Removed the story - Page 8

Chapter One

Her father sat next to her mom, in his seat, funny even in morbid places like hospitals we had "our" place to sit, stand or drink endless cups of coffee, however bad it tasted, in Shashi's case it was the one closest to his Garima. Shashi Gupta was a broken man the love of his life was dying a slow painful death and he could do nothing but stand and watch. The doctors had recommended this surgery and he had refused to allow it, the chances of survival being very low and he wanted to hold no to her as long as possible. Shashi did not have a selfish bone in his body but at 52 he just was being just that, a selfish man, he knew the battles he had fought to have Garima grace his life and though the last 20 odd years were blissfully beautiful he was not ready to let go, he would never be.

The decision had fallen on Khushi, his daughter, who had wordlessly taken over the daunting responsibility of heading the Gupta family in these difficult times. She had decided to take the chance and thus taking the responsibility of the difficult decision out of her father's hand and accepting the challenge of shouldering the guilt and fear if things went wrong, the chances were it would. She had to take a call for her father's sake and for him alone. She knew what her mom meant to her father, the relationship they shared. The surgery had borne the promised results and what would follow were the chemotherapy sessions and the doctors though understanding and kind never promised miracles, she was glad for that and had asked them to be brutally honest at every stage.

Khushi waited for her mother to wake up, she looked drained after a painful surgery though she was heavily sedated, with tubes sticking out of her frail body, a sight too repulsive for a loved one to bear. She was tired having gone for nearly 30 hours without sleep, she wanted to be around when her mom woke up, Garima had named her Khushi for that reason alone, wishing she did bring happiness to those around her. Khushi was always on cloud nine when her mom or dad introduced her as "meri Khushi", it filled her heart with infinite joy and a sense of belonging that couldn't be explained. She was desperately thinking of happy times to avoid the dull pain that her heart felt from the time her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had to be strong after all, for her kid brother and more importantly her father.

Her face broke into a small smile thinking of Kushal, that guy was going to be one hellava lady's man for sure. Charming, sensitive and shy, nice attributes in a guy but he was a kid and he was still to know the effects the very same attributes would have on the fairer sex. Khushi bullied him mercilessly at every given opportunity and he gave it back good too, only relenting when his father interrupted their ribbing sessions, always taking her side. Kushal was not allowed to come to the hospital as he had his exams to study for, there were times he would not argue and listen to everything she said and this was one of them. She wanted him to stay at home and study, he would. Her cell phone beeped, breaking her thoughts, it was a message from Kushal, "How is mom? What did the doctor say? Can I come over now? Please Khudi, please." She smiled again, he called her Khudi, his version of Khushi didi, and she hated it as he always sang silly songs with that word in it to rib her endlessly. "Will call back once she wakes up. Study now." She replied and checked the time, she had to call her maid to check if dinner was prepared for Kushal and things were ready for the next day as well.

She stepped out of the room to make the call and also to get coffee for dad and herself. Closing the door with her left hand she was looking down at her phone to call Sudha, her maid, she was about to press the dial button, she collided into something or someone, her sleep deprived mind took a few seconds to register. He had one hand around her waist and her iPhone in the other, all Khushi could do was stare at this person, unable to react. He raised an eyebrow at her and sarcastically asked "I am good looking darling, but do you want to confirm that by dropping your phone?" arm still around her waist, face a few inches apart.

Khushi gathered herself and pushed his arm away to reach for the other to grab her phone "Give me my phone" she demanded like a five year old whose candy bar was taken away abruptly, her voice soundly horrible even to her ears. He grabbed her waist again and smirked, "Nice way to thank the guy who saved you and your precious phone from a damaging fall". He was enjoying the expressions on her face, surprise, irritation and finally anger, he would have loved to take this further unfortunately he had to meet the CMO of the hospital. He pecked her on her lips saying "Sorry darling got to go, would have loved to talk shop but have things to do". Khushi was stunned, she stood there without moving, not realizing when he placed her phone in her hand and walked off. He did turn back to look at her reaction and went off smirk still in place.

The vibration of her phone brought her back to reality, she swung around to catch a glimpse of the guy who just kissed her and give him a verbal thrashing. He was gone and she stood alone wondering if what happened was real or a figment of her imagination. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she headed towards the cafeteria to buy the coffee, instructing Sudha on her way.

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Arnav Singh Raizada wanted this hospital at any cost and he was ready to play dirty to get it. He had arrived at Bangalore with the intention of closing the deal, he was not required to do this simple task, his staff could take care of it, no he wanted to see the defeated look on the old doctor's face. He had challenged ASR and he had to bear the brunt of it, no one escaped it. He was not an unreasonable man, ASR, he was just determined and he played fair as long as the opponent did too. In this case the doctor just did not listen, stuck up old fool, refusing the lucrative offer made by RE. Arnav wanted to buy out this hospital and had made an offer, which was 12% more than the actual worth of the hospital and offered to allow the doctor to continue as the CMO with a handsome salary. The doctor had refused and stubbornly so, stating no logical reason for declining the offer.

Little did the doctor realize, what ASR wanted, ASR got. Things at the hospital had gone from bad to worse from the day the doctor declined RE's offer for a buy out and situations led to the doctor knocking on ASR's door to bail him out. This time the doctor agreed to every condition and wanted nothing more to do with the hospital he was heading for the last 35 years. He was waiting along with his advocate for the CEO of RE to sign the final set of documents, selling the hospital and all the assets attached to it. Arnav announced himself after a brief knock on the doctor's cabin door, followed by Aman Mathur, his wing man and lawyer. The formalities were concluded in less than 15 minutes, when Arnav stood up to shake the doctor's hand, the doctor requested him not to change the name of the hospital as it was named after his grandmother. Arnav was unmoved "The only change this hospital will have is the name and you doctor will be the CMO of Ahalya Singh Raizada Charitable Hospital".

Aman was walking a step ahead of Arnav and turned to ask if he should accompany him to the next meeting or carry on to the hotel, Arnav had plans for the evening and asked him to carry on. The car waiting to pick Arnav was at the entrance of the hospital and he was about to sit in when he felt a strong urge to turn and look at something. There she was the iPhone girl carrying two cups in her hand and walking towards the private ward. At the same time she turned to look through the window and their eyes met, saying nothing asking a lot, the incessant horn from the vehicle behind Arnav's car broke the spell and in a second she was gone.

Arnav sat in the car and instructed the chauffer to take him to ITC Gardenia; Shonali would be waiting for him for dinner at Kebabs and Kurries. Ideally Arnav should be thinking of Shonali and the night they had planned, instead his mind kept going back to the girl at the hospital. She did not look like a local, not that he could place her accent, it was neutral and sweet, did he just think sweet, what is with you Arnav, he shook his head to clear the silly thought.

She was beautiful in a simple way; there was just something divinely elegant about her. Her face, though tired was luminous, had an even tone to it. The eyes were a piercingly sharp shade of warm honey. Eyebrows were arched over the curve before dispersing onto the bridge of her dainty nose. Plump, the lips had the cutest curl to them, shaped like a boat and a small birth mark on the edge of her lower lip. That enchanting face was framed by wavy, raven-colored tresses, falling to her waist in a roughly braided plait. She was not very tall a shade shorter than 5'7 and a good figure, the kind he liked. Instantly he smirked recalling her reaction to the peck on those enticing lips. With these thoughts he got out of the car to join Shonali for dinner.

Khushi picked the two cups of coffee after paying for them and pushing the tendered change and phone into her jean hip pocket. Her mind just could not get over the "kiss episode", why was she referring to it like that was beyond her, but she just could not think of anything else. On her way to the private ward she felt herself involuntarily look out of the window and there he was, the kiss guy, getting into his Audi, while his chauffeur held the door for him, rich prick she muttered and immediately averted her eyes. She knocked on the door letting her dad know she was coming in, handing him his cup she sat at her place to sip her coffee, giving in slightly to the tiredness she felt. She took a sip and her fingers went to touch her lips, trying to feel them, the kiss not leaving her mind, not yet. His face swam in front of her eyes, well chiseled, handsome in a distinguished way, naughty eyes the color like chocolate, and though she preferred men with stubble, his clean shaven look did appeal to her, a lot. His cologne though not overpowering spoke volumes about the man, subtle yet strong. A good smelling man was a turn on any day. What is with you Khushi, she chided herself for thinking of that guy, when she had more important things to attend to.

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