Please have a seat Abhi, he said, it's just a conversation I had been wanting to have for a long time. Rather since that day in the hospital 8 years back when ishita ... ( he stressed hard on the last syllable, he was getting allergic to hearing abhi call her ishu) was admitted and you had a go at me and my inadequacies as a husband and heck even as a human being, he said caustically.
He saw him fidget with his coat lapels, as he looked up a little nervous tick around his mouth, let bygones be bygones Raman, we have come a very long way since , haven't we? And why are we having this conversation without Ishu? Shouldn't she be here too?
She wasn't there the last time, was she , he retorted. So we should play fair right?
Anyways, yes, you are probably right. We should bury the past and move on. I need to thank you though, for saving Ishita's life. I heard of the accident and the years after. We all owe you one.
That's the reason I wanted to meet as well.
Here, he handed over the papers he had in his folder.
This..this is proprietorship document for my company, Mani exclaimed. How did you manage this?
I was one of the people who wanted to buy your company once , Abhimanyu. It wasn't tough to play Ashok in his own game and buy back your company.
But now I guess I am handing it over to its rightful owner as a token of our gratitude, both Ishita's and mine for everything you have done for us, he said, hoping to end the discussion in the smoothest manner he hoped he could.
He saw Mani look over through the document, and then he placed it back into the folder.
I don't need this Raman, I think I will be happier being your competitor than debtor, he said, a smile slowly growing on his face, or is this a bribe to leave ishu to you and go back?
Then we better play fair, because this is a raw deal for the years I have spent hoping Ishu someday becomes a part of my life. You know I have known her all my life, and that makes it almost 35 odd years of my life and hers. That against the 2 odd years you have spent with her, and what is it just about an year as real man and wife, correct?
Raman felt the blood rush in his veins, he could almost hear them pounding in his ear. There, this was the real Abhimanyu Raghav, aa gaya apni aukaad pe..he thought to himself...He ignored the insinuation and snapped. .
Your point being? He asked
You do not stand a chance Raman Bhalla. You are a businessman right? And an apparently good one at that. Tell me , do you think I wasted 7 years of my life and gave it to pamper and take care of a woman, a woman who I have loved all my life, to just hand her over to her absolutely undeserving husband at the end of it all and walk away. No, buddy, it was all a gamble, high risk but i am sure will work in my favor only.
In these 7 years i have given Ishu every luxury, every comfort she could imagine, seen to her every demand every like and dislike. Heck I even opened a clinic for her in Sydney, with a huge staff and facilities. The best she could ever get. Plus she got to be a mom to 2 very well behaved and good children. The ideal life Raman, no tears, no drama, no exes and importantly no heart breaks.
Ishita needed to see the difference that life with you was against the life I gave her. What do you call it, that syndrome, where one gets attached to your abuser. That's the relationship Ishu shares with you. When she is with you, she is in horrible pain and when she is away from you, she craves you because she misses the pain. Snap out of it Raman, neither of you love each other, and you know the best part, Ishita will realize it sooner or later, he finished, in triumph.
Raman had been watching Mani as he was on his narcissistic trip , he felt a strange surge of rage in his heart that he could not describe. And this stupid JKR trusts this guy, he thought wryly.
Is that all you have got , Abhi? He asked , smirking while he got up and walked over , to stand leaning now on the table to Mani's side. I thought you would have had more substance than this mate, he said.
So lshita will choose you at the end because she would count the number of years, hours minutes she has spent with you , huh? He asked , the smirk still firmly etched on his face. I beg to differ there buddy.
In all of your boastful monologue you missed one important part. The most important part that is. Even though Ishita spent probably more than half her life with you and hardly any time with me , the fact is that she still chose me over you, again and again. She did that when she married me, she could have come to you then, but she didn't , yes, she married me for ruhi, but then when you reappeared 8 years back our marriage was still raw, but inspite of you being around , she still chose me.
Better still , like you rightly pointed out, she spent the better part of the last 7 years with you, but she still chose me. Didnt get it?
Didn't she reject your proposal, Abhi? Didn't that ring a bell ? It should have , but okay if that didn't, then let me explain.
I am a good businessman, like you said, I do understand relationships too, like any good businessman should. So I will try and explain this in that language.
So, the fact is and will remain that even if Ishita spends the remaining 35 years of her life with you too, and even if I get to spend only 35 seconds with her , she will still love only me , be it just for those 35 seconds , and that should be enough to last her a lifetime. Of that I will make sure, you really don't need to worry , he said. That's what love does to people, you know, and no amount of material comfort that you can or will buy for her will change that. Accept it man, and move on. He gestured to the door.
Time is up , and I think you have revealed enough of your cards to stick around eh? He added looking straight at Mani.
Not so fast buddy, Mani retorted, anger now clouding his usually deceptive features. Do you take me for a moron. Anyways ever thought of the fact that Ishita lived with me in my house for 7 whole years, she shared her life, her pain, her deepest secrets with me, don't you think it would have been so easy for me to get her to share much more than just her thoughts...
He couldn't get to finish the last line. .as he felt Raman's hand hard across his face. A firm hard slap. Mani felt his jaw swelling, and wondered if he had broken any teeth. He was seething now, but Raman wasn't done yet.
This is my wife you are talking about Mr Abhimanyu Raghav, she was and still is my wife and I won't think twice before destroying you, if you ever speak a word against her , now or in the future, he roared .
And this woman trusted you, still trusts you. And this is the filth you have in your mind for her. It's a shame really, because she deserved better, much much better.
Deals off buddy, he said, his brow knitted in the anger that he was struggling to reign in now, you wanted to compete with me right, jaa jo ukhaadna hai ukhaad le, he simmered.
Mani turned on his heel and left the room, thinking of a new story to feed Ishu. What an idiot Raman Bhalla is he thought, having a closed door meeting for the umpteenth time, Ishu will not believe a word he says anyways, he patted himself on his back and walked out into the lobby.
It was a strange kind of relief Raman felt. He needed to have done this long back , he thought. He needed to have shown this version of her best friend to lshita long back too.
But it wasn't too late yet, he smiled to himself, people didn't call him a master schemer for no reason he thought, as he opened his laptop to replay the recording of 'the talk'.
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Anupamaa
Naagin 7
