Cordially, Yours!

-11-

After an hour, a thin suited old man knocked at Nyonika's office. 

"Mr. Bakashi! Come in, aapna hi ghar samjho! Afterall, you have spent half of your career here and seeing Nyonika's speed of signing deals, get ready to stay till retirement!", Manik sneakily welcomed him. 

Mr. Bakashi gave him a pressed smile. He knew the family in and out. He was an old friend of Mr. Malhotra and knowing the blood well, he knew where Manik belonged and what his layered talks meant. In all, rather than taking it on his ego, he understood his sarcasm and in all honesty, he wanted to laugh along Manik but,  he didn't want to mess with Nyonika. Manik was enough for her at once. 

"Anyways, Mr. Bakashi! We have called you here taki aap yeh deal dekhe aur process karein. You know, I think it's the biggest, smartest and the most profitable one Nyonika has every signed." Manik said with extra sweetness and hid his smirk. 

Did he mess this or is her silliness going to lead into something bad? Nyonika thought to herself. Of course, Manik's ultra-sweet behavior was not at the cost of nothing, never! 

Mr. Bakashi took a seat in front of Nyonika's desk and started to read the papers thoroughly until his eyes fell upon a certain clause. He cringed his eyebrows, looked at the date on his phone, noted the time and looked up shuffling his eyes between Nyonika and Manik. 

He gathered the courage and said, "The deal is expired ma'am! It had to be processed by today by 1 AM in the morning. Unfortunately, it says that any afterwards processes would be denied and the deal would be canceled with no negotiations or re-signing offers. Moreover, for any late processing would be considered only in excusable cases like a critical medical emergency or death. In such cases, the deal might be processed on the discretion of the company, but 100% of the profits from the deal and business have to be donated to "The Asha", an orphange."

Nyonika's face flushed and drained out color, she shrieked, "What? This is impossible! I personally checked all the details. There was no such clause, previously. The deal has been changed. This.."

"No ma'am" Mr. Bakashi braved to interrupt Nyonika,"But, if you want, we can call up the company to talk about it? We could clarify."

"Do it. Do it now!" Nyonika ordered. 

In all this drama, Manik stayed tight-lipped and was enjoying the fun. Mr. Bakashi rang up the phone to the company and politely inquired regarding the deal and any compensations they could make to work this out. 

"Hello, I am Mr. Bakashi, speaking on behalf on Malhotra Industries, I wanted to inquire regarding the deal. Could I please talk to the CEO, Mr. Harshwardhan? " Mr. Bakashi introduced. "Yes, I'm their lawyer! Thank you so much." he responded to the receptionist on the phone. Nyonika, just being herself, snapped- "Cut the chase Bakashi! Shadi nahi karni hi tumhe receptionist se, get to the point!" 

Mr. Bakashi nodded and continued on the phone, "Hello, Good morning sir! I am Mr. Bakashi, on behalf of Malhotra Industries."

"Yes sir, I understand and apologize for the delay. We are still interested in the deal sir."

"Yes sir, I know this is unprofessional but, this is the last complaint you'll hear from us. Is there any negotiation we can settle at?"

Seeing that the discussion was repetitive and led to no solution but only dented the reputation, Mr. Bakashi backed out and respectfully ended the call.

"I think you just lost it, Nyonika. Tch, Tch, Tch! " Manik whispered to her and left the office- he had better stuff to do. She scrunched her nose on his comment and ignored him. 

"What happened? Did they agree?" Nyonika asked eagerly. 

"I'm sorry.." Mr. Bakashi hesitantly replied. 

"Damn it! Your are useless, get out!" Nyonika shrieked on him, angered by her millions of loss. 

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"Zara, pain reliever dena!" Mukti came up to the medical-room counter and asked while pulling out a few bills from her pocket. 

"Haye, meri kamar, meri umarm, meri gardan, mera badan! Kesi ho janeman!" a dramatic male voice startled her and winked eyeing her up-to-down.

Seeing the dramebaaz, Mukti chose to ignore him. 

"Hay bhaiya, mera dil aur inkey nakhre!" He continued acting as if he got a heart-attack. The counter-man laughed off and gave Mukti her medicine. She paid for the purchase and made her way back only to be followed by the dramatic stranger. 

Frustrated by him following her around, she paused and turned around- "What's you problem! Don't you understand! Apna raasta napoo!"

"But, I didn't come to leave. Voh toh zindagi hi, jo jab tum ek raah par jana chahte ho tab duse rah par chalti hi!" he replied. 

For some reason, his truthful sentence put Mukti into thoughts. She looked into his eyes, shifted her gaze down and she kept walking ahead without caring to shoo the stranger off. 

"Tumhe sir ka dard nahi, dil ka dard hi! A strange pain reliever won't work, but I assure you a stranger would!" he mellowed his drama a bit. But cracking Mukti was not easy, she wasn't the one to burst into tears at the drop of a hat. 

Mukti continued to walk towards the parking-lot. "Try it! It won't hurt, I promise!" the stranger shouted as he slowed his pace and let Mukti get into her car and drive-off. He knew she was still stuck in his words, and after all, his magic worked. He had an instinct  they would meet her again, soon and based on her description, this had to be so. 

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Weeeheee! Not much happened, but new entries in the story! 

Let me know how you all are dragging along!

Happy reading!

Love, 

HF