Rudra's POV:

48 hours to that incident!!!
And this was my probably my 2nd crate of beer!!! I had left the apartment in hazy. I was regretting my every single stupidity now!!!

But I had to...
I'm no more capable of doing love!!!
I am still scared of this emotion called 'love'. It tarnished me enough the first time I wasn't capable to take it in the second time...

Taking this bitter beer was better than the intake of that painful emotion called love and last time I felt it...it was scary...
After all the girl who had invoked these feelings inside my heart was none other than Panchami..
Huhh!!! Yes Panchami...
Who probably if everything would have been ok would have been my sister in law. My Omkar Anna's wife!!!

I don't know how this happened...
I still hold myself guilty for developing feelings for her from childhood...
After all we played together, grew up together...

We were classmates!!!
But never in my wildest dreams did I think she was in a relationship with my brother...I had always liked her. I don't know since when...and she had always been closer to me... I thought she always felt for me...

We would eat together, practice for the cultural fests together. She was the reason I learnt playing drums. We would practice at our childhood home which now only had our memories...

That house would haunt me!!!
It was now the place where I would go to let out my anger and frustration.
My family wanted me to sell it post Omkar Anna moved out...
But I didn't want to!!!
I grew up there...my brother...me...and Panchami spent a lifetime in that home...
Today just because my brother had moved out to live with Panchami going against my father...my emotions can't change!!!

I could never understand why my father was so stubborn. He loved us a lot but then those age old stupid theories of caste and creed. Panchami belonged to s different caste!!! My father was fuming when my brother announced about his love for Panchami but I was broken!!!
Heart broken!!!

I don't know since when I loved her!!!
Childhood? Teenage?
We were partners in everything...
I had started hating myself because I was confused...I could never really understand her emotions for me. Because somehow after the send off party during our 12th std just before our exams...her eyes spoke a different language...

That night was special... Something I could never forget in my life!!! I was going to do my chemical engineering post that and she had got admission in a famous college in Mumbai for studying literature. She was ambitious and I was extremely proud of her but ofcourse this meant she would have to go to Mumbai and stay there for 3 big years. First time ever in 15 years she was going away from me. My heart was aching.

I still remember that send off party we had done a ballroom dance with our fingers entwined and she had placed her head on my shoulders saying...

'Dont worry Rudy...I'm not going away from you...hearts never measure physical distance...I'm leaving it here with you!!!'
Those words had hitched my breath leaving my racing heart go on a overdrive when she had left a lingering kiss on my cheeks too close to my lips!!!

That night I had took her as my life partner silently.

But then time was a killer!!! A silent killer. She got busy with work and stopped taking my calls. Suddenly the Panchami I had known was changing into someone else. She had time to attend parties but not pick my call. Someone who would never sleep without talking to me was avoiding my calls for weeks.

Until one day that she yelled at me...
'Will you bloody stop calling me like a creep every night...I am not bound to talk to you every night...I'm not your 'talk me to sleep girlfriend' get that??? We were neighbours... classmates and now childhood friends.
Stop creeping the shit out of me and don't act like a despo!!!'

I was so hurt!!! That night I consumed alcohol for the first time. It had killed me from within but somehow I was still convincing myself. This is all the black magic that new city did to her. Once her studies are over she will be back here. She will realise. She will come back to me. So I was determined to study well. I wanted to become as successful as my brother or father was!!!

Omkar Anna was my idol. I studied and topped every semester in university exams. Although I liked what I was doing I developed sudden interest in jewellery designing and my brother motivated me to do an extra diploma in it. That's when I discovered my passion.
I joined as the official jewellery designer at Nayak's post my graduation. While my brother handled our London based clients. Panchami had finished her graduation and had got an opportunity to do her master's in one of famous universities in London. I was proud of her.

I still remember the night my diamond necklace bagged it's first award in an International exhibition making my family and parents proud. I received a call from Panchami after 5 big years...

'You made us proud Rudy really...I'm coming to India next week..let's celebrate' she had said and I was on cloud nine...

But my dreams hit rock bottom reality when she and my brother entered our house hand in hand. I felt like my world came to an end. My brother announced how he loved her and wanted to marry her. I couldn't handle it any longer. I just silently left overnight to Bangalore. To everyone I told I want to also try freelancing in jewellery designing as my father hated the fact that I had left our home overnight.

But then I kept hearing about how my father was against this marriage. The same old caste drama and my father kept hurling abuses at my brother. One night I got a call from my mother saying...

'Omkar left the house!!!'

I was shocked!!! I still remember driving overnight in heavy rains to reach my family but everything had finished by then. My brother had left us all for being with Panchami. I was disappointed in my brother until I got a call from him...

'Rudra...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to hurt you or dad but he wasn't understanding...
Panchami is pregnant with my baby Rudra...yes...I'm turning a father...how could I abandon her or my baby...I love them both!!!' he had said and I was numb!!!!

Panchami and my brother were going to have a baby!!!
I cried hopelessly that night and drowned myself in alcohol going to our childhood home near the beach!!!

But when sunlight hit my face I realised responsibilities are too big to be abandoned. I went home to talk to my father but I got the biggest shock of my life when I saw my father had an attack. My brother's  number was switched off. No one knew where he had gone. Panchami as well didn't pick my call. Overnight I grew up !!!

I got to know my brother had resigned from the CEO's position which had caused a huge impact on our business. Our shares took a dip. Our investors wanted to pull out. My father was hospitalized. My younger brother was still in college. I had to step up!!!

I took up the CEO's position. It wasn't easy because my brother was considered a 'Raging Lion' in business. His huge personality was incompetent. I was strict but my employees feared my brother. No one dared to go against my brother. He was a powerful man. I could never be his replacement.

He was too big to be replaced!!!
But I knew what I had to do!!!
I didn't need to replace Omkar Nayak!
I had to just become Rudra Nayak!!!
And that's what I BECAME!!!

I set up my own rules...my own territories... slowly started taking baby steps...I had to bring back the lost glory of my ancestral business!!!
I quit designing!!! I loved it but now was the time when I had to fulfill my responsibilities...
I couldn't be the 'Raging King'... that's what they called my brother in the market!!!

But I became a 'Ruling Prince!!!'
The name I made for myself!!!
In a matter of 6 months I reversed the losses into profits!!! I worked like a dog!!! I forgot what is sleep!!! I turned a machine!
I was good at this job! But of course I didn't enjoy it initially. Designing was my first love!

But slowly I started liking the power that came with this position. My employees feared me too. Ofcourse they would shit in their pants when my brother was the CEO but now no one took me lightly. Earlier I was their buddy now I was their BOSS!!!
And you either be a Boss or a buddy!!!
My father recovered and to my ultimate shock announced retirement!!!