#3 ~FF: Untold Stories~ - Page 94

Originally posted by: robal

This was indeed a beautiful goodbye, truly beautifully written. Thank so much for writing a chapter each day, you have put so much hard work into this for us and I am truly thankful to you for giving us a masterpiece. Can't wait for the interludes...

Originally posted by: sakshi5050

Lovely darling
thanks for understanding and love you always ❤️

Originally posted by: LadyMeringue

Oh, darling... 🤗🤗 You really don't know how much it means to me.

Originally posted by: matsh1

Goodbyes are the hardest. And goodbye from the ones you love will only give you pain. Beautiful, Lady!

Originally posted by: lifesobeautiful

Hii LM,
Omg..u update to fast...but anyway i m really sorry for late i m very busy in my study nd also become so lazy..now a day 😎 so again sorry
Just real all update I have no word for u it was absolutly amazing nd hilerious u describe every moment these of two it was so deep..their pain emotions losing for each other it's heart-touching..i can feel every moment ur really perfect nd great writer 👍🏼 just nail it...i like u so much..!!
Now waitng for next
Thanks for pm...

A/N: Hey there everyone! :D :D Here is the next update! :D :D

Surprised, right? Yeah, I know, I surprised myself too. And also, Happy 2nd Birthday of MATSH to all of you! And since it's the two-year birthday anniversary of our show, I thought this as a befitting chapter as a dedication and tribute both for the day. I just hope this is alright and this lives up to your expectations. *starts shivering*

Happy Reading! :D :D

Ishaani shut her diary harshly, her eyes burning not out of tears but out of fury.

Oh, how wonderful that moment had been when he'd run back to her and had embraced her amidst all those on-lookers! And she'd had her eyes just for him, nothing else. There was no world around her because he was her world till then. If only she'd opened her eyes and looked around more carefully! For amongst the innocent bystanders stood a demon who had his eyes upon the ongoing scene with the most malicious intentions at heart. Nothing remained the same ever since.

That son of a bitch.

She didn't even remember much of when he'd collided into her because all she cared about was turning her face and getting back to the car as soon as she could before she could make an even bigger fool of herself. The only reason she even remembered colliding into him was because he'd spilled his coffee upon her leggings and her feet and it had stung her. She'd looked at him angrily and his eyes had caught her fancy. Some kind of passion, was the first thought that randomly popped into her mind, but she brushed it away. She had to mourn Ranveer's departure.

He'd apologized so furiously but all she could do was brush it off and tell him that it was okay. She didn't even have her heart in telling him off. She just wanted to get back home and cry for as long as she could. Till as long as her heart didn't get lighter. And that was it. He'd walked back to his own car that she noticed was a Mercedes, but she didn't care. She never cared about things like that.

"Ranveer, you need to buy a Ferrari when you become a big man!" she'd asked of Ranveer just two days before his departure as a joke.

And that had brought her mind back to Ranveer and she made her way back home drowning herself into the gaping void of her heart and silence of the car that was till an hour ago, inhabited by him. Who'd known then that one simple collision would change the course of her life forever? Who'd known that one simple collision was the linchpin of the dominoes that were about to be unleashed, under the rubble of which she and Ranveer were never meant to survive?

But they did. Damaged, broken, defeated, hollow and empty. But they'd not only just survived, but had decided to take back what was theirs. Chirag had had his share of good times, but just like eight years ago, times were beginning to change. And his days were now numbered. It was her time now.

Ishaani swung herself out from the bed and looked at the time - 7AM. In nine hours, she'd know where fate meant to lead them from this point forth. She was oblivious then, and she was oblivious now. The only difference was that where she didn't dare to think about what destiny had in store for her back then, she had the temerity to try conquering it now, taking back everything that was rightfully hers. Starting from her father's incomplete legacy.

And she was now unstoppable.

Standing in front of the mirror after fifteen minutes, she dusted the sleeve of her sheath black-dress in satisfaction. The dress hugged her figure gracefully up to her knees while the full sleeves hid away the two scars from her own eyes. The scars disgusted her as much as those moments of weakness that made her despise herself. But gone were those moments... All that lay ahead was the pursuit of power, whether against destiny or to complete the impossible task that her father had left incomplete, she couldn't say.

The task that her father had left behind wasn't impossible. Oh no, it wasn't. All it required was an extraordinary flair of skills and a little bit of good fortune. And since the heavens seemed to have been finally in her favour, she knew it in her guts that everything would work out just the way she wanted to it work out in the end.

Everything except one.

Dropping the necklace around her neck, she sighed as she stared at the ring that sat upon her heart. An untold story with the only man who'd ever loved her unconditionally. Not for her looks; not for her money. But for her blackened heart and bruised soul. She smiled to herself ruefully as she slipped the necklace underneath her dress and away from sight. Completing her untold story with the one man who she'd pushed away was going to be the real impossible task.

She slipped on her father's watch after finishing the last touch of her eyeliner upon her eyes. It was the only piece of make-up she wore anyway. 7:20AM. She quickly sought her phone from upon the dressing table, her mind beginning to form pointers. Speed dialling Rishi's number, Ishaani didn't have to wait for more than two rings till the phone was answered. She didn't give him a chance to even wish her a 'good morning' as she jumped into speech, the authority in her voice disarming her employee of his sleep.

"I need everyone in the office at 8AM sharp."

"What? Why?" mumbled Rishi and it was evident to Ishaani that he was still talking in his sleep. Hissing at the phone icily that only managed to extract an 'hmm' from her half-asleep employee, she chose to use the cruelest weapon of all to do the job of waking him up.

"Perhaps your termination letter might help jog your memory. Or slap you out from your slumber," she threatened unpleasantly and the effect was instantaneous.

"But Mr. RV isn't coming until 4PM! You asked us to report at 10AM!" protested Rishi, who now sounded fully awake and suddenly as frightened as though she'd threatened to kill him. Ishaani rolled her eyes in vexation.

"Well, I've changed my mind. Co-ordinate and get all the team force members in the office at 8AM sharp. I need to have a final round of discussion," asserted Ishaani, suddenly feeling her temper flare up. This was the most important day of their lives! How could people be asleep when she didn't manage to catch any?

"But-"

"Stop spluttering, Mr. Oberoi," she cut in venomously, not bothering to remain courteous anymore. Rishi gulped in worry across the line. "None of this is going to work with me when you give your presentation to Mr. RV, especially since we have to create a powerful first impression," she emphasized and Rishi complained in an exasperated voice.

"But I've practiced it already six times!"

"Then think of this as a rehearsal dinner," responded Ishaani, unwilling to budge from what she wanted to be done. This was a matter of life and death! This was the matter of her father's legacy!

Things had to go right!

"Ma'am-" began Rishi, but Ishaani cut across rudely.

"Save your arguments for Mr. RV, not me. I want you at the office at 8. Period," she added with the usual note of finality in her tone.

She didn't bother to hear the wave of protests that unleashed itself from across the line as she disconnected the call and sighed. Placing the diary back with the other ones that stared back at her in nostalgia, she shut the armoire and picked up the necessary files required for the day.

This was it.

It was time to cross paths again.

-x-

RV sat in the car, staring out at the despondent weather of Mumbai in sentimentality. How much had changed in six years, really! More buildings, more traffic, more pollution and more heat! Everything felt so different to him, and yet the essence of the city was just the same as always. The same hustle-bustle of the people, the same crazy love for street food and the same passion for becoming something in life that pulled people by the thousands into this city - The City of Opportunities.

And he'd been amongst one of those thousands who the city had blessed.

He achieved what he'd wanted to in life, and he'd finally returned back from where it all began. From where his life had truly begun. His life had begun when he'd seen an eight-year old girl who'd changed his life forever. People's lives began when they took birth into this world. But his... his had begun when his breath had ceased at her sight. She'd taught him how to laugh, how to life... how to love.

Until he died that night when he let go of the breath that he'd been holding in for thirteen years. There had been no life since then, just a new battle every day as time teased around him in a game of who'd break first - him or destiny? And so far, he'd been defeating his destiny with such eloquence that stunned the entire world. He'd created a foothold not just in the Australian markets, but even in the European and the American ones as well. And now he was set to conquer the title that his mentor had meant for him to inherit - The King of Dalal Street.

Titles didn't matter to him anymore because that's all people could give when you kept putting up facades. RV. The Statistician of the ASX. Le Dauphin de l'Euronext. The Genie of Wall Street. The Knight of the Asian Markets. And yet, who was he at the end of the day? He didn't know. He didn't want to either because what he truly was at the end of the day was dead. Emotionless.

He hadn't cried for five years. Not ever since his wife had passed away. He'd forgotten to cry upon a heartbreak that had only given him a pain he'd gotten accustomed to living with for the past six and a half years of his life. So what was the point in trying to find a dead man within himself when the titles helped in gain a sense of being alive?

This was what it was going to be - RV going to seek a duopoly with the Parekh Empire.

Ranveer Vaghela was dead, and so were his emotions. RV smiled cruelly as a thought of a particular painting flew into his mind upon a quote he'd once designed on his own for the only woman he'd ever truly loved: Hope is where the dead see the spark of love. He laughed at himself venomously, thinking about the sentimental fool that he was as a child. He was a child at prayer. What did he know about life as a child, really? No one could return from the dead. That was the rule of nature. But they could be reborn again, from the ashes of their past. Oh yes, this he had complete faith in.

Faith.

Five letters that held the power of the universe in them. Five letters that fathered hope. Five letters that claimed to move mountains. Five letter than claimed to change destiny. The same five letters whose institution he believed in blindly, especially her. The same five letters that struck the final blow and snuffed the breath out of him that night when it shattered like an explosion, his heart blown away into smithereens.

But was it faith that took the hit that night? Or was it an illusion? Whatever it was, he didn't want to go back to any of it, not when all that lay behind was bitterness and regret. And yet he was walking right back into the arms of his past. He looked at the sky and wondered. What kind of game was destiny playing with him now? He didn't know what was going to happen when he'd walked away from her eight years ago just so that he could become her equal. And now that he was, it was too late.

It's never too late, his mind reasoned with him.

Could it be right? Could it be true? He didn't know. All he knew was that he was returning back to his past to fulfill a purpose. To fulfill an untold story - an untold story of legacy that was left incomplete by his mentor who'd trusted him to see this through. He knew that opening one untold story would eventually lead him into opening another one - another one with the woman who'd driven him into becoming what he was today. Successful, yet lonely.

His mother's words rung back into his mind but he pushed them away. People said that the diamond consignment to London would be an impossible task, but he begged to differ. He had the extraordinary flair and the good fortunes both to pull that off. RV was a storm that was unstoppable when he set upon a conquest to achieve what he wanted. Everything but one. Completing his untold story with the only woman he'd ever truly loved was the real impossible task at hand.

"We've reached," cut through the driver's voice that managed to snap RV out from his thoughts.

Finch stepped out of the car and waited for his companion to do the same. RV started at the office of the Singhania Finance Solutions with a cold smile upon his face. This was the first company that had refused to offer him a job all those years ago because he was a servant. Today, he was going to walk in with the proposal of taking over the company along with all of its portfolios. The justice of karma was sweet. And as his thoughts flitted towards Ishaani for just a moment, he sighed.

This was it.

It was time for the paths to meet.

-x-

RV sat across the table with a smirk upon his face. Out of the seven companies who were bidding for the take-over, the RV Group of Companies, or more specifically, the RV Broking Solutions had managed to win the take-over, fair and square. Technicalities were explained and manipulations were put into right use, until the owners were astounded by the power exuding from the nearly twenty-nine year old boy like a house on fire.

The firm had been getting a lot of take-over proposals in the last two years and after due consideration, they finally decided to give up the company and set up a bidding for the take-over of the same. Whichever company took over could continue the operations as they liked because the Sunil Singhania, the owner of the company wanted to retract their shares out of the same and invest it in the international markets as a new venture.

Formalities were in the process as the losing parties walked out of the premises, the dejection and frustration of failure evident upon the faces representing their respective firms. Sunil Singhania, the head of the firm walked RV into his cabin for a cup of coffee. How times had changed. Eight years ago, the same man had asked him to bring him a coffee to mock his societal position. Today, the same man was asking him to accompany him into his cabin to share a cup of coffee like an equal.

Both the men remained seated opposite each other in silence as they waited for the assistant to get the papers of the contract that needed to be signed. Setting the mug down after some time, Sunil Singhania turned to look at the new owner of the firm in evident awe.

"It's an honour to be associated with you, Mr. RV. The world is a witness to your legendary conquests," began Mr. Sunil, looking like a schoolboy who was seated in front of a celebrity. RV wondered whether he'd faint with joy or in shock of what was about to happen.

"Oh, the pleasure's all mine, Mr. Singhania," replied RV politely, his eyes never once leaving the shrewd man's face.

Oh, he was an old fox, alright, and everyone knew why he really wanted to retract his name and sell the firm. The amount of embezzlements that he'd done were astounding and were becoming harder and harder to contain. The RV Group of Companies managed to buy the firm from him at half the market price and yet convinced him to sell it to their company just by the power of association. Overconfidence and greed were often pits of doom.

"So tell me, Mr. RV. What brought you here, being the star you are?" asked Singhania jovially and Ranveer smiled at him cold-heartedly.

"A little personal story, but that can wait," added RV as the assistant entered the room with the necessary documents and put them right in front of RV as signalled by Singhania. The latter rubbed his hands in evil delight.

"Well, signature please," he exclaimed as though asking for an autograph. RV cocked an unamused eyebrow at him that tamed the other's overly diabetic behaviour.

"I see that you are a cautious man, Mr. RV," added Singhania in awe as he saw RV go through all the documents in silence, his eyes never once leaving the papers until he was done with them. After a span on twenty minutes, RV set down the papers with a satisfied look.

"One must always be on their guard in a world like this, Mr. Singhania. You never know," he added, now smiling at Singhania dispassionately.

"Intriguing. I hope you liked the coffee," stated Singhania suddenly, looking as though the award for The Best Coffee-Maker was being announced. RV now interlocked his fingers and rested his elbows upon the table, his eyes suddenly gleaming darkly with the knowledge of what he was going to do next. Ah, the satisfaction of cruel sadism...

"Splendid," replied RV without feeling and Singhania gave him a proud look.

"I prepared it myself," he replied with emotion and RV stared at him intently. It was the look of a lion studying his prey before the kill. He slipped his hand into the pocket of his coat from where he retrieved an old 500-rupee note.

"Here," said RV as he pushed the note in the face of the other man, his index and middle finger catching the note in a rude tip-like manner.

"What's this?" asked Singhania, who now looked confused. What was going on? Was this some kind of a joke? Rich people had such a strange sense of humour, really...

"500 for the coffee. It was exceptional," replied RV, now sounding amused.

"I don't understand. What joke is this?" asked Singhania once again, now suddenly looking uncomfortable. Something didn't feel right, especially the disdainful look in RV's eyes. He stood up from his chair abruptly and RV cocked his eyebrow at him austerely.

"Sit down, Mr. Singhania. I'm only just being fair. It's the same note you'd given me when you'd made me prepare the coffee for yourself," explained RV, but all it did was make the other man frown in bewilderment.

"I... I don't-"

"Oh, eight years is such a long time, no?" taunted RV mercilessly as Singhania now sat upon his seat, more out of fear than respect.

"What childishness is this?! Who are you?" he roared at RV, as though hoping that the power of his voice would frighten the young boy. All it did was make RV chuckle mirthlessly.

"RV, ofcourse. But we've met before, just so you know. You don't seem to have a very good memory, though," goaded RV and he felt his heart lighten up at the fact that his behaviour was unnerving Singhania as the latter waggled a finger at him angrily.

"I meet thousands of people every day!"

"I'd come to your firm for the first interview of my life," spoke RV at long last as his eyes fell upon the clock right in front of his eyes. 2:45PM. He had to close one chapter of the past before he jumped towards another.

"What happened?" asked Singhania inquisitively, in spite of now looking mortally terrified of what RV may do next.

"I was rejected, ofcourse," came back the heckled reply and Singhania gasped. What kind of revenge was God taking upon him? And why this demon out of all the others who looked like a possessed maniac capable of destroying everything in his path with just his eyes?

"Why?" asked Singhania weakly as he put his hand over his chest, trying to calm the human pump from trying to beat away as madly as it was.

"Because I was a servant," exclaimed RV in a low voice that was barely audible. His eyes met Singhania's own ones in the most brutal way possible, making the latter shrieked as though he was stabbed.

"I... I... you..."

"Oh yes, that was my first interview ever, and the one I'll never forget," continued RV, as Singhania gulped in fear. "You threw aside my resume and asked you to prepare a cup of coffee. I did and you handed me over this note, asking me to continue working as a servant since I was such a natural. You laughed at my poverty, stripped away my self-respect and jeered at my social status and chose to see that above my qualifications. Such disrespect I'd never faced at the hands of any of those other the sixty-five companies that had rejected me as much as I faced at your hands. RV never forgets."

"Wait, you're that servant?!" exclaimed Singhania, the memory from that day coming back to him clumsily. Oh yeah, he'd enjoyed humiliating that boy so much, especially seeing his helplessness and desperation. The stupid smile was wiped off his face when he saw the one upon RV's.

"Was," corrected RV with exquisite pleasure while Singhania gasped. "I'm now the new owner of the Singhania Finance Solutions."

"I don't know what-" began Singhania after ten whole minute of dumb-founded silence, the power of RV's statement echoing around the room not unlike the thundering of the clouds that could now be distantly heard.

"To say?" completed RV, but didn't wait for a response. "They say that karma is a circle of life. What goes around, comes around. I hope you enjoy your retirement," added RV, winking at Singhania as he stood up gracefully.

"No... No... You thief!" yelled out Singhania in accusation that made RV stop in his tracks. The latter turned around, looking unamused. Singhania wished that he were dead by a lightning strike rather than being looked down upon the way he was being done so by RV in that moment.

"Ah, Mr. Singhania. I'm afraid that you've taken a leverage with your tongue. There are a total of a 116 people who are witness to today's proceedings and know that you willingly chose my company from the rest to allow the take-over to happen," reminded RV, his eyes challenging the other man to contradict him. Singhania gulped away the response, knowing that there was no defense left. The boy was right.

He slumped upon his chair back in defeat as he stared at RV in a mixture of amazement and dread.

"How did you do all this?" he asked in a fatigued tone, the revelations of the last half an hour too much to take. RV remained stone-faced.

"Had you given me the chance to prove my worth, you'd have known. But since you didn't, it's none of your business, really," shot back RV, his tone as aloof as ever. Singhania shivered under the power of his voice even though it was barely above an audible whisper.

"Why're you here?" he asked finally, unable to keep the remorseful plea out of his voice. RV chuckled to himself before satisfying Singhania with an answer.

"To finish what I set out to do," replied RV, the fire in his eyes now blinding Singhania until looking anywhere but at him was the only thing he could do.

RV smiled at the flabbergasted man spitefully, making his way out of the mediocre cabin in less than five strides. He made his way to the car where Finch and his assistant, David, now sat in wait for him, looking impatient.

"What have you been up to?" asked Finch as RV sat beside him, looking pleased with himself. Oh, the momentary solace of triumph till life took revenge upon him for his temerity by bringing him in front of the one woman who had the power to destroy all of his facades.

"Just settling some pending scores of karma," replied RV airily and Finch clicked his tongue in disapproval.

"Great, because it's already three and we need to reach the Parekh office by the next hour," he reminded RV as the driver now put the car into motion and redirected it back upon the road once again.

"Relax, it's alright."

"Are you alright? You look like you're on fire," remarked Finch suddenly, looking suspicious. What happened in the cabin was to stay in the cabin.

"Maybe I am," whispered RV after some time, but he was the only one who heard his own voice in spite of the silence of the car.

As the car drove along the path faster than ever, Ranveer looked at the sky and smiled dastardly. The skies were now as grey as though it was about to rain any minute. There was a storm on the way.

Or maybe he was.

-x-

Ishaani looked at the cold grey sky in amusement. An unexpectedly stormy day. Well, there was more than one storm coming anyway. Shutting the blinds of her cabin, she went and sat upon her seat, her eyes scrutinizing the files whose contents she knew by heart now. Well, it was more to kill time than anything else. She looked at her father's watch upon her hand and sighed. 3:56PM. From what she'd heard, RV was never late.

Well, he was bound to never be.

A sudden knock at the door snapped her out from her thoughts and she looked up. Puneet had his head stuck through the gap between the door and its post, looking positively petrified. She didn't need to know what he was about to say because she could see the frightened reverence upon his face anyway.

"He's here. Mr. RV."

"Send him in," replied Ishaani slowly, as though weighing every word with precarious care.

Puneet nodded his head before retracting it away. Ishaani sighed as she pushed her chair and stood up, her heart suddenly feeling as though it would explode with the eerie calmness that occupied it in a moment where it should have been thumping away with all its might. At exactly four, the door to her cabin opened. Her world stopped as after Puneet, Rishi and two foreigners (who she assumed were RV's associates) stepped in, the man of the hour making his appearance last.

Both of them stared at each other as time refused to go any further. It had to stop because the star-crossed lovers had crossed paths again. It had to stop because the lovers had to drink in each other's sight greedily, as though it was the elixir of life. It had to stop because it had to. It had to be a curious spectator of what was going to happen when everything ceased to go ahead. It had to stop because it had to go behind once last time before it could move ahead.

Ishaani stared at Ranveer as she weakly gripped the table for support. He was no longer the same, and she could hardly recognize him anymore. She couldn't help but admire how much better looking and... attractive, he'd become in all those years, especially as he now stood in front of her confidently in the black three-piece suit that reflected the colour of his eyes when he would be angry. But she couldn't believe it. He was finally there! He was finally there right before her in flesh and blood!

And yet he wasn't.

He no longer had the cheeks that she so adored to pull for they'd become hollow. Neither was there that life and love in his eyes whose memory alone had been giving her the strength to fight through a hundred battles in these five years. There was no smile upon his face that made her soul stir with the most passionate of emotions; there was only a smile that made her soul shiver in horror. There was no twinkle in his eyes anymore; only an emptiness left behind that made them look... dead. He was no longer the same, because the man she sought was no more. And so was his essence.

But then what was it that just flickered through his eyes with the tiniest of gasps that he let out at her sight, unnoticeable as that was?

Ranveer stared at Ishaani, wondering what hit him at her sight. And in the next moment, he knew. The breath refused to leave his chest at her sight just like it had refused to do so twenty years ago. He stared at her, disbelieving at what his eyes were showing him. She was there. She was right in front of him in flesh and blood. And yet she wasn't, because he couldn't recognize the woman who stood in front of him anymore.

She no longer had the cheeks that he so loved to watch the pink gush of; she was pale and her cheeks were sunken to the point where it highlighted her cheekbones artistically. He'd never seen another woman look as beautiful as she did right now in that black sheath dress, and yet he couldn't help but notice how... dead, her eyes were. There was no hope in them. Only a fire burning in them that reminded him eerily of his own ones. There was no smile upon her face that had the power to touch his eyes and awaken his soul in the calmest of assurances. She was no longer the same anymore and neither was her essence.

But then what was it that had just flickered through her eyes and had made her grasp the table like that, unnoticeable as that tiny action was?

The clouds thundered against each other murderously as though it was the end of the world. But it wasn't. It was the arrival of a storm. Or maybe they were the storm that had arrived in each other's life.

This was it.

Everyone snapped out from the pause of the moment except Ranveer and Ishaani. They refused to take away their eyes from upon each other, drinking in the other's sight with a thousand thoughts in mind yet devoid of any emotions or feelings. What wouldn't they have given in that moment to run into each other's arms and pull each other into an embrace to never let go again? Steps grew closer and closer without any conscious effort until they stood right in front of each other, without any barrier or distance. Just like they always would.

How they wanted to speak a thousand words together as their life flashed before their eyes, and suddenly everything felt the same. Some things never change. Until it halted upon their last memory that killed the words in their throat. But some things never remain the same.

The world dissolved around them, making them forget about where they were standing in that moment because they no longer stood there anymore.

They now stood in the memory of where it all ended.

Constructive criticism will be more than welcome and sorry for any typos. :D :D

Next chapter:
Interlude 16