Chapter 22

2 years ago

varshaoforange

@varshaoforange

Imlie packed up her things and headed out of the office, it was three in the afternoon, and she had at least two hours to talk through the pharmaceutical case with Shiv’s boss and perhaps even meet the plaintiffs. She shot off a quick text to Arpita Didi and Aryan in the same chat to let them know she might be late. Didi replied with a thumbs up, but Aryan did not respond at all. Imlie shrugged it off, he was busy, clearly. She looked over her shoulder at his office as she got up, it was empty except for him. Aryan was on the phone with someone, in what looked like a normal conversation. Aditya had left. Imlie shook her head and willed herself to focus on her task. It didn’t matter what Aditya was working on right now, or whether Aryan had approved it. She just had to focus on her goal.

Aryan looked at his phone after he hung up with Dev. Imlie was heading to Shiv’s office.

Damn her, he thought. He didn’t know why but he didn’t trust Shiv Agarwal one bit. He knew that Imlie was ready for this type of reporting, it wasn’t too much different from the pieces she’d already written, except this time she would be writing about a powerful pharmaceutical company, and the eyes of a roomful of lawyers would be on her. Aryan put his concern to one side and got ready to head to Dev and Radhika; they were at Radhika’s lawyer’s office. Radhika Apte, the woman who’d had a years long affair with Khanna, who’d gotten pregnant with his baby, and then who’d suffered a miscarriage because of his assault of her. Aryan’s blood boiled thinking about what that woman had been through. Luckily, Dev had convinced her a lawsuit was the best way forward, Aryan was heading there to see if she’d consent and be willing to do an interview for Bhaskar Times.

Her name might or might not come out if she went through with a lawsuit, but she would be smarter to control how it came out instead of letting Khanna smear her in the press with lies. Dev had found her a lawyer, and he’d told her that Radhika was willing to talk to him about coming out with a story in the press. He headed out of the office and almost ran into Aditya Kumar Tripathi.

“Sorry Mr. Rathore, I should have known you’d be in a hurry, I just saw Imlie leave the office as well. I didn’t know that you two couldn’t even spend a minute apart from each other these days.” Aditya sneered, stepping back.

Aryan closed his eyes, imagining punching this man right now would have to be enough.

“Mr. Tripathi,” Aryan breathed, trying his best not to raise his voice, “If the quota for your taunts are over for the day, I have some business to attend to. Your story will either be printed tomorrow or the day after. Good day.”

He pushed past Aditya and left to meet Dev and Radhika.

Imlie arrived at the law firm and was immediately in awe of all the people, busily moving from office to office, talking on the phone, putting on their robes for court. Imlie didn’t know much about the legal profession, or how firms like this worked, but she could tell it was clearly a busy day.

A text popped up on her phone, from Shiv, “Imlie, my boss and I just need a few minutes, can you hang out in the waiting area for a bit, I’ll come get you soon?”

Imlie responded, “Yes, of course, take your time.”

She took a seat in the main hallway and decided to have fun with one of her favorite hobbies, people watching. For a couple minutes she watched a young man, tall and handsome, talk on his cellphone with someone who was clearly making him get more and more frustrated. Imlie took a guess at whether he was speaking with his mother or his girlfriend.

“Baby, I have to hang up right now, no I really can’t come to dinner with your parents tonight, I have a lot of work. Baby—babe, I’m hanging up.” The man hung up the phone, clearly relieved, and he looked at a coworker and said, “Honestly, she’d acting like I don’t want to go out to eat a fancy meal with her rich parents. Does any rational person choose to stay and work overtime instead of eating at a Michelin star restaurant?”

Imlie smiled to herself, she’d guessed right.

Her eyes then fell on a woman sitting on a chair across the corridor from her. She’d just sat down, because Imlie hadn’t seen her before when she’d arrived. The woman had one of her arms in a sling, and there was a clear bluish-yellow bruise she’d failed to cover up enough with makeup on her chin. Imlie felt her heart tie itself into knots, she didn’t know this woman, but it was evident that she was in immense pain right now.

Imlie watched her for a couple more minutes, and when the woman dropped a magazine that she’d taken out of her bag, Imlie rushed to help her pick it up.

“Here let me get that for you.” Imlie said. She handed her the magazine and smiled, “My name is Imlie, from Pagdandia. Aap kaise hain?” (How are you?)

The woman initially looked shocked but then relaxed her features and gave Imlie a small smile, “Nice to meet you Imlie, I’m Radhika. From Delhi. I’m doing…” Radhika wanted more than anything to say ‘fine’ right then, but even thinking about saying it made her want to throw up. She was anything but fine. She’d spent all day arguing with Dev about whether to meet a lawyer, whether to sue, whether to speak to the press. She was grateful for Dev; he’d been the only one she could count on through all of this. He was clearly doing all this out of the goodness of his heart, and Radhika knew the trust she had in him was justified. But she still wasn’t fine.

“You’re not doing fine. But we’re strangers, so I won’t be presumptuous enough to ask you why.” Imlie said, her smile softening. Radhika recognized the expression as concern. Since the assault, she’d developed a superpower. For anyone else it would be a completely useless power, but Radhika thought it was the luckiest break she’d had in years. She could now tell the difference between pity and real concern in a person’s face. She saw the pity in the eyes of the nurses and doctors who’d helped her through her rehabilitation. She’d seen pity in the eyes of her roommate, who had never judged her, but who clearly couldn’t figure out how to act around Radhika anymore. She’d seen only concern in Dev’s face since all this. And now, she saw concern in this girl’s eyes.

Radhika smiled, “I think even if I could tell you the story of why I’m not doing fine, you wouldn’t want to hear it.”

Imlie walked back to her chair across the corridor, grabbed her back, and skipped back to sit next to Radhika, “I think you should tell your story to someone who you trust. I mean, I know I’m trustworthy, but you don’t, you’ve just met me! Instead, do you want to talk about something else, unless you have to go right now?”

Radhika relaxed even more, this girl was probably no older than twenty-two, but she had a glint of joyous innocence in her eyes, like a little girl. She laughed, “Okay, tell me Imlie, what brings you here today? Are you a lawyer?”

Imlie shook her head, “No, I’m a reporter. I’m here to write a piece on a lawsuit that this firm is bringing against a company.”

Radhika stiffened, the talk of lawsuits brought her mind back to why she was here right now, “What’s the lawsuit, if you can tell me?”

Imlie thought for a moment, “Yes I think I can, the process has already started, so it’s not like people don’t know. It’s between a pharmaceutical company and some people who took their medication and had very adverse side effects. The plaintiffs are claiming negligence on the part of the company. I’m here to meet the lawyers in charge and take their interviews, and perhaps a few of the plaintiffs as well.”

Radhika relaxed again, “I see. Do you like your job?” She paused and asked, “Do you think these plaintiffs will be happy with their stories in the press?”

Imlie paused, the question seemed weightier for Radhika than it sounded, “Well, I’m not sure if they’ll be happy. I think they’ll want their stories out there so they can feel that someone is listening. Because, who knows if their case will be successful. So that’s an answer to your first question. I love my job, because I get the chance to speak for people who don’t have a voice themselves.”

Radhika smiled, “That’s very noble.”

Imlie laughed, “I don’t know if it’s completely noble. I mean, I’ve seen firsthand what happens when someone is misunderstood. My dadda, I mean, my uncle, he’s had a tough experience not just with the media, but with people misunderstanding his goals. My village, Pagdandia, when I was growing up there, it was clear that no one outside, let alone officials in Delhi, cared about what happened if the crops didn’t grow one year, or if our schools didn’t have enough funding. I might be a little self-interested in my choice of career.”

“Hmm, that still sounds pretty noble to me.” Radhika said. Her mind back on what she’d have to talk about and relive in front of a lawyer in a few minutes. She wondered if the newspaper head that Dev wanted to bring was someone who’d listen to her story before judging her, like this journalist seemed to want to do for the story she was writing.

Radhika suddenly decided to ask Imlie something, because it wasn’t as if she’d meet this girl again, “Do you think the plaintiffs will be happy if they win their case?”

Imlie looked at her curiously, “What do you mean by happy?”

Radhika added, “Well, I mean. Do you think they’ll feel as if they’ve gained justice? Or do you think it’s about revenge?”

Imlie pondered this, “I haven’t met them yet, but I doubt revenge is the only reason motivating them. Even if they are after revenge, getting that revenge isn’t going to help them move on. And if the justice they receive if they win the case is just money, I don’t know if even that can take away their pain. I think what’s going to bring them peace, is knowing it won’t happen to them again, or anyone else. I think even if they are asking for financial compensation from the company, what they really need to move on, is accountability. But I’ve been reading up on this company, and others like it, it’s very difficult to get them to ever admit fault. That’s probably why the plaintiffs will have to settle for money in the end.”

Radhika looked down at her arm, in a sling. The doctor had scared her for weeks telling her that her wrist might not ever gain complete mobility again. But yesterday, he’d taken off the cast and said it would be fine in a few weeks.

“Do you think revenge can ever be a noble goal? Or do you think people who’ve been wronged should settle for an apology?” Radhika asked, suddenly unconcerned with what this girl thought of her or her questions.

Imlie looked at Radhika closely, the bruise on her face even clearer from this close. This woman was clearly struggling with a decision of her own, she’d clearly been wronged somehow. Imlie took a deep breath, “I don’t think revenge is ever capable of giving a person what they need. And, sometimes, even an apology isn’t enough. What people want and need are usually different, right? Someone recently hurt me. Well, calling it a betrayal is better.”

Radhika looked at Imlie, suddenly feeling an immense closeness with her, “I’m sorry.”

Imlie shook her head, “No, I’m not telling you to get your concern. It’s just that—I learned that I didn’t need or want an apology from them. I didn’t even want revenge on them. I think what I needed, was to realize that I could survive. Without revenge or forgiveness. I can live, I can breathe again, and I don’t need them for anything. Look, I’m not saying everyone who’s been wronged needs to reach some sort of breakthrough, people should do what they have to, to survive, to be happy again. But for me, that survival, that happiness, it’s going to be because I’m letting go.”

Radhika smiled, “Clearly you chose the wrong profession, Imlie. You should have gone to graduate school and become a philosopher.”

Imlie laughed, “Honestly, the college classes I have now are enough for me, going to school for longer sounds like way too much work. Man, I wish we had chai right about now. I don’t know about you, but a chai would make this conversation seem a lot lighter.”

Radhika laughed, “Sorry, I am a bit of a downer today, aren’t I?”

Imlie shook her head, “Not at all, I can tell you’re struggling with something. And I hope you get to figure it out. Just do what is best for you, baaki sab Sita Maiya sambhal legi. And if she doesn’t, which I doubt, call me, I’m pretty good at breaking a few legs if needed or I can always make some kadak adrak waali chai for you and everything will be fine.” (Everything else, Sita Maiya will handle…strong ginger chai.)

Radhika laughed, out loud. For the first time today, in weeks, she felt like she was laughing for real.

Shiv walked out of his office to meet Imlie, he was not at all surprised to see her laughing and talking with someone, clearly, she’d made a new friend.

“Imlie,” Shiv walked up to her, “We’re ready for you now. Chalein?” (Shall we go?)

Imlie stood up, “Yes, sounds good.” She looked back at Radhika and extended her hand to her, “Radhika, it was nice to meet you. And if you ever need anything, call me. I’m a great friend. Just ask Shiv here.”

Shiv laughed, “I don’t know her that well, but amazingly she’d right. She’s a great friend.”

Radhika shook her hand, “I will, Imlie from Pagdandia. Do you have a card?”