Destined to a Gangster

15 - Sorry Tazbu

Farhad walked into the upstairs balcony with trepidation. Kriti had inherited both the Rao stubbornness and anger. In the relationship he had always dealt with her stubbornness but today he was going to deal the Rao Anger. Saying a silent prayer he spoke.

"Kriti"

He ducked quickly as a flower pot came sailing through the air. Then another and another. Farhad was lucky to have quick reflexes or he would have ended up with some serious injury. When raining of the flower pots stopped he straightened up, adjusted his jacket and spoke again.

"I had to tell him"

"No Farhad you didn't HAVE to do anything. You chose to tell him."

"You are right, I chose to tell him."

"Your loyalty towards bhai is more than your love and relationship to me"

"That's not fair. You know what place you have in my life and my heart. You are my life Kriti."

"Yet you chose to tell bhai."

"Kriti, when you decided to hide our relationship from him you weren't thinking straight. He is Raghav Rao, he would have found out and that would have ended up bad for us. He would have felt betrayed by us. Can you imagine if he found that we were in a relationship for two years? His reaction would be nothing like it was downstairs. Trust me. I had to deal with him when I told him. Also, He would have hated me for going behind his back and  he would have judged our relationship without giving me a chance to explain. By telling him, I made sure he knew just what I felt towards you. It gave him time to process."

As she didn't say anything else, mostly throw anything else. He moved towards her. He pried her hands free of her tight embrace and held them in his.

"I did not betray you. I am always and forever on your side. If I ever have to choose, which I pray never happens, would pick you each and every-time. Please believe me ."

She finally looked at him.

"I understand why you did that but I am still mad at you."

"Tell me what I can I do you make it better?"

"I'll let you know."

She looked away to face the garden. He moved forward happy that she did forgive him. He placed a kiss on the side of her forehead and hugged her.

"I love you"

After a while he heard her say "I LIKE you too" he smiled. It was her typical answer when she didn't get her way. She would respond with like instead of love. He would need to work harder to get her to fully forgive him.

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Raghav shut his laptop in aggravation. For the first time he wasn't able to focus on his work. It was all because of Pallavi. He knew that she would be upset about the way he ended the call.   He felt bad about it too. When she told him about Kriti he froze.

For a few minutes he was transported back to his youth. At the age of 19, he had just made a  mark on the streets of Hyderabad. This was his pre-Vaasu time. A time where the girl he loved had traded information on his sister to a rival gang for her personal gain. If luck had not been on his side he would have lost Kriti that day. Those days were the darkest in his life all because he had opened his heart and trust to a girl. He felt so helpless and vowed to never be as trusting on anyone again. As for love, he knew better now. There was no love for a person like him. People didn't love him unless they needed something.

Coming back to reality he had been short with Pallavi and cut the call. The trauma from the past was suffocating him to the point that he needed to get out of the carb He had to remind himself multiple times that Kriti was safe and that he was Raghav Rao no one could ever touch him now.

He had made sure to put up barriers to stop past from repeating. From then on he kept Kriti locked up within his small group of trusted friends. All of Kriti's friends were triple screened to ensure her safety. Every worker, every doctor, basically every person that touched their lives was methodically checked by his head of security, Farhad and himself.

Everyone except Pallavi.

He had her file, but he hadn't read it. Without knowing everything about her he knew she was trustworthy. It was his gut feeling. Yet the past had made him doubt himself and her for a split second. Now he had to fix his mistake.

He picked up his phone and called her. It rang and rang until her voicemail came on. Frustrated he hung up. Of course she would not pick up now. Pallavi would be mad at him now, especially since he remembered her energetic response before. He dialed her number again. Same thing happened. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself. Throwing his phone or rushing to see her would not be beneficial. He decided to try once more. This time after the third ring the call was picked up. Before she could say anything. He spoke.

"Pallavi listen I wanted to talk about before. It wasn't anything you did. It was my fault. I.. Pallavi....I.... I mean..what I want to say is..."

"Sorry.. What you want to say is sorry"

Raghav looked at the phone in surprise. It wasn't Pallavi's voice. He checked his phone, he had dialed the correct number.  With a shock he realized who it could be - Her Aayi.

"Hello...Hello Raghav."

He fumbled his phone back to his ear.

"Umm..Hi, I thought it was Pallavi"

She laughed. "That much I figured out. I am her Aayi - Sharda"

"Yeah I figured that." He face palmed himself mentally for using her words. He shook his head. Trying to get a grip on himself. He was Raghav Rao for gods sake. Not a young teen being interrogated by the girls parents.

"Just a little advice Raghav beta, when you are apologizing it helps to say the word sorry."

Raghav scratched the back of his neck. "I was trying to say it - the word sorry"

She laughed again. "If she is really mad at you, which she must be to leave her phone in her room. The phone has been stuck to her hand for days. Anyways, a good way to apologize to her is giving her some Tazbu - I mean watermelon"

"Watermelon- the fruit?"

"Yes, watermelon the fruit. She has a weakness for it. If you give her watermelon her anger will disappear in seconds. Trust me."

Raghav was skeptical at what she was saying but decided to trust her. After all she would know Pallavi the best.

"Okay, thank you so much aunty"

"Your welcome beta. Anyways Pallavi is out with Nikhil. He has been trying to convince her to go to his office party. She finally agreed so he took her shopping for something new to wear."

Raghav remembered the party tomorrow night. That was a perfect time to talk to pallavi face to face rather then over the phone.

"Okay no problem. I will talk to her later. Thank you again."

"No problem beta. By the way I am sure she didn't pass on my dinner invite. So since I have you. Come to dinner one night, whenever you are free. I would love to meet you."

"Your right she didn't tell me. I surely will one day."

"Great, bye beta - good luck with your sorry"

"Bye. Thank you aunty"

Raghav hung up the call oddly satisfied with himself. Not only did he get a way to Pallavi's forgiveness. He also found out about the missing dinner invite. It might come handy in the future.

"Miss Deshmukh, you will get your sorry tazbu  Raghav Rao style"