SUNSHINE🥰

Culprit

The next day at the office was quite usual until Ahana decided to make an announcement in front of everyone.

"Guys, I have an important announcement to make right now, if you guys could please look up for a moment"

Making sure that everyone's attention was on what she was speaking, she continued,

"From today onwards, the post of manager is vacant and our new accountant is Mr. Arjun Saxena"

"But mam, what about us?", the manager and the accountant spoke in unison.

" You should have thought about this before cheating the company"

The crew of employees gasped in a shock.

"Mam, what che..... ", they couldn't complete the sentence. There was a loud thud heard in the room.
Ahana had slapped them so hard that they were on the floors with a red mark on their cheeks.

" Not a word more. I have treated you all as my colleagues rather than employees. I have never used the word MY COMPANY, it was always OUR company and this is what you do. And dare you say something, I have proofs"

With this, she flashed the account statements and the video of their talks. Their voice and faces were very much clear for identification. They were shown hacking the databases and stealing important files. The pin drop silence was broken by the inspector's voice who had come to arrest them.

"Before I kick your balls and make sure you can never conceive, JUST LEAVE"

The culprits left without a word and the inspector promised to file a strong case against them.

"Back to work guys and I want no gossips"

Nobody had the audacity to disobey her after the scenario they witnessed. They quietly immersed themselves in the pending work while Neil went with Ahana to calm her down.

"Calm down girl, I didn't know you are this hot headed"

"Listen, I will talk to you later. I really don't want to vent it on you"

"You can, I mean we are friends"

"When did that happen? "

"Oh, are we not? "

"Okay fine, friends"

"Hope your mood is fine now"

"Thanks for caring but I was upset more than angry. I thought I was the best version of leader available. I tried every possible way to make them feel as an equal. I understood them and respected their needs. I never bossed around. It was always a team work. Each Friday I used to hold suggestions workshop where people were free to voice out anything that concerned them. I had made it a point to not only hear them out but even find solutions for their grievances. In spite of all this, where did I went wrong. Why did they cheat? "

"You know, you are having similar thoughts as mine. I used to think the same when Sameer uncle did this to Papa. He was one of the most generous man I had even seen yet uncle chose to betray him. He was his closest friend almost like a brother but.....
It's not about us. The people who wanna cheat will do it anyways. They don't care how good you are. And you know, no matter what you do, they don't realise your importance even when you're gone. 
And this is because they don't care. There is no need to get emotional here because they are here for benefits and the one who uses anything but brain, gets hurt in the end "

"I never knew you could talk this mature"

"Pain changes people"

"True that"

"I can barely recall the person I was before this tragedy happened"

"But don't you think this version is better. I mean now that you are out of that suicidal tendencies and you use your brains instead of emotions"

"I really like this version, the smart and witty guy but at the same time, somewhere it does hurt"

"Why? "

"Just because they did wrong to me, I lost myself. You know Mom used to say that there are plenty of snakes near the sandalwood but the snake's venom never changes the scent and calmness of sandalwood. She wanted me to be like sandalwood who would never change his true inner self for the selfish people around me. The main motto in life is to be able to sleep peacefully at night, without any guilt and regret. She was my role model and I never realised when I gave in to my fears and forgot everything she had taught me from years"

"The important thing is that you have realised your mistake and are trying to make everything fine. Don't blame yourself man"

"No yaar, I shouldn't have done what I was planning to. In fact, thanks to you else I would be another corpse in some hospital"

"Shut up"

"No I am serious, thanks, not just for saving my life but even giving a meaning to it. I have been so mean to you in the past months but today I realise my mistakes. I am sincerely sorry for the same. I have been a lot of trouble in the past. I must say I admire the courage you possess and even compassion for a stranger like me"

"I thought you said we were friends"

"We weren't when you decided to risk your career for me"

"Oh for that, I must thank you. From just jewellery, when I entered into the world of investments, I made huge huge profits. Obviously, just merging with the Malhotra pharmaceutical would be suspicious so I actually invested in a lot of companies in this month and the results are amazing. I got a new experience and I surely am loving it"

"My father used to teach me the skills of investing. Even though we ran a huge company, most of the income was generated by investments. He was a pro at it and made me a master by teaching me when I was nine"

"I must say your parents have great parenting skills"

"No second opinion on that"

This chatting went on and on for hours. The employees thought Ahana was informing Mr. Arjun about the accounts but who knew a different set of emotions were being shared behind that closed door.

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