Enemy Within

Chapter 11

It had been two weeks since the curtains had fallen on Ragini's drama, at least in front of her parents. Ragini had been quiet. She hadn't tried to pull any more stunts with them, but Sanskar had still warned Swara to be cautious and not blindly trust Ragini. Ragini could rear her head anything. Swara was heeding to his warning.

That night of confession had also changed the relationship between them. It had managed to break the barriers, that she had so desperately hoped to be gone. But as their closeness increased, Sanskar was even more protective of her, carefully controlling what they were letting the world believe vis-à-vis what their relationship really was. In effect, there were two Sanskars that came into being, one that existed inside their room, with her, and one that existed outside it, for the world, unchanged from who he was before this. She loved him in both his avatars and understood his need for it.

They had all been sitting down together for the usual family dinner, when Uttara had asked Sanskar "Bhai you look distracted today, is everything okay?" Swara hadn't seen him being distracted and was taken off guard by Uttara's question.

"Sanskar, what is wrong?" his Mom had jumped in concerned

"Nothing Mom. Nothing to worry" he had replied.

"It isn't anything related to the contract loss, is it?" Bade Papa had commented casually

"What contract loss?" now even Ram Prasad had been worried

"It wasn't a big contract, Dad. Everything is just fine"

"That is not what I heard. Word around the market is that it was an initial ten crore order with added three-year contract of 75 crores worth guaranteed business each year. I also heard that you have taken quite a bit of loan on the back of this contract" Durga Prasad added

"It wont be the end of the world Bade Papa. I am confident, we will be fine in a very short while" Sanskar added confidently "I am thankful for your concern though" he added

"Always. And I am sure you will be fine" Bade Papa added before asking every one to get back to dinner.

Swara had been on tenterhooks on hearing this. Why had Sanskar not told her he was under so much stress. She had been waiting for them to get back to their room, so that she could ask him, but he had received a call from Kunal and was busy with him for a while. Once the call ended, he drowned himself in his files. Swara was left glancing at him and playing with her dupatta, waiting for a chance to question him.

Sanskar saw his wife's antics as he was scanning through the file. He smiled looking at her. Raising an eyebrow, still trying to pretend to be focused on his file he asked "What is bothering you, Swara?"

"Sanskar, are you facing trouble in the business?" she asked quite concerned "Bade Papa..."

"Swara, do you remember when we were countering Ragini?" he asked closing his file. "When we let her have a smaller win?" she nodded "Well there are times when your enemy hurts you fatally and you put a brave front to not let them see how much they have really hurt you"

"Is that what you were doing?" she asked worried

"That is what I was pretending to do" seeing her confusion he explained further "Sometimes, your enemy only scratches you and you have to let them think they have fatally wounded you. Do you remember the small win that we spoke about just now?" Swara nodded

"If I had tried to pretend to Durga..." he stopped seeing her head snap at him. She had been forcing him to call Durga Prasad, Bade Papa, saying that current scenario should not change how Sanskar addressed him "Bade Papa, that he had given me that fatal wound, when in fact it was a scratch, he would have seen through it, unlike Ragini"