Ishqbaaz FF: As Good As It Gets. Update 6/12 on Pg6 - Page 3

It is nearly dawn when Omkara and Rudra reach home. They know they have to meet their brother, they know avoiding him however disappointed with his behaviour they may be is not an option. They know he is awake and probably raging that they haven't gone to him yet. The walk to his room seems endless as they organise their thoughts, what will they say to him? Will he be sorry? Will he have another side of the story to tell? Will that side redeem him? They hope it will. They reach his room.

Shivaay has been waiting. He sits by the poolside, the broken remains of his phone by his side. It's the first phone he has broken in a while. The first since Anika stomped and fought into his life, he realises. He sees the first rays of the sun peeping in through the clouds. It's nearly morning. His brothers still haven't come to him. He wonders if this is going to change their relationship.

He finally sees them, walking towards him to take their usual spots by the pool. They don't say anything and neither does he. Minutes pass and the sky starts to turn pink.

'So you guys dropped her home.' He states but the question hidden in his words is missed by no one.

Rudra is unsure if he should even be there. Whenever his older brothers had discussed anything remotely serious, it was always when he wasn't around. He knew because If he was around, they would ensure that he was kept away. They claimed to always feel that he was too young to be exposed to the real world especially when he had them to protect him. Today though nobody tells him to get out and he wants to be there himself. He wants to go nowhere.

'She is not okay Shivaay. Not okay. In response to your unasked question. Tell us Shivaay, please, why did you marry her? And what she said of the way you forced her into this marriage, is it true? Please tell us it isn't Shivaay. That there is another story to it. Another side.'

Shivaay had anticipated this. He hadn't expected Anika to keep quiet, she was never one to and she never could. It was only if she hadn't said anything would he have feared for the Anika he knew. Which is why he had an answer very nearly prepared to Om's questions.

"Om, first you need to really learn to use your head sometimes instead of your heart. Om I had been left at the altar. Me! Shivaay Singh Oberoi. Just a few months ago when Mallika ran away, remember the way people laughed at Siddharth and how Rana industries suffered huge stock market losses? I didn't want to be a laughing stock Om. I didn't. Imagine if the press had heard of my bride running away, they would have had a field few months! Our stock prices would have fallen and the family would have been terribly upset. The acquisitions which are hinging on the merger with the Kapoors would have failed. You! You, Rudra and Prinku would have all been laughed at! Shivaay Singh Oberoi, your brother, a business magnet! Tycoon! Couldn't keep his woman happy and so she ran away. That's what people would have said Om. I advanced the wedding, people would have thought she ran away because I was forcing her into marriage. Om it may not make sense to you but all of this makes a difference to me. It makes a difference. I have never been a loser, a failure and I wasn't going to be one now. I had to do what I did. Anika stopped me from marrying someone else, and so I had to marry her. There was no time. It had to be her or someone else. I really am sorry I lied to you and the family. But I am not sorry for what I did. I will not be sorry for something I did for all of us and for the happiness of this family."

There, it is all out in the open. The two most important people now know why he did what he did. They'll have to forgive him and let it go. Once the divorce comes through, it'll be a shut chapter and he'll take care of the Kapoor merger. He sighs, already knowing that the coming few weeks are going to be taxing.

Omkara and Rudra cannot believe what they hear. Stocks prices! gossip! fear of being a failure! temporary happiness! Did all of it justify threatening to take a life? Neither of them would have believed their brother capable of actually taking Sahil's life earlier but now they aren't too sure.

'Also it's not that big a deal, I don't want anyone other than the three of us to know what it is that I'm about to tell you, but she slept with Daksh. For money. Yes. Anika slept with Daksh in exchange for money. If she could do that, then a day's marriage could hardly count for anything. Just another achievement to her name. She's probably upset I've not offered her any money in exchange. But I'll take care of it, a good alimony. Way beyond anything in her dreams.'

Omkara is quiet. He doesn't say anything while Rudra looks like he's going to be sick. He pauses for a minute arranging his thoughts, sighing at the mess that his brother has landed himself into.

"Shivaay i think we've all had a very long day and It's time we retire to our rooms to just think things over but before we go, as a brother I hope you'll listen to what I have to say." Without pausing for an answer, he ploughs on.

"First, Shivaay have you even asked Anika the truth about her sleeping with Daksh? Or is this an assumption of yours based on something someone has said to you or something you've seen? Did you jump the gun? Was that why you advanced the wedding? Don't even pretend like this bit of information or misinformation had failed to bother you. You've looked like a surly mannequin ever since she got engaged. Second, even if she did sleep with Daksh for money, what were you doing Shivaay? Marrying Tia for love or in anticipation of a multi million dollar deal? How does that make what you were planning to do any different from what Anika supposedly did? Third, so she apparently slept with Daksh, for money or not is irrelevant, does that allow you to kidnap her brother? Threaten to have him killed and letting her believe that he's dead even if just for a moment? All this after you've manhandled her, abused her, insulted her and treated her with zero dignity and self respect? How does her sleeping with Daksh allow you to believe that you can use her and throw her as well?

You know what Shivaay as a child you were never bullied, even though you were amongst the shortest in your class, you want to know why? Because you were an Oberoi. Parents told their children to never get on the wrong side of you and so you were left alone. However, when I came along the following year, nobody knew me as an Oberoi yet and I was bullied for being extraordinarily sensitive. I didn't have to complain to anybody, you came there and all you had to say was that I was your brother. That's it. I had you and we had the Oberoi surname. So we were alright. In fact when Rudra came along he turned a bully, no one dared to mess with him despite his abysmal marks and cry baby attitude because he was an Oberoi too. Wondering what that has to do with anything? I'm telling you this because today you were a big bully Shivaay. A big bully. You knew you have the Oberoi name to back you, while Anika, she had nothing. The Oberoi name would protect you no matter what while the only thing she had was her brother and you picked on him. You didn't pick on an equal Shivaay. You picked on someone who is weaker than you, someone who you cornered by picking on the one thing they hold dear and the one thing they were proud of. Shivaay I'll always love you and be there for you because you're my brother but I'm so sorry Shivaay you've disappointed me so much. I now realise that you are a big spoilt brat who refuses to hear the word no, who'll go to any lengths to get what you want even if it's from the smaller child on the playground who cannot run away fast enough. You cannot pick on people your size. You are a bully Shivaay and it's so disappointing."

Om is done. He wants no answers to his questions. He wants no explanations. He pats his brother on the shoulder and the two leave as Shivaay is left alone with his thoughts.