Connected: A YHM Story ✔️

Chapter 20 - The One With Raman & Romi's Fight

Raman was shocked to the core. In all these years, he had been trying to protect himself and his family from the darkness in his soul. There was no way he could find in himself to love again, and so he distanced himself from his loved ones so as not to infect them with his doom and gloom. But he never stopped caring for them.

"Tu kehna kya chahta hai, Romi?!" Raman stood up from his chair and glared down at his brother. "Mujhe tum sab ki koi fikar nahi thi kya? Main jitne bhi paise kamata tha, usme se zyada se zyada yahaan bhejta tha. Mummy-Papa ke paas ghar ke kharche ke liye, tumhari aur Rinki ki college ki fees bharne ke liye. Yeh saara paisa jo main kamata hoon, woh tum logo ke liye hi to hai? Aur kiske liye hai?!"

[What are you saying, Romi?! Do you think I didn't care for you guys? I used to send most of my hard-earned money to you all. To mummy-papa for household expenses, for your and Rinki's college fees. All this money that I earn is for all of you! Who else is it for?!]

The fight was beginning to get ugly and Ishita promptly sent Ruhi into her room. She had finished most of her dinner anyway, so it was better to spare her from seeing the unpleasant spectacle.

Romi shoved his plate forward and stood up to look Raman in the eye before replying. "We never wanted your money bhai! We wanted you! We needed you here with us! I needed you here! Mom and Dad have always had each other. Simi and Rinki are such close sisters that they have been practically joined at the hip. But what about me? All these years, you were my only brother! And when you chose to leave, you chose to leave me! You left your own brother behind, but who did you decide to take along with you? Mihir! The guy whose sister is the cause of all this!"

"Romi! Main Mihir ke khilaaf ek shabd nahi sununga! Tu kya chahta tha? Ki main uske jagah pe tujhe Mumbai le jaata apne saath? Teri padhai chal rahi thi, bhul gaya? Mihir ka MBA khatam ho gaya tha aur tera to abhi tak chal raha hai. Phir bhi tere last year mein tujhe internship de raha hoon apne office mein. You are so much luckier than him. He had to build an entire business with me from scratch! You are getting to work in an established office!"

[Romi! I won't listen to anything against Mihir! What did you want? That I took you to Mumbai instead of him? You were still in school, remember? Mihir was done with his MBA then, but you are still working on it. Even then, I'm giving you an internship in my office for your last year.]

"You really don't get it, do you?" Romi taunted. "I'm not talking about the material things you've given me! I'm talking about your emotional support! In paanch saalon mein jab mujhe aapki sabse zyada zaroorat thi, tab aap the hi nahi! Aap to apne hi dukh mein itna doob gaye the ki aap yeh bhi bhul gaye ki aapki ek family hai! Aap itne selfish kaise ho sakte ho?!"

[When I needed you the most in the last five years, you were never there! You were so drowned in your own grief that you forgot that you even had a family! How could you be so selfish?!]

"Romi, how dare you..."

Before Raman could counter, Romi slammed his chair against the table and stormed to his room. Even Raman left his plate unfinished and charged into his bedroom.

"Hey Bhagwan! Yeh kya ho gaya Bhalla ji?!" Toshi cried. "Dekha aapne, dono kis tarah lad rahe the?"

[Oh God! What just happened Bhalla ji?! Did you see how those two were fighting?]

"Toshi ji, aap fikar na lo. Bahot saalon ka anban tha dono mein. Kabhi na kabhi to bahar aana hi tha. Dono ko thoda shaant hone dijiye. Phir unse baat karenge hum."

[Toshi ji, don't worry. They were at loggerheads for years. It was going to come out eventually. Let both of them calm down. We'll talk to them after that.]