Chapter 4: The Settlements of Karma
A/N: Hey there everyone! :D :D Here is the next update! :D :D
Happy Reading! :D :D
Ranveer paced the length of the corridor impatiently, his
eyes darting towards the emergency room once in every ten seconds as he grit
his teeth. He could barely control the urge to go and shake up every single
doctor at the hospital to work faster and get Ishaani breathing somehow as his
heart beat irregularly, never feeling this frightened in all his life as he
felt in that moment. It was as though he could feel her slipping away from his
grasp like tricking sand, the disturbing thoughts only intensifying the fear
that his heart would cease to beat the next moment if he didn't get to know how
Ishaani was doing.
During one of his several rounds where he had half an urge
to push the door open and barge into the emergency room, he was saved the
trouble of actually doing so as the doctor finally exited the room after his
forty-minute examination. Ranveer stopped in his tracks abruptly as he threw
question after question upon the doctor who seemed tired enough after this
being his eighth case by five in the morning during his shift.
"Sir, if you'd mind not pouncing upon me like
that?" asked the doctor patiently as Ranveer shut his mouth, putting an
end to his ceaseless tirade of questions. The doctor sighed in gratitude.
"She's out of danger now. Her airway had swollen up
because of which she obviously couldn't draw in any breath and she crashed on
the way here. But we've managed to get her breathing for now. You brought her
in at the right time," added the doctor and Ranveer let out a shaky sigh,
wondering what exactly had hit him in these five days or what was yet to hit him
in the future.
"What did happen to her?"
"We're suspecting that she's had an allergic reaction
to the cheap country liquor. Like you mentioned, she hasn't had anything else
that could trigger the allergy in the first place. And since she had almost 50%
of the bottle's contents, undiluted no less, it only aggravated the
allergy," he explained and Ranveer gulped in worry. He shut his eyes in
guilt, wondering why he had to let her drink the country liquor in the first
place.
"But she's not allergic to alcohol in general," he
suddenly remembered, confusion clouding his mind. The doctor nodded his head in
agreement.
"It's rare to have an allergy like that but then again,
since country alcohol is usually extracted from wilder sources and by cheaper
methods, there must be something in it that must have triggered the
reaction," guessed the doctor and Ranveer nodded his head, still not
feeling his worry abate as images of her limp form kept haunting him.
"Will she be alright?"
"We've given her the anti-allergen so she should be
alright in a couple of hours. It was a good thing that you gave her the epi-pen
alongside since it did help in keeping her heart beating. We'll be keeping her
in the ICU since she still cannot breathe well enough on her own. The moment
she stabilizes we'll be transferring her to the general ward," informed
the doctor tiredly, taking notice of Ranveer's slightly relaxed form with a
small smile upon his face.
"When will she get her discharge by?"
"If she's alright, you can take her home by today
evening itself. We'll need to run a few more tests once she's awake, but
otherwise she should be good to go by tonight," answered the doctor, and
this time Ranveer did relax considerably.
"Can I see her?"
"She's on sedatives right now so I don't think you'll
do much good. When she wakes up, you can meet her then," advised the
doctor kindly. Ranveer gave him a slightly disappointed look, but agreed
nonetheless.
"Thank you, doctor. And sorry about the hassle,"
added Ranveer as he looked at the doctor, flustered about his erratic behaviour
from earlier. The doctor patted his shoulder in understanding.
"Go home and rest, sir. You can come back here in a few
hours," advised the doctor before leaving, but the polite smile upon
Ranveer's face made him smile in spite of himself.
He'd come across several kinds of visitors in his career, and
he could place the haggard and overly strained Ranveer easily in one of the
prime categories he'd made in his fourteen-year old experience of working as a
full-time practicing doctor.
He wasn't going to even as much as blink an eye till the
patient woke up.
-x-
Six hours later, Ranveer entered the special ward to see
Ishaani propped against her pillows weakly, staring away at the wall opposite, lost
in thought. Ranveer walked towards her bed quietly as he felt his own breath
come in uneven gasps, his heart weak with relief at the sight of her alive and
breathing with her coal orbs open and staring around the place. He still hadn't
been able to digest and displace away the one-hour shock from earlier with her
form so still in his arms, he'd been sure she was lifeless.
The silent tap of his footsteps snapped Ishaani out from her
thoughts as she turned to look at him, immediately noticing the undiluted
trauma upon his face. She could see that he looked extremely worn out and
disturbed about whatever had happened. And in spite of herself, she couldn't
help but feel happy about it - he could say the same thing how many ever times
he wanted, but the fact would never change that he still couldn't see her in
any kind of pain because his love for her was still the same.
"Oh God, you're staring at me. I must look like
crap," whispered Ishaani hoarsely when Ranveer continued to stare at her
as though he were seeing a ghost. He snapped out from his reverie abruptly to
realize that his lips were slightly apart.
"No, I... I just thought that I wouldn't see you
again," replied back Ranveer in a humble whisper. Both of them gave each
other a quiet smile, fear thumping the loudest between their breaths. Ranveer
took a seat beside her, wondering what to speak first for he seemed to have
been robbed away of his words entirely.
"What happened?" asked Ishaani after some time and
Ranveer was thankfully that she'd broken the silence first.
"You had an allergic reaction to the desi
tharra. Why on Earth did you have to drink the goddamn thing in the
first place?" he asked her suddenly, his tone cross as he couldn't help
but fume at her. She gave him a skeptical look.
"Like I'd know in the wildest of my dreams that I'd be
allergic to desi tharra when all the other forms of alcohol work just
fine," she replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice even though she
sounded extremely weak. Ranveer gave her a disgruntled look as he got up and
brought her some water to drink in a Styrofoam cup that she only too readily
accepted.
"Why do you drink alcohol when you can't handle
it?" he asked her in exasperation as he took his seat back, his eyes
suddenly boring into her own in a fright that made goosebumps erupt all over
her skin, her soul shivering in fright. The phoenix afire in his dreams and the
scene before his eyes had disturbed his balance entirely.
"Look who's talking," she shot back, rolling her
eyes at him in vexation.
"I'm serious, Ishaani. Do you even have any idea what
could have happened had I not brought you here on time? You'd already stopped
breathing and-" began Ranveer but came to an abrupt halt as he realized
what he was saying. The thought was unbearable for him to even phrase.
"Why does it even matter to you, Ranveer?" asked
Ishaani as she stared at him quietly, her heart feeling the heat of the words
that were violently beating against his lean form, waiting for release. Ranveer
chose to avoid her question entirely as he could sense their conversation going
back to square one. So he decided to change the topic entirely by blurting out
the first thing that came to his mind.
"Thanks for ruining my birthday."
Ishaani cocked her eyebrow at him but didn't look apologetic
in the least. On the contrary, Ranveer suspected that she was trying too hard
to control herself from bursting out laughing. The next moment, he knew why.
"It's just karma. I told you years ago that it'd
bite you right in the ass one day," she replied smugly and all that
Ranveer did was stare at her, bewildered.
He tried to ponder upon what she'd just spoken before it hit
him with razor sharp clarity. It was Ishaani's nineteenth birthday when he'd
had the incident with the allergic reaction from the peanut butter filling and
the deviated septum alongside. And during their spat at the hospital, she'd so
carelessly told him that karma was a bitch and it would bite him in the ass one
day. He'd laughed it off back then thinking about the odds being astronomical.
He wasn't laughing now.
What she'd said had actually become true and he could feel
the sting of karma hurt him. Bad.
"Do you have a deviated septum too?" asked Ranveer
icily, not bothering to keep the sarcasm out from his voice even though the
worry in it remained badly camouflaged. Ishaani shrugged her shoulders.
"No, but well, you get my point," she replied in
the same low voice and Ranveer suddenly couldn't get himself to look at her
anymore. He simply couldn't, because the life in her eyes now only planted the
gory image of the lifelessness in them from just mere hours ago. And seeing her
like that for the second time in three days was something he couldn't take
anymore.
"Do you even have any idea what it is like to watch the
life drain out of someone you lo- you care about?" asked Ranveer,
his voice cracking as he felt Ishaani's fingers slip into his palm that sat
inches away from her own. He looked at her in reflex and regretted his decision
almost immediately.
"I think I do, much better than you anyway," she
replied plainly.
Ranveer shut his eyes, thinking about all the times she must
watched him in a similar state at the hospital, fighting between life and
death. He finally got a taste of how she must have felt every single time,
something he prayed they never experienced ever again.
"I watched you almost asphyxiate to death on that
terrace, Ishaani..." he whispered in the same throaty whisper as though
he'd lost the practice of using his voice. Ishaani let her thumb caress the
back of his palm softly, even though when she spoke next, her voice held no
sympathy at all.
"I've watched you die four times. I think you can
relate to my agony better now."
Ranveer stared at her, dumbstruck as her words robbed him of
all retorts. There was something about the physically weakened Ishaani that
exuded a power strong enough to strike him mute. Her physical appearance was a
deceit for clearly she seemed to be in complete command of the situation,
something that Ranveer felt himself losing with every passing minute. And he
knew that he couldn't permit for it. Not after how close they were to
fulfilling the only incomplete legacy of Harshad Parekh.
Ranveer grudgingly knew that RV would have to
intervene soon.
"That's wasn't-"
"Intentional? Nothing you do ever is. It always has to
be genuine self-sacrifice, no?" she mused, her tone still unforgiving. And
suddenly, something snapped within Ranveer as he glared daggers at her, having
heard enough about how he'd made everyone's life living hell with his accidents
even though somewhere deep down in his heart, he knew that it was true as well.
"Just for your information, I haven't had a hospital
visit even once in these eight years."
"So are you telling me that you've finally turned human?
Congratulations!" exclaimed Ishaani in a diabetically cheery tone while
Ranveer grit his teeth at her in anger.
"What're you so chirpy about? This is your third
hospital visit!" he retorted, hoping that this would make the scales even.
Somehow, Ishaani seemed to have an upper hand in everything she said today, and
her next statement was no different.
"Out of which, only this one was near fatal. I don't
die every once in three years to prove my point!"
Ranveer shut his mouth angrily as it wasn't for the first
time that Ishaani had beaten him hands down in any argument from which logic
had long since departed. She was a natural at it, and the fact that even after
all these years he couldn't last two minutes in front of her in an argument as
stupid as this was something that put him off entirely.
"That's- that's just non- nonsense!" he shot back
lamely and Ishaani only cocked her eyebrow at him in derision. Ranveer was
having a hard time determining whether she was still bitter about all the times
he'd put her through something like this or whether it was the side effects of
the morphine that had turned her into a fiend. And unwillingly, he had to admit
that Rishi did have a good point.
"Says he who has been afflicted by all of the world's
traumatic ailments."
Ranveer stared at her in silence as he felt the will to
fight back fade away, the fatigue suddenly creeping into his veins. Somewhere
along the line of forcing the will of fighting back into her, he felt the will
drain out of himself as his vision doubled for a minute, enticing him to
succumb into the loving arms of oblivion after having only nine hours' worth of
sleep in exactly fifty seven hours.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have... You just scared the
crap out of me," he spoke aloud after some time, not meeting eyes with
Ishaani as he chose to talk to her IV connected hand instead. Ishaani remained
silent as she let out a tired sigh.
"How do you feel now?" he asked in a much softer
tone when Ishaani let her fingers trail towards his chin. She pulled it up, both
of them now looking at each other eye-to-eye once again.
"Brilliant," she replied halfheartedly, but even
before Ranveer could say anything, she added with longing "Can't I just
take these drips off?"
"Unless you want to end up doing what I did all those
years back, no," he added and both of them remembered the time he'd taken
off his oxygen mask in spite of being told otherwise and what it had resulted in.
And with that, Ishaani was suddenly reminded of one particular bit of their
conversation whose answer had not been satisfactory to her even back then.
It now made sense to her why.
"Say loyalty instead of love?" she
countered, and Ranveer pursed his lips.
Brilliant, she'd figured even that out, was all
Ranveer could think about darkly. She'd figured out everything except for how
to deal with their situation. Wait, she'd even figured that out. It was he who
was clueless about everything at the end of the day. The problem wasn't with
her; it was with him always.
"If you think that these eight years have been a
catwalk for me while you've borne all of the world's pains and troubles upon
yourself, then cut me some slack," he said once he managed to stem his
darknening thoughts but he couldn't help but realize how it sounded like more
of a plea. Perhaps even Ishaani had sensed the change in his tone for her voice
was considerably softer when she spoke next.
"Well, you're Mr. Prefect Perfect. What else was
to be expected from you, really?" she asked and Ranveer smiled in spite of
himself. How long had it been since she'd last called him that? Reminisces and
regrets were the only two things he'd been forced to feel in these six days
ever since he first laid eyes upon her again. And he was simply tired of the
two.
"Had you been in my place, would you have been able to
forget everything and move on, giving me a second chance?" he asked Ishaani
suddenly, and he was happy to see that for the first time, the confidence was
wiped away from upon her face, leaving behind it its wake a troubled look.
He could see her try to mouth the word 'yes' several times,
but she seemed incapable of doing so. He could see the realization of his
plight gradually descend in her eyes, leaving him satisfied with the fact that
she did finally get his perspective at long last. But when she chose to say
nothing in return, Ranveer decided to continue.
"It's not folly to hope, Ishaani. Don't get me wrong.
Atleast in all these years, I've had Finch and even Ritika for the time we were
married to support me whenever I needed someone to break my fall. You didn't
even have that much. And you deserve every bit of that second chance to revolve
your life back around. But I'm just not good enough for you anymore, Ishaani.
And you deserve the best," he added, his eyes now dimly
aflame with the words he'd just spoken while the yearning in his voice
intensified the fire in his heart.
But all Ishaani did was smile at him woefully.
"That's where you're wrong, Ranveer. You were wrong
back then and you are wrong even now. You are much better than I ever deserved.
And maybe that's why I never saw it - how much you really meant to me. And neither
did you," she replied, caressing his face softly as they hit dead end, neither
of them knowing how best to convince the other of their point. They were too
stubborn for their own good and just like their four month estrangement back
when they were in their late teens, their egos only seemed more pronounced now.
"So what do we do about this now?" asked Ranveer
as he gently took away her hand from upon his face and put it back upon her
stomach. Ishaani gave him a blank look in return.
"You tell me, Mr. RV. I'm ready to give
this another shot. Are you?"
"I need some time," replied Ranveer after thinking
upon her question for some time.
Nothing seemed too clear to him at the moment except for the
fact that he did need time to come to terms with everything that had happened.
Not just in those six days, but in those six and a half years as well. In those
five years, Ishaani did get her opportunities for closure, to come to terms
with everything that had happened. He hadn't.
"And that's the one thing neither of us have -
time," reasoned Ishaani with a rueful smile upon her face. Why life was always
meant to be so difficult upon them, they couldn't understand. Ranveer stared at
her silently for an indefinite amount of time, considering all his options
until only one seemed feasible enough to him.
"Inclusive of today, nineteen days are more than enough
to make a call, I think," spoke Ranveer finally as he forced his mind to
come to a decision, wondering almost instantly whether nineteen days would be
even remotely enough to wipe away the scars of a lifetime.
"I guess so, yes. Just don't make it too late,
okay?" she requested, eyeing Ranveer curiously as she saw the cogwheels of
his brains run at full speed once again. She wondered whether it was set for
collision.
"I'll be leaving for Sydney on the 30th of this month.
I'll tell you my decision then," replied Ranveer as his mind eased out
another decision for him. He didn't know how much sense it made, but he knew
that if life was giving him an opportunity to settle things
with Ishaani, it wasn't something he was supposed let go off. Atleast not without
giving it a shot.
"And until then?" asked Ishaani, feeling a little
hope stir in her heart as Ranveer finally showed an interest in making amends
with her even though she could sense an entire storm gathering in the wake of
the feigned calm upon his face. Ranveer put his hand forward in a handshake.
"I'm Ranveer Vaghela. Known as a lot of titles, but
most popularly as RV in the world of business. Twenty-nine. Widower.
Entrepreneur, analyst, stock trader and business tycoon. Run one of the world's
leading brokerage firms and diamond trading companies. Have a chain of resorts
all over Australia and a few other countries in association with my legal
counsel and long-standing friend, Gregory Finch. Have written a couple of
research papers and two thesis papers on the taxation policies and the
Australian markets post my Masters apart from the two I wrote for my graduation
and post-graduation. I'm a guest lecturer at the Sydney Business School where I
give career counselling lectures once a year. I'm a certified Research Analyst
as well, and am currently pursuing my PhD in Economics. And ofcourse, I've
published a novel under the pseudonym Ian-Hake Parish."
"Didn't you get a better anagram for my name?"
asked Ishaani as she shook hands with him, taking in his entire introduction
with an amusement she couldn't help but feel, along with a thrill that came with
a rollercoaster ride. Ranveer stared at her, not looking too surprised this
time about the fact that she'd figured out about Ian-Hake Parish being
an anagram for Ishaani Parekh.
"How the hell did you figure that out now?"
"Like I said, it all just struck me at once - you being
the author of Caffeinated Love and the dedication proclaiming your love
for me along with the anagram of my name that you adopted as your pen name. And
lastly, IHP - Ishaani Harshad Parekh. I called you a servant, and
yet you bestowed me the honour of being Harshad Parekh's legilimate daughter.
You could have broken me away by calling me the taboo word that night, but you
didn't."
"You'll always be Mota Babuji's daughter for me. No
matter what the world says, or even your DNA for that matter," was all
Ranveer said after maintaining an unfathomable silence for a couple of minutes,
during which all Ishaani did was observe Ranveer's features closely.
It didn't take her long to come to a certain conclusion that
just like how Miss Parekh had the scalpel for keeping her in control,
even RV had a vice (or vices alike) to keep him in control. And just
like how the scalpel wasn't working for her anymore, they weren't working for
him as well.
And the thought of the scalpel reminded her of yet another
confession to be made.
"I quit using the scalpel four years ago. After reading
Caffeinated Love. It gave me the hope that maybe all hope wasn't lost.
If Sarah could turn her life around with the hope Ben had from her, so could I.
And maybe along the way, I'd bump into you again," confessed Ishaani sheepishly
and all Ranveer managed to do was give her a coy smile. Fantasies were
something even the most hopeless soul held on to.
"You've grown a lot of brains in these six and a half
years, especially in these few days before I came here. You seem to have
realized a lot of things and connected a lot of dots," remarked Ranveer and
Ishaani let out a small laugh before succumbing to fits of coughing. She still
wasn't strong enough to strain her voice too much.
"Well, what can I say? You do tend to do that to
people. And it's not like your research work was incomplete either. You've done
a lot of homework before coming here," she added shrewdly and it was
Ranveer's turn to give her a soft smile.
And just like that, Ishaani suddenly felt her heart melt at the
sight of his smile. Ranveer had completely forgotten what it was to
smile in those six and a half years and gone was the elixir that she filled her
heart with at the sight of that smile so brimmed with life. It was a sight for
sore eyes.
"I'm an analyst. It's my job to do the Math,"
stated Ranveer rather pointedly and Ishaani shook her head, looking unamused.
"Yeah, you did the Math too quickly - much quicker than
I'd have liked you to," she agreed grudgingly. Ranveer understood what, or
rather who it was that she was referring to.
"You've sent my brain into overdrive. I don't think
that I can take in any more shocks without having a brain freeze," he
retorted with evident exasperation.
Ishaani couldn't help but grin lopsidedly at the thought of
the art exhibition in the upcoming. She couldn't even begin to control the
butterflies in her stomach at the thought of his expression when he'd come to
know what she'd staged it for in the first place. The exhibition was certainly
going to be a grand affair to remember.
"You are yet to gear up for the best then," she remarked
rather proudly.
Ranveer gulped in nervously, not liking the look upon her
face at all as he associated with the dropping of another bomb upon his head.
He wondered whether he'd be walking out of Mumbai with his sanity intact after
everything she was throwing upon him left, right and center.
"Who are you, really?" was all Ranveer managed to
ask as he stared at her in reverence, realizing that she'd become the woman of
element he'd always knew she had in her and had wanted her to become.
Ishaani chuckled at the question and decided to turn the
tables around.
"I'm Ishaani Vaghela. Reputedly known as the Queen of
Dalal Street. Will turn twenty-eight in four months. Divorced. Entrepreneur,
business tycoon, stockbroker and an art purveyor. I run one of Indian's best
diamond trading company and brokerage firm, along with one of Mumbai's leading
construction firms. Completed my MBA in Finance along with a two-year art
course very recently. I'm a guest lecturer myself at several leading colleges
in Mumbai at the post-graduate level. Planning to open an art gallery sometime
later next year."
Ranveer nodded at her graciously.
"What about your hobbies?"
"I still paint and play the piano. And oh, ofcourse,
planning my revenge upon Chirag. That takes away all of my free time,
sadly," she added with a delinquency that made Ranveer roar in laughter. She'd
gained a sass that only seemed to match his wit, something that amused him as
much as it annoyed him at times. His laughter was more of a bark than an actual
one but Ishaani was happy to see it nonetheless.
"Yeah, I can only imagine how much free time that must
take away," he agreed and Ishaani bit her cheek to not give out another
sarcastic response.
"What about you, though? More novels under the header
of Ian-Hake Parish?" she asked when both of them sobered down, and
Ranveer shook his head.
"No, once was good enough. Like you, I have enough odds
to even out, most of which I'm done with. Maybe now I can think about getting
back to some of my hobbies. Someday. Although I do get time for a lot of
tennis, cycling, and obsessive running. But for now, I think it's best if
neither of us gets distracted. We still have to lot to accomplish yet," he
added suddenly and the atmosphere of the room deadened, along with Ishaani's
mood.
"So you mean to say that unless and until the
consignment doesn't get approved, we should push our personal equation out of
the window and pretend like it doesn't exist?" she asked incredulously,
feeling the medicines make her slightly drowsy now.
"Yes. We've both worked extremely hard to reach where
we are today and now that we're on the final leg to achieve our first legacy
for Mota Babuji, I don't want anything coming in the way, including ourselves,"
replied Ranveer in all seriousness as he straightened her bed and made her lie
down properly, stroking her hair gently.
Ishaani let a tear slip from her eye.
"If you think that I'm going to let you get away with
this, you are direly mistaken. Nineteen days is all I need to convince you to
give us a second chance," she emphasized even though her voice faded away
into a silent whisper towards the end, the plea in her voice only growing
stronger as Ranveer took her hand in his own for the first time since he entered
the room.
"Say that I give us a second chance. But do you think
life will?" he asked her quietly, and Ishaani increased the strength of
her grip upon his fingers.
"Why don't you life unravel that on its own? Life gave
you four chances," she added, hoping that he'd just learn to let go and
take the leap of faith somehow even though she was afraid to ask him of the one
thing she knew he wouldn't be able to do in a long time - trust her blindly.
"You sound like my mother. Optimistic fools," he whispered
underneath his breath, quickly realizing that he was loud enough for Ishaani to
hear him anyway. He looked up to see Ishaani give him a cold look.
"Some things never change, Ranveer."
"And some things never remain the same, Ishaani."
Both of them stared daggers at each other for several
minutes, too strong-headed to let the other convince them of what they knew was
right somewhere down the line. Both of their point of views were justified,
they knew. But they couldn't succumb to the other's view because that would mean
risking their emotions all over again. And neither of them had the strength to
do that.
When conversation seemed impossible again, Ishaani finally
spoke up, her voice holding a strength that almost made Ranveer fall upon his
feet in surrender.
"Don't challenge me, Ranveer. You'll
lose miserably. If I could fight for your life fifteen years ago at that hospital
and get you back alive... If I could turn my entire life around after being left
homeless and penniless... And if I could get you to be having this conversation with
me right now, I'm pretty sure I can convince you to give me that second chance.
It's only fair upon you, Ranveer. You were punished for something that wasn't
even your fault - loving me unconditionally. So you deserve that second chance
to see what life would be when you reach the end of your stop - meeting me at
the horizon."
"That's life - it's never fair," he whispered in
silence as he let her words wash upon him like the waves of the sea. It did
nothing but make him want to die rather than face this agony over and over
again.
"And that's always been your problem, Ranveer. You've
been too afraid to let go. Even though you know you can be happy again, you
will not let go because you're too afraid to see who you are without your past
after all these years," said Ishaani suddenly as she turned her face away
from Ranveer, tired with how he kept draining her off mentally with his own
strong-headed nature.
"What about you, Ishaani? You've been doing the same
thing as well in the name of chasing perfection when all you've tried to do is
use blood to hide your scars away," replied Ranveer and Ishaani gasped,
feeling her blood go cold.
She did not know how he knew about it but the fact that he
did unsettled her.
"You don't know me, Ranveer. You think you
do, but you don't. So don't you dare try to judge me. And
it's not self-harm, it's just trying to gain control,"
she tried to justify but in vain. It was Ranveer's turn to smile at her
cruelly.
"If what I saw the other night is you trying to gain
control, then I'm sorry but we really need to redefine chasing perfection.
You are broken and aloof, Ishaani. Just like I'm empty and lifeless. And you've
crawled into this revenge so deep that you're afraid to see who you will truly
be without it. It's why you're trying to futilely hold on to the hope that
maybe I'll be there to break your fall because the fire of your revenge has
been consuming you a little more every day, and you know it's going to take you
down as well if you don't stop right now. And that's what is making you go out
of control. The fact that your soul is now beginning to get consumed by the
fire and you don't know what to do about it. And yet I cannot save you because
I'm just that - empty."
"All those years ago, Love trusted you to save her
and you did. I have that same trust in you. Nineteen days,
Ranveer," reminded Ishaani as she turned to look at Ranveer grudgingly.
She let his words sink in her mind with a bitterness she
knew existed because she knew what he was saying was true. She'd almost
forgotten that he was the better manipulator from the two of them. Even though
rusty, he definitely knew her weak spots with an effortlessness she could never
match or use.
"You trust me that much?"
"I trust you with my life, Ranveer. I
always have. You've rescued me from every problem all my life because that's
who you are - my shield, my hero and my invisble benefactor. So isn't it about
time that someone rescued you as well?" she asked him quietly as he gave
her a gratuitous smile, wondering where life's graciousness had been all those
years ago when they were whole, innocent and unscathed.
"This conversation never took place. Neither did the
past three days. We cannot let this happen now that we are so close to getting
what we've both striven for all our lives - to be the rulers of the
world," begged Ranveer of her, hoping that she'd let him live with what
little control he had upon himself to atleast watch his mentor's legacy get
fulfilled.
After that, he wasn't sure whether the pain of healing would
even let him survive or no.
"I can only imagine why you gave Papa a BP half of the
time with your bullshit. I always thought that he used to be a little
short-tempered with you at times, but now I realize how right he was. You are
indeed a very, very, maddening... challenging, frustrating,
self-sacrificing arse!" she exclaimed, not bothering to keep a
check on her language as she felt thoroughly stretched to the maximum with his
obstinacy.
"Ishaani, I-"
"If nineteen days is what you want, take them. You
don't know me and I don't know you the moment you step out from this room. And
from now on, we are only RV and Miss Parekh unless
and until you decide to bring Ranveer first. Ishaani will
only come back after that," she added and Ranveer pursed his lips, knowing
that she was in no mood to entertain any further arguments.
"Fine by me. In fact, so much the better. I'm leaving
behind my driver to take you home once you get discharged," he said as he
stood up, planting a soft kiss upon Ishaani's forehead. She wriggled under the
touch of his lips as she tried to push him away from her. Ranveer gave her a
broken look as he saw Miss Parekh spring into her eyes, along with a
pain that solely belonged to Ishaani.
"I'm not going to use your driver," she muttered
stubbornly as she turned away her face from him, not willing to look at him any
longer. RV snapped up in reflex, knowing that Ranveer had spent
away what little control he had upon his emotions as well.
"If you think that not using a driver is a befitting
redemption for calling me a driver, it's not how it works. And it doesn't
change the fact either," replied RV dispassionately as Ishaani stared at
him, outraged.
"Just get out of my room before I jam an epi-pen in
your neck."
Constructive criticism will be more than welcome and sorry for any typos. :D :D
Next chapter:
Chapter 5
Edited by LadyMeringue - 7 years ago
comment:
p_commentcount