STOLEN HEARTS

CHAPTER 3 - ROCKY AND THE FRIEND REQUEST

Aryan asked, "You have two minutes, Sir?"

"Sure, sure. For you I always have time Aryan. Come in, have a seat."

"No time to sit, Sir. The news that I have for you will make you stand up too, so no point wasting time by sitting."

The Colonel asked, "So you did what I told you to do?"

"Yes Sir, I did, and that's why I've barged in here. It didn't take much time. As you told me to, I sent a friend request to Rocky and he didn't respond. Then I manipulated the circumstances a bit, I got your Secretary to send a friend request from her Facebook account."

"My Secretary?" the Colonel turned to his Secretary.

"No, not this Secretary," said Aryan gesturing to the Secretary, then he smiled at the Secretary and said gently, "Pardon me Secretary Sir, but even I wouldn't accept a friend request from you Sir. You know what I mean Sir?"

"Sure Aryan. I wouldn't accept a friend request from myself as well," laughed the Secretary.

Everyone chuckled at this. Then Aryan turned to the Colonel, "Well, so I sent a friend request from your Secretary Alina's account, of course with her permission, and within a few seconds it was accepted by Rocky. By the way, my friend request still stands pending! And did you know Rocky's real name is Rakesh Dhingra? Poor guy!" Aryan clicked his tongue and shook his head in pity, then continued, "Anyway, so, I told him that we had met at a party some time back and had a nice time together and was sending a friend request as I wanted to keep in touch with him. Instantly he replied, 'Sure.' And then I, kind of, went all out and chatted with him for some time and asked him if he remembered me, we had met at so and so party and we talked about such and such thing. From his Facebook page and twitter handle I found out what he liked and disliked and kind of led him on...I said we did such and such thing and that night we spent together was wonderful. I thought he would ask me what night...but he said yes he does remember the night...then I sent a kiss to him and in return he sent a heart icon with a message saying 'missing kissing you'!"

"What? Kissing you?" asked the Colonel.

"No, no Sir, missing kissing you. Means I miss..."

"Ohh that's just as bad. Saying missing kissing you to a girl he doesn't even remember. And talking about having spent the night together. He must at least remember her then!"

"Maybe he has had a few too many conquests to remember!"

"That womaniser, doesn't even remember! Imagine that!"

"And then I asked him if he wanted to catch up, like old times."

"And what did he say?" asked the Colonel eagerly.

"He asked me where and when!"

The Colonel was furious and clenched his fist in rage, "Imagine my daughter marrying such a guy, he's already had two broken engagements and a paternity suit! He's a page 3 Casanova, a playboy and my daughter is...trapped in his claws."

Aryan cleared his throat and continued, "Well Sir, then through Alina's account I started to check out Rakesh Dhingra's Facebook page...and see what I found!"

"You mean there's more of it?"

"Yes Sir. But one question. Why don't you check Sonia's Facebook page and find out whatever you want to? Why ask me?"

"That's because...err...she doesn't accept my Facebook friend request. She has blocked me. That's why I told you to find out about Rocky. At least we can keep an eye on Rocky and in this way find out what he is up to. And through him we can keep an eye on Sonia too!"

"I understand Sir. And this clever strategy of yours, this undercover business has revealed something big. Plans are underway, Sir, that will change your life forever! Time to dig out those blessings of yours Sir, because soon you will have to bestow them upon the young couple!"

Aryan turned his laptop revealing the screen to the Colonel, "Sir, there's big news and congratulations are in order, or maybe my condolences!"

"Congratulations? Condolence? Why?"

"Check this out Sir..."

The Colonel narrowed his eyes and looked at the screen. He saw Rocky's Facebook page and scrolled down a bit and saw it a big pic of Rocky and Sonia...and they were very close and seemed to be kissing each other.

The Colonel narrowed his eyes even more and asked "What are they doing?"

The three of them turned their head sideways, this side and that side to get the right perspective. Then the Secretary understood. He said, "It seems he is... ahem..."

There was silence for a bit...the kind of silence in which you could hear a fly clear its throat. You could call it uncomfortable.

Then the Colonel understood the strange visual that was right in front of his eyes. "Is he... is he... k... k..."

The Secretary dared to say, "Yes Sir, it does seem like he is kissing her... or trying to swallow her!"

The Colonel looked like a bomb about to burst. But he kept his voice calm and steady as he hissed, "He's kissing... sucking the very life out of my sweet little girl. He looks like a bloody vampire. The bloody cheat. Displaying my daughter's photo on his Facebook page. Boasting about her... as if she is a conquest! It should be called Fakebook instead of Facebook!"

"And look at this Sir," Aryan added pointing to a comment under the picture.

The Colonel read out a comment by Rocky, "I proposed last night and she accepted! Engaged to be married to Sonia Singh!"

"What the hell is this?" the Colonel read more comments and then saw a comment Sonia had made thanking all those wishing her well and saying that after marriage they were planning to go abroad on a trip around the world. An itinerary was given alongside...all planned, including sea cruises, long flights, cycling, hot air balloons, deep sea diving, sailing!

The Colonel was shaking with excitement, "This Rocky thing is getting worse I tell you. When the news of this will come out..."

The Secretary spoke up gently, "It's already come out sir, both, of our significant business win, and of Sonia and Rocky being together, and the market reacted..."

The Colonel moved to the edge of his seat, "They reacted to which one?"

"In the morning, after the news of the business win was leaked, the share went up 30 rupees, but after that the other news hit the market that the future CEO of TraWell group may be joining forces with Rocky the playboy, and then the shares..."

The Colonel looked pop-eyed, "Tell me damn you, what happened?"

"110 rupees Sir. TraWell has gone down under 1000 rupees per share, and is trading now at 995 and falling."

The Colonel was utterly shocked. He stood up and paced around his room like a caged tiger. "Do something for me. Find out where this Rocky is. I think I'll go and have a chat with him."

The Colonel was angry and he gave his moustache a nasty twirl, imagining it to be Rocky's neck and twisting it.