Ajeeb Daastan Hai Yeh (AbhiRa)

24. The Accident

Aarav took a deep sigh, realising that there was no point in trying to act innocent anymore......he was caught.

He glared at Rawat who once again lowered his head, having no power left in him to face Aarav directly.

"Yes....I killed Kairav", he stated in a very formal tone, as if it was nothing something that he regretted. "I killed him because my dear friend was very talented. He took his family business to great heights and meanwhile, I couldn't do the same for my pharmaceutical industry.......while he continued achieving great heights, I had to seek other means in order to achieve success", he said sounding way too casual with his narration.

"His rivals were jealous of him, and they all knew that Kairav trusted me blindly. So many of them reached out to me, offering partnerships with their companies which I badly needed. And in exchange.....all I had to do was to give Kairav wrong drugs. He took them for almost an year and slipped into severe depression and various other mental health issues that hampered his business skills resulting in his downfall. But he figured it out somehow later and started threatening me about exposing my wrong means", he took a pause and looked again towards Rawat.

"And Mr. Rawat.....he was always on my side, even when he was working for your father. I had my eyes on Birla Hospital since long and he helped me with many fake approvals for my company's drugs testings through this hospital, without letting anyone know", Harshvardhan was shocked at Aarav's statement. He stared at his secretary in disbelief.

"Kairav started spying on me, keeping a check over the people I meet and the way I carry my business in order to gather proofs against me. He also got to know about Rawat......we kept on threatening him again and again, asking him to keep his mouth shut but he wasn't ready to listen so I killed him, making it appear like an accident", he said, focusing his attention back on Abhimanyu. "That's it....storytelling over".

Everyone was quietly listening to him..... trying to figure out where Kairav was at fault in this entire mess, but they failed since he wasn't at fault at all. He just got backstabbed by someone whom he considered as his best friend but all that his friend cared about was power and money.

Manish and the Goenkas were frozen at their places, unable to digest the fact that their son got murdered just for someone's greed.

"Akshara was right....it was not any accident but a murder", Abhimanyu stated clenching his jaw in disgust. "And I spent everyday believing that I was responsible for someone's death. I punished myself.......my family suffered because of this as well everyday along with me".

He tried not to reminisce the moments he wasted living in guilt but it was practically impossible. He wasted his two years, left his job, isolated himself from everyone, tried ending his life and even distanced himself from his Akshara for what?

He kept on punishing himself for something he was never responsible for since so long for what?

Abhimanyu looked towards the ICU Ward where the doctors were treating her. "And Akshara......", he gulped, trying to resist the urge to grab Aarav's neck and end his life then and there. "You killed her brother, each and every person in her family suffered this painful loss because of you and you still dared to harm her too", he held his collar and roared- "Going after Akshara was your worst move Aarav".

Aarav, even though startled by the piercing glares of Abhimanyu, still stayed calm and smirked at him. "That's because I don't care.....I don't care who lives or dies when it comes to business. Be it my friend Kairav or your Akshara. I don't care", he shot back, emphasising on the last words, still having no ounce of guilt or fear in his voice.

Stunned at his pathetic behaviour, Abhimanyu pushed him back with full force that Aarav ended up colliding with the waiting bench steel and winced in pain. However, he still managed to compose himself and laughed shamelessly at the Goenkas and Abhimanyu.