Take a Chance on Me Read online

  In the same instant recognition hit Keya and she looked at him in disbelief. This was Kabier Sehgal, Janak’s eldest grandson, heir to the Sehgal Corporation. More importantly, he was the brother of one of her best friends, Sheena Sehgal. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t recognized him. She knew he had returned to India to take over from Janak and the announcement was going to come any time soon. She was also aware that he would be taking over Sehgal Systems. Somehow, over the last month since he had returned, she hadn’t seen him even once in passing and right up till now she had completely forgotten that he was going to attend this board meeting. If only she had remembered this detail, she probably would have recognized him outside.

  She had met Kabier Sehgal once before, but that was so long back. Ten years back!!!

  Three things struck Kabier the moment he entered the room. The least important being that the girl who had run into him earlier was sitting in the chair that he had just vacated. The second was that he knew who she was. The third thing that struck him was that she too had recognized him - this he gathered from her stunned expression changing to recognition, when he entered the room. He felt like kicking himself for not having made the connection earlier. He was normally good at names and people. This girl now occupying his chair was none other than Keya Karia. She was one of his sister’s closest friends and now if the information from the investigative agency was to be believed, then she was supposedly involved with his grandfather and a suspect for a business fraud. He took the vacant chair opposite her and thought about the last time he had seen her.

  Ten years ago she had been a gawky teenager, wearing a baggy tee over leggings and thin as a reed. He remembered her, sprawled on a bean bag, in his sister’s room, laughing at something his sister and another girl were arguing about. He had walked in on them and they had turned silent.

  Sheena’s two best friends Keya and Raashi were introduced to him. He couldn’t remember the other girl, but he remembered Keya very well actually. She was slightly taller than the other two girls in the room and had an attitude that said that she couldn’t care less about anyone or anything. She stared at him for a full two seconds before turning her eyes back to the TV which was playing in the background, without giving him another glance. He had tried to talk to her, but had got only curt replies back. He had exchanged a few words with Sheena and then had waved to the girls and had gone off. He never had a chance to meet her again.

  Of course the fact was that he had hardly ever come to India in the past few years and when he did they were just short business trips. Most of the times, his family had visited him in London or New York, depending on where he was in residence at that time. And in the intervening years, he had heard passing remarks from Sheena about her two best friends. The Keya he had met back then was no where close to the woman sitting opposite him now. No wonder he hadn’t recognized her instantly.

  He looked at Keya sitting across him, apparently concentrating on the on-going presentation and thought to himself, she surely looks different, especially considering the way she had filled up in all the right places. It was going to be interesting reconnecting with Keya Karia and bringing her to retribution if she was in anyway involved in jeopardizing his company.

  Keya knew she should be concentrating on the presentation and the ensuing discussion. But she couldn’t pay attention. She could see Kabier watching her from the corner of her eyes and she realized that he too had made the connection and recognized her.

  A tide of memories washed over her and she just let them flow through her mind.

  Keya considered the day she had met Sheena and Raashi as the best day of her life. The day she and her little brother Akash were admitted to an exclusive boarding school after their mother had passed away and their father had handed custody of both the children to their mother’s father, Dhiraj Mishra.

  Dhiraj Mishra and Janak Sehgal had been friends for a very long time. It was on Janak’s insistence that he had admitted his two grandchildren to the prestigious boarding school set in the beautiful valley of Dehradun in North India. Keya, only thirteen then, had formed a life-long friendship with two girls, whom she trusted with her life and who loved her back with the same fierceness that she felt for them. Though the girls came from different backgrounds they were inseparable during their years at Dehradun and Keya’s brother Akash who was three years younger to them had found a close circle of protective women to nurture him.

  Keya was seventeen when she was first introduced to Sheena’s dashing elder brother. Sheena kept talking about him and had shown his photographs to her friends. Back then he was studying in England and their paths had never crossed.

  The first time Keya met him, she and Raashi were spending the evening at Sheena’s and Keya was laughing away to glory when he had walked in on them. He had literally taken her breath away with his sharp good looks and striking personality. At the age of twenty, Kabier Sehgal was every girl’s fantasy guy. In the first ten seconds of meeting him, she realized that the pictures didn’t do him any justice. Instead of staring open mouthed at him, which, she was most likely to do, she had adopted a cool approach and spoken to him with a confidence which she hadn’t felt at all. In the end, she had completely ignored him, leaving him to chat with his sister. Raashi, who couldn’t stop looking at him either, was surprised that such a handsome older guy hadn’t got a second glance from Keya. But as soon as he had left they all had burst into a fit of girly giggles, commenting on Raashi’s open mouthed admiration for Sheena’s brother.

  Keya had completely forgotten the incident until now. In the recent years, he had been based either in London or in New York and was often shuttling between the two cities. Sheena had kept her friends updated about her brother’s flamboyant lifestyle and the women he constantly dated over the years, but somehow Keya had never ever bumped into him, until today.

  She was brought back to the present by a tap on her shoulders. Janak was looking at her in a strange way, “You OK?” he asked her softly.

  “Yes, just jet lagged, I guess,” she replied back.

  “Well, you are on now.”

  Keya walked to the front of the table, towards the screen where the projector was now showing the first page of her presentation. All eyes around the table moved to her. But the only ones she was aware of were, the honey gold molten eyes that seemed to be looking deep into her soul, judging her. She shook her head and schooled her stance into business mode and started her report.

  Oh! She was good. In fact she was very good. Kabier grudgingly observed. She spoke with a confidence borne of experience and even knew how to modulate her voice to highlight certain points to get the desired effect. She sure knew what she was talking about. His focus drifted from her face to the rest of her body. She was dressed in black trousers and a rose pink silk shirt, with a purple scarf around her neck. The entire outfit was screaming elegance and expense. Her face had the barest of make up. Her hair that was running loose earlier was now secured away from her face. He thought it looked better left open. It gave her a softer look.

  He then focused his attention back on her presentation and when she wound up, he took a keen interest in the discussion that followed. As head of technology, all the heads of different technology lines like JAVA, Microsoft, etc. reported to her. It was her responsibility to ensure that all the employees were properly utilized. This meant that she had to ensure that her people had work 85% of the time and she was achieving at least 80% in most lines. Career management, training, conducting appraisals were all a part of her work and she coordinated these jobs along with the different heads working under her. However she was the person directly involved in participating in bids and submitting proposals for new contracts. All in all he figured that she was doing a capable job. She seemed to have a keen understanding of her people, their needs and wishes and she also had an efficient team in place that supported her quite well it seemed. Kabier was really impressed.

  He asked her a couple of questions of his own
, which she answered in a smooth and confident manner. When no further questions were forthcoming, she thanked everyone and resumed her seat next to his grandfather.

  The rest of the day continued in the same mode. More presentations followed along with discussions. They stopped for lunch in between but it was a quick affair as several more presentations had to be made. During the short lunch break Keya continuously found herself in a discussion with someone. Despite being busy, she noticed that Kabier was surrounded by people at all times. She also constantly felt his eyes on her, silently observing her every move.

  But now, late in the evening, she was exhausted and feeling extremely tired. The meeting was wrapping up and Janak was giving his closing comments. Finally, he formally introduced Kabier to the team as the new head of Sehgal Systems. Amidst much applause, Kabier came forward and said a few short words. He said that he hoped everyone would give him the same support that they had till now extended to his grandfather. He also said that he hoped to meet them over dinner and would use the opportunity of an informal setting to get to know them better. He further went on to describe his plans, in brief, for the company and said he hoped everybody could contribute towards realizing them.

  Keya watched him talk, he was extremely confident of his role and station. He looked each person around the table in the eye and in his smooth and graceful manner put everyone at ease and assured them that the handover from grandfather to grandson would not in any way be harmful to any of them, but in fact would be mutually beneficial to all of them. He signed off with thanks to each and every one of them and hoped that they could make time to meet him personally over the next weeks to help him get accustomed to the business.

  He really was brilliant. No wonder Janak was handing over the reins of his organization, the one that he had built and nurtured, to him, Keya thought.

  Chapter 2

  Usually, Keya looked forward to meeting her colleagues in a more informal setting. However, today she was just not in the mood. Meeting Kabier had disturbed her more than it should have. It was not like anything significant had happened between them. She had bumped into him; he had saved her from falling. Full stop. Nothing more had transpired.

  That her body had felt the most divine feeling being pressed against his, was not something she wanted to dwell on. No, that kind of thinking would not get her anywhere. Besides, she had to work with him, soon, if she understood correctly from his speech to the management. So she had to get a grip on herself and learn to relax around him. She was not a teenager any more.

  The dinner was al fresco on the lawns of one of the Sehgal Hotels which was located just off the sea shore. It was a premiere hotel, in a prime location in the Mumbai suburbs. The lawns were beautiful at this time of the year and opened out to the sea. The gentle sea breeze blew softly through the palms that were dotted around the lawns. When lit up completely, the lawns looked like they were straight out of a child’s fairytale book. This was the highlight of the hotel and also one of its main assets, making the hotel an extremely popular setting for weddings.

  Since this was a small gathering, a small part of the lawns, overlooking the sea was set aside for the dinner party.

  Kabier looked at beauty and splendor around him with pride. This was one of the Sehgal group’s oldest and most magnificent hotels and he was extremely proud of it. It was at par and even better than some of the best hotels in the world that he had visited. The thirty odd people that had gathered there before he arrived indicated that the party was in full swing.

  Kabier walked towards the party and paused inside a quiet alcove under a majestic palm tree, quietly observing his grandfather and Keya having a private conversation some distance ahead. She was animatedly describing something to his grandfather. Suddenly, as if sensing his presence she turned and looked straight into his eyes and stopped whatever she was saying. Sensing her distraction, Janak turned around and saw Kabier. He waved him over to join them.

  “Kabier, my boy, come here, have you met Keya?” Janak asked him.

  Kabier looked at Keya and replied, “If I am not mistaken, it was once, ten years ago, wasn’t it Keya?”

  Keya smiled, nodding in reply.

  “Kabier you need to hear this. Keya was just telling me of her successful business trip to Vienna.” Janak said.

  “Really?” Kabier said.

  “Sehgal Systems has put in a bid to replace the existing, and mind you very old, hospital software system of one of the biggest chain of hospitals in Austria with our very own product ‘Medisys’. Keya had gone for the final discussions and it seems that we may very well win the contract.”

  Kabier knew that ‘Medisys’ was the flagship healthcare product of Sehgal Systems. It was a complete hospital management and billing system.

  “How big is this chain?” Kabier questioned Keya, looking at her.

  “It’s got four big hospitals in Vienna and ten smaller hospital units, catering to towns around Vienna. So, pretty big I would say.” Keya replied calmly.

  “How come this wasn’t a part of your report then Keya?” Kabier asked her

  “Well, to be honest, we haven’t yet signed anything with them, but I am positive that they will come to us. They liked our product a lot. And we are better priced than most of our competitors,” Keya replied confidently.

  She went on to add “We’ll know our fate in two weeks, but I am sure that we’ll win this one.”

  “Good, I am glad and this time, Kabier, if we win you have to go and sign the deal yourself. This way you get a 360 degree view of our software business. And Keya is the expert here, in this field. She can answer any questions that you pose.”

  Janak glanced up then and acknowledged an executive trying to get his attention. He turned back to Keya. “Anyway, I see someone who I need to talk to. Why don’t you two catch up? I’ll see you later.”

  Keya turned to look at Kabier. “So you’ve finally decided to take the mantle from him?”

  Kabier shrugged his shoulders and replied nonchalantly, “Yes, I suppose it had to happen someday. And I would prefer that he slows down while he still has some energy left in him. He’s been active on all fronts for so long, that I think he deserves a long break. Not that he would ever agree to that.”

  “And,” Kabier said, “what have you been up to since I last saw you?”

  “Well, quite a lot actually, but mostly, I have been busy with my work in Sehgal Systems.”

  “Quite the career woman, it seems!” he retorted sarcastically.

  Keya narrowed her eyes at his tone. “Well, why not? I don’t see the harm in that, do you?” she challenged him back.

  He looked at her for a few seconds. “No, I don’t. And what do you do when you’re not working?”

  “The usual stuff that people do. Unwind at home, meet friends, well, like I said the usual stuff,” Keya shrugged and replied.

  And it went on after that, every reply she made was followed with another question.

  Keya felt like she was on the hot seat of an inquisition, with Kabier asking all the questions and not giving her the chance to ask him anything in return.

  Clearly Keya was evading any reply that was even remotely personal, Kabier thought. Each time he tried to dwell into her background or quiz her on a more private topic, she very cleverly replied with a general comment. It was getting more and more obvious that she didn’t want to talk to him about her personal life.

  I will uncover your secrets Keya and if they are as I suspect, then you will answer to me, he silently promised.

  They started moving towards the center of the lawn where they joined a group of people discussing the political situation of the country. Politics not being her favorite subject, Keya stood silently and let the conversation flow around her. Kabier, she realized was quite actively updated on not only the international political scene but the Indian one as well and was quickly engaged in the conversation.

  She ought to be proud of herself, Keya thought. She had actual
ly managed a calm conversation with Kabier, although her heart had been beating so fiercely ever since he came up to her and Janak. She observed him while he was talking. He was superbly built and had a body that indicated that he spent a lot of his time in a gym. He was wearing a charcoal grey suit with a white shirt and black tie.

  He smiled and chatted easily with people and showed none of the tension that was so clearly visible when he was talking to her. She had a feeling that the entire conversation with him earlier was a way to find fault with her. But that was strange since she had only just met Kabier. Still, she felt that he didn’t like her or rather he didn’t approve of her. She shook herself. She was just imagining it for sure. What possible reason could Kabier have to dislike her? She was not making any sense to herself now. She surely must be more tired than she felt, for her brain to be working in this direction. Unable to concentrate on the ongoing discussion, she tried to recollect all that she knew or had heard of Kabier.

  As the first born grandson of Janak Sehgal, Kabier had been born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. His father had passed away when he was still a boy and Janak had played an active part in his upbringing. Keya had met Kabier’s mother a number of times over the years. She couldn’t say she was extremely close to his mother, but they did have a good relationship borne by the fact that her daughter and Keya had been friends for several years. She had always been courteous to Keya and clearly she loved her children dearly. She was involved in a number of charities and took her welfare work very seriously.

  Janak had six grandchildren. Kabier was the eldest, followed by Sameer, his brother Rishi and Kabier’s sister Sheena. Sameer and Rishi’s twin sisters Shauna and Rhea were the youngest of the lot. Janak had ensured that they all got the best possible education. Still, Kabier was by far his favorite and Janak had left no stone unturned to ensure that when the time came, Kabier was more than ready to take over Janak’s place in his business empire. Kabier had joined the European business at a very young age to learn the ropes. And he had learned fast! In a matter of years he had turned around the European operations into a major money making venture and with his sharp acumen and keen business sense had expanded its base to the U.S. He was known to be a ruthless businessman, very cut throat is his deals and he always got what he wanted.