| Colliding Hearts |

| Chapter Four: Unanswered Questions |

Vyas Residence

"Answer me!" The firm voice of his mother Anjali did not shake Jishnu who sat unmoved on the couch as his mother paced the length of the living room anxiously. "How can you join that company? Do you think I'll let you do any madness as you wish? You are going back to Delhi right now!"

"Maa, you can't throw me out once again!" He replied, removing the watch from his wrist calmly. "This house is mine as much as it is yours. You do not have the right to decide where I stay. I'm not that gullible child whose life you can control."

"I'll never be intimidated by your anger and frustration. I'm your mother, Jishnu, I do what is right for you. You are not supposed to associate yourself with the Gupta family or the Blaze Of Truth. What are you even trying to do?"

"Will you tell me the truth, Maa? Will you tell me why you fear the Guptas so much and why do you want to send me away? Was Vishal Gupta really the one behind Papa's death? And what exactly happened that they both parted ways?"

"It's none of your business. Just leave Vadodara and lead your life without the influence of all these disturbances!"

"Do you really think I was leading a peaceful life in Delhi? Do you think all these tensions and questions let me take a single breath without worry?"

"There's nothing for you to stress yourself with, Jishnu. Everything has ended. You have nothing to do with this town."

"Really? Everything has ended? Then why don't you come along with me?" He rose from the couch, raising his eyebrows as his mother pursed her lips in agitation at his unexpected question.

"This is where I've lived all my life and this is where I want to die as well. It's my husband's home and I can't-"

"Oh, wow! Mr. Shveth Vyas was your husband but he was nobody to me, wasn't he? I cannot have any emotions for him like you do! I have to create a life which is completely free from my father's memories but you can't move on, not even for me! And who am I to you? You have no care or concern for me! I'm living and breathing but you have never treated me like a human! Just a concept, a concept called son, for whom you have no responsibility and neither should I have any for you!"

"Jishnu, I said go back to Delhi!" Anjali Vyas ordered, her tone mechanical.

"I will never leave my home without knowing the entire truth, Maa! None of your commands or blackmail will work on me anymore! I deserve to know what had happened in the past! I better die while settling everything right instead of running away and living in fear!"He responded assertively and rushed towards the stairs, climbing up towards his room without looking back.

"JISHNU!" Anjali yelled in distraught anger at his reckless words but her son was long gone. She collapsed onto the couch in the living room, her eyes welling up with tears as she held her forehead. Her gaze shifted towards the photo frame of her late husband that hung on the otherwise plain wall, and shook her head slowly in distress.

________

Gupta Mansion

Shri put the bowl of fruits on the dining table and stood up indignantly, hastily gulping the piece of fruit down on her throat. "Maa!"

"You should have asked Kapoor Ji before making the decision yourself!" Her mother Rekha repeated the line she had been chanting since the past half hour, seated towards the other side of the table. "He's elder to all of us, has a respected position in the company and he has more knowledge. Roshan wouldn't have gotten so offended if you took his father's permission."

"Maa, why do you talk like Roshan? It's not his or his father's sphere of work for me to take their permission!"

"They had handled the company for a good amount of time before you joined, Shri, on their own shoulders. It is basic courtesy from your side that you ask them when it's such a huge matter of appointing an enemy as an employee!"

"My decision to appoint Jishnu was right and rightful. As long as the Kapoors were managing the company, their opinion mattered in all aspects but it cannot be continued forever. The head of the reporting department is Deepak Bhai and he had no objection! What I have done is not professionally wrong for my position!"

"It's not about what you have done, Shri." Her mother sighed and looked down at her coffee cup. "What if Jishnu does something harmful like Roshan insinuated? What if you fall into legal trouble? Roshan is concerned for you! In that case, only Kapoor Ji can come to your aid, whom you are ignoring!"

"Legal trouble? Is there something seriously wrong with the company? Did Papa actually do something wrong with Shveth Uncle? If not, why will we get into any trouble, let alone legal?"

"You are saying that Jishnu hates your father and that means he can do anything! There are already horrible rumors about your father! While they can never prove him guilty, if he gets into these accusations, it's not good-"

"Maa, I'm sure that Jishnu won't do something as dumb as that. Unless he has solid proof, he won't try to trap Papa in mere allegations. And if Papa is really innocent, we have to prove that he is innocent! There's no meaning in thwarting accusations and fearing allegations all our lives!

"And Maa, if Jishnu is an enemy, truly an enemy, why is that picture of him and his family kept in our office? He was blaming Papa saying he did it to manipulate people to believe in his side of the story. I wanted to prove that he is wrong and that's why I hired him!

"Coming to Kapoor Uncle, if you really feel I've made a grave mistake in not seeking his permission, I'll go to his house and apologize personally, only for your satisfaction. But I know it well that his permission wasn't required!"

Shri huffed and wiped her forehead with her palm. "I'm not having dinner tonight. Please don't cook for me!"

Leaving the fruit bowl unfinished, Shri picked up her phone and hurried out of the room as Rekha pressed her lips into a thin line in visible anxiousness.