Beyond the Past

Indifference

Preeta's room 

"Who feeds you such crap, huh?" Preeta asked angrily, "I am not sad. I am just overwhelmed with anger. Do you know who was here? L..."

"Luthra family, I know. When Shrishti called me, she briefly explained the situation," Abir replied calmly, "However, that doesn't mean you will lose your cool Preeta. You have to not take stress about all this..."

"How can I not? Huh? Whenever I see them, Maa's face comes in front of me. All the insults she had to bear, the number of times her confidence was broken by these...Just everything comes rushing back and I feel like murdering them!" Preeta yelled. 

Abir once again turned on the camera and looked at Preeta's face flushed in anger. She gritted her teeth, and he could see the tension on the side of her neck. "Preeta, you can murder them all you want, but how about we do that after I come over there? I will be a better help finding and carrying the bodies, right? Till then can you calm down?" Abir said with a smile.

"Do you think this is a joke?"

"I don't, but what angered you so much? I thought we were past that," Abir asked, his eyebrows knitted. Although it wasn't clearly visibly at first glance, Preeta noticed his anger: his hard eyes, the flared nose, and the fingers constantly tapping on the table. 

She quickly explained, "Yes we're past that point. I didn't feel anything for the Luthra's apart from the urge to stay away from them. However, they were eyeing my sindoor and mangalsutra. You should have seen their happy faces as if they were pleased that despite them living well Preeta is still miserable." 

"But it's not true, right?" Abir replied, "Nor is the sindoor the same, nor is the mangalsutra. Neither of them is of Karan Luthra's name. As for their happy faces, do hell to them Preeta. They are not worth paying so much attention to. You are going to handle them just for Shrishti's sake, plus you have an upper hand here. So if you don't like anything then just say so." 

"That doesn't mean my anger will be any less. I can ignore them but their actions just irk me," Preeta whined in a frustrated tone. 

"Alright, how about we do the exercise your therapist said? You are angry because you saw them, now think of a moment which is similar but it causes you a feeling of warmth..."

"Abir I am not in the mood..."

"Close your eyes," he ignored her previous statement, " think about that one moment where you saw someone and you felt a burst of happiness."

Preeta closed her eyes, a distinct memory played in her mind when she thought of meeting someone. 

"Preeta!" King called for her. 

Preeta looked up from the pile of files, "Yes, Jiju?" 

"Are you ready?" he asked. 

"Jiju why don't you handle this investor. I am a doctor, not a businesswoman. I can tell you ways of handling a hospital but can't explain the profits..." Preeta pleaded with a cute frown. 

King laughed, "Preeta, you said you wanted to have your own chain of hospitals then you must learn these things. Plus it's very easy. Look, you already have some experience in handling a hospital in India, and you are a doctor yourself, hence there is no ownership problem. However, before taking over this hospital you must convince this investor to not withdraw else we might have financial problems."

"That's exactly what I am saying Jiju, this investor is very important hence you should handle him."

"Pree, this investor doesn't care much about profit, because he has many other businesses. Having a hospital was his dad's dream which he is trying to fulfil, however because of the hospital not being properly handled he is withdrawing. You just have to convince him that in your supervision the hospital will be a better place. Moreover, he is my friend."