Chapter 1 The Call, Devastating News

• (REYA'S POV)
• "Let's take a short break everyone." Avimay announced and rushed out of the conference room to catch the culprit who was responsible for this sudden meeting break.
• "Come on Virat, you can do it." Crossing my fingers I was anxiously watching the match, as the bowler was loading to bowl the next ball. The next second, my ears were buzzing with loud cheering from the crowd and the commentators voice echoed through my earphones, "Kohli goes down the ground, Kohli goes out of the ground. This is a sensational hit from Virat Kohli."
• "Yes,yes" kissing my phone I was screaming at the top of my lungs and dancing like a mad person.
• "REYA, REYA" I sensed someone calling my name, but who cares, huh, I didn't bother looking at the source of voice. Suddenly, I was greeted by a smack on my back. Instinctively, I jerked away and watched the person who gave me that ghastly backpat. "REYA ARYA, I know you get absorbed when watching Kohli bat, but sweetie this is our workplace and if you abruptly walks out of 'an emergency meeting' which you yourself asked me to hold, just what am I suppose to do, hmm. Atleast you should have given me a heads up."
• "Ummm ok, now do not disturb me, the game is almost done", without looking at Avimay, I replied.
• After the match ended, Avimay took my phone away and said, " Now that your match is over, shall we go to the conference room and finish the meeting".
• "Ok", I responded, giving her a nod. "Now that I am revitalized, so let's get this over with".
• "You know what, if you were not my best friend and my most trusted designer, I would have given you a smack thrice a day, every single day" Avimay teased me.
• "Oh Please hah, you do it all the time, at this rate my back is going to be like a baked sweet potato", I looked at Avimay with my baby deer eyes, pleading "VMay Dear please have a little mercy on me, hmm".
• "You and your crazy antics, gosh" Avimay chuckled, "but seriously, you know, our employees wants to crush me for calling them on a sunday afternoon, that to in a festive season".
• "Who can even dare to smash and crush you like a tomato, huh, after all you are there money bank”, I teased her and she laughed. Tidying myself up and fixing my stranded hair after all the jumping and screaming, I called out to Avimay, “Let’s go”.
• “Ms Rajvanshi, Ms Arya, everyone is back inside, waiting for both of you”. Kushav, Avimay’s assistant conveyed. I followed Avimay into the meeting room as we both settled down in our designated seats.
• “Now, that we all have had a short breather, let us get down to business, shall we”, Avimay announced.
• “As we were discussing previously about the fabric fiasco, care to explain what is the cause of the sudden problem, huh, anyone? As far as we know the budget regarding the purchase of raw material for the new season’s fabric was allotted quite a lot” Avimay stated. I observed the room, waiting for anyone to reply. After a series of glancing here and there, the room was still silent. No one daring to utter anything.
• Avimay asked Kushav, “Who was given the responsibility for the purchase of the fabrics.”
• “Ma’am, like always, Gold Fabric was our top choice but as there was a prior conflict which happened last time, they brushed us off at the last minute stating that they were unable to provide us the quantity we required. So we had to search for a new manufacturer in this busy season at the last minute and that’s why the fabric was not upto the par.”
• “Fix it. Take back all the fabric and ask the manufacturer to replace it with a high quality one no matter the cost”, I declared. “And one more thing, cut off all ties with Gold Fabrics and spread the word about there so called ‘professionalism’, got it. And do it discreetly”.
• “Yes ma’am, on it” Kushav noted.
• “Meeting dismissed, remember, if all of this is resolved smoothly, the Diwali bonus will be quite hefty, otherwise get ready for the consequences”, Avimay threatened with a smirk and left the meeting room leaving a dense and tensed atmosphere.
• “Happy Diwali to you all” I wished them, to cheer them up a little, but I guess they won't, and followed behind Avimay.
• “Huh, cutting ties with them is a good move, but whistle blowing against them is quite risky and ruthless, don’t you think so?” Avimay asked, squinting her eyes.
• “As they say, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. They are going to get what they deserve. They should not have pulled such a stunt. I was looking for a chance like this to happen to kick them in the curb. No one gets away after messing with our business.”
• “Yeah, true that. It will serve them right, they are traitors, bloody snakes. After how we helped them in the initial stage of their business, backstabbing us was the wrong move, what fools”, VMay continued. “Acha, how’s Marsha Di, it’s been a long time since I have heard anything from her”.
• “Yeah, she is quite busy with all the company's stuff, plus she’s got a boyfriend now”.
• “Wow, Who’s it, the lucky guy, who was able to capture the heart of a sweet and elegant lady like her, must be a total gentleman”, VMAy asked, curiosity filled in her eyes.
• “Don’t know”.....
• “Huh, what?”......
• “I said I don’t know, I asked her but she was behaving odd, being mysterious and all. Whenever I steered the conversation towards her boyfriend, she brushes me off saying she’ll introduce me to him when I return back home or something like that.”
• “So, when are you returning there, at least visit them once a year. It’s been ten years now , since you left Kingsterdom. Don’t you miss your home, your father and sister, After al,l you are the heiress to the Emeralds Group”.
• “I am ALREADY home, VMay. Don’t you know why I left that place, it was suffocating and tiring. I am never returning back to that hell, NEVER."
• “Okay, okay, no more depressing talks, you don’t have to return there if you don’t want to, I am here for you, always and our business is blooming all thanks to your hardwork" she changed the conversation sneakily.
• “I know you are the best, my love”.
• “Stop with your cheesiness and get your ass off and let’s get moving, it’s Diwali babe, if I don't go back now my mother is going to nag me for a week”, Avimay pulled me up from the couch trying to cheer me up. We left the office.
• ________________________________________
• Later that night, as I was preparing for bed, my phone buzzed. I was inside the bathroom, doing my night time routine. With soap all over my face I got out and without looking at the caller ID, picked up the call.
• “Hello”
• “Reya, thank god you finally picked up the call”.
• Confused, I asked, “Who are you? Do I know you?”
• “Reya, I am your Uncle Jeff. I wanted to …..” cutting him off, I replied, “Mr Jeff Emeralds, I don't have any business with you and I don’t want you calling me in the middle of the night. No, I do not want you to call me at all, ever”. Without waiting for his reply, I disconnected the call.
• *Phone buzzing*……*Missed call*……..*Phone buzzing*……*Missed Call*
• After the third call was disengaged, I switched my phone off, thinking, why would he called me this time. He's the person whom I never wanted to even look at. Must be some kind of his scheming to bring me back to that dreadful place. In your dreams, I AM, NEVER GOING BACK, NEVER. Feeling exhausted after working on a Sunday, I disspated other thoughts and slept deeply.
• “Maa, Maa, I am not going to let anything happen to you. You need to hang on, ok. Maaa Maaaaa.”, tossing and turning with sweat beads all over my body I was woken up by a nightmare.
• *3 a.m., the clock strikes*. I have not had these nightmares in a long time, tskk, it’s all because of the call.
• Switching my phone on, I saw tons of missed call from ‘Uncle’ Jeff. This guy seriously, he does not understand the meaning of my words. I will call Marsha Di first thing in the morning and ask her to talk to him to not bother me, with that thought in mind, I dozed off again into a slumber.
• _____________________________________
• *Alarm music* *birds chirping*
• Without looking at my phone, I swiped it up to turning the alarm off. With swollen eyes and a buzzing head, I rubbed my eyes to remove the eye boogers settled at the egde. Yawning and wiping the drool off the side of my mouth, I picked my phone up, there were numerous missed call from Jeff , *rolling my eyes* this man. Scrolling down, there were 16 missed calls from an unknown number and a message from the same number. I entered the password to unlock the phone, before I could tap the messenger app, a notification caught my eye, perplexed and confused, I clicked at the news. I waited for the article to load, and I was not wrong to notice that is was a news about Jaden Emeralds, my father. The headline read, “EMERALDS Groups’ Doomsday”. *What is it about*, with furrowed brows the first line sucked the life out of me as it said,
• “Who will be a saviour for the Emeralds after CEO Jaden Emeralds sudden passing away?”
• To Be Continued. . . . . . . .