When You Are With Me

Chapter-47


Venkat ignored Priya’s phone calls and went back to office. There were lots of things to do. He arranged a meeting with his leadership team at later part of the day. There was no news from Kishore’s end and it annoyed him. Since things were moving out of his control, he has to convince his extended family who is the major investors in this company.


On the way back from his meeting with PR team, he could hear a loud argument in a meeting room. He went into the meeting room to see Srikanth arguing something with few members of company’s leadership team. Entire room fell in silence because of chairman’s entry.


‘God..Out of all days my senior leaders are sitting in a MBA student project presentation..’ he said looking at the seniors in room.


They gave a sheepish laugh and one of them asked ‘ We still have time for crisis meeting right? Is this anyway related to Kishore’s resignation?’


‘No. This is regarding Jaishankar.’ As chairman was saying something another person from the senior leadership team asked ‘Anything wrong with Jai?’


‘Oh..Jai met with an accident yesterday night. He has sustained major injuries.’ Chairman could see shock in everybody’s face.


‘Oh no! How is he now?’ somebody asked.


Chairman looked at Srikanth and asked ‘How is your dad now? I didn’t expect you in office today.’ All the eyes were looking at Srikanth and when he was saying ‘My college reopens in two days..’ someone interrupted.


‘And this is?’ someone asked chairman.


‘Jaishankar’s eldest son.’ It took almost a minute for everyone in the room to digest this


Chairman continued‘ I guess nobody knows about this apart from me. This fellow managed to keep it away from his dad till he ran into him..’ He looked and Srikanth and added‘ All the best, Srikanth. I’m looking forward to see you starting your career here.’


He looked at his leadership team and said ‘Meeting in an hour. Catch you all there’. Silence ensued as chairman exited the room. It was Rajib who spoke first.


‘Srikanth, would you mind waiting outside. We need to discuss few things. Will call you once it’s done.’


When Srikanth left the room, Rajib said ‘My apologies. I didn’t know about it. ‘


Sagar who was also present in the room said ,’I’m happy I grilled him just like how his dad used to do.’ And the whole room erupted in laughter.


‘Well there is no point continuing this presentation. Boy is obviously talented.’ One of the senior member said.


‘Should we recommend Srikanth to be hired? I have reservations now as he blatantly lied to me.’ Rajib asked looking around the room.


‘That’s excusable considering the circumstances. I’m recommending him to be hired.’ Said one person the same thought was echoed by others.


‘Well Rajib. Send the recommendation to HR, let them take it further.’ Said Rajib’s boss.’Considering our chairman wants him in, we have almost no say in this’ he said and soon everyone left the meeting room.


Rajib noted Srikanth waiting outside the room. ‘I’ll ask HR team to have a discussion with you. Sorry about your father, we could have this discussion later if you have told us.’


Srikanth looked at Rajib and said ‘I’m really sorry for not telling the truth to you. My father had no idea that I’m doing summers here.’


‘Why he didn’t want you to join here?’ Rajib asked.


‘He used to say people will always view me as Jaishankar’s son not as Srikanth..’Srikanth replied.


‘That’s true. I enjoyed working with you Srikanth but I was skeptical to hire you as son of my super boss .’ Rajib laughed. ‘Anyway I don’t want to keep you waiting. How bad is the accident?’ Rajib asked.


Srikanth shared the accident details skipping the Kishore part. Rajib wished him well and it took almost one hour for HR to finish the interview process.


When Srikanth was in discussion with HR, HR received a call at her desk number. She attended it and told Srikanth

‘Chairman wants you in his cabin in next five minutes.’


Srikanth entered the cabin to find it much bigger and opulent than his father’s. Venkat was in a call and gestured Srikanth to wait. As soon as the call got over, chairman’s secretary came in and said


‘Sir, Mrs.Jaishankar is on line. She insists matter is quiet important.’


Chairman looked at Srikanth and attended the call.’ Priya.I had some urgent work came back to office……No I can’t talk now. I’ll meet you tonight in hospital.’


He looked up at Srikanth and said ‘I thought of discussing something with you but will do that tonight along with Priya.’


Srikanth nodded his a and said ‘Thanks un.. Sir’


Venkat smiled and said ‘You would have got in without me. I just helped to clear your father’s name.’


As Srikanth was leaving, chairman called his secretary and said ‘Ask the finance team to get in touch with the hospital and take charge of complete medical expenses of Jai.’


Srikanth was fuming with anger when he returned back to hospital. That morning he stopped by the hospital before leaving to office. It was then Sriram gained consciousness and he conveyed what their dad discussed minutes before the accident. Srikanth no longer wanted the job, but went ahead as he has to complete the project. Once in the hospital, he found Priya working in laptop outside Sriram’s hospital room. His father was still in critical care unit.


‘Why are you sitting outside?’ he asked and sat next to her.


‘Meera just came. So I thought I will give them some privacy.’ Priya said and continued working.


‘How can you Priya? It was because of Meera’s uncle , Sriram and Dad are in this state. You shouldn’t have allowed her. Who knows what plans she has? I will see to that she leaves now.’ Srikanth tried to enter the room but was stopped by Priya.


‘Srikanth, don’t be ridiculous. That has nothing to do with Meera. No one is responsible for that moment of madness of Kishore.’ She reasoned.


‘By the way what you wanted speak to Venkat? I was in his cabin when you spoke.’ Srikanth asked.


‘That detective we spoke yesterday called up; finally many things are getting cleared up.’ Priya said.


‘I can’t believe this Priya. Why that should be discussed with chairman? Don’t you understand what he has done to dad? How can you trust him?’ Srikanth shouted at her.


Vijay entered the corridor looked at them with surprise and came near Srikanth ‘What’s wrong? Why are you shouting in the hospital?


Priya smiled at Vijay and said ‘ I think Srikanth is just stressed with everything. Police case, accident… ‘ She looked at Srikanth and said ’I don’t like the tone you are talking at Srikanth. Let’s talk later.’ Meera came out of the room to hearing the commotion.


‘We are talking about my father and brother here. I have all rights to be concerned.’Srikanth glared at Priya.


‘It’s my husband and son too. I know what I’m doing Srikanth. Did you at least listen to me on what it’s about? You are not in a clear state of mind.’ She said.


‘You might be my dad’s wife but…’


‘Srikanth..stop right there. ‘ Vijay raised his voice. ‘This is not going in the right direction. Let’s go outside.’ He dragged Srikanth outside.


Priya looked at Meera and said ‘Would you mind waiting with Sriram? I need to check on my husband.’ She said and left the place.


Priya felt drained;From the time she knew, Srikanth never spoke to her in this tone.

 

Thank you Vinutha

 

Mm yeah he is completely stressed. Thanks Peddadas for the feedback.

 

ha ha no Adharv, not planning to hurt Priya or that family. But sometimes things have to fall aprt before falling in a place. This story will get over in another 4-5 chapters. I'm working towards completion and will mpost the next chapter soon.
Thanks for the feedback.Have a great day.

 

Chapter-48


That night when chairman entered her house, Priya was waiting in the lawn.


‘I couldn’t see Jai in hospital. They said visiting hours are over. How is he now?’ Chairman asked.


‘He is still unconscious. He will be operated this week. Looks like his leg is most damaged and doctor said he will not be able to walk without support.’ Priya replied.


‘ I never imagined something like this will happen to Jai. I have always seen him in finest suits full of smiles.’ He sat close to Priya patted her shoulders ‘ How is Sriram?’ Venkat asked.


‘He is relatively better, a fractured hand and some injuries. He might have to miss college but other than that he will be well in a month.’ She said.

‘You look exhausted Priya. I know this summer had been very tough for your family: Mithun, Maya, Problem with the house, then this accident…’ He paused. ‘Tell me Priya what you want to talk to me about; post which there are few things I need to talk about.’ He said.


‘I don’t know whether I’m right in talking these things to you. But Jai always trusted you…’ Priya said.


‘I too have the same level of trust in Jai. When it came to incident about Maya, I don’t want my closeness with jai influence anything. ’he said.


‘Jai hired a private investigator to find about Mithun and since everything was interlinked , the investigator found something about this too.’ Priya was telling Venkat when investigator came along with a person familiar to chairman.


‘Richard..? What the heck?’ chairman got up from the chair.


The investigator introduced himself. ‘It was tough to trace Richard but somehow I managed to get his number. When I explained him the situation, he voluntarily came down to help.’ The investigator said.


Chairman looked at Richard’s face and said. ‘Out with it Richard. Jai suspected something that time on why are you quitting post pulling a major deal.’


‘I’m sorry sir…It was only post deal win, I came to know about Penalty clause and I confronted client..specifically Mithun as he was pursuing the deal behalf of client. When he was wishy-washy about it, your brother-in-law came to me. He seemed to have known about the penalty clause. That time I didn’t suspect on how he knew about it and I panicked thinking Jai would fire me if he came to know.’ Richard explained.


‘That should have been the right action. Look at how enormous that problem is now…’ chairman shouted.


‘Sir..We prepared the contract, went through it word by word. I never knew client would do this. They were prestigious client…’


‘Not an excuse. How can you sign something so major without final check?You have deviated from several procedures that time. Anyway what happened then?’ he asked.


‘I wanted to run away from the company before Jaishankar or someone found out. Kishore counseled me into doing so. He assured since the company had track of delivering projects on time, this will never come into lime light. I quit and found a new job abroad with Kishore’s influence. I didn’t think through. I never imagined problems will escalate like this.’ Richard confessed.


Chairman closed his eyes in thoughts and glared ‘If this case comes to the arbitration, I want you to say the truth.’


‘Ofcourse sir. That’s why I came down to sort out the mess I have created. I have high regard for Jaishankar and you.’


‘Yeah that’s apparent when you chose to be silent on time bomb ticking under us. ‘ Venkat reverted.


‘I was afraid of losing face. Last six months there were several moments I wanted to call up Jai and inform this but never got the courage.’ Richard admitted.


‘Jai had already negotiated with client in this case. Share me your contacts and if required we will contact you.’ chairman said and Richard left after several rounds of apologizing.


‘That’s one problem settled Priya.’ Chairman said.


Detective immediately responded ‘Not only that. I have a proof here that photos of Jai with Maya are doctored. I located the person who did the activity. This was ordered by mail and payment was made online, so we never know who did it.’ He said.


‘But it clears out Jai. Doesn’t it?’ asked Priya.


‘Ofcourse. I’m not sure whether Maya will contact us further and if she does I’ll ask our solicitor to pounce on her.’Venkat replied. He looked at the private instigative and said ‘Good job.’


Detective just smiled and said to Priya, ‘Mam, the notice was sent to your house because Mithun & Kishore paid up to a politician. I somehow sent the politician a message that one of them is dead and other is absconding.’ He looked at chairman who remained silent. ‘So if your lawyer pressurizes you can get a stay order and relief on it soon. ‘


Priya said ‘Thanks. I’ll discuss with my lawyer. One more thing regarding Mithun’s death …..’


‘I was coming to that. Post mortem report says he died of heart attack. I guess your son’s are free from the case.’ He said as Priya breathed with relief. ‘Okay then. I have completed what your husband asked me to enquire. I’ll send my bill tomorrow.’ He said.


Priya got up and thanked ‘I can’t say how much your investigation helped us when my husband was cornered from all angles.’


The investigator smiled and said ‘Mukund gave a strong recommendation for your husband. I too liked him. I’ll meet him once he is conscious.’


As he left chairman said ‘That’s a huge relief Priya.’ He said and when Priya was silent he added ‘I had a big argument with Jai yesterday night, post firing Kishore…’


‘I know that. Seems Jai discussed that with Sriram.’ She said watching Chairman’s face which became grim.


‘Oh…Well…Priya, hope you know Jai hasn’t confirmed his resignation in words, so till then it’s not valid. Also I’m not sure whether he meant it. I mean…’ chairman tried to explain something but fell short of words.


‘I get it. I mean he never shared his thoughts of leaving Evolution. But when we were in Hyderabad he was telling me that he felt you lost trust in him and wanted clear air post he finishes the Mithun project.’ She said thoughtfully.


‘Yes…I always thought Jai is my successor.Might be I should have opened up to him about what my family-investors feel instead of dragging Sriram into it. Priya I need an answer from you.’ he paused and looked at Priya.


‘Your father, Srikanth looked at me as if I have something to do with the accident. I didn’t even know about it till today. Just because my brother in law is involved it’s not fair on me. What’s going on here?’ he asked.


‘My father was afraid he will lose his son-in-law second time. He now knows that Jai’s life is out of danger. Srikanth is bit stressed at the moment and upset that you didn’t treat his father well.’ She took a deep breath ‘I don’t want to judge you because of single incident. You were Jai’s mentor and I can proudly say you treated me- a normal project manager worked in your company with all fairness. So I don’t blame you for what happened.’ Priya looked at chairman and she could see his face is getting relaxed.


‘How would I have got those awesome pastries if I didn’t treat you fairly? chairman laughed for a minute and then said ‘Look Priya. I have done some mistakes, but I’m going to do everything possible to retain Jai and I mean it.’ He said seriously.


It looked to Priya as if the chairman has aged suddenly and became more serious. He received a call, picked up and said ‘Sushma, I’m at Jaishankar’s house, talking to Priya….Oh that’s great..I’m coming right away…’he answered.


‘ Kishore is on the flight back and he intends to surrender immediately. I need to leave now.You are one strong person, Priya and I can see why Jai fell for you. ‘he said as he left.