||CHAPTER 70||
《¤》

The sealed folder rested on my lap while I tried to beat my last high score record of Temple Run. It had been months since I last played the game, but considering the fact that I had not reached any circumstance that required me to spend a gem yet, I was doing pretty well.

The door to Mr. Chaudhry's cabin opened shortly after High Score flashed on my screen, hence pressing on the power button, I slid my phone inside my pockets.

"Good evening," he nodded. "I apologise for making you wait here."

He was younger than I had thought he would be. Probably in his late twenties, or early thirties.
"That would have been an issue if my father were to drop these personally," I rose, signalling towards the folder.

Trying to be polite, I shook his hand that he extended once he stood behind his desk. "Swayam Chaudhry."

"Arvika Deewan."

He was one of those people who gave  firm handshakes. His smile was clipped at the edge. "Oh, I had been expecting you."

Passing him the folder, I sat on my chair. "Do you go on smoke breaks often?"

He was not taken aback, but he let out a nervous chuckle. "I was not on a break. I had some issues to look over."

"Chill," I twirled the chair to face the wall on my right. It held framed certificates, oil paintings, and a hidden camera somewhere. "I'm not here to snoop around or check up on what's going on. Take as many breaks as you want, I'm not the boss."

"But you're the boss' kid. Doesn't make much of a difference," he joked, trying to ease the professional tension.

"Hence, I have a favour to ask," I jumped straight to the point. "I require the keys to the roof-top swimming pool, and I want it off-records."

Queasy, and slightly uncomfortable, he denied. "That's not possible. It's against the company policies."

"But so is slacking off at work, and indulging in relationships with your employees, and that is exactly what has been happening here," I shrugged, nonchalantly.

The causality with which I had spoken was testimony to the fact that I was not lying. "Look, let's make it clichè and keep the rules easy. I won't tell your boss about it if you don't let my Dad hear anything about this."

He was a tough nut to crack. He didn't budge.

"Come on Sir," I whirled on the revolving chair. "I'm a kid, let me enjoy my vacation. And won't it be fun for you to parade freely around your work place, breaking a rule or two at the same time?"

Mr. Chaudhry took a deep breath in, contemplating about the offer. I smiled at the hidden camera. Picking up the receiver of the intercom on his desk, he commanded someone to bring in the keys.

"Keep me and my staff out of it."

"Then how am I going to show off? Hello? It's my hotel."

"I'm risking my job here."

I did not want to be rude, so I did not point out that slacking off and breaking the company policy had given him a head start already. So I shrugged and got up. "Please mail my father after you've gone through the papers. And don't fire the employees whom you suspect for giving me access to insider's gossip. Simply make them tend to us at the pool-party. It'll be a win-win situation for all of us."

He gave me a mandatory smile, and I returned it, politely. "One thirty, the party starts. Please make sure my classmates have an amazing experience."

I closed the door behind me after walking out of his cabin. The hallway, like last time, was empty. The main admin office was on the opposite side of the main building, which explained the lack of activity here, but not the agitated voices that seemed to increase in volume as I headed towards the elevator.

"It's killing me, okay?" It was Ishita. "I know it is going to hurt her, but hiding it is not making me feel any better. Kab taq chhupayenge uss sey?"

"I don't know-jab taq sahi time nahi aatha? Just... just go with the flow, okay?"

"Go with the flow? Are you being serious Vansh? Best friend hai woh meri! When she comes to know she is going to burst out, okay? We need to tell her!"

"Ussey ye sab chhupane ka idea tera tha, Ishita," Vansh defended himself. "Saturday ko tu ayi thi Karan aur Ritwik ko lekar mere ghar. You asked me not to breathe a word about it around her. And for god sake, stop this Best friend wala natak. Why did you fucking sign the papers when you knew ki 'best friend hai woh teri'?"

"Why are you being so cold, huh? Tera bhi uske saath scene tha na? Before your family approached me for the goddamn merger, it was her they had selected. You liked her. You are betraying her as much as... as I am."

"And now I am supposed to like you. Decide kar le tujhe karna kya hai Ishita. The way your mother is keeping tabs on us, I doubt Arvika won't come to know about this merger deal. Fikar tujhe bas apne reputation ki ho rahi hai kyuki agar usko pata chala, you know very well she can ruin you."

Foreign described the feeling that consumed me in the next few moments when Ishita failed to answer. Nasty described the feeling that consumed me when their conversation actually registered. Hurt described the emotion that consumed me when I put two and two together and tried to extract the meaning of it. 

"Awful," Ishita said in a low voice. She had her back turned towards me. "You're awful, Vansh."

"Try telling that to the mirror too. It'll make complete sense," Vansh retorted right before his eyes fell on me. "Shit."

Following his gaze, Ishita's back tensed. Slowly, she turned around. A shiver ran down my spine. "Arvika..."

I counted to ten, I waited for the rage to overcome my sanity. I waited for the angst to consume me. I waited for the moment I was supposedly going to ruin her. But it didn't. For some reason, right now, I was not going to give any one the satisfaction of giving into their thoughts about me. I was not going to burst out.

"Arvika, listen-" Vansh spoke, dishevelled. "-we can explain-"

I shrugged, biting my lip. "But... I can read between the lines."

"Vickey-"

"-I won't ruin you Ishita even if you don't call me that."

They did not dare to look at each other, and they did not dare to take a step towards me.

I smiled, hoping it at least looked genuine. "In fact, you know what? Congrats. No, seriously," I added when their distraught expression did not look cynically entertaining anymore. "Tum log bohot daring ho yaar. Taking up this merger wala deal, really daring. Mujhse tho nahi ho paya. in fact, I think aaj raat ki pool party tum logo ke naam honi chahiye." Pointing my thumb towards the direction of Mr. Rathod's office, I continued. "Maine baath kar lee hai. Do me a favour, will you? Sabko bol dena ki one-thirty ko upar aaye, and paanch bajne se pehele dafa ho jaye."

I wish I could hug them, but I was not that strong. So, I walked into the elevator instead. They must have had forgotten that my brain was my defence mechanism.

"You've been drinking water and frequenting the washroom for the past two hours," Arnav followed me into the kitchen. "Are you okay? Do you want me to get you some medicines?"

"Just keeping myself hydrated," I grabbed another bottle of water. I was not going to shed some stupid tears over the matter that didn't concern me anymore. "Thodi der me pool-party hai na. You should drink some water too. It'll be helpful for the booze."

"Rachit and Shayan got the booze in bottles of mineral water, Vika. It looks like urine, and honestly, I won't be surprised agar usme urine hi ho. Bewakoof hai woh log."

"Tho kisney bola unka 'peey jal' gatakne ko? Apna hotel hai, fayda uttha."

He raised his eyebrows at me and I stared back. He narrowed his eyes at me, and I smirked in response.

"You did not..."

"Oh, but I did."

He shook his head, laughing. "Isiliye tu Rathod se milne gayi thi?"

"Sunehra mauka chhod dena bewakoofi hai."

"And is sunehre mauke ki jaankari Dad ko pata chali tho kya hoga?"

"Dad knows about it. Hidden cameras thhe andar. And he needed to recheck whether I had delivered the file or not. I even winked at the camera. If anything, Dad should be so goddamn proud of me because I'm really good at spouting non-sense and getting my work done."

"What did you do?" He sounded sceptic.

I giggled, climbing on top of the counter. "I followed the basic story line of every romance story based off on work place. Pehele I didn't think it would work, but then I realised it was called clichè for a reason. In fact woh un staff ko bhejega upar arrangements ke liye jiske saath uska lafda hai. So, basically, no one loses here. Profit margin? Increased. Loss? Eliminated."

He blinked once before sighing. "Someone please explain to me why we're related?" He muttered under his breath.

"It's got something to do with Biology and our parents doing the dirty, and itna paani peeke mujhe tere upar ulti karne me koi taqleef nahi hogi," I explained studiously.

He passed me a disapproving look to shut me up, and started the coffee machine. Silently, I watched him grab a mug and place it in the machine. I did not know whether I could trust him, all five of them had hidden it from me, but it was no shocker that each one of us were hiding something from the other. We kept each other close by not getting closer, and we tried to escape the guilt by trying to hide our dirty secrets.

But I wanted to confide in him. I wanted to confide in someone who did not think sympathy was the first step to betrayal.

"You should stop hating on Ishita."

He did not respond immediately, watching the coffee fill to the brim of the mug. "I did not expect you to see the good in bad people."

"I came to know," I shrugged. "About what happened."

"Pleasant," he scoffed. "Both of us trusted the wrong people. Both of us lost our best friends."

This was not the apt moment for a high-five, but I'm glad we could toast to such an occasion.

_____

Namoshtaii!

So your speculations about the sequel's naamkaran was hilarious, but I admit I struggled with the name in the beginning as well, mostly like you. I mean, Dil Jaanta Hai ke baad kya? Dil Jaanna Chahega? No. Because that is the interview session's name. Dil Jaanta Tha? Ugh, no. Dil Jaan Gaya? That was actually funny, and slightly obnoxious. 

But anyhoo, you guys were actually pretty close to the real name, so kudos to you man! I promised you guys that I was going to reveal the name in the next update (and I wish I had the new aesthetic cover made for this purpose, but okay, @Soni_18x is helping me with that), so here we go:

This was obviously made when my pen name was still midnight_coffee, and I haven't edited the cover yet because this is not what the cover is going to be like. So, yeah. What are your thoughts about the sequel's name lmao?

Three more chapters. Are you excited?

Read, vote, comment, promote!

~chaashnee