Adultery No One Dies a Saint [Completed]

“I know why you’re defying me, Shreyas. Let me tell you one thing with all respect; remind yourself that you can’t dictate me. I’ve put some effort on it, and I’ll be the one who’s gonna see it through.”

“There will be consequences if you lose it, Atul.”

“Hell!”

Atul scoffed. “Not even you believe what you said, do you? Consider it a lottery I bought you. If it hits the prize, you may give me some credit. But if it doesn’t hit the prize, it’s your bad luck, Shreyas.”

“You’re pissing me off, Atul.”

“I am already pissed off, Shreyas.”

Atul got up and left.

Atul was annoyed by the extent of enmity Shreyas was bringing between them. There was no doubt why he was doing it. He no more wanted Atul to be in the front.

When Pawan Mehta invited Atul to do the presentation in front of his associates at GLS Engineering Ltd. he didn’t wait to conform to Shreyas. He booked the morning flight to Pune.

The day coincided with the same Friday he had promised to dine with Rajat.

Anvita was very happy when he shared the information with her.

“Go Atul. You worked so hard for it. You deserve to get the contract.”

She said.

Atul phoned Rajat.

“We’ll have to cancel tomorrow’s dinner buddy. I have to be in Pune tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s so bad.”

Rajat said. “So, when are you coming back?”

Atul wasn’t sure about it. But he was not going to admit it. “I’ll be back tomorrow, but it will be late in the evening.”

“Okay. I wish you all the best for your work and have a safe journey. How about Saturday, by the way?”

Prithvi's brother Parthiv’s wedding was on Sunday.

“Saturday is not possible, Rajat. We have to attend a friend's marriage. It’s on Sunday but we can’t skip Saturday’s functions. We’ll do our thing next week. Let’s mark on Friday.”

“Friday.”

Rajat agreed.

Friday morning Atul landed in Pune and he headed straight to the office of GLS Engineering. Pawan Mehta greeted him with a pleasant welcome.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you again, Atul.”

“Pleasure is mine, Mr Mehta. And I am really honoured by this invitation.”

Atul replied courteously.

Later, Pawan led him to the conference room.

The conference room had an imposing ambience in the form of size and design. The men who formed his audience were equally of great stature, and Atul needed only to make a quick scan through their faces to understand the scale of opportunity he had. Nikunj’s face was there among his audience. With his face full of enthusiasm, Nikunj gestured Atul to calm down and proceed to the screen, and Atul felt he didn’t want Atul to acknowledge their friendship in front of other associates in the room.

Atul realised one thing immediately. This was the biggest moment in his professional life.

“Allow me to help you, sir.”

A man near the desk collected his laptop and connected it to the server. He did his job in a few seconds and Atul thanked him.

Soon, Atul was on his job. The serious faces he had to face weren’t meant to help him. But he had done his homework perfectly. After one and a half hour that included the question and answers session, he was asked to leave the associates for discussion.

Atul waited in the lobby, his heart pounding hard with anticipation. He couldn’t forget the favourable expression on Nikunj’s face that grew only better during the presentation. He was betting favourably on it. Atul wondered if it was really the content of the presentation or his friendship with him that brought the predefined approval.

Friendship or the pleasure he had with Radhika? Atul couldn’t decide. He thought about the night in South Delhi. Despite what Radhika had recently told Anvita, Atul still didn’t quite believe her. Nikunj was very impressed with her. Or is he still looking for an opportunity?

Half an hour later came the good news. The men returned to Atul and they were as enthusiastic as him.

“We like what you’ve shown us in there. We like the genuineness in your workflow, young man. Let’s move on to the ground. Let’s have this deal, exactly the same one.”

The Managing Director Mr Malhotra assured him. Atul felt his feet were not touching the ground.

Atul had tea with the members later. His conversation with Nikunj was strictly professional. Later he took him to his office.

“I told you Atul. We are gonna do a lot of good things together.”

He proceeded to have lunch with Pawan Mehta who discussed why the board favoured his project. They visited the GLS’ warehouse in the afternoon. The visit turned out to be an eye-opener for Atul. In a few minutes, he understood what GLS was about and he was already seeing their warehouse filled with Wallzec equipment.

Nikunj wanted him to have dinner with him. Atul politely refused.

“I can’t miss my flight today, Nikunj. I’ll surely join you next time.”

Atul was on his way to the airport when Maniesh phoned him.

“I have run a thorough check, Atul. I need your help now. Are you in Pune?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good. I have one doubt and it’s a major one. You struck a deal with Chetak Engineering a few months back. Right?”

Atul was sure he still remembered it.

“Right.”

“Before that, they weren’t showing any interest in us. Any idea?”

Atul could not reply.

“We were ignored for more than a year without any fruitful communication. And then you went all out after them and brought them back. There was a reason why they chose to keep us away. Ever wondered?”

Atul remembered himself having the same doubt in the past. But he had never asked Ridhima about it. That was because he had made her promise not to discuss work matters during their time together.

“I will get in touch with them.”

Atul suggested.

“It will be great if you went to your friend, Atul. Meet her personally. We don’t want to communicate this matter in an official manner. You are very close to her, and you can ask her in a very…you know, personal way. Do you get my point?”

“Yes, I get that.”

Atul said.

Atul had to make a plan first. He was not going to walk into Ridhima's home just like that. He phoned Ridhima.

She was still at work.

“I am also at work. Not in Delhi but in Pune.”

Atul said.

“Really? You’re here?”

“Not there. Here. Pune is not Mumbai.”

He quipped.

“Stop non-sense. Pune is here. We must meet.”

“I have a flight to catch. Are you asking me to cancel it?”

“Won’t you come?”

Ridhima's voice was becoming softer with each word she spoke. It was an easy guess that she was dying to meet him. Atul wondered if it was the right idea.

“Let me check if there’s a flight for me.”

Atul said.

“Hold on. I will do it for you.”

Her voice turned lively.

Unfortunately, there was no flight available from Pune to Mumbai.

“The last flight was at 5.10. Shit!”

She was disappointed.

Atul was thinking about morning flight. If I made it to her in the morning, I could still leave by noon…

“Atul, may I tell you another option? Mumbai isn’t far from Pune.”

“You mean, by road?”

“It’ll take less than three hours.”

Atul laughed.

“How can I say no to you?”

“Thank you.”

Ridhima said excitedly.

Atul phoned Anvita and explained the need to go to Mumbai.

“It’s really urgent, Anvi.”

“It’s okay; but you will return tomorrow, right?”

“In the afternoon. I won’t be late. We will go to Prithvi's house together. I promise.”

“Okay. But if you are late, I won’t go. You must remember that.”

“I know baby. I will be there on time.”

Atul promised.

He was surprised to hear Anvita saying that. She had been very excited to talk about that function. But lately, it seemed like she has forgotten her old student and friend. Perhaps she’s concentrating more on her work. Atul thought.

Atul reached Ridhima's flat at eleven o’clock. She welcomed him with a warm smile.

“Come in.”

She looked a bit tired except for her eyes. She was in a black top and long skirt, and she looked a homely woman, far from the image of a boss lady Atul was expecting to meet. When Atul walked in, she closed the door and hugged him tightly. Atul was stunned by her sudden reaction. He waited for a second and then embraced her with his arms shrinking around her. Her body was soft and Atul had to force himself to move from her.

“You look handsome...like, wow! I can’t believe you are here. It’s a miracle.”

She blabbered like a child who’s been presented a toy she was waiting for long.

Atul felt awkward for he could not take her to bed and say something romantic to her. He felt worse that he was actually there for his boss wanted him to be there.

"You look lovely. I'm so glad to meet you again, Ridhima."

He said looking into her eyes.

Ridhima led him to the hall that was exactly as he remembered of his previous visit. She noticed him looking around.

“Your house is just as I remember.”

“You visited only once.”

“But I remember a lot from that visit.”

Ridhima smiled, locking her eyes to him.

Atul took a shower and then they had dinner.

“Thank you for this dinner. I can’t believe we are having dinner together like this. This’s special.”

He said.

Ridhima talked excitedly during dinner. She asked about Anvita. She asked about his work. When Atul asked about Sudhakar, her face paled a little.

“Nothing more to tell. You remember him. Very hard to deal with, and so is to talk about.”

“What exactly is his problem?”

Atul asked when they settled on a couch in the hall.

Sudhakar Sachdev was a real estate businessman. A bad one. He was often hit with huge losses that mounted his debt and initially Ridhima helped him. But he was never in the right place. He could never differentiate a good property from a bad one. Sometimes even Ridhima could predict he was going to make a loss with his current deal. The more she learnt about his bad purchases the more she became critical of him. He responded by picking up fights with her. Her refusal to help him financially only helped those fights happen frequently.

“His argument was always based on the fact that I can never bear a child for him, so I must help him find peace in other ways.”

When she finally became tired of it, she stopped helping him at all. He started to allege that she left him when he needed her the most.

“The wound never healed after that.”

Ridhima sighed.

Atul could easily relate to her story.

“My dad’s story is almost the same. He blames me all the time. He blames me for his losses whereas his losses were, in fact, the outcome of his own actions. I believe I have nothing to do with it. My dad is my responsibility; there is no denial. But my dad’s business, it is his own responsibility.”

Atul said.

Ridhima was compassionate with his dad, though.

“Your dad may be wrong, but not entirely, Atul. He too was a son once, we must remember. And you too will be a dad one day. Every parent speaks the same language, I believe. So, who knows, you’ll be like your dad one day. Maybe it’s the sense of loss that’s making them use harsh words, hoping it would bring his son back to him and listen. But what they don’t realise is, it does only the opposite.”

Atul nodded slowly.

“You are very wise to tell me this.”

“Everybody is wise when it comes to other’s lives.”

Ridhima laughed at herself. She was in pain.

“But in my own life, I am stuck in a point where there is no return and no forward. Stuck, completely.”

“You can move on.”

“My conscience is not letting me.”

Ridhima paused and Atul watched her eyes become wet. “I can’t give him a child, so I deserve this all.”

Tears rolled down and her lips quivered. Atul moved and held his arms around her.

“Come on. Don’t do this. You are…”

Ridhima turned to him and pushed her face into his neck and wept. Atul could feel her tears making his cold skin wet. He felt sorry for her. He slowly stroked her arm in silence.

Ridhima took her time to compose herself.

“I am sorry Atul.”

“Don’t be. It’s alright.”

He consoled her.

“I make a sorry figure, don’t I?”

“No. you are suffering because you chose this. You chose to be at the receiving end, Ridhima, because you believe you have a reason to do that. And it makes you a strong woman. The weak and the sorry must have left the country by now.”

He wiped her tears. Ridhima sat like a child and allowed him to make her look normal again. He smiled and planted a light kiss on her lips.

“Here you go. Okay again.”

She smiled.

“It seems like I was looking for a man’s chest to lean on. I really feel better now.”

“You can lean on me more if you want.”

Atul quipped.

“Don’t tempt me. I am a lonely woman. You’ll regret it.”

“Really?”

“Just kidding.”

“But you are tired of being alone.”

“I am scared of being with someone.”

“I know someone who could do something about it.”

“You friend, huh? Are you trying to set me up?”

Her voice was becoming filled with excitement and Atul could sense it.

“Yeah. It’s actually a double deal. You get a man’s chest to lean on or do whatever you want, and I get to please my boss...oops, my friend.”

He stuck his tongue out.

“You clever...!”

Ridhima grabbed a pillow and threw it on him. He grabbed her hands and held her down to him. She laughed aloud.

“Thank God, you are laughing again.”

He said.

“Thank God, I am laughing again.”

Ridhima said, still laughing.

Later she asked him if they could settle down on the couch for the night.

“It’s really warm here.”

Atul looked at her in surprise.

“Also I don’t want to sleep alone. I want to talk to you even in sleep.”

“Mmm… that’s a great idea.”

Atul agreed.

Ridhima brought a blanket and they settled down on the couch. Atul was surprised he was not getting hard. Ridhima was lying in his arms; he could feel her softness pushing against his chest. But he was still not getting aroused. It was unbelievable. He wondered if he had developed erectile dysfunction. However, he was glad it was like that.

“What are you thinking?”

Ridhima asked in a low voice. He could see her eyes blinking, in the dim light in the hall.

“I was thinking about you. You are very special, in a nice, nice, nice way. We would have never met in real if your company hadn’t shut the door for my company for one long year. It seems it was our destiny to meet, right?”

“Very true.”

“What exactly was the reason for you to cut us from your business? I never asked, in fact.”

“It’s because your company was careless with the consignments. There were instances when the delivered models turned out to be different from the contract. What made it tricky for us is that we could install them for our installations. But later we would find it difficult to provide service maintenance in case of a problem in future.”

“Why didn’t you report to us?”

“We reported. Many times. And every time we sure got the replacement. Wallzec was quick with that, I must admit.”

“So, the problem solved?”

“Not really. We can report only about those malfunctioning ones. But we don’t know about those models which haven’t shown any symptoms. So we always have to endure that risk. It affects our reputation in the long run.”

Now Atul knew what the real problem was. Shreyas, that bastard. It was Shreyas who messed it up, Atul was sure, by distributing a small number of out-dated technologies among the large consignments. Most often it goes unnoticed by the consignees, or at least he thought so.

“I’ll look into this.”

Atul promised.

“No, you can’t. It’s not one man’s solution.”

“What about now? Are we good now?

Ridhima hesitated. “Don’t feel bad, Atul; you guys are still the same.”

“Then why are you still dealing with us?”

“I…We chose to overlook it.”

“Why?”

Ridhima fell silent. Atul wondered if she fell asleep. He touched her face slowly and looked at her eyes. She was awake.

“Why did you overlook it?”

She locked her eyes into his. She smiled. “I thought you would have understood it.”

Suddenly the penny dropped in his mind.

“Me?”

His voice had risen a little. Ridhima touched his face.

“Yes, you. I could ignore it for you.”

Atul felt weak. He felt cheated. He felt anger. He wanted to kill Shreyas for this humiliation. But at the same time, he realised how much Ridhima values her friendship with him. She really cared for him and it was a testimony. He felt blessed.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to get fired. It’s not your fault and you have nothing to do with it. You don't have to deal with this. You are just an employee.”

Just an employee. I am lying on a couch with the MD of a multi-crore company. And I am still an employee. Thanks to Shreyas, the filthy scum.

“Thanks for telling me this now. I promise you I’ll fix it. And I promise you I won’t get fired.”

He said.

Ridhima smiled.

Atul was determined to keep his promise. He phoned Maniesh in the morning and explained the issue.

“You must do something, Maniesh. The last lot to Chetak Engineering is I think already on its way. It’s better only if you hold it and verify. And I’ve just got us a deal with GLS. I don’t want they…”

“You got GLS?”

Maniesh interrupted him.

“Yeah. I was in Pune to meet them.”

“That’s fantastic, Atul! I can’t believe, I am on my feet now. Are you serious?”

“Come on Maniesh… you are just…”

Ridhima walked into the hall and heard him.

“Who are you talking to?” She asked.

“It’s Maniesh. I was discussing…”

“Who’s over there?”

Maniesh asked.

“It’s Ridhima. Do you remember my friend?”

“Very well. Can I speak to her? Put me on speaker…”

Atul put the phone on speaker mode.

“Ridhima, this boy, he’s really special. He’s just got us one hell of a deal. What do you think about how we should celebrate it?”

Ridhima sat with Atul and leaned toward the phone.

“Maniesh. I think it should be a party on the short term and a professional recognition for the long term.”

“We’ll do the short term at the earliest. How about a party – a very personal one - tonight?”

“Great.”

“Can I assume your presence? Please don’t say no, I beg you.”

Maniesh's voice was filled with energy; Atul felt he was screaming out of excitement.

Ridhima was thinking. Atul knew what she was going to say.

“No. Don’t agree to him. I have to go back.”

He said.

“You mean dinner?”

Ridhima asked Maniesh.

“Yeah, dinner. Let’s go out and have a blast. Let together screw this boy. I mean, he should remember this day. What do you say?”

Ridhima gave Atul the eye and smiled.

“I am in.”

She said.

Atul was perplexed when the conversation ended.

The day was about to take a U-turn. Maniesh was asking to party with him. And he had managed to bring in Ridhima. The more Atul thought, he saw a dangerous pattern throughout Maniesh's interaction with him.

He knew what was wrong about Shreyas. But he said Atul must meet Ridhima personally for her feedback. And when he did it, now he wants to throw a party for him. It was very easy to bring in Ridhima into this.

Atul still remembered what he had told him during the AGM.

“I want her to kneel in front of me; I want her beautiful lips around my dick; giving me head, making me rain. And I want her to worship me as any other women do.”

And he remembered him lying on top of Ridhima's half-naked body in his bed.

"I want you to make her ready. But don't tell her I'm coming. Let’s give her a surprise.” He had asked Atul.

He wants to get her. This party is only a device to get her into his bed. Atul was sure.

He looked at Ridhima. She was smiling at him.

"Party time! You know I wanted to party with you yesterday, but you were very late. Now see, we are gonna have a blast tonight."

She was very excited.

He couldn’t really make out if it was him or Maniesh who's gonna have a blast that night.​