Hey readers❣

Hope you all are doing well. This update is the longest one till now. I really hope you like it.

Happy Reading :)

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It was a normal busy morning in Maheshwari Industries. The conference room was being set up for the meeting to be held in the afternoon. A popular fashion brand had approached with a new proposal which could increase the odds of the company to earn a great profit if it would meet all of their requirements efficiently. Sameer didn't want to lose this opportunity at any cost. This is why he had decided to take care of all the arrangements by himself, checking on each and everything thoroughly.

Right now, he was reviewing the presentation for the last time. Not wanting to let anything go wrong, he had himself prepared the presentation the previous day dedicating hours to it. Saving the presentation, he shut his laptop down and came out of his cabin. He went inside the conference room and found Aarav testing the tabletop mics to check if they were working properly or not. There wasn't anyone else present in the room except for him.

Sameer asked, "All good, Aarav?"
Aarav nodded, "Yes sir. I have checked everything totally. Bas woh refreshments ka confirm karna reh gaya hai. I was just going there only."
Sameer replied, "Ok. Koi bhi problem ho, inform me and we would also need our company's brochure here. Take care of that too."
Aarav nodded in affirmation and left the room.

After a minute, Naina entered the room while Sameer was examining a file. He glanced at her for a sec, noticing her walking towards his direction and kept himself busy with the file. None of them attempted to make a conversation, avoiding each other to the fullest.

She was putting the file which she had been holding on the table when suddenly, a pen fell on the floor from the file. She picked it up and raised herself stepping back when all of a sudden, her right foot impinged against the leg of a chair, causing her to fall back towards Sameer. It all happened together. His arms immediately wrapped around her sides holding her figure firmly to prevent her from falling. Her eyes closed instinctively and her breathing became abrupt out of fear.

Gradually, she opened her eyes and found a pair of dark browns eyes boring into hers. Their gazes locked. The time went still.
Their faces were a bit close. Closer enough to increase their heartbeats. The surroundings seemed faded owing to the intensity of just a simple eye lock. It felt good. Both of them were lost in oblivion, unaware of the fact that someone was witnessing this scene without their knowledge.

The sounds of footsteps and voices outside the door brought them out of a daze. He made her stand properly, averting his gaze from hers. Naina tucked some strands of hair behind her ear while he slid his hands on his coat. Just before the moment could get any more awkward, she cleared her throat and darted out of the room while he just stood there taking a deep breath to calm the tiny fluttering in his heart.

His mind went back to his conversation with Munna and Pandit the previous day.

The boys had planned to have a video chat since it had been a long time they had a proper talk. They really missed each other a lot. They talked about how they are slowly trying to adapt to the new environment, the challenges they are facing, how much they were missing each other, and every other thing.

While conversing, Pandit asked he's planning to reveal their marriage publicly, to which Sameer made up an excuse of how much important this contract is for them and he didn't want to put it on stake.

Pandit got worried, "Par bhai, kabhi na kabhi toh baat saamne aani hi hai na... Kisi aur tarah se sabko pata chale isse better hai tu khud hi bata de sabko..."

Munna also agreed with him this time, "Haan yaar, agar aisa kuchh hua toh tum dono pe baat aayegi. Kafi problems ho sakti hai..."

Pandit joined, "Haan, aur tu toh kisi tarah baat handle kar lega, par Naina... Log doubt karne lagenge uspe... Tujhe pata hai na society kaisi hai humari... Kuchh bhi galat ho, sabse pehle character par baat aati hai... Woh deal nhi kar payegi inn sabse."

Sameer countered, "Tum log faltu mein tension de rahe ho. Abhi aisa kuchh nahi ho sakta. Pandit maine tujhse pehle bhi boli thi yeh baat. Mujhe toh yeh samajh nhi aa raha ki tu uski itni side kyu le raha hai?"

Pandit rebuked, "Kyuki tujhe toh kuchh dikhai hi nhi deta na. Tujhe kaha kuchh samajh mein aata hai. Abhi meri baatein tujhe bekar lag rhi hai, baad mein zaroor pata chalega tujhe ki main sahi bol raha tha..."

Their tone had changed from that of friendly to cold. Had it not been Munna to jump between them, they would have probably ended up fighting with each other.

After a minute, Pandit began, "Sameer, hum dost hai tere. Bhala hi chahte hai tera. Sach se bhaagke kuchh bhi nhi hoga... And don't even think to say ki tu aisa nahi kar raha hai, hum bachpan se jaante hai tujhe..."

Munna also said, "Haan yaar. Ek baar sochke dekh iss baare mein. Hum mein se koi usey thik se nahi jaanta par Nanaji ne kuchh soch samajhkar hi yeh sab kiya hoga. Iss baare mein sochna zaroor."

Sameer sighed out loud, "Hmm... Main dekhta hu iss baare mein kya karna hai..."

They had talked for another hour telling each other about the stats of their companies and advising each other some techniques and strategies which would be beneficial in order to ease their work.

While thinking about it, he didn't realise when he had reached the wide-open balcony. He gazed down at the humongous traffic jam and found himself correlating with it. His life too had become complicated and tangled just like that impassable traffic jam for which he couldn't do anything but wait. To wait for things to get cleared on their own, for his mind to be calm enough to deal with the situation. Everything would happen the way it's supposed to.

He checked his wristwatch, half an hour still left for the meeting. Keeping a hold on his thoughts, he made his way towards the conference room where some of the employees, including Naina, had already gathered. By reading their tense faces, he inferred something was wrong. One of them came forward and told him that the projector wasn't able to read the Pendrive in which the presentation had been transferred. Sameer frowned at this sudden glitch as he himself had made sure that the pen drive was working properly, but this didn't worry him. He had left a copy saved in his laptop.

Before he could go to his cabin room, Aarav came rushing in and told him that the guests had arrived. He contemplated for a moment before asking Naina to bring his laptop. Without caring to say anything, she scurried out of the room while Sameer went accompanied Aarav to welcome his guests.

They entered just in time of the meeting. Sameer saw Aarav connecting his laptop with the projector and inferred that Naina had just brought it. What took her so much time? Dismissing his thoughts, he pulled his focused on the meeting. All of the members got settled in their respective positions and the meeting proceeded. Sameer welcomed the guests and began with thanking them for the proposal.

Everything was going well. They were on the verge of trading it off until something happened. Something drastic. A picture of Sameer with Naina in his arms got displayed on the screen. It had been clicked from an angle such that it showed more than what happened. Both of them were shocked to the core.

All the members were exchanging glances and their whispers echoed in the room. They looked momentarily towards both of them. Naina immediately looked down unable to meet their prying eyes. Sameer couldn't understand what just happened. Last time he had checked the presentation, it was completely fine, then who the hell just put their picture? A million thoughts began to run in his mind but first he needed to care of the situation. 

Before he could say anything in defence, one of the guest board members rebuked, "What is this Mr Maheshwari!? Is this deal some kind of a joke to you?" 

Sameer said, "No it's nothing like that. I have no idea how this happened. Allow me to apologize for this glitch."

The other one said, "Look, Mr Maheshwari, we really don't care about your personal matters. We came here with high expectations but looks like your company isn't willing to fulfil them. You're saying you didn't know about it, right? Tell me how can we trade with a company whose employees aren't under the control of their own boss?"

Sameer stood spell-bounded with embarrassment. All the members began to get up to leave but Sameer instantly came by their side to convince them but they didn't even listen to a word and left. As soon as they left, he turned furiously towards his employees. His bloodshot eyes scared the wits out of everyone. 

He roared with uncontrollable fury, "Kisne kiya yeh sab!!? Tell me!!" 

No one uttered a word being scared of him. Naina was still trying to analyze what just happened. Never in a million dreams had she imagined such sort of a thing to happen. As far as she remembered, there wasn't anyone present in the room except for them. Rest of the thoughts came to a halt when his voice boomed in her ears, "Leave this room right now! Everyone!"

She tried to get up but extreme pain shot up in her right leg. In haste to bring the laptop from his cabin, she had twisted her leg. She put her left foot forward and with great difficulty began to walk.

Sameer had already left the room. Once he entered his room, he kicked the nearest chair tossing it on the floor. He clutched his head, trying to wrap his mind around the situation. No one was present in the room at that time. Then who clicked their picture? And the bigger question was who inserted it between the presentation? Only he had the access to his laptop and there wasn't anyone who came in his room amidst the time he was outside or was there? Naina.

According to him, she was the only one who had come in his cabin when he had sent her to bring the laptop. His mind began to draw conclusions, 'Usne yeh sab kiya...?' All the rationality left in his mind evaporated out with the thought of her stooping so slow.

As we know, when a single wave of negative thoughts passes through our mind, we tend to drown in it, inviting more intense waves. We don't see what is right or what is wrong. Negativity breeds negativity. 'Why did she do that?' Negativity overpowered his mind too and he asked Aarav to send her in his cabin. 

The incident spread like a fire in the building. They didn't care about the deal being called off, all they focused was on something cooking between their boss and an employee. Naina tried hard to keep her mind off the prying eyes and their whispers about her. She didn't know how to handle that situation. Whenever they would pass by her cabin, they would stare her like she had committed some crime. 

Aarav came to her cabin and told her about his boss asking for her. She became nervous. 'Kya kehna hoga ab unhe...?' The embarrassment which had been caused by that tiny moment between them wasn't less and now he had asked for her. Taking a deep breath, she made her way towards his cabin.

Knocking lightly on the door she asked, "May I come in Sir?"

Sameer was sitting his chair facing his back towards her, his fingers interlinked with each other, hands resting on the arms. He turned on hearing her voice. He was at the brink of losing his temperament but kept himself composed, "Yes. Come in."

She entered inside his cabin limping due to her sprained foot but he was too raged to notice that and gestured her to sit with a firm expression.

As she settled, Sameer said, "Naina tell me something, tumhe meeting se pehle laptop laane mein itna time kyun lag gaya tha? Jaha tak mujhe yaad hai mera cabin itna dur toh nahi hai."

Naina frowned at his out-of-the-blue question but still answered calmly, "Main jab yaha aayi toh jaldi jaldi mein mera pair mudd gaya tha. Isiliye mujhe time lag gaya tha."

A devilish smirk appeared on Sameer's face, "I didn't know ki tum itna achha kaam karne ke saath saath itna achha jhuth bhi bol sakti ho..."

Naina's frown deepened, "What do you mean, Sir?"

Sameer's patience snapped and he banged his hand on the table making her flinch, "Enough!... Apni yeh fake innocence apne paas hi rakho tum. Tumhare alawa meeting se pehle yaha aur koi nahi aaya tha dammit!"

She thought for a minute to understand the meaning behind his words and when she did, her eyes widened at this sudden accusation, "Aap kehna kya chahte hain? Maine woh picture presentation ke bich mein daali? Main aisa kyu karungi?"

Sameer's anger rose, "Mujhe kya pata. Hoga woh bhi tumhare ghatiya plan ka part. Sach batao, aur koun tha tumhare saath is plan mein? Itna sab akele toh nahi kiya hoga tumne kyuki tum toh mere saath thi. Bolo!"

Naina couldn't believe what he was saying, "Sam- Sir, Maine aisa kuchh nahi kiya. I am telling you the truth only. Aur bina kisi investigation ke aap aise kaise mujhe blame kar sakte hain?"

Sameer's mind was clouded by anger, "Woh sab main dekh lunga. Tumhare partner ka bhi toh pata lagana hai and tab tak, you are not allowed to enter this building. Now get out of my room."

She was shocked to see him being so mad at her. Her voice quivered as she said, "Aap aisa kaise kar sakte hain jab maine kuchh kiya hi nahi..."

He said in a voice laced with anger, "Main aisa kar sakta hun aur main aisa hi karunga."

Naina's vision blurred as unwanted tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. She wasn't able to comprehend how to convince him, to make him believe that she was saying the truth. Didn't he have a tiny bit of trust on her? At that moment, it didn't even look like they were married, although it had no meaning.

She slowly stood from her place and stepped towards the glass door but felt a hard grip on her arm. Sameer pulled her harshly towards him and said in a low threatening voice, "Yeh kya game khel rahi ho tum? Sirf tumhari wajah se aaj itni badi deal humare haath se nikal gayi. Kis chiz ka badla le rahi ho? -He moved a little closer- "Kahi humari shaadi ke wajah se toh nahi...? Itni problem hai tumhe isse? Bolo!"

A tear leaked out of the corner of her eye. 'How can he doubt her like that? Was he so blind to notice that she can never disrespect Nanaji's decisions?'. Though this marriage was completely obligatory, she would never stoop so low by doing such a nasty thing. 

When she saw all her efforts to convince him going in vain, she said in a small voice, "Sameer... Maine aapse jo bhi bola, woh hi sach tha. Main aapse koi badla nahi le rahi hu. Chahe kuchh bhi ho, main Nanaji ka bharosa kabhi nahi tod sakti." 

His eyes softened a bit on the mention of Nanaji's name but still didn't believe her, " Iska pata toh baad mein hi chalega. Jaao yaha se." Saying so, he jerked her hand and turned his back towards her. She stood there for a minute or two but eventually, left his cabin.

As the sound of the door being shut fell in his ears, he sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his hair. For a second, a gush of guilt struck him for going overboard with his anger and treating her so harshly, but the already screwed up situation wasn't allowing him to trust on anything. He needed his Nanu. Only he could have brought him out of this situation. He began to think about what Nanaji would have done if he would have been in such a situation.

Naina was feeling devastated. Making her way from his cabin to hers was almost equal to climbing a mountain, full of struggle. The intense stares of the employees were making her more conscious.

Out of nowhere, a girl's voice fell in her ears, "Madamji toh kuchh zyada hi forward nikli. Kafi lamba haath maara hai..."

Another one said, "Yeh toh bohot favourite thi na sir ki... Ab dekho zara koi. Paison ke liye kya kuchh nahi kar dete hain log. Sharam nhi aayi isko?"

While she was dealing with the indictments put by Sameer, her character was being slaughtered by people since they had heard some of the conversations of the cabin. More tears spilt out of her eyes as more such indictments fell in her ears for which she couldn't do anything. Smriti came for her rescue like a true friend and helped her till her cabin showing her support.

Naina quietly gathered her stuff and locked her cabin to leave. Smriti suggested her to accompany but was refused by Naina saying she was better on her own.

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"Tu Pagal hai kya!?" Munna shouted on Sameer.

After thinking much about it, he had come to a conclusion to order for a thorough investigation on this matter. Nanu would also have done the same thing. When he told them about the whole situation to Munna & Pandit on the conference call, anger would be a small word to describe their reactions. They got livid on such dumb actions of their friend.

"Itni jaldbaazi mein koun faisle leta hai? Tune usey nikaal kyu diya?" Pandit inquired.

Sameer replied, "Pandit samajh, sirf woh hi thi jo uss time mere room mein aayi thi."

Munna countered, "Aur tune yeh samajh liya ki usne yeh sab kiya hai? Koi khud ka naam kyu kharab karwayega Sameer? Apna yeh gussa na thodi der side mein hata ke soch."
On getting no reply he continued, "Dekh mujhe Naina ke baare mein kuchh nahi pata. Main nahi jaanta ki woh kis type ki hai par Nanaji pe mujhe pura vishwas hai. Unki choice galat nahi ho sakti."

Pandit too joined, "Haan Sameer. Abhi hum sach nahi jaante. Tujhe pata lagana chahiye iss baare mein thik se, tabhi sach saamne aayega. Agar Naina ne aisa kuchh kiya bhi hoga, woh baad mein dekhenge par agar usne aisa kuchh nahi kiya hoga, toh fir samaj le tune bohot badi galti kardi hai..."

Munna said, "Aur kya... Mujhe toh yeh samajh nahi aa raha ki tu itna samajhdaar hote hue bhi aisa kar kaise sakta hai. Koi bhi deal kisi ke bhi character se zyada important nahi hoti Sameer. Ab jaa aur kaam pe lag."

Sameer answered, "Maine jaanke kuchh bhi nahi kiya yaar... Uss waqt bohot gussa aa gaya tha mujhe. Chalo main dekhta hun kya karna hai..."

After ending the call, he was feeling a bit relaxed but his mind was constantly running to the words he said to her. It was already evening time. He called Aarav and ordered him to bring the CCTV footage of his cabin and the conference room. Her pale face was flashing in his mind continuously. He thought of checking on her once but shortly got reminded how he had made her leave the office.

He was very much aware of his short-tempered behaviour over little things. Nanaji had always invariably suggested him to think before reacting on something. He had again committed the same mistake. 'Sameer tu aisa kaise kar sakta hai?' Guilty or not, he had no right to treat her like that before inspecting the whole issue.

Naina, on the other hand, was lost in her thoughts as she sat on the concrete pathway of Marine Drive. She gazed at the orange-hued sun setting down. The sight of sparkling waters of the Arabian Sea was a treat to eyes for anyone but not for her.

She just saw the sun getting disappeared in the vast waves just like all her glow and happiness had vanished after that particular incident which had distorted her life long ago. For the world, she was strong and independent but behind every strong person lies a weak self. No matter how strong a person is, they have a weak point and sometimes they just need someone by their side who would hold their hand and say, 'Everything will be fine. I'll be there for you.'

Didn't she deserve happiness or care or respect?

She glanced up in the sky growing dark minute by minute and symbolised her life now, sad and gloomy for which she couldn't do anything. She had accepted her fate to be that way.

While in the Maheshwari Industries, the CCTV footage which Sameer had asked for was brought to him. He took the CD drive and inserted it in his laptop. He mentally estimated the time of the incident and fast-forwarded the recording to the time when he left the cabin.

Almost 25 minutes had passed and nothing had happened. He was feeling apprehensive on the possibility of putting wrong allegations over Naina. Running out of patience, he was about to click on the forward button but stopped when he saw the door of his cabin being opened on the screen. His eyes widened out of shock.

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God knows how many times I have edited this chapter today and finally, this is the outcome. Hope you guys liked it.

This incident is definitely going to affect their lives in many ways and there's a lot left to be shown. Comes out, I had underestimated the length of this chapter...hehe.
Don't worry, I will try to give the next one soon ;)

And also a big THANK YOU to you guys for showing so much love and support to 'Blooming Hearts'❤🤗

This won't have happened without you :)

Looking forward to your views on the update. Do vote if you liked it :)

Lots Of Love, Sim❣