Kuch Mere Dil Ne Kaha Part 12

Part 12

Ram initiated a precious moment when he pushed aside all his inhibitions and brought his lips forward to fuse with hers. Priya felt her heart jump in her chest when Ram made his bold move. "What was she mad about before?" She stood thinking, numb from her face down.  Now that incident in the office was well beyond her, shrugged to the side so as not to be forgotten but giving way to the most pressing issue at hand, which was his lips tugging on hers. Ram was puzzled by his own action; he knew that once Priya regains a hold over the situation, shit was going to hit the fan for sure. But Ram had no intention of leaving her lips, come what may. It was not because of his ego, for once, but the way that she tasted made him feel as though he had found the path to nirvana and there was no turning back. Ram deepened the pressure in his kiss in search of some reason to explain why he enjoyed the soft, forbidden feeling of her lips so much. It was not like she was his first kiss but with god as his witness he felt like she should be his last. The shift in Ram’s passion was the anecdote to her paralysis; she fisted his shirt tightly and pushed him back. He jilted like a rag doll so easily moved back in a state of ecstasy with no substantial effort from Priya. Although Ram had felt the vibration of a gentle thud as his body nudged up against the door to the Sharma house, neither him nor Priya had figured that this noise could’ve alerted the family of the fact that they were outside and on the verge of engaging in a war of words. Ram observed Priya intently from the same distance that she had created when she had pushed him; there was unimaginable rage that looked back at him mixed with an overwhelming display of hurt which he had no purposeful intention of igniting. Although he didn't regret kissing her, he now realized, given what he had labelled her earlier, it probably wasn't the best thing for him to have done. So he stepped forward with a difficult intent to apologize, not for the kiss however, but for exactly the reason that he had followed her to her apartment in the first place, for basically calling her characterless, a reflection of her deceased mother. “Why did he kiss her?” Ram thought as the kettle of hot rage in Priya’s mind steamed and hissed. “To shut her up?” Ram looked on puzzled, standing naively on the path of her destruction, still trying to find a sorry from beneath the depths of his ego. “But… She was quiet the moment their lips touched so why didn't, or better yet, why COULDNT he stop kissing her?”
Shrugging the thought from his mind, he refocused on the only woman, he had decided in that moment, who was capable of splaying his insides out and spraying it in ever shade of colour that he hated just to make a rainbow of his emotions for the world to see. "Priya I am so." She put her palm up, not the least bit interested in the thought of his dishonestly perceived apology. Ram had managed to uncork Priya’s bottled up demons and now with it released it reached and lashed in his direction. "How dare you Mr.Kapoor?" She obviously didn't care for his response maddened with an urgency to make her point. "I never hated you. Not even after what you said earlier about my mom because I figured you didn’t know. However, after what you just did? You disgust me… And you know what? You don't deserve the little respect that I used to carry for you." The lump in his throat elevated and dropped as he gulped her harsh words. Even when they engaged in childish squabbles, there was always a region of unstated mercy that tonight Ram had burnt to ashes along with the remains of Priya’s pride. She devoured him whole with a side of anger in her eyes for him that he had never seen before. But in all honesty, he didn’t intend to hurt her more than he had already done. In fact, he wanted to apologize with utmost sincerity but his inappropriate display of affection had her hurled into a whirlpool of uncontainable aggression. It was much to Ram’s surprise that Priya hadn’t thrown a few slaps his way but than he concluded that it was probably the final attack that she had tactically planned to finish him at last. The silence tempted him to speak but she was not in the state to comprehend whatever justification he genuinely sent her way. So instead he waited to hear the continuation of her wrath but that plan also failed and crashed when another voice joined in to bash him.  
"Priya? What did this bastard do to you?" Sudhirs voice sliced through the tension, revising the equation and changing the game entirely for both Ram and Priya. Raising Priya for all those years, he was unfamiliar with this side of her and he was rightfully convinced that Ram had hurt his baby in a major way. "Priya tell me what this good for nothing brat has done to you? I will kill him…" It is unwise to test the strength of the wisest but it was a father who had grabbed Ram’s collar that night, and so the strength was bound to have multiplied.  Sid, Karthik and Shipra rushed toward the entrance owing to the commotion. Neighbours were like vultures praying at the hinges of their door for a shred of drama to feast on and this sight was like the last supper so everyone wanted a bite. Priya finally shattered her vow of silence and stated to everyone's surprise, "Papa please." She grabbed on to her fathers arms pulling at it gently for him to let go. “Mr. Kapoor didn’t do anything…It was late and he offered to give me a ride, that’s all!” Ram couldn’t believe his ears; he thought for sure Sudhir had his collar gripped so tightly that he was pushed to the verge of hallucination. But when his scrunched collar loosened Ram hadn’t a hunch as to what had crossed Priya’s once heated mind. He couldn’t help but wonder, "Was Priya really going to let me off the hook?" However, much more disturbing was the latter thought, “But why is she covering for me?” Sudhir could tell for a fact that she was hiding something from him, her eyes although deceptive, were far moister than he remembered. Glancing at Ram, Sudhir followed his fixed gaze to Priya’s blank face; her ears were pink but not as bright as her freshly lubricated eyes. Without a word more, Sudhir walked back into the apartment and Priya followed anxiously offering a quick yet deadly sideways glance at Ram, who stood in a flood of new guilt adding tremendously to the previous puddle. Slowly but unwillingly the spectators returned displeased to their homes with no fruitful gain other than small dinner talk amongst their families jotting down key points to expand further with their peers the following day.  Ram desperately wished to speak with Priya; it was not so much about the apology anymore but more so to realize just what the heck had happened. However, Sid suggested wisely that it was ill advised to strike the kettle when it was hot, as it would cause more damage than gain in this situation. Instead Sid stated with as much seriousness as his curiosity ridden mind could offer, “Go home Ram. I will call you in a bit… And for gods sake please don’t do anything stupid.”  If Ram had a nickel for each time he heard that, he’d still be the millionaire that he was today.

After dining with his beautiful wife, Ram took her in his strong arms to the plush sofa in the living room hoping to unwind further. Plopping straight down on the cushion seat he hugged Priya tightly on his lap, nuzzling his face against the arch of her left breast taking in the scent of his musky cologne, which was now more passionately unique from the pin drop touch of her womanly essence.  “Gosh you smell so good… Where can I buy this cologne?” He whispered in her ears, speaking in syllables so that she was tortured with the stimulating force of his hot breath. Priya struggled to find some flexibility in his grip. Managing to do so, she straddled his hips, lowering down slowly to tease the tip of the tent that was formed against the fabric of his pants. Anxiously, Ram palmed her firm buttocks tightly out of excitement and pulled her hastily down against his probing shaft as he groaned and leaned back, still seated.  Priya made herself comfortable riding on the high of his action; she rested the side of her arms on his firm shoulders while her fingers instinctively fled into the field on his lush black hair, it’s tips lightly caressing the back of his scalp. Ram had no desire to open his eyes and so with his head tilted back he felt his core bake in the fire of her passion with her kisses igniting a blazing trail down to the side of his face inching closer to his lips and just pausing. Confused, his eyelids unwillingly peeped while his heart beat in frustration against his chest. Ram’s neglected moist lips parted but Priya was determined to not let him speak. And what Priya wanted she got, that was the mutually accepted philosophy of their relationship. Ram was usually the leader of their romantic encounters, the marvel of their love story… But when Priya placed her index finger on his lips to shush him there was a subtle nervousness in his eyes, the excited kind, which was like an unexpected surge of energy, it turned her on even more. Tracing her finger to the edge of his lips, Priya spoke softly, “Meet me upstairs in 15 minutes… I have a surprise for you. okay?” Ram nodded almost robotically, clearly dumbfounded by her seduction. She smiled when she heard the rough swoosh of his gulp as she smooched his cheeks, climbing off of him surprisingly with no vocal protest. “Well I’ll be damned,” she thought to herself biting down gently on her lips. “I have rendered ‘the Ram Kapoor’ speechless? Wow!” Ram observed keenly as Priya’s hips swayed enticingly on her way up the stairs. 

Ram Kapoor, the business tycoon knew every nook and cranny of his craft. But he foolishly let himself be blindsided by a conversation that he had overheard in the Sharma house. And now that he knew the truth to the last word about how Priya's past occurred he was stumped realizing that his subtle attack was more like a massacre. Power and money is great for everything but it still failed to buy back the hands of time after it had struck. Yesterday he tried to apologize for his rude assumption and for Ram that was a difficult task in and of itself. However, now he was determined to say he was sorry before the day was over atleast. Guilt was a burden that even his strong shoulders couldn't hold up much longer. Dressed in his sharpest of suits, a grey Armani as opposed to the usual solid black and red tie contrast, Ram skipped into the elevator rehearsing his apology in his head. It was hard for a man of his calibre to slay his ego and state with equal remorse, two otherwise simple words, I'm sorry. The elevator door began sliding slowly to close when he heard someone call out, "Please hold the elevator door!" Instinctively he stuck out his arm opposing the door and when it opened and he saw Priya he felt like he finally had scored the opportunity that he was searching for. "Hey..." Ram started, stepping aside to give her some space to enter. Priya's eyes told the clear tale of her rage and even before she headed towards the staircase without saying a word to Ram, he knew that this was coming. Undeterred by her frank rebuttal, Ram pushed the thought aside and decided it was time to step his game up to another level and besides it was better for her to walk up the stairs maybe it would serve useful for her anger to settle a little before he curled the bat back and lined up for a second swing.

Priya stomped wildly up two flights of stairs; if she were in her right mind, she would have strategically paced herself because after the fifth floor she had still five more thigh scorching sets to go. “Screw Mr. Kapoor… I hate him… I will never forgive that egotistic bastard… Who the hell does he thing he is?” She spoke to herself quite audibly, relapsing on her rage dangerously. Although, she was of a fit build and athletic to say the least, Priya was clearly exhausted, breathing heavily like she had never worked out in her life before. “F--- this…” She cursed, uncharacteristically… “I am going to take the elevator, if it’s still in service after the dinosaur took a crack at it…” Priya reached the hallway and pushed the button for the elevator… Crossing her arms snuggly under her bosom, she focused on the ground trying to regain some sense of normalcy in her breathing pattern. The elevator dinged to signal it’s arrival, opening up at it’s own sophisticated pace. Irritated by every little detail of the still fresh day, Priya shook her head annoyed before she looked up to finally get into the elevator. Bad move… Priya’s blood boiled in her veins at the sight in front of her. Ram looked back, smiling modestly as he gestured and made way for her to get in once more… “Are you crazy?” She snapped like a burst fuse, not giving a damn as to who might hear her. “Priya… I need to talk to you…” Ram stepped out and approached her, in an aim to silence her a bit so that he could save face in front of his employees.

“Go to hell Mr. Kapoor!!!”

“Priya…” He warned her with a threatening glare in his eyes… “Calm down… Get in the elevator and we’ll talk about this in my office…” Ram ordered, unwisely, his commands only fuelled her fire.

“And if I don’t? What will you do?” Walking up to him with her head up high sending her own arrogant vibes, She questioned. “Fire me? Is that what you will do Mr. Kapoor?” Ram scrunched his fist; he always failed whenever his patience was tested and today the results wouldn’t be any different. It was hard to tell when Priya continued, whether she was oblivious to Ram’s slowly increasing temper or whether she just didn’t care in her own craze… “Well I’ll have you know that I am not here to work I am here to give my resignation letter to the owner of this company, your father… So back off!” Priya pushed him back and off balance; he managed to stay standing nonetheless watching her practically run towards the stairs once more. But this time he wouldn’t stop at every floor in the elevator and wait for her, hoping that she would calm down and quietly get in; this was the limit and Priya had no respect for it. Ram refused to be battered any more, he was sore from her words and by the look in his eyes you could tell it was high time for him to even the scores.

“Priya!” He called out to her for the umpteenth time, while clunking up the stairs, right on her tail. “Priya stop!”

“Go screw yourself.” Priya finally screamed, not stopping in her dual quest to avoid him and get up the stairs to Amarnath.

“Priya dammit stop… Priya god… My chest…” The thud sound of the soles of his shoes as it made contact with the concrete cement slowed down and than stopped completely. Ram was a devious man so Priya was sceptical to turn back but than she heard the most convincing painful grunt halting her from going up any further without a quick glance at the source of the disturbance. 

She was shocked at the sight, the pink on her cheeks from running drained instantly to a pale, fearful pigment. “oh my god, Mr. Kapoor are you okay?” Racing down the stairs she kneeled by his side on one of the steps where he was slumped. Without thinking she rested her palm over his hand, which clenched at his chest. “I am so sorry, I am so sorry” Priya rubbed over his hand while looking around, up and down at the empty stair way… “Help! Somebody help!” She screamed in vain…

“Mr. Kapoor, hang in there…” Priya tried nervously to reassure Ram…

“Priya, it hurts so much… I don’t think I will make it…” Ram whispered in between gasps… The bitter thought of death, which had haunted Priya, all her life, resurfaced in that moment. Ram winced once more, shifting when he caught a glimpse of the clear beads of tears forming along the line of her eyelids. “Mr. Kapoor, please you can’t do this… Everyone dies because of me… Ma, Papa and now…” She paused and got up panicky in her speech and jerky in her movements, “Just wait here, Mr.Kapoor I will go and get someone…” Ram’s conscience stung his skull with a bone-crushing backhand that he deserved. All he wanted was her attention, but perhaps he had played the wrong card or pushed the same hand farther than its value. As Priya made her way up the stairs, Ram tugged her hand, underestimating his own strength. She felt something yank her so strongly that it swept her of her feet. Closing her eyes shut tightly, she anticipated a hard landing on the cement stairs, but instead her upper body was cushioned by something comfy, something firm yet not rough…

“Priya are you okay?” When she had fallen back or rather hurled back she had not the slightest clue as to what she had landed on. But with her eyes shut her sense of touch and smell piled into overdrive, she now knew that her left arm had clung around the shoulders of a person and judging by the scent of their rich, musky cologne it had to be an affluent man. The voice coated in palpable concern made her certain beyond a shred of doubt that the person whose embrace she was enwrapped in was none other than Ram, the same Ram for whom she had been running up the stairs in the first place. Her eyes darted open and she steadied her feet on the ground, shrugging cautiously off of him but continually observing the change in his behaviour. Ram gulped audibly and than clearing his throat, he spoke, “Priya, I was just joking… I didn’t think that this little prank would hurt you so much… Honestly, if I had any idea that this would make you cry, I would have never done it…” Ram continued empathetically noting her tears as they somersaulted down her cheeks. In fact, he was incredibly surprised that he was still talking and that Priya did not even try to stop him. “I wanted to say that I was sorry about yesterday and about right now as well. I am sure your parents were great individuals and it was wrong for me to speak ill of your mother based on no solid grounds. I am so sorry for what happened to your parents… I am so sorry…” He paused and than added… “You told me last night that you hated me, but if you did you wouldn’t have stopped to help me now would you? Can you please forgive me Priya?” He lips curved on one side to smile, clearly his heart was not into it but maybe he had thought wrongfully that a subtle playful remark would bring some ease to the tension between them. “Priya…” He started once more, taking this golden opportunity and hoping to run with it to the edge of the world it seemed. But his illusion was short lived; she roughly patted her cheeks with the long sleeves of her red and black salwar and than stuck up her right palm authoritatively putting a halt to his apologies immediately. 

“So you did all this to prove to me that I didn’t actually hate you?” She asked, a scary seriousness in her tone for someone who was crying only a moment ago.

“Yes! In the most innocent way, I swear.” He answered, truthful in his reply.

“Great…” Priya wiped her eyes and smiled tiredly. “So it’s settled than, I don’t hate you Mr. Kapoor…” Ram felt a strange need to celebrate as if her acceptance was an award, an honour of some kind. “Thank you Priya…”

She nodded in response and than added, “Actually I couldn’t really hate you…” Ram smiled innocently, his ego soaking in what he thought was a compliment… But than when Priya continued, dropping her façade of forgiveness Ram’s jaw and heart fell slowly in utter shock. “I can’t be bothered… You don’t deserve anything and I have nothing, not even my hatred to offer to you…And who the hell do you think you are to tell me that my parents were loving? You wouldn’t know what love is like, because everyone in your life couldn’t stand you… And I don’t blame them… As for your sympathy and your apology you can keep that to yourself. Besides you could never relate to me? How would you know what it was like to lose somebody that you loved when you have never loved anybody? You’re so lucky that Ayesha loves Sids otherwise you would have been history yesterday when you dared to touch me… What did you think? I enjoyed it and that’s why I kept my mouth shut? If that’s what you thought than please get that image out of your dirty mind.” Priya pulled out an envelope from her purse and waved it in his face, “After I hand this in to your father, I never want to see your face again, you got that?” 

It was of course a rhetorical question but to Priya’s surprise Ram didn’t retort to her aggression. Even as Priya walked past him to the door, he stood sulking with a puzzled frown on his face glaring at the ground. It was too soon for Priya’s ego to celebrate her victory; last night she assumed triumph prematurely and instead ended up ultimately losing the battle that she had started. So this time she was cautious as she walked towards the elevator, heard it ding upon arrival, got in and than watched the doors slide shut in front of her before she heaved a sigh of relief, he had finally left her alone.

Jenny greeted Priya as she wearily existed the elevator looking right and left for trouble named Ram Kapoor. It was a miracle; she was actually free from his angry egotistic clenches. But she held back the urge to pump her fists in the air excitedly, partly due to the fact that she was still trying to digest what had unravelled in the past 24hours and the other half of the reason being that the day wasn’t even halfway over.

“Good morning Priya Ma’am.” Jenny greeted Priya who was behaving detectably spaced out…

“Uhh…” she stuttered looking about as she walked closer to her office, probably for the last time. “Is Mr. Amarnath here yet?” She asked, staring in the direction of Amarnath’s office adjacent to Ram’s.

“No Ma’am, he will be arriving late this morning… There was a meeting scheduled for him today…”

“Ahh crap…” Priya muttered under her breath while turning the door handle to her office. “Okay thanks!”

“Let me know if you need anything Ma’am.” 

Priya nodded with a gentle smile to hide her true feelings. She entered her office and flicked on the lights, figuring she would take this time to pack her belonging and than hand in her resignation letter the first chance that she got. But her thoughts fumbled at the sight of a bouquet of red roses sitting out of place on her desk…”What the hell is this?” She thought to herself, walking cautiously towards the roses as if there was bomb hidden beneath the thorny branches.  Priya’s immediate thought, as she got close enough to the bouquet to see the note neatly tucked between the beautifully shaped roses was, “Rajat!! It has to be Rajat…” Alas, when she opened up the note, her eyes cheated, scrolling to the bottom of the paper to see who the message and the flowers were from, but she came up empty, it was blank… Scrolling back up, perplexed and irritated she read what was written hoping for some clue…

“Dear Priya,

It’s very hard for me to apologize because I am usually never wrong. But about last night, to say that I was out of line would be a gross understatement. When you told me that your parents passed away in a car accident when you were 5 years old, it broke my heart. Actually, I can relate; I lost my very near and dear dada-ji when I was about that age too. You have probably gathered while working here that I don’t share a healthy relationship with my father. On his greedy quest to run the most prominent business in India, my father had abandoned everyone, including my dada-ji to whom this business belonged. Before this, we used to live in the Kapoor Mansion like a happy family. But when my father was willing to sacrifice anything for business, my dada-ji stepped in to object. It was too late, my father had already conned my dadi-ji, his very own father, into signing over the entire enterprise in his name. I was 6 when my otherwise healthy dada-ji suffered a massive heart attack; I believe to this day that my father brought it on… That day I didn’t lose my dada-ji I lost the only man who loved me unconditionally, and that was the day that I had lost faith in love… Priya I think you are very brave, to lose everything but still stay smiling. The way you handle your family, Kush and my brother is worthy of appreciation if not applause. I don’t know why I felt the need to share this portion of my past with you but I guess it could be because when I saw the picture of you and your father, it made me realize what I will never have despite having everything at my disposal.

P.S. you don’t have to re-type the Prasad’s file, I completed it last night…

I hope you liked the roses, please tell me that you are not allergic to it like I am…

Oh and I found a picture of your father holding you when you were a baby at one of Kapoor Industries Diwali functions… It was in an album in the storage but now it’s framed and on your desk…

Well I should really stop beating around the bush now and just say what I started writing this ‘short’ note for…

Priya, I am so very sorry…

“Mr. Kapoor…”Priya uttered to herself knowing immediately who the note was from… Her legs felt like blocks of ice making it hard for her to walk to her desk. Sure enough there was a picture of her father holding on to a little baby wrapped up in a tiny blue blanket. The corners of her eyes stung recalling the overkill in the stairway. Criss-crossing back and forth from the roses to the photo and than the note in her hand, she wished she had known; it was so unlike her to snap the way that she did. Priya had provoked a war stupidly ignoring a peace offering from a man who was genuinely sorry. Whatever happened to her motto, “everyone deserves a second chance.” Priya slumped on her chair, the words that she said to Ram replayed in her head. Now she saw the concern that was in his eyes, the truth that was in his words and the truthfulness in the way in which he approached her. Embarrassed, she looked at the beautifully framed photo and said, “Papa, what have I done?”