Sweet Revenge

1. Betrayal

What?!”

Anuj asked out, in shock. Devika only nodded, her fist clenched and facial features marred with disgust.

Anuj clapped hands over his mouth, too shocked for words. To think that he had been conned and shammed in the name of friendship!

“That means, all that pain”, Anuj started to speak and then stopped, his fingers clenching, “all that suffocation I put Anu through, I put myself through was for no consequence”.

Anuj stomped his foot loudly against the carpet. “Shit!!” He cursed out aloud, nerves surfacing along his neck, “I’m horrified to think that I allowed my top priority to take a backseat for this. Shit!” This time he slammed his hands against his desk and removed his glasses, his jaw ticking.

“Maine tumse kaha bhi tha, mat aao unki baaton main!” Devika chided him as he turned his face away. “But no, rather than making Anu unlearn her mahanta complex, you went ahead and attended those classes with her and as you can see, the results are brilliant!”

“I know!” Anuj shouted then, his patience on edge, his anger simmering and his blood boiling.

“You had warned me, yes! But you didn't Anupama....how disturbed she had been when Pakhi had gone missing and how much broken had Pakhi looked as she had walked into my house. To think it had been one big PLAN!” Anuj clasped his head between his hands. It was throbbing, as if something was on the verge of being unleashed.

Anuj thought back to that wretched day. It had been 4 months post the bhumi pujan fiasco. Anupama had not moved out that day but she had done vanraj much worse by involving a woman rights group who had warned him of dire consequence if he continued to put anupama through mental torture.  Clearly too much prejudiced towards his pride, vanraj shah had decided to keep quiet. While that afforded her the much deserved mental peace, she and Anuj had come much closer.She had started to confide in him, trust him and most importantly she had started to like him. She had not told him so but he could see it in her mannerisms.  Thus on GK’s, Devika’s and his heart’s insistence, he had planned to confess to Anupama.  That day it had all been oh so perfect, but as he was waiting for anupama with abated breath, he had received a call that had left him breathless.

Pakhi had gone missing.The girl who he had started to cherish like a mini anu, had gone missing. Anuj had searched throughout the city but to no avail. And then as he had decided to go to shah house, Pakhi had shown up at his door, looking absolutely ghostly.
She had broken down about how post the bhumi pujan spectacle, her mummy had grown distant and how she was afraid that mummy will leave them. She had asked of him then, a promise that he would never take her mummy away from her.

The tears had done their part as Anuj made Pakhi a promise that he should never have. Everything changed from that day on. Afraid that if he continued the way he has, he will lose track of himself, he distanced himself from anupama by drawing a line.

Their exchanges became more professional than ever as he had by his own hands started to dismantle, brick by brick, the safe haven they had created. Anupama had demanded answers off him too but all he had offered was excuses. And every day, he had died bit by bit as anupama had started to slip away from him.

Two weeks had passed since then; Anuj was dragging through his days, barely living. And then today, Devika had barged in with the worst news ever. He had been duped.

Devika had gone to meet Anu, but had instead eavesdropped as vanraj, kavya, toshu and baa had congratulated pakhi on the job well done. That she had made sure that her mother will never leave her.

“I just can’t believe it! I used to think that pakhi is a naive girl but to think under the guidance of her father, she would fall so low.Maine Anu ki parchayee samajhkar, usse apne dil main jagah di,  kese nahi dekh paya ki vo uss hi dil ko chalni karne aai thi”. Anuj barked out a cruel laugh at the end. Pakhi must've overheard his convo with GK and that’s how the stage had been set. And he had been played like a fool.

Tears streamed down his eyes in helplessness. Pathetic! He should never have wished for anything other than anupama. Craving acceptance of her family had clearly been the biggest error on his part. Worse was the fact that he had failed to see what Pakhi had been hiding all along- the intents of her father and an uncaring attitude for her mother.

“Anuj!” Devika called out to him, keeping a hand on his shoulder. “What comes next?”

Anuj wiped his tears then as he adjusted his glasses. “I should've taken necessary measures following the debacle on bhumi pujan. But this misplaced faith of mine in the hidden good behind the bad- had my hands tied. But not anymore. Enough is enough”, Anuj walked over to the window and focused on his reflection, his eyes the calmest and still the most loud.

“Vanraj Shah ab tak anupama ke dost se mila karta tha but its high time he meets Anuj kapadia. I swear to care no more for anyone other than anupamak. I've done enough goodwill and charity- it ends here. I’m going to show that man the true form of destruction and ruin. And I will have what is mine, both revenge and Anu. And anyone who stands in my way, will stand no more. As vanraj had said many a times, ab sab kuch khullam khula hoga and he will be but a sitting duck!”