Pranbir: His redemption

Part 3

Even though Ranbir was on his phone, his attention was somewhere else.
His wife.... He couldn't get her out of his mind. Not a single time in these 2 months.
Sometimes he would get worried about her, but most of the time he was angry.
Anger took over all his other emotions.

His phone rang and he saw it was Rhea. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now so he cut it.
There, Rhea was frustrated. Ranbir has not been talking to her.
He stayed away from her.

Ranbir noticed an elderly man coming from the kitchen. He greeted him and the man called Prachi.
She came downstairs.
Elderly Man:"Baccha, how was your day? It must have been good. He is the one for the new deal?" (Pointing to Ranbir)

Prachi nodded yes.
Elderly man, whispered but Ranbir still heard him:"i am sure he will like your presentation when Ma'am will present it."
Ranbir noticed that Prachi was pensive hearing the last part.
He was confused, what's the problem in presenting?
She did this numerous times.

'Why are you bothering yourself?' His self-conscious kicked in.
'You hate her, it doesn't matter, you hate her, right?'

Does he really hate her?
He asked himself this question every single day and yet he can't answer it.

His chain of thoughts broke when he saw the Elderly Man giving her a chocolate bar. And she only smiled back at him: that too a weak smile. Mostly a fake one: no real happiness.
He was confused by her behaviour.

Elderly Man:"ok, i will make dinner now. Sir, would you like anything in particular?"
Ranbir nodded no and went back to his phone.

Prachi followed the Elderly man into the kitchen.
After a few minutes, he came back with a black coffee.
Ranbir thanked him and tasted it.

She made it, he knew. How can he not identify something she made?
He was about to put it away but drank it. He won't lie, he was thirsty and didn't have lunch.

Having nothing to do, he checked her presentation once more. He used to love her presentations but now, he was finding mistakes. They weren't big but he still noted them.

He saw Prachi going upstairs.
Ranbir:"Miss Prachi..."
She turned to him.
Ranbir:"i need to discuss about your presentation."
She approached him and sat in front of him.

Ranbir:"here, there are some information missing, add them. They are necessary."
Prachi took the paper he wrote on and checked. She started doing it silently.

Ranbir was observing her, he couldn't comprehend what was going on. He used to know her like the back of his hand. But now, she was a mystery.
She was concentrating fully on her work when someone screamed from upstairs.
Ranbir noticed how her expression changed to worry in a second. This is the first reaction from her that he saw except indifference.

Prachi rushed upstairs as quick as lightening.

What was upstairs?
Who is it that Prachi got so tensed?
The elderly man also followed the same steps. Ranbir was confused, what was going on here?

Prachi rushed inside a room. It was Abhigya's room, they were both still in coma. And it was the nurse who screamed.
The elderly man also joined them.

Elderly Man:"what happened?"
Nurse:"such a big cockroach."
Prachi signed in relief.
EM:"you screamed because of this? Don't scare us like this."
Nurse:"sorry ma'am, i am just really scared of them."
EM:"you made us worry for nothing."
The nurse apologised once again.

Prachi saw the cockroach and pushed it away.
EM:"it's gone now. Please don't scream like this now."
The nurse nodded.
The EM and Prachi left from there and came downstairs.
Prachi was rubbing her forehead.
EM:"no worries, Baccha."
Prachi nodded.
Ranbir:"what happened?"
EM:"The nurse screamed just because of a cockroach."
'Nurse' he thought.

Ranbir, sarcastically:"cockroach, i wonder how another scream didn't come from her."
Pointing to Prachi who looked at him.

The EM didn't understand and left to finish preparing dinner.
Ranbir approached Prachi.

Ranbir, in anger:"this was a lie too, right? That you were scared of cockroach. You made it so you could get away from our room and go to Sid."

Prachi went back to the couch and continued her work.
Ranbir:"what happened? Nothing to say? Nothing like I didn't do anything. You are misunderstanding me. I love you and you only. (He repeated her words on their last meeting)"
He got only silence in response.

He didn't know nor realise what his words meant to Prachi.
She took a deep breath before focusing on her presentation.
Her silence and indifference were overwhelming now. He looked at her furiously but then calmed himself down.
Why should he bother? She is nothing to him now.
Was she?

He shook his head to remove those thoughts.

——-
Hope you like it.