Added Chapter 23: All The King's Men: PreRish - Page 90 - Page 20

Hey, no no no. Don't you go down that road, Aparna. You're a brilliant, articulate writer and we can't afford to lose the good ones to writer's block.  I will spam your story everyday until you update.

Okay? Okay. 

Fabulous update dear 

I am in love with this ff

Ty

Suma 💕

Finally waited for ages but totally worth the fantastic update

Updated my comment in pg:24😳

Sohaa! This was absolutely enthralling. ⭐️

We waited so long for this part and the wait was totally worth it. So finally RB made the marriage proposal after carefully assessing her dexterity in various departments. His proposal makes complete sense as the build-up in the preceding chapters has been damn convincing.

This update, like its predecessors, has so many quotable lines. 

Please continue soon. 😊

Awesome update.. 

Eagerly waiting for the next one. 

Oh my god. This part nearly had me quitting. I just couldn’t find a balance between morally ambiguous and completely irredeemable, Mr. Bajaj. I disagreed with how they showed the marriage deal on the show. So impractical and haphazard. I have tried to plug in the loopholes the best I could. I have also changed the health issue that the daughter suffers from because while, not being able to speak is a disability, its not one that requires 24/7 attention and certainly not the urgency of marriage that was shown.

For all those nitpickers, yes, I well aware that pre-nuptial agreements are not enforceable in India. Just go with it, okay? Assume for the purpose of this story that they are. Lastly, having title deeds to a property is not entirely sufficient on its own to gain ownership of that property. Something that I have taken cognizance of. The show writers seem to put absolutely zero research into writing anything. Tragic.

Ankie, your GIFs have me dying here. You’re gonna have to wait for the wedding. Ramya, what a lovely message, I’m so glad you caught on to all the subtleties of the previous update, it makes me so happy! Najma, I’m glad you like my second last chapter. Esther,Nida, Moushumi, Anju, Anjali, I’ve churned out another chapter and I hope the update was fast enough for your liking. Let me know if you like the actual content as well. Breez, Shruti, Suma: You guys are the best and make the time I spend writing so worth it.

Someone please be kind enough to give me a short summary of what is happening on the show. I have stopped watching.

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Part XV

“Choice for what exactly?” Prerna asked warily, wondering if this was going to end in some sort of ritual sacrifice.

“My wife, of course.”

She spluttered in utter disbelief, staring at his unperturbed profile in confusion. Out of all the marriage proposals in the world, this one really had to take the cake. She was being pranked. She had to be. Any minute now, a camera crew would burst into the office and tell her she’s been made a bakra.

Any minute now.

“Tell me I’m a bakra.”  She muttered out loud, rubbing her face.

“Tell you what?” He cocked his head, looking at her quizzically. “Can I get you a glass of water, Ms. Sharma?”

She nodded mechanically, wondering if she should ask him to add some of his whisky to her water. If his ever-present cool self-possession was anything to go by, whisky seemed to have certain magical properties.

“My proposal seems to have shocked you. I understand that it’s an unusual way to go about these things. But the marriage would be a transactional arrangement between consenting parties. and out of the pool of women I vetted, you seemed like the best choice for various reasons.” He said, offhandedly, clicking away at his phone.

Transactional arrangement? Pool of women? How many women were unwittingly being made to go through this lunatic’s bizarre version of hunger games? Prerna continued to stare at him in muted incredulity, his pronounced nonchalance heightening her distress.

“Why do you need to marry at all? If this is about Sneha, you have all the money in the world to hire the best nannies.” Prerna finally asked, looking at his daughter’s picture and connecting the dots.  She should have flatly said no to his absurd proposition and walked out of here instead of playing twenty-questions but something was keeping her rooted to the spot.

“I can’t guarantee an outsider’s loyalty. Sneha isn’t like other children. She has – she has a congenital heart defect and requires constant care and commitment, something only a family member will be regimentally attentive of.” For the first time since Prerna had met this man, she thought she heard a thread of emotion lace his tone. “About six months ago, her daimaa, who had looked after Sneha from the day she was born, tried to leak her medical information to a competitor looking for dirt on me. I fired the lady but for weeks my girl cried herself to sleep, calling for her daimaa and I could do nothing to shield her from the pain. After that, it became imperative that I find a suitable replacement.”

The glint of fury in his eyes deepened, his chiseled jaw hardening, “Ms. Sharma, I want to be a comfort to my child in despair, and I want to be able to celebrate her successes. And for all the times in between, I just want to be able to look her in the eye and know that I’m being a good father.”

There was no mistaking the sincerity in his words.

 “Look, I understand where you’re coming from but why in the world would you ask me to marry you! How can I possibly marry you? We don’t even like each other!” She blurted out the inanest reason she could think of. This whole conversation seemed ludicrous to her but she couldn’t toss her derision in the face of his candid admission.

“That’s not a requirement for this marriage, Ms. Sharma. We’ll be husband and wife only in the eyes of the law. If I could hire you as a nanny, I would, but as you’ve seen, society can be vicious and your constant presence at my home would affect you and your family adversely. It would also create problems for me if you were to eventually get married. All I require is absolute loyalty to my daughter in all things that concern her and in some small measure, to me. If you were to agree, you will inadvertently become privy to some of the workings of Bajaj Holdings and I expect  that to be kept confidential. In turn, you will have the respect, money and privacy that comes with my name.”

His impersonal recitation of what marriage to him would entail galled her but it was the mention of money made her see red. “And just for argument’s sake, you think money is why I would agree to marry you? I am not a gold digger, Mr. Bajaj!”

“Why not? Denying that money talks and opens doors is foolishness. The only people who claim that money is not important are those who were born into it. It’s a hard world, Ms. Sharma, and having a full account makes it marginally less hard. Since you’re not marrying for love anymore, you may as well marry for money." He shrugged, unbothered by the idea of such a cold marriage. "Shivani would be able to study abroad, get the kind of education only a top dollar can provide, your mother would be able to retire, she could get access to the best medical treatment there is. You can finish your degree in peace without juggling a side job. Being practical doesn’t make you a gold digger, it makes you smart.”

They stared at each other, his gaze mired in condescension, hers in defiance. Prerna tried to summon her anger but she couldn’t overlook the counsel in his caustic remarks. Every time she spoke to him, she felt unmoored, unable to decide what Rishabh Bajaj was – tonic or toxin.

Or was he both.

It would be so easy to just say yes, to give into a life that a thousand other women would want. A life with luxury and comfort.  But this man guaranteed nothing. This man whose cruelty had created havoc in her life. This man who offered nothing of himself. Prerna wanted to stare at him until he made sense to her, fit into some category of homo sapiens she could check off and set aside, a mystery solved. He was handsome—but that was obvious; but something much more arresting than mere beauty simmered under his apparently unlimited composure. It both repelled and drew her in, in spite of the faint contempt in his eyes.

“Mr. Bajaj, even if I wanted to enter into this arrangement, I couldn’t. There is too much bad blood between you and the Basus. And yes, I know I no longer have any tangible relationship with them but I still love Anurag. I can’t betray him like this.”

“Right. You-love-Anurag. The same Anurag who tossed you aside like yesterday’s news. Even if you choose not to marry me, Ms. Sharma, at least take that boy off the pedestal you’ve put him on.”

This man seemed incapable of saying anything directly, unequivocally, without an edge of supposedly humorous cynicism. Prerna couldn’t help but wonder how he had gotten this way as he continued. “No one wants to take responsibility for anything anymore. We foster, we obfuscate, we rationalize so that everyone's to blame and no one's guilty. You hid our deals from your fiancée, take responsibility for it. He treated you like shit, allow him to take responsibility for his actions. I’m manipulating you into marrying me, I’m man enough to take responsibility for it."

“You don’t understand –

“I understand better than you think. I understand that even after the way Anurag treated you, you're willing to stay with him, more out of obligation...or maybe comfort. Maybe he is the safe harbor and you need that. The unknown can be scary, and I am the unknown. I understand. But now, you understand. It’s time to grow the f*ck up. This is the grown-ups’ table and while I will never resort to coercion, doesn’t mean I’m above using your weakness against you.”

Prerna felt a shiver run through her body. He stood before her, the mid-morning sun reflecting off his haughty cheekbones and she understood that his brittle geniality was a just a mask, and under it lay something dark and feral.

His familiar drawl cut through her musings, “If all the reasons I’ve given you are not persuasive enough, then I have another trick up my sleeve. I recently acquired assignment rights under a contract with a non-banking financial company. Many years ago, this NBFC had extended a loan to Basu Industries to a tune of 2500 crore against mortgage backed securities, one of them being, Basubadi. The loan partially became due last week which the Basus defaulted on. On the date of the default, the NBFC became entitled to enforce the mortgage and sell the properties to recover the money.”  He paused, bending slightly forward to light a second cigar, looking like the very picture of arrogance. “But as fate should have it, the rights to this loan contract were assigned to me, two months ago under an independent transaction that I closed with the NBFC. Which means…you should open that large envelope lying in front of you, Ms. Sharma.”

Prerna picked up the folder and began sifting through the pages, her horror mounting with each word he spoke.

 “I already had the title deeds to Basubadi but now I have the legal right to enforce the mortgage on the property and sell it.  I have made calculations that could substantially beggar your ex-boyfriend. What is it that bad guys always say at the end of movies? They should have seen this coming? Well, they should have.” The visceral triumph in his eyes belying his casual tone.

“Why do you hate them so much?” She whispered brokenly.

“Au contraire, I don’t hate them at all. Love, hate, anger, fear are baser emotions, Ms. Sharma. They have no place in business. Business isn’t personal.”

“You’re throwing a family out on the streets. It sure does feel personal!”

He stepped in front of her, standing so close she could see each individual inky eyelash and hear the hostility in his voice. “You have no idea what ‘out on the streets’ means, my dear. A downgrade from a palatial home to a midsized apartment is not ‘on the streets’. A downgrade from BMWs to Skodas is not ‘out on the streets.’ Pray that your pretty boyfriend doesn’t ever get a feel of what the ‘streets’ taste like. I’m not sure he’ll survive it.”

The insult hung between them, unchallenged.

“But I’m unfailingly generous. If you really cannot stand to see Mr. Basu’s house taken from him, all you have to do is marry me.”

“This is blackmail! You’re straight up forcing me to marry you, a**hole.” Prerna shot back, still reeling from his ultimatum.

“No, Ms. Sharma. I’m incentivizing you to marry me. You are free to leave this building any time. You say no and that will be that. You owe me nothing. Same as you owe Mr. Basu nothing. I’ve found your Achilles heel and I mean to use it. But you know that and you can choose to walk away from all this right now. No harm, no foul.”

She sat there, staring at the cold floor for a long time. It felt like hours before she raised her head and said “Shit, I can’t believe I’m actually considering this.” She exhaled. “Okay, If I were to agree, you will back off from Basubadi?”

“In theory, yes. First, I would like to first see if Sneha takes to you at all. She’s shy with strangers and if you two can hit it off then we’re good to go. Once the marriage is legalized, then for the duration of our marriage, I will not move to foreclose on the mortgage.”

“I have certain other conditions as well.”

“Go ahead.” He seemed unsurprised by her demand, as if expecting her to negotiate.

“Leave Anurag alone. Stop going after him, stop upstaging him, just leave him be.  Also, I want a separate account in my mother’s name and one in Shivani’s name to cover their health and education expenses. And the cash deposits to this account must be independent of how long this marriage lasts.”

“I am agreeable to all your terms. A lawyer will drop off the necessary papers at your place discreetly. It will contain the terms and conditions of our arrangement, each party’s duties and responsibility, stipulations of compensation due to you, conditions of termination and dissolution of marriage. Please read it thoroughly, Ms. Sharma. I will not tolerate last minute theatrics of ‘you said, I said.’" Mr. Bajaj doled out in a bored voice.

“Okay.” She replied, not sure what else to say. She never thought her wedding would be one filled with clauses and sections and lawyers and courts. When life gives you lemons…

“Okay. Thank you for your time.” He turned around, dismissing her, already seeming occupied with other matters.

Prerna got up unsteadily and began walking towards the ivory double doors. She was going to be married soon. She was going to be a mother soon. Holy shitb*lls.  

“Ms. Sharma,” She jerked around, to see him seated at his desk, looking at her, “I know this hard for you and I appreciate that. But like I said, I’m not the hero you’re looking for so don’t expect one.  I’ve got dirt on my hands and I've made my peace with that. You should too."

In that moment, Prerna saw his hard face and knew this man couldn’t be made of flesh and bone. He was made of such darkness.

___________________________________________________________________________

Sohaa

Cheers, me esther ..,

She said yes...  I can't believe it... I thought she throws some tantrums... Like moral, love, divine relations, something like that ..nothing at all.. Wow... Wonderful.. She is calculative and smart... I like her... 

I loved the entire convo and how upright is Bajaj about the enitre deal. He does give Prerna the option to leave it. And tells her the real status of hers and Anurag's relationship and how Anurag wouldn't survive on streets. 

Wait you are not killing Sneha are you? The poot thing already has such a deadly disease. Maybe that it gets them closer. ♥️ But don't make the poot child suffer to much 🤗 

But I am glad Bajaj does say once Sneha accepts her then only they will legalize the marriage. ☺️ 

He's so brutally honest with her. You did justice to the marriage deal. And the way you seal all the plot holes is brilliant. I love this. Its impossible to put it down. I literally got told off in class today because I was reading it and ignoring my teacher. But did I care? No. I love the convo, the diction and the little French phrase you threw in there. Thank you for writing this.

With love,

Aparna.