Chapter 24

Aryan went back to the office, he needed to think, and it would be easier to pick up Imlie and take her home this way.

He played out the scenarios in his head. The first step was simple and already complete: Aditya’s piece, as it stood right now with the presses, would most definitely trigger a lawsuit.

The second step would be to exacerbate the egos of both Sunil Khanna and Aditya Kumar Tripathi. Khanna’s starting ask would be ridiculous, he’d probably make some grandstanding claim that he’d bring down all of Bhaskar Times, but all Aryan needed to do was to give Khanna the real target: Aditya. Aditya’s ego would do the rest. If Aryan understood the legal team’s briefing properly, Aryan had the evidence to prove that no one at Bhaskar Times was negligent in the publication of the piece, and the onus would fall on Aditya, because he’d claimed over and over again that he had the expertise to report the story. And even if Khanna’s lawyers were able to make a case against Bhaskar Times, Aryan was sure he had enough financial and social capital in various industries across the city that he’d be able to negotiate a settlement for Bhaskar Times. Ultimately, all Khanna cared about was money. Aditya’s retraction for the story was guaranteed, so any long-term loss Khanna might sustain would be solved with that.

Aryan locked his car and walked up to his cabin. In the elevator, in the hallway, and on the path to his office he didn’t notice anyone greeting him. He walked into his office and shut the door, closed the blinds, and paced.

The retraction would remove Khanna’s chances at making a case for long term financial or credibility damages. Aryan would then need to convince Khanna to remove Bhaskar Times’ liability with a side settlement. Khanna would take the deal, he’d use the money to secure his position as CEO. Then the only step remaining: push Khanna to take out all his revenge on Aditya Kumar Tripathi.

Aryan’s mind turned to Radhika. She was completely separate from all this. And based on what he’d just gamed out in his head, she would have plenty of time to make her decision one way or another after tomorrow. Aryan soured at the idea of having to pretend to be on the same side as Khanna, but it was a necessary evil.

Now, Imlie. Radhika might take a couple days to tell Imlie her story, but Aryan knew Imlie. As soon as Imlie found out the truth, she’d not only want to write the story, she’d want to help Radhika. Hell, Imlie might actually try to literally beat up Khanna if thought about it long enough. Aryan realized there was no escaping the inevitable, the only way out was straight through. Even if Radhika didn’t end up deciding to bring a case against Khanna or tell her story to the press, Imlie would find out what happened to her. But even then, nothing would go wrong. Aryan didn’t need Khanna to survive this. Khanna was a brute of a man. He may not be committing financial crimes or fraud in his company, but he was not someone that needed to be spared. Aryan just needed to keep Imlie and Radhika away from all of this. At least until it played out the way he wanted for Aditya Kumar Tripathi.

Aryan kept working. He read through all the documents and proposals he needed to finish before the board meeting. He double checked all the editors’ final choices for tomorrow’s paper. Especially Aditya Kumar Tripathi’s piece. Both Surinder and Gaurav had emailed Aryan their separate concerns with Aditya’s article. They felt it was rushed and they didn’t know if his sources were all trustworthy. Ultimately, Aryan didn’t have to convince the two of them that much. He just CCd the head of the legal department on the emails, and the lawyer and the two of them ended up deciding that even if there was an issue with the piece, Bhaskar Times would get away with a retraction at least, and at worst they’d maybe have to fire Tripathi or settle a quick and quiet lawsuit with Khanna. Aryan smiled after reading the last email from Surinder, he’d been the last holdout, but he was convinced now. From what Aryan could tell, it wasn’t that Surinder, Gaurav, and the others at Bhaskar Times who knew Aditya disliked him, it’s just that they had spent too long believing the nonsense story that he was God’s gift to journalism in India. He could tell from the way Surinder pushed back against Aditya in meetings, the way most junior journalists and the other senior journalists tried their best not to work with him — they would be the most morbidly curious if Aditya’s veneer of prestige was shattered. No one would stand up for him, for his work, even for his character — because he had spent the past ten years alienating himself from them. Aryan was good at a lot of things, but the best skill he’d learned, even before his MBA, before his first job, before college — was how to read people.

Aryan would deny it if anyone tried to ask him, but it was true: he had been willing to forgive Aditya. Well, if not forgive, he had been willing to try to find a way to move on from Aditya, from that day his family lost everything. For fort years, Arpita wasn’t just in grief over the lost of her best friend, she had also been fighting to prevent the loss of her brother. She’d asked Aryan, begged him, screamed at him, done everything possible to get him to move on. And Aryan would be lying if he tried to tell himself he hadn’t been swayed.

But then he met Aditya Kumar Tripathi. He met him on the same day he’d met Imlie. At that underground fight club. At that point he’d thought Imlie was like an insignificant fly, that would bother him no matter how many times he swatted her away. But, now, looking back on that day, Imlie’s voice, fighting back against Aditya as he pushed forward yet another untrue claim as fact, her voice was the only thing that had held him back from killing Aditya that day. Her voice, paradoxically, was also the reason he’d decided he couldn’t forgive Aditya. The way Aditya belittled this woman, and at that point all Aryan knew was that the two of them knew each other, he’d known nothing about them being married. The derision in Aditya’s voice, the overconfidence in his so-called craft, the way Aditya had used the illusion of truth as a shield against his own failures, the way Aditya’s so called journalistic ethics were just a curtain hiding his mediocrity. Aryan could have forgiven Aditya, perhaps, if Aditya had just turned out to be mediocre. However, what Aryan saw that day, was a man who was willing to lie for his own benefit, a man who would belittle a stranger or a friend for just questioning his ability. Aryan couldn’t forgive someone who lived their lives assuming they’d never done anything wrong. At least not in this life.

Thinking about Imlie, Aryan felt a twinge in his heart. After a few seconds, Aryan recognized it as guilt. No matter how much he hated Aditya, no matter how cruel, mediocre, and pathetic that man was — Imlie had loved him at one point. Destroying someone or something Imlie had loved, or maybe she still loved him, seemed like a mistake. It seemed like Aryan was stepping into the beginning of the end of whatever it was that he had with Imlie. Friendship, partnership, or something else. He stood to risk it all if he did this. But then he thought back to Arpita’s face on the day of Arvind’s funeral. He thought about Arvind’s promise to Aryan just a few days before his death, ‘I promise to take care of your sister my whole life, Aryan,’ Arvind had said that to him. Aditya Kumar Tripathi had no right to mercy after stealing away a life from this world. None at all.

Aryan looked at his watch, it was nearly 7:00PM, but Imlie hadn’t called.

Did she already go home? Or is she still with Shiv? Aryan thought, as he picked up his phone.

There were no text messages from her, no missed calls. Didi and Maa hadn’t called him or messaged him asking where she was either. Imlie had probably told them she’d be late, but maybe she was already home?

Damn it, why did she have to go back alone? I told her to message me, she never shuts up when she’s in front of me, but the one time I actually ask her to talk to me, silence. Aryan raged.

He dialed her number. Aryan got more irate after each ring, but finally someone answered after the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Hello?” Aryan asked, “Who is this? This is Imlie’s phone, right?”

“Oh hi, I should have made the connection between ABP and Aryan, this is Shiv, Imlie’s just in the restroom,” Shiv replied, happily.

“Why do you have her phone?” Aryan didn’t even try to hide the tension and anger in his voice.

Shiv seemed to notice and he bristled at Aryan’s tone, “I wasn’t going to answer, but it was ringing and she left it on the table, she’s going to be right back…actually, here she is. I’ll give her the phone.”

“Imlie?” Aryan asked, pacing around the room to walk away the pit he’d just felt in his stomach after hearing Shiv answer her phone.

“ABP? Why are you calling me? What’s up?” Imlie asked, cheerily.

Aryan tried not to scream, but he didn’t hide his anger either, “What the hell do you mean why am I calling you? Do you see the time? I told you to call me when you were leaving so I could pick you up? I mean, how long do you actually plan to stay out?”

Imlie let out a mock whistle, “Wow, that was a lot of questions and a lot of attitude in a short period of time.”

Aryan rolled his eyes, and rubbed his temple, trying to calm himself down, “Where are you, I’m going to come pick you up.”

Imlie sighed, “ABP, it’s not that late, I can take care of myself, don’t judge me just because I’m making new friends, and most importantly, are you okay? You’re acting a little crazy right now.”

Aryan knew she was right, but also didn’t care about that, “Unless you want me to track your phone, which I have done before by the way, text me where you are. I’m hanging up.”

Imlie tried to interrupt, but then she heard a dial tone. She was angry and confused now, and she didn’t want to end her conversation with Shiv, it had gone so well. She texted Aryan the name of the cafe, and then made a mental note to tell him to delete her phone’s tracking info from his when she got in his car. Imlie looked at Shiv, who had probably heard at least a little of Aryan’s anger from across the table, and gave him a weak smile.

“Your boss/landlord seems to have a lot of interest in you, or he just doesn’t like me.” Shiv said, keeping his tone light, but he was more than a little frustrated with how he saw Aryan treat Imlie.

Imlie laughed nervously, “I don’t actually understand why he gets like this, but it’s probably because I’m so new to the city, I haven’t really been here that long.”

Shiv looked at her curiously, “You mentioned you’ve been here for the past year, that’s long enough in my book.”

Imlie nodded, wondering to herself why Aryan was this mad, because Shiv was right, she’d been in Delhi long enough to take care of herself. She knew that Aryan was completely right to criticize her willingness to forgive people she considered her family too quickly, but she hadn’t made bad friends in this city, from Sundar, her colleagues, and now Shiv, Imlie knew how to make friends. In fact, if she didn’t know how to make friends she wouldn’t have tolerated Aryan’s bad mood for this long. She smiled to herself, thinking about how quickly he’d call her a nautanki or jungli today, and looked up to see Aryan’s car pull up on the street outside the cafe.

Imlie looked at Shiv, he hadn’t said anything for a couple minutes, the two of them finishing up their third cup of chai in silence, “I think my ride is here.”

Shiv smiled, “looks like it. It sucks that we have to end it here, but, honestly, it felt like I was meeting someone I’ve known my whole life. How do you do that?”

Imlie laughed, “What?”

“Talk to people like they’ve always been your family?” Shiv asked, he truly was amazed at this ability of hers.

Imlie looked at the last sip of chai in her cup and smiled, “I don’t know, I think it’s probably because that’s how I talked to everyone in my world when my world was just Pagdandia. So I don’t know how to talk to anyone any other way.”

She looked up and added, “Thank you, by the way, for listening. I didn’t realize how much I had to say all that once, until I said it. I think I finally understand the English idiom, ‘get that off my chest,’ now. I really feel like I can breathe.”

Shiv looked carefully at Imlie, behind her smile and gratitude, he saw a a year and more of pain, he saw eighteen years of joy before that, and he saw the passion and hunger for years of happiness in the future as well. “I want to say I was nothing, but it wasn’t, you were right when you said it was a long and complicated story. But I am honored that you trusted me with it, and I know after hearing it you’ve made it to the other side.”

Imlie laughed to prevent any pesky tears from leaving her eyes, “I don’t know about that, but thank you, nonetheless.”

Aryan walked in, and straight towards the two of them. Imlie stood up, “Thank again, Shiv, see you soon. Also, I’m gonna send the draft of my writeup to my editor soon, I’ll send it to you before that, okay?”

Shiv nodded, and looked at Aryan, “I could have dropped Imlie back, I’m sure you’re a very busy man.”

Aryan lifted his chin, “Thanks, but I wouldn’t hear the end of it from my mother or sister if I let this jungli come home on her own.” Aryan looked at Imlie and asked, “Ready?”

Imlie narrowed her eyes, she wanted to crack a joke that she wasn’t ready for his, ‘let’s act like a weirdo today’ act, but she knew that would just make him more angry right now. It would be smarter just to nod. So she nodded.

She waved goodbye to Shiv, and made her way out. Aryan glared back at Shiv, giving a slight nod to him, and followed Imlie out.

Shiv sat back down, trying to process the massive emotional rollercoaster that had been Imlie’s life story.