It was already an upleasant morning. I was blankly staring out of the window when my secretary came inside the cabin and said something that made the morning more unpleasant.

"Sir, there's a meeting today at 2 p.m. regarding the merging of our company with Oberoi Enterprises." What the fuck????!!!!!

"WHAT???" I said losing my cool which startled my secretary a bit. 

"S...i...r Y...our father.. has s..aid so..." She said while stuttering.

"Ok, you can leave." I said. I was beyond frustrated. I immediately went to my father's cabin and barged inside without even knocking.

"Oh, Paras, I was totally expecting you to come!" He said happily. That smile was annoying me more.

"Yeah, you should have, because you didn't even bother to tell me about the merging of the companies." I said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Oh, I thought it would be better if your wife told you." Who wife? Oh Nishtha ! She knew????!!!!!

Without even saying a word. I left for my cabin and sat on the chair. She knew and she didn't even speak a word about it??!!! But how can that happen? Was my father lying? 

Just then my personal phone rang and I picked up without even looking at the caller ID.

"Hello, who am I speaking to?"I asked in an irritated tone as soon as I picked up the call.

"Who are you speaking to my foot!" That person shouted probably breaking my ear drums. But that voice sounded familiar... NISHTHA???!!! Well, she doesn't get to get angry. And who gave her the permission to dial my personal number !

"Nishtha, I told you not to initiate a conversation with me until and unless it's an unavoidable emergency." I said and sighed. 

"Oh shut up!! You knew about the merging of our companies and you didn't even speak a word about it to me!!!" She sounded beyond pissed. But what she said was equivalent to a pot calling the kettle black.

"What the hell!!! I came to know about this bullshit today morning only! And my dad told me that YOU knew about it!" I said seriously.

"And my dad said that YOU knew about it." She said, in a lower volume. What the actual hell do our parents want !!!????

"We'll do something about it..." I said as there was nothing else I could say...

"We have no time! The meeting is at 2 p.m. and what can we possibly do about it? We aren't even the CEOs yet..." Yeah right, we weren't even the CEOs yet. Our parents were behaving like the teachers who torture stuents for internal marks!

"If we can't do anything about it then let them do what they want to because that's what they have been doing all along." I said getting frustrated and then hung up the call.

It was around 1:50 pm when I heard a knock on the door of my cabin. "Come in." I said.

Nishtha entered the cabin and sat on the chair in front of me.

"It's 1:50 pm and you're here already." I asked, clearly surprised by her punctuality.

"Yeah... I always come before time to meetings... There's no backing out now... Is there?" She asked a bit hesitantly. Yeah there was no backing out now, we were married, our companies were merging, and we would become the CEOs soon.

"I don't think there is ... But we are in this together alright?" I said, and I wasn't talking about the companies.

"Yeah... Our grandfathers really created a big mess." She said fidgeting with her fingers. Yeah they did. Those old men !

"Yeah ... This is the second time we're on the same page about something, that too in a single day. Good progress. " I said while looking at the file, in order to hide my smile. Even though the morning conversation was totally unnecessary, I felt the need to mention it. 

"Yeah , it's the demand of the situation." She said. Yeah right!

Then I told her that it was time to go to the conference room and we went there. After a while, everyone started entering the conference room.

The meeting began. All the formalities were taking place including big sentences spoken by our respective fathers, which I was least interested in. 

What captured my attention was that Nishtha was frequently glancing at our new partner Akshay Dixit and he was shifting in his place uncomfortably which was really bothering me.

But I was really pissed at dad too, what was the hurry man!!!!??? I was told that this meeting was REGARDING the merging of our companies, I didn't know that they had so much hurry that they signed the documents at the same time.

"Our companies will together be called PaNi, signifying the names of our future CEO's Mr. Paras Singhania and Mrs. Nishtha Oberoi Singhania." Whoaa!!! PaNi ... it was like naming a child after the name of his/her parents!

The torture was finally over and I quickly went out of the room to breathe in some fresh air. Nishtha came after a while behind her father. But as soon as she stepped out of the room, she didn't even notice my presence.

She straight away went to that Akshay guy. They were talking and talking and talking. It was annoying the hell out of me ! I had had enough so I approached them.

Nishtha saw me and introduced me to Akshay. We then shook hands. Nishtha fumbled while telling what was the relation between her and Akshay, something was fishy!

"Oh, so you guys already know each other." I said breaking the awkward silence. Duh! They obviously did!

"Yeah. I'm really looking forward to working with you guys." Akshay said in a professional manner.

"We too!" I said and placed my hand possessively around Nishtha's shoulder. She looked clearly surprised but Akshay eyed us in awe. 

"Please excuse us Mr. Dixit, we have to go somewhere." I said, actually I just wanted to take her away from him. I didn't even pay attention to what he said next. We went to the lobby.

I had nothing to talk to her but still I initiated a conversation about a stupid topic.

"How can a company have two CEOs???" That was the least of my concern right now. Of course the merger can have two CEOs ! But yet again, I just wanted to have a conversation with her. 

"I don't know..." She said. I guess she wasn't thinking straight because she's smart, I was expecting a better reply from her.

"Look, we have to decide what we'd do if they tell us that there will only be one CEO." I added.

"Bullshit, we wouldn't agree on that part. We have agreed to enough demands of theirs. Not anymore." She said making an angry face. Damn she looked so cute when she was angry! Shit, what was I thinking ???!!!

"Damn, if we don't listen to them, they'll disown us!!" I said bitching about our fathers as that's the only thing we both agree on.

"Trust me, they won't. We both are equally good candidates for the CEO positions." She said proudly. I was happy that she thought that about me!

"And ! A company can have multiple CEOs. The concept isn't widespread but it is followed by several international companies." She suddenly said. See I knew she was smart. 

"Children, here you are!" Ughh, Speak of the devil and the devil's here.

Then they clarified the CEO thing and Nishtha looked relieved. I wasn't surprised at all, because I knew it. Both of them left after that. And we both turned to face each other.

"Thank God!" I said to seem natural.

"Your tie..." Nishtha said looking at my neck tie.

"What?" I asked while trying to figure out what was wrong with my tie.

She suddenly came forward and started adjusting my tie once again. Damn, it was so hard to control myself. I wanted to kiss her then and there but I somehow controlled myself.

"Done!" She said bringing me out of my thoughts... But as she was moving away, the band of her wrist watch got stuck in the button of my shirt.

She struggled to untangle her watch. It was becoming really hard to control myself. She looked slightly embarrassed. I placed my hands on hers intentionally and then untangled her watch from my shirt in a go.

We stepped away from each other... actually she did. There was a really awkward silence between us. 

"I should get going now!" She suddenly said.

"Yeah sure." How far you'll go? I know where you live (wink).

That afternoon, around 4:30 p.m. I was sitting in my cabin and I couldn't think about anything but her. Was I falling for her? Nah ! It might just be an infatuation, nothing more.

But why did I feel bad when she was talking to that Akshay Dixit?? No, no I wasn't jealous ! Maybe I was just overthinking.

So I decided to do something... hehehe. I posted some pictures of myself with a model I once had a fling with, on my WhatsApp status.

It was around 4:30 pm and all I could think was that moment I had with Paras, earlier that afternoon. Ughhh !!!! 

To divert my mind, I decided to see the WhatsApp status of my contacts.

"What has this 'Paras Singhania WhatsApp' posted ??" I wondered and I opened the status. He had posted pics of himself with a model or something. Ewwww !!!! The nerve of this man !!!!!

That evening when I went home... his house to be precise ... he was fortunately in the washroom but whoa his phone was kept on the table in the living room!

I know it was wrong but I couldn't help. I switched his phone on and to my surprise there was no password. Anyways, I opened his WhatsApp and to my surprise, there wasn't any lock on WhatsApp too.

I straight away went to the status section. The status was viewed by just one person!

I went to the status setting and just how I thought... the setting was... Only visible to 'Nishtha WhatsApp'.

A devilish idea popped up in my mind. I changed the settings to that the status could be visible to his mom, dad, brother and cousins! And I reposted the pics on his status.

"Done checking my phone wifey?" Paras said startling me. Shit!

Heyyy guyss !!!! Sorry for the delay !!! Today I won't ask if you liked the chapter or not. Rather I would hope that all of you are safe in your houses. Let's pray for the ones who are infected, rest in peace those who didn''t make it and let's do whatever it takes to stay alive and safe !!! The whole world is in this together and we can fight this battle and win it !