Chapter 2

Synergy Inc

A Week Later

There was a sudden change of plans, and when Vikram announced that his wife Mrs Mathur would be visiting Sigma Inc. the very next day, there was initially a lot of panic along with surprise.

Raj Singh was stuck in Dubai for a security conference and couldn't cancel his trip to fly back to Mumbai at such short notice. But his senior employee and HR Director Namrata Joshi, Sanjay Verma along with Aryan assured him that they will leave no stone unturned, to show off their firm in its best light, and Mrs Vikram Mathur would be received with full decorum.

On the D Day, every effort was made by the Administrative and HR Team to spruce up the premises of Synergy Inc. and make sure that the welcome reception for Mrs Mathur was top notch. There was also a lot of curiosity as to who their new CEO was, as Vikram Mathur kept his private life away from the prying eyes of the media, and no one knew who his wife was or how she looked. Everywhere she was known just as Mrs Vikram Mathur.

Soon, Mrs Mathur arrived at the offices of Synergy in a BMW 5 Series model car, driven by an elderly driver.

Namrata and other senior staff like Sanjay Verma rushed to meet Mrs Mathur downstairs, while the young girls in the accounts and admin department huddled together at the spacious balcony to observe her arrival and share the latest gossip.

“Her Car looks exactly like Aryan’s, right?” observed Sachi, their sharp and nosy receptionist who made sure she knew everything about Aryan.

Ignoring Sachi, Rithika the administrative assistant, pulled a chair noisily and collapsed on to it.

"Phew!!! This visit and inspection has done my feet in. Do you know I have been running around nonstop for the past two hours? Aryan hadn't turned up at the last minute, and Namrata Ma'am dumped all the Audio-Visual presentation arrangements on me!" rued Rithika, as she removed her 3-inch stilettos and rubbed her heels.

"If you ask me, I think he had a late lie-in today at Avni's place. I saw both of them driving off last night in his car. You guys don't believe me when I say this, but they are sleeping together." Maya, the senior accountant whispered, her eyes shining malevolently, as she hoped that her hot new revelation would be eagerly welcomed.

"No Maya, how many times have we told you? Avni is old news. He is only interested in Tisha right now. The number of times we have caught them together, I can vouch for it." argued Sanjana, the new HR temp.

"All of you girls are wrong. He is head over heels in love with Surbhi from the DCM Consultancy on level six. I suspect that he got a strict warning from our big boss Raj Singh, not to get personally involved with any female staff at Synergy, and that's why he kept himself away from everyone here. He is such a Casanova that, even if he talks or laughs with someone, everyone jumps to the conclusion that he is having an affair. Leave the poor guy alone, I say." Receptionist Sachi tried to fill her voice with sympathy.

But the rest of the girls sniggered inwardly, as they knew that she was still bitter with Aryan for discouraging all her advances towards him. No one wanted to admit it openly, but Sachi wasn’t the only one spurned by Mr Casanova. But that didn’t stop them from trying to get close to him. His charming manners were as alluring as his gorgeous face and muscular physique.

"But where is Aryan anyway?" Rithika demanded again, stilettos back on and standing tall, as she observed Namrata and Sanjay Verma introducing Mrs Vikram Mathur to the staff members, one by one, in their open plan office.

All the girls moved slowly towards the open plan office, their eyes taking in everything – right from their new CEO’s beautiful face and shy smile, her semi formal blazer and black trousers and the designer purse she was carrying.

"Look at her! She is so young, hardly twenty-five. How come she is married to an older guy like Vikram Mathur?"

"That's probably why he keeps her hidden from prying eyes, that sly dog"

"It's very common for older men to fall for younger women. But if a woman falls in love with a younger man, the whole world goes nuts"

As the girls stood next to each other and craned their necks to watch every aspect of their new CEO, the whispers and comments were flying thick and fast, but stopped eventually when she was just a few feet away from them. Just as they moved forward to greet her, Rohit and Sandeep, the young engineers from the Mobile gadgets team beat them to it.

“Mrs Mathur, we are so glad that we have a lady CEO. Once your tour of the office is done, we can take you to our engineering division and show our models.” Rohit invited her in his deep voice and Sandeep nodded his head eagerly. Mrs Mathur looked slightly flustered as they introduced themselves and shook her hand. Perhaps she felt overwhelmed by the tall guys who huddled around her. As if sensing her discomfiture, the chatter quietened after a while.

"Hello everyone, I am really sorry I couldn't be there to welcome our new CEO..." a husky voice spoke from behind.

"Aryan!" squealed Sachi.

Everyone's heads in the open plan office riveted towards the tall frame of Aryan Kapoor, as he walked casually towards them, looking devilishly handsome in a Dark Grey Suit.

His gaze passed from one familiar face to another till it rested on the ethereal face of Mrs Mathur, and both his eyes and feet became still.

Namrata looked up across the aisle and welcomed Aryan warmly, as he remained stunned and rooted to the spot, his eyes locked in gaze with Mrs Vikram Mathur.

"Aryan!! Meet Mrs Chandni Mathur, our managing partner, CEO and the better half of our new Chairman Mr Vikram Mathur. Mrs Mathur, this is Aryan Kapoor, one of our brightest and best in the Organisation. In fact, the prototype we are developing...." Namrata's cheerful voice was like a drowning noise in the background.

It was difficult to define the feelings on Aryan and Chandni's faces as they gazed and assessed each other after the initial shock!

Hatred? Loathing? A Sense of Betrayal? Or was there somewhere a suppressed feeling of love that lasted, in spite of everything?

 Aryan was the first to recover. He took a deep gulp, in a desperate attempt to swallow the sickening feeling in his throat and tried his best to look nonchalant. But his feet seemed to have a mind of their own as they moved slowly towards Chandni, till he forced them to stop. As he inhaled deeply to control his ragged breath, he managed to shift his eyes away from the person who betrayed his love and wrecked his heart all those years ago.

The moment Chandni saw Aryan, she lost sense of her surroundings as her ears kept ringing with the loud thumping sound of her heartbeat. As she drank in every feature of his face which haunted her dreams for so long, her dazed mind failed to realise that her arm had stretched on its own to shake hands with him.

Chandni's outstretched hand hung in mid-air as the phone slipped from her other hand, but Aryan quickly moved forward, caught it and gave it back to her.

Chandni almost felt faint, as she watched the very face she was determined never to see again in her life. How ill-fated was she, that her husband had decided to buy the very company where Aryan was! How could she work in the same office as the acting CEO now? Forget about work, she couldn't even stand here for another minute. Does Vikram know that Aryan works here? What if Aryan...?

Chandni's mind was caught in a web of questions. But first things first. I must not let Aryan mess up with me or my mind once again. She took a deep breath and tried to smile.

Aryan was satisfied to see the entire gamut of feelings on Chandni's face. Her face was as transparent as ever. Slowly the reaction on her face turned into a diplomatic grin, but she couldn't betray a sense of fear too, which Aryan was quick to observe.

"Nice to meet you Mr Kapoor." Chandni's clipped tone was no match to the internal turmoil she felt at the moment.

Oh! She wants to play the strangers card now, does she? This will be so interesting and I will have my ultimate fun now, Aryan thought, as his mercurial brain debated whether to call Chandni's bluff straight away, or play a cat and mouse game with her.

His face broke into his trademark smirk, as he shook her hand rather too roughly, and greeted her back.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Mathur. I can't tell you how happy I am today." The cynicism and inherent meaning in his words were felt only by Chandni, as the rest of the staff looked at both of them and smiled warmly.

As Aryan's hands touched her, an uncontrollable shiver ran up Chandni's spine, and she was caught in a surge of such powerful emotions that she hadn't felt for many years. Long after Aryan left her hand and moved back, Chandni's hands felt clammy and there was a slight perspiration on her forehead. Every bit of bravery that she tried to gather and show to him earlier seemed to evaporate.

Her first instinct was to run away, as fast as she could, from that office, and from that heartless guy who destroyed her life Seven years ago. Her heart felt as if it was going to explode, the sudden rush of blood made her almost feel dizzy, and she took deep breaths to gain some control back. She turned back to leave, but stopped, as she could slowly register, even in that fuzzy state, how her nervous state and actions were probably making Namrata and her colleagues worried about her.

"Mrs Mathur, are you alright? You look a bit pale!" Namrata's worried face now became clearer in her vision, as her heart stopped flapping so wildly, returning to normal state.

"No, I am absolutely fine. Just a bit tired. I have been snowed under a lot of work recently. You know...with moving into our new house and all that." She blurted out whatever excuse she could immediately think of.

Namrata's worried face cleared into a genuine smile.

"Of course, I can totally understand." Namrata's sympathetic voice was closely followed by Aryan's snigger.

Chandni's head snapped towards him again, but this time in fury.

And she suddenly began to question herself. Why am I trying to run away from this guy as if I am the guilty party here? He was the one, who broke her heart, betrayed her, and abandoned her when she needed him the most. He should be the one running away from there, ashamed, if he felt even a tiny bit of remorse about his past actions. But instead, he stood there, smirking and sneering at her.

Chandni stiffened with indignation as Namrata looked worriedly at both of them.

"What are you laughing at, Mr Kapoor? Perhaps we all could join you if you share the joke?" She mocked him.

"Hmmm nothing Mrs Mathur, for a moment it looked as though you wanted to run away from here, hahaha. Sorry my bad..." Aryan's tone was mocking rather than apologetic, much to the trepidation of Namrata.

Aryan sauntered towards Chandni till he was very close to her.

The suppressed fury in his eyes was visible only to Chandni and it took all the will power she had, to remain calm and lock her gaze with him.