hey guys... as I promised my second OS an unsual take at the elderly couple with deep chemistry... niranjan and anjali... because I have always been intriguied by both of them.
this is quite a dark and murky story... because I wanted to show how love can be devastating and dark as it can be creating and light...Frankly I do not know how many people will like this... but even if you don't either PM me or comment me... because I look forward to how you people view my efforts... To all my friends who wanted to read this...
He heard footsteps on the outside...he looked up from his cell to the outside beyond the bars, wondering who it might be who would come at this hour ...but he was rather surprised that it sounded like a pair of female voices... one of which seemed vaguely familiar...and it seemed to approach him pretty quickly..."who in the world is here to see me?? That too the me who is in jail and defamed???" thought Niranjan Agnihotri... when he saw two pairs of footsteps stop short outside the bars...at first he saw only their feet and looked up to see their faces and the sight made him shocked and left him speechless...
One was the jail warden... and the other was his wife...Anjali...the woman he loved more than anything...and the woman he wronged for so many years...and he felt confused and concerned for minute but all that was subsided by the look on his wife's face that showed coldness beyond comprehension...and he felt pricked.
"On the request of your son Shlok I have agreed to let you speak to your husband one last time without any limit in time...I believe you have a lot to talk to your husband right??? I understand...but this will be the last... as he himself said he doesn't want to see any of you" the warden said in a factual tone but with a hint of warmth... looking at anjali first and then at niranjan who nodded to his talk to show assertion.
"Yes I understand sir...I won't take much of your patience, don't worry" replied anjali with respect subtly underlying.
"Oh anjali, don't worry about time... I know you very well...But anyways... I'll wait outside; call me when you finish talking...okay??" The warden said to anjali.
"Okay kishore, Thank you... you're like family... I'll never forget this... of course I'll call you once I'm done with my husband" anjali said kindly... but this made niranjan cringe...the way she said sounded dangerous...and niranjan got apprehensive thinking about it and also a bit angry... that she was talking to the warden in a kind manner and genuinely...that she never did for her husband...but his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a voice calling his name in a displeasuring manner...
"Sahib...no no...Mr.Niranjan Agnihotri" said anjali in a silky and dangerous ice cold tone.
"Anjali..." he said slowly...he was nervous but glad to hear her speak to him after a long time. But his happiness was short lived...
"How are you?? Good I presume??" asked anjali with a smirk." I guess so..." he shrugged but continued, "I am happy that you came to see me dear...really very much" with remorse in his voice and looked up to her.
"Happy??? Oh!!! I am too... Sahib" she started letting out a hysterical laugh... and this raised the attention of the other inmates... but they didn't say anything and went on their chores...useless ones...and niranjan was hurt by her laugh..." Anjali..." he called her in a hurtful tone.
Anjali felt regretful for a minute, but soon composed herself and talked back, "You want to know why I am happy Sahib???" she hissed..." I am happy because I'll never see your face in my life every again... and because my children understood me finally... the way I was and why too..." she said with a tone that felt as if her burden has been lifted from her shoulders.
Niranjan had always wanted to apologise to anjali for all that he had done...and he thought that this might be his last chance...he looked at her lovingly...with remorse too which made her feel scared and petrified and she gave him the look that she always gave him...full of fear and without a will, that made him feel pinched and torn inside.
"I am sorry anjali...for all that I have wronged you and others too" he said with tears filling his eyes now...
"Sorry???? Hahaha...The great Niranjan Agnihotri apologising to a mere woman...Have you forgotten who you are??? You're sounding like a weak man... and like a hypocrite too" she was laughing as if it sounded like a joke... which made him really angry. He stood up and tried to get near her...
"Have you forgotten??? You're in a jail... There are bars to hold you now... and you can't do anything about it... Don't you dare ever think about trying to dominate me again Sahib..." she said...with fire in her eyes. Niranjan was dumbfounded at the new anjali before him...no... ..The old anjali he fell in love with... and the one he lost... thinking about that fact made him feel happy and sad at the same time...
"Anjali..." he tried to talk, but anjali cut him across..." Sorry??? You think a sorry could match up with all that you have done till now?? You fool..." she said angrily.
"I-I-I Kn-Know what I did was wrong but... I want to tell you one thing... that I love you... and my love for you just took a turn for the worse and I did terrible things like a madman possessive about his lover...please..." he said to her.
"Love??? Bulls***" she said with a sharp voice..." To hell with your love... you call that love?? That's not love... I can never understand your warped and twisted personality Sahib...even after being subject to its fruits for so many years... you still remain a mystery... Don't try to reason all your dirty and disgusting acts in the name of love... that too for me. I feel horrible inside..." she said with disgust in her voice.
She continued...to say more with sarcasm, "You don't know the meaning of love... Not a sadist like you...and a psycho too... Love is what I had for him... and for you... but u never understood me...if you loved me... you would have thought about me... how I felt... but u didn't... u never did and you never will. And for the record... you didn't love me... you destroyed me... completely."
He could understand the pain in her voice when she said... he knew that she had all the right to be angry at him...but seeing it happen... was too much to take in... and he broke down... and landed on his knees... at her feet and tears rolled down his face and landed into the dirty floor of his cell...
He could hear anjali talking something... but he couldn't care less...his mind started wandering into his thoughts...his memories... his past and all he could feel is nothing but deep regret and pain... beyond comprehension...But all he did... he knew... was always for his love towards anjali, and slowly the film of his life started to reel...
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It all started THIRTY TWO years back... he was in his prime of youth... he was just calm and mature like he is now... but deep down he knew...he was always of the obsessive calibre... and he hid it, very well; in fact... until all of it surfaced that day...the day he saw her...the day he came into her life... and the day his life changed entirely because of her for worse...
It was a auspicious day...they were having a special pooja for amavasya...he was a blooming business man having risen up from ground zero...supporting him and his sister... and his hard efforts paid fruit and made him what he is now...and he wanted to share his victory with the world... and what better way to do this than by praying to god and letting others participate in it...???Why... because he believed in god deeply...not blindly though.
"Niranjan...come here son" called Mr.Bhuvan sinha who was his partner and important investor..." Let me introduce my wife and my daughter... Shanti and Anjali sinha... "he added with a broad smile to his face...
"Hello Niranjan beta... glad to meet you" piped up Mrs. Bhuvan...
"Hello..." Anjali said... with a kind smile. Niranjan felt glued ...his tongue didn't move... He was lost in Anjali's beauty and kind demeanour...and especially her eyes...and the depth of them, so ethereal...
"H-Hi..." Niranjan somehow managed to stutter back something...he felt like a teenager...after all these years...somehow that was odd.
"Baba... I think the pooja is starting... shall we go???" asked anjali... "Yes beta... we'll go, come with us niranjan...shall we??" he said facing niranjan...
"Ji" said niranjan... still feeling all hazy...
They then went to the mandir in the far corner of the house to attend the pooja, But the whole time... Niranjan was staring at anjali... she looked so elegant and poised...and the greatest shock came to him when he saw her open her mouth to sing a song...He never felt he had heard a voice so sweet as hers in all his lives...sweeter than honey...maybe even sweeter than amruth for him...
He somehow managed to snap back to reality after she finished..."Your daughter sings like an apsaras... baba" Niranjan said lovingly...to Mr.Bhuvan
"I know beta... its honey to the ears...the words from a very proud father..." He laughed with mirth.
"Ji haan..." smiled niranjan blindly staring into anjali... "Thank you "she said with a faint smile... but he noticed that she felt a bit uncomfortable ...but whatever... He decided that day... that she will be his... and so his fate's wheel started turning...
All his thoughts centred around her... and he his heart was beating crazy like anything waiting for the day when she would become his wife...but his happiness was shattered shortly after...when he discovered the terrible truth...that changed him completely into the maniac he would be in his later years...that cost him everything ultimately...
He found many excuses to snoop around his partner's house just to see her...and lover her...but he failed to notice that she wasn't as so excited as he is...what to do??? Love is blind after all...
Anjali had just finished graduating from the prestigious B school...she had just finished management studies...and she was just lazing around at home... at the time all this happened. She was always a good judge of character...but She was feeling uncomfortable about the way niranjan sees her...it wasn't lusty. But something more scarier than that lay deep in his eyes...but she couldn't see what it was right away...and one day...things took turn for the worse...when niranjan came up with the idea of letting her be his apprentice...as an excuse...she could see right away.
"I think it'll be great if anjali could join as my apprentice in our company...baba. what about you?" asked niranjan in a coaxing voice.
"Haan Beta... I was thinking about it too... Anjali you were eager to work right ??? " asked anjali's dad to her.
"But baba..." anjali said unsurely... as it involved niranjan...she always knew he was trouble. But her father cut across her..." No buts... I feel much better having you work here than in another company...and it's better to be niranjan's apprentice than mine... because I know I'll be partial... I was always too sentimental... but don't worry you are in good hands... Niranjan is a good person.." he added with a wink.
"No father... you are in the hands of a dangerous man... please get away before it is too late..." thought anjali to herself seeing her dad praising niranjan..." Ji baba... I'll" she added... eyeing niranjan and seeing his face glow...she knew she is shoving her face into a lion's mouth willingly...but she wanted to see her father safe and sound.
After a few days, Anjali joined the company and became his apprentice...she was quick witted and a hard worker...and niranjan fell all the more in love with her...seeing her skills and her wit. But he also noticed...one more thing that brought out the ugly monster in him... that he didn't wish for to happen.
Everything seemed usual.. nothing different, until that day...the day he joined. AVDHOOT KIRLOSKAR...he had a good resume.. and was talented, warm-hearted and funny... everyone loved him...and anjali too... and he slowly brought about the change in niranjan's character and his business...business was booming as usual...thanks to Avdoot's skill and expertise...but niranjan's character took a dark turn... seeing anjali change slowly... and move closer to him.
Being close in age and with similar interests...they quickly became friends and started working together too...and seeing them so close... niranjan was becoming more and more possessive and senile...and started fearing his anjali might fall in love with avdoot, which quickly came true...as he noticed the love growing for him in her eyes...seeing that he repulsed...
And so started the ugly second half of a film of his life...
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"Sahib??...hullo??? day dreaming?? I mean... Midnight dreaming???" anjali was looking at him concerned yet filled with sarcasm...
"Anjali..." Niranjan whispered softly looking up at her and her eyes...which made anjali flinch...but he didn't notice her reactions... his mind was travelling somewhere else... to his darkest days of his life...
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Niranjan had many sleepless days and nights... his mind was filled with only one thought...Anjali and that villain... Avdoot. He knew he couldn't get any sleep unless he had her... and so he thought of a plan finally... and all that followed... fitted like pieces of a puzzle perfectly.
He introduced kalindi to avdoot... made him fall for her...and made him go away from anjali.
Next step...in his plan... make her fall for him by being the saviour...but no. That didn't work out... she seemed too intelligent to fall for his trick...and so his plan changed...by force he married her...and how he did it, was the most horrible thing one could do to his loved one...
" anjali... come to my cabin" he said to anjali and went to his office one day.
"what sir?" she asked him. He showed her a photo...which made her shocked. It was a photo of a mother... being close with another man than her father... and she immediately understood.
" How did you get this?? What are you trying to prove??? What do you want???" she shouted enraged now.
"Nothing much... Your hand in marriage for keeping this a secret from your father..." he finished simply.
"No chance in hell... I loathe you...get away from me..." she started stammering...seeing him come closer...
But no effort... he held her arms tightly and whispered menacingly " oh so you want your father to die hmmm??? Fine An emotional fool like him will not survive long anyways..."
" Don't you dare say anything to my father... he is not an emotional fool..." said anjali with a tear filled face...
" So I guess it's clear then... Marry me and this will get buried with us... " he said indicating the photo...
Anjali thought about a lot of things... she noticed how niranjan was taking control of the whole company and over her father... he believed him completely...and if she opposed him, he would turn out to be a formidable opponent she couldn't handle... and he might destroy her life and her family's to ground zero without any point to stand up...
" Okay I'll..." she said finally...knowing she was making the biggest mistake in her life. But she was positive to make out something from her mistake...
And with that they both got married...on an auspicious day... surrounded by kith and kin and friends alike...but what was most important - Love and trust... lacked between them...
And days passed by...Anjali started to see the true face of the man called Niranjan agnihotri... he genuinely loved her... that she could see from his kindness and his care... and slowly she too fell in love with his kind nature...in fact she started loving him whole heartedly, but still she couldn't come to sense the danger lurking in his eyes.. which lay bare before her slowly over the course of the time.
Niranjan loved anjali more than anything in the whole world...but seeing her talk with other men made him feel sick inside and twisted...and he turned into a more darker character...his view about anjali changed... he only started seeing negative things in her...
He gave her freedom and let her do as she pleased at early times...but his traumatic past never made him trust her and soon he gained control over her... just like how he did over her dad... and anjali sensed it...she decided to find out what it was that made him this way...the devil with an angel's mask... and so she decided to ask her sister without letting him know...and discovered the terrible truth...
His mother had been a frivolous woman...left her husband for a lover...and his dad died from it. They became beggars overnight with debt piled up...and that was the day niranjan agnihotri decided never to trust women who merely fawned over wealth and status...and the only woman he ever trusted was his sister...and it hurt her beyond imagining.
Niranjan never expected anjali to know about them truth and became startled about the fact that she confronted him about it...
" what's this..??" she asked niranjan...
"what??" niranjan asked her back with a quizzical look...
"You never trusted me the whole time did you??" she said in a hurt tone.
Finally the truth has been revealed...that's too bad. Niranjan thought to himself..."well..." he tried to say something... but anjali cut him across.
" I Love you niranjan..." she said her eyes brimming with tears...which made niranjan shocked. But before he could say something...she continued in a sobbing manner..."I loved you all this time... and I know you love me... BUT why?? Will you never trust me again?? Am I that much doubtful??" she asked...
Niranjan was not able to answer the question... torn between his love for her and his traumatic past...he was not able to decide or give an answer..."I'm sorry..." he said with a low voice... But he could only heard the sound of her falling to her knees... with a blank expression in her face...and her eyes as if they had witnessed somebody die...that moment he knew... he lost his anjali forever...
He noticed that his wife acted as usual... but her liveliness went missing...but little did he know the anjali started loving him more after knowing his past... and wanted to win back his trust...
Days passed by...turned to years...they had two children who grew up quickly...niranjan started to trust her to a certain degree but still with suspicion and doubt lingering beneath it. And he came to have his children's trust...but not trusting anjali yet... somehow he made them hate her... fear her. Made her do all the dirty work... still anjali followed out of love and fear for her and her children and she became helpless...all went according to what he wanted, but not for too long.
He betrayed her and his family...the day he bought his son's love with money...both of them. He never trusted women...in general... but there were exceptions to it, He simply wanted to prove to himself that his sons would have chosen a woman worthy of their love... His SON'S love... but no. He failed himself and his family.
He brought a dumb woman for a wife in case of his first son varad... hoping that she'd listen to him and love him meticulously... but little did he know that it turned out to be the most regrettable mistake in his life...
And what happened after that turned to be the history in Agnihotri's house...after lot of tumultuous times and partly destroying his son Shlok's life... He finally found Astha. Found her love for her father as genuine and decided that she will be shlok's wife after ruining his life...maybe shower love for his wounded heart... and made him marry her. But he also had doubts for astha... tested her so many times using anjali... but he never knew shlok still loved his first and never cared for astha... and the hate he had for his mother...made him just like his father.
Astha surpassed all the barriers and created equality among men and women... this made niranjan both happy and sad... for she healed shlok along the way and also made his crown slip...more than that... her actions gave anjali HOPE... hope that anjali could leave him...and the fact that astha may take away his sons by unmasking his facade...and reveal the underlying twisted soul.
And so he did... many many unspeakable things... including hurting his anjali, his beloved and ordering her to be the bad one and hurting his children and his daughter by giving her away to a house that hurt physically and mentally . But one thing niranjan was surprised about is the fact that anjali never left him... made him wonder why...after all he did...she still stayed by his side...
And so his reminiscence came to an end...
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Niranjan looked up surprised to see anjali still standing there...he wanted to ask her one last question...and so took up the chance.
"You could have easily left me... why didn't you?" he asked her with confusion.
"I loved you... till the end unconditionally. But you never realised it... nor wanted to realise it. A man who is as caring as you... I still cannot believe you did all of this...I hoped to bring you back as a new man... but no. You only managed to instil more hate into me... I even didn't mind that you poisoned our children's mind Sahib... But trying to destroy their life just to test your belief???" anjali said with accusation.
" I know.. anjali... I can only ask for forgiveness... I can't do anything to make up to all the mistakes I have done... But I swear I'll never touch our family again... I wish to spend my remainder alone" said niranjan.
For a moment...he could see anjali close to tears...but it disappeared in an instant." I can grant you forgiveness as a wife for doing things to me...but never as a mother for separating my children from me... and poisoning their mind, not to mention you ruined their life nearly..." she said simply.
" I know... THANKYOU...there are a lot of things I want to say...but I don't think it matters anymore now... but I just want to say one last thing, I LOVE YOU... I always did and I always will..." Niranjan said to anjali seeing her eyes for one last time.
"I Know sahib... I want to say some things to you... face to face...for the last time. You see... I want to thank you... first for giving me my children... second for giving me Astha, who gave me hope...and pointed to me the mistake I did..for being weak because of love... and lastly... For loving me. You know one thing... I already knew that my father knew about my mother because I asked him... and he said yes... that he knew about her... Not every woman turns about to be like your mother ... I hope you understand that...and also... I hope that You are a new man now...with different view about us..."she said and then turned to walk away...
" Anjali!!" niranjan called her for the last time..." IS there still some love for me in your heart??? Can I hope???" he asked...
But anjali did not turn back around to face him...and simply showing her back she spoke with a serious and calm voice hinting some regret..." I love you niranjan... BUT... I hate you more".
Saying that she left him sitting in a blank state...
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Anjali came outside of the jail... and saw her son Shlok and his wife Astha standing beside the car...
"you talked to him??" asked shlok.
" yes I did... and now I am content...Thank you shlok. This means a lot to me mere beta..." she said to him stroking his head...
" I'm sorry ayi... I should have seen with a deep eye...I should have observed your helplessness... but I didn't and I deeply regret it now...I am ashamed to say he is my baba..." said shlok with remorse.
" Leave it all Shlok... He is your baba... He was just a Twisted person... Don't hate him because of me... He always loved you and varad. He always showed it in a twisted way that's all" Anjali said back.
"Astha... I want to thank you for bringing my son back to me and giving me strength to do all this... without you it'd not have been possible" she said patting astha in the shoulder..
" nothing like that saasu bhai... I did it all out of love for shlok and our family...Don't thank me for it" said astha with a kind smile...
Anjali hugged them both with her arms...How can love create so much and destroy so much?? Such is the power of love...I always hoped he'd came back to me... but now... not anymore. This is enough and I am content...thank you bappa for everything ...she thought to herself thanking god.
"ayi, astha let's go... " said shlok motioning towards the car. Both of them went and sat down in the car and they started towards their home...
It was nearly dawn... while they were travelling in the road...
"Look sassu bhai... how beautiful is the dawn of the sun na???" astha pointed to the horizon...
" yes astha... it's beautiful indeed... everything is going to be all right now..." said anjali with tears brimming in her eyes... A New dawn in our family after the dark...she thought with a faint smile.
Thank you for reading my story till the end.😊
Jhanak
