APRICITY [Completed]

2. VIHAAN

3 months later

She had no idea I bought this company. There's no other explanation as to why she would be standing before me for an interview with her eyes wide and lips ajar. She's gaping at me, and under any other circumstances, I'd say she almost looked cute.

She glances down at the file in her hand and then back at the door, clearly contemplating running away. I bought HEX SYSTEMS a few days ago. I buy falling tech companies, which I feel still have potential and merge them with SINGHANIA TECHNOLOGIES.

After buying a company, I spent at least the first three months there, hiring and removing staff as required. The fact alone that Surbhi managed to get through all the tests and interviews prior to me is appreciable.

The post is for my Personal Assistant. Three finalists had been shortlisted. I was supposed to interview all three to find which one suits me the most. That was when I had no idea my wife was one of the shortlisted candidates.

Yes, my wife. I did not sign the divorce papers. In the past three months, she has sent me numerous one-sided signed ones. They keep coming in my mail, reminding me of how I let her walk away from me that day. Reminding me of what I saw in her eyes.

I do not doubt that if I had so much so as opened my mouth, then she wouldn't have hesitated to land another blow, this time on my head.

No, the reason why I haven't sent the papers back is not because I'm in love with her or falling for her. It's because the itch to ruin the Khurana's still irks me. It devastates me that they have something to call a family while I don't.

They ruined my life. They took away my innocence when I was 8. I, too, had a normal family once. I had a mother who loved me and a father who loved her. After Mom was gone, Dad drowned himself in alcohol, effectively forgetting that he had a son too.

The only time he was reminded of my existence was when he needed a punching bag. Those nights still haunt me. He mostly stayed out all the time, but those rare moments when he came to our house were not family moments. They were my nightmares.

He would torture me in the worst ways possible. Sometimes, he would tie my hands to the bedpost and whip me with his belt. Other times, he would tie a belt around my neck and make me crawl bare knees on cemented floor until they were bloody.

He found satisfaction in locking me up in small spaces because he knew I was scared of them. Once, he locked me in the store at night. He usually released me by morning. That time, though, the morning came and went, but he didn't come. I uselessly cried and clawed at the door. The next night, the housekeeper found me unconscious.

Dad used to say that these are the things he wanted to do to the Khuranas' for stealing his wife from him. For stealing his happiness and his last piece of humanity from him.

But again, we don't always get what we want.

I was with him when the doctor told him that his liver was failing due to excessive drinking. I was with him when his lungs ceased to function due to reckless smoking.

I was also with him when he released his last breath. He did not regret his death. He died with a smile on his face and mom's photo in his hands.

That was the day I decided that I'd never fall in love. I was 15 then. I'm 25 now. I was miserable and helpless then. But not anymore. Slowly and steadily, over the years, I've raised my father's empire. I made a seat for myself at the top.

Not only that, I made sure to drill holes in KHURANA INTEL so they wouldn't have enough money to buy their way out of the wedding arrangement.

I had everything under control. I knew how much Anmol Khurana loved his granddaughter. The man who shot Mom. I was sure I would be able to break Surbhi to get back at him. What I did not count on was for the little girl in the yellow frock to grow a spine.