Second Chance

Chapter 2

I pace up and down my office, thinking about ways to murder Ritwik. It felt so surreal seeing him after all this time. The nerve of him to show up today as an investor. Did he expect me to smile and welcome him? He must be on something to think I would forget what he did to me. Seven years have passed, but it doesn't mean I would open my arms wide and welcome him as if nothing had happened. It's going to take longer than that for me to forgive him.

"Mish, you need to calm down. You look like you're about to kill someone," Shreya says, sounding worried as she watches me.

"That's because I want to, or rather I need to." I say, fuming with anger.

"I'm very sorry I invited him. I swear if I knew it was the same Ritwik who broke your heart years ago. I would've never picked him to be our investor. I'm so sorry." 

Ritwik and I started dating when I was sixteen and broke up before I went to college, so Shreya never met him. But she'd heard the stories.

"I know. You don't have to apologize. I'm sure Ritwik found out I was a partner here and did anything he could to become our investor."

"Yeah, I'm starting to think so, too. I wonder why?"

"I wish I knew, because I can bet it's not for a good reason. He is the devil, and the fact that he wants to be an investor in our company can only be because he has something bad up his sleeve."

"Oh my God, what are we going to do?" Shreya asks, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes.

"I know it was hard to find an investor, but we must search again. There is no way Ritwik will be our investor on this earth. I'll never allow it."

"I won't either, but it was so hard to find someone, and now we are back to square one," Shreya sighs, visibly overwhelmed with the whole situation.

"I know, but we have to find someone else. We don't have a choice."

"I'll try my best and start looking immediately."

"Thank you so much for understanding."

"You are my best friend, of course I understand." She softly smiles.

"You're the best." Some of the tension I've been feeling leaves me at Shreya's words. We can fix this.

I walk over to my chair as she gets up from her seat and comments on the shift in my mood. "I'm happy you are no longer angry."

"Me too, and hopefully, I can forget I even saw him."

***

It's only been a few hours since Shreya left my office, and I feel like removing my brain from my head. I'm so frustrated because my mind keeps returning to Ritwik. Everything seems to remind me of him. I completely lose focus on the work in front of me. My mind is consumed with thoughts of him. I hate that even after so many years, he still has such an effect on me.

"Fuck." My laptop bangs shut, and I pass my hands through my hair. "I hate you, Ritwik!" I scream at the walls of my office. God! Why did he show up today? Anyone could've been the investor. Why did it have to be him, God? Why? I pull at my hair in frustration.

Try as I might to clear my mind of him, it's impossible. Eventually, I decide to take the rest of the day off. It's understandable that I can't focus. I haven't seen the man in seven years, and the one time I do, he's clearly trying to find a way to ruin my life.

As I arrange my things to leave the office, I consider whether it's a better idea to go home or go somewhere else. Dad would be surprised to see me already home when he returns from work today. He will try to pester me into telling him why, which wouldn't be a good idea. If Dad knows Ritwik is in town, he will have his head. And I love my dad too much to have him go to prison.