Past calling

"Rachit's point of view,"

I can't believe my eyes; Riya Mittal is standing in front of me, the Riya Mittal for whom I've been looking everywhere for the past four years. I was overjoyed to find her standing right in front of me.

Mr. Joseph looked at both of us and asked, "Do you two already know each other?"

It took aback her when she saw me in front of her. I was convinced it overjoyed her to see me in front of her, and I was staring at her with interest because I wanted her to inform Mr. Joseph about our relationship.

"No, I'm not familiar with the guy in front of me," I couldn't believe my ears when I heard her response; how could she refuse to recognize me like that?

"Okay, Rachit, let me introduce you to Riya Mittal, the CEO of Wings Industries. And here's Allen Industries' COO, Rachit Khurana."

She confidently extended her hand toward me, saying, "Hello, Mr. Khurana."

"Riya, it's great to see you again," I replied softly as we shook hands.

"Madam," her voice screamed arrogance.

It took aback me and asked, "What?"

"Mr. Khurana, I would appreciate it if you addressed me as "Madam.""

She can't possibly be Riya. She can't change that much; obviously, she's someone else in her current form standing in front of me. She'll never be able to talk to her child's father like this again.

"Mr. Joseph, I believe I cannot accept this deal." She decided even before the meeting began.

"Why have we made any mistakes?"Mr. Joseph's voice was filled with worry. I know how crucial this deal is for the company, and Riya can't take her rage out on the profession like this. Whatever I have to do, I have to persuade her not to end the deal.

"Please tell me the reason for your sudden cancellation of the deal, madam."I summoned the confidence to ask her.

"Life is full of things that make little sense and that happen for no apparent purpose." Once I listened to what she had to say, I realized I needed to tell her everything. Her rage will fade only then; else she will continue to detest me because of what happened in the past.

"Madam, may I speak with you in private?" I locked my gaze on her face, and she appeared to be the same as before. She is stunning. The look of confidence on her face only adds to her beauty. She wore a black T-shirt and sky blue jeans, and she did not tie her hair in a ponytail as she usually did, so it was all over her face. She wore sports shoes on her feet as usual, and she didn't change at all. Who would guess she's the CEO of such a large corporation based solely on her appearance?

"Okay, great, tell me what you want to discuss with me;"she agreed to speak with me alone. Listening to her, I let out a sigh of relief. Before exiting the meeting room, Mr. Joseph gave me a puzzled glance. With my eyes, I promised him I would not cancel this deal.

"Mr. Khurana, please tell me. You had to explain to me something in private, so what was it?" She inquired as she swung her chair around to face me.

"Riya, please forgive me and return to my life. I am truly sorry for my mistakes." I held her hand and whispered as I moved closer to her.

She yanked my hand fiercely and said, "Mr. Khurana, behave yourself."

"Please, Riya, don't get mad at me and give me a chance to explain myself." I only want her to listen to me once, and I'm confident she'll forgive me.

She got up from her chair and remarked, "There is nothing left between us to talk about; I have a more important job to do than listen to your nonsense."

"No, I won't let you go anywhere until you listen to me," I shouted, blocking her path with both hands.

"What is this nonsense? Please let me out of here;" her irritation was growing because of my presence.

"Please give me one more chance to speak." I tried one last time to stop her by saying gently.

"OK?" She took a long breath and sat back in her chair.

"I didn't want to deceive you, Riya, but I felt compelled."

"Compelled?" She inquired, perplexed after hearing me say.

"Yes, I was pushed into marrying Shilpi. Do you believe I married Shilpi of my own free will? However, this is not the case. Mr. Khanna our former plant head,suggested the marriage of his daughter, Shilpi, to me rather than help my father financially because he was losing a lot of business."

"And then you sell them yourself for money." Hearing me, I didn't expect her to respond in this way; I expected her to understand my condition.

There is still a lot of misinterpretation going on here, so how do I convince Riya that this wasn't the main reason for marrying Shilpi? I wanted to marry Riya, but she refused to leave Harsh, despite my repeated pleas. She had refused to be with me, so she would often hide from me in the office and talk to Ashish.

I couldn't bring her to work with me for just one day, but she didn't hesitate to come to work with Harsh, and I even saw her hugging Harsh outside the workplace. How could I have felt she was faithful to me when Ankur was also there in her life, besides Harsh and Ashish? When she dares to leave Harsh and come to me, she can cheat on me, as I witnessed firsthand when she covertly met Ankur in the hospital. Will she be able to comprehend all of this if I tell her everything?

Yes, I understand that anything I saw with my eyes at the time was the consequence of my mistrust, but she was faithful to me. I'm not sure what happened to me; I was the only person in Shilpi's life, and she devoted all of her time to me. Because she was just mine, I never had to worry about losing her.

"You're telling me such a major thing now, after all these years; couldn't you have informed me then?"

"Why are you angry? Believe me on this one. I wanted to tell you everything, but you didn't give me the opportunity."

"An Opportunity? Is your memory that bad that you don't recall being the one who started ignoring me?"

"It knows well by me it's all my responsibility. I was so furious with you. I wanted to let you go,"

"But why? What exactly did I do?" She demanded in an obnoxious tone.

"Because I used to believe you were having an affair with someone other than me." Hearing her shrill speech made me enraged.

"What did you just say regarding my affair with other people and how did you feel about me?" She inquired as she rose from her seat.

"Please, Riya, control your rage. I understand how you must have felt after hearing all of this, but what has occurred I cant change, all I can do now is apologize for my mistake." I understand how Riya must feel right now when people doubt for no reason, but how does it feel to know better than me?

"Shilpi had listened to all of our conversations about whatever going on between us on that day, which made her distrust me, and... ,"she was looking at me, waiting for my words to conclude.

I responded slowly, "We divorced two years ago."

Although this was not the only reason for our divorce, there were other factors that I cannot share with Riya.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." She sighed and replied softly.

But, she listened to me out and said directly, "What do you want from me now?"

"I'll tell you what I want from you later, but for now, I hope you don't cancel this deal because of your issues." I remarked as I moved closer to her.

She screamed, "Don't even think about coming near me," as she sprung from the meeting room and dashed out.

Riya Mittal, I will do everything in my power to bring you back into my life. I took the file from the table and followed her back to Mr. Joseph's cabin.