MY GIRL NEXT DOOR

CHAPTER 24 : DECISIONS

                                   Neil reached his office earlier than usual. The office was so empty that his own footsteps disturbed the silence within. He quietly unlocked the door to his office and settled in on the spare couch in the corner. He needed to think things over ; to clear his head and to make some decisions . That was the reason of his early morning arrival ; decisions. It didn't matter if he lost sleep ; it wasn't like he could actually sleep after what all went down last night. The four hours of sleep that he intended to get were lost to replaying last night over and over again in his head .Avni had managed to calm him down for a while with her cute antics yesterday ; well these days whatever she did appeared cute to him anyway which was another matter of concern but that had to wait.

Three hours to go before the meeting went down in front of his board of directors. He had to make a decision by then, and stick to it no matter how much anyone opposed to it ,which was inevitable . He knew better than anyone that his decision would come with repercussions but it had to be made. He knew what everyone was going to say , he even knew what she would say but he didn't care. Whatever went down yesterday at the Mehra's was for everyone to see and those of them who had missed the party would have been relayed the details of the drama by their co-workers by now. The good part about that was he would not have to explain that part to anyone ; that was some relief . He knew his employees trusted him with decisions ,still he never made them alone but today was a different day.

This wasn't the only thing he needed to think in depth about though.There was another very important issue that needed his attention as well; Avni. Of late his mind had been on an entirely different tangent where Avni was concerned or was the problem in his heart? Of late the dynamics of their relationship seemed to have changed. It didn't feel like pretense anymore. The rage , the temper that had overtaken him yesterday was unusual even for him. In that moment it had felt like all reasoning had abandoned him. He didn't care where he was or who he was or who was watching him , he didn't even care what Avni wanted . It was so unlikely of the calm and collected lawyer that he was. Avni had started affecting him in ways that he himself didn't understand . Such was her effect on him that the same anger he had felt because of her , had turned to dust seeing her smile again. He didn't know if she even felt the same way . All he knew that he had never felt this way about anyone before ;she was special.

A knock on his cabin door woke him up ; he hadn't realized when he had slipped into a relaxing slumber lying on the couch. Straightening himself up , he called in his secretary who had been waiting by the door.

" Sir Mr Mehra is waiting for you in the conference room. All the board members are there as well. Shall I tell them you will be late?"

" No . That wont be needed. Just get Mr Mehra here and tell the rest of the board members that I will talk to them later. Also could you please send in some coffee ? That will be all. Thanks Suzy ."

Neil rushed to freshen himself up in the washroom attached to his cabin, as soon as Suzy left the room. 5 minutes later he could hear footsteps approaching his room. He knew it was time.

He opened the door for Mr Mehra himself and asked Suzy to leave after the refreshments were set in order.

" Mr Mehra .."

" Neil , let me speak first ." Neil calmly gave him a nod to proceed . " Neil I apologize to you for the whatever transpired yesterday. Believe me, I deeply regret every single minute of it. Had I got the slightest idea , I wouldn't have let it ..." For the first time since they had known each other , Mr Mehra wasn't looking into his eyes as he spoke . " I apologize on behalf of my son. If you wish I would make sure that that unworthy son of mine apologizes to Avni too ."

" That won't be necessary . Not any more. With all due respect to you Sir , I don't want that person anywhere near Avni. I don't want anything to do with him or his apology. The time for that is long gone now. The reason I have called you here today is to discuss the proceedings of our deal." Neil didn't have any emotions showing on his face, it was scarily blank.

" Very well then. I just have one thing tell you before you tell me your decision . Don't let your heart take the decision that your brain should. Personal and professional life shouldn't be mixed." he tried his best to reason out with a person who seemed to have already made his decision.

"Avni is family!!"

" And I believe she would have told you the same ."

" That's why she isn't here."

"Neil you are not thinking this through ! I know what happened was wrong and it shouldn't have happened . I wish I could change that. But think about what all you are putting on stake here ; my reputation, your reputation , your firm's future , financial loses and much much more ." Mr Mehra urged him to rethink the repercussions of cancelling a deal after having given his word for it and having made so many preparations and changes for that. But his words didn't have any noticeable effect on Neil , who sat there steady as a rock. " You should know better than punishing a father for his son's deeds."

" I do know that . I respect you Mr Mehra and that's the only reason that we are having this meeting here instead of having it in front of board members." He leaned forward with his hands crossed and firmly placed on the table " do you know how many female employees work under me ? 46 percent and its up to me to guarantee them a safe workplace. If something like that could happen to my fiancee while I was present , I cannot bring myself to imagine what would happen to any of them in my absence. I have to stop it before its happens , I have to nip it in the bud ....I'm sure you will understand that."

Mr Mehra's head sunk a bit with shame like never before. " I would make sure that it doesn't happen again" he said getting his head up again.

" You know that's not possible, even for a person of your stature. Its in the best interest of my firm and my employees that this deal is cancelled." He had given his answer and he wasn't taking a 'no' for it.

" Very well then! I know nothing I say or do now ,will change your decision in my favor. I'm old enough to understand when to stop beating around the bush . But before I go , I want you to know that this proposal is still open from my side and I will wait for you to reconsider it.....whenever you are ready for it. Take your time ,but my decision is final too. I am sure you will reason some day. But that's it for now then. It was a pleasure knowing you ." Mr Mehra got up ,shook his hand and walked out with a heavy heart hoping that someday he would be able to earn the young man's forgiveness.

As for Neil ,there was only one more thing left for him to do now ; to let his board members know about the cancellation and discuss further plan of action.

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Avni had been trying to reach Neil all day but he would't take up her calls. She had gone to check on him in the morning on her way to work but he wasn't there making her all the more worried. Meanwhile Aarav's parents had surprisingly made a surprise visit to the publishing house and invited her to have lunch with them , which she had to say yes to purely out of respect for her boss's parents . It had been one awkward lunch for her with his parents interrogating her left, right and center about anything and everything about her life. They had started with her family and unapologetically proceeded from there on . Initially it was all confusing for Avni being probed about her personal life by complete strangers but soon she understood what was happening there . A girl had to be naive to not understand why a guy's parents are suddenly showing way too much interest in her. Though the hints were almost obvious , she pretended they were not for reasons she was unsure of herself. All the while her mind was preoccupied with worry for what stupidity Neil might have done today. She kept dialing his number while faking laughter ,but he wouldn't pick up making her panic all the more. Even her messages and mails were left unanswered .She couldn't wait to get this whole lunch thing over with and rush back to her place and get hold of Neil as soon as she could.

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