Chapter 10: The InterventionA/N: Hey there everyone! :D :D Here is the next update! :D :D
Happy Reading! :D :D
"Welcome back, pal."
Ranveer let Finch pull him into a bear hug as he let his head fall upon the latter's shoulder tiredly, the warmth of his friendly embrace a relief after the cold solitude of prison. Ranveer had been let out of his cell after almost twelve hours, the experience not too pleasant as his heart kept getting crushed at the thought of the amount of time he'd whiled away when he could have done so much in it. He wondered when was the last time that he'd been this inactive for after his three-month paralysis.
Finch on the other hand let himself relax as he thanked his stars about everything being alright and falling into place. He could feel Ranveer sport a temperature once again but now that things were beginning to get sorted on their own and the days of worry were fading away, he knew that he'd find a way to rectify Ranveer's insomnia episodes soon.
For now, he focused upon the task that Ishaani had given him to do before handing in Ranveer's release papers, following which she took the responsibility of tackling whatever was to come next. The supplier was thanked for his services as the police inspected the retraction of the FIR along with the diamonds that were 'supposedly' found back, nodding his head in approval after being satisfied with whatever he saw. He pushed the release papers towards Ranveer for him to sign upon them with a small sigh, the latter accepting the pen that Finch handed out to him gratuitously.
"How's Ishaani?" he asked as he flourished his signature upon the papers and handed them back to the inspector, who in turn gave him a small smile. Everything had fallen as per plan and Ranveer couldn't have been more humbled about the same.
Finch on the other hand, nodded his head at the inspector as pocketed Lupin within the inner lining of his blazer. He had to hand them over to Ishaani the first thing next morning even though he didn't know why she needed them or what she was going to do with them.
Heading outside the police station that lent a fresher gust of air than the stale, suffocating mass within, Ranveer and Finch made their way towards the car parked right in front of the gate, happy to get shot of the place as soon as they could. Ranveer felt his mind crave the soft of a bed as the exhaustion from the last two days returned to hit him with full force, leaving him fatigued.
"You wouldn't believe it," was all Finch granted in reply, but it was the awestruck note of his voice that caught Ranveer's attention.
Nothing ever appealed to Gregory Finch in terms of cunning or serendipity when it came to the world of law in spite of his otherwise optimistic nature, so Ranveer knew that whatever had happened must have been pretty extraordinary. And if Ishaani was at the center of it, he knew that she must have definitely done the one thing that he'd asked her not to do in the first place - meddle with his plan.
"What did I miss?"
"Oh well, that's a long story," replied Finch as he laid back upon his seat tiredly.
He turned to stare at Ranveer, who was already looking at him with the expectancy of wanting to know what had happened in his absence. Finch sighed before ploughing into narrative about the conversation that had happened in the cabin post his arrest and how Ishaani had improvised on their plan and had filled some few extra gaps along the way as well. Ranveer heard on in silence as he absorbed all the details that Finch told him until his narrative came to an end.
"So let me get this straight-," began Ranveer after a span of five minutes, while Finch looked at him in inquisition, wondering what exactly his friend thought about the entire scenario. "-Ishaani lured and tricked Chirag into his own plan, sold him Mehta & Sons Co., incriminated him in his own mess, is going to get Shanella arrested tomorrow in the office in a public debacle, and has got an arrest warrant in the go for Chirag in 48 hours?"
"Oh yeah. That girl of yours is a box of explosions," replied Finch with a chuckle, but quickly sobered down when he noticed Ranveer's pensive mood. He couldn't understand why Ranveer looked so subdued after pulling off such an extraordinary stint, perhaps the most intricate and complex one of his life. Ranveer on the other hand, couldn't think of anything better to say after the information overdose.
"How did she manage to get away with so much right under your nose?" he asked, more to himself than to Finch. And yet surprisingly enough, the latter found the answer to his friend's question readily upon the tip of his tongue.
"I guess there's a reason she's called the Queen of Dalal Street, eh?"
-x-
The clocked chimed ten in the night as Ranveer sat upon the coffee table, his copy of Caffeinated Love open in front of him. He didn't know why he wanted to read the book tonight of all nights, but he shut the book soon enough as his world kept lapsing into spurts of darkness every now and then. His headache had been driven to the edge as he now felt extremely feverish.
He cursed his luck, realizing that Finch was right - his insomnia episodes had only been getting more and more pronounced with deteriorating side-effects every single time. He knew that he'd pulled off another fifty-seven hour stint in spite of what had happened the previous time, but he knew that there was no way that sleep could visit him the previous night. Not when his nerves were fraught with the anxiety of meeting Chirag Mehta after six and a half years of suffused hatred and pain.
But now that things had almost drawn to a close, Ranveer knew that he could let his head fall upon the pillow and embrace the enticing darkness as he fell headfirst into it without a care in the world. And yet he found himself incapable of moving towards his bed as his body protested against any movement, wanting to crash then and there.
A series of three door knocks brought him out from yet another bout of darkness as his head snapped in the direction of the sound, wondering who it was at the odd hour. Dragging himself towards the door grudgingly even though his body protested otherwise, Ranveer wasn't entirely surprised to find Ishaani on the opposite end, his eyes instantly crashing against her worried ones.
"Ishaani! What are you doing here? How did you-" began Ranveer, taking his fingers away from upon his temple when he saw Ishaani's eyes trail towards them. She looked at him awkwardly when she realized that his eyes had been trailing the path of her own.
"Greg," she replied and Ranveer smiled in spite of himself, praying against all odds that he remained standing upon his feet by the time she left as well.
"Should have guessed. Come in," he added softly as he pulled open the door wider and walked into the room, Ishaani trailing behind him as she shut the door behind her gently. Ranveer beckoned her to take a seat by the coffee table but she shook her head quietly, no longer eager to remain seated after doing precisely that the entire day. Ranveer didn't bother taking a seat either.
Both of them stared at each other lost for words, the atmosphere in the room now stiff with tension.
"How are you?" asked Ishaani finally when she couldn't think of anything else to say. Ranveer sighed, thinking about the irony of her question being the only one to which he found himself unable to give a truthful answer to. So he settled for the calmest smile.
"I'm alright, I guess," replied Ranveer, making sure to keep his voice smooth in spite of the fact that he could feel his legs beginning to shake. Ishaani remained lost in the enchantment of his eyes, searching for an answer that he didn't know the question to.
When Ishaani didn't say anything, Ranveer chose to continue awkwardly.
"Now that everything is sorted, I'm definitely much more at ease. Although Finch tells me that you made an entire plan of your own that worked complimentary to mine and filled up any remaining flaw as well," he added and that snapped Ishaani out from her train of thoughts. And the first thing she noticed was the hoarse resignation in Ranveer's voice, his face pale with exhaustion while his eyes looked slightly swollen.
"You left me sufficient hints to figure it out. And I just realized that there were going to be a few points that needed an extra bit of fool-proofing because there would definitely have been relapses otherwise," replied Ishaani simply and Ranveer stuck on to the same smile as his last strand of hope.
He didn't have the strength to face another confrontation in case he collapsed for he knew it was going to happen soon anyway. And the last person he wanted to let know about his insomnia was Ishaani.
"It was genius on your part - selling Mehta & Sons Co. back to Chirag at the right time and getting him to sign helter-skelter upon the documents. I'm honestly astounded that for someone like him who plans so meticulously, he actually fell into the plan rather foolishly," mused Ranveer and Ishaani chuckled in spite of herself.
"That's what desperation does - makes even the brightest and most cunning fall upon their feet. And then again we all have our days now, don't we?" she asked suddenly, and Ranveer didn't miss the shrewd look in her eyes, knowing why it was that she'd come to meet him apart from seeing to his well-being.
Knowing that nothing else would give her the peace of mind that she was looking for, Ranveer decided to plunge into the treacherous water, asking her the first question that had crossed his mind when Finch had narrated the tale of the entire day.
"Why couldn't you just trust me?"
Ishaani looked taken aback by the question before regaining her voice after a couple of minutes.
"How can you ask me that? When you accused me that day of backstabbing you for fulfilling my revenge with both Chirag and yourself, I thought that you were in trouble because you'd been duped out of the share that I'd promised you. Instead, I find out that you'd been lying to me," she replied truthfully, and the disappointment and hurt in her voice didn't go amiss by Ranveer.
He sighed, rubbing his forehead tiredly.
"I was trying to protect you-"
"-from Chirag," completed Ishaani, disregarding his plight as he looked at her in the desperate hope that she understood why he did what he'd done. She chose to speak her mind out instead. "Yeah, it was easy to understand everything once I realized that you weren't just looking for some 'me-time' to figure all of this out."
Ranveer pursed his lips, mustering all the energy he had left into framing his thoughts clearly as he finally put them into words.
"Chirag bought the bait and believed that his plan worked. That's why we managed to bring his entire plan down. If he'd have found out that either of us were upon his tail and were pursuing this, he wouldn't have let us live in peace and I could not let that happen after everything you'd been through. That's why I had to push you away," explained Ranveer. Ishaani could sense the resentment in his tone for what he'd done, her mouth falling slightly open at how stupid he could really be after all those years.
"The fact that you even think that, breaks my heart. I'd even walk towards death and embrace it for you, Ranveer," she spoke in a much softer tone as she inched closer to him, but the raw pain in his eyes made her halt in her track abruptly.
"And I'd die if I lost you!" exclaimed Ranveer, the passion and fear in his voice disarming Ishaani completely as her mind struggled to find for words. Even though she knew that Ranveer had done everything in her best interest, it didn't mean that she wasn't hurt in the process.
When love no longer found words on either of their lips, ego did.
"Do you want to know what hurts me the most? You could have come to me with everything, broken us up just like you did, but only it'd would have been a cover-up and together, in secret, we could have taken Chirag down. Only that thought didn't even occur to you because deep down inside, you like being broken like this and you need this to keep you alive. And no matter whatever I say and do, I can't change that. Only you can, Ranveer," spoke Ishaani in a quiet voice as Ranveer shut his eyes, feeling every word pierce his heart like a dagger. And it only made him want to embrace the darkness quicker as he yearned for the conversation to end.
"You think that I enjoyed saying all of those things to you that day in the conference room?" he asked in a pained voice as his eyes snapped open, and Ishaani noticed that they'd gone red. But she knew that she couldn't stop now, not when she had to make him realize what he'd done to her.
"You sure as hell knew where to hit me. What I did that night was an unintentional mistake, but what you did that day in the room was not. You knew every single blow that you were delivering and were fully conscious of the effect it was having upon me. In a way, you were right. It was all about settling the karma between the two of us. You evened the odds out," she added rather bitterly, a portion of which reflected in Ranveer's smile as well.
"So that's what you believe?"
"That's what you made me believe, Ranveer. You spoke about me breaking your trust again that day but it was really you who did so, the same way you did that night when you let out my deepest fear to Chirag. You said that you'd never give me a second chance again, but you tell me Ranveer - after what you did that day in the conference room, do you deserve a second chance from me?" she asked, hoping that he'd see her point. He didn't.
"So that's it? You gave up hope on us that quickly?" asked Ranveer as he smiled at her ruefully, his heart suddenly overcome with a newfound grief in spite of himself.
"I've never given up hope, Ranveer. Not since the day I met you. But you are right, I guess. Too much has changed and broken between us to go back the way we used to be. And unless and until you don't learn to trust again, I can't keep doing this all on my own. And we can't keep doing this all the time, especially you trying to protect me like I'm some kind of child," she replied, wondering why the words wouldn't stop escaping her lips as saw them inflict wounds that bled through the pain in Ranveer's eyes, just like the way she'd used the scalpel to bleed out the pain her heart felt.
Playing offensive had never worked on Ranveer and yet she couldn't stop venting out her feelings, just like old times. But neither were times the same anymore, nor were they.
"I just wanted to spare you the pain," he replied, his voice suddenly blank as though he'd lost his will to keep up with the fight anymore, holding his head in his hand. He just wanted everything to fade away, and yet the darkness wasn't ready to embrace him yet.
"It's my life, Ranveer. Mine. You don't get to decide," she repeated for the second time in that week, and Ranveer laughed in quiet understanding even though he felt like his skull would crack into half with the sickening pain. This was exactly why he didn't want to enter the conversation in the first place because he knew that this was what it was going to lead up to.
And yet, his heart only yearned to know the answer to one question - the same question he had upon his lips on a similar night six and a half years ago.
"You're right. It's your life at the end of the day. So how do I rectify the wrong I did you this time?" asked Ranveer, and Ishaani felt her breath hitch at the despondence of his tone. And even though the words were leaving her lips, she suddenly wondered whether she was really telling him all of this or asking herself about the same.
"I don't know. What can you really do in return of the pain and the whips of those ruthlessly thrown words that somehow nullified what I did to you all those years ago? It's all said and done while you left me behind to bleed and reel from the shock of them."
"Then perhaps He will punish me right now for hurting you the way I did," whispered Ranveer in a quiet prayer as he felt himself shiver, his head throbbing with a pain he was sure would kill him soon enough anyway even if God didn't. And it was the way that he said it that made the colour drain away from Ishaani's face.
"I didn't-" she began, looking abashed but Ranveer held his hand up, stopping her flow of words.
"I guess it's time you headed home, Ishaani. It's quite late and it's not too safe to be out so late in the night these days," he spoke with a finality in his voice, feeling like he'd throw up any minute as his eyes shut, letting the momentary darkness make him sway slightly upon his feet. Miraculously, Ishaani remained too engrossed in fuming upon the curt dismissal to notice his ill-health.
"We haven't completed the conversation yet," she stated pointedly, and Ranveer forced his eyes open, maintaining the same calm facade that nowhere nearly matched the brutal storm going on within.
"Not tonight, Ishaani. Maybe we'll come to a better solution to this another day because neither of us are in the state of mind for a confrontation after our tiring victory today. We both need some time off to gain back our strength before we face the scars of the words from our past once again. Goodnight and drive home safe because I know that you won't accept letting my driver leave you home," he added with a small smile that Ishaani didn't bother to return.
Instead, she walked towards the door and left the room without another word.
-x-
Ishaani slammed the door behind her angrily only to see Finch leave his room from the opposite end, halting in his tracks. He looked startled at her appearance even though just like Ranveer, he wasn't surprised either.
"I should have known that you'd come to meet Ranveer right now," he spoke, knowing that Ishaani looked like she needed a good vent out from the dark look on her face. He opened the door to his room and invited her in, making her sit comfortably before taking a seat opposite her. He wondered what must have gone wrong now, judging by her sulky expression.
"Could I help it, really? I had to see for myself that he's okay," she replied in a small voice.
"And yet you look angry and frazzled. Would you mind telling me what happened?" asked Finch as he astutely observed the two prime emotions upon her face.
As though on cue, Ishaani narrated the entire scene in Ranveer's room that had just taken place, filling him in on each and every detail of the conversation. She hoped that he, unlike Ranveer, would have a better answer to her problems and a better solution to it as well.
"And he shooed me out from the room, just like that!" ended Ishaani, the outrage in her voice evident. Finch however, looked deeply troubled.
"Do you blame him, really?" spoke up Finch after some time, knowing what reaction was going to come his way and he wasn't disappointed. She turned puce in rage.
"I don't believe this! I don't believe that you're actually taking up for him!"
"I'm not, Ishaani. Think about it," he spoke in a quiet voice and there was a power about his calm demeanor that managed to make her spit away her anger. She took in a couple of deep breaths as Finch watched her with intrigue.
"So you mean to say that I overreacted?" she asked pointedly at long last, wondering how much more she had to hear before she blew off her lid of patience tonight. Finch cleared his throat, knowing that it was time to bring out the topic of what he'd been meaning to talk to her about ever since the beginning.
"No, I mean to say that you were harsh upon him," corrected Finch, and Ishaani crossed her arms upon her chest rather childishly. Finch rolled his eyes at her before continuing. "He did what he did because he wanted to protect you."
"I did not need that," she shot back and regretted her outburst instantly, suddenly feeling rather ashamed of herself. And her embarrassment knew no bound when Finch spoke next.
"True enough. But you tell me, Ishaani - would you not have done the same thing had you been in his place?"
"All I asked for him was to trust me. I was ready to give him all the time and space he needed," she confessed to Finch when she couldn't think of anything better to say. The answer to his question was obvious upon her now-guilty features that were beginning to tear up in helplessness. And Finch was happy to see that she was beginning to open up to him.
"Do you really believe that it's so easy, Ishaani?" he asked her in return, the tone of his question making Ishaani snap her head in his direction. The depths of his clear blue gaze pierced her own with a stark honesty that left her dumbfounded. This was another question whose answer she knew, and just like the previous one, refused to accept.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked sharply, and Finch sighed. This was going to take longer than he expected to.
"Ishaani, when you say that you were ready to give him time, you need to understand that time doesn't heal all wounds. Love does. You ask him to trust you but you don't realize that you broke his trust that night for you hurt him in ways that he would have never believed you to have hurt him in," he began to explain and Ishaani let slip a couple of tears in spite of herself.
"I didn't do it intentionally," she proclaimed in a small voice audible enough for her alone, and Finch gave her a sympathetic look.
"And that doesn't mean that it didn't kill him. Because it did," continued Finch, the seriousness of his tone catching her attention again. And then just like always, she decided to play offense.
"He atleast had you and his wife to break his fall! What did I have in these years, Greg?" she asked, hoping that he'd see her side of the story. Instead, he gave her a deadpan look that made the brandish of her tongue fall short of the effect her words were supposed to have.
And then, he spoke.
"Excuse me, but he had his late wife along with him at the same time you had Chirag. Your ex-husband may have revealed his colours later and destroyed your life but for the one year you were married, you were the happiest woman in the world until trouble brewed. What did Vaghela have, Ishaani? He didn't even have a married life because he and Ritika were two people who sought companionship as a way to heal themselves of the tragedies that had befallen them. It wasn't a marriage they had, but a relationship founded on trust, friendship and respect. And Ritika's love in between the two of suffice for a lifetime that lasted only for a year and three months."
"I didn't-" began Ishaani, but Finch continued as though he hadn't been interrupted in the first place.
"I do not undermine your suffering because what you've been through is unimaginably harsh and something I wouldn't even pray upon my worst enemy. And the way you've picked yourself up shows the woman of element and courage that you are. But you cannot use your hardships against Vaghela's and undermine his for he was left in a limbo after that night, Ishaani. Neither could he ever move on from you nor could he ever give Ritika that love. You left him for the dead, Ishaani. But just alive enough to breathe, that's all."
"And I want to make amends for what I did all those years back," she said at long last as she let her head fall into her palms, finally letting loose the tears that she'd been too afraid to let fall in front of Ranveer.
"Then make them. Just don't expect the results to be instantaneous. He's loved you for nearly twenty years, Ishaani. And he's slogged and slogged and slogged just to make himself worthy enough to ask for your hand in marriage. He made himself that strong so that there was not a single reason why you wouldn't say yes to him when the time did come. And when he didn't give up on you in all these years, why are you giving up in just a single try? Fate and circumstances may have had a cruel plan in wait for the two of you, but I think had Chirag never happened in your life, you would have certainly told him yes. I can write that on a blank piece of paper and give that to you."
"How can you be so sure?" asked Ishaani, suddenly curious at the confidence with which he'd made his statement. Finch smiled in spite of himself as he answered her question.
"It was in your eyes, the day we first came to your office. It wasn't his riches or fame that made you go dewy eyed. It was your love, admiration, pride and respect upon the fact that he'd achieved so much single-handedly and all on the strength of his own hard work that made you look at him the way you did. Ofcourse there was nostalgia as well, but let's not get into that. I'm a lawyer, Ishaani, and I'm bloody good at what I do. Especially reading people. I know what I'm talking about and I'm sure that you do too."
"I regret that night so much..." spoke Ishaani after some time, letting some more tears fall into her palm as Finch took her hands in his own. He pulled her chin up, looking at her kindly.
"Ishaani, you need to let go of what happened. You cannot let what happened between the two of you that night define and determine the course of this relationship because the two of you have been hurting and punishing yourselves for something that wasn't either of your fault. Ranveer never gave up hope on the two of you in these twenty years, not even when you pushed him away. He's been leading a despondent life but I strongly believe that somewhere down the line, it's just been hope alone that's keeping him alive. The hope that because he didn't die that night when you pushed him away from yourself, it meant that it was just the end of a chapter. Not the end of your untold story. And maybe someday, somewhere down the line, your paths were meant to cross again."
Ishaani let his words sink in before she finally spoke about what had been bugging her immensely in the first place ever since she found out about the truth.
"That day in the conference room, when he spoke about me breaking his trust and him not going to give me a second chance... He should not have said that..." she added, the bitterness in her voice not gone amiss by Finch, who knew that now was the time to make her realize what she'd clearly missed.
"Ishaani, I can see the pain in your eyes about whatever he told you that day. But what is it that's truly aching - your heart or your ego?" he questioned and Ishaani let out an involuntary gasp, as though stung by his words. Finch relaxed back into his chair as he let go of Ishaani's hand.
"What are you trying to imply?" asked Ishaani, suddenly pondering upon where the conversation was headed just as Finch began to speak once again.
"Close your eyes, Ishaani. And put your hand over your heart," he instructed as Ishaani gave him a hesitant look but did what he asked of her nonetheless. Finch nodded satisfactorily before continuing. "Now tell me - do you see any scars upon your heart from the things he told you?"
"No..." she whispered after an indefinite amount of time, fighting nameless, countless battles with her heart. She tried to search for the scars of his words from the other day only to find that they didn't exist in the first place. She opened her eyes slowly to see Finch smiling at her, satisfied with what he knew was going to be her eventual response as he watched her expressions reflect the battle within.
He sighed, this time speaking with a newfound conviction.
"That's because he knew exactly what he was saying, Ishaani. And even when he deviated from the script, his instincts knew what it was doing even better so. He never meant to maim your heart or your soul, but your ego. And he was successful because when he left the room and you sank into your chair, it wasn't your heart and soul that had been massacred, it was your ego. The same ego that made you throw away the scalpel that night because it was bleeding anyway."
"How did you-" began Ishaani, clearly taken off-guard by this piece of knowledge but he didn't let her finish.
"These habits never go away, Ishaani. And Vaghela knew the risk he was taking when saying those things because he knew that you'd either throw away the scalpel in ire or embrace it to strike the final blow, though obviously he knew you well enough to know where exactly to strike you. And he was right. You abandoned the scalpel," he explained patiently.
Ishaani couldn't help but brood darkly upon Finch's words, unwilling to accept defeat so quickly even though somewhere deep down, she knew that he was right and that he made perfect sense.
"And the guilt he stirred up for no reason?"
"Ishaani, why did you save Ranveer today?" asked Finch in return instead, surprising her once again. And unlike the previous time, her response was instantaneous this time.
"Because I love him." Finch nodded his head and posed his next question, hoping that she'd see his point soon enough.
"Now tell me one thing - do you think Ranveer would ever do something like that to you even unintentionally, forget about inflicting words of torture and pain upon you like that and make you drown again in a guilt that he's been trying to save you from in the first place?"
"He'd never hurt me... He never could, no matter how hard he tried at times," replied Ishaani at long last in defeat, knowing that no matter what she said or what she tried to make herself believe, the truth would never change. Finch smiled in triumph.
"Why?"
"Because he loves me too much," came the answer like the softest splash of water against the ebbing waves, her eyes watering up once again as she realized what Finch was trying to say.
"And that's exactly why he did what he did. It wasn't guilt that he was stirring up within you, it was the truth. He loves you too much to watch you die a little more in your own fire of revenge, Ishaani. He needed you to understand," he added and Ishaani couldn't help but feel a strange flame set her soul on fire at the word 'revenge'.
"I can't stop now. I won't stop now," she emphasized and Finch shot her a woeful smile.
"And that's why he had to take away the heat of your revenge upon himself so that he could save you. Because he knows that you will stop at nothing until Chirag is destroyed, or you are. And he needed to give you a reality check about the fact that you were no longer alone. There were people who cared about you, who you meant the universe to," he replied, falling silent as he let his words sink.
When Ishaani didn't say anything, he knew it was time to come to the final installment of tonight's conversation.
"Think back to your entire conversation that day, Ishaani, and tell me one such thing that scarred your heart or your soul, and not your ego," he asked suddenly.
Ishaani shot him a bewildered look, wondering what he was up to now even though she did what he asked her to, nonetheless. And only one sentence popped up in her thoughts.
"The second chance part."
Finch smiled.
"That. He lived twenty years of his life spending every single day trying to prove that he's worthy of you. And you think that a single try from you is enough to make him believe that you deserve a second chance? Give him a reason every day that leaves him with no damning option but to give you a second chance, Ishaani! This is not going to be easy. Not even remotely. But if you've fought for everything that you believe you deserve, this is the thing you should be fighting for the hardest. Because he deserves the best. And so do you. So get up, go in there, and fight for your love and win back his trust," he begged of her as she stared at him, suddenly remembering the more optimistic part of that statement.
"He did say that he would have given me a second chance," she whispered with a small smile creeping upon her face out of nowhere.
"He'll give you a second chance no matter how many times you break his heart, Ishaani. Because his love doesn't stand on the tethers of trust, honesty or deception. It's pure, unconditional, passionate love. Aashiqui, as Vaghela always puts it to me," added Finch, knowing that he was using the word right for this was the one word that Ranveer always used in synonymous association to Ishaani's name back when he was pursuing his Masters.
"He and Papa have always been obsessed with this word - aashiqui," mused Ishaani, remembering all those long-lengths conversations that Ranveer and she would have with her father upon this. She missed her father terribly today along with those days that would never return.
Finch yawned tiredly before speaking what he knew was important that she knew.
"He doesn't trust life, because he's paid a very heavy price for reaching where he is today. And somewhere down the line, the suffering and all the trials and tantamount pain he's been put through was not worth it. You need to make him trust life again, because that's where problem lies is. Not you-," he emphasized, "- but life. And playing offensive with him like you would as a child won't work either. He's lost everything he holds dear, and he's afraid that he'll lose you too if you get too close to him again. That's why he's pushed all of us away from that emotional circle - his parents, myself... He loves you too much to lose you," concluded Finch, and Ishaani nodded her head, knowing what she had to do ahead now.
"Thank you, Greg. I think I did need this conversation, after all," she spoke after some time as she stood up, realizing that it was thirty minutes to midnight now. Finch smiled and stood up as well.
"You're always going to be welcome. I want my boy back, Ishaani. The same boy I'd met all those years back in the bar for the first time in Sydney. And only you can do it now. You owe him that much," he spoke quietly as he walked her towards the door, hoping that this conversation would give Ishaani a renewed vigour to fight for the happiness they both deserved.
"I will try to heal him to my best, Greg. But in our relationship, Ranveer's love has always been more than enough for the two of us. It's always been his story, and it'll always remain his story until the end. And I will bring that love back to the forefront," she promised as she stopped near the door. She gave Finch a small smile, feeling a strange warmth about the night that made her see everything in a much more positive light.
Finch chose to correct her for the last time that night just as she was about to leave the room.
"His love for you has always been on the forefront, Ishaani. It's why he was willing to sacrifice his entire career for you today. He may forget to live or even breathe for a minute, but he'll never forget loving you or ever push that love behind to make it secondary. Because his love for you has always been the driving force of his life. All you need to do is to make him realize how much he needs you back in his life and why he should give you a second chance."
Ishaani stopped in her tracks and looked behind, the smile upon her face assuring Finch that things were going to change very soon. And what she said next sealed his thoughts firmly.
"Don't worry, Greg. I'm in this for the long haul."
-x-
Finch walked Ishaani out from the room, happy to see that she was not going to give up on rekindling her relationship with Ranveer anytime soon for her eyes now held the same spark once again. The two of them had barely separated from their hug when a half-choked cry came from somewhere. And even before they could fathom where the sound came from, a resounding crash made them jump, a simultaneous dull thud ending the shock of the moment as Ishaani's and Finch's head snapped in the direction of the sound.
"Is- did that come from Ranveer's room?"
Ishaani didn't wait for an answer as she ran towards Ranveer's room and hammered her palms upon Ranveer's door, thundering at it with all her might while Finch remained behind her, panicked. In the chaos of the consignment, he'd forgotten to keep tabs upon Ranveer's sleeping patterns. And now that he wracked his brains to think about it, he was sure that Ranveer had gone without sleeping for almost sixty hours roughly. And he knew that if he needed answers about what lay in wait on the opposite side of the door, only once thing would work.
He quickly returned back into his room after leaving behind a panic-stricken Ishaani who was too involved in talking through the door in that moment.
"Ranveer? Ranveer!" Silence.
"Ranveer! Are you alright?" Silence.
"Ranveer, please open the door!" Silence.
"Ranveer, open the door!" Still silence.
"Open the door, goddamn it!"
Before she could yell any further or let more tears of anxiety fall upon her face, Finch brought her rampage to an end as he stood beside her with the spare keycard to Ranveer's room. He inserted the keycard into the holder, gaining access to the door instantly as he caught the handle and pushed the door open, Ishaani trying to peek inside even though she couldn't see anything really. Until their eyes fell upon the huddled mess at the coffee table. Ishaani let out a half-choked cry, clasping her hands upon her mouth while Finch groaned softly, kicking himself mentally for the neglect that had led to the scene they were now witnessing.
Ranveer remained fallen upon the floor face-first, the carpet stained slightly red around the part where his head rested.
Finch shut his eyes in morbid anxiety, knowing that what he had been fearing was true. The fact was made morbidly true by the sight of the chair that remained toppled awkwardly upon Ranveer, along with his temple bleeding that Finch suspected must have come into sharp contact with the leg of the table during his fall. He had to accept with a heavy heart that he'd have to tell Ishaani about Ranveer's insomnia episodes in spite of not really wanting to, but knowing that he had no other option left either.
Even before Finch could ask Ishaani not to panic and could take control of the situation he was now more than adept in handling, the latter had already run the length of the room and had fallen upon her knees, turning Ranveer's form over. She patted at his face in sharp successions, noticing that his breathing was getting more and more laborious as his skin burned against her own in what she was now certain was a raging fever.
Finch and Ishaani looked at each other in cold fear as Ranveer moaned in a tormented plea, both of them paralyzed by the agony that they could see upon his pale and clammy features. Finch realized that Ranveer had begun to hallucinate once again as he began to thrash his hands around futilely, Ishaani catching hold of them and rubbing them against her own cold ones as her warm tears fell dreadfully cold upon his palms.
She had barely mustered the courage to speak when Ranveer's fingers interlocked within her own harshly, suddenly letting out a bloodcurdling shriek of pain. He rasped heavily for breath, his face contorted with an unknown agony that seemed to have been killing him as Ishaani was forced to watch on, horrified at what was happening. The next moment, however, his face slowly relaxed into an unfathomable look as his lips remained parted sans a struggle for breath. His fingers loosened from around Ishaani's now-aching ones gradually until they fell to his side in a limp thud.
And then the room fell deathly silent.
Constructive criticism will be more than welcome and sorry for any typos. :D :D
Next chapter:
Chapter 11
Edited by LadyMeringue - 8 years ago
Financial markets and global economy
Ishaani
