Another Half Of Me - Chapter 23

Siddha was talking to Balaramji on Skype when Sid suddenly barged into his cabin. Looking alarmed, Siddha finished the conversation quickly and closed his laptop.

“What is it?”

Before Sid could utter a word, Siddha saw Sandhya arguing with Rudy in the corridor. Gritting his teeth and sighing irritably, he gestured Sid to let her enter. Opening his laptop again, he sat down on the chair without even glancing at Sandhya, who strode briskly inside the room.

“I heard that you are dating someone,” she said jumping straight to the matter at hand.

Siddha did not even look at her for once; instead he got busy in replying to his official mails. He had been expecting this from quite a long time. The best way to get rid of Sandhya was to ignore.

Sandhya figured that he would not answer her at all. His ignorant behaviour irritated her more than his betrayal. Although she had seen this coming, she had always thought he would never go away from her.

She knew Siddha had never loved her. It was all business for him. But it was possessive love for her. She wanted to become Mrs Siddha Singh Rajput wholeheartedly and no ordinary dance teacher would ruin her plans.  Siddha was hers: her mind and heart kept on telling her.

Losing her patience, she went across to his desk and closed the flap of the laptop.

The moment the flap closed, Siddha’s mind clouded with anger. Closing his eyes, he tried hard to supress the burning hostility inside him. He got up and looked straight in her eyes.

“Yes, I am. And, dating is the small word for it. I am getting married to her,” he said trying to release all his anger through words.

Sandhya was bowled over by the look in his eyes. There was strong sense of purpose in them. And, also a resenting vehemence against her.

“You know the consequence of breaking this up, Siddha.”

Her threatening words broke the barriers of anger that he had raised in his mind. He opened his table drawer and picked up the engagement ring from there.

Handing her the ring, he said with gritted teeth, “Don’t threaten me ever.” He strode to his cabin door and opened it, indicating her to leave.

It had been more than an hour since Sandhya had left, but Siddha was still thinking about what Sandhya was capable of doing. No matter what, he has to stop her. Nothing can come between Roshni and him. Nothing at all.

Suddenly looking at the clock, he remembered it was time to go. Roshni would be waiting for him.

On the way home, he kept on thinking about Sandhya’s words and the possibilities of her harming Roshni. His mind played with one possibility after another trying to analyse them properly. Not able to think anymore, he pressed his temples hard to ease the tension.

Rudy looked at Siddha through the rear view mirror. Bhaiji must be tensed about Sandhya Ma’am, he thought. If only he had stopped her downstairs, then all this wouldn’t have happened. Shaking his head, he looked away.

**************

Roshni heard the bell ring and knew it was Siddha. Rushing to the door, she opened it, but Siddha just brushed past her and sat down on the couch without even looking at her.

Not noticing her looking at him strangely, Siddha picked up his phone and send a group message to Amit, Karan and Sid to come to Roshni’s house for a meeting.

She was confused. Something major has happened; otherwise Siddha would never ignore her. Before she could ask anything, Siddha said, “I am going to have a bath. Sid, Amit and Karan would be coming here for a meeting.”

Roshni watched him disappear inside the bedroom. She turned and looked at Rudy questioningly. Shaking his head Rudy denied knowing anything.

She was still in the kitchen when she heard everyone come in. As she saw Sudha come inside the kitchen she smiled. Although she was cooking, but her ears were straining to hear what the group in the drawing room were talking.

“How much is left to be paid to Manchanda Finance?” Siddha asked.

“Most of it is done, only some percentage is remaining,” Amit replied.

“So, what’s the figure?” When Amit looked down at his laptop, Siddha threw up his hands in exasperation. “Seriously, guys, you should have these figures on your fingertips.”

Roshni listened to his angry tone and tried hard to analyse the situation but couldn’t. She again started to listen as Amit spoke.

“1.9 crores are left to be paid.”

Siddha’s forehead bunched with tension as he heard the figure. He couldn’t take that amount out from the company account. That would freeze all other projects and employee salaries. Without thinking any further, he asked Sid to check how much money was there in his personal account.

“After paying 25 lakhs for this house, you have about 85 lakhs in the account,” Sid said, knowing very well that would never be enough to pay everything off.

Roshni reeled with shock realising what Siddha was doing. He is going to pay off Manchanda Finance just to keep Sandhya away from them, even if it meant giving away all his savings. She has to stop him, but knew couldn’t. Biting her lip, she took a peek at his face through the corner of the door.

His handsome face was creased with lines of tension. His wonderful eyes looked tired. She could almost see analysing thoughts zipping through his mind one by one as he tried to check each and every place he could get the remaining money from. Feeling bad and helpless, Roshni turned away.

One last resort, Siddha thought as he picked up his phone and dialled Nanaji’s number. He would ask Nanaji if he could borrow some money from Amma’s account. Although the account belonged to him after his mother’s death, but he had never taken any money from it. He disconnected the phone after Nanaji gave him a go through. As he turned, he caught Roshni looking at him with worried and sad eyes. Smiling weakly, he tried to assure her that everything was fine.

“I have signed 2 cheques. Get these cashed first thing in the morning tomorrow,” Siddha said giving the cheques to Amit. Looking at Sid and Karan, he said, “I want all legal formalities to be completed by afternoon.  Guys, no delays at all. Leave all other work and do this first.”

Once everyone had left, Siddha went outside in the balcony with a cigarette in his hand. Taking a long drag, he tried to puff away the worries paining his mind. Clearly in a trance, he never realised Roshni was standing behind him watching intently. Slowly she moved towards him and hugged him from behind.

The moment Siddha felt Roshni’s arms go around him, he threw away the cigarette. Turning around, he hugged her hard. He regretted not giving her attention all evening. He opened his mouth to apologise, but Roshni placed her hand on it.

“I want to make love to you,” she said eyes burning with love and desire. 

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