Hello people, I am back with brand new update. This is a very big one. This is a conversation between Prerna-Bajaj & is quite crucial. This chapter is heavy on emotions, because I am trying hard to humanize & create conflict of all these characters to bring them into grey zone.
To all the likes & comments, you guys have my heart. I love you.❤️
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Chapter- 3 The conversation
Prerna was shocked to see mess in Bajaj's room but her face didn't show her shock. She stared at him passively, trying to study this man who was responsible for her all her pain.
Bajaj didn't feel good. It was the first time, he couldn't read Prerna. She had changed a lot in these 2 months & it's only now he was able to notice this properly. Her eyes were dead & so was her face devoid of any emotion.There was something about her, he just didn't get. He had always managed to get through people's psyche by one look but the woman who stood in front of him today was different. He found it extremely hard to study her, observe her, to know her. He tried hard to understand what this was because he had known this emotion before, only to be horrified at the answer his mind returned- Indifference. Prerna was showing indifference towards him & suddenly in that moment, he felt vulnerable & intimidated by her. Prerna stared back at him with equal intensity but now she had learned to use indifference as a tool that allowed her to look at Bajaj differently. She saw her husband's expression change in no time at some thing that must have stroked him hard, she thought.
He had changed since last time she saw him. He looked broken, ashamed,guilty but it didn't affect her. Old Prerna would have been affected at the suffering but this Prerna just didn’t care. She would have believed this side of him, if she hadn't known what kind of man he was. She knew very well by now that jer husband was an indifferent man who took pleasure in his slander. She looked at the man in front of her & recalled how her life had changed so drastically because of him. She had seen it all of him in past few months, she had seen him at his most vulnerable when his daughter was kidnapped but Prerna was so immersed in her own darkness that she had refused to be sympathetic to this man’s pain. She was seething in rage when Bajaj's voice broke her trance.
"Are you OK Prerna? Do you need something? You could have just called.", Bajaj asked sincerely, trying hard to strike a conversation. Prerna caught a glimpse of concern in his eyes.
Prerna laughed a cold smile in her mind. “Was he concerned about her? But why? Oh right, I am mother of his child after all, why would he not be concerned about the mother”, thought Prerna.
After ruining her, this man, her husband, right in front of her had the audacity to ask her if she was OK. Only Rishabh Bajaj could still manage to mask even at his weakest. But Prerna had figured out this man & all she wanted in that moment was to be sadistic to him, to lent it all out of her heart whatever she had for this man. Her hatred was consuming her & she wanted to get rid of this, but Prerna had learnt to play the game with Bajaj after all.
"Yes, I am fine. But you seem distraught on the contrary. What happened to your hand?" Prerna said with a smile showing genuine concern, causing Bajaj to be confused. Bajaj had seen her smile in months now & that seemed to have eased tension building up in his stomach. But there were thoughts Bajaj couldn’t help keep at bay.
"Isn't she supposed to lash at me, be angry at me, hit me but here she is asking me about my hand. How does she do that, care so much about people she can’t even stand," thought Bajaj. Bajaj had always been amazed by highly empathetic nature of Prerna. He hadn’t seen anyone like her in years. She loved unconditionally, with passion, with love that knew no bounds. Any man would be blessed to have a woman like her in his life. Thousands of moments creeped in Bajaj’s mind that he spent with her that left him wonder.
"You must be wondering why am I here today. I know you love to study me, surprise me, Rishabh. Isn’t that what you are trying to do right now as well? Read me?, " said Prerna in her calm voice but he didn’t miss sass in her tone.
This was the first time, Prerna had addressed him with his first name & to say, he was shocked beyond wits would be an understatement. He could see cruelty in her tone, but he couldn't find himself to fight her today. "Her grief needs to be expressed," thought Bajaj.
"I am not studying you Prerna but I am genuinely surprised about what brings you here today, after all this time." Bajaj asked with genuine sincerity in his calm voice.
Prerna gave him a glance & then walked up to the window leaving Bajaj seated on his chair. She stared at the scenery outside for few moments. Silence covered the room meanwhile which unnerved for Bajaj.
“Isn’t it beautiful outside, the scenery?”, she asked. Her words were returned by silence. Bajaj wanted to listen to her today, not read, judge but just listen.
“Sneha has been recovering from the trauma. Last few weeks have been hard for her but she has made progress”, Prerna continued.
“It’s because of you”, Bajaj acknowledged. “You have stood by her side like a rock, even when you were going through …….”, Bajaj had stopped midway before completing his sentence. He didn’t want to remind her of her loss, of that incident today or ever for that matter. He wanted to heal her, apply ointment to her wounds that would cause his own wounds to heal. Silence fell between them again. None sure of what to say. They had always found a topic to talk about, Sneha was the most prominent one but today, it wasn’t about anyone else,but them & they had never talked about them.
“Why are you here Prerna?”, asked Bajaj again with uneasiness clouding his mind & body.
"I want divorce", blurted Prerna without hesitation.
Bajaj had thought of many accusations, lectures, taunts from Prerna but he had never thought about what she had just said. He was ready for any of her words, taunts, accusations, anger but not this. It had been after many years he had grown fond of a company other than his daughter & business employees.This company gave him peace & he wasn’t ready to let go of it. Prerna’s words had shocked him. He wanted to know if this wasn’t a nightmare or her hadn't misheard her & so he asked again. “What?”
“I want a divorce”, repeated Prerna in the same calm voice as if it wasn’t a big deal for her. He was finding it hard to digest, thousands of thoughts plagued his mind in that moment, Prerna’s love for Anurag, her underlying loyalty towards her love, her bond with Sneha & her care and loyalty for him. Bajaj liked to believe in the idea that Prerna cared about him in her own twisted way &the thought had been calming to him. But Prerna’s words had infuriated him when he thought about his daughter. “How can she do this?”, thought Bajaj in anger. Bajaj had expected of striking a conversation today which would amend things between them, but she infuriated him & words were out before he could think.
"You promised me your loyalty Prerna. I know what has happened was unfortunate,but you can't leave Sneha”, Bajaj said in his stern voice.
Prerna wasn't surprised at his words. She was waiting for her loyalty to be thrown at her face again by this man. He had never let her forget that she had promised her loyalty to him, which he had used for his own objectives while Anurag was still struggling with the trap, he had weaved around him. Prerna had learnt to not trust Bajaj beyond a point when it came to certain things. But Prerna wasn't here to lose today, she was here to win & she would win. He loved to play chess & she would play the same game with him today. While she knows of her rival’s weakness, rival hadn’t been aware of recent development about his queen.
"Just when I thought you were feeling guilty on seeing me, you decide to reveal that you aren’t capable of anything but your selfishness”, Prerna said in a dry tone. She has had enough of his manipulation and she wasn’t willing to fall for them again. “You no longer are in position to tell me what I can do & what I can’t. Don’t mistake my words for a request, Rishabh, because it isn’t. Only you could call that an unfortunate incident with such ease while it might thrill you beyond words that Anurag's child is no more in your wife's belly", Prerna continued her words in an extremely emotionless, dry tone.
Bajaj was finding this conversation claustrophobic. His own guilt had been overpowering him for a while but Prerna's indifference & accusation were hitting him like a blade. If words could kill, Prerna’s words at the moment would have made Bajaj half dead. There was venom in her voice, directed towards him, threatening to kill him.
“And who said I was going to leave Sneha?”, said Prerna twisting the knife of words in his heart. Bajaj didn’t know what she meant but to his mind, it registered as if she wanted to take his daughter away from him. Bajaj had loved his daughter even though he had never expressed how much he had loved her. Any normalcy in the relationship he had with his daughter was because of Prerna& he knew if Sneha had to chose between him & Prerna, she would choose Prerna with her eyes closed & he wouldn’t be able to do anything to change that.
“You can’t take my daughter away from me, Prerna. Don’t forget that you are not her biological mother”, Bajaj said in a dangerous tone to break her, retort back at her but Prerna was unfazed. A cruel smile plays on her lips.
“Even after all that has happened, you can still tell me that I am not her mother, biological or otherwise.”, She let out a cold laugh at the end of her sentence. “You no longer surprise me, Mr. Bajaj”, she emphasized on his name. Prerna was in no mood to be merciful to this man in front of her. His words had fueled her rage, but she tried hard to be indifferent to this man, only to not give away any weakness to him, until she had broken him further.
“Ronit was your mistake. What happened to your daughter was your mistake,Mr. Bajaj. You used him as your pawn, but you forgot that you don’t feed milk to a snake & expect it to not bite back. Anurag had warned you about him,his past record was a warning, but you couldn’t admit that you could be wrong in your assessment about him, you couldn’t admit that maybe Ronit wasn’t aright man to support for your own agenda. You had a chance to get him caught in the first place, you had a chance to make a change, but you didn’t because for you, your enmity with Anurag was much bigger than anything else. You love playing chess, right, carefully plan each move to win every time, but you forgot, life is not a game of chess. The pawns in real life can always bite back. You are in this because of your arrogance, we are in this because of your arrogance & whether you like to admit it or not, but nothing will change it, not now, not ever. I lost my child, love of my life because of you. Anurag could never know about his child because of you. We were beginning to get back to normal but Ronit came back to have his revenge against you. No matter how much you try to change it but you are a selfish man Mr. Bajaj & all of our lives are in jeopardy because of you. I loathe the day I met you Mr. Bajaj& I wish we had never met. I wish I had never known you & we wouldn’t be here.”, Prerna had continued her attack with no emotion in her voice, each word carefully crafted to stab him, stab his ego, arrogance, everything he was proud of.
Bajaj had broken down a little with each word she had said. She was right after all. This was happening because he had allowed Ronit an escape in the first place. He hated the admission but he had underestimated Ronit in his own hatred for Basus. Bajaj had never met an enemy he couldn’t defeat but Ronit had managed to do great damage to him before he could be defeated.
“You asked everything of me in return for that one bargain. You had promised me that you would leave Anurag alone, but you didn’t. You still are hell bent on destroying him. Don’t think I don’t know that you were behind the recent raid in Anurag’s business,” Prerna had continued with her vicious attack.
“I had nothing to do with what is happening with Mr. Basu recently. I know what I promised & I have done everything to uphold it. His current misfortunes are because of his own decisions for which I can't be blamed.”, Bajaj replied to her calmly, even though anger was building up inside him on her accusations, which weren’t true.
“Oh really? You think I would trust you after all that you have done so far. I would never trust you with anything but one that you are a selfish man who would do anything to achieve your goals, even if it came at some collateral damage. Only thing about which I would ever give you benefit of the doubt is that you love your daughter in your own twisted way for which I certainly pity you.”
His anger was fueled up by her words. Here he was trying to heal things with her while she was attacking him viciously. He hated Prerna right now for rubbing his failure on him like that & accusing him of things he hadn’t done & with that in his mind, he got up from his chair to face her but retort came automatically from his mouth even when he didn’t want to.
“Ronit was not my enemy to begin with. He was already after you much longer than I came into your life. If anything, I got him off you & your lover’s back. You made him your enemy & your lover fueled him by murdering his sister. So, don’t you dare blame me for the mess you started, my darling wife. If anything, then my daughter was in danger because of you, your past baggage affected my little girl’s life in such a way”, Bajaj knew he was wrong to do this, he knew he was trying hard to shift the blame, but he still wanted to do it because he didn’t want to lose to her. "I know you like to believe that Anurag is still messed up because of me but trust me, when I say this, I have nothing to do with his recent losses. It’s his own incompetence that is making him suffer.”
Bajaj had hit the bull’s eye with his retort. “He was right”, Prerna thought. Ronit entered her sister’s life an year ago, creating a havoc that nearly destroyed her family & then entered his sister, Komolika that broke everything apart. Something snapped in Prerna’s heart at his retort, that broke the mask she was trying hard to keep on her face. A feeling washed over her face- guilt, she didn’t know but she still retorted.
“Don’t pretend that you didn’t know that I came with a baggage from my past, after all you uprooted it all in a moment with that deal. You knew I was danger to your child with Ronit in picture but you still chose to propose that deal. Why did you think Ronit would suddenly have a change of heart after I had become Mrs. Bajaj? For anything, you made him your own enemy in the process.So, before you blame me for what Ronit did to Sneha, you should first look at yourself. You didn’t even have the audacity to inform the woman you had married to inform her about your past marital status & the child because you thought forgery would be a good idea to trap this woman who was desperate for help.”, Prerna almost shouted at him.
He had no intention of backing down in that moment. If Prerna wanted a vicious fight, he could give it to her. His mind was asking him to shut his mouth but his anger didn’t have a stop & he mercilessly continued to attack the woman, he didn’t want to hurt but couldn’t help his anger at that moment.
“You came to me for my help in the first place. I didn’t force you for this marriage, if anything, I agreed to every damn condition you threw in. I have already apologized for hiding about Sneha before marriage but my intentions for you have never been wrong. We have talked about this already, why are we talking about this again? And……”, continued Rishabh
“Oh yes, I must praise majestic, the Rishabh Bajaj to have been such a kind gentleman to a woman like me. You still think what you did was right because it was for your daughter. You literally uprooted my life for your own selfish gains”, Prerna lent out a sarcastic laugh with anger seething in her words.
Bajaj had enough of this conversation & he didn’t wish to entertain it anymore. He thought of a retort that would shut her down for once & all but he didn’t know the woman in front of him wouldn’t lose today & he didn’t know of the defeat he would face at her hands.
“By the way, where would you go after the divorce, back to your lover, the man who has done nothing but insult you ever since your little love story had begun or to your family who doesn’t wish to see you face ever again? Your lover left you for Komolika & you like a self-degrading woman, went to fight for him, while all his family did was insult you & he didn’t have the balls to stand for you. You went to destroy him, right? Until you found out what a great sacrificial man he was. Do you really think, he would have broken out of Komolika’s clutches on his own? He didn’t even doubt when he believed that you had left him for money. What a lover he was & what an eternal love story you have there. He didn’t stop when he viciously attacked you on your pregnancy.Tell me something Prerna, why did you not inform him about his child? Huh. I never asked you to keep a father away from his child, but it was your own decision to hide it from him. It was you who wanted him to move on. It was you who was insulting him, degrading yourself in his eyes, only to make him move on. So, before you blame me for everything that has gone wrong in your life,look at yourself Prerna. Maybe all this anger you have is your frustration,which you conveniently want to shift it on me, so that you stop this feeling of pain & suffering. You took certain decisions in your life for your reasons & I took them for mine. So, don't pretend to balme it all on me when you yourself are not without fault”, retorted Bajaj.
Anger was a weapon if channeled carefully, does wonders, but if not, could do the irreparable damage. That’s what Bajaj-Prerna were doing, using their anger to destroy each other. It was the first time both sides were attacking each other ferociously & their attack knew no bounds. In the loudness of their voices, both wanted to forget their inner turmoil that was killing them inside, weighing them down with their own guilt. Both Prerna & Bajaj were victims of their egos even when they were broken, but none wanted to concede defeat. They wanted to win, Prerna for her freedom, Bajaj for his daughter& himself and so, instead of healing each other, they tried to break each other further only to reach a point, where they couldn’t do it any longer &one had to lose for everyone to win. Bajaj’s attack had threatened tears out of Prerna’s eyes on their own accord. Prerna had forgotten to cry in past few months but today, she cried on words of a man, she was supposed to stay indifferent to. Bajaj felt a pang in his heart when he saw her tears & he immediately regretted everything he had said. But the damage was done before he could do anything
“You are right, it was my fault, it was all my fault. I had been so stupid to not see anything in my own madness for Anurag. He was hurt & broken because of me, he would never know about a child he could have had & it’s all my fault.”, Prerna said as her knees gave way & fell down on the floor. Bajaj had moved towards Prerna to console her but stopped when he heard her words& in that moment, he hated himself. He had wanted to heal this woman but he had broken her further. He stood there lost in his own agony & watched her cry, with nothing he could do to stop it.
“World breaks everyone & then many are stronger at broken places.”- Ernest Hemingway
Prerna no longer had anything to lose & thus could take any chance she wanted to. You are strongest & most dangerous, when you have nothing to lose & have no desire to want something. That’s where Prerna was, but Bajaj,on the contrary, was on the opposite side of this spectrum. He didn’t want to lose her, even the thought of her going away shook him up in unknown places.But she had found her strength in her broken self, while Bajaj had broken down in his strong self.
Deafening silence had fallen between them for several moment. Rooted to their spots, lost in their own misery, only sound they could hear was of thunderstorm & pouring rain, until Prerna spoke again.
“You have to let me go”, Prerna said. It wasn’t a condition, an order or a request, it was a plead. In that moment, Bajaj looked at her carefully, keeping aside his own prejudices & saw something he couldn’t believe. Prerna was lost somewhere in darkness. The woman in front of him wasn’t just broken but destroyed.Her mask had consumed her & she was asking for help. But the selfishness in Bajaj had always managed to overpower his rational thoughts. Even when he was guilty, he couldn’t stop being selfish for his daughter, for himself.
“Sneha would break if you do this”, it was all Bajaj could say. “I know you have no reason to forgive me but please, think about Sneha. She has lost her mother earlier who left when she was a baby but she wouldn’t be able to bear this again. She loves you, is that not enough reason for you to stay".
Bajaj had seen this sight before, with Maneka. Even she had wanted an out from their marriage. He had tried hard to hold on to her with a closed fist.But he hadn’t realized when had everything slipped out of his hands while he was trying hard to hold everything together. He had begged of her, told her how much he loved her, but she didn’t budge. To Prerna, he couldn’t even say that he loved her because he himself wasn’t sure of what he felt for this woman, but he knew that his daughter lover her more than anything in the world. There was a difference between then & now. Maneka owed a chance to thei rrelationship, to their child but Prerna didn’t owe anything to him. Everything she had done so far, was not for herself but for others she loved unconditionally. He had got everything in his life right now because of her while she had lost everything in her life because of him.
“Sneha will never lose her mother again. She has all of my heart. Last thing,I need from you is to remind me about Sneha. But I can’t wear this mask anymore. I can’t pretend that I am fine, we are fine & put a façade in front of her, when I am clearly not. This place suffocates me, those memories haunt me at nights, every time I close my eyes, I am reminded of that incident, of everything that has happened in last one year. I am haunted by thoughts of what my life could have been if you hadn’t come & I want an end to this. I can’t erase images of my dead child, of how things could have been if none of this had happened”. Prerna was standing & facing the scenery outside, with welled up eyes which she refused to show to her husband. There was hatred, anger,frustration, vulnerability in Prerna’s words. She could cry again but only this time, she didn’t.
“You will go back to Anurag?", Bajaj said only to take a pause "I may be a gentleman Prerna but even you know I am not a saint when it comes to keeping my possessions”, Bajaj stood at some distance from her & was pissed with her constant mention of Anurag & he had begun to hate it from all his heart. He didn’t listen much to his heart but whenever he did he had very negative feeling for these 2 lovers, probably because now, he wanted to see himself in her heart & not that Anurag Basu. He had always wondered what good had Anurag done to deserve a woman like her. He had insulted her, rebuked her, betrayed her but still here she was, ready to burn herself like a moth in his love.
Bajaj had begun to envy Anurag because of Prerna’s dedication to him &this wasn’t a feeling he handled very well. Prerna, on the other hand was bewildered at what Bajaj had said. She turned back to face him to assure that he had said something like this again.
“Possession, after all this time, that’s what I am to you, a mere possession, that you could own at your whims & fancies. Oh right, you had once said, you could have women at much lower price if you had wanted. It was so flattering for me to be your wife”, Prerna said with sass in her voice. “So,tell me Mr. Rishabh Bajaj, what price am I worth, to be your prized possession", Prerna’s words stabbed him like a knife causing excruciating pain in the body. He felt the earth slip beneath his feet. His face reflected the shock of her words, his body giving up & the moment of realization forced him to fall on his chair right where he had stood but Prerna didn’t care, she continued with her attack, she wanted to lent it all out, hurt him just he had hurt her.
“You pride yourself in being a gentleman when even you know that you are not any better than Anurag for having married me like that. He reduced me to a commodity he wanted to own by earning lots of money & here you have reduced me to a prized possession for your ego. Isn't it funny when you say, you are not like Anurag when you exactly are.”, a cruel, maniac laugh erupted in the room & it came from Prerna.
Her words & her laugh intimidated him. He had no retort this time &in that moment, he felt naked in front of her with all his emotions visible on his face & in body language. His face had fallen down & her words began to spin in his head. He wanted to shout & scream but felt his voice gone. Right in front of him was Prerna laughing at him, at his weak self.Suddenly, something washed over his head, he got up & moved towards her in two strides her. He grabbed her arms & pushed her behind, only for her to hit the wall. Prerna was locked under his hands with his face on her assessing something. His hold pierced her arms but she didn’t wince in pain at his action, that’s how much she had become indifferent to pain, but she did catch his face masked with anger & disgust. Was the disgust for her or himself,none of them could tell. Bajaj had hardly lost his control in his life with anyone, but this time he had.
He smelled of cigar & wine which clouded Prerna’s senses. Prerna had been well acquainted by his scent by now. They have had their close moments in past 7 months of their marriage, but this was the first time, they were so close to each other. They were close enough to be able to hear each other’s breath & heartbeat. Anyone from a distance would have mistaken it as a passionate, intense moment between two lovers but only the two knew what it was.
Bajaj was fuming with rage at what Prerna had said about herself more than what she had said about him. He hated when she did that in front of her. He looked at her with his rugged breath while his eyes scanned her face so closely for the first time. “She was beautiful”, was the first thought that crossed his mind. Only if they had been on better terms, Bajaj would have kissed her by now out of her senses until she moaned his name & had withered in his arms. He was confident that she would have melted beneath his touch just like that.
Meanwhile, Prerna just stood there, lifeless, against him, unsure of what was to come next. But she knew she had found his weak nerve & now she had to press it a little harder to get her way with him. She looked back in his eyes with equal intensity, only to meet his intense gaze but she saw many emotions in his eyes- disgust, anger, vanity & lastly an emotion she had never seen in his eyes before, lust. Bajaj continued to eye her face, her eyes & her plum,pink lips. His face inched closer to her, causing her to close her eyes with raging breath & heartbeat that had never been so loud-pitched ever since she had been with Anurag. He moved closer, side to her face, making her cheeks blush pink with heat, to her ears where he dangerously whispered.
“You are not going back to your lover, dear wife.” Bajak wanted to mark her as his own, atleast that's what he thought he could do.
Prerna’s eyes snapped open the moment she heard him & shock was evident on her face. She looked hard at him to register what he had said & saw a man gloating in his momentary achievement. Bajaj enjoyed Prerna’ shock, for he thought he had finally won but suddenly he saw a smile creep on Prerna’s lips,a cold, chilling smile, as if he had said a joke that she found amusing.
“Who said I was going back to him after divorce?”, said Prerna in her utmost calm voice & that was a moment of triumph for her. She had shocked her dear husband again, this time beyond his wits with no chance for retort whatsoever. Bajaj’s hands moved off her arms, but he still stood close to her to see any sign of a bluff on her face, but he didn’t find any crease on her forehead but just a smile that was proving to be her triumphant smile.
“You are bluffing”, said Bajaj. “You can’t live without Anurag. If not him,then you would go back to your family. I know you Prerna & I know what you are capable of not doing.”, he continued.
Prerna just stood there & smiled & gloated of how she had finally hit Rishabh Bajaj’s eye.
“Sure, 2 months ago, I would have done the same but now, when I recall it,my family hates me, Anurag hates me & now I have no reason to go back to him. There is nothing that binds me to him anymore. As for love, I don’t think I love him anymore. After all, you can always fall out of love even with the person you had once loved the most. I mean look at you. You once loved your wife with all that you had but now you don’t. You don’t care about her. So, I wonder why would you think I would go back to him. I mean, I know, you think of me as this stupid, naïve, emotional, desperate girl but people can change, right? Why do you think I can’t change?”, said Prerna with mischievousness in her eyes. She was mocking him, as if telling him that she had taken a page from his book. Prerna Sharma had finally learnt to be selfish.
This can’t be happening, thought Bajaj. Prerna’s greatest weakness had been her love for others which Bajaj could tweak for his goals. He knew he could never exploit a person who no longer thought from heart but mind. Prerna had turned into that same person right in front of him & he hadn’t realized such dangerous transformation of this young woman. She was too young to hit that realization, thought Bajaj. No one is more dangerous than one who has no fear of losing anything & no desire to want something. In that moment, Bajaj was finally defeated, he didn’t know if he could defeat her without resorting to intimidate or exploit her again. It’s not that he wasn’t capable of doing it again to get her but he didn’t want to do it to her anymore. For the first time, Rishabh Bajaj wanted to do what Anurag Basu had always believed in- play fair but he knew a fair game with Prerna at this moment could only end in not getting what he wants. But he still tried,
"Please Prerna." Bajaj hadn't pleaded in years but today, it had come so naturally to him in front of this woman, who was being cold as ice. Her cold behavior was hurting him more just like how ice applied to burn hurts.
“You said you want me to forgive you. But I have forgiven you, Rishabh, not because you deserve it but because I deserve to be at peace. Why should your pleading eyes haunt me anymore? Why should I be burdened with your pleas of forgiveness? Why should you have the pleasure of clouding my mind anymore? You have done what you could do. I have lost whatever I could including myself in last one year. There is no coming back from it, nothing will change what has happened, but I can move on from it, choose a different life as per my convenience with nothing to do with you guys.”, Prerna had continued her verbal assault on him.
Prerna saw her husband sulk in beneath her brutal attack. Yes, she was sadist & a part of her was enjoying it. Few months ago, Prerna would have hated being this person, but now she had no option but to do this.Self-preservation had pushed Prerna into a territory she had never imagined,she would ever enter. With that she had turned to leave this man wail in his own agony while she set out to do another of the most important task for the day. Bajaj wanted to stop her, beg of her to stay but he knew it would all go in vain. He knew he had hurt her enough to destroy her & only thing he could do in this moment to help her was watch her go away. She turned for one last time to address this man, she will no longer have to call her husband.
“Divorce papers will reach you soon Mr. Bajaj, I have eased somethings for you & if you ever felt anything remotely human for me, you will sign it & set me free from this sham of marriage.”, she said.
“And as for Sneha, don’t worry, I will never take her away from you, for I know how painful it is for a parent to lose their child. Your daughter will not be punished for mistakes of us elderly & I will make sure of it.”
With that, Prerna left his room while all he could do was break further in his own abyss in the mess of his room. He watched her go away from him. For the first time in life, he didn't know what move to play to ensure his victory, for what he considered to be his victory was her defeat. Prerna's victory was in her freedom at this juncture & he wanted to gift it to her. He wanted to lose to her this time, only to ensure that he may be able to win in future again. Bajaj cursed his fate for snatching everything from him once again without giving him a chance to amend. He was finally broken by Mrs. Prerna Bajaj with the same tricks, he had used to break many people before. He never understood what Prerna had said about not becoming so blind in arrogance to not see anything else, but today, he had understood &felt & it had hurt. Even with her final blow, Prerna had given him a medicine for his broken spirit when she promised to not take his daughter away from him.Even though she could have never done that legally, but he was still grateful for her final act of mercy on him. Bajaj was knew that Prerna would never leave Sneha filled with darkness & it was enough for him in this moment. They say, you realize true worth of someone,only when they are gone & in that moment, Rishabh Bajaj had felt loneliness after a long time. He had loved to live in isolation, but he was never lonely,but today he was. He was left to once again heal himself but he didn’t know if he could do it this time. He sat in his room alone, broken, lost where all he could hear was a mix of his own thoughts with pouring rain on the outside.
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Next- Sneha Bajaj.
I want to show Sneha as a mature child, not too mature but someone who understands enough for her age. There will be conversation between Sneha & Prerna. More will be on what Prerna is trying to do here. First I want to complete the Bajaj Mansion plot which will take one more chapter & then we will move to Mr. Anurag Basu. I want to say again, none of the characters in this plot are white or black, each of them are selfish for their own reasons & thus in a grey zone, so , any conflict you may feel is inevitable because characters are written in such a way.
Comment, like, review. Until, next chapter, have a good day folks. ❤️
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