Bewitched

Chapter Two

Hi!

How many of you thought you met the hero in the 1st chapter? Ha! Seems like you haven't, but you will meet him here. Pritvi, is a man of secrets and he has tragedy in his blood. But touch his family and he'll show you, just how lethal he could be.

No need to say more! Please do enjoy!

CHAPTER TWO

The Devil

Pritvi

Trust is something that you earn in a life time and lose in seconds...

"No comments!" The curt reply seems to have cut itself into my tongue. Its bitterness curling itself around my senses as the flashes finally begin to develop a throbbing behind my eyes. Pushing through a crowd of reporters is never the sweetest walk in the world, but if you had been Pritvi Raj Maurya for twenty-nine odd years of your life, you would learn to endure it just the way I had.

Criticism is the most favorite weapon of modern society. The one weapon that they can use without a restrain to claw at someone they find unworthy to share their privileges. According to the valued opinion of this social circle I have never been the deserving the Maurya. Too bad, my dad would not give their thoughts a penny while naming his heir.

I cannot blame them, when some of my own had qualms with the decision as well. I could still picture the bitter look that crossed Sushant's face when dad announced it, or the way he greeted me through gritted teeth. Things had not been smooth between us since long, but perhaps tonight had been the last nail on the coffin.

The pressing crowd, hungry for the story of the week does not let me follow my brother, who had long vanished into the parking lot. In the back of my thoughts, I knew he had long driven away using the other route out. Still, I would have liked to chase him instead of lingering amidst these fake well wishes.

The disgust in his eyes bothered me.

"So, that's why you let go," had been his words. I know what is going on in his head. Sushant believes this is some kind of a deal between dad and me. He believes I had extracted my price of letting him have what he had desired for long, by making dad name me his heir. For a moment I wonder if that had been Dad's idea all along. Perhaps his throne had been too little a price in exchange of the peace of his home, a treasure that I never intended to steal from him in the first place.

My brothers and I had never been rivals, as the world at large expected us to. Our family fortune was never a matter of war, but things have long changed. Standing now, in the half-deserted parking lot, having arrived just in time to catch Sushant's taillights winking in good-bye at the farthest exit, I wonder if we would ever retrieve what has been lost. I rake my fingers through the hair I had already messed a couple of time as my thoughts turn a shade darker. The world thought I was winning, but in reality as I stood stranded in the parking lot, all I could feel was a sense of loss. I was helplessly watching as the most precious people of my life slipped farther and farther away from me. The past year had opened a chasm between Sushant and I and cut into the time we spent with each other. Indirectly it has pushed me further into the abyss of work and snapped the rapport I had once shared with Saket; my youngest brother.

My mobile starts to buzz. Almost blindly I reach out for it and answer the call, hoping for another tasteless congratulation only to be confronted with a rather shocking set of words.

"What? Where? How?" Is all I could manage before reining in my senses. "I'm coming, yes, yes, right away."

There is no time to spare another glance at the exit from which Sushant had vanished a moment ago as I run to my own car in a blank rush.