Chapter 63

Three days later, Rishi and Aadhi arrived at office and Aadhi walked straight away to Sudhir’s cubicle while Rishi entered his room. Sudhir arrived late by an hour which was a miracle to Aadhi.

Aadhi: Tell me I m dreaming, how come the great Sudhir is late to office and that too, Rishi has arrived before you.

Sudhir: For your kind information, I arrived an hour early today and was busy in some other work which your crushy baby had assigned me.

Aadhi was shocked and Sudhir laughed at her reaction. Their conversation was interrupted by Manjari who just entered casually.

Manjari: Looks like you both are free from work that you get to have so much fun. Mind I join too ?

Aadhi: I thought Sudhir was late to office since he just arrived but seems like your brother would never let him breathe so he had assigned some important job and Sudhir had arrived early than usual.

Manjari: Have a great day then…

Manjari made her way to her room and Aadhi got herself busy in work but just an hour later she received an e mail from Sudhir which was actually a broadcast message to all the employees. On reading it she immediately made her way to Rishi. She had access to his room so she entered directly and saw him busy typing something on his laptop.

Aadhi: Rishu, what was that mail ?

Rishi: Aadhu, I thought a lot of ways to handle Manjari but she doesn’t seem to co operate so I thought we could do this Resilience-building program for all our employees too. A psychologist and social workers will be doing this and they will concentrate on the 7 C’s of the program, competence, confidence, connection, character, contribution, coping and control.  I believe not only Manjari but anyone who would benefit from this program. I have informed them that they could be open to meet anyone personally too.

Aadhi: I m so proud of you Rishu, I hope she tries to fix herself atleast for her sake.

Rishi: I have informed Sudhir to make batches and you will be in a different batch from Manjari. I hope these three days will open her eyes and she will reach out to them if she need their help.

Aadhi kissed his cheek before she walked out of his cabin. Rishi informed Sudhir to make sure  Manjari attend the three day session without fail.

Vimal arrived office and waited for his father to arrive once again to take over the business. He had moved out of the CEO’s cabin and he decided to quit working officially to others but he would work offline from home to help his father. He even sold the home and bought a simple flat in an apartment. He got all the assets transferred to his mother and had few lands and money in his account that he had planned to give Manjari.

Hariprasad arrived at his office and was welcomed by the employees and Vimal hugged his father leading him to the CEO’s room.

Hari: This is just temporary Vimal and I wish to see you back in this room, in this seat.

Vimal: I hope so dad, I will be leaving now to complete the few works that is left to be done.

Hari: When are you planning to reveal her everything ? Don’t you think Rishi should be informed about this ?

Vimal: I will move in to the flat first and sure she will make a ruckus out of it. May be a week later I will serve the papers to her.

Hari: Wish you were never married to her.

Vimal: No dad, everything happens for a reason and I believe I was just a medium to bring Aadhi and Rishi together in their life. They were destined and I m happy they found each other so don’t worry. I m done with all those feelings of pain and hurt and I just need time to find myself again, the old Vimal who would be carefree and worry about nothing. Once I m done with all these, lets plan a trip, you, me and mom.

Hari: Anything you say for ask for Vimal. Take care.

Vimal excused from his father and drove to the new flat he had bought for himself. He looked around the simple 3 bedroom flat with simple interiors. He entered the kitchen and saw everything was set the way he wanted it to be. Finally he entered the bed room and to the balcony where he could see the beautiful view of the park and the children playing over there.

By evening Manjari walked out of the conference room after the first day, first session of the program. She saw Sudhir working alone in his cubicle and ambled to him with a yawn looking at her mobile.

Manjari: Did Aadhi leave already ?

Sudhir: No madam, she is in the second floor meeting room. Her session is not yet over.

Manjari: Aadhi is attending too ?

Sudhir: Ofcourse madam, it is a mandatory program for all the employees.

Manjari bobed her head and saw something in her mobile. She immediately rushed to her room to pick up her things to leave. She drove to a cafe and saw Harish and Rithvika chatting and he was smiling at her. She didn’t miss the way Harish was sitting next to Rithivika with his arm resting on the chair on her back.

She sauntered to them and the smile on the face of Harish dropped instantly on seeing Manjari. He cleared his throat and moved his arm from the chair to Rithvika’s shoulder who was now looking at Manjari.

Harish: Rithvi, she is Manjari.

Rithivika: Oh ..hi Manjari, nice to meet you. Harish has talked about you, how are you ?

Manjari: I m fine, Harish, can we talk ? Please .. only for a while.

Harish: Ofcourse Manjari, please be seated.

Manjari looked at Rithivika and then at Harish fidgetting with her fingers. Rithivika smiled knowing her intention and picked her handbag.

Rithivika: Harish, I promised to meet my friends so I will take my leave and we shall meet .. may be tomorrow for dinner.

Harish hummed and smiled at her, he felt happy that Rithivika was so understanding and trusted him. He walked her out of the cafe and once Rithvika drove off he returned to Manjari.

Harish: I need to be back in office for a meeting so please be quick on whatever you have to say.

Manjari: Harish, you got engaged ? You never answered my calls or messages. I thought you are upset with me and I was waiting for you to call me back but …but..I got to know about your engagement from my sister in law’s social media post. I was shocked.. literally shocked.. I mean.. Harish…

Harish: Why do you expect a call from your ex – boss ? Why were you shocked on my engagement ? We were friends once but it was you who ruined it and I made it very clear that there is nothing between you and me, you are just an ex -employeee whom I fired because of your inappropriate behaviour.

Manjari: Harish, please calm down and please talk to me like you used to do. I miss your love and care.

Harish: You are wrong, it was care and affection and not the love you assumed on your own. I gave you the space like I gave to Hema. Stop stalking me and look after your life.

Manjari: Harish, I really miss you.

Harish: You are someone’s wife and do you even realize the meaning and intentions behind your words and actions ? Aren’t you ashamed ? Rithivika is a gem and she is aware of everything about you. She trust me and that is the reason she left me here to put some brain in your head.

Manjari: Harish, you are hurting me with your words. Please understand.

Harish: I have been patient all these days but not anymore. I have a life of my own to take care of and I don’t want to hurt Rithivika by any means so the next time you attempt to meet me or anyone from my family then I won’t give a second thought to call your husband to reveal everything about you. In simple words GET OUT OF MY SIGHT, JUST GET LOST.

Harish put on his coolers and walked out of the cafe leaving Manjari shocked and stunned with his outburst. She sat lost in thoughts for a long time and finally drove home still not over everything happened at the cafe. As soon as she stepped inside she frowned on seeing Vimal in the living as if he was waiting for her. She was about to walk past him but Vimal placed his foot on the teapoy blocking her way.

Vimal: I have something very important to discuss… no not a discussion but an informtion

Manjari: Vimal, I m really tired for your dramas so just spill whatever you have to say.

Vimal: Nothing serious, I just sold this building and bought a flat. The couple who bought this building wanted us to vacate by tomorrow.

Manjari dropped her handbag in shock and looked at him with frustration.

Manjari: what do you even mean ? How could you sell our home ? Why didn’t you talk to me before you did this ?

Vima: Home is a place where we feel at peace but peace is a far word so lets not bother about that.

Vimal picked a card from his wallet and threw it on the teapoy in front of her.

Vimal: This is the address of my new home, make sure you pack your things before you leave for work or the new owner of this building will throw you out.

Vimal skipped the stairs and entered his room. Manjari heard the thud of the door being shut and picked the card in her hand. Gritting her teeth in frustration she made her way to her room and pulled the trolley to back her things.

Manjari: Idiot, all are idiots.. fools, wish they all rot in hell.. fuckers…

She kicked the trolley and plopped on the bed pulling her hair. She couldn’t control her anger and frustration and started throwing the things across the room until she felt exhausted and fell asleep.

At Rishi and Aadhi’s home they were in the garden walking holding hands and Aadhi was swaying their hands to and fro. She was ranting everything about the session and Rishi was happy to hear her excitment.

Aadhi sat on the grass floor and pulled Rishi to sit next to her. With a smile Rishi sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her neck and pecked her crown.

Aadhi: Rishu, what is your long term goal or wish ?

Rishi: One day I want to start my own business and be successful in it, this is my long term goal in career and if you ask me about the long term goal in personal life then ofcourse its about us having our children, boy or girl doesn’t matter but we shall have atelast 3 kids. It would be amazing and exciting to be on wheels all time behind them, to watch their mischiefs. Both my goals are inter connected actually.

Aadhi: how is that ? are you planning to start business to hand them over to our children or do you want us to have children to take over your business ?

Rishi pinched her waist and Aadhi hissed giving a smack on his shoulder. Rishi turned facing her and kissed the spot he pinched her.

Rishi: I don’t want our children to think that their father had taken over their grandpa’s business because he couldn’t achieve anything on his own. They should be proud of us, Aadhu.

Aadhi: Yeah you are right, what else you see in our future ?

Rishi: I would always keep you busy, the secret love we share with our children being around us. Aadhu, we should have a secret room with automatic door lock. Once our kids are asleep we shall move to our secret room.

Aadhi: What if they wake up in the middle of the night and search for us ?

Rishi: I will say that we were busy in a new project and needed some time and space to concentrate.

Aadhi: Shameless pervert..

Rishi: Says the one who woke me up last night. Its tit for tat so I will wake you up tonight.

Aadhi: No, you have a meeting in the morning and we couldn’t be late to office.

Rishi instantly rose to his feet and carried her in bridal style without a word.

Rishi: Ok then I won’t wake you up in the middle of the night but I will not let you sleep now. Aadhi chuckled and pinched his cheek with a smile on hearing his words.