Conditions Of Shashank | 18+

Chapter 44: His angry bird

"Ma'am, did you take the medicine?" Sarla asks softly.

After glancing towards the bedroom, Ishika quietly replies, "No."

"Why?"

"Sarla, the medicine is very bitter."

The sound of the bedroom door opening interrupts them, and they both fall silent. Ujjwal, ready to leave for the office, is checking his stock portfolio.

"I'll add this company's share to the watchlist," he mutters to himself.

As Ishika goes to water the plants, Sarla approaches him and says in a low voice, "Sir, Ma'am hasn’t taken her medicine. But... but please don’t tell her that I told you."

"I won’t tell her," he assures her.

Sarla lowers her head and resumes washing dishes.

"Ishika..."

"Yes, Kumar?" She replies as she returns from watering the plants.

"Did you take the medicine?"

She says nothing, her eyes cast down.

"Come, take it right now." He grabs the medicine in one hand and a glass of water in the other.

"No, Kumar. The medicine is too bitter," she protests, stepping away.

"I know it's bitter, Ishika, but it's necessary for you," he says, walking towards her.

"Please, Kumar, I don’t want to take it."

"You have to, Ishika," he says, making her gently swallow the medicine. "Good girl."

In anger, her already chubby cheeks gets puffed up, and she turns her face away from him.

"My angry bird" He whispers with a heart full of affection. He watches her antics and thinks, "Who would believe she's 29 years old?"

As always, he finds her reaction adorable. "I’m getting late now, Ishika. I’ll make up for your anger tonight after returning from the office."

He picks up his bag.

Sarla, still doing the dishes, says, "Sir, your tiffin is on the dining table."

"Thank you," he says, placing the tiffin in his bag.

Before leaving, he says "Bye" to Ishika, but she doesn’t respond. "I’ll make up for your anger tonight," he whispers as he heads out.

...

"You know, Ujjwal, this isn’t the first case filed against me," Saaransh says.

"There have been cases against you before?"

"Yes, the fake one."

"Fake?"

"A fake domestic violence case. My ex-wife filed it."

"Why?"

"Because someone paid her to do so."

"And your ex-wife agreed to do that?"

"Yes. So, I got married at the age of 22, and things were going well between us. We were happy. But one night… one night, she started hurting herself by banging into the wall. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen. She started bleeding from her head..."

"... I suggested taking her to the doctor, but she refused. The next morning, I found out she had filed a domestic violence case against me. Only I know how much I suffered over the years. The case was resolved just a few months ago..."

"... The case dragged on for years, and during that time, society said horrible things to me without even hearing my side. I was in depression for so long... " His voice trembles.

"... And that man kept paying her. I found out about the money much later. A few months ago, he stopped paying her, and she came to me to apologize. But I didn’t forgive her. I divorced her. Although even getting a divorce was challenging, I finally got it..."

"... I loved her so much, Ujjwal. But look what she did to me. Everyone turned against me, except my parents... My parents believed I could never do something like that. They suffered with me. Seeing them in pain broke me completely..." Saaransh’s eyes glisten with tears.

"What happened to you was terrible, sir. Did you find out who that man was and why he did it?" Ujjwal asks.

"The same man who used to be my best friend," Saaransh replies, his past flashing before his eyes as his voice weakens.

He continues, "We were best friends in college. After college, we decided to go into the clothing business together. We started and gradually the business grew. First one mall, then another, and soon we had several malls..."

"... Initially, we bought clothes in bulk and sold them, but as the business expanded, we started our own production. One day, I discovered that he was making the workers work 14 to 15 hours a day to meet demand..."

"... I asked him to reduce working hours, but he refused. By then, he had become obsessed with profits. This led to arguments between us, and eventually, I resigned from the company..."

"... His ego was hurt, and that’s when he arranged the fake domestic violence case against me."

Saaransh remains silent for a moment.

"Friendship, Ujjwal... In college and at the start of our business, we were such good friends. But greed turned that friendship into enmity..." Saaransh takes a sip of water.

"... Today, he’s a renowned businessman- S-Shashank."

Hearing this, the ground beneath Ujjwal seems to collapse.

"What name did you say?" He can’t believe it.

"Shashank."

Ujjwal closes his eyes tightly.

"What happened?" Saaransh notices fear on his face.

Ujjwal tells him everything.

"His brother, Arnav, is very close to him. He’ll make you all suffer even more," Saaransh warns.

"But we don’t have his address or contact number to tell him it was all a misunderstanding," Ujjwal explains.

"I don’t have his contact information anymore either. But listen, talk to him as soon as possible."

...

Ujjwal informs Mayank how far Shashank could go.

"We need to inform him about the misunderstanding soon, Ujjwal."

"Hmm."

"I have an idea. Arnav was singing that day; he likes music. Let’s convey the message through a song and post it online. Maybe Shashank will see it."

After thinking for a moment, Ujjwal says, "Yes, that’s a good idea."

"But you’ll have to write the song, Ujjwal."

"I don’t know how to, but I’ll try."

. __________________________________________

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