Nishant Naik, billionaire MD of Naik Builders gets engaged but without love. Disillusioned, he gives up when a chance encounter leaves him intrigued and confused. For him, loving someone is giving your soul to her. Will he ever find someone to love...
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Aparna kept her bag in the chair and poured a cup of tea for herself. She had just returned after dropping Prakriti at school. As she took a sip, she picked up her laptop and went inside the bedroom. Then, she switched it on and started to look for jobs.
As she clicked on one of the emails in her inbox her phone buzzed next to her.
"Yep, tell me," she said, her eyes still on the mail.
"Have you seen the news?" Madhu asked sounding tensed more than usual.
The moment Aparna heard her, her heart almost stopped. Madhu's tone reminded her of the last time she had called her like this. Clutching the phone hard, she tried to breathe normally and gulped down the nervous lump clogging her throat.
"Why?"
"Check it now."
Saying this Madhu disconnected the call leaving her flustered and worried. Aparna picked up the remote with shaking hands and switched on the television. Fearing the worst, she changed the channel and suddenly her eyes widened with shock.
The news had Rushali Sharma's face plastered everywhere. As she heard the entire story, her hands started to tremble and the remote fell on the bed. Every sense of hers screamed at her accusingly.
And then there he was sitting behind the desk explaining everything to the press.
Aparna's vision blurred a little with the tears brimming in her eyes and she brushed them off angrily. She did not hear a single question of his answers. All she could register was his face.
There was a cut mark on his forehead and one more near his left brow. Her vision travelled lower and she noticed his left arm in the sling.
Must have been the landslide!
Oh, God Nishant! It must have pained so much.
She eyes again became blurred with tears and she went closer to the TV. Brushing them off, she looked straight into his eyes.
A strange and hard bleakness stared back at her as he looked straight into the camera.
"Is it true that your relationship with Ms Aparna Mathur has estranged because of this?" one of the reporters asked.
Aparna saw him shifting in his chair a little and for a moment something flashed in his eyes but before she could decipher anything it was gone. His eyes narrowed as he looked straight at the reporter.
"My relation with Aparna Mathur is not the topic for this press conference and as far as the estranged part is concerned we were friends before and will always remain the same."
His words felt like a splash of cold water on her face.
Friends?
Tears slowly streamed down Aparna's eyes as she realised that Nishant was no longer the same person she knew. The emotionless way he had said her name sealed her doubts.
She staggered to the bed and slowly collapsed on the floor. The stories on the news kept on swirling with the feeds from the press conference.
And, Aparna buried her face in the bed sheet and cried helplessly.
***************
Nishant entered his office followed by Dhruv, Siraj and his elder brother. The moment he sat down behind his desk, he opened his laptop.
Suddenly he felt 3 pairs of eyes staring at him. He flicked his gaze up and stared back.
"Did you really mean it?" Vikrant asked looking at him strangely.
"Mean what?"
"Friends," Dhruv said hoping that he hadn't meant it.
Nishant lowered his gaze to his laptop and said in an authoritative tone, "Yes."
Sighing, his brother went out followed by Siraj. Only Dhruv kept on looking at him strangely trying to decipher what was going in his friend's mind.
Irritated, Nishant looked at him and frowned.
"Don't you have any work?"
Dhruv did not reply, instead, he kept on staring.
"If you don't, then I'll give you some of mine."
Dhruv just shook his head and left the room.
The moment he was gone, Nishant pressed the electronic button to lock the office door. Then he got up and went inside the washroom.
Pressing his palms on the rims of the wash basin he inhaled hard trying to control the overwhelming urge to give in to the rising turmoil inside. But somehow, his mind did not listen. The moment he closed his eyes, the much-held tears slipped out and he clutched the rims as hard as he could. Finally, when it was too much to take, he started to flash water on his face till it completely numbed his eyes.
Nishant was about to leave the washroom when his eyes fell on his image in the mirror, and suddenly he wasn't able to recognise himself.
Why was he pretending to be okay when the storm inside him was howling miserably?
***************
Aparna stared at the email trying to rethink every word she had written. Although she had already sent the same thing by post but still she had felt the need to type a formal email.
She typed the email ID and then was about to click on send when her hand started to tremble all of a sudden.
You are ending everything permanently; think about it, Aparna, her heart said to her.
Shaking her head, she forced her hand to work and then clicked on send. As the mail notification said it was sent, her heart drummed against her ears with a dreaded beat. She closed her eyes and tried her best to control the drumming and for the first time managed to do so.
From now on it will only be Prakriti and her, and nobody else.
Are you ready to let go?
***************
Nishant looked a huge pile of mail on his table and picked up the stack as he sat down behind his desk. He was going through them one by one when one envelope caught his eyes.
He picked it up from below the pile and stared at the handwriting on it. The moment he recognised the scrawl, his eyes widened with shock.
It's her!
As he opened the envelope, his heart galloped against his chest. Pulling out the letter from it, he unfurled the lapels fearing the inevitable.
10 minutes later, he closed his eyes as he kept the letter down. Then, he opened his eyes and his gaze fell on her name at the end of the letter. Not able to control it, he caressed the name lovingly, feeling its impact till his soul.
Pain was a small word for what he was feeling. Disappointment – no; anger – never; helplessness – yes.
Shoving the letter in his laptop bag, he picked it up along with his car keys and left.
