RagNa SS: Demons [Last Part, Page 41 updt Dec. 16th] - Page 22

"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." ~ George Bernard Shaw

"Prem, let go," Kalpi hissed through her gritted teeth as she looked onto him with vehemence.

Prem felt his body jerk in alarm at her disdainful expression. Why was she so mad?

"Kalpi, what--"

Before he could finish his question, he felt her jerk her arm free from his firm grip at her wrist. After making sure that there was enough distance between them, she turned around and straightened up to stand tall in front of him.

"You know what! You know exactly what!" she said heatedly as she fixed him with an intense glare.

He had been so dumbfounded with her behavior that he hadn't known what to say to her. He was sure that his expression showed exactly that, and he noticed that people around them were starting to stare in their direction now. Still, he tried his best to ignore that to make sense of what was going on in front of him.

After several moments, she just sighed and looked at him with exasperation.

"Prem, for the last time," she paused for a bit before she continued, "And, believe me, it's the final time I am asking this. Why do you keep on hanging out with me? Why do you want to be my friend so bad? Why do you keep on bothering me like this?"

She had looked onto him so pointedly, as if telling him that this was his last chance. For what? He wasn't exactly sure. It felt like there were way too many unsaid things in the line of questioning but he hadn't really known how to respond to her. It wasn't as if he hadn't known exactly what he had wanted, it was merely that he hadn't known exactly what to tell her or how to tell her.

From what felt like couple of really long minutes, she just shook her head in disgust.

"You know what, Prem? After today, if you ever bother me again in school then I will go to the principal," she paused and stood so she was completely facing him as she looked directly into his eyes, "and mark my words when I say this, I will take serious actions against your bullying. You know the principal doesn't care about status here. You know that she thinks of me as her own daughter. She will definitely take my side. So, don't test me!" She had finished with just conviction and finality in her voice that he had flinched.

"Kalpi--" he had started to say as she turned around but she kept on walking without looking back.

Without knowing exactly how to react to whatever happened, he had only looked at her retreating back and wondered what was it that he had done to make her so baleful towards him.

Prem took another deep breath and attempted to get out of his car. Nope! No no no no no. He couldn't do it.

He slipped his hand away from the door again and relaxed back on the driver's seat. He put on his seatbelt and started up his car again, for the fifth time. The car behind him honked for his parking space. He gritted his teeth and tried to ignore it. After putting his car into gear, he just sat there as if contemplating if he should take his foot off of the break to start driving. After another moment, he shifted his gear back into parking mode and took off his seatbelt. That was when he heard the car honk again for his parking spot. He gritted his teeth and got out to give the driver his piece of mind!

"Dude, shut up! This spot is mine! I got here first and already parked. Go, get another one for your sorry self!" he yelled at the middle-aged worker in frustration. Seriously, couldn't anyone just let him handle his nerves in peace?

The driver looked disapprovingly at him and started driving away, while muttering about irresponsible and indecisive drivers who couldn't even make up their mind about if they wanted to park the car or not.

He sighed and leaned on the driver's side door. He felt the door click shut before he could realize it and decided, with finality, that he would do this! He would not, in anyway, backtrack and sit in his car and drive off. What was the worst that could happen anyways? If Kalpi hadn't wanted to see him or talk to him, then she wouldn't have approved his appointment. If she had as many reservations as he thought she had, then she wouldn't even give him the time of the day. But she wasn't like that.

He knew that she wasn't like that because he had practically grown up with her. Granted, she loathed him and thought him as an insignificant little insect that was sucking all the happiness out of her life. However, that was going to change. That's why he was here. To change that. He was going to go in there and charm her. He was going to explain how ridiculous it was that they still fought over petty childhood dispute between their parents when they practically grew up together. He was going to present his case like the good lawyer he was. That's why he got his law degree. Well, no. He didn't get his law degree to present his case to Kalpi. But he did get it to present it eloquently so the other person can see things in a new light. So, yes, he was going to walk in there like a boss and own up to his past mistakes and make sure that they end up in better terms than before at the very least. He was going to do all of that. Just in a sec. To make sure that he has all of his persuasion straight. Right, that's the reason.

All of his bravado came crashing down at him when he saw the bewildered look on Kalpi's face as he walked into her office. Crap! She didn't seem to have any idea that he was coming.

-------

To say that Kalpi was having the most confusing week of her life was an understatement. At first, she had been coming in early morning to find out that Sammy was being absolutely absent from his usual spot next to the coffee machine. She had shrugged it off thinking that he probably was trying to stay healthy, what with his constant rant about health awareness for the past couple of days. Then, she noticed that regardless of the fact that Sammy was rarely around her these days, he was always around when Raghav was with her. That wouldn't be much of thing to be confused about, especially with him being Raghav's best friend, but he insinuated himself in situations that didn't even require his presence. No, she wasn't exactly irritated with him for that since she enjoyed his company, but she wasn't foolish enough to assume that he wasn't up to something. He was acting highly suspicious these days.

As if his behavior wasn't enough, Raghav was also acting strange with her. He was usually curt with her in his replies before, but he was never as unresponsive as he was lately. She had felt that he was deliberately evading her and Sammy. Which was absurd, right? Because Sammy and Raghav were joint at the hip and it would be completely absurd to even think that they would ever get in a situation where Raghav would start avoiding Sammy. It was just weird. Especially since Sammy didn't seem bothered at all and only acted like his usual self. Surely, he had noticed Raghav's behavior towards them. When she had questioned him about it, Sammy merely shrugged.

"I seriously have no clue what you're talking about. I feel like he's doing fine. Just work, you know. But if you're that worried then why don't you just ask him?" he had said to her as if that wasn't just a big deal.

She had widened her eyes at him, slightly gaping at his absurd suggestion. "You want me," she said pointing at herself, "to go and talk to Raghav about how he is feeling these days?" she finished off incredulously.

Sammy only chuckled at her expression and nodded affirmatively. "Why not? You're just as much a friend to him. If you think there's something wrong, then you should probably ask. These days, I feel like he will talk to you more than he will talk to me," he finished off sounding a little glum.

Before she could reassure Sammy of his status in Raghav's life, he had shaken himself and went back to his files. She had realized that the conversation was finished from Sammy's side. So, she had taken Sammy's advice and went to talk to Raghav.

Never let it be said that Kalpi didn't have an open mind, and never let it be said that Kalpi didn't give people second chances. Because she had. In Sammy's case, at least. She had taken his advice, knowing that he had something up his sleeves. Well. That just led to more confusion as Raghav seemed even more miserable by the time they were done with the talk. She hadn't known what exactly it was that she had said, or not said, but he looked completely devastated. That also brought her to the question Raghav had asked her, about her and Sammy being happy. What had that been about? She still needed to ask that from Sammy (but again, he was nowhere to be found when she wanted to talk to him alone).

If all of that wasn't enough, the fact that she had an appointment with Prem Kapoor was. At first, she thought that it had been some other Prem Kapoor, since that wasn't the least popular name in the world no matter what she wanted. Her conviction only got stronger when she realized that this Prem Kapoor was from a renowned law firm, and was coming to discuss about the new project proposal that they had just gotten a contract for. Apparently, he had a place that could lessen their cost of production by a great margin while still being on the par with their previous accomplishments. So, she had only shrugged it off and went along with her other meetings and appointments of the day.

Of course, it would be a silly think to assume that her life ever made sense. When she looked up towards her current appointment, she had found a very familiar-looking (and maybe slightly nervous) Prem Kapoor standing at the doorway. Before she could say anything, he took few steps in the room and closed the door behind him. She had gotten over her initial shock, and jerked herself up in an attempt to call security. Because, what the heck was he doing there?

Prem seemed really surprised at her reaction (oh, the nerve of this guy!) and only held his hand in a placating gesture. That had confused her even more, because the Prem she had known would never even try to back down in any shape or form. This was a sign of submission, of a white flag from his side. And the fact that Kalpi knew this much about him really disturbed her. Oh, the trauma of being bullied.

After a brief pause where neither of them knew what to say, Kalpi relaxed. This was her territory. She was the queen, or well the authority, here. If she wanted, she could kick him out before he said "Mom" so, yes, she relaxed. She folded her arms and stood up straighter with confidence.

"And what exactly do I this displeasure for?"

Prem seemed a bit taken aback at first. He regained his composure soon and gestured towards one of the chairs, "May I?"

"Not before telling me exactly what you're here for, Mr. Kapoor."

Prem only raised his eyebrow, "Kalpi, I am sure you're aware of the state of business I am here for. After all, you did let me make an appointment with you. Didn't you?"

She waved her hand at him in dismissal so he could sit down and sat back down to look at the appointment details again to collect her thoughts. If he was here at this hour, then he was the Prem Kapoor from the law firm that came to talk about the project. That didn't make even a tiny bit sense. He wasn't a lawyer.

"I always thought that these things were handled by lawyers. Last time I saw you in the vicinity of your workplace, which was barely over a year ago, you were a businessman. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but no one can become a lawyer in just a year. Even Law schools in India aren't that easily bought, Mr. Kapoor."

She saw him reaching in his bag and kept her hands on her phone in case she needed security. She continued, unperturbed so there's no suspicion from his side, "Besides, even if you had miraculously become a lawyer in a year, I would still not be confident enough in you to need your assistance in this project."

She waited for him to react in some way. He did. Just not in the way she had suspected he would. He had calmly taken out a file from his bag and passed it onto her. He hadn't said anything, so she took it cautiously and peered inside.

To say that she was shocked would be an understatement by a large degree. There were certificates, transcripts, official documents, that proved that he had, in fact, gotten his degree in Corporate Law along with Business Management. Not only that, his grades were amongst the top students and he had references from very renowned people. They were the kind of references that couldn't be easily bought. Also, from his documents, there was a proof of him working independent of Kapoor business for over a year now (which was also coincidently the last time she had seen him at his previous office).

"I quit working at my father's company, realizing that his business was overshadowing what I had truly wanted. I was actually never interested in managing a business to a great degree and I was terrible at it too. When I worked with my father, he was the one who was mostly making executive decisions. He didn't always like to listen to what I said either because he thought I was too rash. So, I decided to pursue what I truly wanted. Law. I have been working in this firm for quite a while now and I have an extensive client list too. I have listed the cases in file there. If you're interested in checking, then feel free to do your research because you will find that I am speaking the truth."

She closed the file and looked onto him pointedly. He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Even if these documents are correct, what makes you think that we will give you a chance here? You've proven in the past that there's been a conflict of interest in your part. You've always proven yourself to be dangerous to our company. Then, tell me this. Why should we listen to you and actually take your advice in account? For all we know, you're trying to sabotage this project under our noses."

He hadn't looked surprised at all with her questions, as if he had been expecting all of them.

"Do you think I am an idiot, Kalpi? I know the risk to myself, my firm, and my client if I try to sabotage this. I am not here for me. I am merely here for my client. He is the one who wishes to make an investment in your project because he hopes to gain. He believes in your proposal. I am not here for personal reasons. Even so, if you don't believe me, then I will leave the documents that you would need to sign it later on and you can have any other lawyers check it for loopholes. If you find anything controversial, you can reject it. I am not going to convince you to do otherwise either. But please, I beg of you. Don't reject this offer just because of our history," he finished off pleadingly.

Kalpi had been too surprised to say anything at first. Had he just begged her? Prem never begged.

"You know Mr. Kapoor, history is there to teach us from our past mistakes. So, why should I set aside my self-preservation just to give you a chance?"

Prem took out another black file from his small travel bag and placed it in front of her. He slowly got up and straightened his suit.

"This offer can bring only profit to your company. It's a win-win situation. Please read that and think about it. I need you to actually contemplate this. Because you're actually going to be helping a man with a great dream. That's definitely something you can relate to, right?"

She hadn't exactly known how to reply to that statement. She knew that he was trying to emotionally compel her to get her to read, but would reading really hurt that bad? Plus, she could always get that checked from several lawyers including Sammy (who was really good at checking for loopholes).

When there was a long enough pause (since she was still debating in her head), Prem cleared his throat.

"I am going to ask for your permission to leave now, because I want to give you time to make an educated decision that I trust will be for your benefit."

He hadn't waited for her to say anything and moved towards the door, without even trying to will at any formality of shaking her hand, when she called out to him. His body stiffened and he stilled. He slowly looked back at her.

"It's Ms. Jadhav for you, Prem. Not Kalpi."

She saw him nod stiffly at her and exit her office. She sighed and looked over towards the proposal that he had brought.

-------

Raghav was tensed. He was so tensed that Sammy had to shove him to get his attention. This situation wasn't really helping his plan of letting Sammy ride towards the sunset with Kalpi. No, this situation was making him more and more agitated as he wondered what was taking Kalpi so long in her cabin. He looked at the clock again and gritted his teeth. IT. WAS. LYING. There was no way that it had only been barely 10 minutes since Prem had gone inside her cabin for the meeting. The wait had felt like it was at least over half an hour. Maybe his clock wasn't working. He would have to have a strict chat with the janitorial staff again.

"Dude, ease up! Your tensed physique is making me tense. And I think we both know that that's the worst thing that could happen because that would lead to increase in my heart rate. Which would then lead to an irrational fear and closing off of my throat. Which would lead to a very intense panic attack. So, please dude, stop fidgeting!"

Raghav took several deep breaths and stared at her door again. Why was this taking so long?

"Ah, maybe because he's here to discuss an offer on behalf of his client," Sammy chided.

Crap! Raghav hadn't realized that he had worded his thoughts out loud.

Sammy sighed. "We discussed this, remember? I told you the details already! He has a law degree too. He's been working for a year at a law firm and he's strictly here for business. Remember, I did my research before fixing him up for today. I wouldn't just leave Kalpi in there without having an assurance that he can't do anything to harm her."

Hearing this, Raghav looked towards Sammy's big reassuring nod. He nodded in acknowledgment and gazed down to the scattered files in front of him. Right! He had work to do but all he could do was think about what was going on in her cabin. But he also knew that he couldn't go in there. It would look really bad not only because it would seem like he didn't trust her enough to handle the situation but also because Prem can use that against him. He couldn't risk that. Not now.

"I know Sammy. I trust you, and I trust her too. I just...I just can't help but be a little worried. If he does anything, I swear--" he didn't finish that off knowing that Sammy understood exactly what he meant to say.

Sammy placed a hand on his shoulder, but before he could say anything to Raghav, the door to her cabin opened and Prem exited her cabin weightlessly. The expression on his face had seemed rather odd, but Raghav didn't have time to mull over that. He quickly reached up to his office phone and asked Kalpi to come in the office so she can give him the details. Striding quickly to her cabin seemed a bit dramatic for even Raghav Singhania's taste after all. In all of the hurry, he didn't even realize that his hand shook in relief as he put the office phone down. Must have been the adrenaline.

She came in and gave them a detailed rundown of their meeting. Not only that, she passed the file to him so he could look it over.

"Raghav Sir," she spoke up softly.

Oh no. He knew that tone of voice very well. It was tone of voice that was going to bring some really ludicrous idea in front of him -- something like letting her handle this part of the project and deal with Prem herself on behalf of the company. As much as he trusted her with the company, there was no way he would let her do that. Not only was it really dangerous for her, knowing the Kapoors, it would also be way harder to keep her out of line of fire (and other dangers) if she was constantly with Prem. The idea of her working with him really unsettled him. There was absolutely no way!

Apparently that resolve only lasted until he looked up from the file, onto her. He noticed the tight set in her jaw, the complete contradiction to her tone of voice. He could see the tick at her face as he visually saw her grinding her teeth in determination. That was a dangerous look. That was the kind of look that she gave him when, regardless of what he said, she would find some way to get involved in this deal. Yes, he talked from personal experience in the matter. When she had that look, the best thing was to just let her do what she wanted, because, then, he could keep a close eye and supervision.

Despite the fact that his first instinct was to respond negatively to any sort of irrational request she made, he also knew that she always had a very good reason for making them. She wouldn't ask him that if she didn't have a good reason. Besides, he was emotionally invested and that could be damaging in this scenario if, by some luck, this was a good offer. No, he didn't think that Kapoors could change so quickly, but, from the research that Sammy had done, it seemed like Prem was working independently from his parents. It would be foolish to reject an offer on that account, so he did what a good businessman would do. He agreed to her request without letting her finish it. She seemed absolutely delighted.

Unbeknownst to him, Kalpi only took on this project because she was emotionally invested albeit in different sense. She hadn't wanted Raghav to deal with anything Kapoor-related, especially with his past history with them. If it were up to her, she would also ignore them entirely, but she knew that it was better that she handled this project instead of him.

-------

Raghav was agitated. He was really really really agitated. The funny thing though? It wasn't even because they found anything wrong with the Prem's offer. The background research on him came out clean. His offer seemed to not hold any nefarious plot to sabotage their project either. If anything, it was the most straightforward proposal their lawyers had seen in a while. Everything had looked so great, and it had only made Raghav more terrifying to work with.

Of course, it would be terrifying only if Sammy wasn't actually enjoying Raghav's constant struggle. He already knew that his previous plan wouldn't be that fruitful when he saw that Raghav was trying to cope with the fact that Sammy and Kalpi were together (despite the fact that it was only in Raghav's head).

He was disappointed, really. Not with Raghav, but with himself. He should've known that Raghav cared about Sammy deeply enough that he would never want to make a move on Kalpi. He hoped that he wouldn't need to involve Prem in this, because that was a very risky situation as well. Yes, he had researched Prem enough to know that he was clean in every way but it still didn't make him trust Prem more than necessary. He still had a very close eye on Prem's every move in case he missed something.

That also had meant that he needed to stop evading Kalpi and be in her good graces again in order to keep her safe. Which also meant that he would need to answer some questions from her that he could tell she obviously had. He wasn't exactly sure what happened when she questioned Raghav about his strange behavior in the office lately, but he had a feeling that he still hadn't wanted to give anything away just yet. However, it was time. It was time to face her questions and clear the air about both of them. That was the only way he could make sure that Raghav's protectiveness can actually be more obvious to Kalpi. That Raghav wouldn't restrain himself on behalf of Sammy for the fear that he's violating some Bro-code by being overly-protective about his girlfriend. So, this is exactly what he did when Kalpi approached him again.

He was more available for her questions, but those questions didn't come right away. He had to constantly lead her into the conversation, but she only looked onto him suspiciously and didn't say anything. Damn. She was far too perceptive for her own good. That was, until one day, she couldn't take it anymore. Yay for curiosity killing the cat (Kalpi's restrain, in this case).

"So, I had a really interesting conversation with Raghav the other day," she said as she briefly narrowed her eyes at him. "You want to know what he asked me?" she said slowly, as if edging towards a prey.

Sammy gulped and nodded. Kalpi could be really scary sometimes. No wonder she was drawn to Raghav.

"He asked me if we were happy, you and me. Tell me, Sammy. Why would he ask me that?"

"I am sure that he just wants to know how we like it here. Nothing wrong with checking up on employees, is it?" he tried to say it playfully but it came out as a squeak. He really needed to work better on his playful attitude when he was with her.

"Really? See, I was thinking the same thing as you before. But then, I started thinking. Why ask me about you? Why couldn't he just ask you directly?" she said as she raised her signature eyebrow at him towards the end of her questioning.

He shrugged. "Maybe you were right there and he wanted to kill two birds with one stone," he said while feigning nonchalance.

Kalpi looked at him. Her big, doe-eyes, just looked onto him without relenting. There was no way that she was going to let that go. Besides, he was thinking of telling her sometime in the future anyways. Of course, that future was going to be until after Raghav and Kalpi's kids come in this world so he could use them as a shield when Kalpi comes down to him with revenge for the misunderstanding. Of course that also meant that when he was waiting for her questions before, he hadn't really expected this line of questioning. He was expecting more in the range of why it was that Raghav was acting strange. Which, really, Sammy should have seen it coming because that would inevitably lead to these questions as well. Either way, Sammy was really getting rusty with proactive thinking these days.

He sighed. "Alright, fine. Promise me that you won't be mad, okay?"

Kalpi nodded reluctantly.

"Raghav may have the wrong idea of the sense of relationship we share. Like he may have thought that there was something going on between us," he paused to gauge her reaction and she looked murderous so he just continued talking for his own sanity, "which had nothing to do with any coaxing from me. I had nothing to do with his line of thinking. I never told him that we were dating."

She stilled. "Dating?" he saw her eyes widening in realization as he realized that he probably gave more away than he had intended to.

"Sammy, please tell me that you weren't actually up to something when you kept on calling our lunch plans date' in front of everyone. You didn't intentionally fuel this rumor, did you?" she looked onto him, expression full of rare vulnerability and disappointment. For a minute, he felt extremely guilty for doing that to her. However, he knew that she would forgive him when the time comes. He had a greater purpose in mind.

So, he shook his head negatively at her. And that was the end of that conversation. After that, she had gone back to her easy talk with him.

So, the point was, Raghav had only grown more antsy. The things that would've given him reassurances only seemed to fuel his anger more. It was as if he was wishing that there was something off about Prem, so he wouldn't have to deal with Kalpi handling this. Sammy completely understood the sentiment. Usually, Raghav's misery would not be entertaining thing for Sammy to watch because he seriously cared for him. However, Raghav's misery was bringing out his protective edge towards Kalpi. The more Kalpi met with Prem to talk about his offer, the more edgy Raghav got. So, he saw it coming when Raghav called Sammy in his office for some chat.

"Kalpi just told me that she's going with Prem to see the site. If the site is well-versed with what we want to do, then she will clear it for the project and we will invest in it."

He paused and looked at Sammy expectantly.

"You want me to follow her, don't you?" it wasn't really a question and he saw Raghav nod.

"Kalpi would be very pissed if she figured it out, Raghav," Sammy said in a stern tone.

"I know. I know. But right now, her safety is way more important to me - to us - than her issues with being babysat. Look, I get it that Prem is great or whatever but I still don't trust him."

He looked up to Sammy calculatedly, "Why aren't you more worried about her? Surely you don't trust Prem fully either."

Sammy shrugged. "I am worried about her, but I don't think I have a right to tell her what to do."

Raghav looked at him, aghast. "Of course you have some say in it seeing that you guys are dating now. I am sure she will understand if you're little protective of her."

"Woah," Sammy said, feigning shock, "dating? Where did that come from? What even?! -- we're not dating. She's practically a sister to me, dude."

"But, you--" Raghav sputtered as he looked baffled. "Didn't you guys go on a date together?"

"Oh, that. That was just a lunch thing. And it wasn't a real date or anything remotely like that. It was just a date between two friends. Nothing unusual in that," he finished off hurriedly. Raghav raised a menacing eyebrow at him as if slowly putting all the pieces together, and, for the second time in past couple of days, Sammy felt genuinely concerned for his physical safety. He was really re-thinking his plan to get both of them together. But, of course, Sammy was nothing if not generous. He would rather feel physically threatened then let either of his two friends be miserable for some really ridiculous reasons.

"Anyways, don't worry. I will keep an eye on them. I won't let anything happen to her. So, just sit tight and actually get some work done," he said as he moved towards the door to exit.

When he glanced towards Raghav again, he saw a distinct open expression of relief and...hope? For the first time since he had started to work his plan of "Getting Raghav and Kalpi to Come Out of Their Misinformed Bubble and Finally Confess Their Heartfelt Feelings for Each Other" in motion, he felt the weight of what was truly at stake here. He clenched his jaw in determination. His plan better have some great results, or he would seriously lock them both together in a room until they are forced to, god forbid, actually talk about feelings!

I know that you guys have been extremely patient with us and we really appreciate that from all of you. The next part will definitely be more intense (just as a head's up) and we hope to conclude this in 2-3 parts more. We're still working on that. Please do read and let us know what you thought about this part because it definitely encourages us to continue this sooner! Thanks again for reading.