Chapter 16
Sharon's return home from a long trip, at one time, used to be welcomed with warm hugs and huge grins and questions about her journey. She and her mother would settle on the couch and her mom would watch her daughter's excited narration about everything with a small lingering smile and adoring eyes. This time, when she entered her house, she was met by warm greeting from her butler, who informed her that her mom was not at home.
Her mom, however, did join her for dinner, which went horribly awkward. Sharon had never experienced her mom seem so distant. She had never seen her mom ignore her so completely, but Sharon's ego refused to give up once and ask her what was wrong. Throughout the dinner, the memories of her teenage felt like a dead weight at the centre of her chest, constricting her food pipe, and it was with shaking hands and sheer mental force that she survived through it without upturning the table or causing some similar kind of a scene. She was sure, she thought with gritted teeth, that the only reaction that would get out of her mother was disappointment.
The next morning, Sharon fled to the office as soon as possible, in dire need of change from the heavy tension. Sharon opened her email and went over the mails in a cursory way. She had acted extremely unprofessional in the past couple of days that she had returned, and it was now that she felt guilty belatedly. Mr Menon had not been very happy with her absence without any prior information, and he had made it abundantly clear. It had taken every fibre in her body to stay quiet and look apologetic, instead of yelling at him for meddling in her life. He is saying this for you. He has your best intentions at heart. You respect him, for god's sake. Years of self-control and her basic instinct still remained to get aggressive at the smallest things. God!
Sharon had come back with a huge amount of workload, and was ordered to work overtime to compensate for her absence over the next couple of weeks. Sharon heaved a huge sigh and pep-talked with herself, "Get your shit together Sharon. Let's get started."
***
In the morning, with the weekend gone, Swayam had enough time to think and get his priorities. The next morning, it was with absolute shame that he recalled everything he had done the previous night. He had been about to cause so much damage within a few hours. Damage that could possibly have been irreparable. He was about to break the non-existent trust Sharon had in him, although he wasn't sure why that should even exist. Women like Sharon could never fall for men like Swayam, something he had learnt long back in his teen years. But that was not it, he was about to break Kapil's trust too and jeopardize his job and probably break a number of laws.
And now, sitting in his cubicle in office, now that his brain was not clouded with jealousy (yes, he hated to admit to himself, but it was indeed jealousy in its ugliest form, what he felt for the Rey-Sharon duo), he knew he had to at least make sure Sharon knew about the contract. But for that, it was really important that he talk to her. He just couldn't leave a message, he couldn't leave any physical proof of that interaction. That would lead to Simons suing Kapil and him for breaking the first law of the company. NDA of each contract clearly states that information of both the companies will not be known by anyone other than those present and involved. But then, Sharon was involved. She was the future heiress, but, just to be on the safer side. If it were only about his job, he probably would have cared a little lesser, but when there was another person involved who could lose his job and be blacklisted from other finance companies, he just couldn't take risk.
He took a deep breath in, and decided to do it. He hadn't been paying attention to the stupid document in his hand anyway. He stood up and walked to the door, feeling for his ID card in his pocket when he heard Gaurav call from the back, "Swayam, hey man," Swayam turned around to face him warily, "Boss has called in for meeting, he wants everyone in five minutes."
Swayam groaned out loudly, "I really need to leave. I have to go somewhere else."
Gaurav shrugged, "Sorry, man," he said, looking apologetic. Swayam sighed, "How long is it for?"
"I think it's about absorbing us in the company, criterion and all," Gaurav replied, "not sure, but I think that's what he was hinting at. So, might be long, don't know."
Swayam cast a mournful look at the door, before nodding and trudging behind Gaurav. If only he had been five seconds early.
***
Sharon was going through her workload, pen stuck in her mouth and peering over the document, current practices of brand development. She was zapped out from the buzzing of her cellphone. Sharon picked it up and saw Rey's number flash across the screen.
"Rey, I'm working," she playfully chastised him.
"Sharon," his frantic tone immediately sobered Sharon, "I'm sorry for calling-"
"Get to the point Rey," Sharon interrupted him, his tone making her nervous.
"Sharon, have you gone through the merger documents?" Rey asked her.
"Yes, yes I have, why?" Sharon asked him.
"When was the last time you checked it? Because, there might have been changes in the contract," Rey told her.
The anxiousness in his voice made her heart beat fast and really hard. "What sort of changes?"
"I am not very sure," Rey replied, "but I told dad that we have decided to call off our marriage, and he got rather angry at me-"
"What? Why?"
"Sharon, he told me that I had to marry you come what may. That there's no way I could back down now or something like that... Sharon, he was, like, livid... I don't know... I was wondering what the big deal is and... it's just a gut feeling but... can you check the contract?"
"The contract? Why?"
"I don't know... I just think it's got something to do with the contract. Otherwise... I know my dad, Sharon... just... please, go through it once?"
"I'll see what I can do," Sharon replied urgently, nodding her head.
Sharon shut her phone and walked to Mr Menon's cabin. She was so scared in that moment that she couldn't bother with the common courtesy to knock before entering. She busted into her boss's cabin and urgently blurted out, "Sir, can I see the merger documents," before he could say a word.
Menon was busy on phone and looked annoyed when she entered, "Sharon I'm busy," he hissed out, clearly not having heard her request. Sharon was not having it.
"Mr. Menon," Sharon slightly raised her voice, surprised by the authority it held. Menon, looked surprised too, as he gaped at her for a good second, before he muttered into the receiver of his phone, "Listen sir, do you mind if I call you later? Please don't mind me... oh, okay... yes, thank you... thank you very much." He put the phone down before turning to Sharon. "That was an important phone call Sharon."
Sharon disregarded his protest. "I asked you if I could see the merger contract."
Menon sighed, "Yes, yes of course. Please have a seat."
Sharon stiffly sat down, not being able to loosen her body from its plank straightness. Menon sir, walked over to a locked cabinet, and opened a locker inside the cabinet, extracting a file with a clearly used set of documents. "I only have the copy. But I request you, please do not take it outside. Sit here and read this, and then you have to return this to me."
Sharon impatiently accepted the file and her hands fumbled with the pages, turning hurriedly. Her eyes ran over the pages, trying to get the gist. The clauses that met her, made her heart sink. This could not be happening.
Sharon snapped the file shut, squeezing her eyes shut too, trying to calm her rapidly increasing rate of breathing. "Why," she began, and her voice shook, "why... how... how did this happen? Mr Menon, you know what that means," she looked up, her eyes wide in panic, "What could have happened if I didn't know?" she asked, decibels increasing with each word.
"I though you knew, Sharon. I asked Mrs. Raiprakash, she said you knew, that you were fine with it," Mr Menon told her, puzzled.
"No," she stood up, shaking her head furiously, "No, I didn't." She rushed out biting back her tears.
***
"What did you do, Mom?" Sharon thundered out, her hands shaking, breathing haggard.
Her mom looked up, shooting a look of disdain from behind her seat in CEO's office. "Sharon, how barbaric are you? Is that the way you behave-"
"I don't have time for this, MOM!" Sharon stalked forward and slammed her hands on the table. "Do you have any idea of what you have done? I can't believe you!"
"Lower your volume, Sharon-"
"I don't care about my bloody volume, Mom! All I care about is... this company! It's dad's years of hard work. Do you realise what danger you have put this company in?"
"Sharon, these walls are not exactly sound proof," Sunaina said in a quiet voice, but her anger was evident in her repressed tone. "If you calm down and talk like a sane, civilised person, I am open for that. Otherwise, you may leave."
Sharon squeezed her eyes shut, breathing an uneven breath in and out. In... out... in... out... When she opened her eyes, they fixated on her mother. "Why would you put that clause, Mom?" her voice strained from trying to be as quiet as possible. "Why did you make Raj uncle the owner?"
"Don't be melodramatic, Sharon," Sunaina replied nonchalantly, though Sharon could see right through to the tension in her voice. "He's not the owner."
"You signed a contract where he owns fifty-two percent of the shares. Do you know what that means? That means, he can take every decision of the company. Every. Without even consulting anyone. If he wants to double the production, he can do so. If he wants to shut the company, he has the power to do so. Mom, our company will go completely in his hands."
"Sharon," Sunaina exclaimed, standing up. "Do you know for how long I have been handling this company? For four years. With no experience, no idea at all, struggling to continue your father's dream," she glared at her daughter, and for once, Sharon could see the mother she had loved so much, the one who never pretended to be impenetrable, "This was not my job. I am not a businesswoman, Sharon. But you were too busy distancing yourself from me. Do you think I don't notice how much you've started hating me lately? I have been trying and trying to make this all work just because I wanted to keep his dream alive. I have been given this company to handle right from the day your dad died. I wasn't even given time to mourn his..." her voice cracked. "It's easy for you to come accusing to me, but do you have any idea why I had to do that?"
Sunaina stormed over to the drawer and picked out two files. When she turned, all Sharon saw were huge, red-rimmed, wild eyes and devastation written all over her face. Sunaina Raiprakash, Sharon's mother, the woman of steel, was devastated. Sunaina threw the files on the table, "Go through them. You know what they are? Financial reports. Of the past two years. I have went through them again and again, for nights at a stretch. I have been up for hours trying to understand why the company is going in loss, why our buyers are switching to different company, but I don't know! I don't know, Sharon!"
Sharon opened the file and the graphs felt horrifying. Not only were they showing a downward slope, the future forecast was just as ominous.
"In the past half year, the quality of our cement has gone down. The process manager claimed that it was because of outdated technology, so the board decided to reconstruct our plants. But the losses from past three years has already left us with meagre resources. Which bank will agree to pay loan with such statistics? What will the employees do when they find out that the financial reports circulated in public is the exact opposite of the real ones? We will be done for Sharon! We will be doomed. In all this, I will have to live with the guilt of ruining everything my husband took years to create."
Sunaina was sat on her seat, slouched forward, her hands cradling her face.
"Singhania was my saving grace," she said in the disturbed silence, "I begged him to help me, and he gave me the idea of merger. Maybe collaborating with such a known force would lead us to gain our lost face. In the meantime, the company began losing its stock resource. Singhania again came to help; he proposed the idea of taking up majority of the shares, so that if the company goes in further loss, JR Cements will have to face lesser consequences. I knew what that meant, but what could I have done Sharon? I had no option!"
Sharon saw her mom openly crying, trails of kajal falling down her face. Sharon could understand what her mom went through. All her life, her mom had only done the job of socialising and being her dad's arm candy in the parties. She had known from a long time that her dad used her charms and beauty to his advantage in high profile events, to make connections with other industrialists and potential buyers. Her mom could be a smooth manipulator, but she didn't understand a word about business. For the first time in four years, she felt connected to her mom, though in the face of destruction.
***
"Is she okay?" Rey asked after Sharon told him everything.
"Yeah, she's sleeping. I didn't know she was taking antidepressants Rey," Sharon spoke, her voice cracking. When did her mother get so far gone in this situation? If only she had discussed it with Sharon, maybe they could have worked something out together.
"She'll be fine, Sharon. She'll be fine now," Rey consoled her. Sharon nodded though she was on the phone.
"There was a clause in the contract, thank god my mom was smart enough to put that or else all would be lost," Sharon said. "The clause said that the company shares will be divided as has been decided on the day we get married."
"What does that mean?"
"That's the loophole of the contract. It means, the redistribution of shares can happen only if we get married. So, if we don't get married, the shares don't get divided at all."
"But what about the extra money required?" Rey asked.
"We'll do something about it. There must be some bank we can convince for the same. I'll have to look into that but right now... I need to take care of mom."
"Right," Rey answered.
Silence.
"How did your dad react? Did he say anything further?" Sharon asked, after a beat.
"He said it's entirely our decision. But he also said he's willing to pay for your expenses if required."
"No, we can't take the money from him now. Mom was wrong in meddling personal relations with professional but now that that can be sorted, let's just not get in that direction again..."
"I understand that but..."
Rey's voice was interrupted by a beeping noise. Sharon looked at the screen of her cell phone to see an incoming call from a number she didn't recognise.
"Rey, someone's calling me, I'll call you back," she stated curtly before cutting the phone.
When she answered the phone, what she heard made all blood drain from her face. NO, no, this can't be happening.
Please, like, comment, share... cos every review given makes me happy, good or bad, doesn't matter... And please give your verdict on the fate of this fic... (fingers crossed)
Originally posted by: Spark.Shreya
Reserved
*Unreserve*Hie Srishti!Well,honestly, I did lose track of this slightly, but a PM from you surely did excite me :) You're such an impeccable writer Srishti, I may have said it before but I'm saying it again I'm in awe with your writing !...Right from the first chapter this story is so well executed and surely its come a long way:)Coming to this update, It took me a while to come out of the trip scenes into the business world. So the fate of the merger depends on ShaRey's marriage, thats a tough mess to come out from and surely this was unexpected .Your potrayal of Sunaina's character was very well penned. I could connect with her and I liked that she not being woman of pretence ,shared everything with Sharon.Sharon's charismatic persona always has its effect . I love how she never lets any situation deflate her ego . This trait of hers attracts you even if its not always the right thing that she might have done .From Rey and Sharon's conversation ,it seems like they have agreed for the marriage,probably coz they don't have a choice but then I was hoping they both express some disappointment or sadness for having to make such a compromise, especially after whatever happened in the trip.Maybe its yet to sink in .The end was quite intriguing ,wondering what's in store. There was less of Swayam ,Taani and SwaRon here but I'm sure this is going to get a lot more interesting than it already is once these characters come into picture again...eager to read next!Regarding your question, well my comment already tells you how much I love this ff and so I'd never wish you discontinue it.I really want to read it till the end.Please!. Considering your busy schedule, can you promise 2 updates every month? I hope thats manageable coz the wait would be too long if you write a couple of chapters and then update.Finally its you who decides, but if this suggestion doesn't seem to work or is inconvenient for you I'm okay with the ubrupt frequency as long as I get to read this :) But my only request is do not discontinue and give us a chance to read it till the end :)Love,Shreya:)
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