Author's POV
It's been 1 month and their relationship is getting stronger with their small arguments, bickering of course with care, too.
Both the companies are doing three projects together so they were also meeting at work time. This made him like her more after observing her working nature.
Megha has urgent news to share with Karthik, so she called him but he didn't pick up the call so without wasting time, she went to his company directly.
It's not the first time she is going there. She went to meetings in his company about the projects they were doing together, but it is the first time she is going there without an appointment.
As the receptionist knew that she is the CEO of Sehari group, she permitted her in and asked Smitha, who is one of his assistants, to inform him that Sehari was here to meet him as Bhushan was with Karthik in his office.
Smitha asked Megha to sit on the couch on the 23rd floor, which belongs to the CEO and his secretaries and said she will inform Karthik.
Megha waited for half an hour, but Smitha did not come. As a CEO, she also has many works, so without any choice Megha stood up and walked around looking to find Smitha.
"Here she is," Megha mumbled and walked to her direction, where Smitha was talking with a group of ladies and laughing.
"Miss. Smitha," Megha called her politely, even though she doesn't like her.
"Yeah, Miss. Sehari, why are you here? I asked you to wait there," she replied, not so sincerely.
"Have you informed Karthik — I mean, Mr. Karthikeya?" she asked.
"Yeah, he is busy and asked you to wait," Smitha lied, looking at her cunningly as she wanted to embarrass Megha in front of the employees.
She likes Karthik, but Karthik likes Megha, so she always hated her from the start.
"No, if you informed him, then he doesn't keep me waiting here and I know that," Megha argued.
Little did she know that Karthik had special feelings for her and he would never make her wait this long. Nowadays he is finding reasons to be with her, then how could he keep her waiting, silly.
"Miss. Sehari, he is busy, and he said don't allow anyone. you are not special either," Smitha replied, glaring at her. "Or are you?"
"You know it very well, but still I will ask him," saying that Megha marched to Karthik's office while Smitha followed her, trying to stop her.
She knocked on the door and directly opened it without wasting a second.
"Megha," Karthik muttered surprisingly, as he didn't expect her here, at least without information.
"Karthik, are you busy?" She asked him, looking at him confidently.
"I am always free for you, wifey," he replied with a smile and stood up from his chair. Bhushan knew about their relationship, so he didn't have to pretend in front of him. Smitha also saw them hugging in the airport, so he has nothing to hide.
"Then why did you keep me waiting for the last 30 minutes?" she asked.
"Me? I don't even know that you are here," he replied. "And who told you to wait without informing me?"
"It's her," she said, pointing at Smitha. "She told me that you are busy and asked me to wait."
He looked at Smitha with raised eyebrows. His eyes are so cold, like he was going to kill her.
"That... sir, you were busy and asked us not to disturb you, so I thought you won't meet anyone without an appointment," Smitha stuttered.
"Who are you to decide if I meet someone or not? You are fired, Miss. Smitha, pack your stuff and leave," he stated dangerously.
"I am sorry, Megha," he said as he walked to her and wrapped his hand around her shoulder.
"Sorry, sir, please don't fire me," Smitha started crying.
"No, Karthik, I don't want you to fire her," Megha said, looking up at him.
"But she disrespected you."
"Yes, but don't fire her."
"Then?" He raised his eyebrows.
"Ask her to apologize to me and I want her to receive me at the main gate whenever I come here," she stated.
"You heard it," Karthik remarked looking at Smitha and she nodded desperately and turned to Megha.
"I am sorry, Madam, I will never repeat this again," she apologized and Megha nodded lightly.
"You can go now and next time onwards, tell me before stating anything, and tell them what I said, not what you thought. I hope you understood," he said authoritatively.
"Ok... ok sir," she replied nervously and left. Karthik glanced at Bhushan. He also left, keeping the file on the table, which was in his hands.
"Why is my wife here? Is she missing me?" Karthik whispered huskily in her ear from behind and kissed her nape. She shivered under his touch as goosebumps erupted on her whole body.
He turned her and captured her lips, kissing her in a deep kiss. She patted his chest when she was out of breath and left her lips.
She rested her head on his chest, panting heavily while he wrapped his hands around her waist, dragging her near him.
"What is this for?" She asked, her voice muffled due to his shirt.
"Do I need a reason to kiss my wife?" he replied, playing his fingers on her hair.
"Sorry, Megha, I don't know that you were here," he said sincerely.
"Fuck, I forgot why I came here," she cursed, and he laughed.
She came out of his hold and walked to his desk. He also walked to the desk and hugged her from behind.
"Wait, Karthik, I have urgent news to share," she said and wiggled in his hold.
"Go on," he said, leaning on the desk.
"I have attended the meeting this morning as we decided with the client of that software project and they are asking us to complete the project in one month as per their priorities. I tried my best, but they were not ready to listen so we have to complete the project by the end of this month, and for that we have to work overtime," she informed.
Some time they discussed business and decided to deploy more employees for this project from both companies and personally inspect the work and employees have to work overtime to complete the project on time.
The next day, as managers already deployed the staff, both Sehari and Karthik went to his company staff and informed about working overtime and the benefits for working too. The staff's expressions changed and lost their colors when he informed them about overtime.
But they accepted as they have to.
Then they went to Megha company too and informed the same and her employees accepted overtime happily and said "we will work together to complete this project successfully."
"Megha," he called when they both were in her cabin.
"Yeah, Karthik," she responded warmly.
"We said work overtime for both our employees, but why did my employees react sadly and your employees warmly? Is there any reason?" He asked.
"I don't know," she smiled. "But I can tell you one thing frankly and don't misunderstand me".
"What?" He asked.
"Do you know the recruitment process for your company and how your HR team selects your company employees?" she questioned him.
"Of course, through the interview," he replied plainly.
"I mean, do you know on what basis they select?" she asked, and he nodded negatively.
"Can I tell you?" She raised her eyebrow, and he nodded.
"They only select the people who graduated from reputed universities and colleges. If the applicant is from a small college, they reject them straight away without an interview," she said.
"How did you know that?" He asked, surprised.
"Because I also attended an interview for your company for my internship when I was 18," she replied, making him surprised.
"But they rejected me saying I am not from a reputed university but from a small one, anyway thanks to him, that rejection made me think and here I am today," she continued.
"I have to change the hiring process, then. How can anyone decide people's skills by what college they graduated from?" he mumbled.
"Then how about you? I mean, how does your hiring process work, care to share?" he asked.
"Why not?" she smiled as she sat beside him on the couch and said, "we don't seek toppers or best college students, we only concentrate on skills. If one has skills we require, then we hire him\her even if they are degree dropouts."
"Education is meant to gain knowledge. If one has skills and knowledge, then we don't need a degree. In my opinion, education and having a degree certificate are totally different."
"And our hiring process is always open like anyone can give an interview with or without a degree certificate if their skills match our job profile," she explained.
"And the company will give them basic training on communication skills and so on."
"And we create an environment where the employees think that it's their company and they have to work hard to get success. Literally, my employees are the best," she said gratefully.
"My success is their success. Their happiness is my priority."
"Great, you are an inspiration for every woman, Megha," he appreciated her and kissed her forehead with utmost care.
.
.
.
Just like that, one month passed and their project also completed successfully and today they are having a press meet.
Karthik, Megha, Arjun and the other officials from the client side are there for a press meet. It is going on at the conference room of the ROY group.
Megha sat in between Karthik and Arjun, and the clients sat on either side of Karthik and Arjun.
First, the media asked about their project, and Arjun answered their questions.
"How is it possible to complete the project in only 2 months?" one of the reporters asked.
"It's all because of our both companies' employees. This is only completed with their hard work and now I wanna thank all our employees who worked on this project... you people made this possible," Megha replied politely.
"Mr. Karthikeya, you are the most eligible bachelor as of now. When are you going to marry?" one of the reporters asked.
"It is off topic," he simply trailed off and they didn't dare to ask him again.
"Miss. Sehari, my question is for you," one of the women in the front row said, and Megha nodded.
"How can it be possible to develop a company within a short period like only 5 years? That too you are now 23, now. That means you started your company when you were only 19. Then how did it happen? Rumours said you slept with bigshots to get projects. Is this true?" She asked.
What the fuck? Karthik got angry. He fisted his hand and clenched his jaw. He wanted to give her a reply, but Megha held his hand under the table and squeezed it, stopping him from doing so.
He glanced at her, and she nodded.
Even before she replied to the previous question, another one threw another question.
"Miss. Sehari, you said you are married, but you didn't even say his name and we spotted you with Mr. Karthikeya many times. Are you both in any illegal relationship? And we also spotted you with Mr. Arjun a few times, so are you in a relationship with both of them?" Another question.
"What are they even asking? If we are not in this interview, then they will be under 6 feet," Karthik sighed deeply, unable to take this shit anymore. This time Arjun also lost his patience, but Megha responded before anyone.
"Ok, I will answer your previous question first. Miss, you asked me if I slept with them to get projects right... no no, you confirmed that I slept with them. Am I correct?"
"Then my question is, how many times did you sleep with your boss to get this job?" Megha asked calmly.
"No, what are you saying? How can I do that? It's my hard work, and I got this job through the interview," she exclaimed.
"Just like you, I also worked hard to develop my company, and I got all my projects through my hardwork and dedication."
"And it is embarrassing, right? When I ask you the same question, you asked me. Then what about me? I am also a woman like you who works hard so if you can't support me that's ok, but don't spread rumors like this and frankly I don't care even if you spread these because I don't waste my energy on these shits and I know myself better," Megha replied.
'That's my wife,' Karthik smiled in victory.
"And what is the question you asked, yeah I am having an illegal relationship with Mr. Karthikeya? Ok, who is the girl that is sitting next to you, sir?" she asked the reporter, who asked the question.
"It's our camera woman," he replied.
"Ok, I saw you many times with her in many interviews. I saw a ring on your finger, so I am assuming that you are married," she said and he nodded.
"Then are you cheating on your wife with this girl?" She asked him.
"What are you talking about, Ms Sehari? We are here for work. She is a camera woman and I am a reporter, so we are just colleagues," he replied loudly as his face turned red with embarrassment.
"So am I. Yeah, as we are doing many projects in cooperation, we have to work together and you are going to spot us in the future, too. You can write whatever the heck you want, I don't care. And about my husband, I don't want to tell you about him because I know if I tell you, then you won't let him live peacefully."
"I am sorry if I offended any of you, but I want to give you your own medicine. Then only you understand how it feels to be wronged," she remarked and put the mic on the table and sat back.
Just after she completed, one of the girls from the 3rd row clapped.
"Miss. Sehari, you are truly an inspiration for youth and you are my role model," she yelped.
"And you guys, she has done many good things. She built a foundation called feed hungry. The foundation gives food to people who are dying because of hunger. She is donating money for many trusts and NGOs. She is helping many poor people by spending on their education. She looks after many orphans, but you don't write about these types of things which motivate others."
"We only write controversies for our ratings, shame on us," the reporter exclaimed, and everyone's head hung low in shame.
Karthik glanced at her for a second and held her hand tightly under the table...
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