Cross-border Merger

The Luxury

I land at Heathrow at around 4 in the evening and I was finally on my feet after almost 14 hours in the air and one layover. Mr. Ahluwalia had informed me that Mr. Daniels will send someone to pick me up from the airport. Thus, all that I had to do now was to look for a placard with my name on it.  This is going to be fun looking at the amount of people that are just coming out.

I was on the verge of giving in to call Mr. Ahluwalia that I can't find the person I'm looking for so, if he could just share the number or something when suddenly someone walked up  to me and said, "Excuse me, Miss."

"Yes?", I replied.

"I'm sorry I don't want to mess up your name but are you here to meet Mr. Charles Daniels?"

Thank heavens! I got my man! Well... not my man but the one I was looking for. Even that sounded cheesy. Ugh! You get what I'm trying to say so, I'll just stop.

"Oh Yes! That's me. Thank God you found me. I was having a hard time doing that myself.", I give him a grateful smile.

"Oh well new land. Welcome to London. We should get going towards the car. You must be very tired. Here let me carry those." He says pointing towards my bags.

"Oh no, I can carry them. Thank you."

"No. Absolutely not. You are Mr. Daniel's guest. He would have my head if he comes to know that I did not take proper care of you Miss..." he stopped mid-way and I remembered that he just said he doesn't know how to pronounce my name.

"Sanyukta. You can call Yukta. I'm sorry I didn't catch your name."

"My bad, Yukta. I'm Finn." He tells me.

By this time we had reached the car and Holy Moly it was a Range Rover. I had never sat in one. I don't even know the exact model but boy was it a beauty! Finn saw me staring at it and gave a small laugh.

"Yes, this is our ride in case you are wondering that", Finn says still laughing and opens the door for me.

"Well excuse me Finn. This is the first time in such a luxury", I tell him honestly.

"Oh love don't worry about it. I have been working for Mr. Daniels for about 5 years now and haven't still got used to this. Are you comfortable now?"

"Yes, I absolutely am. Thank you."

"Oh no love don't thank me. Actually, Mr. Daniels wants to talk to you now so if you could please switch on the monitor in front of you, you would see him. I will just get you on call with him."

I do as Finn has just instructed. "Okay Finn. I have switched it on."

In 10 seconds Charles appeared on my screen and from the looks of it he was sitting in his office, might I add a pretty big office even if I couldn't see all of it. From what I know Charles is in investment business but swear to God, I didn't know that he was loaded. Normally I do my research but just this seemed like just one of those cases where you want to first hear everything from your client and not give yourself a chance of being judgmental about the entire situation. 

"Hello there Sanyukta! Hope you have had a pleasant journey though I know your flight was awfully long" Charles greets me with a smile and I instantly feel that this isn't going to be as bad as I thought.

"It was great, Sir. Thank you for asking. And it's nice to finally talk to the man Mr. Ahluwalia has said so many things about." I reply.

"Oh Sanyukta! Please don't call me "Sir", Charles is just fine. I'm not your boss, just his friend.  I am really sorry I couldn't come to pick you up. I just have a really important meeting in a few minutes otherwise we would have met in person. But tomorrow I will meet you for sure at your residence. Right now, Finn is taking you to a hotel where you can simply relax, eat and stay the night. You can take whatever things you need for the night and the next morning with you. Meanwhile, Finn will take all your other luggage to your residence and the house-help there would arrange your stuff for you. I hope it's all okay, I just wanted you to be comfortable."

I was shocked and in awe. I had never been treated with so much importance, let alone, in a foreign land just for doing what is basically my job. 

"Sir, this is all perfect. Thank you for thinking so much even when you didn't need to."

"I told you not to call me Sir. And Sanyukta, don't thank me. You are here for my son and this means a lot to me." He responds.

"Sir, I'm sorry, I just can't call anyone older than me by their name. Please let me call you Sir or Mr. Daniels." I say while being very cautious to not come across as rude.

"Oh Sanyukta! I can see why my friend sent you for this job. Also, No, both of you suggestions sound extremely professional which is not the kind of relationship we are going to have. Considering this, if we were in India, what would you have called me?" He asks with a smile which never seems to leave his face.

"Uncle?" I say wondering if he like that.

"Perfect. You can call me uncle. Now that that's sorted, I will take your leave. Just one last thing,  Finn will hand over a phone to you which would be your new phone. This is all for privacy concerns, I hope you don't mind." He tells me with a slight hesitation.

"I totally understand, Uncle." I say with a confident smile because I genuinely do understand his concerns. I know that he has technically just had his first conversation me, so, I can't expect him to trust me blindly especially considering the secrecy over this entire manner. 

Just as we say our goodbyes, Finn rolls the car through the gates of  Taj 51 Buckingham Gate Suites and Residences, which is hands down, one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever seen. The name Taj just feels closer to home and I smile realising that this might be the reason Uncle decided to arrange my stay here.

"We are here." Finn says, " You can take your time sorting out what you need and I will take the rest away to the house."

"No actually, it won't take much time. I had already packed a small bag separately with an extra pair of clothes and few essential, you know, just in case." I shrug while looking for that bag.

Finn chuckles, "Wow! I already like you."

I return the chuckle and get hold of that bag. As soon as I do, Finn takes it from my hands. "No arguments. Just take your handbag and let's go in."

I agree and soon Finn leaves as soon as I enter into my room, telling me that he would be there at 11 am tomorrow to pick me up. I spend rest of the evening just calling everyone back home, telling me that I'm safe, dropping a text to Mr. Ahluwalia, having my dinner and well just sleeping. I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be a long day.