Worth It

Worth It

Phool Kanwar Rathore went about her day performing her duties as the child of the Rathore family. One thing she had learned early on was that life had two sections- professional and personal. A successful individual never mixed the two, and so here she was making sure her professional life remained perfectly intact when her own life had torn apart. She entered the restaurant and was taken to the private dining area where her guest was waiting for her. The young girl smiled as she saw Rajkumari whom she admired so much

“Thank you for meeting me” Phool spoke politely with a smile, “as I mentioned to you earlier you have something that belongs to a dear friend of mine. I wish to negotiate a deal for that priceless treasure.”

Rao Ramrakh read the proposal that Patta and Shakti had worked on for the last couple of days. They were reaching out to possible investors with Baijilal being on the list. Others investors were private firm holders, Reliance, Shah industries to name a few. Patta was not happy with the inclusion of Shah industries as the head Mehmood Shah was a notorious individual who would come under the guise of investment take over businesses and companies of the people.

“Good work,” Rao ji commended his son who looked tired. “We should head for home before we get late.”

The duo walked out to see Ajabde’s empty cabin. She had left for a business meet and was to return in two days. Her absence could be felt as some of the work was postponed until her return. Hansabai ji had delegated out the tasks after discussing with her husband, and they were soon going to see the fruits of everybody’s hard labour. The Royal Kitchen project’s first agenda meeting had gone smoothly and as per Hansabai ji, “absence of disruptive forces are to be thanked for our success.”

Ajabde shook hands with the businessman who started a new initiative with help from his daughter in their city. They had celebrated their six-month success and called upon Ajabde to join them not only celebrations but to look at possible future collaborations. She walked toward her car when a scene made her heartache; a mother held her daughter in her arms as she walked towards the park. The girl was laughing and waved her tiny hands at Ajabde who held back her tears as memories of Khetu the baby she had rescued came to the mind.

“You are a murderer” Raoji’s voice echoed, “you killed your brother..my son.”

“Ma’am”, the driver called out making her come out of the flashback. She got in the car and diverted her mind by checking her emails. There was an unread mail from her mother; it was an invite to a book inauguration where she would be felicitated. Her mother wanted to know if she could make it back for the event. She texted her mother her response as the car pulled into the hotel.  

Hansabai ji sighed as she read her daughter’s response. History had repeated itself, and now her child had firmly shut all of the emotions down. Sending the child away was the hardest thing Ajabde had ever done because as a mother she had observed the bond both the child and Ajabde shared. Her daughter was thinking about adopting the child and raising her, but things went in the opposite direction. Now, Ajabde was doing the one thing she did best- shut down all her emotions and drown in work.

Pratap felt anxious and nervous as he waited for Phool to meet him. She had requested to meet up with him to discuss a few things after his drunken confession and breaking off the engagement. He had been both ashamed and proud of his drunk self for doing the things he did- Dheerbai deserved a good sounding but the way he broke off things with Phool,

“I want to confess something,” he whispered on the phone. Phool could hear someone in the background trying to stop him, but then he uttered the words that she was afraid of hearing,

“I’m trying to tell her my feelings. True feelings. Phool you are nice, beautiful and amazing but I want my Ajabde. I love her- madly, deeply and I cannot love her- please let me go to my Ajab.”

She heard a loud noise before the call disconnected.

“Still lost in thoughts?” Phool’s voice startled him as he quickly gathered his composure. As they both gave the order for their drinks, he looked at the bag she had placed on the table.

“Phool” he stopped “I meant Rajkumarisa..”

“Don’t be so formal, Pratap” Phool laughed, “I thought we were friends.”

“But friends don’t hurt each other and I hurt you” Pratap looked at her, “I’m sorry for my actions.”

She looked at him, “does this apology mean you are not breaking off the engagement with me?”

Pratap shook his head, “no, my drunk self spoke the truth- I love Ajabde and she is the only one I’ll love till my last breath.”

“I know,” Phool placed her hands on the table, “it was clear for everyone that you love her. During the wedding, your eyes followed her every move; you knew what she needed without her verbally asking for it. When the baby, Khetu came into the picture it was like my nightmare had come true.”

“Phool..” Pratap spoke up only to see Phool shake her head,

“I’m not a perfect person and have tons of flaws but I know that I deserve someone whose eyes would follow my every step. I don’t need a man who would bring down the moon or stars, but I do deserve someone who would understand my silence. Someone who would love as deeply and madly like you love Ajabde because I know I deserve someone like that in my life. I’m grateful that you were able to share your feelings with me but hurt that it took your drunk self to speak up. When you propose Ajabde - do it sober.”

Pratap looked at her with a small smile for in one go Phool had dumped him and accepted his reality. She pushed the gift towards him, “this is for Ajabde. Give it to her before it’s too late.”

She stood up as her drink arrived in the to-go mug. Pratap looked at her, “Thank you Phool and if you need a friend…”

“I know you are there but for the time being, I really want to get some distance from you. After all, I did fall in love with you Pratap”

His eyes widened at her declaration but she laughed, “you get spooked easily. I’ll see you around. Goodbye Pratap.”

“You do deserve someone who would love you as much as I love Ajabde for you are worth it.” 

Pratap whispered as he stared at the dreamcatcher that was kept in the bag.

 Phool hurried back to the car before Pratap could see her tear-filled eyes and weak state. For the first time in her life, Phool was thankful for the grooming lessons she had received being in a member of the royal family - they taught her to hide her emotions well.