“WHAT!”, the bark was heard all around the office and
everyone in the vicinity flinch and tried their best not to go near the man who
was currently shouting verbal abuse down his phone. It was safe to say Mr Arnav
Singh Raizada was not having a good day. First the incompetent secretary of his
new business partner messed up his schedule and so he arrived 3 hours early for
a meeting. The poor girl had left in tears and was still shaken. Then he finds
out that his business partner has had to go to the hospital and either they
reschedule him for next month or he could have a meeting with their “most trusted
employee”.
Like hell I’m going to
wait another month! he thought.
“I demand to see someone right now!” he yelled at the
secretary.
Before the unfortunate woman could utter a word, someone cut
in before her.
“It’s ok Susan, I’ll take Mr Raizada from you.” Susan gave a
sigh of relief and smiled at the new comer.
“Who the hell are you?” Arnav demanded.
“I’m in charge of this project until Mr Lawson recovers,”
she said calmly, “If you’d like to follow me Mr Raizada, we can finally discuss
your proposition”.
She led Arnav into her office and instantly Arnav could tell
what kind of worker she was. Every thing was in it’s right place. The
stationary was neatly arranged on her desk, paperwork was stacked neatly or put
in the filling cabinets, there was not a mess in site. He also noticed there
wasn’t a picture on her desk or plants in the office.
She must like keeping
her business and personal life separate, he mused and then smirked
slightly. I like her already.
Arnav didn’t wait for her permission before he sat down and
got himself comfortable. He could tell this irked her and smirked again before
he started to analysis his associate. She looked very young, too young to be
given a project already. Her hair was tied up in a professional looking bun, her
glasses were hiding a pair of beautiful hazel eyes. She looked awfully familiar
and he couldn’t help but let his mind wonder. His associate noticed the far
away look in his eyes and cleared her throat. That seemed to bring Arnav back
to the present and he was full on ASR mode.
He gave her a cold and composed look and before he could start his famous ASR
speech she cut in.
“First of all I’d like to apologise for keeping you waiting
for such a long time sir. Susan is new and is still trying to figure out the
system.” She explained.
“Mr Lawson should hire competent employees.” He replied
snidely.
“I’ll be sure to pass on that message when he comes back.”
She replied coolly.
He hated the fact that she didn’t even bat an eyelash to his
comments or behaviour.
He was a man that liked to think he affected everyone so he
tried to push her again.
“Are you even qualified to handle this project?”
“Mr Raizada I assure you that if I wasn’t qualified you
wouldn’t be speaking to me right now. But I can sense your lack of faith in us
and I think we shouldn’t move forward unless you fully trust us, so good day.”
She got out of her chair and started to move towards the
door.
“How dare you?!” He got up and march right to her. “I didn’t
fly all the way from India
to be told that MY project will be postponed by some teenager who looks barely
qualified to handle anything! I demand to speak to Mr Lawson’s son.”
Now it was her turn to smirk, “Unfortunately I am his senior
and he is unqualified to handle this according to Mr Lawson. But if you want to
deal with more ‘barely qualified teenagers’, go ahead. But know this, Mr Lawson
wouldn’t have made me head if he didn’t think I could handle this and as you
can see by the way I’m handling you Mr Raizada, I can handle anything”
By this time Arnav was highly impressed and frustrated. How
dare this girl talk back to him like that! But he was truly impressed by her
backbone. Hardly anyone stood up to him now a days and he felt the rush again,
a rush he hadn’t felt in years.
“Look here Miss…”, Arnav realised he didn’t even know her
name and turned back to see the plaque on her desk. “Miss Amba Singh-”
“My name isn’t Amba Singh it’s Amba-”
Before she could complete her sentence the door opened and
they both saw a flustered looking secretary. She was about to say something
before she felt the tension in the room and hesitated.
Amba sighed and massaged her forehead, “Julia, I told you to
only contact me in emergencies when I’m with a client. If you accidentally
spilled coffee on the reports do them again!”
Maybe Mr Raizada is
right, she thought, we really need to
start hiring some intelligent employees.
“I know Ma’am, but Mr Malik is on line 1 and he says it’s an
emergency. I told him you were with a client but he’s very persistant.” Julia
gave her an apologetic look before exiting.
Arnav saw a range of emotions that flitted across Amba’s
face as the conversation ensued; from anger, to confusion, to sheer panic. As
soon as Julia exited Amba took long strides to her desk. As soon as she picked
up the phone he noticed a brief change in her personalitiy before her mask was
on again. Arnav couldn’t be sure about what is was but he sensed it was fear.
She put down the phone after a while, looked at him and smiled. Arnav could
tell it was forced.
“Looks like you’ll be getting you’re wish after all sir,”
she said before she picked up the phone again and pressed a number.
“What do you mean?” he asked but she completely ignored him
and started taking on the phone.
“Logan , come to
my office immediately, you’ll be discussing the project with Mr Raizada, it’s
your chance to show your father you can handle this so get up here pronto!” she
yelled.
Arnav could tell her composure was slipping by the second
and it was only a matter of time before she lost all her professionalism.
“What is going on here?” Arnav demanded.
“Logan Lawson Jr is going to handle this meeting as soon as
he gets here as I’m needed else where.” As soon as she finished her sentence a
man walked in and looked at her questioningly. “And here he is.”
“What is wrong with this company?” Arnav remarked
incredulously.
“A lot as you’ll soon find out,” she said before she turned
to Logan and said “Mum.” Before
taking her coat and bag and leaving.
Arnav noticed Logan ’s
eyes widen in fear before he composed himself and started the meeting.
What have I gotten
myself into, Arnav thought.
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