Disclaimer: Not at all edited, sorry for the errors.
Chapter 26:
"What do you want?" Maan's voice was flat.
"Maybe we should leave," said Emily nodding at Satya. The two excused themselves and left the table throwing a concerned glance at Maan for one last time.
"It's been a while," said Maan. He knew that it had taken his mother incredible amount of courage especially after knowing the reason why he had behaved as a spoilt brat back then. But it didn't mean that it hurt to see the way their relationship had crumbled.
"Eight years, seven months and eleven days," came an instant reply. Maan looked up and saw his mother for the first time in nine years. A fleeting moment later he averted his eyes completely missing out the hurt in Damini's eyes.
"You still count random things," noted Maan. Nostalgia hit him at that moment. Damini wasn't some dumb woman who attracted Dileep Khurana. It was her smartness that brought Dileep Khurana to his knees and persistently pursued a relationship with her. Damini had the habit of counting things – number of polka dots on his kinder garden going friend had, finding co-primes on car license plates whenever they drove around the city etc. He had found that trait in her charming and her way to keep her mind occupied with other things. When he was old enough, he joined the game and both added unnecessary rules to make the game more complex.
"Not seeing my son isn't a random thing," replied Damini, softly. Maan couldn't respond to that.
"Really, why are you here after these many years?" Maan asked when silence between the two stretched. He had hard time looking at his mother so he trained his eyes on the coffee cup in front of him. He heard Damini sigh.
"Would you have talked to me had I come last year or so?" Damini asked.
"I don't think I would have," replied Maan honestly.
"I met Geet few days ago," Damini said.
"She told me about it."
"She did?" Damini asked surprise evident in her voice. Maan looked at her and raised an eyebrow silently questioning. "I didn't expect her to, actually." Damini replied.
"She didn't find it necessary to hide it from me; neither were going gain anything out of it. She was disturbed by the meeting and taking to me put her to ease." Damini hummed and fell into silence. Maan didn't bother about initiating any sort of conversation with her. He knew that he was being totally unfair and probably silly but he didn't care.
The awkwardness between the two was evident as Damini stammered to make coherent sentence to continue conversation and Maan refused to meet her eye.
"Are you still angry at me?" Damini asked sighing when Maan didn't attempt to start a conversation.
"There was lots of anger and bitterness when you married that guy. Once I finished my studies I wanted to have a life with you that the both of us dreamt of. And I felt betrayed when I found out that you were marrying again," Maan's voice was soft and just above whisper. Damini strained her ears to her his words. "I felt completely abandoned and didn't know what to do next." Maan said.
"Maan…" Damini said, choking.
"You left me a letter and I was supposed to understand. I know that whatever I did back then was foolish but all of a sudden I was completely alone and I had no idea what to do next," replied Maan.
"I am sincerely sorry Maan. I shouldn't have just fled like that," Damini said after handful of moments of silence. Maan looked up again and held his mother's gaze.
"Can't do much about it now, can we?" Maan shrugged. Damini was taken aback with the aloofness.
She hadn't expected that. Maan was terribly impulsive and brash when he made decisions or spoke to people. His previous lifestyle bore a testimony to his acting out phase. But the Maan who was sitting in front of her was a total stranger.
"I know that, but still…" Damini trailed. Maan waited for her to continue. He wasn't going to be the understanding son that afternoon, he thought. He would get the words out from his mom even if it took all day.
"Still, I should have at least tried talking to you instead of assuming that you wouldn't talk to me at all," Damini said what was bothering her.
"That, you should have," agreed Maan.
"And probably I should have made an attempt to talk to your father too." She added, little put off with Maan's calm acceptance and even normal reaction. What happened to her spunky and emotionally high-strung son?
"You most definitely should have done that. That man was a wreck after you left him. I mean he fought with his children, went against few people to add me as his legal issue and gave you a place in his house," said Maan nonchalantly. He wasn't being mean but merely rational; rational to the point of being detached from the situation and talk like an observer of the situation. He didn't know how that happened and he didn't care why.
Damini was now completely lost. She struggled with her thoughts and the collective memories of them. She didn't remember Maan ever being this way.
What had changed?
"Why are you being this way Maan?" She blurted before she could process her thoughts. "I know I have made a mistake. Why can't you accept my apology or shun my apology for that matter? Why do you have to keep making these comments which make me feel guilty all over again?" Damini cried in frustration.
"Everything that has happened has damaged something permanent between us whether we like it or not. You can sit here and defend your case and run a million scenarios of 'what ifs' and 'I should have'. But what's the point? What will you achieve out of it? Nothing is going to change and you cannot change the things both of us have done and others have done as a consequence of our actions. If you are expecting me to accept you back in my life and be the way we were before then I am sorry. I don't think I can do that right now. And I don't think even you can do that thing right now." Maan spoke as if he was he was discussing a business case.
"Why can't we be that way Maan?" Damini asked, tears in her eyes after she recovered from his mini speech. Maan smiled and took her hands in his, surprising her further.
"Mom I am not the person who I was once was and you aren't the person who you once were. We are still mother and son, no doubt and nothing in this world can change that truth. I will always love you as my mother and I know that you have never stopped loving me."
"Then…?"
"It isn't enough to reverse the past decade mom. What we both need is time. I have to get to know you all over again and you have to understand what your son has now become. Years have left scars on both of us and only now I am being healed of many. And in that process, I have changed." Maan said wiping tears from his mother's eyes.
"Do you understand what I am saying?" He asked tentatively when Damini didn't speak for several minutes. She chuckled and nodded.
"When did my baby become such a smart adult?" Damini said dusting her cheeks with compact and looking into the tiny mirror. Maan casually observed his mother taking in her appearance. He bit his tongue as he held back on an acerbic retort.
"Ten years is a long time," he replied. Damini's hands stilled and she turned to look at him but he was already answering the phone that had been buzzing for several minutes straight.
"I have to go," he said standing up and gathering his things.
"Is everything alright?" Damini asked seeing Maan disturbed.
"No. That was Venkat on the phone. Father wants an emergency meeting with all of us." Maan said.
"I am sorry I have to leave in a hurry," he said gathering his Blackberry.
"Please don't apologize Maan. I will be in touch." Damini said with a smile. Maan simply nodded and left the caf.
-- o00o --
"What's going on Venkat?" Maan asked Venkat who had just come in to the living room.
"As I mentioned on the phone, your father wishes to speak to you; all for of you that is," replied Venkat sweeping his hand in front of him.
"Why?" Vikram asked.
"I don't know," replied Venkat immediately.
"That's a surprise," Mitalee said. "I mean nothing goes on in Khurana Group or life of Dileep Khurana without you knowing about it," she smirked.
"I have no idea why he has called you here." Venkat replied flatly ignoring four pair of eyes concentrating on him.
"I agree with Mitalee. It is a surprise considering how you are aware of every important and unimportant thing that goes on in the company and the family. You are Pratap uncle's protg after all," Maan added to provoke the older man. Venkat was taken aback. Mitalee chuckled.
"I don't like what you are insinuating Maan," said Venkat sharply. Maan laughed.
"Do you know what's going to happen when father declares his heir?" Maan asked. Everyone's ears perked up and they paid their full attention to Maan.
Venkat shook his head.
"Irrespective of which one of us he chooses, the first decision the heir is going to take is fire you," Maan said looking straight at Venkat.
For all the experience Venkat had, he couldn't control shock and surprise play out on his face.
"Why?" He asked his voice still flat.
"It's suicidal to inherit legal counsel especially the person who has been extremely loyal to the previous chairman. Who knows what sort of alliances you have had in the past which would influence the heir in their decision making? You would be too powerful to control," shrugged Maan.
Venkat smiled. "Any new heir who is supposed to manage a group as large as Khuranas would have to rely on business intelligence like what I offer. It would be an added advantage," Venkat replied.
"I don't know about others but I prefer my own team who may not have your business acumen but they are only loyal to me and not my father," Maan said with a hint of smile. Venkat was speechless.
"He is a Khurana after all," Vikram said pointing at Maan. Varun nodded while Mitalee chuckled.
"We are not some new age heirs who are handed over loads of roles but no responsibility and just go around getting photos clicked. We are Khuranas. Distrust is in our blood and for us, loyalties are made not inherited," Mitalee said.
Venkat didn't miss the warning which she lay thick in her words.
Maan swallowed. He never expected that Mitalee and Vikram would ever acknowledge so casually over a silly argument as their sibling. Mitalee had simply pulled him in her group when she spoke her mind to Venkat and Vikram her merely ironed out any doubts Venkat might possibly have.
He and his siblings climbed the staircase when summoned by their father leaving Venkat alone in the living room. He knew that people like Venkat were a rare breed and in their line of work having someone like Venkat by their side would be a great asset. But trust was something that didn't come very easily. He trusted Satya and Emily the way his father trusted Pratap Handa once. The thought and comparison made him chuckle.
He is a Khurana, after all.
To be continued.Music companion of the day: Tengoku e Youkosu by Tokyo Jihen
Mannat Har Khushi Paane Ki
Cricket
