The shark and the saint

19. Saints

The party was coming to an end and Anurag made an announcement. He told the American guests that it was custom to get blessings from the house elders. Due to this, Anurag invited his father to the party.

Rishabh stopped in his tracks and Prerna was forced to stop with him. She turned to watch his face, and caught him staring at Moloy Basu. With her hand in his arm, she felt his pulse racing and worried about him. She noticed him being frozen, and rubbed a hand down his back almost as a reminder that she was with him.

Moloy was pushed out to the party and he was feeling happy to see his son's work. Anurag made the speech and his helper took him out. Moloy was expecting to be happy when he would see his son's American business associate, but when he came to the center of the room, Moloy was shocked by the first person he saw. He couldn't believe who he was seeing. Moloy was seeing a ghost. It couldn't have been him. Moloy had...

Moloy Basu was wheeled to the front of the party and Rishabh's heartbeat rose. Here he was facing the man who had caused the hell Rishabh had had to go through in his childhood. As Prerna stood beside him, and Jones nearby, Rishabh had to remember that he wasn't currently actively destroying the Basus. But standing in the house brought him terrible memories that he didn't have the heart to face.

The party was officially closed, and Rishabh almost ran to the door. Mehra was quickly following after him.

"Mr. Bajaj, aap thik hai?" Prerna asked.

"H-Haan, I'm fine. It's been a long night," he tried to avoid the subject.

"Mr. Bajaj, main ne aap se pehle bhi kaha tha, aap ko nahi aana chahiye tha."

"I'm fine, Mehra. Aap Ms. Sharma ko wapis unke ghar chod dein. I'll drive home myself," Rishabh said once they got to the cars.

"Actually, ghar pe koi bhi nahi hai. Sabh bhabi ke ghar invited thhe. Toh, main aap ke saath ghar aa jaati hoon," Prerna quickly suggested.

"As you wish," Rishabh said and headed for the driver seat but Prerna stopped him.

"Mr. Mehra, aap drive kar lein, please," she asked Rishabh's manager.

Mehra smiled at her being considerate. "Of course, ma'am," he opened and closed the door for her and went to the driver seat.

Rishabh stared out the window the whole time, and Prerna stared at him. Since before she had met him, Prerna had only heard certain things about him. That he was a ruthless businessman who didn't have a heart. A shark out for blood. But the man sitting beside her was close to having a panic attack, and Prerna didn't know what to do.

They came home and Rishabh went straight up to his room, leaving Prerna behind. Prerna went to the kitchen and had the staff warm up some leftovers for dinner since they hadn't eaten at the party. While Mrs. Briganza warmed the food, Prerna went up to change.

Mr. Bajaj wasn't in the room, and she changed before going to find him. She had to get a way to take care of him, and only knew one way she could trick him. She walked around the top floor and found him in his office smoking.

"Aap cigarette pi rahe hain!?" She asked.

Rishabh was startled and turned to look at her come in. "Cigar hai," he clarified, but she took the drug from him and put it out.

"Jo bhi hai, smoke tho hai na? Pehle kam blood pressure high hai aapka?"

"Ms. Sharma I'm not in a good mood tonight. Aap ko kuch chahiye tha?"

"Haan. Woh, mujhse blood pressure monitor chal nahi raha tha. Agar aap usse dekh lete to..." Prerna suggested, and he left the study to go to his room.