Hi,
I will update latest by tomorrow evening. I promise. It's a rather long update and it's taking more time than I anticipated.
Couple of questions to people to watch the show:
1) How old is Mr. Bajaj?
2) How old is Sneha supposed to be? Does she have some kind of disability?
3) is Prerna's father dead?
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P.S: Thank you in advance for the answers.
1) I don't knowOriginally posted by: Sohali19
Hi,
I will update latest by tomorrow evening. I promise. It's a rather long update and it's taking more time than I anticipated.
Couple of questions to people to watch the show:
1) How old is Mr. Bajaj?
2) How old is Sneha supposed to be? Does she have some kind of disability?
3) is Prerna's father dead?
___________________________________________
P.S: Thank you in advance for the answers.
2)Sneha is mute
3) Yes!
Originally posted by: Sohali19
Hi,
I will update latest by tomorrow evening. I promise. It's a rather long update and it's taking more time than I anticipated.
Couple of questions to people to watch the show:
1) How old is Mr. Bajaj?
44 years
2) How old is Sneha supposed to be? Does she have some kind of disability?
She's supposed to be 6 and she can't speak.
3) is Prerna's father dead?
Yes, he was killed in a car accident planned by Komolika, Anurag's ex wife.
___________________________________________
P.S: Thank you in advance for the answers.
Ah! Took me such a long time to write this one. This update seems to be closest in storyline to the show. I have of course made changes to make it more realistic. But even so, I am rather unhappy with the writing in this one so please forgive me. Ritzi, Yamini, Blues, Ankie,: Thank you for pushing me to finish this update. I saw your ‘update messages’ and went straight to work. Mahi, Monali and Blues, you guys are A stars! Thank you for answering my questions. Sanu, Anjali, Anju, Shruti, Aparna, if I could send you individualized gift baskets, I would! Ramya, you left me the most detailed message of this thread and let me tell you that it’s messages like yours that make me pay extra attention to details of the story. Himani, Esther, Faiza, US, I’ve been reading your previous messages with a happy heart. Thank you ever so much. Everyone else who has messaged but haven’t left their names, I’m so grateful for your support. Please do mention your names so I can personally thank you!
I will update the main index tomorrow. I promise.
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Part 14
In the two months since her shattering breakup, Prerna had gone through the motions of living life as best she could. She’d bumbled through the five stages of grief and still hadn’t found a way to come to terms with the result, not because she was inconsolably heartbroken because of Anurag but because she had been inconsolably betrayed by him. Somewhere in the last two months she had accepted that love and trust were not equal stakeholders in their relationship and while the loss of his love had hurt immensely, his mistrust of her had hurt even more. She had tried to reach out to him a few times, once their tempers had had a chance to subside but received no response. She hadn’t expected any support from his mother and Nivedita Basu had all but slammed the door on her face. The only person who still furtively communicated with her was her Kaka Babu. Whatever else the Basu family might have done to her, Prerna could never forget the kindness and love of the aging patriarch of the Basu family and the care he had always shown her. She could not bring herself to turn her back on him, especially not when Basu Industries was standing at an edge of a dangerous precipice.
Oh, yeah, she had heard all about Rishabh Bajaj’s takeover, the shock Moloy Basu had suffered at being shortchanged by his own daughter, the tumultuous handover of Basu Publications and the ongoing investigation into Nivedita Basu. Prerna had absorbed all of the cacophony like a stoic, keeping her external reactions to a bare minimum. She had learnt her lesson, she wasn’t going to stick her nose in affairs that no longer concerned her. She had her own set of problems to tussle with, not least of them being the vicious gossip that her break-up had generated.
As someone had once said to her: ‘not my circus, not my monkeys’.
As a distraction, she nosedived into college work, wanting to devote all her time to bettering herself. She was hoping to join as a teaching fellow at the same university and she wanted to ensure her grades would be top-notch. A job would also alleviate the increasing financial stress her family was feeling. She attended classes during the day and worked as a research assistant in the evenings, before taking the bus back home. On one such evening, Prerna walked into her room to find her sister sprawled on her bed, a sealed envelope in her hand.
“This came for you. Who is sending you personalized letters?” Shivani’s excitement palpable.
“Hi, Shivani, how was your day? Good? Me too. Thank you for asking, please make yourself comfortable on my bed.” Prerna responded sarcastically.
“I have. Open it, please! I’m dying of curiosity.”
“Jeez. Give me a minute.” Prerna said, sitting down heavily and slicing the envelope open.
It took her seconds to recognize the graceful penmanship. Mr. Bajaj.
Miss Sharma, I’m sure this request will take you by surprise. But if you would be so kind as to meet me at my office this Saturday, at 10 am, I’d appreciate it.
My best,
Rishabh Bajaj.
She read the note twice, ignoring her sister’s incessant queries. The nerve of the man! He’d summoned her to his office as if nothing had transpired in the last two months. Oh, Prerna thought viciously, She’d meet him alright. Just to shove his hard head through a wall. She tossed the note aside, shooed her sister out of the room and started on her nightly routine. But she couldn’t put aside a niggling realization that had risen unbidden in her mind.
He’d scheduled the meeting for Saturday so she wouldn’t miss her classes.
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“Thank you for meeting with me, Ms. Sharma. I know this must not be easy for you but the situation can’t be helped.” Mr. Bajaj said, extending a hand to her.
“Any time you feel like telling me why you wanted see me, I’m right here.” Her answering tone like poison. She noticed the faint dark circles under his hooded eyes, a shadow of weariness marring his austere face. He sat on the couch, his crisp tan suit-jacket unbuttoned, motioning for her to join him.
“In an unprecedented turn of events, I would like to make a deal with you this time.”
“Ha!” Prerna snorted, her breath catching, “And what in hell makes you think that I want to make a deal with you, Mr. Bajaj? You are a right ol’ piece of work, you know that? You knew that I would be spotted coming into your building, knew that the announcement of the Orchard Estate takeover would create a rift between Anurag and me. You kept your word to me about helping Nivedita and made sure you came out on top. I have to hand it to you. You’re a consummate player, but I’m done being a pawn in the games that men play. The only reason I came here today was because I wanted to look you in the eye and tell you to kindly f*ck off.” She snarled, the unintended slip of profanity taking her by surprise. Well, this man tended to bring out the worst in her, she grimaced as her eyes glanced over the covered documents on the coffee table between them.
“That’s quite a speech.” His signature drawl letting her know how little he cared for her opinion. “Do you remember when we played chess? It’s such a fascinating little game, no? After both players move, 400 possible board setups exist. After the second pair of turns, there are 197,742 possible games, and after three moves, 121 million. At every turn, players chart a progressively more distinctive path, and each game evolves into one that has probably never been played before. So how does one beat the opponent?”
She shrugged in response, wondering where this was going.
"You play the man, Ms. Sharma, not the game. I anticipated my opponent’s moves and did what I thought would best suit my interests. Did I know you would come asking for help at the precise time that you did? No. Did I reasonably anticipate it? Yes. And I’m hardly responsible for the internal mismanagement of Basu Industries.” He barely spared her a glance, his tapered fingers toying with a custom-made cigar. “As for causing a rift between you and the young Mr. Basu, I’m entirely blameless. If your relationship cannot survive a pleasant home tour and a measly takeover, then perhaps you should be looking elsewhere for your soulmate. I daresay I’ve done you a favor, Ms. Sharma.” His smirk unmistakable as he lit his Cohiba.
“Wow.” Prerna spluttered in derision. “Done me a favor? That’s rich. Oh, you may not be the whole villain in this story, Mr. Bajaj, but you best believe that you’re no hero either.”
“Heroes are boring, my dear, and they tend to die young. Me? I’d like to live to the ripe age of 80 with a woman on each arm.” He winked at her, smoke rising in spirals around him.
“Your moves have hurt good people! It has hurt me! And yet you find humor in cruelty.” Prerna lashed out, feeling utterly disgusted by his apathy.
“You wear opaque lenses and view the world, Prerna.” He replied, darkly. “The fact is that people are not sorted into white and black or good and evil. There’s no way of knowing what a person is capable of at his core. Are you a decent girl with a potential for cruelty or a cruel one who only thinks she’s good? Your circumstances will determine that.”
“I would know which kind I am.” Prerna insisted, taken aback by the intensity in his soft voice. His ability to go from sarcastic to sincere in seconds always unsettled her. Like winds that blew roofs away and then gentled down to rock a child on a swing.
"Wrong, because the lies we tell other people are nothing compared to the lies we tell ourselves.”
“Oh god, I’m stuck in a room alone with a complete sociopath.” She groaned loudly to herself.
“Sticks and stones…Ms. Sharma, sticks and stones. But on to the matter at hand. I only ask that you hear me out as I have for you in the past.”
Prerna begrudgingly nodded. After all, she had stormed into his offices more than once, demanding an audience. “What is it?”
“First, I require you to sign an NDA. A non-disclosure agreement, if you will. What I’m about to discuss with you is a private matter and in case you don’t want to take the deal, I want assurances that nothing we discuss makes it out of this room. However, if it does, the consequences will not be pleasant.” The threat unmistakable in his steely voice.
“I don’t think bullying the person you want to make a deal with is a good business strategy. And I’ve learnt a thing or two since our first meeting, Mr. Bajaj. Why would I sign the NDA? I get nothing out of it. I could refuse to sign it, walk out of here and that would be that. What’s my incentive to sign the NDA?” Prerna countered. She’d learnt how to hold her own with this man.
He leaned back into the couch, a touch of pride visible on his face. “Very good, Ms. Sharma, very good, indeed. What can I do for you? Within reason, of course.”
Prerna debated asking him to return the Basuwadi title deeds but she didn’t think that would fly with him. No, she would have to ask for something feasible and relevant. “Return the title deeds to the Basu warehouses.” She declared boldly, thinking that in case of a liquidity crunch, the warehouse properties could be sold for a profit. Kaka Babu deserved better in this stage of his life. They all did.
“Still trying to save your Prince Charming, Cinder girl?” He needled, but Prerna didn’t rise to the bait. She simply shrugged, declining to answer.
“Very well. You have my word. The title deeds to the warehouses will be returned tomorrow morning.” He handed her a pen and waited for her to finish signing the NDA.
“Okay, here. Done. Now, what do you want to tell me?”
Mr. Bajaj said nothing. He stared at her for a long moment, his eyes holding a calculating look, before picking up an upturned picture from the table and handing it to her.
Prerna flipped the photograph and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The still had a lone little girl, propped up on a couch, against an abundance of animal shaped cushions. Her adorable little face was scrunched up as she grinned at the camera, dimples shining in her cheeks. Given Mr. Bajaj’s penchant for asking strange things of her, Prerna immediately went on guard.
“I’m not going to kidnap her, if that's what you want.” Her indignant declaration was met with a deep throated chuckle.
“That’s good to hear, Ms. Sharma. Especially since that’s my daughter we’re talking about.”
Prerna’s eyes grew as big as saucers, her mouth falling slightly open in shock. Not for a thousand cupcakes could she have guessed that Mr. Rishabh Bajaj had a family, let alone a tiny girl.
“I see that I’ve stunned you into silence. That’s my five -year old daughter – Sneha. And Sneha is the reason you’re here, Ms. Sharma.”
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“I’m a practical man, Ms. Sharma and I come up with practical solutions to my problems. I travel constantly, I work long hours, I have several responsibilities and I am fastidious about discharging each one of them. But I’m failing. I’m failing to be what my daughter needs me to be and I have to fix that.”
It wasn’t lost on Prerna that it must have taken considerable effort for a man like Mr. Bajaj to admit failure but she wasn’t sure how she fit in.
“How am I supposed to help?”
“The first time I met you, you charged into my house – an unknown man’s home to help someone you loved. I thought then that you were either extremely brave or incredibly foolish. I found it strangely intriguing that you so easily wore your heart on your sleeve, ready to do anything for Mr. Basu. And I, nursing a healthy skepticism of those emotions, needed to see how far you would go in your quest.”
He got up and began walking indolently across the length of the room, suffusing the air with a smell of cherry and smoke. “You didn’t back down from my condition, Ms. Sharma, even at great cost to yourself. It showed me that you would go to great lengths for someone you loved. The next time you came to me, I decided to go one step further. Anurag was seemingly the love of your life, but would you show the same loyalty to his family? Half of whom hold you in utter disregard. And to my pleasant surprise, you refused to betray the Basus and hand the charter documents over. It told me something very crucial, Ms. Sharma, that you are unfailingly faithful to those who you consider family.”
Prerna was starting to uncomfortably feel like a golden retriever.
“Thereafter, every time you came to me to make a deal, I gleaned from information from you. You’re a decent cook, have considerable patience; I kept you waiting for nearly a whole day in fact. You’re well-read, an accomplished singer and dancer, tenacious enough to teach younger children without losing your cool and you have no intention of leaving Kolkata. Out of my current contenders, that makes you the most apt choice.”
He paused to turn and face her, their difference in heights even more pronounced at that moment.
“Choice for what exactly?” Prerna asked warily, wondering if this was going to end in some sort of ritual sacrifice.
“My wife, of course.”
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Cheers
Sohaa
Finally u updated 🙌🙌🙌🙌 what a great comeback 🥳 I m so in love with your prerna.... She finally decides to not mingle with other's business 👍😂 pls abhi door mat jana aur jaldi se next update de dena 🤗🤗
Heroes are boring, my dear, and they tend to die young. Me? I’d like to live to the ripe age of 80 with a woman on each arm.” He winked at her, smoke rising in spirals around him.
🤣 i loved this part so much 🤣
Wohooo so bajaj tells her why he wants to marry her. Wohooo 😎
Now give us the wedding asap pls 🤗♥️
You render me SPEECHLESS. I often am at loss of words to comment.
Finally!! You are back.
Res
Edited:
Awesome chapter.
I am happy that Prerna is not crying over her breakup, but actually trying to move on. What a good change from the show's P. Very happy that she is already inspired by Bajaj's words ‘not my circus, not my monkeys’. The personalized letter, I love them. So by default I like how he always sends her these. As expected she was first angry, but then realized he called her over the weekend not to miss her college.
I am happy that she did take her frustration on him. She doesn't have a filter on her mouth when it comes to him, which I LOVE. Chess reference, mind-blowing👏. "You play the man, Ms. Sharma, not the game"
is his way of dealing with things.
I declare that I LOVE this Bajaj with just this statement “Heroes are boring, my dear, and they tend to die young. Me? I’d like to live to the ripe age of 80 with a woman on each arm.” ☺️
Her counter-attack for NDA is GOLD. I am impressed just like Bajaj, no wonder he is so proud of her.
OMG, she thought he wants her to kidnap the baby😆. But this Bajaj is fascinating me, just by accepting that he is failing taking care of his daughter❤️.
His explanation for all the demands for the deals is 👏. So the question is presented, let's see what's her reaction would be. I don't think she would agree so easily. But would he make her agree by changing the circumstances?
This is a wonderful update. Waiting for the next one.
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