Pride vs Prejudice

Chapter 22

"What did you find out?" Shiv asked.

"A lot," Urmila said frowning, "and then again may be nothing."

"I knew I shouldn't have kept faith in you," Ria shot at Shiv.

"You can leave even now," Shiv shot back before turning to Urmila, "Stop talking in riddles and get to the point."

Urmila rolled her eyes. "I guess you all know that Arun bhai and Lav Khanna have been rivals since their college days," she said looking at her audience for confirmation. Seeing most of them look at her blankly she added, "God! You are really blind or self-obsessed."

Ria ignored her comments. "Are you trying to say that this is just an extension of their old rivalry?" Ria asked narrowing her eyes. She didn't believe it, but knowing Urmila's comments would tell her how much to depend on anything she said.

"No," Urmila said rolling her eyes, "I am just trying to establish what everyone knows."

"Something did change then," Shiv commented

Urmila nodded. "A few different things but I don't know which of those got us to where we are."

"What things?" Ananya asked. She was at the end of her patience with these round about talks.

"Things changed between them for the worse a year back," Urmila said. She looked at Ria, "You are not going to like this, but there have been some rumors that Lav tried to pay his way into winning some contracts."

"Why am I not surprised," Shiv muttered under his breath. Both the brothers clearly had crossed some ethical lines.

"Bhai would never do that!" Ria exclaimed, "If this is your information then–"

Urmila looked at Ria with an expression of pity. "I did say you wouldn't like it. You need to decide what is important to you–the truth or some lie which is convenient but one that will not help you solve the current problem."

Ria wanted to throw it back at Urmila. She didn't need any pity. But she didn't. There would come a time when she would judge and prove the truth. Now was not it, she reminded herself. Right now, she needed all the information she could get her hands on.

Taking Ria's silence as a prompt, Urmila continued. "I don't know if Arun bhai was involved in similar dealing," she told Shiv, who gave her a small nod of acceptance, "I don't know what triggered it, but something had changed between them. It was no longer the old college rivalry. There was a definite aggression in their dealings with each other. One that was obvious for others to see."

"You said a couple of things happened," Shiv said, "What were they? Could they have something to do with it?"

Urmila shook her head. "I don't know. They may have actually been a result of this change–a by-product of it."

"But what were these other things?" Ria asked

"For one, both had taken over bigger roles in their respective business–roles that pitted then more and more against each other," Urmila said, "But things were happening in personal life as well."

"Bhai got married a year back," Shiv said almost as a side note

Urmila nodded. "Lav Khanna did as well. I know in fact that if he could, he would have wanted to avoid it, but after the break up..."

"What break-up?" Ria asked

"I thought you might have known," Urmila commented, "He and Shikha were on a break for a month or so. She was angry that he was too focused on work and wasn't thinking about them or their marriage."