Serendipity

74

Anupama waited with bated breath to hear Vanraj's response.

"No."

She looked at him, shocked. She had threatened him with a lawsuit and he'd still refused. Leela looked at her son, visibly relieved.

"What do you mean?" she whispered.

"No Anupama Ji," Vanraj responded sarcastically. "No. I will not add Kinjal's name to the trust."

Anupama looked at Anuj bewildered. She didn't know what she should do next. What she did know was that if she backed out now, the Shahs would forever continue to haunt her life. She wanted closure once and for all.

And it seemed that she had grossly miscalculated Vanraj Shah's risk-taking ability.

Seeing the panic in her eyes, Anuj gently held her hand to assure her. He was with her. They would work on this together.

"So you'd rather pay me alimony and punitive damages than ensure that the life of an orphan is secured?"

Vanraj shrugged. He was hoping to bring Anupama back into his life. If this was the barter, then so be it.

"I will add Kinjal to the trust, ONLY IF, you promise me that you will drop this stubbornness of yours to marry Anuj and come back to me."

"Why?"

"Because I love you."

She looked at Vanraj shocked. For 26 years this man had mentally abused her, demeaned her, treated her with disrespect, flaunted his affair, had divorced her and left her homeless. And now, he had the audacity to profess his so-called love for her? Did he even know what true love meant?

She looked at Anuj. He was smiling.

"What is wrong with him?" she muttered under her breath. But his smile was so contagious that she started smiling too.

The smiles were beginning to irk Vanraj.

"What are you smiling about? I've just refused your proposal and countered. What is so funny?"

"That you actually believe you have a say in this," Anuj replied.

"I am surprised at your audacity Vanraj. Do you really believe that you have a choice in this matter? Anu was being polite when she asked you to include Kinjal in the trust.

"But I was fully confident that you would respond exactly as you did. Because you, Mr Vanraj Shah, never learn from your mistakes. I genuinely think your mother has a lot to do with that. She has always made you believe that you can never be wrong."

Vanraj looked at Anuj, uncomfortable. Leela was getting ready for battle.

"Mr Anuj Kapadia," Leela quipped. "This is our family matter. My son is talking to our daughter in law. Who are you to interfere in between?"

"Baa, I've said it once and I will say it again," Anupama replied, her patience hanging by a thread at the circus show the Shah family was hell-bent on putting up. "Anuj and I are getting married. He is going to be my husband. I have no relations with this family, whatsoever."

"Then why are you asking for a trust share for Kinjal? Surely your soon to be husband has more than enough to secure that orphan's future." She made a disgusting face that angered all three of them.

Anu opened her mouth to give a befitting reply, when Anuj held her hand once again, closing his eyes and opening them, telling her to stay calm. She walked closer to him and whispered: "Why?"

"Business 101," he whispered back.

Irked that all three of them weren't gracing her with a reply, Leela prodded them again. "What? You don't have anything to say?"