She was staring at the red saree in her hands…. still not relieved from the shock caused by ASR’s declaration earlier in the afternoon.

°°°°°°°°Flashback°°°°°°°°°same day afternoon°°°°°°°°°

“Aman and I r going to nainital for a conference….. and u r accompanying us being my secretary. ..”

Khushi was shocked “secretary??? but I’m not. …”

“I just said that u r my secretary!! That means u R!!!’

Come here at 6am tomorrow. It’s a long drive!”

Aman too seemed to be shocked by his declaration.. but that was not just it…

“AND ha pack saree. I dont want MY secretary to be seen in these type of clothes.”

He said motioning his hands up and down.

°°°°°°°°°Flashback ends°°°°°°°°°°°

She was cursing him under her breath when she felt someone nuzzling her neck. A warm hand went to caress her belly under her tee… “need some help in packing?” he teased.

“R??? When did u come?”

“When u were busy cursing….. u have some great vocabulary, u know…..” He chuckled.

She sagged into his hands feeling his caress. He slowly worked his way upwards raising her top along, while his other went into her shorts.

######################################################

Khushi was standing in front of AR for the past 20mts , waiting for the oh-so punctual ASR and the others. She was sending out mails regarding the work to be done in her office. KARMA was her baby and she was hardly getting any time to look after her baby these days in between all these AR stuffs. Thanks to some rly good employees she had only few things to handle. She had come here for her own benefits and here she was working like a faithful employee of AR, well only while inside the building.

"I thought I asked you to wear a saree" She was startled by his voice.

"Woh sir, I thought I could change after reaching there..." She replied.

Arnav stared at her before nodding and turning around.

She heard a noise nearby and saw Aman and La walking towards them. She greeted Aman cheerfully and saw La frowning at her. ASR was walking towards his car, La tagging along. Aman and Khushi were a few feet away from them.

K: ” Aman u guys r late.”

Aman: “late? But we were asked to come here at 6.30. In that sense, we r five mts early.”

K: “What?! Then why was I....”

“Because u tend to be late always Gupta… and I don’t like waiting for anyone” Came ASR's stern reply. 'And you made me wait.... Even I don't like waiting for anyone...' She bit back the whole reply. She wanted to say all these out but couldn't. And all these was due to some stupid plan. She decided to have a word with her partner later. She had to vent out all her anger at someone and she preferred that someone to be him.

The equation between them simple and complex at the same time. He was way more than what the others could see. And she was the only one who knew all the sides. They knew each other better than even their corresponding siblings and some things were their own secrets. She smiled remembering their convo from the previous night

ASR chose to drive to Nainital. He was known for his craze in driving and cars… he drove his cars himself most of the time.

She was getting really bored during the journey. La didn't bother to even spare her a glance. Aman was sitting as quietly as possible, working through some emails. And she knew that he wouldn't start a convo. The poor guy was way too afraid of his boss. And ASR - his whole concentration on the road or atleast it looked like that. She had seen him looking at her via the mirror two-three times. The guy had turned too desperate that he made her his PA and that too without a second thought. That's not the extremely professional ASR the world knew.

"Sir, what's this meeting about? I wasn't given any details."

"And y do you need the details?" La asked. Her displeasure evident in her voice.

"Lavanya, she is ASR's PA, so she should know the details. Just hand over the file to her so that she can go through them." Aman replied. La frowned but kept her thoughts to herself.

Khushi saw La glaring a few times… and looking at Aman with the same expression a few times. She was starting to understand what irritated La.

Khushi smirked when she saw the car entering KR resorts in Nainital. KR… the resort chain was a joint venture, from her and her rajaji. She wondered how the paparazzi will take the news of ASR staying in K’s resort. But it was OK, as no one knew the relation between K of KARMA and K of KR. Hell... No one even knew that that she was an heir of the Gupta empire neither was the family name ever linked to KARMA. KR was a part of their family business. But still KR was a name on its own.

And when she thinks about it, she and ASR were quite similar. Both valued their privacy a lot, both in the fashion world. Both their companies were their own works, even after being heirs of well known business families, they were known by their own names, the names they created by hard work. ASR and K.

Each were given their key cards.She was not in her suite but in the room that has been booked. She had dreaded sharing a room with La. A few hours alone with that girl would bring out her original self. La had a hint already and if she tries to be all brainy and do something stupid, K would have to take some drastic steps to prevent her secrets from coming out. And La... She was not really that bad... Just a simple girl behind all that shields and K had seen right through.

She changed into a saree before heading out for the meeting.

It was a new project, a joint venture with the international company KAAS. AR was investing. This meeting was to finalise the suppliers… this was a rly big venture. A mile stone in Indian fashion world.

Khushi was standing to the side looking at representatives of the different companies there, while the other 3 where busy in checking the samples along with the representatives from KAAS. KARMA too was an investor. She could see her associates among them. It was sheer luck that they hadn’t ever met K before. No one except the KAAS rep knew that KARMA was a part of the project. KARMA and AR working together would make big news. But only after everything is fixed would the news of KARMA will be out.

The meeting went well and the reps of KAAS announced a party to be held that evening and left the conference room. The people had started casual conversations with each other. Its not that often when all the top companies in the fashion world came together in a room. Her associates were updating her about the meeting. And she was replying, texting, not even giving a hint that she was right there!

She was disturbed by someone’s voice. She looked up to see a young man in front of her. “Hey beautiful…. I didn’t know that models were invited to the meeting!” Flattery… “oh sry… I didn’t introduce myself did I??? Vishal…. Vishal Sinhania!” He said forwarding a hand. She looked at his outstretched hand and then at his face, before folding her hands together in a greeting. “Namasthe” The supposed GENTLEMAN in front of her was not as well mannered as he was showing himself to be. There was no admiration in his eyes as he checked her out… there was just lust and she didn’t tolerate when someone looked at her as if she was just a commodity. She could feel the negative vibes. And she did know about a few of his adventures… the poor girl who worked as his PA few yrs back was her frnd. Sakshi had seen how he used girls and threw them like tissue paper… and it was with a great struggle that she herself escaped him. A terrified Sakshi had come to her, not knowing what to do. She had supported Sakshi and made her strong. At that time they knew that it was no point complaining becoz they didn’t have any evidence against the PERFECT GENTLEMAN. They had been collecting evidences since then and it won’t be long before he is behind the bars. Now Sakshi was K’s right hand,the second in command, the only person in KARMA who knew Khushi. Sakshi was supposed to attend the meeting, but had to backout the last minute due to some work K gave her. It was a great opportunity for them with both ASR and Aman away from AR.

“It’s almost lunch time… the restaurant here has some excellent Italian menu…. would you…”

“Gupta!!! Did you complete the file that I asked you to….” Arnav cut in. ‘file? Which file?’ she wondered. “U didnt… ”

“ASR… So this beautiful lady works for u… but File? why would a model work on files???”

“She is not a model, but my PA!.. now if u will excuse us… we have some work to complete.”

He walked out of the room, with a smirking khushi right at his tail.. he was still fuming with anger. She looked at him amused. And chuckled as a thought occurred to her. He turned towards her,his eyebrows arched questioningly. “Was just thinking that I could fry an egg on you!! Y r u fuming?”

“Why ?? U r asking me why??? He was hitting on u damn it!!!”

“Aapko kya faraq padtha hai? Y do u care???”

That enraged him further. He yanked her towards him. “Muche faraq padtha hai…” but he lost his words as he noticed her gaze on his lips… and his eyes automatically went to hers and his hand slowly went to her nape. He was just about to kiss her when they were interrupted by Aman. “ASR!!” Both of them broke apart. Aman was looking everywhere but at them. And khushi was blushing profusely. ‘That’s a first. Guess the act is affecting me and I'm turning more into Khushi, thought K. But Arnav he was back to his ASR mode… as if nothing had happened.

“What’s it Aman?”

“Er… ASR woh… Mr.Khurana has invited u to his daughter’s engagement tomorrow. He wanted to invite u personally, but u left….”

“Hmm… we will go….” He left the place with that.

##################################

Khushi was dressed in a black net saree and matching accessories.

She was giving an example of how an Indian wear can make a girl hotter than any western dress can ever do.

A lot of heads turned at her entry and she could feel a pair of eyes following her every move. Arnav was in his usual dress code. Lav was dressed in beautiful gown. The lavender color adding to her beauty.

K saw her gaze to be stuck at Aman. And that brought a smile to her face. Her guess was not wrong after all. She walked up to Aman. She saw that he too was stealing glances at La. “Y don’t u ask her for a dance?” K asked him. And she pushed him a little towards her.

K was smiling looking at Aman and La when someone tapped her shoulder. She turned around still smiling, but she lost it as soon as she saw the person. “Can I have the pleasure of dancing with this beautiful lady?” Khushi clenched her jaw as Vishal Sinhania asked this. But she didn’t have to answer because Arnav bet her to it. ” Actually she promised me this dance… so…” and he pulled her towards him and wrapped his hands around her in a possessive gesture.

##################################

They had 2 dances together before she moved out to attend a call. She was walking towards the hall, when Vishal blocked her path. She saw Armaan stiffening. He was standing at a safe distance from them. She wondered what reason he gave in AR for his absence. Whatever that may be, he couldn’t rly come out in the open. He would if things went bad, but she wouldn’t allow that. He should know that she knows how to take care of herself.

“I guess u owe me a dance!” He said with a sweet looking smile. She would have fallen for it had she not known better.

“But I don’t remember promising u one.”

He was not expecting that.

“And cut off the crap. I know u r not this sweet guy u r showing yourself to be!”

“It’s good that u know… and I guess u too r not what u look like…. so let’s just go with the flow…. come to my room.. it’s 16..”

“I don’t think u r good enough to have ME in bed!… u know I’m rly choosy.”

Now that hurt his ego. He got rly angry and lifted his hand to grab her arm. “How dare..” he didn’t get the chance to complete his sentence nor did his hand reach her. He was thrown backwards by a strong fist on his face. She was getting ready to break his nose but was not expecting this. Arnav’s fist met his face two more times. She stopped him when she felt that he would kill him. Saying Arnav was angry would be an understatement. She was trying to drag him away and his eyes flew to her. She stumbled a little as she saw the rage in his eyes. He caught her arm in a strong grip and dragged her towards his room. He pushed her inside the room, locked the door behind their back and pushed her against the door, traping her there. His lips caught hers in a punishing kiss, biting and nibbling on her lower lip before thrusting his tongue into her mouth tasting every corner. He tore her saree off her, baring her to his gaze. He looked at her for a long moment. “Mine!” He said before kissing her again, one hand going to cup her br*ast and the other one between her legs.