Our World Our Way! - An AnuPre Tale

Part 2

Shudh bramha parathpar ram

Kalathmak parmeshwar ram

Shesh talp sukh nidhrit ram

Bramhadhyamar prarthik ram

Chandkiran kul manddan ram

Shrimad dashrat nandan ram

Kaushalya sukh vardhan ram

Vishwamitra priyadhan ram

The sound of arti resonated in Basu Bari. Though it was a daily ritual at their place, today what caught everyone's attention was the bold voice which was singing the arti. Mohini, Nivi and Anupam left whatever they were doing halfway and ran to the pooja place. What they saw there almost brought tears to their eyes! Tears of happiness, of course. Anurag Basu was doing the arti with a smile on his face. Everyone joined him. They were having a peaceful and happy morning after what felt like ages.

Prerna, even though equally surprised by Anurag's action, made a conscious effort to avoid herself or any member of Bajaj running into the Basus this peaceful morning.

No one dared to ask Anurag about this sudden change except Anupam who followed him to his room. After Anupam's few failed attempts at questioning, Anu finally opened up. "Meri Prerna kabhi galat nahi ho sakti". The confidence with which he spoke told that he had given it a lot of thought. "Pata h Anupam where I was going wrong?" As Anupam looked clueless he continued. "I was becoming like Bajaj.. I was thinking evil like him.. executing my plans like him.. Bajaj ko Bajaj banke nahi Anurag banke hi haraya ja sakta h". 

"Par abhi plan kya h Anu? Kya karne vala h tu?" Concern was evident in Anupam's face.

"Pata nahi". He said simply. 

"P..p..pata nahi matlab?? Bajaj ke khilaf humara har plan fail ho gaya.. aur abhi toh humara ghar tak uske paas girvi h". Anupam was freaking out. 

"Mujhe nahi pata main kya karunga kaise karunga.. par mujhe ye zarur pata h ki ab mujhe sach janna h. Bajaj ka pura sach. Prerna ka pura sach. Vo nahi jo ye dono mujhe dikhana chahte h.. pura sach janna h. In sabse nikalne ka rasta bhi vahin se milega." With that said he headed to his office but stopped for breakfast making Mohini very happy. 

Today when Anurag walked into his office, his confidence was at a different league. He called his manager and gave a few instructions which included not disturbing him for the rest of the day and asked for a few reports. His manager, Mr. Das, curtly nodded and left. Anurag sat down to analyze the trend of Basu shares over the past couple of months, after Komolika's exit to be precise. He sat with the reports that his manager passed on and analysed for quite a while. He at times jotted down few points in his dairy and at other times looked into space to internally figure out the stats. He noticed that Mr. Bajaj had slowly but steadily acquired his shares and properties - until a point. And that point happened to be around Anurag's wedding with Prerna. He paused to absorb this piece of information. He looked into the reports again. No activity from Bajaj on Basu Publications was registered from the day he was released from the jail. "Hmm, strange!" Something should have happened at this point of time he evaluated. He then began recollecting all the proofs and arguments that his lawyer had put forth the court. Something didn't seem to fit in place. He pulled his coat from his leather chair and headed out. He needed to talk to his lawyer. 

If he had thought that the meeting with his lawyer would clear his head, he was absolutely wrong. Meeting the lawyer had only raised more questions in his mind than he already had. He entered his cabin and carelessly threw the coat. "How had Prerna given the CCTV footage of Bajaj's factory which was instrumental in getting him out of jail?" He fiddled with the crystal globe thinking hard. He decided to get himself a cup of coffee. As he sipped on his cuppa turning through the pages of a file, he spil some coffee on his peach colored formal shirt. He went to wash away the stain when he remembered the day Prerna had by mistake stained his shirt with her lipstick and he hadn't been able to wash it away. How happy he was on that day! It was such a beautiful phase when he was falling for her. A smile curled up his lips unknown to him. He took a deep breath, splashed some water on his face and cleaned the stain off. He had been feeling overwhelmed with all the thoughts going on his mind but just one memory of her's had the ability to fuel his determination to fight all odds to know the truth. 

He could see that his analysis so far only suggested two things - either Mr. Bajaj held some old grudge against Basu Publications as a result of which he wanted to destroy his business. Or, he wanted to marry Prerna for which he used Basu Publications. Right now he didn't know on which clue should he base his further research. He sighed and sat back in his chair as the moon looked back sympathetically at him.

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