Mine, To Hold And Behold

Chapter 19

I enjoyed a meal thoroughly after a really long time. Pari cooked an basic indian meal, that is white rice, tomato soup, lentils, potato curry and vegetable butter milk along with some cheese garlic bread, which was not Indian but was my favourite.

We talked about so many things, starting from our work to latest movies. I learned that Pari has managed decent earnings in the last year. She admitted that she was only managing the administratory work and the actual counselling was done by her two partners and three other counsellors that are employed there. She councils occasionally that too if she is sure that the case isn't too complicated. "I don't understand how I messed it up so badly" she said. The talk turned out depressing at the end so I had to cheer her up by describing how beautiful the Nile river has been. Though my visit to the river Nile has been very brief, I managed to detail the specifications and generate some curiosity in Pari.

Her eyes sparkled whenever I mentioned any place as beautiful or marvellous. I know she was imagining every place through my description. I made a silent promise to myself that I will take her to every possible place around the globe wherever she wishes to go.

The evening ended as we four Pari, me, Dad and Mr.Sharma had an appetising dinner at our house. There were a lot of things to talk. But somehow each topic ended with the folks suggesting me and Pari to get married. I avoided the topic as much as I could because I wanted to surprise her by proposing her in the most romantic way. In Paris, the city of love.

Pari excused herself after the dinner. When we three men were left, we decided to continue our chat over drinks.

"So, what's wrong?" My dad asked pouring two glasses of scotch. I helped myself with diet coke.

"Nothing" I shrugged opening the can and tasting the black colored liquid.

"Then why were you avoiding the topic?" Mr.Sharma asked not so subtly. I frowned at his tone. Not so long ago he seemed too proud of me, so what changed now.

"Sharma! Let me talk" my dad quipped in.

"What topic?" I asked. Mr.Sharma snorted and gulped down the scotch.

" about your wedding with Pari of course" my dad said in a 'duh' tone.

I rolled my eyes. Now how do I explain to these old men that I'm planning a romantic proposal?

"Do you even want to marry her or have you changed your mind already?" Mr.Sharma banged his fist on the wodden counter. I looked up at him to find him glaring at me.

"She was mine and she still is" my tone was arrogant. And why not? Pari was mine. I had extreme possessive feelings towards her. I know he is her father and all but him pretending to love and care for Pari more than me doesn't sit well with me. No one can love her more than I do. No one I mean no one.

"Then why not marry her Raghu? It's high time already" my dad said.

"Dad!" I sighed running a hand through my hair. "I wanna propose to her" I said and the reply that I got was exactly what I expected.

They had similar frowns on thier faces.

"Do you mean you want to get down on your knee and ask her?" My dad asked and chuckled immediately.

"Yes" I said nonchalantly. His chuckles turned into a full blown laughter.

" You getting down on a knee and asking. Literally? Now wouldn't that be a sight, Sharma?" My dad laughed.

" You think its funny?" I asked completely unamused.

"Ofcoure" he said and doubled in laughter.

" I don't understand" Mr.Sharma shook his head. "Why do you want to do it? I mean she is expecting to be your wife. It's no secret that you want to marry her. And on top of that, you two have been together since... almost forever" he said looking truly confused. "Why does it matter?"

" It matters to Pari" I said and drank the rest of the coke. My dad's laughter seized and Mr.Sharma too looked curiously at me. I looked at their expressions and groaned. These curious oldies are not going to leave without knowing.

"Pari is a romantic girl. She always wanted something like that from Hollywood movies or those clichéd romance novels. I couldn't give her something like that till now, but now I want to. A perfect proposal. Lots of flowers, baloons, champaign. You know.... romantic stuff" I tried to explain to my greatest effort. But I was no teacher as there were still those blank expressions on their faces.

After a minute I gave up on studying their expressions and concentrated on the kabab in front of me. I helped myself to a huge serving. I know I just had dinner but its kabab. My favourite. And its just a snack served with drinks and I am drinking...... coke! Still drinking.

My dad stared into space "I was a romantic too" he said. " Your mom was my romance. I loved her", his face broke into a dreamy smile. "And she was so hot" my dad said in that tone that I had to get up and leave.

"Time for bed" me and Mr. Sharma said in unison. "Good night gentlemen" I hurried my steps and literally ran into my room as Mr.Sharma ran in the opposite direction. My dad's description faded, Yew. I shuddered at once.

****

" Yeah! Get everything you can. There family, businesses, property, contact details, connections, everything. I want to know every dirty little secret about them" I hung up and revolved in my chair facing my dad.

"You think Benjamin can pull this off? I mean he is..." I cut my dad's words

"Trustworthy" I said. "He knows his work and he owe me a huge time" I leaned back into my leather chair.

"exactly what do you plan on doing?" My dad inquired.

"Well, I want to know why this family is suing Pari, apart from the obvious reason, I want to know if there is an underlying motive. And also I want to know their weak spots which will be a help during our negotiations" I said.

" I hope it works. Cause we need to leave in four days. The Paris meeting is very important and the celebrations that are following too. This can't be postponed. We can't let them screw this up" he said checking his watch.

"You getting late for something? " I asked.

" Yeah! A small meeting" he said scratching his jaw. "So you gonna be there with Pari for the negotiations?"

"Ugh no. I'm gonna let the lawyer handle it. He'd do."

"What? Patil?" My dad frowned. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and then realization hit me,

"No dad. Gupta. I fired our old lawyer. He is good for nothing" I smirked and my dad smiled wickedly at me.

"First day and you already fired someone. That too someone from the legal team! Take it easy kid" my dad smirked.

"Gupta is good dad. I have seen his profile and had a chat with him. He is far better than Patil" I explained.

"Still, I would advise you to take it slow. It's not good to be on your employees bad side" he said with a sly smile.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "hell! I am the boss" I growled which earned a laugh from my dad.

"Now that's like my son" he got up from his chair still shaking his head with laughter. "See you at the board meeting son" he waved and left the room.

There was a small celebration at the office today when I first came in. Though it hasn't yet announced officially that I am the C.E.O of the company, it was an open secret. The employees greeted me with flower bouquets and congratulated me on my success in Cairo. I had a proud smile plastered on my face all along the while.

I called in for a board meeting to discuss a few changed that I want to make before leaving for Paris.

A message beeped on my phone distracting me from my thoughts. I unlocked the screen and read Pari's message.

'WASSUP?'

I shook my head. She probably must be wondering about the problem at hand, but was too embarassed to ask about it. That's the only reason she would be messaging me in the middle of the day when she knew I would be busy at work.

I'M GOOD. HAVE SOME LUNCH AND RELAX. I'LL TAKE CARE OF THE ISSUE. DON'T WORRY SO MUCH.

The reply was instant. YOU SURE IT WILL BE FINE? I'M SCARED.

Pari always worries too much. I still remember, three years back, her constant worry towards her father was the thing which bought her running to me, to seek my help. Now she is again having a similar situation except this time she is in trouble.

EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE. TRUST ME?

Again the reply was immediate. I could picture her, sitting with her phone in both her hands and staring at it. Eagerly waiting for my texts and replying immediately with shivering hands.

'I TRUST YOU'.

I replied instantly, 'THEN RELAX. I GOT IT COVERED'.

*****

Six pairs of eyes were staring at me. One pair being my father's the rest were the five board members. I leaned forward onto the wodden table, "I would like to introduce a new department in our firm" I said getting to the point.

" What kind of new department? " an sixty year old grey haired board member asked.

" Clearence personal department" I said and cringed at how it sounded, it sounds like an house cleaning department, my inner voice yelled. "I've not yet figured what it would be called" I added.

" what will this department be doing?" Another member asked ignoring my negligence. After all being an C.E.O has its benefits. Nobody points out your mistakes.

" Noel?" I called. Noel came in the room and opened a presentation on his laptop and connected it to the projector.

"Clearance personal" I started as the name appeared. I ignored mentioning the change of name. The slide changed and the pictures of the men I have selected for this department started to appear one after the other with thier name, age and contact details. "they all are the local goons who do petty jobs for cash, which are of course illegal in the eyes of law. But, they have a reputation among the locals. They are intimidating and convincing. How? You don't have to ask. We are gonna hire them, give them salaries, official postings, and of course all the other leverages an employee gets and they will work for us" I finished as the slides with the pictures were over. Another slide apleared which had a huge 'why' on it.

" Why do we need these employees?" I stated the question and looked at the memebers. They all had these curious looks on thier faces. Obviously, if you see giant scary men dressed in suits with knife marks on thier faces then you definitely feel intrigued.

"The last three projects that we have lost are because of the same reason. The property that we bought is now occupied by the people living in slums. They didn't vacate the place and when we tried to involve the police, they called the media and created a huge drama over the issue. The matter has gone upto the human rights commission. It happened not one but thrice. And it will happen again, because gentlemen! In our country there are more slums than anywhere else. These people whom you have seen are going to help us gain what's rightfully ours" I said and paused for them to process the info and shoot any questions if there.

"But is it legal?" One of them asked as understanding dawned on them.

" It will be, as we employee them like every other employees of our company"

"Don't they have any criminal record? We have a policy of not employing people who have registered criminal record" another one asked with a disgusted scowl.

"Some of them do have a criminal record, yes. But this particular department will be devoid of that rule and it's necessary because people won't fear the one's who have a clean slate record. These men are feared. And that's what we are gonna business with. The fear".

"Why will they make the slums vacate?" The silent one of them all asked, "aren't they living there themselves? "

I laughed. " no. They don't live there. Apparently these goons aren't like the one's we see in our local movies. They are well off and since we are employing them they will stay in the employ quarters like the others" I shrugged. " and more over by offering them a job with monthly payments and allowances, we will be winning thier trust and loyalty. They will do anything and everything" I said.

" Can we trust them?" This time it was my dad.

"We aren't giving them any vital information. We will be using their muscle, that's it", I shrugged.

" As far as I have understood, this department will serve like that of a recovery team of a bank" a board member said.

"Almost" I nodded my head in agreement.

The board room got divided into two, they discussed the pro's and con's of the proposal. I butted in whenever necessary and filled in thier queries. Five hours passed and it was almost mid night yet we we haven't reached to a conclusion.

"Okay gentlemen! It's midnight already, lets call it a night and meet tomorrow. Hopefully everyone would make up their minds by then" my dad said and got up from his chair followed by the rest.

****

" Sir, why did you say that you have already decided whom to make the head of this department? We haven't figured that out yet, right?" Noel asked. As soon as the work at Cairo got finished, Noel came back to India in the next flight. Since he is not accustomed to the luxuries of a private jet, he flew commercial and reached today.

He was supposed to be on vacation, but I needed him today at the meeting because he is the one who has prepared the whole presentation and I had to have a last minute check on the details.

"I have made my mind" I sighed entering the car park. I could see my dad waiting for me patiently at the entrance gate. "My friends from college will head this department" I said.

" Sir with all due respect, I don't think you should mix emotions with business" Noel added.

" No" I chuckled. One thing that I have learned about this guy is that he is bluntly honest. Sometimes his honesty is considered rude but he means no harm. At least not anymore. "they are all experienced in this department. They are experts, you can say" I chuckled. "All they know is, exactly what we need in this department. So they will do good" I said confidently.

"Oh" that was all I got from Noel before I bid him farewell and left with my dad.

"Give a break to the poor guy" my dad said as he pulled into the road.

"Yes dad!" I said. Facts are, my dad still sports a soft corner for that guy and I don't know whether I should be glad or threatened.

GOOD NIGHT GUYS.

I AM SLEEPY.

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE AND COMMENT.