Surprise encounter
‘How can she come here? She…’
Atharv was confused and murmured in his mind while fixing his gaze at the waitress. Then he recalled the night that changed his life drastically.
Flashback…
Virendra Pratap was very happy to see his elder son, Om Ahuja, coming back to India. His happiness doubled to see his young and handsome grandson, Atharv Ahuja. Initially, Atharv was not happy and didn’t want to come to India but after receiving a warm welcome from all his relatives, his unhappiness eliminated from his heart, and started enjoying his days.
To welcome them, Virendra Pratap hosted a big party in which he invited all the directors, business partners, and family friends. The entire mansion was decorated very beautifully. Since morning, there was a commotion in the mansion. Everyone was very excited about the party. Virendra Pratap planned to hand over the entire business to Om Ahuja and also planned to announce the next CEO of the company in front of everyone. In the evening, the guests started coming one by one. Rita and her husband Dhiraj were busy receiving the guests while Virendra Pratap was introducing his son and grandson happily to everyone. During this, Om Ahuja received a call and went out of the hall. Atharv also wanted to follow him but his grandfather stopped him as he wanted to introduce Atharv to some of the business partners. While they were busy talking, one of the guards of the mansion came running to the hall and shouted in a broken voice “The guest from Canada… she fell from the terrace… injured.”
A chill ran down through Atharv’s spine to hear this. Without wasting a second, he rushed out of the hall. Atharv’s eyes wide opened in shock, seeing the scene. Tina was lying on the blood pool. Hurriedly rushing there, he squatted and called “Tina, how this happened?”
The guard said, “She fell from the terrace.”
Atharv looked up at the mansion that was a five-story building. He shouted immediately “Someone, go and check to the terrace.”
He picked up Tina and rushed to the garage. A driver was smoking there leaning on the car. He immediately extinguished the cigarette the moment he saw Atharv coming there, carrying blood-stained Tina in his arms.
Atharv ordered, “Open the door.”
The driver immediately opened the back door of the car and Atharv laid Tina, gently on the seat. He then asked the driver “Drive to the hospital fast.”
Without a word, the driver opened the door, got in the car, and started the engine. Just as Atharv was about to get in the car, he heard someone calling him from behind in a panicked tone “Master, master…wait… Elder master… your father…” He was the same guard who came to call them earlier.
Atharv had no time to waste as he feared that something bad could happen to Tina. Without paying attention, he got into the car and sat down beside her, hugging her tightly. Before the guard could reach there and say something, the car already ran out of the mansion very fast.
The car directly drove to one of the famous hospitals of Mumbai. Tina was pushed inside the OT and Atharv was waiting outside the OT impatiently, pacing back and forth. At that time he received a call from Rita. He answered the call immediately “Hello.”
He heard Rita’s sobbing from the other end of the phone. Atharv got even more impatient and asked “Aunt, why are you crying? What happened?”
“Atharv, Om Bhai (Bhai means- Brother)… someone killed him on the terrace.” With that, she broke down into tears.
Atharv’s whole body went numb and his legs wobbled. He staggered back and hit on the chair, placed in front of the OT causing him to slump onto it. His grip on the phone tightened and he heard Rita saying “Sister-in-law faints. She needs you here, Atharv. Came back home.”
But how could Atharv go back, leaving Tina alone in the OT? All family members were there for his mother but there was no one for Tina. Without saying anything he disconnected the call and looked at the closed door of the OT in a daze. Just one hour before he was very happy and now his whole world scrambled down. His father was killed by someone on the terrace and his girlfriend fell from the same terrace. Was the same killer tried to kill her also? His mind was in a complete mess and couldn’t think anything properly. He never thought that in just one night his life would turn upside down. Only two days before he came to India with his parents and girlfriend and was not familiar with the people around him, so he was not sure who could have done such a heinous crime. But again and again, his doubt drifted to one man, his uncle Vivek Ahuja. He heard that Vivek Ahuja was very unhappy with their arrival and even tried to kill his grandfather for not transferring the company to him. When he was handed over to the police, he managed to escape from their grip too. Other than Vivel Ahuja, who could have planned to kill his father? Thinking this, Atharv gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly in fury. He blamed Virendra Pratap for all these. If he didn’t call them to come back to India then this incident would never have happened.
Just as he was immersed in his thoughts, the door of the OT swung opened and the doctor came out. Atharv immediately rushed to him and asked “How is she? Is she alright?”
Shaking his head, the doctor replied, “We saved her life but she went into a coma.”
“What?”
Atharv couldn’t believe his ears. He promised Tina’s mother to take care of her and now how could he face her? Unable to process the blow of the information, he rooted there speechlessly. He didn’t hear anything that the doctor told him and had no idea when the doctor walked away from there. That night he didn’t return to the mansion, despite he got countless calls from both Rita and Virendra Pratap.
End of flashback…
“What else you like to do other than working, Atharv?”
Then only he came back to reality and pulled back his gaze to Miraya. He answered coldly “I don’t have time for other things.”
His gaze again drifted to the waitress subconsciously, who was looking down on the ground as though she saw something very interesting to watch on the floor. Atharv was impatient as he was not able to see those beautiful eyes. His full concentration was on her and didn’t hear anything that Miraya was talking about.
On the other side, the scene of Atharv staring at the girl unusually didn’t escape from the eyes of another waitress standing beside the girl. She pushed slightly with her shoulder to the girl and said in a very low voice so that only the two of them could hear “It seemed that our CEO fancies you. He is only looking at you for a long time. Navya, you are so lucky. I envy you.”
Keeping her head down, Navya said “Shut up Nishi, don’t talk nonsense.”
“I am not talking nonsense. He is still eyeing on you.”
Navya’s heart was beating very fast. Her legs were wobbling in nervousness. How could such a big CEO have an interest in a small waitress like her? What did he want from her? She was tensed and didn’t dare to take a long breath. She sneakily peeked to look hoping that he was not looking at her but the moment she lifted her eyes slightly she met his deep brown eyes again which were staring directly at her. Navya’s heart thumped loudly and immediately looked down. Her face turned completely red and her ears started burning. She wanted to hide behind Nishi, but who knew what happened to her, she couldn’t move an inch as though her feet were glued on the floor. She remained standing there looking down at the tip of her shoes motionlessly.
When Miraya didn’t get any answer from Atharv then she turned her head to look at the direction where he was staring and saw two young waitresses standing near the door. She sized them up before turning her head back and asked “Why are you looking at those waitresses? Are you planning to change their uniform?”
Frowning, Atharv asked instantly “Excuse me?”