wooing Meera Rai

VI | guilt and fear

VI | guilt and fear

At first it was just a tiny pang in his heart.

Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a simple inclination that his heart was getting heavy. He passed the thought thinking it was nothing.  

So Vihaan brushed it off and went to his office. Their company had bagged the contract for the flyover and he had tons of things to do. If he wanted to be successful and to be known other than his dad's son, he had no time to spare on good-for-nothing people in his life.

That included his wife and his best friend.

How dare he? How fucking dare he pull the stunt last evening! 

If Shaurya Arora was not a  prominent fucking builder who Vihaan's company desperately needed, he'd oust that man. But, if it was the other way around, Vihaan knew his company would go under in a day. So he needed Shaurya just as much as that rich asshole needed him.

A handsome Casanova and a devious Misogynist.

They were a good pair. A good fucking pair.

They were rich, extremely good looking men who could get anything they wanted through their exemplary power. 

They had bagged tons of deals, won recognition and got both money and fame. Of course, Vihaan's father being a politician and Shaurya's line of successful business typhoons as descendants helped a ton. 

They were the power duo in town. The duo who women desperately wanted and who men desired to be. The men who were often the talk of the town whenever they were spotted together. 

And while Shaurya was known to be a ruthless playboy who fucked tons of women, Vihaan was known to be a chauvinist who always put women underneath him. His company had a no female architect policy and women were only seen behind reception desks and as waiting staff.

The no women man had married a divorcee and made headlines in the industry. Jaws were dropped when they heard the misogynist pig not only marry a dark skinned divorced woman, but also treat her with respect and love. 

The men in his office could not stop talking about how different their boss was with his wife around. Some said it was a joke, some considered the healing power of love could change things, and some wondered how rich Meera Rai was to have Vihaan wrapped around her fingers like that. 

All of it changed pretty quickly.

The Vihaan they saw that day was not the Vihaan from the past six months. He had changed overnight, from being the happy and good natured employer to being an asshole again. He fired the female employees he appointed only because Meera pointed out the sex ratio in his office and got the men of the office to be on their toes at the risk of losing their jobs. 

That was how the first two days went by for Vihaan. 

Anger, frustration and point blank insanity.

All of that and the pang in his chest that got heavier each day. Each day he felt like he was getting pulled to the Earth's core. Each second made him anxious and sick. 

On the the third day, it got to a point where he could not get from his bed. 

And then to a point where it started paining, so much that he had to hold his chest and breathe. 

So while he lay on the bed, he examined himself. There was no physical pain. He could not describe that pain other than feeling extremely choked and scared.

Guilt.

When he was a little boy, he had heard about the story of an old lady named Guilt.

Guilt would sit on people's chests and wary them until they passed away. An old lady named Guilt would take pleasure in making people want to die than make amends.