Contractually Yours | 𝒂𝒌𝒔𝒉𝒏𝒂𝒗

prologue

“And now the day bleeds into nightfall
And you're not here to get me through it all
I let my guard down
And you pulled the rug
I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved”

•

I stared into the oblivion of the darkening sky.
Even after all these months and years, it continued to ache my soul.
The scar she had left.
I wasn't like this back then.

No Rolex on my wrist, no Mercedes waiting right before the mansion, on whose balcony, I stood.
No building of white and stone to call my own.
No fame, no money - not enough to lure the daughter of a billionaire for life, I believe.

I was a fool to ever believe love was enough.

"Nav, you need to get inside. It's going to rain.", I heard from behind.

It was a voice I had never imagined to hear in my life as an orphan.
What a turn of fate wasn't it?
I lost what I thought was mine, and I found the one I thought I never had.

I drew in a deep breath.

"The sunset looks beautiful even through the rain clouds, Maa.", I said candidly staring at the sky.
My lips curving into a subtle smile.

"Just like she is still beautiful, even after she chose someone else, isn't it?", She asked softly.

I gulped.

Oh she knew it all.
The whole story of a humble taxi driver falling in love with the Goenka's daughter.

"You don't miss him?", I asked.
This time, I heard her draw in a sharp breath.
"He is probably happy up there.", She whispered.

I knew she didn't believe it.
She did not believe the man who was my father, and the man she had loved was dead and gone.

Yet, from what it seemed, he was.

"He would call me a fool, won't he? Still remembering a woman who left me and chose a richer man.", I mumbled.
She looked at me, a look of amusement.

"As far as I remember your father, he'd find a way to get the girl he loved back.", She said.

I glanced at her.
"And would it be the right thing to do?", I asked.
"I am no moral compass, yet, when you talk about Akshara.. I believe it wouldn't be too wrong now.", She said thoughtfully.

"Now.. that her relationship with him has failed again, and she is devastated in some corner of the world.", My lips curved into an amused smile.
The tale of her plight was saddening, but not as much since she had chosen it herself.

Probably, I was turning into a stone-hearted man.
A stone is always better than broken shards, isn't it?

I remembered her striding away, with an apologetic smile.
My son - her ex husband's biologically - but mine more, looking at me with tragedy in his eyes, tearing his gaze off me as if I had betrayed him, and walking away holding his mother's hand.

"She needs her Prince Charming, again.", My mother said.
I smiled.

"Naah.. I don't do that anymore, Maa. I'm not the Prince Charming anymore. I'm just a scarred man searching for a cure to his ache.", I whispered,
"I am a businessman, who functions on profits and contracts."