(May 2, Tuesday)

"Nice to meet you again, Ms. Gupta," Arnav said the words coolly and waited for her reaction.

When Khushi saw him in the meeting room and understood that he was the new MD, for a split second, shock had been etched on her face and she had let it show. But the next moment, she composed herself and gave him a smile. The strangeness of the interaction was barely noticed by any of the other 10 people except for Arnav and Khushi.

He admired the way she had quickly collected herself and was now addressing the heads about him- the new addition as company MD.

He reflected to their first interaction, an hour back. He had recognized Khushi the moment she walked in the café. He had done his due diligence on the company as well as her since she was the soul of the company. She was in a grey skirt with a peach shirt. Her eyes were puffy- indicating lack of sleep but her face and the way she smiled and greeted the barista didn't let her exhaustion show.

He expected her to have done her homework too. But she didn't recognize him. He noticed her wait impatiently for the coffee and on being told that the machine was not working, she looked so disappointed. He had never seen anyone look so disheartened at not getting a cup of coffee. It was amusing.

When he had offered her his coffee, the confusion and happiness on her face, intrigued him. He even had a little banter with her. Arnav wondered if Khushi would even talk to him, let alone accept his coffee if she knew who he really was.

"Mr. Raizada?" Khushi's voice cut through his thoughts, "Would you like to say something?"

He cleared his throat, "Thank you Ms. Gupta."

"Please call me Khushi," she informed him.

He nodded, "Thank you, Khushi." He then glanced at the people sitting around the table and began his introductory speech.

The meeting went on for a couple of hours with each head talking about their department and the work in general. When it was over, Sheetal left the office, right after showing Arnav his corner office.

He sat on his plush leather chair and went through some files kept on the table- mainly about the company financials. A knock on the door drew his attention to a girl with a bouquet of flowers in her hands.

"May I come in, Sir?"

Arnav nodded and the girl walked in, "I am Lavanya, Khushi Ma'am's PA. She, on behalf of Magnolia, sent you this." Lavanya extended the bouquet and placed it on the edge of the table. A "welcome" card was tucked among the flowers.

"Today's meeting was rescheduled without notice so she wasn't able to send them before," Lavanya informed him.

Arnav deduced that Sheetal was doing everything in her power to make this transition as difficult as she could for Khushi.

"Please thank Khushi for the flowers," Arnav replied to Lavanya, "And tell her I am looking forward to working with her."

He noticed the doubtful look the PA cast on him but she didn't linger. She thanked him and exited his office.

Arnav plucked the card from the bouquet and read it. It was a standard welcome message handwritten by Khushi. She had signed it personally too.

He was assuming that she would perceive him to be her adversary. Even if that were the case, she wasn't letting her personal feelings show. He appreciated her professionalism- that she could engage in basic civility and courtesy despite of being wary of him.

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(May 5, Friday)

Khushi massaged her neck with her fingers and looked at the clock on the wall- 4pm. She sighed as she looked at the files stacked on her desk. It was a Friday but she would be working late today too. Work would spillover and she would have to do it over the weekend.

She desperately needed a break. All she wanted was to sleep in late over the weekend, eat junk and watch cheesy movies. The last time she had a day to herself was so long ago that it felt like a distant memory. Ever since the past 5 months, since Sunil Kapoor passed way, she not only had to run the company without a mentor but also ward off surprise attacks by Sheetal. It was getting stressful day by day and now she had another adversary in the form of Arnav.

Though he hadn't bothered her at all over the past 4 days since he joined on Tuesday. She had seen him sitting in his office, mulling over reports. He wasn't stirring up any trouble. Not yet, she added as an afterthought.

The intercom rang and startled her. It was Lavanya, calling from her cubicle just outside Khushi's cabin.

"Yes," she received the call.

"Ma'am, Mohit is on the line. He wants to talk to you," Lavanya informed her.

Oh sh*t! Mohit had called her office on Monday. Today was Friday. Between shuffling work, warding off Sheetal's plans and the new MD, Khushi had completely forgotten to call him back.

"Patch him through," Khushi told Lavanya. The next moment she heard a ring and then Mohit's voice filled the speaker.

"Hi Khushi," he greeted her cheerfully, "I hope I didn't call at a bad time."

"Not at all," she tried to muster up some enthusiasm, "I am sorry for not returning your call earlier. I was... busy with work."

"I totally understand," Mohit's words comforted her, "I had to call your office number because I didn't have your personal number," he explained, "Payal gave your office contact no. to me. Hope that was okay."

Mohit sounded like a decent person.

"Yes, of course," she answered.

"So I was wondering, if you're free tonight... would you like to have dinner or watch a movie?"

Khushi bit her lower lip, thinking. She had work to do. Though she did ache for a break- but she wanted some alone time to replenish, not sit in a crowded theatre on Friday night and watch a movie. But she felt bad to deny Mohit.

"Umm... all right... I guess," she said unsurely.

"Perfect. How about we meet at 8 in the Saket mall? There's this new Avengers movie we can catch and then grab some dinner?" he suggested.

She realized he was playing it casual. It gave her some relief that he wasn't planning a formal date.

"Sounds good," she said, despite feeling the opposite.

"Great!" the cheer in his voice increased. "I'll see you at 8 then?"

She gave an affirmative answer and he hung up. At quarter to 5, Khushi had an unexpected visitor- Arnav.

"Hello Mr. Raizada," she greeted him without getting up from her chair, "What brings you here?"

His eyes quickly surveyed the office before settling on her, "It's not fair."

"What?"

"You asked me to call you by your first name yet you address me so formally," he explained, not taking a seat. "You can call me ASR."

"All right," Khushi pursed her lips before addressing him, "Arnav. Please do sit."

He smirked when she called him Arnav instead of ASR. It was defiance, even though a harmless one. He occupied the chair across from her. "I joined Magnolia on Tuesday and it's been 4 days but baring the bouquet and our first meeting, we haven't interacted at all."

"Well," she leaned back on her chair, "Apologies for not making time for you. I do have a company to run."

Arnav chuckled and Khushi raised her eyebrows, surprised at his reaction. Since Sheetal brought him in, she was expecting his behavior to be somewhat like her. Moreover, she had finally gone over the file compiled by Lavanya on him and she could deduce a lot about him from it- hostile takeovers, ruthless business decisions and so on and so forth. He was successful but Khushi didn't approve of the methods he used. And seeing him trying to strike a conversation with her was surprising.

"And I would love to assist you in running your company," he answered, "Shouldn't us working together be good for Magnolia?"

"Depends," she responded, "on what your intentions truly are."

He chuckled again, "Rest assured, my intentions for Magnolia are only to see it succeed. Trust me, no one will be happier than me if the company does well."

Khushi considered his words. There was sincerity in his voice but he could be putting up an act. She would have given him the benefit of doubt had he not been so closely associated with Sheetal. And Khushi knew better than to trust Sheetal.

"Then tell me honestly," she seized her chance, "Despite of having a billion dollar empire to run, why are you so keen on being here?"

"It's not like I am here all the time," he replied, "My job doesn't require me to be. Currently I want to understand everything, inside out hence you find me lurking around. With time, my involvement and presence will decrease."

"That's not the answer to my question," she stated directly. "Why are you really here?"

Arnav leant back on the chair. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "Even if I told you the truth, you wouldn't believe me."

This time Khushi let out a dry laugh, "The truth? That you want Magnolia to succeed? Forgive me but I am not that naïve."

"You may believe what you want, Khushi, but that is the truth. Magnolia's progress is important to me."

There was a minute of silence as each observed the other.

Arnav broke the lull, "This office environment is making you all competitive. We can talk more, maybe over coffee. You do owe me one. Remember?"

"You want me to go out with you for coffee?" She asked scrunching her nose.

"Relax," he waved his hand at her, "It won't be a date."

Khushi couldn't tell if his offer was genuine or was he trying to weave a web to trap her.

"I think I'll pass," she answered with finality.

"Think over it," he started getting up from the chair, "Here," he took a pen from the pen stand and scribbled something on a letter pad lying on the table. He tore the page out and extended it to her.

"This is my personal cellphone number" he informed her, "Give me a call when you change your mind."

"We don't need to exchange personal numbers. We have each other's office ones. I doubt our work would require us to go beyond the bounds of office," she replied. A bit too snarky than she should have.

He didn't lower his hand. "Just in case."

Not wanting to further talk rudely since he was being so civil, Khushi took the page from him and kept it on top of a file, without looking at it. "Good bye, Arnav."

He nodded at her and walked out.

Khushi eyed the page with his cellphone number lying on the file. Like she would ever meet him outside of the office. Or even call him. She shook her head and went back to work.

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As the hands of the clock inched closer towards 8pm, Khushi's head ached more and more. She had committed to Mohit that she'd meet him for a movie tonight but all she wanted was to go home and sleep. She had half a mind to call him and cancel but she knew she couldn't.

Payal had been so insistent that she meet him. Mohit, poor guy, had called her multiple times and had been so patient. She couldn't be that rude and cancel at the last moment.

Khushi looked at her wrist watch- 6:45pm. She had just come out of a meeting with the HR head. She had to go through a report given by the head on hiring needs for the factory. But she didn't have time. If she were to meet Mohit at the Saket mall by 8, she would have to leave now. Rush hour traffic in Delhi was a pain.

Before she entered her cabin, Lavanya, gave her the best piece of news of the day.

"Mohit called when you were in the meeting," Lavanya informed Khushi, "I didn't want to disturb you so I took his message. He had to go out of town on business tonight. It was a last moment thing. So he won't be able to meet you. He is massively sorry about it."

Khushi was so happy that she almost wanted to hug Lavanya. Her predicament had been solved itself! Mohit had to go away so no need to meet him. She could go home, snuggle in her couch and sleep or watch some movie in peace or even read the HR report.

"He gave his cellphone number in case you wanted to contact him. I wrote it on a piece of paper and have kept it on your table," Lavanya said.

"Thank you," she wished her and walked inside her office, feeling much lighter than before. She put the HR report in her office bag, hung it on her left shoulder. Before exiting, her eyes fell on a piece of paper lying atop the table- a 10 digit cellphone number.  Mohit's number, which Lavanya had written.

She picked up the page and tucked it in her bag. She would text him later.

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