Chapter 1

1

Arnav could not believe she just gave that idea. Not only that, everyone sitting around him was nodding as if their heads would come off at any moment. She was crazy! And she was looking only at him for his approval. Everyone else also slowly shifted their attention to him. In his office, there was no democracy. Only what he said or thought mattered.

"That is a stupid plan, Ms. Gupta," he finally sneered, "I cannot believe a corporate professional could come up with such a plan to solve such a serious issue. We are doing business here, not school projects."

In response, Khushi's eyes widened. The first thought that hit Arnav was that she could kill anyone drowning in those eyes.

"What the ..," Arnav muttered inaudibly, shocked at how he was distracted now & then by this girl. Was she affecting him? No way!

"Stupid or not stupid, Mr. Raizada," Khushi stood by her idea, "This is going to work and this is going to solve our problem in a jiffy. That is what all of us want."

No one else opened their mouth everyone knew how ASR was. Some were thinking of warning her. This girl had no idea where this could lead to if she kept confronting and consequently, riling him.

Arnav stared at her with disbelief in his eyes. As he tried to read others, he was sure everyone was convinced; in fact, mesmerized by this girl's idea! If it was because of the uniqueness of the idea or because of the charm of the idea holder, Arnav doubted. All the experienced members of the panel were scratching their brain cells for a way out for an hour, when she finally stood up and gave her stupid idea. Arnav was feeling stupider because he felt the idea actually had the possibility to work out he would say there as 98.99% probability it would not fail.

"If this does not work Ms. Gupta, you and your company will be in lot of trouble." Arnav started getting up from his chair. "Remember that."

Following the silence of few seconds, everyone's face apparently almost burst into silent applause. Eyeing everyone, Arnav started to leave the boardroom and his eyes rested on the girl's face. She was beaming it must be an achievement for her to get her idea approved by the CEO of AR Industries. As her eyes met his, she froze. Arnav smirked at her and shrugged as a gesture to remind her of the consequence of failure.

Half an hour later, Arnav was having lunch in his cabin. He always allowed him a 20 minutes lunch break everyday when he did not take any official call. 20 minutes for himself only. And today, these 20 minutes were all about office because a certain Khushi Kumari Gupta kept crawling inside his brains. The first time he had met her two days back, all he could think was what made Mr. Sharma choose this girl to assist him in this campaign. She was young and she did not portray much professional etiquette. She was cultured though but did not fit in the corporate environment. She was attending the meetings in chudidars which was very unlikely in the industry. Arnav secretly appreciated her fashion sense though; she somehow managed to look professional even in her colorful chudidars. Added to that, she was pretty. No discussion on that was needed. And seemingly, she had brains too.

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Khushi was damn excited as her idea was approved. This was indeed her greatest achievement in her six month's career. Added to that, the approval came from Arnav Singh Raizada. Did she just miss a heart beat? Khushi giggled incessantly checking her reflection in the mirror in the ladies room. Why she was feeling like a bloody teenager with a celebrity crush, she had no idea. Celebrity crush it was! Who had not heard of Arnav Singh Raizada? Everyone knew about the most wanted bachelor of the country.

When Mr. Sharma, the CEO of S&S Industry, had asked her to join the team to work with AR Industries, her heart had leapt with excitement. She knew he was the man in demand, but what had excited her more at that point was he was any corporate professional's dream come true. She had read all about his ventures and she really admired this self-made man. However, the admiration took a different dimension as soon as she met him. Their first formal handshake had made her knees weak the moment her small palm had been lost inside his strong, large palm.

Over the last two days, she had tried her best to be in full control but his demeanor was breaking through her shield. She had to often force herself to concentrate on business solely she understood very well what made girls go crazy after him. That killing smirk! She felt lucky that she got smirked on by him!

Khushi joined Lucknow based S&S Industry as a mere intern. She knew she did not look like the other girls in the profession but she had what the business needs- brains. She knew her brains did not necessarily always work in the most anticipated manner but that exactly was her plus point. With her dedication, hard work & innovative ways of solving problems, she was made permanent after 3 months. And after another 3 months, she was selected as the core project member to work with AR Industries. They flew to Delhi for their 3 day meeting with the AR team. After that, Khushi would use the opportunity to meet with two other Delhi-based clients in the next 4 days.

While the rest of the team was staying at AR Guest House, Khushi chose to stay in a hotel to feel comfortable during this weeklong trip, since she was the only female delegate. The first night away from home was horrible. She could not wait to just run away to her Amma, Bauji & Jiji without whom she had never spent a night till date. But the next night was better or may be worse. All she could think of was Arnav Singh Raizda how he talked, moved, walked, drank, glanced, shrugged, glared, sneered .. The night following was no better and Khushi was scared what would happen to her tonight. He smirked at her! And the way he gestured her was he throwing a challenge or was he just turning her on?

"What the f***, Khushi," Khushi groaned. And again she broke into laughter. It has taken her only a day to pick that up from that handsome, ruthless man who did not seem to bother about anything in this world. She was sure every woman who ever met him went crazy like a little girl in love. He was one lucky man gifted with this irresistible aura and Khushi was consciously basking in that. She felt a bit sad because their project meeting had come to an end and she might not meet him ever again.

She had no idea, on the other side of the wall, Arnav Singh Raizada was too basking in something pleasant - her slender figure, long locks, honey eyes, butter cream skin & petal like lips. His lunch was colder than usual but he did not notice.