanting Khushi to notice and stood at the back of her chair waiting for her to look up. He had to wait a lot for Khushi's reaction as Khushi had decided to recount the numbers again but his patience bore fruit when Khushi finally looked around curiously for him and got up from her seat.

5

4

3

2

1

And crash!

The result of the crash made Arnav very happy. Khushi was in his arms, right where he wanted. Again Arnav wished this happened every day. But soon, the moment was broken as his phone rang and not wanting to give up his game plan right away Arnav acted rude to Khushi. Soon, Khushi had stormed out of his cabin leaving Arnav angry at the phone's interruption. Poor Aman! He had to face an angry Arnav Singh Raizada all due to his one ill-timed phone call.

Later as Arnav was waiting for his lunch to arrive, he wondered as he paced what else he could do to bring Khushi back into his cabin. While he was pacing and wondering, he almost lost his balance, when he saw Khushi walk by his cabin towards Aakash's cabin. Yeh kahaan chali? He followed her only to see her sit by Aakash and chatter a lot as the driver arranged the food for them. Arnav narrowed his eyes in jealousy. How could Aakash get the chance of spending time with Khushi without any reason and here Arnav had to struggle so much just to get Khushi into his cabin. Feeling his anger boiling over, Arnav stormed off to his cabin and waited for the driver to arrive with his food.

Once food was done, Arnav continued to think about his plan. Finally he had an idea. He would ask Khushi to manually enter the day's vouchers. That would surely take a lot of time as AR tended to have lots of transaction ongoing in a normal day. He ordered Aman to come into his cabin with the day's vouchers and a blank day book. Soon he had Khushi working back in his office while he happily stared at her.

It was only in the evening after Khushi had her dinner and Anjali scolded Arnav for making her work so much that Arnav realised how futile his plan was. Not only was it impossible for him to waste the every one of his day doing nothing but stare at Khushi when as a CEO of the company there was so much work to do, but also Khushi needed to start doing her job if he wanted her to make her career. With a sigh, Arnav decided to scrap his idea of calling Khushi into his office using every excuse. Aur waise bhi mujhe kaunse achche excuses aa rahe the Khushi ko cabin mein bulaane ke?

But what next? Arnav had to make Khushi fall in love with him and for that they have to spend time together. Suddenly, he remembered their elevator ride in the evening. During the elevator ride, they had to stand very close. Maybe he can use that to his advantage. He smirked as a new idea formed and developed in his head. Yes! It is perfect! But I cannot execute this plan tomorrow or else Di ko sab kuch samajh aa jaayega! Mujhe kuch din wait karna hoga and then I will execute my plan! But no problem! For Khushi, I will wait for eternity, yeh ek hafta kya cheez hai! He took a deep breath as he imagined Khushi in his arms. Khushi! Get ready to get close, very close to your future husband!

PRECAP:

Hum Tum

Ek Lift Mein Band Ho...!

Thanks for reading, take care and have fun,

Kalpana

P.S. All your comments and reviews will be liked and/or replied after Monday!

Kalpana_Writer2014-10-26 11:47:21