Kismat Ka Khel Part 5

Part 5

Creating misunderstandings between you and Ram was my game plan. When we reached KM Pihu was given a seperate room with a bigger bed and you made sure to sleep there with her. That was a drawback in my plan because we weren't sharing a room. Nobody knows what happens behind closed doors but everyone would have been curious, including Ram. Shaaq is a slow venomous poison that can be easily injected in any relationship. I knew that our relationship was bothering Ram. When I saw Ram alone in the bar that day, I took that opportunity to see where our friendship stood after I married his Priya. Ram is such a nice guy, everyone in the world can hurt him but his heart is worth more than all our companies put together. But off course I don’t have to tell you this, you already know. You are the one that has always owned his heart after you uncovered this priceless possession.

Ram was sitting at the bar sipping on some scotch and watching cricket. This was all a charade, to show Priya that he doesn’t care less about her. He chomped down a big dish of tandoori chicken and requested Bansi kaka to bring some more. Soumaya came in and tried to talk Ram out of this stubborn and unhealthy rage but he dejected her so rudely telling her to mind her own business. After she left the room with tears in her eyes he felt bad and wanted to stop her but instead he stopped himself.

Ram (thinking out loud): Nahi Ram let her go. Let them all go far away from you, don’t let any of them get close to you. Who ever comes close to you leaves you and hurts you. First Priya and than Rajat (he grips his glass tightly and chugs down the scotch and turns up the volume on the TV) 

Rajat was standing by the door observing all this and deciding whether or not to go in and talk to him. Against his best judgment, he decided to go and talk to him.

Rajat (walks in the room casually): Ram buddy, there you are. What have you done to yourself? (he grabs the remote to the turn the volume of the TV down but Ram grabs his hands before he reaches the remote)

Ram: Kya yaar! Why are you after everything that belongs to me? Let me live my life and you leave everything in my life the way it is. (he pushes his hands aside)

Rajat: Ram yaar, I didn’t mean to hurt you. But you hurt Priya badly by taking her child away from her. I mean at first it was a huge loss to my business, she wouldn’t work nor would she pay the rent. But than after when I tried to understand her I realized her pain and suffering. Ram I was only trying to help, no hard feelings. Besides you have moved on, so let her move on also. Soumaya and Kush are your life now and Pihu and I are Priya’s.

Ram gets infuriated and snaps at Rajat.

Ram: Don’t you dare bring Soumaya and Kush into all this especially when you are comparing them to that characterless Priya. Besides how did you sympathize with her? Weren’t you the one who told me about her being alive and how it was really wrong of her to keep Pihu away from me?

Rajat: Ram I was wrong about Priya. I mean I was right that she is not right for you. You deserve better. But isn’t this what you wanted, you wanted a girl like Priya to come into my life and show me how to love.

Ram: I SAID a girl LIKE Priya…

Rajat: yaar you know about my miserable past with love, but with Priya I am able to forget all that. Just like with Soumaya you were able to forget Priya in these five years.

Ram: you and your disgusting thoughts. She is my sister-in-law, rishab’s wife. Truth is I was never able to move on and nor did I ever try.

Rajat: ram you should try now. Priya and I are happy . . . please let her have Pihu you have Kush.

With this Rajat gets up and leaves the room, looking back at Ram one more time before exiting. The anger in his eyes was noticeable. He smiled slightly and thought mission accomplished. Ram slammed the glass on the floor, apiece of the glass ricocheted of the hard marble floor piercing the skin on his index finger. He winched in pain as he pulled the piece of glass out of his skin immediately after he did that blood trickled down his index finger. He walked to the bar counter grabbed a napkin and roughly wiped his finger before he grabbed the bottle of scotch he was drinking from and began chugging directly from there.

Love must be so versatile as I witnessed that same night. When I came into Pihu’s room to see you, you weren’t there and immediately I knew where else to check, the bar. This realization of the obvious had to do something with my newfound understanding of love.

I stood by the door of the bar silently and watched your every action. When Ram grabbed you, when you both uttered those three insignificant words, I felt a strange feeling inside my heart. What was this feeling? It was completely screwing up my game plan. But this caring avatar of yours was truly breathtaking.

Priya had put Pihu to sleep and was on her way to the kitchen to get some water. Pihu was still recovering from her fever and last night she had woken up in the middle of the night asking for water, so Priya thought this time she would be prepared. Heading back to Pihu’s room she heard the TV on very loudly and someone snoring. She recognized that snoring any day. The same snoring that she would fall asleep to five years ago.

Priya (speaking to herself): Ram? Itne raat ko bar mein hain?

She walked towards the bar and saw ram sleeping very awkwardly on the sofa. His feet rested on the floor while his back was positioned on the sofa, his spine was positioned out of alignment as he leaned slightly to the left. Priya’s heart broke at the sight of Ram. She walked towards him to take the TV controller from the coffee table and saw that that there was broken glass on the floor. Turning off the TV and observing Ram she stood there in a daze. 

Priya (speaking to herself): Ram why are you doing this? I have to lay him down properly or else his back will hurt tomorrow.

Silly girl, she is more concerned about his back which will heal in two, three days but what about his heart that is shattering to pieces being away from her? She grabbed his shoulders hesitating at first because it had been so long ago that she had touched him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and began to move him down so that he laid flat on the sofa. She stepped forward as Ram’s upper body moved down on the sofa but she stepped on something hard on the floor and slipped, falling down flat on the sofa herself. Priya was startled and lay there for a few seconds trying to make sense of what had just happened. She turned her head sideways looking down on the floor to see an empty bottle of scotch.

Priya (still laying flat on the sofa, now staring at the ceiling, her legs on the floor): he drank the entire bottle?

Tears welled up in her eyes, thinking about his suffering. She was about to get up when suddenly she felt Ram moving up on the sofa beside her. His back must have been hurting because in his sleep he adjusted himself. He put both his legs up on the sofa and pushed himself up the length of the sofa. She quickly tried to get up but he wrapped his arms around her waist and positioned his head on her chest. Now she was in an awkward position and he lay peacefully on her fast asleep. She stroked her fingers through his thick messy hair with a smile on her face.

Priya (thinking to herself): Thank you god for not stripping Ram of his innocence.

Priya lay there stroking his hair, thinking about all the wonderful times they had together in the short time that they had lived together as husband and wife. She was brought back to the bitter reality of their relationship by his snoring. Than she thought of what she had come in this room to do. To put him to sleep as comfortably as possible and then get back to Pihu. She slowly lifted his head up trying not to wake him up she placed his head on the sofa and slid out from under his grasp by holding his hand and lifting his arm off her waist. Succeeding in her plan, she escaped from the sofa with him still fast asleep. She placed his hand to his side but suddenly he gripped it tightly and turning more towards her. Priya got scared she wondered what would have happened if he had woken up. But luckily for her she didn’t get a chance to find out as he was still sleeping.

Ram (in his sleep): Maat jao Priya, Main nahi jee paoga tumhari begair. I love you Priya…

This startled priya before she realized that he was only talking in his sleep. Tears rolling down her cheeks, she was careful that none of her tears fell on him. With great effort she managed to free her hands from his and placed his hand gently on the sofa when she saw the dried blood stain on his index finger from the wound. She kissed his wound softly, and whispered

Priya: I love you too Ram. I can’t see you like this Ram why are you doing this???

Her heart felt question was greeted by his snoring. She got up wiped her tears and took off his shoes, she asked bansi kaka for a dustpan and a comforter. He brought them to her and she tucked him in, he curled up into a fetal position the best he could on the sofa, than she used the dustpan to pick up the broken pieces of glass off the floor so that he doesn’t step on it when he wakes up in the morning. She wasn’t paying much attention to what she was doing and this carelessness caused her index finger to be pierced with a piece of glass. She gasped in pain, removing the glass from her finger and watching the blood gush out.

Priya: I deserve this for hurting you Ram. Please forgive me…

She got up and discarded the broken pieces of glass in the dustbin. She placed the empty bottle of scotch on the bar counter before she grabbed a napkin and wiped off the excess blood from her fingers. She took the jug of water she had fetched from the kitchen, shut off the lights and went back to Pihu’s room to be greeted with her snoring. She smiled slightly through her tears, wiped it and then stroked pihu's hair, kissed her on the forehead and went to sleep.

That night I saw hurt in Ram’s eyes that I never wanted to create. I wanted to open Ram’s eyes and show him your true colours. But your actions towards Ram in that bar that night made me question my understanding of you as a person. It’s funny because I had my mind made up that Ram deserved better than you but after witnessing your caring nature towards him despite the circumstance baffled me. Sure you hurt Ram by denying him of his rightful place as a husband and a father but this past decision was beginning to look more like a sacrifice that hurt you more than it hurt Ram. In the time that I have known Ram he was always smiling and the reason for that was you despite not being in his life. In the time that I have known you, you have always been struggling by yet smiling in the face of adversary. You lived like a pauper even though you were Ram’s queen. After I married you to make Ram hate you, his life became miserable. So it was not you who was hurting him it was me and my actions to drop you in his eyes. That night he drank because I made him believe that you had moved on and that we were happy together. This lie spiraled him into a fit of rage in your name but you came in like sunshine after a storm and cleared the havoc his rage had created. You tucked him in and in the process you hurt yourself. Soumaya and all the other family members gave you crap for leaving Ram but you never once tried to justify your reason behind your decision to leave. You told me that if they vent out their frustrations they would be happy and relieved. But as long as everyone loved Pihu, which they all did, you were fine with any punishment that they spewed at you. I wanted to back away from this plan and leave you and Ram alone but I couldn’t. Your heightened thinking of love and your endless sacrifice was strongly attractive. The strength you portrayed, your attempts to mend your past relationship was commendable. I have faced many business colleagues and came out victorious. But the more I attacked you the farther away I was from winning, your business was loving your family and my business was tearing your love down. You won on each level and although my mind was focused on the next attack my heart wanted to be your partner in your business, I wanted to be a part of your life, your love life. If there wasn’t evil than there can be no good. Just like that if there is no hate than how will we realize the value of love? My hate bowed down to your love and I had no choice but to let it.