Encounter - A RaYa Journey

Chapter - 7

THE SCANDAL - Part 2

The next morning, everyone at Ram's house got startled when they saw Rajat at the door, arriving unexpectedly.

"O my goodness, what are you doing here?" Krishna Kapoor asked looking at her youngest son at the door.

"Maa, can I come in first" Rajat laughed looking at his mom's face.

"Rajat!" Ram hugged him tightly "I missed you brother"

"Wait, why are you here?" their mother questioned again "Did you do something wrong, did they threw you out of college?"

"Mom. It's my winter semester break. I wanted to surprise you guys and looking at your faces, I think I succeeded" he said side hugging Ram and looking at his parent's face. He looked over at Ram and noticed his formal attired "Where are you going dressed like this?"

"Oh. Your brother got accepted at a famous hotel" their mother replied beaming with pride.

"Wow Bhai, I am so proud of you. Now give me some money" he asked giving a silly smile. Rajat was the naughtiest among the two brothers, he was the one who always got scolded from his parents, from his teachers, he was the one who nearly got expelled ones, but he was working hard to earn a degree in management and their parents were proud of both their sons.

"I didn't receive my paycheck yet; it's just been two weeks"

"Stop begging your brother," their father said, folding the new paper "You are coming with me to the store"

"What is the hourly wage here?" Rajat asked grinning.

"I worked for free" Ram replied, earning a pinch from Rajat.

They always had a nice time in the morning, Ram's family was very down to earth, they were the kindest souls and today, his brother being there with them had made them feel whole.

*****

The following morning, Priya was informed by Neha that the art that was to arrive for an exhibit wasn't coming.

"Did you call the artist?" she asked Neha, her worry growing.

"I did try, but her phone is switched off now. We have already reserved art tours for the hotel in Pune and the opening is in two weeks, should I cancel the tours?" Neha asked getting worked up.

"No, we must bring those paintings anyhow," Priya said, she wasn't one to back down "We have been working on this for two years, we can't cancel it"

"We don't have any choice ma'am, and I can already feel that Sheila Khaneja is behind this. Why does she keep getting in your way?"

"It's not the first time," Priya said thinking of ways to get this problem sorted, "I think I should visit her studio at Pune"

"Now? You want to go now?"

"Yes. I can't get this sorted over a call. Please ask Deepak uncle to get the car ready, I'll drive there by myself"

"Deepak can go with you, ma'am" Neha tried convincing her.

"No. I have a lot on my mind. It'll be better if I drive there" saying this she closed her laptop, gathered her bag and stood to leave the room.

On her way out of the office building, she saw Ram, but she decided to ignore him as there were many staffs at the lobby and she did not want to add fuel to the speculation. This worried Ram and he got into thinking. Maybe she was still stressed about the article, worst being, maybe she didn't want to see him anymore.