Quite often we are left to wonder

What does a demon' look like

An ugly-faced man or something wicked than that

Another instance of devil in disguise.

The world created devil?

Like it created god?

Or is everything only a myth

Only self-created odds?

But demon does exist

Not in the form any devil face

But only in the form of 'words'' from the human mouth

Ones that can put everything at stake.

So think before you speak,

Because your words echo loud

You never know what damage it can cost you

When it can turn joy into shroud.

''I want that girl out of my office. Period.''

Arnav gritted for the nth time, while Aman too remained consistent in denying what Arnav was proposing.

For Aman knew that Arnav was anything but someone with a rationale at this moment.

Ever since the morning incident, Arnav did only one thing: Hurl abuses at the new girl, Khushi Gupta.

And those abuses came in the form of adjectives directed towards her, some of which included, 'immature,'' 'stupid,'' 'careless,'' so on and so forth.

While Aman had always maintained a fine demarcation between what he shared with Arnav personally as a friend and their professional lives, today for once he was sure as hell that he would be more of Arnav's friend than his colleague.

''Whatever happened is no reason to fire her, Arnav. You are being unreasonable.''

He worded his thoughts making Arnav snap at him instantly.

''Oh yeah? Then fine. Doesn't matter if I am being unreasonable. It's better than being stupid, which exactly defines that chick! No manners, nothing. Who even hired her here in the first place? I thought we were looking for real deserving candidates.''

Aman sighed hearing his best friend cum boss' words.

After a dramatic pause, he averred,

''Well, first to answer your question, I hired her. And secondly, yes, I distinctly remember that we are to take only the best of best for this branch of AR, and that is exactly why I chose her in the first place. If you don't believe me, you can see her application designs for yourself. Being a fresher, she is beyond ordinary. And lastly, you do know it right that I won't get any added advantage by defending her? She is not my sister or girlfriend, all right? So it is purely based on her work that I am rooting for her. I am sure she will be an asset for the company as she learns more here.''

Arnav rolled his eyes as he heard Aman say so much.

Yes, he agreed that Aman had no ulterior motives in defending Khushi or anyone else in this office for that matter given that he was as professional as Arnav when it came to work-related matters. But amidst all this, he couldn't forgo the morning scene and the dare of that chit of a girl to embarrass him in front of his clients and if that wasn't enough, she had the bloody audacity of calling him ''Mean monster.''

And that vexed Arnav all the more.

The little calm that had taken over him vanished in a jiffy and he was the intimidating ASR once again.

Clenching his fists, he barked,

''Talent isn't enough Aman! One must know this thing called manners. And as far as that girl is concerned, she was never taught that.''

Aman had had enough.

Tossing a file on the other side of the desk, he turned to face Arnav, and said in a no-nonsense tone,

''ASR, you are forgetting that she is a fresher. And from what I know of her, she belongs to a very aristocratic family in Pennsylvania, and from her status, she doesn't even need to work. Her application essay had clearly stated that she wanted to do something on her own and designing's her passion and that's precisely why she applied here.''

He took a brief pause and then continued,

''I agree what she did was completely immature, but kicking her out for that is no justice. Because if we recall in retrospect, we have committed far more blunders on our first days at work, isn't it?''

Aman deliberately added the last part, knowing very well that Arnav would relate.

After all, how could he forget how petrified Arnav was on his first day at his father's office back in AR, Delhi, and how many blunders he had committed?

But little did Aman know that the mere mention of anything related remotely to the Raizadas could make Arnav snap so vehemently.

''WE COME TO WORK HERE AMAN. NOT TO DO MORAL PREACHING. MY DECISION IS FINAL. THAT GIRL WON'T WORK HERE.''

Arnav decided with finality in his tone and throwing a callous glance at Aman, he was all set to walk out of the room when suddenly Aman's stern voice stopped him in his tracks,

''And here I thought that if not anything, you could at least distinguish between your personal problems and professional life properly!''

He deliberately kept his tone mocking-like, for he knew that would pang Arnav somewhere. And he was totally right, for the next second, he saw Arnav turn to face him, his eyes shooting daggers at Aman.

''I do know how to distinguish between my personal and professional life Aman. Don't you dare give me that piece of shit!''

He averred in a deadly tone, making Aman laugh faintly.

Arnav took it as an insult and was only going to retort when he heard Aman say,

''Your mom called you 21 times before the morning meeting started and the incident happened in the conference room, isn't it?''

To say Arnav was shocked would be an understatement.

How did Aman even know?

But who was he kidding, of course, his mom would have called Aman when she couldn't reach Arnav.

His jaws clenched and he tried to control his boiling anger, before spitting out,

''THAT has nothing to do with whatever happened in the conference room, Aman.''

.

''Are you telling that to me, or to yourself?''

Aman reasoned.

And there he almost caught the elusive Arnav Singh Raizada in his trap of words. But it wasn't going to last long and he knew that very well.

So as quickly as he could, he stated,

''Look Arnav, I don't want to prove anything to you and neither do I need to. I don't even want to interfere with your family and you. I don't even want to defend Khushi Gupta for what she did. But all I am trying to say here is, let's not cloud our judgment with things from our personal lives and damage our professional sphere.''

For the first time, Arnav didn't react aggressively at Aman's words in the past two hours.

Aman took it as a positive sign and added,

'She is here to learn like we all did one day in the past. We will see if she does well, if not, we can chalk her out. But let's give her at least a month's time, before being so harsh on her or any other fresher for that matter, hm?''

Aman waited with bated breath, knowing that he had done all that he could, and if now too Arnav didn't agree, there wasn't much for him to do then.

But to thank his stars, all he got from Arnav as a reply was,

''Whatever!''

And with that blunt reply, the mighty ASR stormed out of his cabin, leaving a softly smiling Aman behind.

''Well, in ASR's dictionary, 'whatever' is a decent word for the start.''

He chuckled as he too walked out of the cabin.

.

Words can damage

Words can repair

Words can cause

And pull you out of despair.

The wicked words possess

A power so supreme

They can make, they can break

An individual or a team.

And sometimes they hurt

A little too bad

Can there be a solution?

To tame a monster so mad?

''Mean monster!''

Khushi muttered for the 43rd time as she tried different colour combinations for the assignment she was working on, making Kartika chuckle yet again.

''Khushi darling, I guess it is time for you to come up with a new nickname for the boss. You said this one way too many times.''

Kartika said with a smile while working on her computer.

''Oh god Kartika. Please don't make fun of me! This is such a bad day already. A puppy was about to get killed under the wheels, Mr. Snuggles got bullied publically, my boss turned out to be a mean monster, god knows what more is left!''

She said dramatically, rolling her eyes and throwing her hands here and there animatedly as if that was validating her points more.

Kartika found this newfound colleague slash friend of hers adorable.

She couldn't even believe today was the first day that she met her, for the girl had a cauldron of positivity oozing out from her existence, her face, features, words, everything. And for the very same reason, she felt bad about the scene from the morning.

But being the mature lady she had always been, she said in a convincing tone,

''See, I have interned at AR's New York office last summer, and from what I know of ASR, he is very short-tempered, manipulative, and at the same time a playboy.''

Khushi listened carefully to whatever Kartika was saying, and at the mention of the adjective ''playboy,'' she rolled her eyes and said,

''Either he knows voodoo kinda black magic or girls are just blind.''

Kartika's eyes opened wide in shock and soon that shock turned into giggles as she asked Khushi the reason she was saying so,

''Uff''

Khushi dramatically tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and said,

''The first possibility, he knows Voodoo is because, normally no girl would like to date such a dangerous monster, right? So, to get some girls on-board, he might have cast some evil spell to attract them towards him. And if that's not the case, then the second one has to be the possibility of those girls having poor vision. Else how can someone in their right sight and mind date a mean monster who doesn't even know how to smile? Grrr, if I had to date someone like that, I would rather prefer Snow White's evil stepmom feeding me a toxic apple and me going into a slumber forever.''

This time Kartika had to stifle her chuckles with her palm, for she didn't want their fellow colleagues to know what they were talking about. But could she deny she felt amazing meeting this girl, who had humour in almost everything she spoke? Not at all.

And so after her half-stifled, half-escaped chuckles subsided, she said to Khushi softly,

''You are too funny, Khushi. It's really amazing being in your company.''

Khushi flashed her million-dollar smile at that token of appreciation from her new friend, and that is when Kartika added,

''However, no matter how much hot-headed ASR was before, I think there's something more that we don't know. I mean, everyone in the new office here has noticed that his temper has increased tenfold. I guess it is because of some personal issue.''

Kartika got back to her work, while Khushi suddenly felt lost in some thoughts.

Yes, the mean monster was terrible, scary, and really, really bad to her, but if he was really being affected by some personal issue that made him this scary to others, then it was not fair to him.

''Nobody deserves to be sad.''

She mumbled to herself, before brushing away her thoughts and focusing once again on her assignment.

.

.

Deny or don't

But who can stop destiny?

Can we write it with our own hands?

Or is it the universe's old little tyranny?

So what does it plan now?

What does it seek?

Will it make you stronger?

Or push you further to become weak?

Truth be told,

Maybe even the universe doesn't know yet

Hate or love, smile or tears,

A bond to rejoice or simply regret?

.

It had been such a long day and all Arnav wanted to do was get home now.

Although he knew that even after going home, he would delve into some files, but before that he would take a warm shower, to relax his muscles after all the fiasco that he dealt with today.

The recollection of the fact instantly made him recall the incident from morning.

The person from the morning to be precise.

''KHUSHI GUPTA.''

He gritted the name he grew to unreasonably resent, when suddenly as if on cue, as soon as he put his key into the ignition, he heard a female voice say,

''HAN?''

.

.

''What the?''

He remarked in shock as he heard the voice and instantly recognized it to be the one from the morning, the same stupid chick, Khushi Gupta's.

What astounded him further was the fact that the voice came from below his car, making his eyes grow wide in shock, and he instantly pushed his side of the door open and stormed out.

What he saw next knocked him out of his senses.

.

.

Not caring about her designer dress getting ruined, nor the dirt from the parking lot's floor touching her hands, Khushi Gupta sat on her knees, bent, and looked carefully under the car, as if searching for the hope diamond, and so oblivious was she to her surrounding, that she didn't even notice it was Arnav's car's underneath that she was in.

Showing no surprise, no shock, she got up and went on to do the same to the next car that was parked in the area, bowing down on her knees, looking for something under the cars.

''WHAT THE HELL?''

Arnav muttered to himself, but his stern voice was loud enough for Khushi to her, and she instantly looked up from the ground she was kneeling on, and her hazel eyes finally met the inquisitive, dangerous chocolate brown eyes of someone she had christened ''Mean Monster.''

.

.

''Miss. Gupta! What the hell are you doing there?''

He asked in a loud, no-nonsense tone, while she only looked at him as if a little mouse caught by the owner of the house, and said in her usual chirpy but soft voice,

''Looking for puppies or kitties.''

''What the?''

Arnav's eyes grew wide like saucers, hearing her give her reason for doing what she was doing, and more than that what shocked him more was the terms she used.

''Kitties?''

''God! Is this girl for real?''

He muttered to himself, as he saw her once again shift to another car and repeat the ritual of looking for her ''puppies and kitties.''

When he saw her pay no heed to his presence here, he said in a tone little louder than usual,

''Why? Do you want to transform those puppies and kitties into some new fluffy toys of yours, like the one cotton ball I threw in the morning?''

Khushi's mouth flung open at that remark, and she instantly stood up and looked at him.

Her eyes, shining dramatically at the dare of this man to even think she could harm animals, and to add to that, calling Mr. Snuggles some ''cotton ball,'' made her hell irked.

And if that wasn't enough, she noticed a smirk on that Mean Monster's face, as if he was trying to insult her all the more.

And so without further ado, she retorted,

''Well, you might be a heartless monster, but I have a very kind heart. And just so you know, your office's parking area has zilch safety and security!''

Her tone and accusation made Arnav grit his teeth and before he could say anything, he heard her add,

''Today morning only a little puppy was about to get crushed under the wheels of a vehicle. If  Kartika and I hadn't come here before the conference, that puppy would have died!''

Arnav noticed how her eyes got suddenly moist as she spoke the last words.

Oh god, so this stupid, crazy woman was not just stupid and crazy, but also overly sensitive! He noted mentally.

''And just so you know, Mr. ASR, my toys are not some ''fluffy cotton balls,'' they have names. And the one you mercilessly threw this morning, is Mr. Snuggles.''

She said with pride as if she had carried Mr. Snuggles nine months in her womb and given birth to him, and the way she said it with such a theatrical tinge, Arnav couldn't help but tried hard to stifle an unceremonious chuckle.

As he watched her turn her face away, heading towards another set of cars, he noticed how late it was.

This girl was really a sample of extreme madness, he thought.

And so, being the relatively reasonable person of the hour, he said,

''Miss. Gupta, I pay you to work here inside my office, not for doing parking duty. But if you do wish to take up that job, you can switch places from tomorrow. But for now, JUST GO HOME.''

He said the last three words in a commanding tone, making Khushi shudder a bit.

But Khushi was Khushi.

She never took orders from anybody. She was the princess of joy, and nobody dared to tell her what to do and what not to do.

Even if it was the ever mean Arnav Singh Raizada.

So Khushi acted as if she didn't hear anything that Arnav said, and walked towards the other section of cars, and Arnav was left spellbound.

Gritting his teeth, all he managed to say was

"UNBELIEVABLE.''

Shooting daggers at her, he roughly took out his cell phone from his pocket and rang the security guard.

After two rings, the person from the other end received his call.

''BEN, I need you to come to the parking lot right now. Check whether there are any strays under the cars, and as soon as you are done checking it, there's a mental woman, aged 20/21, in a floral knee-length dress, make sure you make her sit in her car or a cab and watch carefully till she drives off. CLEAR?''

Khushi's mouth flung open as she heard the last part of Arnav's order to the security, and before she could even draft anything verbally, Arnav shot her a piercing look, got inside his car, and drove away in a reckless speed, as if his car's accelerator was being the illustrator of his anger.

''Well, at least he told the guard to check for strays under the cars.''

She said, with a second analysis and felt perfectly happy to end her day on that positive note.

After all, that is what Khushi was all about.

Finding joy even in the derision.

**