Specks Of Love They Hate...

Thirty Seven

"Do we have to go back?" Vanya pouted, making Atirek chuckle, as he packed his bag. They had extended their stay for another week and she had a blissful time so far, just spending time with Atirek, who seemed like any regular businessman, when he was not in that depressing palace- like mansion. When he was busy, she got some hours of reading in. She even went through a few old Mafia movies, just to mess with him.
"At first you didn't even want to come here, now you don't want to go back?"
"It's not as if I get to go back home, once we're back in Lucknow." She grumbled at him. 

Atirek sighed and walked closer to her. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and looked in her eyes.
"Even if I spend all my days, till the end of my life, I will not be able to apologize, or even deserve your forgiveness for dragging you into this mess." He said, sincerely. "Still, just give me a chance. I discussed this with Veer and we have decided to let go of that land."

"But you said that it took you forever to save money for that-" Vanya started speaking but he shushed her.

"Ma called me, to enquire about how you were. Apparently; a nosy woman told her that we were getting along too well." He smirked at her, pulling her into an embrace. 
Vanya felt her face get warm and she hid her face in his chest. "I knew telling Esha was a big mistake."

Atirek chuckled at that and placed his chin on her head softly. "Anyways, so Ma and I had ourselves a little chat about what-the-hell-do-I-think-I'm-doing. Then after I told her my intentions were pure; she asked me if we would like to make it official."

Vanya felt her heartbeat quicken. She stepped out of his embrace and looked up at him, her throat going dry. She had no idea how to feel about this new development. Sure, she had come to like this guy and they'd discussed a few wishful thoughts about the future; about how things could change, their families could change... The truth was, it was just this one man against everyone. And even if by some miracle, he could bring the chaos of his family in order, her father would never let it go.
"What'd you tell her?"

Atirek noticed the change in her expressions and his smile faltered.
"I- I haven't answered her yet." He lied.

"Oh." was all Vanya could muster as a response, feeling conflicted. Half of her was relieved, she wasn't sure she wanted a relationship with this guy when all the conflicts were resolved. She had just been concerned with the present. The other half of her; was somewhat disappointed. She herself had no idea what she had hoped for Atirek's answer to have been and why.
Turning away from him, she started picking up her own stuff to pack up.

Atirek felt his heart drop into the depths of blackness that he hadn't felt since they left Lucknow.
It was a rejection and he knew it; even if she didn't say it out loud.

"I'll go and see where Karim has reached." He managed to sound normal, before leaving the room.

Vanya sat down heavily on the bed, once he had left; unsure about even her thoughts on all this, let alone her feelings.
Half of this mess was even her fault. If only she had stayed like a prisoner all this time, it would've been easy now. But she readily got involved in his life and now, she grudgingly admitted to herself, she was experiencing some kind of weird Stockholm Syndrome towards Atirek.

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 Outside; Atirek lit up a cigarette in the balcony, his first one in a week. He stared at the stick as if it was the cause of his problems. In a way, it was; he thought to himself begrudgingly. Like everything else in his life, he had let Vanya affect his smoking habit too. She had thrown away his cigarettes every time he lit one in the past week, and he had let her. He had given her power over himself in ways that he had never given anyone else.

He decisively snubbed it out midway, taking out his phone.

"Hello?" Raghav's voice came from the other end.
"I need your help." Atirek spoke.

Raghav, who was sitting with Jaiman, excused himself.
"Tell me." He said, once out of the earshot.
"I don't want to put the Rajan family through anymore trouble." Atirek said. "I am letting Vanya go back to her family. I had a discussion with Veer regarding the factory land. The government had nothing on us. It is a clean land, and our lawyer will not let that accusation of marijuana farming stick. At most, we will have to wait for a few more years. Which is fine really, because by then, Arjun will be free from his clutches, your elections will be over; Eshu is already settled anyway. This will also give me some time to take over internally."

"Sounds like you already have it planned out." Raghav said, carefully considering what his brother was saying. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to go visit Arjun." Atirek said, his face hardening.
"But what about-"
"Whoever dad had planted over there, is no longer interfering with Arjun." He told Raghav. "I want you to go check on Arjun; and if possible, try to find out what this guy, Keith; wants. It seems highly fishy that after investing so much energy in winning over our dear dad's trust, he has suddenly stopped."

"You think he wants to switch teams?" Raghav asked, wondering the same himself.
"Either that or he has another agenda." Atirek replied. "If Keith wants to become a turncoat, we will keep an eye on him, but we will let him join us. If he is playing for a third party entirely," Atirek cleared his throat, "Then too, he will want to join our team to throw us off the game. Either way, its time we let him know that its not just Danish he has to fear."

"What about Arjun?" Raghav asked, "He will not understand why we're doing this. He will just see it as another intrusion into his life."
"I got a call the other night," Atirek finally felt light inside, as he shared this  final piece of information with his brother; "Arjun has agreed to go to the Rehab."
"What? That's great news!" Raghav exclaimed. "But, how? Just a few weeks ago, he was there, getting arrested, now suddenly he wants to get clean?"

"Just count your blessings, brother." Atirek smiled wholeheartedly, for a moment forgetting that he had other, much bigger problems; than his addicted brother. "Even I couldn't have hoped for a positive news so soon. I had put someone on Arjun's detail, aside from Uday. But it seems as if we didn't have to lift a finger. This convincing for the rehab came through Keith himself."
"That is... curious indeed." Raghav finally said, feeling happy nonetheless. When one hears bad news so much regularly, they learn to take happiness in small victories. "Don't worry, I'll handle this entire affair. And Atirek?"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you're okay with the whole Vanya thing?" Raghav asked cautiously. "I mean, I'm happy that you've realized that keeping her trapped isn't going to help you, but these last few weeks, this is the happiest I've seen you in years..."

"Yeah, I'll be okay." Atirek replied softly. "It wasn't supposed to be mine anyway. It was a happiness I had snatched from her in the first place. I don't deserve to be happy after what I put their family through."
"Don't say things like that-"
"You know its true Raghav." Atirek gave a humorless laugh. "You had even warned me. That in my quest of watching out for my own family, I forget to draw where the lines are. And boy, were you correct! This is our fight, not theirs. I was wrong to include outsiders."

"I'm sorry, Atirek." Raghav said finally. "That's all I can say. You've taken a good decision."

Atirek looked up at the cloudy sky.
"Yeah. I know."

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AUTHORS NOTE:

Back to back updates to make up for lost time!
Hope you have fun reading this!
Let me know if I've missed something! 

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