The Twist Of Fate

chapter 1

A cup of freshly brewed coffee with a picturesque sky above was one of Barkha's favorite times of the day. She stood by the large windows of the 25 storeyed building and stared absent-mindedly at the scattered pink and blue shades in the sky.

If only my life was pretty like the sky.

"Barkha! Ayo!" her colleague's sudden voice made her flinch. She looked at the coffee, checking if she'd accidentally spilled that on her clothes.

"What is it, Aryan?" she asked her colleague coldly. She didn't like it when anybody disturbed her. Especially not when she drank coffee. "Geez, you need to stop drinking sugarless coffee. You're becoming too bitter. Anyways, Naik Sir is calling you, " Aryan answered with a small pout. He was almost 30 and yet, he acted like a child.

"Isn't he in a board meeting?" Barkha asked, with a sharp voice. "Yeah, he still asked for you. He specifically called me because you hadn't answered your calls" Aryan said. Oh shit. My phone is on my desk and I'm here being poetic in front of this big window.

"Okay, I gotta go then," Barkha said hurriedly. She wasn't so interested in the sky anymore.

"Oh and Barkha? I gotta discuss something with you, I was wondering if we could talk about that in the caféteria later.." Aryan asked scratching the back of his neck with his hand.

Barkha kept the coffee on the nearest desk, "Alright, see you soon!" She called out while running towards the conference room.

She stood in front of the door and took a deep breath in. Twelve pairs of eyes welcomed her in the conference room the moment she stepped in. She recognized them as the shareholders and board members of Zillows. They were the most powerful and influential people in the company.

She felt a surge of nervousness and curiosity. What did they want from her?

"Ah! Yes, Barkha. Please take a seat," said Devansh Naik, the new director and the ex-CEO of Zillows, pointing at an empty chair.

She blinked."Me?" Barkha asked, pointing at herself, dumbfounded.

She realized her question was dumb, seeing there was no other Barkha in the conference room. Mr Naik chuckled and nodded.

Barkha gulped. She walked to the chair and sat down. Her knees felt weak.

"Now that we have her, can we continue the meeting?" asked the annoyed Mr. Mehta. Barkha bent her head so that her face wasn't visible to anyone and rolled her eyes. She was never fond of that one shareholder.

"Ah, yes Arun. Now, all in favor of Barkha Agarwal being the CEO of Zillows may raise their hands," said Mr Naik, while raising his own hand. Barkha's head shot up.

Wait a minute...What the hell did I just hear?

What was more surprising? She could see almost seven hands up, all in her favor.

7 out of 12? Not a bad number. But what in the living hell is this? Me? CEO? What!

To be surprised was just a quarter of her un-named feelings. Barkha's mind was bustling with questions. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.

"Ms. Agarwal, I'm sure you're not informed about this." said Mr. Gaikwad, the Creative Director and one of the shareholders, kindly.

"I sure was not, sir. Are we talking about me," she said, pointing at herself, "being the CEO of this?" She pointed at the table as said that.

"I don't understand you. Is it a joke? Because sir, this is mid-June. In case it isn't, I can give you loads of reasons for me to not be the CEO" Barkha said sounding hysterical.