Pranbir Short Stories

Heartless (6)

Kohli's mansion:
Ranbir looked smilingly at his wife who was excitedly describing his game to his parents and Aryan who had dropped by.

All of them were listening to her and her excitement showed how much she loved the game.
Her smile and excitement made Ranbir believe in his game more and it brought another kind of satisfaction.
She brought another kind of inner peace right now.

He sensed a presence next to him and diverted his attention to the person instead. He noticed his father who was smiling brightly at him.
He returned the smile and saw pride in his father's eyes.

Vikram: "You have proven your worth... now you cannot say that I had given you the position of CEO just because you are my son."
Ranbir: "Dad, the game hasn't been launched yet."

Vikram: "You see that?"
He asked pointing to Prachi. Ranbir follow his gaze and was confused.
Vikram: "This, my boy, is the sign that you have accomplished something great."
His father could see the confusion in Ranbir's eyes, so he elaborated.
"When your girl/wife is so excited about something you did and she is so happy as if she won something, then you must know that she is proud of you."

A smile automatically formed its way on his lips.
Vikram: "Listen Ranbir... I know that I forced you into this wedding and somehow Abhi too forced Prachi. And I am also aware that you two aren't in love yet... but I am sure it will happen soon."
Ranbir avoided his eyes, feeling guilty of his initial plan.

Vikram: "Prachi is a very nice girl, Ranbir. You cannot punish her for someone else's deeds. That girl was a gold digger: I agree. But Prachi isn't. All girls are not the same."
Ranbir looked on.
Vikram: "And I know that your anger isn't towards anyone but it is towards you. You are angry at yourself because everyone had warned you about her. You trusted her and she broke it... but I am 100% sure, Prachi won't."
Subconsciously, Ranbir's eyes moved to his wife who was still happily telling everyone about his game.

Vikram: "Ranbir, girls like Prachi are simple and it isn't difficult to keep them happy. You just need to shower love on her, make her feel safe and you see, she will be the happiest person on earth."
Ranbir reflected on his father's words.
Vikram patted his shoulders while Ranbir reflected on his words.

A sudden guilt filled him when he looked at Prachi and all their plans started to feel wrong.
Her smiling face, shining eyes and excitement about something he did doubled the guilt.

Little giggles caught his attention and his eyes went to Prachi and Aryan. The latter was feeding her some chocolates. Ranbir looked on and was pensive about the two.

He diverted his attention to his phone and saw a missed call from an unknown number. His forehead scrunched in confusion and his fingers were about to call back but his phone was snatched away.
He looked up and found Aryan.
"Congrats Bro..."
Ranbir, smilingly: "It's not a success yet and you haven't even seen it."
Aryan: "She did and it must be exceptional, otherwise she wouldn't be that impress. I know her, she is extremely proud of you."
Ranbir looked on and decided to ask Aryan about it because he was curious about their relationship.

But before he could ask, Pallavi had called for dinner and they went to the table. Ranbir was still lost in his thoughts. His brain tried to answer the question looming around him but he wasn't convinced, he had to ask Aryan itself. There was something that didn't meet the eyes about those two.

After dinner, Aryan had left and Pranbir went back to their room. Prachi took her night clothes and was about to go change when she noticed that Ranbir had been rubbing a certain area of his back and had been stretching since earlier.
Prachi: "Is everything fine? Your back?"
Ranbir: "Yeah, it's just a little pain that I got in gym."
She looked at him confused: "You went to gym today?"
He nodded no and clarified that it was on their wedding day that he last went.