"So, there is a traitor in Amar's team passing on the information to an upcoming company?" Vennela sounded angry. She would have forgiven if someone deceived her. But, she wouldn't tolerate if her husband suffers. She vowed to shield him from all his problems be it small, big or extremely dangerous.

"Yes vadina. We may lose the next contract if we don't act now." Anirudh urged Amar to prepare a new formal tender himself. He suspected the old tender has been disclosed to some other company.

"Relax Anirudh. All the members of my team are honest." Amar always trusted his employees. "Besides, the last time I worked on tenders and stuff was five years ago. My assistants usually work on it."

"Amar, stop being lazy. Just because this is a small contract doesn't mean that we should ignore it," said Vennela. "The last date for submission is tomorrow. So, work on it now. After we get the contract we'll investigate and find out who the traitor is."

Amar stayed up all night, working. Vennela helped him. She didn't want to see her husband losing. 'I won't spare the person who tried to deceive my Amar.' She decided to expose the traitor. 

They finished the work. "You're very efficient. Ever considered working for me?" Amar asked her.

"Are you offering me a job in your team?" Vennela didn't expect this.

"Maybe I am. I've gone through your profile. It's really good. If you are interested just tell me. You just need to clear two small interviews with one of my assistants and my manager Karthik." Amar told her what kind of work was expected of her.

She liked the job description."Only if you promise me that I won't be given any special treatment." Amar promised her and slept.

A week later when Vennela had to attend the second interview, he was tensed and worried for her. "I hope she would clear the interview with Karthik."

"Shall I tell him to ask her easy questions?" Anirudh offered.

"No. I never mix up work and personal life. Tell me. What happened to the contract?" asked Amar.

"You don't know this? We got the contract. Now we're concentrating on catching the culprit. We have three suspects." Anirudh shared the plan with him. "Vadina came up with this brilliant plan. Because the company the traitor has been helping has lost the contract, they will be mad at him/ her for passing on wrong information. Our plan is simple. We will fit cameras in the suspects' cabins."

"But, cameras are not allowed anywhere near the computers. They can be placed only in the corridors. It's the company's policy." Amar interrupted.

"Oh, God. Why are you so insistent on following the rules? She is doing this for you. Don't ruin her plan. We will send a flower bouquet to all the three along with a note which would read 'You ruined our plan of getting the contract. Now you have to pay the price.' The culprit will think it is from the other company and try to hide it so that no one will see it. The other two, who have nothing to be scared of, will report it to the duty manager." Anirudh looked smug.

"Excellent" Amar liked the plan of action. "Implement it right away."

"Shruthi has to bring the flowers. Let me call her." Anirudh called Shruthi. "Where are you?"

"I'm looking for Tulips. They are my favourites. Can't find them anywhere." Shruthi replied.

Anirudh rolled his eyes. "Are you planning to propose to the traitor? Bring whatever you find."

When she finally reached the office, they were surprised to see three bouquets of red roses. They burst out laughing. Anirudh wrote the message and placed them in the suspects' cabins.

"May I come in, Amar?" Karthik asked permission to enter.

"How did it go?" Amar asked him.

"What are you talking about?" Karthik pretended not to understand when he knew perfectly well what Amar was asking about.

"The interview with Vennela. Did she clear it?" Amar was anxious.

"You look more anxious than your wife. But I'm sorry, I can't reveal the results right now. I need three more days." Karthik teased him.

"Karthik, please. I'll get you a pizza. I promise."

"Alright. I'll tell you. She cleared both the interviews. The panel of interviewers are impressed with her. We are looking forward to working with her from next Monday. You have an intelligent wife." Karthik told him. "Look at you. You're blushing deepest shade of red."

At that instant, Anirudh called asking to meet him at the reception. Amar reached the reception area to see a few guards standing with a woman. "Swati!! I don't believe this. You have been working for me for four years. Why did you do this?" Almost all the employees in his team were present.

Swati showed no sign of remorse. "I wanted more money. The other company has offered me more than what I could have earned in ten years. I thought it was a fair deal because it was a very small contract for you. Everything was fine. But your wife poked her nose into my private matters. She came up with this stupid plan or else I wouldn't have been caught. I wish she would always be unhappy for the rest of her life--"

"HOW DARE YOU? ANIRUDH! CALL THE POLICE." Amar yelled. "How could you, Swati? We all treated you like family. You betrayed everyone of us. You deserve to be punished. I'll make sure that you receive maximum punishment." The guards took her away to be handed over to the police.

Vennela, who was also present, waiting for the result of her interview, came and placed her arm on his shoulder. "Calm down Amar." Her touch always had a soothing effect on him.

"A huge round of applause for Vennela garu for coming up with an idea for catching the culprit." Karthik started clapping. So did everyone else.

"You earned everyone's respect even before joining the team." Amar felt proud. She felt her cheeks go pink on hearing her husband praising her.

---***---

"Congratulations to Vennu akka on the new job. Congratulations to Shruthi akka on getting selected by a good company in campus placements." Rishi-Raj brought them gifts.

"Wow, Shruthi. That's a very great news." Amar congratulated her.

"I thought you intend to join your own company" said Anirudh.

"I do. But I wanted to see whether I'm capable to getting a job on my own." Shruthi explained. Anirudh was impressed.

"I made a special drink for all of you. Don't worry bava garu it's not alcohol. We're playing never have I ever." Shruthi announced. Everyone sat on the floor in a circle. "Let me explain. In this game a player will make a statement. For example I might say something like, 'Never have I ever stolen money from my mother's purse.' If any of you have stolen money from your mother then you have to take a sip from your drink. Those who haven't should not touch their drinks. Clear?" Everyone nodded.

Shruthi started the game. "Never have I ever cleared my browsing history."

Anirudh took a sip from his glass. "I always do that. I can't let amma see what I browse."

"What exactly do you browse?" asked Shruthi.

"Trust me. You don't want to know." Anirudh grinned. 

It was Rishi's turn. He looked at Amar with an evil grin. "Never have I ever danced with a hot girl."

To everyone's surprise, Amar drank from his glass. "It was prom night. She almost begged me. So, I had to dance."

Vennela scowled. "I didn't kiss her after the dance. I swear." He whispered to her. "I didn't ask. I don't care." She whispered back.

Anirudh cleared his throat. "If you two are done whispering, can we concentrate on the game?"

It was Raj's turn. "Never have I ever damaged my cousin's precious watch and pretended not to know anything."

Shruthi glared at him and drank from her glass.

"It was you? You broke my watch in 2004?" Vennela was surprised. "I've been thinking it was the maid all these years."

"Yes. She made me promise not to tell you" said Raj.

"Sorryyyyyyy" said Shruthi.

It was Anirudh's turn. "Never have I ever proposed to someone."

Vennela sipped from her glass. Amar almost had a heart attack. He gaped at her open-mouthed. "You proposed to someone?"

"I was eight. There was this boy in my class whose mother used to prepare the tastiest sweets. I wanted to have them everyday. So, I asked him to marry me." Vennela blushed. Amar sighed in relief.

It was Amar's turn. "Never have I ever planned on mixing chilli powder in someone's makeup items." He smirked at the twins who drank the entire drink in a go.

"Well?" Vennela demanded.

"Ragini akka made fun of you in your absence" said Rishi.

"We swear we just planned. We didn't do it. Bava stopped us," said Raj.

"Okay. My turn now. Never have I ever" Vennela paused looking at Amar, "winked at someone belonging to opposite gender." She smirked at him.

Amar sipped his drink. Everyone was waiting for his explanation. "Well, there was this beautiful neighbour of mine, Jennifer. She used to find it cute when I winked."

He sipped again. "And then there's my classmate in school, Kranti, who had huge crush on me. She used to blush beautifully when I wink."

He sipped again. "And my friend's younger sister, who was my first crush." Vennela looked as if she might explode with anger.

Amar sipped again and continued. "And then my friends challenged me to wink at the most beautiful girl in the class and earn a wink back --"

"STOP!" Vennela snatched his glass. "Do not speak any further. I forbid you from winking at girls."

"Hey! I have this winking habit. I can't help it." Amar was enjoying her anger. All the others were laughing with tears in their eyes.

"Then wink at me. No one else. Do you understand?" Vennela has never been so mad at him. She didn't understand why she felt so angry.

"Did my wife just give me permission?" He winked at her. She blushed. "Shameless idiot." She scolded him, still blushing. 'That wink must be banned' she thought.

It took five minutes for everyone to stop laughing. They were about to resume the game when a servant came running. "Vennela madam's cousin is standing outside, requesting permission to enter."

"Send her in." Vennela was excited. "Must be Ragini. She's in Hyderabad for fashion week. Don't irritate her this time." She warned Shruthi and Rishi-Raj.

Amar and Anirudh were wearing expressions of shock looking at the entrance. She turned around to see that it wasn't Ragini. It was Lasya.

---***---

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