The way I used to live

chapter 44

Arjun's POV:

It had been fifteen days since I had an encounter with Anusha. When I saw Anusha in that restaurant, I

didn't feel anything. Neither pity nor hatred. She was just like a stranger to me. So, I had no hard

feelings for her.

Though she backed out from our engagement, it was actually a good thing. We both didn't suit each

other well and if we stayed together, one of us would have compromised everything and made

sacrifices. Even if it was good to hear, it would cause so much harm to us. It would have become a

relationship where we would have lost our voices to even raise our opinions against each other.

So, I was thankful that she broke off the engagement. If she hadn't done it, then I couldn't have gotten

a chance to meet my Daksha and my life wouldn't be this blissful for sure.

The time I always spent with Daksha was so precious to me. I regretted not meeting her earlier. All I

wanted to do was give her all the happiness that she deserved in this world.

That was what I was fighting for. Her happiness depended on the unattained justice which she was

longing for in her heart and striving for years. If that's what she wanted, I would grant it to her gladly.

So I am digging every minute detail of Rahul's dirty deeds. I wouldn’t leave him so easily for making my

family suffer a lot. I wouldn’t rest until he got his retribution.

At present, Indra and I were in my office room to discuss that matter only. I already retracted the

footage of that night's events. Talking about that footage, it only had the incident that happened on the

staircase but that was enough to prove him guilty.

The contents of that video were still playing in front of my eyes. I closed my eyes to calm myself when I

recalled the helpless and vulnerable Daksha in that video. My eyes got teary after seeing that video.

Hearing from her itself was a tough task but witnessing it with my own eyes became an impossible

task, yet I encouraged myself to see the video in its entirety because I had to make Rahul accountable

for his every deed.

Immediately after watching that video, I called Indra to reopen Swathi's case again and file a case

against Rahul. The court's hearing was scheduled for the following month and I was glad for that as I

wanted to finish Rahul's chapter in our lives as early as possible.

"Indra, can you ask someone from your department to retract the previous case’s details from the

database?" I asked him and he nodded before calling someone over his phone and asked that person

to mail the details.

After a while, his phone started ringing. He picked it but after hearing what the other person had said,

he started shouting at that person

"How can the information get lost from under our noses? Interrogate everyone who has access to the

database system and also check if there was any suspicious person entering that department. I want

you all to find out the reason by this evening," he shouted.

From his words, I could guess what had actually happened. I clenched my fists angrily and now I

understood how shrewd Rahul was. He was already one step ahead of us.

Such a disappearance was indeed not a loss of the file, but rather, someone had purposely hidden it, ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

which meant someone had messed with it and I knew clearly who it was.

"I am sorry Arjun. I don't know how but the information is lost from the database. Even the files related

to this case have disappeared and thus are unavailable for extraction. Give me some time, I will do

something," he said and I just shook my head at him in denial.

"You know it, right? It will be of no use. He already took his own measures to make us lose. If we

search for that culprit, it would be nothing but a waste of time. I know what to do," I told him before

taking my seat in front of my computer system.

"Arjun? Are you sure.?" He asked as he knew what I was going to do.

"This is the only way. We don't have much time and let him feel the taste of the success for a while.

Dhruv is already done with his work. He used all his means to stop the deals of Rahul's company. That

is the reason why Rahul is so impatient. So, let's do our part too," I told him as I typing furiously on the

keyboard to enter the set of commands that I hadn't used for a long time.

Not many dared to break the law under Indra's watch or even challenged our authority till now. Since

he dared to do that, I would let him have the taste of his own medicine. I would make him regret

messing with my loved ones.

I wouldn't have used this last resort if I hadn't needed to because I still believe that everyone had their

own morals. But there were some exceptions not because the justice didn't prevail but because some

people's hearts are inked.

Truth be told, everyone was selfish including both the good and the bad but everyone still liked justice

behind morals.

With these thoughts, I pressed the enter key and as soon as I took my finger off the keyboard, another

page appeared on the computer screen. Leaning against my chair, I stared indifferently at the screen.

I did not know whose hand it was that had reached into Indra's territory and broken the law under his

watch. Be it Rahul's father or his uncle or even the influence of his entire family, they would have to up

their effort in order to free the person that was in my hands. I had been in this position for some years

and had met various kinds of people but among all that had meddled in my affairs, Rahul was the one

that went too far.

“You all want to spare him but I want to put him in jail. That’s just splendid. So try me, let’s try and see

who’s the better player,” I said to myself.

I pressed another key on the keyboard and the file began to duplicate.

Seeing this, I glanced at Indra and saw that he was studying the file that had all the evidence collected

by Aditya.

"Indra, let's meet his grandfather. We can't waste our time because of the constant meddling from

Rahul's side. His grandfather is a righteous person and I am sure he didn't know about his grandson's

deeds. I heard that he returned to the country recently. So let's meet him. I'll call my Grandpa to

accompany us," I told him and he just nodded without lifting his head from that file. I just shook my

head at his seriousness and dedication towards his work.

I called my Grandpa to come to the city immediately and he agreed with me after sensing the

seriousness in my tone.

By the time, he reached my office, it was already evening. After explaining all the happenings, he

looked at me angrily for hiding all those matters from him. Before he started scolding me, Indra

interrupted him and said that we didn’t have much time to blame each other.

So, we three hurriedly started for the farmhouse where Rahul's grandpa was living at present.

Whenever he returned to the country, he always prefered to stay in his farmhouse rather than living in

his family mansion with his whole family.

It didn't take much time for us to reach his farmhouse but the guards didn't allow us inside for security

purposes. I heard a low grunt from my grandpa and saw that he immediately took his phone out before

punching in a string of numbers.

Indra and I just stood beside him silently as we were damn sure that he would definitely get the access

to go inside.

"Old man, you really raised a good grandson. I am in front of your farmhouse. Your guards are stopping

me. Okay. Do it. We will discuss his great deeds once I come inside." He talked over the phone. As

soon as he ended the call, someone rushed to us and invited us inside.

After going inside, we were greeted by Rahul's grandfather, Mr. Charkravarthy, ex-home minister. He

was a person with great morals and values. During his tenure, he never once encouraged corruption or

any illegal activities.

That was the reason why I decided to meet him as I was sure, once he came to know about his

grandson's deeds, he would definitely stop his son's intervention in our way.

After exchanging greetings with him, we settled ourselves in our seats.

"What's the matter, old man?" he asked my Grandpa.

Instead of answering him, Grandpa grabbed the file from the hands of Indra and threw it on the table.

"See for yourself," he said and glanced at me coldly. From that glance, I knew I was up for a good

lecture as I hid the matter until now and only told him that evening.

I avoided looking at him and shifted my focus to Mr. Chakravarthy. I saw that the expression on his face

was morphed from confusion to anger.

"Is it true? I can't believe it. Are you sure, old man? If not, you can forget the friendship between us," he

said calmly but I know, he was controlling anger.

My grandpa just scoffed at him and asked Dhruv to handover the video to him.

After seeing that video, Mr. Chakravarthy was completely enraged and slammed his walking stick on

the table.

"Do you believe everything now?" Grandpa asked.

"That punk! How dare he to fool me by pretending to be a filial grandson in front me? And my sons,

how can they cover his misdeeds till now?" He shouted angrily while gritting his teeth. He calmed

himself down and looked at my Grandfather.

"I am truly sorry. I gave birth to these useless sons and raised a beast in the form of a human. Tell me,

what can I do to help you with this? That is the only thing I can do," he asked my grandfather in a low

voice.

I knew the truth must have taken a huge toll on him and I could guess how much it must be hurting him

after knowing the deeds of his grandson and the worse thing was, his own sons were saving the culprit

from the eyes of the law.

"Did you really not know anything until now?" Grandpa asked and he shook his head in denial.

"Believe me, I really didn’t know that all this has happened under my nose till now. I always keep tabs

on everyone and always hear everything about them from my Secretary. I shouldn't have believed my

secretary blindly. I should have checked up on everything on my own. If only I did that, things wouldn't

have turned out this way. I think there is a need to change the people around me. They became so

daring and hid all these matters from me," He said and I could clearly sense the honesty from his tone.

"Do you know who the people in that video are? Do you know the girl whom your grandson laid his

filthy hands on? She is my granddaughter and the only daughter in law of my family. Do you know,

because of him an entire family is lifeless?I can't even count his sins. He murdered, he tainted the

innocence of so many young girls, kidnapped the children who didn’t even know the cruelty of this

world. I can't understand how that animal was born in your family," Grandpa said emotionally.

He is not talking as his friend but as a grandpa who was questioning the injustice on the behalf of his

granddaughter. In these few days, Daksha had become so close to him that he started adoring her

more than us, his own grandchildren, and I was not feeling bad for that. In fact, I was happy that my

family was loving her genuinely.

After hearing his words, Mr. Chakravarthy looked at him in surprise and gave me an apologetic glance

while bowing his head in front of us.

"Forgive me. I am even ashamed to call him my grandson. Please tell me what I have to do," he said,

still bowing his head in front of us. I immediately stood up from my seat and went towards him.

After reaching him, I placed my hand on his shoulder, making him look at me.

"Sir, I know you are a respected and honorable person. You are the inspiration for our younger

generation. So, don't bow your head in front of us just because of the deeds of some cruel people. You

were a person with principles and you still are. So, just help us a little. Ask your younger son to stop

abusing his political power. Let the law do its own things. We are approaching him using all legal

means. So, ask him to stop siding with his nephew. Otherwise, he doesn't know what's going to hit

him," I told him and he nodded at me firmly after giving me a small smile.

"Old man, you raised him to be a good person. He resembles you in everything," he said and I saw that

grandpa was puffing his chest out proudly. I smiled a little at his antics and looked at Mr. Chakravarthy

for his answer.

"Rest assured. I'll stop my useless sons to stop interfering in this matter, otherwise they can say

goodbye to their positions. As for Rahul, from this day on, he is dead to me. Do whatever you want to

do but don't let him die. Death will be an easy punishment for people like him. He has to face hell while

living on this earth. Hope you won't disappoint me," he said in a serious tone and I nodded at him

firmly. That's what I liked about the old man. He was a man of his word. So I didn’t have to worry about

anything.

After talking with him for a while, all of us headed outside. Grandpa and I reached our home after

dropping Indra at his station.

Upon reaching home, I immediately went to my room to escape the wrath of Mr. Rama Chandra, my

Grandpa.

After going inside, I saw that Daksha was sleeping soundly while hugging my pillow. I smiled at her

after seeing her sleeping posture and headed to the washroom to freshen up.

Coming out of the washroom after I was done with the shower, I went to the bed and slowly removed

her hold on the pillow. After that, I settled myself beside her before pulling her into my arms. I kissed

her forehead. She might have sensed my presence as she has started snuggling more into me with her

eyes closed so tightly.

"Rahul, let's see who will have the last laugh in between us," I thought with a slight smirk and drifted

into a peaceful slumber with her in my arms.