|Eshan|
"Why so angry bro? Calm down. Can't I just visit my brother?"
I resisted an urge to roll my eyes as he used that fake affection. His eyes twinkled with glee as he found the anger resurfacing on my face. He was enjoying my plight.
"I don't have time to waste on a person like you." I snorted. I was done with him. I had given him a chance but all he wanted to do was to annoy me. I had no mood to deal with someone like him. My company wasn't going to run smoothly if I continued to waste my office time with people like Rey.
I absolutely was not going to let my office work interrupt the time with my wife. I had to leave my beautiful wife alone at home. If coming to office meant
"Alright, alright. We'll talk business." Rey raised his hands in surrender. I could see the desire of irritating me in his eyes. He held himself back with great restrain. "Ms. Chandni, would you please," he spoke to the person beside him.
I turned my gaze to look at the other person in the room I had not paid any attention to.
My eyes narrowed down a little when I saw the woman he had brought alongside. Her small round shape face looked familiar. I had seen her, somewhere. I could just not recall who she was.
"Hello Mr. Singhaniya, we meet again," Ms. Chandni greeted with a bright smile on her face. Her eyes crinkled behind those big glasses when she smiled widely.
"She was the lawyer of the opposite party in that fire incident case," Parth whispered in my ear when I looked at him questioningly.
Fire incident case. My eyes burned with anger when I recalled that specific incident.
"What is she doing here?" I shifted my focus to Rey. I wondered did he know about the history of that woman with our family business.
"Bro, do you know each other?" Rey raised his eyebrow in question. His face held confusion. Either he knew nothing or he was faking it. In either case, I wasn't going to let him ruin the last chance I had given him.
His constant addressing as 'Bro,' and 'Brother' was getting on my nerves. In childhood amongst all the cousins, he was my favorite. He would always follow me around, calling me bro in his that cute voice. He used to be stuck like glue to me and copy me. That adorable little version of him was so different from the man seating before me now.
I never understood how he strayed away so much. He was a brilliant student academically, a perfect son in his teens, and a guy everyone loved. However, nothing was the same now. The drastic change in his personality had come as a shock to me.
I hadn't bothered myself by probing in his life. It was his life. He was the one to determine how he wanted to spend it. However, for the sake of our old times, I had decided to try and bring him on the right path. If despite my attempts he did not learn the lesson then it would be his fault. I would have tried my best.
Spoon feeding was not an option for people who chose to destroy their lives. Averting my gaze from him, I turned my anger toward Chandni.
"Get out!" I held back my voice as I addressed that woman. I would never waste my breath on people like her, but some things couldn't be helped. Watching her here, sitting before my eyes, smiling widely, behaving as if we had no grudge or past history between us was truly disgusting.
It seemed that my day was destined to be ruined by women. In the morning it was that Amy, then in the office that assistant of Parth's, and now the woman sitting casually in front of my eyes- Chandni.
Why was I so unlucky today?
Fortunately, my woman was there to break that unlucky curse, brightening my day. I needed to call her once I chased away these people. Hearing her voice or watching her was an effective way of improving my mood that was going downhill because of the two stubborn people currently looking at me unblinkingly.
Parth walked near her chair as he gestured towards the door. "Ms. Chandni, please."
"Hey! Who the hell are you to meddle in our matters? Stay in your limits." Rey blocked Parth's way as he also stood up and circled around the chair coming to protect that woman.
My anger went up when I saw what he did. For a woman who played a major role in creating havoc in our life, he was willing to cast aside every reservation and protect her. He truly was disappointing me.
I stood up forcefully. The chair made a loud sound as it was pushed away. My actions startled people in the room. However, I did not care anymore. "You stay in your limits Mr. Rey Singhaniya. What do you take my company as? A joke? Do you even know what that woman had done to our family business? Do you know just because of her we're on the verge of bankruptcy? Do you know how Uncle- your father managed to sort everything out?" I asked him in a loud voice. I did not need to worry about other people hearing because apart from us there was no one present on this floor.
I watched color draining from Rey's face. It looked like he truly didn't know about her.
"Mr. Singhaniya. Calm down. We all are a.d.u.l.ts here. We shouldn't mix our personal and professional life. The past- it's not needed to be brought up. I was just doing my job back then. No hard feelings." Chandni stood up; her expression did not change for a bit. That smile remained on her face. I felt as if that smile was mocking me.
I suddenly laughed cynically. 'No hard feelings.' She sure knew how to play with words. Her doing job could have cost endless suffering to my family even when we weren't at fault.
"I don't welcome corrupt people like you Ms. Lawyer. Some people like you are the reason that justice is either delayed or denied to the victims. For earning more money people like you can sell their souls, what are morals and ethics? Unfortunately for you, I don't even have a second more to waste. Either you leave or I'll have security throw you out. The choice is yours. You can also file another fake case. Anyways you're quite skilled in that area," I taunted, not bothering to hide my hatred for her.
***