In The Ruins...

Chapter 9

Arohi's POV

"Good afternoon, Ro." The girl came towards us, wishing Rohan with her best smile. She is Ben's secretary. I don't remember her name, I just have had a very little conversation with her.

"Very good afternoon, Nancy." Rohan wished her back with a smile, taking off his goggle. "Is everything alright? Ben sounded tensed."

"I think you should talk to him directly about this." She said and then looked at me with a smile. "Hello, Arohi."

"Hello." That's all I said with a smile and turned to look at Rohan immediately who was already looking at me, "Let's go then," Rohan said. He then moved his gaze to Raghav. He smiled back at Nancy before moving in, I and Raghav did the same.

We reached to Ben's cabin. It was very spacious and classy. There, Ben was settled on the couch with another guy around 50s sitting next to him who was telling something to Ben. From his attire, all I can say is that he might be a lawyer. I felt some uneasiness by seeing the atmosphere there. Something wasn't good.

"Hey, David. I didn't expect you here..." Rohan greeted the guy next to Ben with a forced smile. There was a little nervousness in his voice. I felt myself getting tensed.

"Hey Ro! Ben called me to discuss some matters." David said with a thin smile. Rohan looked at Ben, being completely clueless.

"Hey, Arohi! You are here too." Ben said with his usual smile, looking at me, ignoring Rohan's stare.

"Oh..well...I thought it was about the album. Rohan asked me to come with him." I said in a low voice being awkward in the situation. 

"It's ok dear, I was just joking. You are more than welcome here. And you are right, it's about the album." Ben said getting serious all of a sudden. That doesn't look good, I have never seen Ben being serious or nervous, but now he was both.

We all settled down on the couch and made ourselves comfortable. There was an awkward and tension-filled silence. I could see the worry on everyone's face.

"What's the matter? What happened, Ben?" Rohan asked breaking the silence. Ben looked at him for a few seconds, maybe processing what to say. 

"Well, before that. Arohi meet David Williams. He is working with our company as our legal advisor." Ben said looking at me, again ignoring Rohan's words. David extended his hands for a handshake. "Nice to meet you Arohi, heard a lot about you from Ben. He made me hear some of your songs and I must say you are an amazing singer. Became a fan." He smiled at me and I return it back and shook hands with him.

"Nice to meet you too, David and thank you for the compliment." I pressed a smile at him. I was just too worried to even smile. From the corner of the eye, I can see Rohan rolling his eyes. He was getting irritated now.

"If you are done with the damn formalities, would you mind spelling out what the heck has happened?!" Rohan asked with his voice a little louder than usual. He had lost all his calm now. It came out as a little rude though. How can he talk to Ben like that? But still, I must say that this suspense thing was really nerve wrecking. 

Ben took a deep sigh, "I think we should put the album on hold for some time..."

"What? But why? What happened?" Rohan shot in before Ben could even finish what he had to say.

"Look, Rohan, there are some issues going on and it involves you. It won't be good for the album or Arohi." He paused for sometime before continuing again. "You are part of this label for a pretty long time. That's why I'm saying it's better to take a little break until this mess is cleared."