BALH2 Reimagined

Reimagining E96 : No Conditions Applied (Part 1)

Context

[Ram is furious with Priya after discovering her decision to relinquish her 5% shares to Shubham. Priya arrives at her house to find Ram already there. He storms off to Priya's room after a squabble. ]

Priya walked to her room, heart heavy. This was going to be a difficult conversation. She had thought she had seen Mr. Kapoor plenty upset-were there any paucity of tribulations in their life? But his outburst today had been an unforgiving scythe ripping out the tender shoots of understanding and affinity that had begun to bloom between them.

She couldn't be the only one who had seen cause for hope, could she? No. Even separated by yellow tape and quarantine protocols, with only virtually-exchanged upma and lillies for company, she had never felt closer to him. Like she was beginning to finally anticipate the rhythms of their relationship.

Had she hoped too soon?

She opened the door, to find Mr. Kapoor pacing the length of the room. He reminded her of a caged tiger-all that explosive energy confined to a fraction of its natural habitat. She marvelled again at his coming here. Did he really find peace in this little home of hers?

Ram stopped in his tracks the moment he noticed her, glowering, "Oh, you've finally showed up, have you? Do you need a special invitation to come inside the room, too?"

Scratch that, she thought to herself. Not a tiger, a crabby kitten, "Mr. Kapoor should I remind you that up-and-leaving the house in the middle of a conversation is your modus operandi, not mine?"

"Conversation?" he said indignantly, "It was an argument! And don't you dare think you're squirming out of this one, Priya Kapoor. I want answers. And I'm not leaving this house until I get them."

Priya began to respond but he cut her off, "If you're going to ask me to leave, you can save your breath. I'm cashing in my coupon-" He brandished the Meera Ma coupon, and Priya didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He really did carry those coupons with him everywhere.

"Well, if you're going to stay, are you actually going to listen to me now? Or do you just want to jump to more conclusions?" She skirted around him to drop her handbag on a chair. She knew she was wheedling him unnecessarily, but she was stalling. Swept up in the moment, she had promised Nandini Kapoor that she would not reveal the depths of Shubham's acrimony. But if Mr. Kapoor asked her point-blank about her change of mind, how would she explain that hers was not some capricious rejection of his wishes?

"Let's hear it, then. What other explanation is there, other than you nullifying anything we try to build in this marriage?" he asked belligerently.

Priya sighed. She cast about for a way to make him see reason, "Mr. Kapoor...things are not always as they seem on the surface. Remember, Anjali? How you called off the investigation and I jumped to the wrong conclusion? But you had some valid reasoning, right?"

"Priya, don't beat around the bush. Me calling the investigation off Anjali doesn't concern us. That's tied up with Akki & Shivina. But you rejecting the 5 %, it's about me...us. And I want to know what the hell you were thinking!"

"Of course, it's relevant! It's a matter of trust. You expect me to trust you when you take decisions, you can't give me the same generosity?"

Ram threw his hands up in disbelief, "Trust? How can I, when you seem bent on taking a sledgehammer to it on every possible occasion? You know why I gave you those shares. We hashed it out on Diwali, no? So, what explains this about-face now? I'm gone for a few days, and you're throwing it in my face!"

Maybe it was the heated accusation in Mr. Kapoor's eyes, or the helplessness of being at the centre of a conflict she wanted no part of, but suddenly the unfairness of it all bubbled up within her. He thought they'd hashed it out on Diwali? More like him blindsiding her-everyone, really-with a declaration, and then brooking no argument about the possible fallout. And look where they were now!