"Hai Re Nandakishore, kaha reh gayi hai ye ladki." Madhumathi was calling Khushi pacing the balcony from one end to the other end, all worried. She has never been this late.

It was late in the night in the darks of Delhi when in one corner of the city, Khushi relaxed in her chair in the small moonlit cabin of hers, after completing her work. She had been sitting straight for hours busy with her work. She admired the final result of her art with a small smile.

Her phone buzzed, pulling her out of her admiring session. It was her Buaji, ranting about her lateness. Khushi sighed, it had been a busy day and she had lost track of time.

"Sorry, Buaji. I'll be home soon. Bye." She said, biting her lip as Buaji began one more round of scolding. She sent her live location to Buaji to ease her worries and cut the call, hurriedly packed her things and left the office.

Buaji is the only one for her. Her parents had passed away in an accident 13 years ago. She was the only child to her parents living happily in Gupta Havel in Lucknow and when they passed away, her world crashed down. She was just 12 years old. There was no one apart from Madhumathi, her father's elder sister in her family. From then on, she was adopted and brought up by her Buaji, Madhumathi and her husband, Chandan Mishra who was working as an Assistant Loco Pilot.

After a few years, just as Khushi completed her 10th, Chandan was promoted to loco pilot and has been working for over 5 years as a LP years before passing away in a train accident where not just her husband, but hundreds of people died.

Khushi and Madhumathi were devastated. People even cursed Khushi calling her a bad omen. But Madhumathi shut them up and shifted to Delhi from Chandigarh selling their house.

She bought a house for them in Delhi and made her baby study with the pension she gets from the government. They slowly came out of the trauma. Education and Scholarship benefits from railways had been useful for her niece. She completed her masters and now has two years experience in her desired field. Although she could get a railway job easily, her interest didn't lie there and Madhumathi understood her. After what happened with her husband, she didn't want any railway job for her niece as well. Her baby will do what she loves. The medical benefits and pension from railways made her finances easy. The rent from Gupta Haveli and the money and property invested by Shashi and Garima Gupta are safe in Khushi's name and so is her property and her late husband's assets.

After all, Khushi is all she has.

Halfway home, she realized she had forgotten an important file. Cursing her forgetfulness, she turned around and headed back to the office.

'Dreams & Glitters' is a small company of Fashion and Jewels owned by her boss, Lisa Kapadia. She works in her company as one of the Jewelry designers. She had been working there as a Jewelry Designer for two years, honing her skills and aiming for a higher role in a multinational corporation.

"Where's the file?" she mumbles in her mind and looks for it for a minute before finding it in the drawer. She grins at the file keeping it in her handbag and was about to move out of the office when she noticed a faint light in Lisa Kapadia's cabin.

Doubting it to be predator or thief, she stealthily moves towards the open cabin. There's indeed a man who, with a torch, is searching for something in Lisa's cabin.

She widens her eyes at the man whose back is facing her. When she saw that man opening one of the drawers and getting some files, she pounced on his back.

"What the!" he mutters, sensing a soft punch on his back.

Khushi becomes shocked listening to his words. Can a thief be educated enough to curse in English? Or is this an Educated thief? If he's educated, why steal?

She looked at him as he turned towards her and she stood still in her place, taking a deep breath after her eyes took a look at the handsome face of a man.

The image of the thief had always been painted in her mind as a rugged individual with shabby clothes. But the reality stood starkly different. The man she encountered was clad in a sophisticated suit, his face clean-shaven, and his hair neatly gelled. The dim glow of the torchlight and the soft luminescence of the moonlight had offered her this unexpected revelation.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" she asked coming out of her musings and before she could get a chance to say anything else to Arnav who had been captivated by her beautiful hazel eyes, the sound of footsteps echoed in the silence.

Which brought them back from their mesmerized forms.

Without a moment's hesitation, Arnav pulled Khushi under the desk, swiftly tying her hands and covering her mouth. "Stay silent," he whispered urgently.

Just as Lisa was about to open the door, Arnav slipped out of the open cabin, leaving the hazel-eyed beauty under the desk, and blocked Lisa's entrance into the cabin.

"I'm sorry I got late," Lisa said, her voice filled with regret.

She was scheduled to meet Arnav, her prospective business partner. But it seemed like her delay caused the meeting trouble.

Arnav responded curtly, "You must know I don't like latecomers, Lisa. Let's cancel this deal."

With that, he turned on his heel and walked away - out of the office. Knowing she would follow and that she did.

"ASR, don't do this," Lisa pleaded, trailing after him. "I'm just twenty minutes late, and that's because of the traffic."

Arnav, however, didn't pay heed to her excuses and continued walking. Lisa was desperate; she couldn't afford to lose this deal with AR.

In a final attempt, she pleaded, her voice dropping to a seductive whisper, "I can do anything..."

Arnav paused listening to her words, a smirk playing on his lips.

"This is what I am waiting for," he gestured towards his car, silently inviting her to join him.

As soon as Lisa settled into the car, Arnav patiently waited for her to fasten her seatbelt. While she was preoccupied with adjusting her makeup, he discreetly took out a spray and released it in her direction, holding his breath to avoid inhaling it. Once she was unconscious, he locked the car and stepped out.

He then returned to Khushi, who was still tied up under the desk and cursing him under her breath with her mouth still plastered, her face red with anger.

"I'm sorry," he said with a hint of guilt as he untied her. This girl had nothing to do with what he was here for.

But Khushi was not in the mood to listen. She started berating him, accusing him of being a kidnapper.

"You kidnapper, idiot, stupid, rascal, scoundrel. Ugghhh!!" she beat him on his shoulders pushing him behind.

Arnav remained calm, even as Khushi's accusations grew louder. He tried explaining to her as she continued bashing him. However, she didn't let him even utter a word. Having no choice, he tied her up again ignoring her protests, this time showing her his ID card.

Arnav Singh Raizada

CBI

Designation - Special Officer

It read.

"I'm an undercover agent from the CBI," he revealed.

With the ID card and his revelation, Khushi's tirade stopped. She relaxed, and he untied her once more, leaving her to process the night's unexpected events.

However, the calmness on her face didn't last long.

What if the ID is fake?

Khushi glared at him and he frowning at her glares.

"Now, what's the problem?" he said in his mind.

Ignoring her glares, Arnav led her to another man who was hiding in the shadows. "Take her home," he ordered and before the man could react, they heard Khushi.

"Oh, hello. I am not believing you, okay? How can I believe your ID is not fake?" Khushi tried to protest.

Arnav narrowed his gaze at her.

"Take this." Arnav put the ID card in her hand and continued, "examine it carefully."

The other officer tried to suppress his laughter at Arnav's expression and Khushi's antics, who was busy scanning the ID from all sides.

"Hmm..looks real only, but does not match with Daya's ID design." Khushi murmured loud enough for the men to hear.

Arnav rolled his eyes. "Hogaya?" Arnav snatched his ID card from her hand and Khushi widened her eyes at the sudden action.

"Drop her home." Arnav declared. Aditya was about to say something again when Khushi intervened.

"But-" she tried protesting again but a single glare from Arnav silenced her. She could only mumble under her breath, "Such a dictator!"

"ASR, what ab-" Aditya is a part of Arnav's team, tasked with assisting him in Lisa's case, was cut off by Arnav. Arnav was not in the mood for discussions of his teammate's buts, why, and whats and just ordered with finality. "Just drop this girl home. I'll handle everything at Lisa's farmhouse," he said, his tone brooking no argument.

Aditya nodded and took Khushi with him to his car.

With Lisa still unconscious in the car, Arnav drove to her farmhouse while Khushi was taken home by his team member.

Upon reaching Lisa's farmhouse, Arnav faced a known problem. The entrance to Lisa's room required her fingerprint. With a smugness of smirk, he gently lifted Lisa's hand and used it to gain access.

Once inside, he began his search, rummaging through her room like a child on a treasure hunt. He didn't leave anything behind. Beds, cupboards, drawers, everything was keenly observed under his keen eyes.

However, he didn't get anything. He didn't find anything. He started inspecting clothes and jewelry but they have nothing too.

Irritated, he threw away the clothes and jewels. His gaze falls on a bunch of decorative pieces. He frowned remembering what his sources said, Lisa's company is used to send gifts to her clients and whoever does business with her.

He inspects those decorative pieces and finds nothing wrong with them. Only that their weight seemed a little off. He breaks one of the decorative pieces and that's there. He found what he was looking for. Threads of Gold. Tiny pieces of Diamonds. All real and worth crores. He breaks one more, and there falls powder on the ground. Drugs!

He immediately calls the local cops and his team upon reaching, collects the sample and proof, and seizes the stock.

As the dust settled, Lisa's eyes fluttered open by the time the cops and his team were done with the task.

The local police and her team were swarming around her. Disoriented, she managed to croak out, "What... what happened?"

Her voice echoed in the room, a clear sign of her confusion. She had hopped into the car and then remembered smelling something and then the rest was just blank.

The stern voice of the Officers cut through the chaos, "You're under arrest, Lisa. You're being taken into custody."

"For what?" She looked around and only then she noticed she was in her farmhouse, her bedroom, and ASR was standing in the corner of the room. Her gaze went into a few broken decorative pieces, realization dawned on Lisa, and she murmured, "So, ASR has trapped me..."

The CBI Officer, another teammate of Arnav, not missing a beat, asked, "Anything you want to say?"

Lisa, summoning all her defiance, retorted, "I'm not the only one involved in this crime."

She knew she was finished and if she was going down, her partner should be going down with her too. There's no no.

The Officer, intrigued, probed further, "Who else is involved?"

With a steely gaze, Lisa declared, "It's not just me. My manager is with me in this."

"Your manager?" With a nod, Lisa confirmed, "Yes, the General Manager."

The Officer looked at his teammate who understood his gesture and began his work to track the GM.

This was the news that kept flashing the next day. Her GM is caught too when she is about to escape and make a run to another country.

Lisa Kapadia and her GM, Lavanya Kashyap who is the mastermind in the dealings are kept in CBI custody.

Arnav, who was done with his work, had remembered the hazel-eyed beauty. What was her name? Arnav tried to remember and he did. He did remember that he never asked the girl her name.

What a fool! He cursed himself under his breath.

"Wait, why am I even cursing myself? And that too, for a girl?" he frowned at his new behavior and consoled himself with words, "Nothing happened. You are just worried if she has reached her home safely. Yeah, that's it."

He went to his teammate who dropped the girl he was supposedly mesmerized with, home, and got to know her address which was enough to know her details.

Khushi Gupta-Mishra, 25 years old, has done some magic on him. That's why his weird actions.

"I better go home and sleep than thinking of that girl," he murmured and started for his home an hour later. It was 4 in the morning when he reached his home and immediately fell on his bed asleep, tired of the night adventures.

Next Morning,

"Hai Re Nandakishore, achha hua tumne uss company chod diya. Kaise kaise logon ke saath kam kar rahi thi tum." Madhumathi sat on the sofa, her hand resting on her head, a look of relief washing over her face as she addressed Nandakishore. Her words came after watching the news about Lisa Kapadia and Lavanya Kashyap.

(Oh dear Nandakishore, it's good that you left that company. What kind of people you were working with!)

When Aditya dropped her niece last night, she was very worried. Her niece was very late and to the top of it, she was dropped by a man with rope marks on her hands.

Aditya, however, had explained what had taken place in the office and thanked him profusely for dropping her niece home. Aditya was embarrassed with her continuous thanks and hai re nadkishores.

"I am applying to the other companies, Bua-ji. Don't worry," Khushi assured sitting with her laptop on the other sofa and applying to a few companies as she kept munching on the spicy roasted chickpeas her Buaji cooked for her hungry niece who by the way had already had her breakfast and her stomach started rumbling just after half an hour.

"Buaji, mujhe aur chahiye," Khushi mumbled, finding the cup empty. There are no chickpeas. She pouted looking at the cup and her Buaji.

(Bua-ji, I want some more.)

"Hai Re Nandakishore, tumhara bhook kabhi khatam hota hi nahi, chatori ladki," Madhumathi exclaimed loudly before going to the kitchen and bringing some more chickpeas for her parameshwari's poor stomach.

(HRN, your hunger has no end)

Khushi pouted at Buaji's words and applied to the AR Company as well.

Shantivan,

Arnav adjusted his light orange shirt and formal black pants, then dialed his sister's PA, Aman Mathur.

"Yes, ASR?" Aman answered promptly.

"I'm sending you a profile. Check her qualifications and give her a job," Arnav instructed, leaving Aman stunned. It was the first time ASR had ever ordered anyone to hire someone.

"Aman, are you there?" Arnav asked, not getting a response.

Aman, recovering from the shock, replied, "Yes, Boss. I will make sure of it."

"Good. Thank you, Aman!" Arnav said, ending the call. His thoughts drifted to the girl in white. He felt guilty because she lost her job because of him. Lisa's company was shutting down, and everyone there would be unemployed.

"And why are you not feeling guilty for everyone else, ASR?" his mind questioned logically.

He ignored his mind as if it didn't exist in the first place.

However, Aman didn't need to try so hard as the very same day they got the application from Khushi. Aman had checked whether she's the same Khushi or not and cross-checked with the profile Arnav sent. 

Name: Khushi Gupta-Mishra

Occupation: Ex-Junior Jewelry Designer at 'Dreams & Glitters'

Address: .......

Wow! That was one wonderful profile. Aman shook his head in sigh. 

Aman found the details matching and shortlisted her and scheduled an interview for the following day.

Interview Day

Khushi walked into the AR Office, her heart pounding with a mix of excitement and nerves. She prayed to the almighty to get this job. AR was one of the top MNCs, and she didn't want to miss this chance at any cost. It was almost like her dream coming true.

She was greeted by Aman as she entered the interview room when her turn came.

"Good morning, Ms. Gupta. Please have a seat," Aman said with a professional smile.

"Thank you," Khushi replied, sitting down and trying to calm her racing heart.

The interview went smoothly, with Khushi impressing the panel with her portfolio and experience. As the interview concluded, Aman stood up and extended his hand.

"Congratulations, Ms. Gupta. We would like to offer you the position of Jewelry Designer at AR Office and you can start from next week." Aman announced.

Khushi's eyes widened in surprise and joy. "Thank you so much! I won't let you down."

She excitedly completed all the formalities and signed a contract with AR after her certificates and background were verified.

Let me know how it was. 

Regards,

13-07-2024

Poly