Hi!
It’s raining in SQ land… Here we’ll meet some new people and know more about some old people. This is a vital chapter which I hope you will enjoy!

‘Be time for your employees never stopping for anyone, make them realize that a lost chance never comes back. Be a season for your family, lingering as long as they reap benefits from your company and be a lifetime to your beloved, until death do you apart…’
His father had said so once, astonishing a young Sanskar with the fact of him ever knowing something so deep and talking a tad more than the usual ‘when’, ‘why’, ‘alright’ and ‘of cause not’ s. It was the first ever impression his father gave in proving that there was another Ram Prasad Maheshwari hidden somewhere. He was concealed from the eyes of the family who had thought of him as a part of their walls.
As he grew older, he realized that it was the code his father lived by. A season never jumps in at you and let you know it is here. You simply feel it around you and it keeps changing your environment, helping your crops grow or perhaps making your garden bloom; all too silently. You enjoy its winds, rains and sunshine, you celebrate the festivities it bring but you never wait for it, or appreciate it…the season does not complain.
Ram’s position in his family had been much like that unappreciated yet eternally felt season. He was too familiar that everyone tends to forget him after a while. As he went to meet his father after a gap of no contact five years that was the first thought Sanskar had of him. He was going to meet a silent season which he had no idea when would jump from spring to winter.
As usual he was not nervous. The purpose of his visit was already known to his father. He was only going to receive his verdict, his support or his rejection. But in the time empty of any other task than driving or walking he mused how little he knew of the man he was going to meet. The man who shared his blood, but never a trait of his behavior, in that aspect he was more a progeny of his Bade Papa.
His thought wandered back to his childhood and family only to confirm that theirs was never a bond which he would have wanted from a father. His picture of sheltering, ever present and wise warmth was not Ram. He was more a distant, unapproachable and hazy version for a father. There was love and respect, right, but not the kind that bind you to a person for a life time but rather swiftly, like the rising and falling tides.
Those tides of respect rose whenever Sanskar glimpsed of that other Ram Prasad Maheshwari. The man who he could have related to himself; who was wise, strong and understanding but almost always hidden, when he agreed to meet him he had glimpsed that man once. As he walked in to their meeting place, he was hoping to see that man once more.
They needed help. Sanskar knew this the moment he realized that they would have to battle for the chairmanship. The joined side of Gadodias and Maheshwaris was not going to be toppled over by him and Swara. They needed some solid base to start planning. He had explained this to his father briefly, in the most honest way he could manage and tried to make him realize that this was the only way they could stop the merger with Agrawals from happening. For some reason Ram was already against the merger and this had given Sanskar hope.
He listened in silence and let Sanskar complete his speech before starting to talk. This antic did not surprise Sanskar as he knew his father was a good listener with a lot of experience.
‘Why did she forgive you?’ The question was out of blue and had no relation to their current conversation. ‘After knowing it was you who initiated this hideous torture on her?’
Sanskar frowned slightly. He had not thought down that particular path.
‘Swara has not forgiven me. She simply wants my help to make sure Maheshwaris don’t fall.’
‘Hmm,’ said Ram. ‘I knew she considered Bhai sahib her father. But I never knew her emotions ran this deep.’
‘You never knew about anyone’s emotions Dad, you were too busy agreeing with them.’ He was not planning to say it, but the words had left his mouth before he processed the thought. That sentence might have called off the entire deal.
Ram gave him a piercing look, the one he was used to give in his younger days whenever he said something out of the way and then his lips curled slightly.
‘Why are you doing this?’ He said then, completely ignoring what he said earlier. Sanskar had never seen that look in his father’s eyes. It urged him to be honest and extracted an answer he himself did not know until he said it.
‘I need to heal her.’
This time Ram smiled clearly and handed him the folder he had been resting his fingers upon.
‘I’ve been talking with my lawyer. I think you’ll find everything in order here.’
Before Sanskar recovered from his shock and found words to thank him, Ram stood up to leave. With a second thought he clapped his shoulder.
‘You and I have a lot more in common than you’ll ever know.’ He said then. ‘Keep her safe, or you’ll never heal yourself.’
That Ram Prasad Maheshwari was not the silent one, not the hidden one either, he was an entirely new person, Sanskar thought as he watched his father’s retreating back with a bewildered expression. Perhaps he was a person who never healed.
*
Every ice cold blade of steel has gone through white hot flames. Does agony do that to everyone? Leave them trapped behind ice walls of doubts, frozen in their own sufferings until the heart stops beating someday. Swara had seen that coldness in Sanskar who was once the warmest personality she knew and she felt that iciness in Ragini as she tried to kill her. That same chill was slowly seeping through her veins, blurring her emotions and hardening her heart. Her actions which once orbited around selflessness were now centered more edged towards herself. She was always trying to keep herself intact, protect herself from further damage and now… Just now she let Sanskar comfort her, just because she wanted to get herself rid of the pain and knew he was the only one who could do that.
Strangely though Sanskar seemed to have understood her weird behavior, he had realized that she did not forgive him or considered him anything more than her weapon. She was too broken to be indifferent at the moment. He had not given her a single glance after that hurt/comfort moment had passed. Was him understanding her another indication of her becoming the next Sanskar? She thought twirling the handkerchief he handed her. It was a laughable thought. Once she wanted to be a Sanskar, now the very thought frightened her.
Suddenly she was jerked out of her thoughts as well as her way. It was Sanskar again, his grip firmly on her elbow. Too entangled in her thoughts she gave him a quizzical look. He pointed outside, where she was about to step. Rain was pouring down in endless curtains.
‘Oh!’ She said, startled. ‘It’s alright; Ma said she would send the driver to pick me up.’
‘What is this kindergarten?’ Sanskar said sarcastically, his driver was already there with an umbrella readily at hand. ‘You can come with me I’m not going to eat you up!’
Swara gasped at him. How much of her conversation with her mother had he been eavesdropping?
‘You heard her?’ She asked him tentatively.
‘Only that Red Riding Hood trusting the wolf part,’ Sanskar said shortly. ‘Although I’m not sure who the wolf is at the moment…’ his voice tailed off as he saw Lakshya approach. ‘Tell the driver to leave, we’re going together.’ He said in a cold tone that playful banter immediately dropped. He had dismissed his own after taking the keys and gave her a meaningful look before she could say anything. If she had not been so perturbed she would have appreciated the gesture. He wanted to make sure she did not cross paths with Laksh again.
Sharing an umbrella with Sanskar even for a short walk between the entrance and the parking lot, was not Swara’s idea of a comfortable journey. She was pressed against him, his fingers curled in to the curve of her elbow steadily steering her in the way he wanted to go and the heat seeping through his clothes and meeting hers only made her tangled thoughts even messy.
Being so close to her was a risk Sanskar would have never taken if Lucky was not around. He simply did not want another scene where he had cornered Swara. His already puzzled thoughts were wracking havoc inside his mind and her proximity did not help at all. The rain drops sprinkling themselves against her face and hair dragged his gaze back to her and made it trail their paths as they tickled down her skin. She clumsily bumped against him, sending whiffs of flowery smell of her hair inside his lungs every time she did so. Sighing with relief as they reached the car, he held the door open for her and started the engines. He wanted to be alone, the sooner the better.
‘Ma didn’t mean what she said,’ Swara said after a moment. ‘She is just angry…’
‘She is right,’ Sanskar said casually. He gave her a swift look. ‘You should not play with fire.’
‘I’ve been pushed in to a pit of coals. I have no other option,’ Swara replied. As she did so she remembered it was the same answer she had given her Ma and was retorted with a ‘‘But you’re expecting the same person who pushed you to help you in getting out. How sane do you think that would be?’
‘To defeat Ravana you need Vibhishana’s help,’ she told herself in her Dida’s words.
‘Are you sure you’re not confusing Ravana and Vibhishana?’ Sanskar raised an eyebrow. ‘You just crowned me the king of Maheshwari’s Miss Bose; I can crush you beneath my feet.’
His voice had no trace of that chilling coldness, he was simply curious and she knew none of those words meant a thing.
‘You’re trying to make me say I trust you,’ she accused. ‘I can’t let DP uncle’s years of effort crush under Ragini’s feet. We just have to put up this act until DP uncle regains consciousness, and then the impermanent chairman has to step back. I have given you no crown. If Laksh had attained the position it would have been Ragini pulling the strings behind him and she is eyeing her own path there. The Maheshwari Empire doesn’t deserve this and I know you’re not an enemy.’
‘Careful Shona,’ Sanskar said lightly. ‘That path is very slippery. Don’t forget I made a murderer out of your sister.’
‘‘Ragini isn’t man made; she was always what she is now. Only we couldn’t see it. You just pushed her in to light, that’s all.’
‘Says the girl who doesn’t trust me,’ muttered Sanskar as his lips curled unintentionally. It was one thing he discovered about this new Swara. She could make him smile in the darkest of times, with some simple words or perhaps an honest silence.
*
Her small cold hand in his warm large one, mismatching in the first glance but oddly comfortable and fitting, and that thought crossed Swara’s mind as they walked in to the event, hand in hand. For someone who she shared absolutely no connection with, her mind ran a tad too constantly to Sanskar.  To her relief and astonishment at the same time she had stopped second guessing each of his actions and her mind at least was at ease to think of other things. Glancing sideways at him, she saw he was at his diplomatic best. After all the celebrations were meant for him, the one who dared to take Durga Prasad’s throne.
Her eyes swept over the crowd, many of those faces had faint marks in her memory. After all she had met many of them regarding business proposals with DP uncle. Then finally her eyes stopped at the sight which froze her thoughts, Ragini was there, with a faint smile curling her angelic lips.
Suddenly a gust of chill ran through her as their eyes met. Faintly she felt that Sanskar had let go of her hand. Inwardly her mind was replaying the moment when Ragini had confronted her at the bridge soon before she was pushed off. It felt the only time she had met the real Ragini. The person in her other memories, laughing or talking innocently seemed some kind of a replica of this terribly beautiful truth.
‘Ah, SK congratulations!’ A booming voice dragged her eyes back to the present scene. Sanskar was shaking hands with a middle aged man. She waited until they were introduced and smiled at him folding her hands in greeting. The man had a persona quite similar to DP uncle but the aura he emitted was completely uncomfortable and cold. His look was intimidating. Looking at him Swara could see why her father wanted to go for a merger with him and why DP uncle did not. The man might grant you prosperity but not security. This was *Chandraraj Agrawal, the next enemy in making.
‘Thank you,’ Sanskar said casually. ‘I’m sorry your plans did not go exactly that way.’
The man laughed good naturedly at him.
‘Of cause, Shekar and I wanted Lakshya at the chair. But…you and I go further in history. I hope you would not oppose our pending partnership?’ Although he sounded requesting there was decisiveness hidden in his tone.
‘History,’ Sanskar said thoughtfully. ‘Mr. Agrawal, are you by any chance referring to the time when you pushed us through a tiny whole in an agreement in to a crisis that could have submerged us?’
Chandraraj blinked.
‘I was eighteen then and missed an entire semester working hard to overcome your favor.’ Sanskar smiled at him.
‘I see,’ Chandraraj said shortly. ‘That you are still clanging to old prejudices.’
‘Oh; no; not at all,’ Sanskar shook his head with a smile that failed to reach his eyes. ‘I learn from my mistakes. Next time I’m going to read our agreement many times with a magnifying glass…’
This conversation on the same time were witnessed by two people and inspired completely different thought processes in both.
Firstly it was Ram Prasad. This was an encounter he was interested to watch. It had gone the exact way he wanted it to go. No one in their sane minds would go for a merger with the Agrawals or take Ragini’s advice on the matter. He was sure Sanskar knew the man for what he was and felt extremely glad that his assumption was right. If there was ever a man Ram Prasad hated, it had to be Chandraraj and he acknowledged that the feeling was mutual.
Secondly it was Ragini. This was the encounter she feared. It had gone the exact way she imagined. Sanskar would never let a merger with Agrawals happen. But that was the foundation upon which all her plans rested. Chandraraj was in her control at the moment and she wished to extract full benefit from that. Watching Sanskar she smiled for a moment. If he hated the man over such a trival matter how much would he loathe him when he comes to know of the entire truth. She blinked for a moment. Sanskar would not be spoiling her plans anymore, neither would Swara. She had a plan to end this charade right here.
Of cause she knew it was a charade. If there was anything, Ragini was proud about herself it was her ability to read people. She knew exactly what her sister was. No matter how deeper she was pushed, she would never marry Sanskar…but yes; she could surely come up with a plan to save the milk and the cat at the same time. Now it was time for the closing act.
Walking to Laksh who was scowling at the couple conversing with Chndraraj she tapped his shoulder.
‘So, will they run the empire their way now?’ She asked him slowly.
‘There’s nothing we can do,’ Laksh muttered back. ‘They have manipulated the opinion of the board.’
‘Well there is.’ She pointed out casually. ‘We can keep an eye on them.’
‘Huh?’
‘Don’t you think it’s time for Sanskar Bhai to return home?’
There went the arrow, coated with sweet poison.
*
*Chandraraj Agrawal comes straight from my imagination….
Did the arrow hit the target…or not?
You’ll know in the next chapter. Meanwhile if you enjoyed the chapter do take a moment to tell me how you found it.
If it was a waste of your time by any chance I am truly sorry.
Thanks for reading.