When The Ex Meets

28. Victim Or Criminal?

I walked into the FCC building after so many days that even the entrance and the cubicles felt new. Not to mention the staffs of FCC News looked at me as if I was indeed a new employee. Or worse, I was some giraffe walking on my two legs.

I could hear faint whisper of people as I passed them, but the man beside me held my hand firmly till we reached to his set on the second floor.

"Ryan, are you sure about this?" I asked him as we reached where all the lights were lined up, cameras were set and we were ready to go on live.

"As much sure as I am about us being together" He squeezed my hand gently, reassuring me. His eyes said that he was as nervous about this as me, but he refused to show that to me, trying to act as the strong one among us.

I took a deep breath as I nodded in his response. I glanced around, feeling a small smile on my lips and warmness at my heart. This is the very place where my so-called Ex, Ryan met me again. My smile grew recalling that day when he just cornered me in his green room to kiss me saying he wanted the lip balm.

How much I hated him for doing that. He was an idiot and is probably gonna be the same. But what I am really glad about is that; at least he never gave up on me. And even though he could be world's biggest idiot; he still will never leave my side, he still will never not love me and he will still be ready to fight for me.

I held his hand tightly. Let's do this. Let's fight together.

I saw Druv coming over to us with a bunch of sheets, as he read them, while Avni hurdling with what seemed like lots of files and CDs. Druv finally reached us and looked up from the pages. He passed me a tight smile acknowledging my presence, and shifted his attention to Ryan, "You ready? Here are the data you asked for." He passed the sheets to Ryan, as Ryan also scanned them.

I looked over at Avni, and realized that she was still struggling with the files in her hands. I quickly went to her side to help. After holding half of the stuffs for her, she finally smiled at me, "Hi Sneha. You good?"

I nodded as I smiled back at her. "Everything will be fine. Don't worry, we are all with you, you know that right?" Her eyes had a comforting look in them. No judgment. No pity.

"I know and I can't be more grateful to have you." If I hadn't had these files in my hand I would have hugged her. And by the look in her face, she was thinking the same.

"Mrs. Merchant is here." Druv announced, looking behind us. I followed his eyes and saw the lady in the white cardigan and trousers; looking weaker than yesterday.

"I invited her here." Ryan said, more to me, as Mrs. Merchant came towards us.

"We got her out on bail." Druv said again, but I was too busy looking at her, as I couldn't help but compare her figure to what I had saw in the party days before. She wasn't carrying her twinkling eyes anymore; instead she looked like she was seconds away from crying again.

"Today in my broadcast you, Moon and Mrs. Merchant will be guest. And I would like to have a live interview of both of you." Ryan explained the show format, before turning to me, "You would be okay, right?"

I assured him. I can't be the one to let him down.

The Camera Director called him, and with a final touch-up to his look by the stylists, the cameras focused on him. The show went on air.

My breath hitched up. People gonna understand us, right? They'll support us, right?

"And for today's greatest headline 'Bincy Merchant, one of the richest CEOs in the state, the sponsor of The News Digest, was shot at the party a few days ago by his own wife.' The police had been investing her and trying to know the reason for the crime." Ryan was on camera, and was a completely different person from what I had known. He was professional and what seemed like, emotionless as well.