Opening the door to her room Arundhati looked around to see nothing was moved out of place. The room has been kept spik and span even in her absence. She dragged the trolleys that Asha had placed near her door inside.
"I'll unpack everything later. I need a bath first."
"Hmmmmm, nothing is better than my own room and my own bathtub." She said sinking in the lukewarm water.
It was the beginning of winter and the air was a little chilly. The warm water instantly relaxed her tensed and tired muscles. Arundhati felt so sleepy that she wanted to fall asleep in the tub but knowing how dangerous it was she discarded the idea and got up.
"Tch. Winters are so troublesome. Now I need to dry my hair lest I catch a cold."
She used a towel to wipe the water before using the hairdryer. Although her hair was not too long it still had considerable length to take some time to dry.
"I should get a buzzcut." Arundhati looked at her reflection irritably.
When her hair finally dried she dove into the bed without wasting a second and without bothering to change out of her bathrobe. Hugging her bolster and pulling a light blanket over herself she passed out.
Knock knock. Knock knock.
"Fourth Young Mistress, are you up? The Mistress is calling you for tea."
Arundhati woke up groggily and looked at the wall clock.
"Mm? It's evening already?"
She blinked a few times to clear her vision. The clock showed it was 6 p.m. Slipping into a top and half pants she went downstairs yawning widely.
"Did you sleep well?" Pratap asked.
Arundhati nodded and took the tea cup from her father.
"So, the reason I wanted everyone to gather here, especially the kids." Ruchira leaned against the sofa and eyed everyone in the room.
Arundhati raised an eyebrow hearing her grandmother's words. Her cousins also straightened up and became a little tense.
"As you all are already aware the competition will begin next week. So I wanted to give you some details before that so you can prepare yourselves better. Tests will be taken on various matters like finance management, stocks, social and negotiation skills, leadership skills, and many more. There won't be any theoretical exams, mostly practical and viva to test your basic knowledge. But the most important thing that I want you all to know is that all the practical tests will be real-life situations that you might or will face if you take the position of CEO. Whatever you do will have its consequences. Here, nothing will be mocked. You'll be given real projects that the company is currently working on. If you fail or make bad decisions it will directly affect Sen Corp. And you'll have to work in any department at any position you're given till you compensate for the loss. Am I clear? I hope you understand the seriousness of this competition."
The cousins started murmuring amongst themselves but Arundhati quietly pondered over the old lady's words.
"So, should I assume that by real-life situations you mean it can be anything? Even extreme situations like sudden bankruptcy or problems which are directly not related to business but can indirectly affect it. And if everything is going to be real that means we would be dealing with real media in case or should I say when a scandal arises. We could also get involved in false rumours any traps that could land us in jail? Or at least involve the police?"
"Yes." Ruchira nodded at Arundhati.
"And if I must assume can I say that the outside world won't know what exactly will be happening in the competition and we will be facing already established and flourishing
companies as rivals while dealing with these projects you mentioned? Also, our parents will probably be cooperating in this and we won't get any help from them?"
Ruchira nodded again.
"So basically you'll be leaving us in the wild without prior training and we'll have to figure everything out ourselves with only the lessons from university. And ultimately it's another one of your ploys to make Sen Corp. the headlines of newspapers for the next week."
"Yes." Ruchira agreed but suddenly realised what she said and cleared her throat.
"Ahem. Well maybe not exactly but sort of."
But now none of her grandchildren were listening and simply staring at her with pointed looks.
Realising that her granddaughter exposed her plans before everyone she brought her first near her mouth and pretended to cough a few times.
"Cough cough cough. I'm a little sick so I'll be taking my leave. My old bones can't tolerate the winter anymore. I already said everything that you need to know. So now it's all up to you to plan your course of action. I'll retire to my room. Deep, help me."
She extended her hand to her husband who also played along with his wife and the two oldies trodded to their room.
"Sick my foot. You just want to get out of here now that your schemes are exposed." Komolika yelled.
"She just wants to see us screw ourselves." Nitish, Arundhati's youngest cousin said.
"You guys should already get used to Didun's eccentric behaviour." The eldest grandchild, Diya said.
"She's so old yet her shrewdness did not lessen one bit!" Arohi commented.
She was Ruchira's third granddaughter.
"We're just scapegoats to boost the company's fame, huh?" Torsha, the fifth grandchild, rolled her eyes.
"So it's true when people say that your energy is so much like Didun's when she was young, huh?" Diya looked at Arundhati.
"Di's right! You guessed right away that there was more than one reason for all this arrangement! Your wavelengths really do match." Nitish laughed.
"Guess I'm the victim of her genes," Arundhati replied with her same old poker face.