Crowning Glory- Chapter 14

 

 Life Game

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Jennifer’s phone was ringing when she woke up from the nightmare. It was Cyrus. She picked up the call and before she could say anything, Cyrus screamed from other side, "Where were you? I have been trying to reach you for so long." 

Jennifer replied," I, I was tired because of the work pressure so I just went off for sleep. I am sorry. "

Jennifer could sense his concern for her. She felt a bit relieved.

Cyrus didn't know what to say further. He replied, "Fine! I am granting you an apology only this time but on the condition that you will come for another coffee date with me."

Jennifer surrendered to Cyrus’s request with reason still unknown to her.

After keeping the phone down, she looked at her own reflection in the mirror placed on the opposite wall. She looked tired, she was still sweating, her heartbeat was high and even though Cyrus’s call had relaxed her, still she was feeling uneasy.

She was confused and afraid. "Why is all my past coming to me again?" she cried. And then the series of incidents that had happened in the last few days started coming back. She remembered seeing Aryan Ahuja, Tara getting perturbed after seeing her tattoo, the blog. Yes, the blog post she had read today. Are all these incidences related? She thought, "What am I missing? Is Tara related to all this? Is my doubt on her spot on or am I becoming too anxious and behaving like this because I do not want to go back to that hell.”

She took a deep breath and then thought of working on everything again. She started recollecting whatever had happened in the recently.  She thought about Tara, CEO of Lucky One Media, a lady who seemed dissatisfied even though she had all the power, Shekhar, her husband and the statement he had given. Why will a husband say something like this about his wife? Why had Tara not seemed close to Roohi, an adorable girl who could make anyone fall in love with her? How had Tara became the CEO in such a short span of time? What has she done to get the power? And in all this, Aryan Ahuja, a man who was a past in Jennifer’s life and now seemed to be close to Tara. Are they in a relationship together? Does Tara know Aryan from before?

Tara’s face came in front of her. She seemed to be well acquainted with Aryan. Were they both friends? They will be having some relationship for sure, might be she knew him from quite a long time otherwise an alpha lady like Tara will never pay heed to strangers.

She got nervous again as she remembered the words she read some hours back on Cyrus’s blog, the title of the blogpost. She quickly opened her laptop and searched the blog. She read the complete post, this time more carefully. With every word her heart beat rose and then she got struck at something, beyond which she was not able to read.  The post clearly mentioned about a tattoo being used by a gang. It had explained about the illegal goings on that was being done by the gang. What if Cyrus came to know about me? She feared. That thought it gave goose bumps to her. Somehow she did not want to loose Cyrus. But what could she do to get answer to her questions? She could not live with this fear anymore. After a lot of struggle she had reached where she was and now she had to be strong and face whatever was coming towards her. She consoled herself and promised that she will get answer to all her questions. 

Where should she start from? She wondered. All of a sudden a wicked smile came to her face- Tara! Yes, she thought. She would start from Tara. After all there had to be a strong reason behind her sudden rise. She might not get the answers to her questions but knowing about Tara’s rise of power she could easily gain herself a good position in her job and carreer.

She rose from her bed and went to the window and started making the plan on how to meet Tara. She was looking for a way when her phone buzzed again. She was irritataed by the sudden disturbance. “Oh, always at the wrong time,” she murmered. She went to pick up the call and was overwhelemd by the name reflecting on the screen. 

She took the call hurriedly and answered,” Hello, jennifer here.” 

The voice came from the opposite side,” Hi Jennifer, this is Shekhar, Shekhar Dutta. Hope you remember me. Well, I called you to ask if you could drop in at residence on Saturday night. It is Roohi’s birthday and I was wondering if you can spend some more time with us. ”

This was the chance Jennifer was looking for. Luck was in her favor she thought.”Yes, of course. I would love to, Mr. Shekhar. I will be there on time.”

Shekhar replied, “Thanks a lot Jennifer. You have reduced my stress."

Jennifer felt fishy," Stress?”

Shekhar trying to clear himself replied, "Oh, yes tension. (After all- remove) You know that Tara remains very busy and I have to do all the arrangements myself that too at such a short notice. By the way don’t forget to come.”

And then he disconnected the call.

Jennifer felt a sense of satisfaction after the call. “This will be my last chance”, she thought.

******

 “Whom were you inviting?” Tara inquired.

Shekhar replied,"Umm.. My friend, from a publishing house."

Tara did not seem happy with this unknown guest invitation. After all, she was disturbed with all the recent developments in her life. She sarcastically replied, "Fine; you and your friends. I just hope they would prove to be of some help to you.”

Hearing Tara’s reply Shekhar got irritated and replied," I too hope the same for you.” Saying this, he went out to see where Roohi was playing.

Tara was lost again. She felt hurt. She felt cheated. She clearly remembered how Shekhar used to be happy, cheerful and fun loving. She remembered when she had rejected Shekhar’s proposal, the way he had tried convincing her and when she had finally accepted it how happy Shekhar was. He used to do everything what Tara used to say. How proud he was of her and how he used to motivate her.

Even after marriage, things had not changed. Shekhar had supported her even in the toughest decisions of her life. 

"How has your love changed. Ironic, isn’t it?” she thought.

                                                       

There was a time when she had asked him if he wanted to have their child. He had replied, “Only if you want sweet heart. Though I would love to have a family” She had then put forward an unusual request to Shekhar, to which he was uncomfortable but wasn’t against...

Want to know what Tara asked?? Read on this nail biting thriller here!!!

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