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Gauri walked into her office at sharp 9:15. Fervently praying that she was not late,she hurried inside the office.
Seeing that the office was almost empty except for a few junior employees,Gauri asked the young receptionist, the reason.
"Gauri maam,everybody is in the conference hall.Our head has already arrived so I guess the meeting has almost started."Gauri felt her worst fears coming true.She ran to the conference room.She ran with such a speed that she crashed on to the door with a force that it swung open suddenly stunning everyone in the room. Gauri stumbled into the room and looked around to see all the people sitting at the conference table staring at her.
Anika who was confused at the sudden intrusion, looked to her right at Shilpa.Shilpa awkwardly introduced Gauri.
"Gauri,she is the head designer"
Anika looked towards the young lady standing at the door clutching the files so hard,as if her life depended on them.Though she had a confident mask on,her tight hold on her files were betraying her true state of mind.
She resembles someone I know.Thought Anika. But as much as she thought she couldn't remember that person to whom this lady had a resemblance to.
After Gauri took her seat,Anika cleared her throat and announced.
"So,I think we have discussed all the issues.All of you are expected to make the necessary changes that were discussed,in your departments and report the progress to me tomorrow.You can go now."
As all of them stood from their chairs to disperse,Anika's voice interrupted them.
"Ms Gauri please stay back."
Gauri's face drained all its color at the statement.Shilpa who was passing by,whispered an 'All the best' in her ears.
Will she fire me.Shankar jee bacha lena.
Gauri kept the files back at the table and took her seat.
"You are late."Anika said.
"I am sorry maam. Actually there was so much traffic on the road and..."she stopped herself from speaking further. 'Bas kar Gauri,kitna bolegi'Gauri chided herself.
"Relax Gauri.I asked you to stay back because I wanted to know the current status of the preparation and in the absence of the other head you are next in-charge.So some more departments like the venue etc will come under you even though it is not the work of a head designer."
"Yes,I understand maam.I have cross checked all the arrangements.Everything is fine except the venue arrangement.There was some last minute changes in the schedule which lead to a major confusion.It should be sorted out by today."
They were interrupted by Ria who was there to remind Anika of some appointment.
"Ok fine Gauri.Please do make sure that you sort it out asap.We are already running behind the schedule."said Anika while standing up from the chair.
"Sure maam."As soon as Anika was out of the door,Gauri sank back into her chair and sighed with relief.
Thank you Shankar-ji.Bacha liya aapne.
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Swethlana stood near the window watching the rain spatter against the window.Her mind unintentionally compared the similarities between her state of mind and the weather conditions outside.Furious and disturbed.
The sound of her mother's expensive heels bought her out of her self contemplation.Judging by the footsteps she knew that her mother had not come alone but instead bought someone with her.Must be Romi.she thought.Though her sister had no useful inputs to give,still it must not be a bad idea to have an additional person to think out a solution to the problem at hand.
"What happened Swethlana?Why did you want to meet us so urgently and that too at such a short notice."her mother impatiently asked.
"Yes Di,and you know that I had to leave my pedicure half way to reach here on time.See the amount of sacrifice i have to do for our mission."Romi wailed while plopping down onto the nearest silk sofa.
Sacrifice.Nobody has done more sacrifice than I did.Swethlana wanted to speak out aloud but the information that had just been delivered to her was more important.Moreover they needed to stand together to achieve their motive not fight with each other regarding who did what.
"Mom,I had hired a person to follow Omkara and track his activity but it turns out that he has not made any move to track any of his brothers.The only places he visited are the nearby supermarket and his old art gallery.And yes today in the morning he went to Jashn's branch.."
"Why did he go there?"Mrs Kapoor asked.
"Maybe to drop his wife.I guess she works there."Swethalana guessed.
Romi suddenly got up from the sofa and exclaimed in a loud piercing voice,"What?? Omkara's wife works in Jashn.Wow!!!!People wait for years to get a personalized design from there and..."
"Romi!!!Can we concentrate on more important things here?"Swethlana said irritated by her sister lack of seriousness.Turning to her mom, she continued."The thing that is troubling me is that he is taking no efforts on his part. Isn't that fishy?"
"What are you saying Swethlana?Of course it isn't. Relationships break with time.The bond that Obros had,may have also break with time. Moreover, this is good news for us that Omkara is not making any effort.It just makes our job easier.Just be happy about it."
Why isn't anybody being able to see what I can.How can these people be so foolish?"No it isn't good news for us.Oberois are not the ones to sit quietly and accept their fate.They will try their best to fight.And Omkara is also a true blue blooded Oberoi.He will not give up so easily."
"Either he is not interested in searching for his brother or he is already doing it in some other ways that we cannot track, which is more dangerous for us."Swethlana finished hoping to make her mother and sister understand the graveness of the situation.
Romi who was scared by her sisters outburst jumped in to give her response,"In my opinion,you are just stressing over nothing.So what if he goes and approaches a private investigator?We will do the same thing that we did seven years ago."
Swethlana flash backed to seven years ago,when she found out that Om had left the house. She knew that his next mission would be to track down his brother and get rid of his inner guilt and she was right.He had not left Mumbai but had stayed here and hired a private investigator.She had easily found out the name of the investigator and bribed him with a handsome amount to mislead Omkara.Sure enough Omkara was mislead at every juncture which finally lead to him abandoning every thing and shifting to Australia permanently.
"Romi,the situations are different this time.Seven years ago,Shivaay had gone incognito and even we couldn't find out his whereabouts but now it is different.He is a public figure now.There are so many media portals following him and tracing him for some new gossip. Somehow,his location may leak and Omkara would be able to get to him."
"What should we do now?"Mrs Kapoor asked with her fear growing as the seriousness of the situation started seeping in.
"I don't know.But no matter what the price is,the Obros should not come back to the Oberoi mansion otherwise all our efforts of years will go right down the drain."Swetlana replied in a low voice while her mind was searching for more options.
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Om was sitting in his studio mixing clay for his new sculpture since he had a lot of time to spare after dropping his wife to her office. It was then that his phone pinged with a message from Gauri. Wiping his hands with a piece of cloth he opened the message.
"Not fired.I still have my Job And thanks for the drive."with a smiley
"Glad to know that."he typed back.
"Take care and all the best."came the instant reply.
Om put his phone aside and continued mixing the clay to the right texture.He knew what the 'all the best' was for.
For the past few days he had been using all the resources available, to track his brothers down .Since both of them were public figures,he had assumed that it wouldn't be a hard task to track them down but the task was proving to be far more difficult than he had expected. Rudra could be tracked down with the help of his shooting locations but there was no way to reach Shivaay.He was tight lipped about his personal life that no one knew what he was upto.He was almost absent from the society except at events which demanded his presence.Om had browsed through the whole Internet only to be disappointed.
Shivaay surely had a hotel branch opening here but Om strongly doubted that Shivaay would attend the event given that it is taking place in Mumbai.Even if he attends,Om didn't want to encounter Shivaay at such an event in front of the media.They were meeting after seven years and had so many unresolved issues between them.
Finding no other way out,he had used his Oberoi name to track down Shivaay's employees who were once a part of the Oberoi empire.His search didnot go in vain because he encountered the names of two such people who knew that he was Shivaay's brother and these two could give him a clue which could lead him to Shivaay. Mishra his personal assistant and Khanna his security head.
Since both of them had once been a part of the Oberoi empire,Om had hoped that they would atleast give him some clue which could lead to Shivaay if not give him the exact place directly.But he was wrong!! Not only did they refuse to give him any clue but they bluntly refused to divulge any information.Om knew where their loyalties lied but today he discovered that Shivaay had a fiercely loyal staff who was very protective about their boss.No amount of bribe or threats could get them to open their mouth.Though Om was happy that his brother had staff who were reliable but on the other hand he was getting nowhere with his search.
He stood up from his work table,wiped his hands and walked to the store room.The store room was not cleaned and was still dusty.It had not been opened for the last seven years. They had intentionally avoided opening it because it contained the proof of the wounds that were still fresh in his mind.He took out a key from his pocket and opened he lock of the door.
He pushed opened the door and the room was filled with files and paper stacks.This is what he had done seven years ago.He had locked himself in the house and had tirelessly searched for Shivaay's name among the employee list of all the companies that Shivaay could possibly apply for a job,given his academic qualifications.He had tracked down all the companies that he could but it yielded no results.Finally after searching for long,he gave up and accepted his defeat.
But his time come what may,I am just not going to accept defeat.vowed Om
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"I am still following Shivaay Singh Oberoi as per your orders and i think I have hit upon some thing which maybe useful for you.Shall I email it to you."
"No,keep them and continue doing what you were told to do and remember not to miss any thing,because we don't know what could be useful for us."the voice instructed.
"Ok"the phone line went dead and the man gathered his equipments to continue the task he had been told to do by the unknown person.He was assigned this task of following Shivaay Singh Oberoi through a phone call.He was told to follow him and report back each of his target's activity to the caller.The money was delivered to him through a middle man.
God knows what this person wants from Shivaay Singh Oberoi.But whatever it is ,it is none of my business.he thought.
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As soon as the black Mercedes drove into the drive way,Anika let out a sigh of relief.It had been an endlessly tiring and draining day.With so many things to run through and confirm she didn't even have a moment to relax.Though her assistant had brought her lunch,She didn't get time to eat it.So basically she was surviving on the apple she had for breakfast and now it was almost dusk.
As the car stopped in front of the door,she got out of it and tried her best to walk inside the door without stumbling over her shaky legs.She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of the staff and security personnel around.
As soon as she reached the kitchen counter,she gulped down an entire bottle of water from the fridge.Once her thirst was gone,her stomach started grumbling and her hunger kicked in.After making some bread jam sandwich,she sat down on the dining chair to finish her meal.Once her hunger was gone,it was then that her mind reminded her of the fact that Shivaay and Naira were supposed to be at home today.
She stopped one of the staff, who was passing by,to enquire.
"Yeh Shivaay aur Naira kahan hai?"
"Maam.Shivaay sir,Naira baby ko lekar bahar gaye hai."Anika thanked the young lady for the help and walked to the stairs to go upstairs.
With her heels in one hand and her office files and bags in the other,Anika climbed up the stairs murmuring to herself.
"He has people following me everywhere in the name of security and now look at him,he has gone out with Naira without any security. This is basically discrimination on the basis of gender and as a woman of today's generation,I believe in equality.If I have to move around with 10 bodyguards,then he should also have 10 bodyguards. Not fair."she mumbled childishly.
Dropping her heels,near the edge of the bed and keeping her office stuff on the bedside table,Anika crashed on to the bed to compensate for her lost sleep of yesterday's night.
Her peaceful slumber was disturbed by the ringing of the cordless phone.
"Maam,there is someone at the gate.Her name is Jhanvi.....Jhanvi Singh Oberoi.Should I let her in?"the security guard at the gate asked.
All her sleep vanished away at that sentence. She hurriedly gave instructions for them to lead her inside while dialing Shivaay's number on her mobile.
"Shivaay kahan ho tum?Badi maa ghar aayi hai.What should I do now?Come home fast,please.I cannot handle this alone."Anika panicked.
"Anika,Calm down and listen to me.We are at the beach and we cannot come home right away.It will atleast take us 25-30 minutes to reach home given the traffic at this hour.So you have to take care of it yourself."
"Shivaay don't you dare hang up on me.Shivaay....."
Shivaay had cut the phone even before she could complete the sentense. Looking at the scenery in front of him,Shivaay apologized to Anika in his mind.....
"Sorry Anika..I know that you will be angry on me but I had no choice.I don't want you to be dependent on me for everything.I know that you are strong and you will be able to handle this."
If it was any other Oberoi he wouldn't have risked leaving Anika alone to handle it but this was his Badi maa and he could trust her with Anika.
Anika was about to throw the phone away in frustration when she caught her reflection in the mirror.
Hair spread,clothes crumpled,and smudged kajal.In short, she looked horrible.Even scary.
If Shivaay can't come home right now,I have no other option in front of me.She wiped away her spread kajal,combed her hair and straightened her clothes.She atleast looked presentable now.Wearing her heels back in,she gathered all her courage and walked down the staircase gracefully while praying to all the gods to give her strength and courage.
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I know that this update has so many characters,their thoughts etc.But all of this will get tied up at some point.(Hopefully!!!) ;)
Thank you for the love,support,vote and comments.
Next update:22 October 2017.
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