Hi all; here is the next part; apologies if it is shorter than usual; I'll write a part 31C soon to make up for that..and for all those who PM-ed me for an update; sorry I told you guys I was toooo distracted by a certain promo(..haule haule ho jayega pyaar jhaleyaa haule haule ho jayega pyaaar...haule haule se dua lagti hai naaaa...😆--i have gone mental😆) and that is the reason this update is shorter......anyways here goes...apologies also if it isnt upto the mark, once again for the same reason...
It was 4 PM when Milind walked into the house; everything was silent except ramu kaka in the kitchen, and the maid in the laundry room folding the laundry and starting another batch; how could two poeple have so many clothes Milind wondered and shook his head. He walked up the stairs and into his and Prachi's bedroom, and he noticed that the curtains were slightly drawn and Prachi was asleep. He walked over to the bed and sat leaning against the headboard. He looked at Prachi and ran a hand through her hair, and then put the hand on her stomach and as he did that, he remembered an incident from 2 years ago,
"I don't love you, Milind; I have never loved you and perhaps I was just nice to you out of habit, were we ever even friends Milind?" Ayesha asked him blowing smoke from the cigarette into his face; Milind had been worried about her keeping late nights and as a friend he had advised her to come back early, to stop staying out late till 5 a.m.; and perhaps leave aside the arrogance she had been showing everyone lately; but ayesha wouldn't listen. She glared at Milind, who looked at her with a confused expression; why was she saying this? She had been his only friend growing up in the small lower middle class community and now as Milind climbed the ladder of success buying up hotel after hotel, he had wanted her beside him. He had moved to a posh locality and lived in an apartment with his father and sister, and had helped Ayesha get an apartment there as well. However, the neighbors hadn't wanted Ayesha there because they thought of her as a lowly crass item girl who was going to be a bad influence on their children; but Milind had been adamant and with the conenctions he had made, had helped her secure a flat in his building. "I want to marry you, Ayesha; have kids, make a family with you; I thought you knew I always loved you; from when we were kids" Milind had said, "We were kids then, and we've been immature before; I don't love you Milind; and please I don't want kids, not yours or anyone else's. Don't interfere in my life Milind, look at yourself and look at me. I don't care if you are the budding young enterprenuer of the year, I can do much much better than you" and saying that she had walked away, but Milind had stood rooted on the spot, hurt by her words. He hadn't spoken to her for ages after that and had found out from baba that she had married a rich actor, and he had buried himself in his work thinking of love as something that made one weak, promising himself that there was going to be no woman that could hurt him like that, no woman who he would share his dream of a family with...He had heard about Ayesha's suicide attempt on the news and had gone to see her,unable to stop himself, his love still in his heart but she had eventually died despite all he had done. His hopes of ever finding love had been crushed and he had built a wall around his heart, shunned everyone and worked hard; not even going home because he was reminded of Ayesha; until finally he had bought his mansion and moved here, and soon after Prachi had walked into his life..."
The phone rang and brought Milind out of his reverie; he smiled at Prachi, who was sleeping peacefully, and slowly took away his hand, from where it rested on her stomach and went to answer his phone, taking it out onto the balcony so she wouldn't wake up, "Hello" Milind said into his phone, "MM, this is Mr. Shah; you are suppossed to go to Dubai tonite for the hotel deal, your ticket and visa have arrived" Mr. Shah told Milind; "No, Prachi and I are going to dinner with Preet, I can't go to Dubai"
"MM, you can have dinner with Preet at any time, but this Dubai hotel deal; it needs to be done as soon as possible before news that you are planning to buy it leaks out. You have to go today" Mr. Shah tried to convince Milind, who wanted to stay home and spend as much time with Prachi, but instead he had to go to Dubai. "Fine, I'll go, send the tickets and passport to my house" and saying that he hung up. How would he stay without Prachi, but he hadn't got a ticket for her neither did she have any visa; she couldn't travel in this condition, even if the doctor said it was fine, he wouldn't let her travel. How could he leave her alone? Sukriti wasn't there; she'd be all by herself except for ramu kaka ofcourse but nevertheless, what if something happened? what if he needed something? He didn't care about the deal as much as he wanted to be with her and their baby; but then what would happen to the promise he had made Sukriti, the promise that she would run MM Corp's international holdings. He had to come up with a way, perhaps he could make the deal while in India, perhaps he could video conference with the people in Dubai, or speak to them over the phone; there had to be some way, he couldn't just leave Prachi on her own. He walked in with a frown and saw Prachi bending and lifting some of his papers that had fallen off the table and putting them back into the file, "Prachi" he said and she looked up startled, 'Milind, you scared me, is everything alright?" she asked, but he didn't answer and walked towards her with an angry expression, "Prachi get up, what are you doing?" he asked her in an angry voice, "I was putting your papers back in the folder, I guess you got up in a hurry and the folder fell off the bed where you'd put it and all your papers fell out; Milind can't you get your papers filed, you just stick them in there in such a careless manner, you should get Kanya to do it at least, if you are so busy" Milind glared at her as she said this, "Prachi, listen to me" he said in anger, "what were you doing bending on the floor, do you realize that in this state you shouldn't bend or do anything? Please leave these papers and sit down" he took her towards the bed and sat her down, "Milind, what are you doing, let me finish fixing that file" Prachi said to him, "No, Prachi; what are you doing bending; you shouldn't bend in this state,I don't want you to have any complications; i don't want anything happening to you or the baby" and as he said it he remembered the nightmare, her leaving him alone with the baby because of complications, staring at her with a mixed expression said "No Prachi, no working, no lifting a finger, just take rest; I don't anything to happen.." and Prachi was touched that he said that, that he cared so much that she didn't really say anything. She looked at him then, she had wanted to talk to him about her fears, It was her first pregnancy and she had no older person to take care of her; tell her what to do and what not to do. She missed her mother, if she had been there, she would have done so much for Prachi and Milind, she knew her Milind's mother had died when he was very little and he had been devoid of a mother's love; but she was so scared. Would the doctor's care be enough to help her deliver a happy, healthy baby? What would happen if Milind wasn't around, did he know how much she needed him? But she couldn't stop him from doing his work, and this baby, it was her Milind's dream, she would do anything for him. It wasn't that she wasn't happy to be pregnant; she had been so happy when the doctor had told them about the baby, and she had been elated at seeing Milind's reaction, watching his happiness, watching him laugh had made her realize how much he valued the baby; however she also had her fears but there was no way she was going to tell Milind, he was so excited and she wasn't going to ruin it for him. She clung to him then, holding his shirt tightly, and put her hand on his cheek, "I am sorry, Milind; I wasn't thinking, perhaps you are right, but Milind I need to do something, I can't just stay in bed all day you know, I've got to do something. I am pregnant not terminally ill"and as soon as she said that she knew she had made a tremendous faux pas and as Milind looked away with a saddened expression thinking of his baba, and his dream of her leaving him, she turned his face towards her with her hand, "I am sorry" and Milind just nodded and put his arms around her, not saying anything but thinking about how he would go to Dubai leaving her. Prachi noticed that he was worried and was about to ask why, but Milind pulled away, and looked at her, "are you okay?" he whispered and when she nodded and smiled he got up, picked up his file and walked into the study; he had a few calls to make regarding the Dubai trip, he couldn't possibly leave Prachi alone.
*
"I understand that" Milind was saying into the phone, "but I am tied up in Mumbai for personal reasons, if perhaps you could work with me over the phone, or perhaps using video conferencing.."
"Mr. Mishra, you really aren't taking this seriously, are you? Do you realize what an association with us could do for MM Corp; as it is you should be thankful we are willing to work with you despite the fact that you are amidst controversies with your hotel in Delhi" the chairman was saying.
"I understand that, however like I said I am unable to..."
"Mr. Mishra, do you wish to deal with us; you aren't the only person who has approached us; we have offers from SG as well; and from what i understand Neev Shergill won a bid from under your nose for 2 posh seven star hotels in Goa. It is up to you; either you are in and coming to meet with us or you are out" the voice on the other end of the phone had become curt and cold and Milind ran a hand through his hair, there was no reasoning with these people, and that Neev, why did he not leave them alone?Why did he not realize that there was no way Prachi was going to him? As he sighed and seemed lost in thought, Prachi walked into the study and saw him frown, and in deep worry, and she walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder.
"I'll get back to you, sir" Milind said and hung up in a hurry. if Prachi knew, she would make him go and make it seem as if it was fine for her to stay alone but he wasn't going to let that happen; and if it meant losing yet another deal to Neev then so be it. Prachi stopped him as he was about walk out fo the study, ;Milind what happened? You've been distracted since your phonecall this afternoon; is everything alright?" Prachi asked as Milind looked at her and nodded, "Yes Prachi, its fine; I'm just really busy, don't worry yourself over it, okay?" and as he said that he walked out of ths study leaving Prachi staring after him with a confused expression.
*
"I don't care what you do or how you do it...I want that restaurant burned to the ground; Nothing should be left after you are done with it; and for that I am ready to pay you as much money as possible. It has a new owner so I am not sure if it would qualify for any insurance claims which is exactly what i want. MM will be finished; if he manages to escape the drug scenario, then he will lose money on this restaurant, and there will be no restaurant to start. However, as soon as you are done with your job, leave the country; I am going to Dubai to take another deal from MM's hands and I will give you the rest of your money there. Good Luck"
and saying that Neev hung up. He was going to finish MM; Preet had rejected his offer well he would realize that refusing Neev Shergill wasn't a good decision from any angle.
*
Prachi sat in Milind's study reading her emails from Sukriti and Soumya, when the phone rang and when she picked it up, it was Mr. Shah, "Mrs. M; please tell Milind he must go to Dubai, Neev will be too happy to get this deal; and I just talked to our associates, they don't seem too happy with MM; said he was too rude. Please, you have to make him go; i don't know why he isn't going and letting this deal slip away." Prachi sighed then, she knew too well; it was her, he didn't want to leave her alone, he wanted to be with her but he had to go to Dubai, there was no way out of it. "I'll talk to him, Mr. Shah" she said ina defeated voice and hung up. Just as she as going to talk to Milind, her cell phone rang, "Mrs. Mishra, this is the detective agancy you hired to keep an eye on Neev Shergill. We have news; he seems to be up to something, our men spotted him in a car paying off some people; and from what we hear he is off to Dubai today"
Prachi nodded, said a thanks and told them to keep on watching him, and then sat at the bottom of the stairs, if Milind went to Dubai, Neev could harm him as he had said and if Milind didn't go then they would lose the deal, and as it was MM Corp's reputation was slipping. He had been refused the land deal, and if news of this deal not going through got out, the shares would fall, liek they had during the Goa deal, and after the drug scandal. There was no way she was going to let Milind go to Dubai alone, and there was no way she was going to let him lose another deal. She couldn't go with him because her visas hadn't been arranged and he had to be there tonight. If only she could find a way to stop Neev from going...
Anupamaa
Cricket
