Chapter 6 - Betrayal?
Her eyes pinched open as the sun rised, piercing it's lights through her curtains, she fixated her eyes on the golden shiny shadows surfacing through her room.
Another day, another chance.
Normally Roshni would wake up as soon as her eyes shot open, but today she felt a rush through her body. As she breathed in, she sensed her lungs being filled with the clean air giving her more energy than before.
The sun was supposed to be relaxing, It was a way people was supposed to find peace in, but nothing worked for her. It captivated her eyes sure, but nothing else.
She stayed on the bed, deep into her flustered thoughts, when the emptiness began to take over.
Her mind had a million thoughts constantly running through them, but not one of them gave a sense of fulfilment. It wandered off to yesterday, walking through the dark, streets with no one around.
The thumping rain, falling on her rosy cheeks, it made her feel alive.
Guess she had become too comfortable being by herself. Except, of course, he was there, but it didn't feel too burdening. She bit her lips nervously, when the memory of giggling at him singing came up.
If only he knew, that was the most she'd laugh in a long time. The sincerest smile.
Again, her insides fluttered at the thought of him. There was something unavoidable about his presence. She has only known him for two days, yet his words affected her.
"Let go", it echoed throughout her mind.
What did he mean by it? Being the usual defensive self, she jumped to the conclusion, that he was a bad influence and it was better to just stay away. He was immature, and she couldn't let him become a barrier between her and her work.
"Talking of work, this was going to be a long day.", she thought.
She immediately got out of bed, and decided to make the most of her peaceful morning because soon it would be disturbed by him. His annoying little tantrums, life advice, his habits. It irked her.
She brushed the thoughts out of her head and got ready wearing a black jumpsuit with black heels. Her silky hair was adorned in a low sleek ponytail. Satisfied with how she was looking, she went down the stairs to see her mom already seated there waiting for her.
"Good morning", she chirped.
"Morning mom.. what's for breakfast?"
"Oatmeal and fruits, just how you like it"
"Great", she sat down and ate.
"Sooo...", her mom's face brightened up.
"Soo what?"
"So how was the party yesterday?!".
Roshni's eyes widened at how excited she seemed. "Umm it was okay"
"Just okay?", her mom raised her eyebrows suspiciously.
"What else do you want me to say?"
DD grabbed her hands, and pulled her chair closer to face hers, "Look Roshni, I just want you to know that, it's okay if you want to date your business partner. We can even start planning your marriage if you want."
"HUH?!!", Roshni screamed in horror as she choked on her fruits. She began to cough non stop, until her eyes lined up with tears.
"Don't act so innocent. I saw him dropping you home last night, and you were smiling"
"Have you been spying on me?"
"What spying? I'm your mother, I'm allowed to know what you're doing and with who you're doing"
"Ughhh mom stop. He's the last person I'd ever date, and forget that, I don't even want to date. He just offered to drop me home and that's it", she shook her head in denial.
"Alright, say what you want sweetheart. Your glistening expressions said otherwise last night", she smirked.
Roshni exhaled to calm herself, "You need to stop making these meaningless assumptions."
"Okay okay. Eat, you have a long day ahead"
Roshni glared at her mom, she knew her mom didn't believe her. It was kind of irritating that she felt excited about both of them being together.
Roshni only hoped, she wouldn't disappoint her mom because she would never date anyone, forget Siddharth.
"See you later", she kissed her mom on the cheek before going.
*
"Ms.Patel finally decided to show up", Siddharth whirled around in Roshni's chair in her office.
Roshni clenched her teeth, no one ever dared to sit in her seat. She marched over, ignoring his playful look and signalled him to get up.
"Move", she demanded.
"Nope. We're partners now. I have a right on this chair too".
"It's my chair!!"
"And you say I'm the child.", he teased.
"Why are you so stubborn Siddharth, at least let me be in peace today"
"You're talking as if you didn't enjoy our little rain moment yesterday", he winked observing her expressions going from frustration to nothing.
"No I didn't, it was annoying."
"Awww and here I thought we were becoming friends", he pouted.
"Are you going to get up or do you want me to throw you out of this chair"
Siddharth cracked up loudly making Roshni stare at him, as if he was a mental patient.
"What's so funny?"
"You think you can throw me out of this chair. That's cute".
"Are you challenging me?", she gave a dangerous look.
"I mean, I'd like to see you try", he looked on in amusement.
Roshni took a step forward to the white, silky, chair and clutched the handles with her hands. She started groaning, putting all her strength in reversing the chair, so he would fall down.
He crossed his legs in humour, and pretended to not feel her pushing him.
"Are you even trying?", he mocked her.
"Just get out Siddharth. We have work to do"
"So? You can just sit on the other chair.", he pointed to the black chairs in front of him.
Roshni carefully stepped back in her heels, and darted back to the chair kicking it as hard as she could. The chair knocked over on the floor, breaking the metal handles on the side with Siddharth sliding down on the floor.
"What is wrong with you?!! I could've broken my back", he shouted.
"Awww did little Siddharth fall over? I thought you said, I couldn't throw you out.", she mischievously teased.
"You are a dangerous woman".
"I know, thanks".
"It wasn't a compliment"
"It was for me", she sneered.
She picked up the chair, and sat down in victory leaving Siddharth on the floor.
"By the way, this suits you. I think you should stick to sitting on the ground from now on".
Siddharth bit his lip with no comeback, he really thought she wasn't strong enough to even move the chair. Suddenly the door flew open, with Roshni's secretary standing at the door.
Vicky, quietly walked in stifling her laugh as she saw Siddharth laying on the floor.
She handed Roshni a file and proceeded to go out while gawking at Siddharth. A cringy awkward emotion ran through Siddharth.
He frantically got up, and grasped one of the other chairs to sit on. Roshni didn't pay any attention and just read her files, ignoring his presence.
"I need to stay away from you, who knows, you might kill me", he said holding his sore back.
"That's a great idea. Finally you got some brain cells".
"Wow, three days in and I've already heard the Roshni Patel make a joke? I must be a great influence"
Roshni's eyes travelled up to his smug face, and she got the urge to slap him.
"Do you ever stop complimenting yourself?"
"It's called self confidence"
"Eww don't start with your stupid life advice again."
"You should consider yourself lucky, I don't usually give out life advice for free".
"Oh really? Then why are you here? You should've been a life coach", she answered back cheekily.
"Was that a compliment?", he grinned.
"Are you going to stop irritating me, if I tell you it was?"
"Hmmm, nope".
She rolled her eyes at him, and started typing on her laptop, indicating it was time to start being serious. Siddharth ushered his seat over to Roshni.
He examined the files that were placed on the table and furrowed his eyebrows.
The figures he was reading shocked him, he took out his phone and hurriedly typed to see a report of her company figures that he received the day before.
"The hell".
"What?", Roshni turned to him.
"I don't get it. How is it possible, your company suffered a huge loss months ago, when here, the profit numbers are quite high"
"What are you talking about", she was bewildered.
"Look at this, the percentage rate, it differs from the one you showed me on our first meeting"
Roshni snatched the files and scrunched up her face looking at the wild figures.
"Okay, I've never seen this file before. Where did you get this?"
"It was on your desk, I thought it was about our jewellery line, but this is your account levels..."
"How is this possible, it was on my desk and I had never even seen this?".
She grew nervous, what must he be thinking about her. That they were frauds, who lied just to get a partnership? That was only half true, yes her attitude and her fake excitement was a lie but otherwise they needed this.
Her mind went off to her mom, she was the one who told her, they needed this and showed her the loss accounts..Did she make a fake one?
"Don't worry, I trust you", he reassured her as if he could hear her thoughts.
"No, I will prove this is wrong to you".
"I told you, there's no need. I can see you're quite professional. Maybe your accounts department just made a mistake"
"A mistake that could've cost us thousands Siddharth."
"You know what. Why don't you stay here, I'll deal with them."
Siddharth felt a bit sorry for the accounts department, he could see Roshni's anger had no limits. He wanted to handle it himself, before world war 3 starts.
"No offence, but how are you going to deal with them? You don't look like you could be strict"
He smiled, "That's because I'm not. Unlike you, I actually know how to get my way without losing my calm"
"Alright we'll see", she folded her hands.
"Then come with me. And remember, don't say a word. I'm the one that's doing the talking"
She silently followed him, to the department, where the head of accounting sat, playing games on his phone instead of working.
Her anger boiled, she should really inspect her workers more often.
Siddharth raised his hand to stop her from starting a scene.
She slammed his hands on the table gaining the man's attention.
The colour disappeared from his face, and he gulped getting up to salute Roshni, everyone deeply feared her.
"What is this behaviour?", Siddharth called out.
"I..umm. I was taking my break sir", he stammered.
"Break? Oh I didn't know, just coming to work itself in the mornings requires a break? Is this what we pay you for?", his voice became intimidating.
Roshni was kind of taken aback,. by how stern and patient he sounded at the same time. She thought, he would make some jokes here and there, and start talking about something non work related.
"I'm sorry Sir", he bent his head down.
"Not to me. To her. And she has something to ask you."
"WHY THE HELL, is there two different profit and loss accounts?! , Roshni asked infuriated gritting her teeth.
'Wow, this woman really has no control', Siddharth thought.
Here he thought, he would be able to show her, a way of talking calmly to the workers, but she took a completely different approach.
The man looked like he was about to cry, making Siddharth closed his eyes in despair. He respected his workers, and he could never shout at them like that.
Of course Roshni had immense appreciation for hers too, but she sure had a funny way of showing it.
"Actually ma'am, I can't say", he avoided the question.
Roshni stood closer, harshly and replied, "Do you care about your job?".
He fiddled with his hands in an attempt to relax his emotions, "I can't tell you. You can fire me, it's fine"
"Wow, such loyality", Siddharth clapped.
Roshni gave him a 'are you serious' look, to which Siddharth shrugged.
"Come on man, just save all of our ears from getting damaged and tell us who you did this for", Siddharth moaned.
He was sure, his eardrums would've bursted if Roshni shrieked again.
"I can't say", he avoided eye contact with Roshni.
"You're one of my brightest employees Mr.Brown, it'll be a shame to see you go. I know about your family's situation. Trust me even I don't want to fire you, but you're leaving me with no choice..", she warned.
He seemed to be taken aback by her mention of his family. On second thoughts, he needed this job. "Okay I'll tell you...A few months ago DD ma'am came to me and told me to make a duplicate account, except with a negative figure instead of the real one", he blurted out.
"Crap", Siddharth murmured under his breath looking at Roshni.
"Why in the world would my mom, make up these figures about her own company?", she used a degraded perilous tone.
"I swear, I don't know ma'am. I was just following orders", he shook.
Siddharth patted him on his shoulder, signalling him it was okay, and that he would handle it.
Roshni silently returned to her office, followed by Siddharth. She wrecked her head trying to figure out why her mom would fake all this. She composed herself at the office window, breathing in and out slowly.
She hadn't even been in charge yet, at that time, and she remembers her mom running to her with this crisis.
Her mom appeared to be genuinely worried about their company's sudden failure hence putting the responsibility in Roshni's hands.
From that day on, Roshni made a decision to uphold her mom's legacy.
Memories conjured back in her head making a realisation just click into her mind, and everything just fell into place.
She distressingly turned around and scanned Siddharth's face. Her eyes widened, as she banged the window.
"That's why she did it", she whispered.
Betrayed. That's all she felt.
♡
Can anyone guess why DD would lie about the company and force this partnership? What are her intentions?
Also who watched Jamai2.0 S2? How did you find it? 😍 if you haven't, i totally recommend it, definitely better than S1!
If anyone does want a Roshni's POV or Siddharth's POV, then you can say, and I'll try. Also I might be updating a bit more frequently from now on, it depends.
If you want to know more about updates and get edits based on the chapters, you can find them on my instagram page @cxmcreations
Thank you for reading! ❤️
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