"What!", she gasped.
Her mind couldn't fathom the meaning of what Dhruv said. Did he just tell her that he was the one who did it? Who ratted her out? But why? It doesn't make any sense.
"Wait a sec, Dhruv. I don't get it. You told the reporters about me? Why would you do that?", Riya asked perplexed. Maybe there is a reasonable explanation behind it? Or maybe it was a mistake?
But why does he look so smug if it was a mistake?
"Oh, Riya! Don't you get it? I planned this all along!", he said as a matter of fact.
Riya was thrown aback. She got up too fast, but had to sit back down because of the sudden headrush and giddiness. Although Dhruv was uttering the words, she still couldn't believe it. Because it was absolute nonsense. Was he messing with her? Since she didn't say anything for awhile, he continued.
"Riya… I guess you still can't believe. I really don't know how I'm so good at acting. Anyways…. I'll explain you. I was waiting for an opportunity to properly get back at you. You see, my target was never you! It was Riya's Choice. You were eating up my market share and profits. Well! I can't just let you be doing that, right? I had to do something. So, I was thinking about expansion of my business, but you gave me a better option. To marry you! I mean, nothing is better than gaining the trust of the person than living with them, right? So, I took it."
"I didn't give a rat's ass about Tanya's father! I mean, she practically chose my brother over me. Come on, why would I ever help someone like that? I just used it as an excuse to make you feel like it's real and of course you immediately fell for it. You are really stupid, you know? I expected more from you actually.", he chuckled again like it was very funny.
"I acted like myself but manipulated you to gain your trust. I was waiting like an hawk to catch something, however small it was to use against you. But you, my darling! Gave me something much better. Haphephobia! I mean who has such a thing? Anyways, I don't want to go there now. I finally earned my weapon and used it well!", he said pretty glad about his strategy.
Riya's head was spinning. This was way too much. Did Dhruv really betray her? I mean, what the hell? She chose him for marriage for the sole reason that he never fights dirty. It was true that they had a cold war going on, but she only ever saw it as constructive competition. She never felt it was more than that or didn't imagine even in her dream to destroy Dhruv.
She asked him furiously or at least she tried to be furious but in her tired state whatever she spoke was coming out weak and feeble, "Dhruv do you even know what you have done? You've just destroyed my whole career. You did all this to get me out of the game? I really don't get it"
"That's where you're mistaken. I didn't just want you out of the game. I could've done that through other means. But I wanted you to be totally defeated and get Riya's Choice for myself. Because if I didn't destroy you, you'd have clawed your way back in. But now, you have absolutely no means of doing that."
"Do you even know who the new CEO is? He's one of mine, Riya. I helped him set up his investment company through which he bought a stake in your company. I helped him become the CEO of Riya's Choice. Every small decision had been perfectly planned and orchestrated by me, darling. And did you know? your little brother already quit. He said and I quote, "I don't want to be in a place where my sister is not respected". Because you were so busy immersed with your own failure, you didn't even bother to look after your family", Dhruv tsked at her displaying mock pity.
"I can acquire your little company any time I want Riya. In fact, the talks are in advanced stage right now and I'm the level 1 bidder", he grinned happily as if this was just a childhood sports competition which he won. He didn't feel any remorse for destroying a person's life.
Riya was completely quiet.
She just concentrated on breathing in and out for a minute. Dhruv got quiet too, observing her reaction.
She still couldn't believe anything he said, but it all made sense.
She had an urgency to get married but she never understood why Dhruv went along with it. It made sense to her at that moment, because she was happy to have won over her dad and to have had retained her CEO position. But now slowly everything dawned on her.
He revealed a lot of things, and she could somehow try to understand them all. Destroying her career, taking over her company, putting the founding family out of business and whatnot!
But one thing was still unclear! What about the moments they shared? Were they fake too? Dhruv was the only person she ever let touch her and that was only because of the level of trust she had on him.
In these few months, they grew very close, and she had an assumption that he would never do anything to hurt her. Just a moment ago, losing her job and having her name printed on every social media meme was a big deal, but that was only because she knew her personal life was sorted with Dhruv. She didn't realise until this moment how much Dhruv meant in her life.
How much she trusted him. How much she loved him.
The thought of love took some time to register itself in her brain. She loved him. She fucking loved him. She didn't know when it happened but along the way she was surer now than ever that she was in love with him.
What a weird day!
Finally, the day when she realised her love for someone, that person had just stabbed her in the back and twisted it to make sure she'd never get back up again!
What a great life! She must've accumulated many good deeds in her previous life to have this beautiful life.
She chuckled to herself sadly considering the fact that she was still sitting in Dhruv's house. In his mattress for some reason.
She got up and her eyes were filled with tears. She looked straight into Dhruv's piercing grey eyes. For some reason, it still felt comfortable when she looked in them. His gaze was steady and unwavering. It was still the same eyes she got attracted to. The same face that made her feel special every time she was down. The man for whom she was ready to pick a fight. The man she trusted.
Although she hated to admit it. The man she Loved.
Well, clearly that's not in the question now.
Dhruv's eyes hid nothing. He just stared right back at Riya challenging her to ask him anything.
"I'll ask one final thing. Whatever you said, is it true?", she asked slowly on purpose because she didn't want to know the answer. Her voice broke at the end of that sentence. She never thought this would hurt so much. She felt like someone was ripping her heart out and tearing it into pieces.
He looked in her eyes and said, "Yes".
She nodded and looked at him one last time.
She left the room without saying another word.