Chapter 14
Raashi surveyed herself in the mirror of the elevator that took her up to Sameer’s office.
Her dark denims and orange flowing top looked fine.
She rubbed her clammy hands on her jeans.
Oh! She had to relax. This nervous and uncertain behavior was unlike her.
This was purely going to be business. She had to start behaving like the mature businesswoman she was because once she accepted his offer and signed the dotted line she would be spending innumerable hours with him in meetings and discussions. This evening was just the start.
As she neared his office, she noticed the door was slightly ajar.
She could hear raised voices and loud, angry words being exchanged.
She checked her watch. It was eight in the evening and there was hardly anyone on this floor.
She waited outside as the arguments raged inside, most of which could be clearly heard from where she was standing.
Sameer had been waiting for Raashi. He was wrapping up his last meeting with Rishi when the door burst open and his sister Rhea stomped inside, a fireball of rage and resentment. Both of them shot to their feet as they saw her.
“Did you threaten to cut off Shauna’s allowance if she didn’t tell you what was going on with me?” Rhea queried, her eyes burning in fury.
Sameer didn’t know what she was talking about. Rhea went to Rishi and poked a finger in his chest. “You have no right to threaten her into breaking my trust.”
His sister was petite and tiny. But her dynamic, volcanic personality usually made up for her lack of height.
However, right now, she looked pale and tired.
She had dark circles around her normally sparkly eyes.
Rishi and he had been trying to get her to talk to them since the past many weeks but she had stood strong.
She still refused to tell them why she had decided to quit her studies and return home so suddenly.
He figured Rishi would have tried different means to get to the bottom of it all because at this point all of them were feeling helpless.
Kabier and Sheena had both tried to talk to her too, but she had brushed them off.
“Rhea, I...” Rishi started to say, but she cut him off poking him in the chest again as she spoke rudely and loudly.
“This is my life. Not yours. I will tell you what I want to and when. You dare not involve Shauna. She has nothing to do with this, do you get it?”
Rishi’s face twisted with fury and Sameer’s normally easy-going brother exploded, “Drop the attitude and the tone Rhea. I am done playing nice with you. You land up here unexpectedly and declare that you’re not going back to study and you want us all to simply accept it?
You tell me, how do we accept your decision without knowing your reasons for doing so?
You take such a drastic step and then behave difficult and rude when we ask you for an explanation. ”
Rishi took a deep breath. “Do you know how frustrating it is, not knowing why your sister is throwing her career and life away? Is it on a whim? Did something happen? Or are you behaving like an ungrateful brat as usual?”
Hurt flickered in Rhea’s eyes for a brief moment before she raised her chin, stood taller and breathed out a deep sigh.
She glanced at both of them. “What is frustrating is that neither of you care about me or what I want. You know nothing about me. You’ve never taken the effort to talk to me.
You are patronizing and full of yourself.
So for the last time I am telling you...
no, I am informing you, I am not going to change my mind.
I am not going back and you can’t make me. ”
Rishi stepped forward, his eyes narrowed in anger. Sameer quickly stepped in between his siblings.
“Look, both of you need to calm down and talk rationally.” He turned to Rhea and held her arm gently. “He’s just concerned, Rhea. We all are.”
She shrugged him off. “Really? The only thing you’re concerned about is that I have stepped out of that stupid imaginary box you have created around Shauna and me.
You have set these boundaries for us - what we should do, how we should behave, whom we should hang out with and on and on.
The list is never ending. I cannot live by your rules anymore.
It’s suffocating me. I’m not a child, I have a mind of my own and you guys need to accept that and respect my decisions when I make them . ”
Sameer felt his anger rise at her words. All that they wanted was to keep their sisters safe and to protect them. But his sister refused to understand that as usual.
“Like I said, ungrateful brat!” Rishi exclaimed furiously.
“You have been given opportunities most people don’t ever get at your age and instead of being grateful, you want to rebel.
Tell me one thing that we have asked you to do that has been wrong for you.
One thing that we have wanted for you that didn’t have your best interests at heart? ”
Rhea threw her hands in the air. “God! You guys just don’t get it, do you?
We are humans and we are allowed to make mistakes.
You cannot decide everything for us. You have to let us live.
I am so glad I never confided in you guys because you obviously will not understand.
You never understand. You only judge and find a way to blame me as usual. ”
“Rhea,” Sameer said, raising his voice, “you’re being unfair to us. How can we help you unless you don’t tell us what is troubling you?”
She glared at both of them. “All our conversations begin and end with both of you yelling at me. I should never have come back here. I should have dealt with everything in London itself.”
Saying that, she stormed out the door banging it behind her.
Raashi saw Rhea rushing out of Sameer’s office. Tears escaped the younger girl’s eyes, but she swiped them away angrily. She looked up and saw her and stopped.
“So, I guess you heard everything?” Rhea asked her.
Raashi nodded, walking up to her. She clasped her hands in her own as more tears fell from the younger girl’s eyes.
“Hey, sweetheart. No matter what happened inside, I know your brothers care for you.”
“I know they care,” Rhea said between silent tears. “I just wish they’d try and understand me.”
Raashi held her hands tighter. “Look. You are a strong girl and very brave to stand up to both your brothers, the way you did. You fought for your sister and for yourself. So chin up and no more tears.”
Rhea gave her a soft smile.
“Thanks, Raashi,” Rhea said, calmer now.
Raashi gave her a hug. “If you ever need to talk to someone, know that I am there and available any time. Alright?”
Rhea nodded.
“Now, let me see one of those bright smiles of yours,” Raashi said.
“I like you, Raashi,” Rhea kissed her cheek. “Always have, always will.”
“I feel the same, honey.” Raashi waved at her as she left. As the elevator doors shut on Rhea, Raashi stormed inside Sameer’s office.
“You guys are the two biggest idiots in history,” Raashi berated them as soon as she entered.
Sameer’s eyes snapped to hers. First Rhea and now Raashi? Why was she so angry?
“Your door was open and I overheard most of your conversation, if you can even call it that, with your sister,” Raashi told him, understanding his unspoken question.
Rishi looked at the two of them. “I’m going to leave now.”
Raashi pointed a finger Rishi, her eyes flashing fire.
“Don’t you dare move one step from here. I am not finished with you, Rishi Sehgal. You treated that girl so badly. Ungrateful brat! How could you call her that?”
“What do you want me to say, Raashi? I am so livid, frustrated and helpless where she’s concerned,” Rishi said, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“Rishi’s right. We just don’t know how to deal with her,” Sameer said, feeling frustrated.
“Maybe all she needs is space and time to come around.”
“How much more time does she need? It’s been a month already,” Sameer splayed an angry hand out.
“Your anger and impatience is the last thing that girl needs. She’s a kid. A kid who perhaps is in trouble and maybe she is afraid to tell her older brothers about the trouble she’s in because she fears your reaction. Why don’t you get it?”
Sameer exchange a worried look with his brother.
“You have damned her from the beginning,” Raashi said.
“Look at you both. You’re so furious because you don’t know what is going on with her.
Have you considered that she is perhaps afraid to confide in you because she knows she will face your wrath when she does?
What do you think is the easy way out for her? You tell me?”
Sameer stared at Raashi as the impact of her words hit him. She was right.
“God! I hate it when these women are right,” Rishi said. He rolled his shoulders. “I am going to try and make up with Rhea.”
Raashi gave him a slight nod as he left.
She watched Sameer leaning against the glass window in his office, lost in thought. She reached out and put a hand on his arm.
“You need to give her time, Sameer. Talk to her nicely. Stop controlling her and stop giving her instructions. Don’t demand answers from her. Just be there for her. Not as her elder brother, but as her friend. She needs help and you are the best person to help her,” Raashi said softly.
He sighed. “You are right. I’m going to try a different approach with her. It hurts me to see her upset like this.”
He lifted her hand from his arm and stared at their joined hands for a few seconds before raising his eyes to hers.
“You’re cute when you’re angry.”