Chapter 2 - The Inevitable 17

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Amar shook his head as he slowly came downstairs and sat down on the sofa. He will need to wait whether he liked it or not. At the end of the day, it was Rudraveer Sangawat he was dealing with.

30 minutes later, he heard the washroom door close. Quickly, he picked up his stuff and went upstairs.

Rudra was wiping his upper body when he saw Amar taking the chair next to the bed.

He walked up to him and sat down, and then extended his hand to him.

This was a regular routine every 30 days. Dr Amar Sisodia aka Amar was not only his diaper friend but also his doctor for the past 5 years. He patiently waited as he checked his BP and pulse.

Amar looked up at his face and saw nothing but a blank bleakness. As he inserted the syringe in his veins, he saw Rudra picking up his phone, which had been vibrating for quite some time.

"Yes, Mayank?"

Amar strained his ears to listen to what the other man was saying but heard nothing.

"I don't care how you do it. Get it done," Rudra replied autocratically and disconnected.

He pressed the cotton swab on the vein and got up from the bed. As he strode briskly towards the other side, he picked up the phone and started to dial somebody's number.

Amar knew this was his cue to get out but he still delayed trying to see who Rudra was calling. Mayank Goel's name had anyway triggered the warning signals in him.

"Mr Singh, I want you to start checking sites for SGH Luminart. Get the scouting done asap," he heard Rudra say on the phone.

Amar's hand froze for a minute in mid-air and then he quickly gathered himself and left the room.

Deep in thought, he crossed the gardens and then entered the Sangawat dining room.

Kabir Sangawat, the younger son of the family offered him a chair and watched him closely as he sat down.

"What is it? Did you get a cold shoulder again?" Kabir asked jokingly.

Sighing, Amar picked up the glass of water and drank as much as he could; trying hard to gulp down the feeling of dread. He knew everyone was looking at him.

Shekhar Sangawat, Rudra's uncle pressed his arm reassuringly and flicked his eyes in question.

"Rudra has started his ground work for the 17th one," Amar said shaking his head.

The words just dropped like a bomb in the room, silencing everything.

The scared look on Girija Sangawat's face was enough to indicate what everyone was feeling.

Viman Sangawat, Kabir's elder brother kept the spoon down and looked at his father.

"If you are thinking of stopping him, then don't, coz you know you can't," Shekher Sangawat said sighing.

Years ago he had lost his first cousin, Vikram Veer Sangawat and his wife Uma Sangawat, Rudra's parents. Since then, for him and his wife, Girija, Rudra had been the elder son of the family. Viman and he were of the same age, so it had never been an issue raising him. But Rudra had been a little different than the usual child.

The determination in him had been the only force that had made him build this huge empire. Sangawat Group of Hotels (SGH) now stood as one of the top names in the hotel industry. He had been only 19 when he had purchased his first hotel and since then he had never looked back. In the past 11 years, he had managed to build and buy 16 hotels and now on the verge of building the 17th one.

Shaking his head, Shekher Sangawat tried to brush off the memories from his head but couldn't. He got up from the table and started walking towards his room with a worried look on his face. Slowly his wife followed him knowing too well that she will not be able to eat anymore.

"Can we not stop him?" she asked as she entered the room.

Shekher Sangawat turned away from the window and looked at his wife. Giving her a sad smile, he said, "It was you who made him promise that he will wait till his 16th hotel and he did."

Sighing, he sat down on the bed and stretched his hand towards his wife. As she sat down next to him, he took her in his arms and placed a reassuring hand on her head.

"Now, it's too late, Girija."

There was strange silence at the dining table. Radha, Viman's wife kept on looking at him and Amar. Both looked tensed more than usual. She herself was thinking about what Amar had just said. Since the time she had become a part of the Sangawat family, Rudra had considered her his sister.

When he had come to know about her interest in interior designing, he had insisted she tried her hand at it. And, somehow she had marvelled in it. She was now the chief interior designer for SGH. Every new hotel gave her an opportunity to experiment and showcase her designs.

But, today she was not at all excited. Instead, her heart was thudding with the news.

The inevitable 17 had arrived.

Viman closed his eyes for a minute and suddenly his inner vision was flooded with nothing else than pain and anger. Everything became black, dark and bleak. Scared and unable to hold onto to the emotions rising in him, he opened his eyes and felt Radha's reassuring hand on his trembling one. Nodding he assured Radha that he was okay.

He had always guarded Rudra with his life be it now or in the past. But right now, he was as helpless as anyone in the family. He knew he could never stop him. Like everybody else, he will also be only a spectator.

Amar got up from the table and started towards the main door thinking hard. As he sat down in his car, he pulled out his phone and dialled Dr Pravin Sisodia's number.

"Baba, it's time."

Copyright © Paromita Majumder. All Rights Reserved.

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