"We don't talk about it,

That's something we don't do.

'Cause once you go without it

Nothing else would do..."

— "Meet Me in the Hallway" // Harry Styles

ɤɤɤɤɤɤɤɤ

Vishambhar Maheshwari has never felt so helpless in his entire life. He has been the pillar of his family that won't shake even a bit, no matter how big the storm is. But then, even the strongest pillar can be broken if greater force is applied - continuously and recklessly, from right, left and center. And today he's breaking.

Because there is no home to go back to. There is no family.

Staring at the big office of Rajvansh Wellness Mr. Maheshwari laments over his fate once again. Only if he could go back to time and undo everything that happened, probably today he would have been standing here like the Businessman of the Year. All he is today, is just a broken father of a daughter with a damaged soul.

Vishambhar always had this habit of analyzing situations rationally and that never went wrong until it was Mishti. Mishti - his chirpy, sweet and brave daughter is always his weak point. She is the one who made him face his emotionally vulnerable side. And she is the one who destroyed the "Practical", "Right-Decision-Maker", "Never-Cares-for-Others-Emotions" Vishambhar Maheshwari to an extent that now he regrets being what he used to be.

Years later, he is again entering the doors of the Rajvanshs leaving all his ego, enmity and hatred aside. Today nothing else matters to him other than his family, his Mishti. And if that calls for his humiliation in front of the Rajvanshs as well as the whole society then let it be. It will be always less than what Mishti had to face because of his insensitive decision. Enough is enough now. It's time to make amends for whatever went wrong.

"Should we move, sir?" The voice of the driver pulls Vishambhar out of his thoughts.

"No Rajesh, I'll go on my own from here. You please wait in the car." He commands.

Gripping the wheelchair's handrails at the top with both hands, he pushes forward. With each step coming closer to the entrance of the office he can feel his body sweating. Never in his life he imagined meeting Mehul Rajvansh in such a devastating condition. Vishambhar has seen Mehul achieving the height of success from zero. From a hardworking employee at Maheshwaris and Co. to now owning such huge companies, Mehul has come a long way. The last time they met, no one knew how drastically their lives are going to change in the coming years.

"Never in my life I shall allow this alliance to happen. Neither you nor anyone from your family should be seen anywhere near my family." A loud Vishambhar Maheshwari announced years back. Pity how the tables have turned! And look at him today, he is the one who has come to plead in front of Rajvanshs for his family. Vishambhar sighs, had he not taken any foolish decisions everything would have been good, at least better than how it is now.

Things were always on the wrong side after Mehul left Maheshwaris & Co. to start his own business. Yet he never let their business rivalry come in between their personal bonds. Only if Vishambhar had let go of the bitterness he carried towards Mehul! In the end, his nasty decisions acted as the final nail in the coffin of the potential friendship of these two families.

But then, maybe things were bound to happen to show him his reality.

"No point in repenting the past." Vishambhar sighs once again. This business rivalry has cost him so much and when he could realize where everything went wrong, it was already too late. Four years later, today he's in the office of the person whom he insulted, called names and ridiculed in front of everyone without any fault. Look at the irony! Today he'll be begging, pleading and requesting Mehul and his son; probably he'll be kicked out of the office, he'll be called a selfish man. He doesn't even know what Mehul's son thinks of him now nor does he have any idea what his own daughter thinks of him. At this point he is probably just another selfish man in everyone's eyes.

But for this one time he'd like to be called selfish.

Because when it comes to his family, Vishambhar is unapologetic about being a selfish person. He has already lost enough. So he'd make this one last bet. There's nothing to lose anymore but everything to get back. So if this selfishness of his created all the havoc, then today he is going to amend things with the same selflessly selfish attitude.

Vishambhar Maheshwari is just a broken pillar of no use without his family.

*****************

I know many of you were waiting for me and I can't explain how happy that makes me, to know that your words can bring a smile to someone's face and they'd love to hear from you more! Hence, I'm thanking you all again for being with me.

So here I'm beginning another journey with Abir, Mishti and all of you. Apologies for a probably confusing-and-kinda-boring prologue, but I'll try my best to make you all happy with the chapters. I can't promise regular updates and I'm totally unsure how this story turns out to be! Hence, I'd like to give you readers the responsibility to let me know what kind of things you expect as the story progresses as well as your views, criticism and anything. You people are my only motivation and your words are the fuel to my otherwise slow brain!!!

Also let me know if it becomes monotonous at any point as I don't want to repeat myself; your criticism here will help me to develop myself :-)

And yes, if anyone can do a favour on me by making a beautiful cover, I'll be grateful 🥺

So finally,

Welcome to a different take on Abir, Mishti and the bonds of love...