Bikhre moti (Scattered pearls)

11.1 A Modern Cinderella Story

"Amma, kahani sunao na (tell me a story)." a 12-year-old hazel eyed girl with 2 ponytails was pleading her mother.

"Tumhe har roz ek hi kahani sunani hoti hain Bitto, aaj kuch aur sunate hain (you want to listen the same story everyday Bitto, let me tell you some other story tonight)." her amma said, caressing her daughter's chubby cheeks.

"Nahi amma, please, no other story." she pouted

"achha thik hain...toh suno. Once upon a time, there a lived a beautiful young girl. She was kindhearted and brave. And then there was a prince-" she started in a rushed manner, omitting many details here n there but her sharp daughter immediately recognized them,

"pst, you forgot to mention the castle, amma." she pointed out

"haan, she lived in castle-" Garima disinterestedly added

"and she had a fairy godmother who always protected her." she once again interrupted

"Khushi, when you remember this story by heart, why do you want to listen it every day?"

"Kyunki aap jab sunate ho toh accha lagta hain (because when you tell it, it feels nice)" saying so a barely teenager daughter hugged her amma.

And Garima wiped her tears. How would she tell Khushi the real reason she did not like telling this story was because just like Cinderella, Khushi too had a stepmother. Garima was her stepmother and Preeto was her stepsister! The only difference was, unlike Cinderella's stepmother, Khushi's stepmother loved her more than her own child!!!

--*--

10 years later

The Raizada castle--slash-towers was buzzing with excitement today. And why not, it was the return of the only child of Manish and Maya Raizada. The entire staff was told to arrive an hour early, every floor was decorated with flowers and balloons and the entire board of directors were present at the entrance of the tower to welcome the 'crown prince' of Raizada group.

It was Arnav Raizada's first day in his office! He had returned from the US just a week ago, after his MBA and Manish Raizada who was known as the king of India's textile industry, wanted him to take over their glorious kingdom!

Arnav however was a very shy person, he never liked so much attention, people fawning over him. He liked simplicity, he liked mingling with common people. And that's why he liked living in the States, where he could easily live being a part of the crowd, where no one could identify him. And, although his father's wish had made him pursue business, he secretly liked doing poetry... he in fact had written a few under the pen name... Sahil (which means seashore), the part of Arnav(ocean) where it meets the land!

But then, he had finished his education and his Dad wanted him back...and here was, ready to take on a business world!

--*--

Shashank Gupta was reading newspaper like every day,

"Arre wa, ye dekho kya khabar hain, 'mashhoor udyogpati Manish Raizada ka eklauta beta videsh se wapas' (See what a headline 'famous industrialist Manish Raizada's only son returns from foreign')". there was also a photo printed beside it but before he could look at it, he heard his wife's voice

"Leave those headlines, look at your daughters, one is sleeping till 9 and the other has disappeared since early morning, playing cricket with society kids! I can't believe this girl still behaves like a child!" Garima said in a sharp tone

"What are you saying? She is still sleeping? today is her interview right? she should have woken up by now." Shashank said, folding the newspaper and going to wake up his daughter, "and yes, tell bitto I have called her home."

Garima shook her head, knowing their 'bitto' would not easily head home!

--*--

Manish proudly introduced Arnav to some key staff and then accompanied him to his brand-new cabin. The décor inside reflected richness and classy taste of Manish Raizada's but Arnav was least interested in it. He was born with silver spoon, agreed, but he opposed the idea of unnecessary show of that money.

There were interviews scheduled for his office assistant in some time, with Manish, Manish's PA Aman and Arnav being on the interview panel. It was still 5minutes to go for first person to walk in so Arnav excused himself for a cup ofcoffee. Manish insisted to call an office boy but Arnav was used to doingthings himself, something he had become happily accustomed to while living abroad.

He placed his coffee order like any normal employee and thankfully his dad had not introduced him to the canteen staff so they didn't bother treating him differently and told him his order was in wait and will take some time. Quickly texting his dad that he will be late for the first interview by few minutes, he took a seat on a nearby table.

Just then, 2 young women walked in and took a seat on a nearby table,

"Calm down Preeto. So what if they refused to interview you? Their loss."

"But Khushi. how could they? They didn't even look at my resume. They said a salwar-kameez wearing middle-class girl like me cannot be Mr. Raizada's PA"

"I was saying before also Preeto, bade log lakshan chote (elite people's small hearts). Humph. Bade aye Raizada, let him come in front me, then I will show them what a 'salwar-kameez wearing middle-class girl' can do" she said and they heard a chuckle

He had felt bad that his dad once again judged someone for their appearance, but at the same time felt amazed by this girl, Khushi, who was so sweetly consoling the other girl. His chuckle brought khushi's attention to him and she realized she had been speaking rather loudly. Thankfully apart from them and this guy there was no one around.

"I am sorry aap yaha kam karte hain and hum aapke hi boss ke bare mein ye sab keh rahe the (you probably work here and I am saying all this about your boss)." Khushi said, assuming him to be one of the employees. After all, which company owner goes to get a cup of coffee for himself?

Arnav was amused and immediately realized she had not identified him! Thank god! He knew if he revealed his identity she will probably never speak to him again. So, he played along.

"No, it's ok. He is...umm difficult." he said, scratching the back of his head

"Difficult nahi impossible kahiye (say impossible)" Preeto added, getting up and khushi too stood up.

"Let me escort you to your car" Arnav felt compelled to make sure these girls were ok. After all he was somehow behind their distress.

"hehehe we don't have a car. We travel in metros or auto rikshaws. And it's ok, Lakshmi nagar isn't that far." They said leaving, and had almost made their way out when Arnav noticed his dad's PA, Aman had come out looking for him.

Arnav signaled Aman to keep quiet and texted him to tell Manish that he will be further late.

The Raizada Prince was besotted with this modern Cinderella!

--*--

Precap - "I need your help, can you pretend to be Arnav Raizada and come with me? Please." Khushi pleaded him and he was dumbstruck!

--*--

A/N - to be honest, I was not in a mood to update today. many reasons but one of them being my upcoming hiatus. but i know many of you wait for the weekly updates and as long as possible for me, I will keep my word of updates.

Coming to this story, i had mentioned it will also have magic, but i didn't mean in actual sense. The only magic will be, magic of romance lol. also, you will see some inspirations from K3G(have always thought khushi's character resembled kajol's) and Ghajini (the intro part).