Reigning The Man

| T E N

T E N

Aakash sat slumped in his office chair. His face was buried in his hands, and all the files were scattered on the floor. He had never felt all alone in this world.

One of the worst moments in his life was when he finally had to accept that things wouldn't work out with Riya. It wasn't that Riya was not ready to marry him. But if she did, he knew he couldn't keep her happy.

It made sense that he felt bad about a six year relationship. But why did it affect him so much when Riccha left the house? It took all of just two days to stir up a whirlwind of emotions inside him. What kind of emotions, he didn't know. At the moment, he didn't care.

When Mr. Shashi started talking about the marriage certificate, his mouth had a life of its own. Before he knew it, he blurted out a lie. A lie that cost him so dearly. His company. His baby that now had to be aborted.

Sohail came into his cubicle but stopped in his tracks when he saw the mess Aakash made to his room. He wasn't very happy with the way Aakash was behaving the past few days.

"What the hell just happened? And I fired Riccha."

"Good. It was all her fault anyway. Hope I never see her again," Aakash said. Why was he lying all the time? When he saw Riccha this morning, it took all his strength to act like he didn't care. But he did care. She affected him. He hoped that she would stay in his life long enough to determine how.

Aakash couldn't look at Sohail's disappointed face. He couldn't let him know how he felt. One, he didn't know what he felt, and two, the moment he tells him, the information would reach Riccha. He didn't want to get her hopes up. For all he knew, this strange feeling could simply be an infatuation, or even worse, rebound feelings.

"Okay. Well, I'm going to start packing now," Sohail said, while exiting the cubicle.

Aakash couldn't accept defeat yet. "Wait," he shouted after him. Sohail stopped at the entrance, looking puzzled.

"Look. We can't give up yet. Let's try asking a few more people."

Sohail sighed. "We have already approached twenty three investment companies, including Shashi's."

"One more," Aakash pleaded. If that didn't work either, then he would go back to his old company. However, as luck wouldn't have it, it didn't work out. That investment company wanted a more experienced team.

"We start packing the next morning," Aakash said, as they walked out of the last investment office. Sohail gave Aakash a light pat on the back. He didn't have any words of comfort to say as he himself needed someone to comfort him.

~*~

Sohail woke up lazily to a text from Riccha.

I have something important to discuss. Need an appointment with you at ten. Don't tell Aakash about this because he wont come, but I need to talk to him as well.

Sohail sat upright. Riccha seemed like she meant business. Hell, she asked for an appointment. Feeling quite apprehensive but also excited, he scrambled out of bed and thumped on Aakash's door.

"Rise and shine, baby. We need to get to the office. A Robert has booked an appointment with us." Sohail felt satisfied with his lie. It was enough to get Aakash going.

Robert? Was there a Robert in any of the investment companies, Aakash thought. Not that he remembered, but his memory was quite clouded at the moment. He drank a whole bottle the previous night. Riya would have been disappointed, but he was in difficult times.