Chapter 52 - Hidden Oberoi Scandal

 "Dad !" Om cheered when he saw Tej walking in the mansion from the front door.

"Om ! My son." Tej grinned as he took Om in a tight hug. "Kaise rahe exams ?"

"Fantastic dad !" Om beamed.

Just then Rudy too arrived there followed by Shivaay.

"Papa !" Rudy grinned as soon as his eyes caught Tej and he ran into Tej giving him a hug.

A small smile appeared on Shivaay's lips when he witnessed OmRu's happiness upon meeting their dad.

Tej initiated a small conversation with OmRu but Shivaay didn't join them nor did he welcomed Tej.

"Shivaay."

Shivaay snapped out of his thoughts when Tej called him and saw that Tej was walking towards him with a smile and open arms.

Shivaay forced himself to stay calm when Tej came to him and gave him a hug.

"How are you Shivaay ?" Tej smiled once he released Shivaay from his hold.

"Bas aapka ashirwad hai." ("Fine. All thanks to you.") Shivaay replied, his voice thick with slight anger and sarcasm.

Tej's smile flattered at Shivaay's sarcastic reply but he shrugged it off and smiled again.

"Aapse kuch jaruri baat karni hai." ("I need to talk about something important.") Shivaay said, without chatting further. "Chaliye." ("Come with me.")

With that said Shivaay stormed off to his room without waiting for Tej's reply.

Rudy flashed a confused look while Om sighed and walked up to his father.

"Dad, Bhai pichle hafte se bahot pareshaan hai." ("Dad, bhai is very stressed since last week.") Om said. "Pata nahi kya problem hai." ("Don't know what the problem is.")

Tej turned to Om and gave him a nod.

"Don't worry, mein aa gaya hu na, saari problems solve ho jayegi." ("Don't worry, I'm here now, all the problems will be solved.") Tej muttered seriously and traced his way to Shivaay's room.

"Thank God papa aa gaye." ("Thank God Shivaay's here.") Rudy mumbled.

Rudy was equally aware about Shivaay's tension as it reflected clearly in Shivaay's behaviour and health.

"I know right." Om smiled.

OmRu were about to disperse to their respective rooms when they suddenly saw 3 most unexpected people walking inside the mansion.

"Annika bha- I mean Annika didi ! Gauri bhabhi ! Bhavu I missed you so much !" Rudy cheered and ran to them. "What a pleasant surprise !"

"Accha ?" ("Is it ?") Gauri narrowed her eyes at Om and then turned to Rudy. "Lagta toh nahi hai...Hume 3 hafte mein ek baar bhi call nahi kiya kisine." ("Doesn't seem so...No one called us even once when we were away.")

"Kiya tha." ("We had called.") OmRu protested in unison.

"Humne har hafte Anu di ko call kiya tha." ("We had called Anu di every once a week.") Om added.

RiVya gave a raised eyebrow look to Annika, who just shrugged.

"Haan... Lekin hume kaha call kiya aap logo ne ?" ("Yeah...But you didn't call us.") Bhavya pouted.

Rudy walked towards her and took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles softly before pulling her in a hug.

"Woh isiliye call nahi kiya kyu ki mein nahi chahta tha ki meri wajah se tumhari trip kharab ho." ("That's because I didn't wish to spoil your trip. I wanted you to enjoy.") Rudy replied softly while locking his eyes with Bhavya's.

AniRi shared a mischievous smile before letting out fake coughs to disturb the 2 young lovebirds.

Ruvya seperated at once and jumped away when they heard AniRi cough and blushed.

"Aur apka kya excuse hai Mr Omkara Singh Oberoi ?" ("And what's your excuse Omkara Singh Oberoi ?") Gauri raised an eyebrow at Om.

Om exhaled a small smile, his features were relaxed and he looked confident.

Om walked up to Gauri.

"Meine isiliye call nahi kiya, kyu ki mein jaanta hu ki mere call se jyada khushi tumhe mere marks dekhkar milegi." ("I didn't contact you cause, I knew that my high scores would make you more happy than my daily calls.") Om replied and pulled Gauri closer by her waist. "Isiliye meine apna pura dhyaan padhai mein laga diya taaki tumhara liye acche marks score kar saku." ("So I focused all my attention on studies to score highest for you.")

Gauri couldn't help but blush at their closeness and then a smile crossed her lips when she heard Om's reply.

Om certainly did know her inside out.

"Ahem, ahem !" AniVya coughed.

It was now AniVya's time to tease Rikara.

Rikara blushed too and jumped apart.

"D..di !" Gauri yelled in embarrassment. "Don't tease." She complained.

Annika poked her tongue out at Gauri before bursting out in laugher.

"Waise Shivaay bhaiya kaha hai ?" ("Where's Shivaay bhaiya ?") Bhavya asked as she looked around.

"Woh apne room mein hai." ("He's in his room.") Om replied.

"Jao di, apke 'woh' room mein hai." ("Go di, your hubby is waiting for you in his room.") Gauri smirked at Annika.

Annika gave Gauri a playful glare.

"Woh mere 'woh' nahi hai." ("He's not my hubby.") Annika grumbled.

"Hai nahi toh ban jayenge !" ("He's not right now but he'll become soon !") Rikara and Ruvya yelled in unison making Annika widen her eyes and blush.

"Jao jao, aap room mein jaake bhaiya se mil-lo tab tak hum yaha romance karte hai." ("Go and meet bhaiya until then we'll romance here.") Rudy blurted, making Bhavya punch him lightly on his chest. "I mean, hum apaka yaha intezar karte hai." ("I mean, we'll wait for you here.")

Annika chuckled at Rudy's antics before skipping towards Shivaay's room.

She was determined to force out Shivaay's answer to her proposal, today.

♠

"Kya baat hai Shivaay ?" ("What's wrong Shivaay ?") Tej asked as soon as he reached Shivaay's room.

Without any word, Shivaay punched some keys on his laptop and turned the laptop screen to Tej.

Tej furrowed his eyebrows as a video started playing on the laptop.

"What are you saying, Mr Tej ?" Mr Chadda's voice blared through the speakers.

Shivaay was playing the recording of the meeting of Oberoi industry with Mr Chadda which Tej had attended.

"Yes Mr Chadda." Tej's voice came next. "Just deliver the traditional machines, we don't wish to invest such a big amount in machines just yet."

"But Mr Tej, Mr Shivaay had specially asked us to order those machines from Germany." Mr Chadda frowned.

"Yes but he considered my suggestion of investing less in machines and hence I'm here to convey that to you." Tej's voice said. "I'm sorry to put you through all the trouble but will you please cancel the earlier order ?"

"Uh sure." Chadda's uncertain voice said. "I'll do it."

Shivaay pressed pause button and turned to Tej with a straight face.

Tej looked calm, almost unaffected by the video.

"Aapne unn low quality machines ka order diya tha. Aapne order traditional low quality machines ka diya aur humare accounts department se latest design wali machines ke paise claim kiye." ("You ordered those low quality traditional machines and claimed the bill of new expensive machines from our accounts department.") Shivaay started, his voice full of disbelief and hurt. "Aapko pata bhi hai aapki wajah se 2 log mar sakte the !" ("Do you know 2 people could've lost their lives cause of you !")

Tej stayed silent without any emotions on his face.

"Kyu kiya aapne aisa ?" ("Why would you do that ?") Shivaay snapped. "Paiso ke liye ? Arey paise chahiye the toh bata dete na bade papa ! Yeh sab yeh ghar, yeh paise, yeh business sab aap hi ka toh hai. Lekin un workers ke pass sirf unki jaane hai agar woh bhi chali jaati chali jaati toh !" ("For money ? If you wanted money you could've told me ! This all, this house, money, business everything is yours. But what if the workers would've lost their lives ? It's the only thing they have.")

Shivaay took a couple of deep breaths and forced himself to calm down.

"Aap gamble karte hai ?" ("You're into gambling ?") Shivaay asked calmly but when Tej didn't reply, he continued. "Aapne gamble karne ke liye paise liye, hai na ? Aur 16 saal pehle bhi aapne Oberoi Realty ke expansion ke liye nahi balki gambling ke liye uss don se itna bada loan liya tha, lekin aap woh saare paise gambling mein haar gaye." ("You took all the money for gambling, didn't you ? And even 16 years ago you had loaned 20,000 crores for gambling and not for the expansion of Oberoi Realty. And you lost all that money.")

Tej still looked unaffected.

"Oberoi Industries ke storehouse mein woh ammunitions kisi aur ne nahi aapne rakhwaye the, kyu hai na ?" ("You were the one who had stored those illegal ammunitions in our storehouse 16 years ago, am I right ?") Shivaay gritted. "Jab aap uss don ka loan nahi chuka paye tab uss don ne apko blackmail karke aapko storehouse mein uske illegal ammunitions rakhne ke liye majboor kiya aur aap maan gaye." ("When you couldn't repay the debt, that don forced you to hide his ammunitions in our storehouse and you agreed.")

To summarise it all in a simple way... Tej had developed a strong addiction to gambling a while after Rudy's birth which had led him to pour all his money and assets into gambling. When his assets fell short, Tej loaned 20,000 crore rupees from the don who also happened to be the owner of the casino where Tej used to go for gambling, and lost all the money in one night.

The don started troubling Tej when Tej helplessly revealed that he couldn't repay the debt. One day that don asked Tej to store his ammunitions for a night in Oberoi Industries storehouse cause police was on lookout for those, and in exchange the don was going to wave off half of the loan amount but that very night the don was killed by his rival and Roop thought that Tej had killed him and to top it all off someone leaked the news that Oberoi Industries' storehouse held all the ammunitions and all the problems started after that.

Angry tears clouded Shivaay's vision.

"Mujhe yeh sawal kabse pareshaan kar raha tha ki agar aap log bekasur the toh aap duniya se bhaage kyu...Ab mujhe samjh aaya, aap duniya se bhaage kyu ki aap galat the !" ("It always baffled me as to why you all ran away if you were innocent...Now I know, you ran away from the world cause you were wrong.") Shivaay yelled, unable to control his emotions.

Shivaay felt betrayed, disgusted. All his life he believed that his family was innocent and his family had nothing to do with any illegal work. He thought that Oberois' had been conspired against.

Shivaay had never let anyone point their finger at Oberois and stood up against everyone who so much as thought bad about Oberois but now that he found out the truth, he felt ashamed !

Shivaay never, even in his wildest dreams, had thought that his uncle would be the root cause of all this choas.

Tej and his stupid addiction to gambling had caused all the sufferings !

If Tej would have mend his ways a long time before and if he wouldn't have loaned money to gamble, this all wouldn't have happened. ShivOmRu wouldn't have got separated from their family and wouldn't have to face all the bad things they faced, ShivOmRu could've had a normal life with a normal family.

But what irked Shivaay more was...Tej was still going on the same path !

Tej had deceived Shivaay in the machinery deal to get his hands on money which he used to gamble again in Australia.

"Ab aap chup kyu hai !" ("Why are you quiet now !") Shivaay growled. "Sab aapki wajah se hua, sab apki wajah se hua hai bade papa !" ("It's all your fault, all you fault bade papa !") A few tears made their way out of Shivaay's eyes.

It was now Tej's turn to talk.

"Haan.." ("Yes...") Tej started. "...Sab meine kiya hai, meri wajah se hua hai sab. Meine hi don ke unn illegal ammunitions humare storehouse mein chupaye the, sach hai, toh kya ?" ("...It's all my fault. I had hid those ammunitions in our storehouse, it's true, so what ?")

Shivaay gave Tej an amused look.

"Kya chahte ho tum ? Mein apni galati pr pachtava karu, tumse maafi mangu, duniya ko bata du ki mein hi culprit hu aur jail chala jau, yeh chahte ho tum ?" ("What do you want now ? Shall I regret my past, apologize to you, tell the truth to the world and go to jail, that's what you want ?") Tej asked. "Haan mujhe gambling acchi lagti hai. Addicted hu mein. Kya karu ! Kya karu mujhse nahi raha jata." ("Yes I love gambling. I'm addicted. What can I do ! I cannot stay away without doing it. I'm helpless.")

Shivaay stared at Tej as Tej continued.

"Tumhe kya lagta hai Shivaay, sirf tumhe hi logo ki information nikalwana aata hai ?" ("Whatcha think Shivaay, only you can dig out information ?") Tej gave a wicked smirk. "Mere pass bhi tumhari information hai Shivaay. Exclusive information." ("Even I've your information, Shivaay. Exclusive information.")

Shivaay just clenched his jaws and hoped that Tej wasn't talking about what Shivaay was dreading.

"Aur uss information ke anusar tum, Shivaay Singh Oberoi, drug dealings mein involved the." ("And according to that information you, Shivaay Singh Oberoi, were involved in drug dealings.") Tej faked an astonished look. "Ab socho kya hoga jab yeh news leak hogi toh ?" ("Now think what will happen if this news gets leaked.")

Shivaay's lips parted a bit. He had always strived to keep that under wraps, to hide it all from his brothers.

"Pr mein itna bhi bura insaan nahi hu." ("But I'm not that evil of a person.") Tej walked up to Shivaay and smiled. "In fact, mein bura hu hi nahi." ("In fact, I'm not evil at all.") He chuckled.

Shivaay just stared at the wall behind Tej as he refused to look at his uncle, cause he feared that his eyes might give away his real scared emotions.

"Mere pass tumhare liye ek deal hai." ("I've a deal for you.") Tej smiled. "Tum apne hisse ki saari property, industries aur paise mere naam kar do aur meri aur mere beton ki zindagi se humesha humesha ke liya door chale jao." ("Gimme all your property, money and industries and get out of mine and my sons' lives.")

Shivaay's head snapped at Tej.

"What ?" Shivaay managed to choke out. "Aapne yeh soch bhi kaise liya ki mein aisa kuch karunga ? OmRu meri jaan hai, mein unhe chhod kar kahi nahi jaunga." ("Why did you think that I'll do such a thing ? OmRu are my soul, I won't go away from them, ever.")

"Toh fir socho agar yeh baat unhe pata chali ki unka pyara bhai drug dealings mein involved tha toh kya sochenge woh dono tumhare baare mein ?" ("Then think about what will they think about you when they get to know that their dear brother was once involved in drug dealings.") Tej blackmailed.

Shivaay stayed silent for a moment as he went over Tej's words.

"Woh mere bhai hai aur mein yeh jaanta hu ki meri side sune bager woh mere baare mein koi galat rai nahi banayenge." ("They are my brothers and I know they won't choose sides without hearing me out once.") Shivaay replied firmly. "Woh mere bhai hai, mujhse jyada woh mujhe jaante hai aur koi bhi information humare bich kabhi nahi aa sakti, chahe woh kitni bhi sach ho ya jhoot." ("My brothers know me more than I know myself and any sort of information can never spilt us up, even if it's a true or false information.")

Tej pursued his lips together and nodded before sighing loudly.

"Tumne sahi kaha, tum bhaiyo ka rishta kuch jyada hi majbut hai, woh toh tootne se raha." ("You're right, your bond is inarguably stronger, it won't break.") Tej admitted but then a smirk crossed his face. "Lekin ye toh tumne socha hi nahi ki OmRu ko kitan guilty feel hoga jab unhe yeh pata chalega ki tumne unke liye khud ko drug dealings mein involve kiya tha." ("But don't you think OmRu will feel immensely guilty if they got to know that you did it all for them ?")

Shivaay's head snapped at Tej again. He was confused as to what Tej was intending to say.

"Kya matlab ?" ("What do you mean ?") Shivaay knotted his eyebrows together.

"Matlab yeh ki jab OmRu ko pata chalega ki tumne unki jarurate puri karne ke liye khud illegal kaam karne lage tab unhe kitna guilty feel hoga." ("Means, when OmRu will realise that you did that illegal work just to support the household and raise them, they'll feel overwhelmingly guilty about it.") Tej explained. "Kitna kosenge woh khud ko jab unhe yeh samjh aayega ki unka purshottam bhagwan ram samaan bhai...itna bura kaam unke liye kar raha tha. Bechare sehen nahi kar payenge." ("They'll blame themselves for pushing their ethical, next to God Ram, brother in doing something like that. Poor kids won't be able to digest that.")

"Nahi." ("No.") Shivaay whispered under his breath.

As much as Shivaay hated to admit it, Tej was right.

Shivaay knew his brothers enough to know that OmRu would blame themselves for Shivaay's dirty deeds.

Shivaay didn't wish to make his babies suffer for the decisions he had made in the past. He didn't want them to feel guilty for something they weren't even part of.

"Mujhe nahi lagta ki tum chahoge ki tumhari galtiyon ka prayashchit tumhare bhai kare, kyu ?" ("I don't think you want your brothers to repent for your sins, do you ?") Tej grinned. "Mein itna toh janta hu ki duniya ki kisi bhi daulat se badhakar tumhare liye tumhare bhai hai, toh itna kyu soch rahe ho Shivaay ? De do apni property aur chale jao yahan se. Tumne aj tak bahot kuch kiya hai OmRu ke liye, jo zimmedari tumhari thi bhi nahi usey bhi tumne badi imaandari se nibhaya hai...ab bas. Ab hum aa gaye hai, hum tumhe ab tumhari zimmedario se mukt karte hai. Jao aur apni ek nayi zindagi shuru karo." ("I know your brothers are more dear to you than any amount of wealth in the world, then what are you thinking about ? Gimme your wealth and go away. You've done a lot for OmRu till now, you performed the duties which weren't even yours...but now enough. We're here now, we free you from all the responsibilities and duties. Go and start a new, happy life.")

A few tears left Shivaay's eyes.

Shivaay had got no other choice ! He had to leave if he wanted his brothers to live a peaceful life free of any sort of guilt.

The tightness in his chest was returning and he was able to feel the cold sweat seeping through his shirt. He was feeling lightheaded, everything around him felt surreal but he had to make a choice.

Shivaay was about to open his mouth to agree to Tej's conditions when suddenly the door burst open and in came an angry looking Annika.

"What the hell !?" Annika screamed, her face red and tear stained. "Aap hote kaun hai Shivaay ko apne bhaiyon se dur karne wale ! Arey woh Shivaay ke bhai nahi hai, unke bacche hai, unke babies...Shivaay ne ek baap banke pala hai unhe aur aap unse Shivaay ko alag kar rahe hai ?" ("Who are you to separate Shivaay from his brothers ! They're not Shivaay's brothers, they're his kids, his babies...Shivaay has been a father to them and you want to do him apart from his kids ?")

Tej scoffed as he rolled his eyes away from Annika while Shivaay just stared at her in surprise.

"Mein aisa hargiz nahi hone dungi, mein abhi jaa kar OmRu ko sab sach sach bata dungi..." ("I won't let that happen at any cost, I'm going to tell OmRu all the truth...) Annika said as she wiped her tears. "... Aapke baare mein bhi aur Shivaay ke baare mein bhi." ("... About you as well as about Shivaay.")

With that said, Annika turned on her heels and walked out of the room.

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Hey bubblies !

I know I'm kinda rushing through the story but I need to finish it before my exams next month so....I'm sorry.

I wanted to write further but the chapter has already got like 3400 words long so I just decided to divide the chapter in half.

Anyways...I hope you didn't get confuse about Tej's involvement in the Don's business and I hope it all made sense to you at least half of what made sense to me.

I think I'll have to re-read this book and will have to rewrite some part of it to make it more expressive and understandable once I finish writing it.

Oh and this book will have like more 3-4 chapters before it ends. I want to finish this book before my exams.

Enough of my rants now !

Take care of yourselves and be safe.

Until the next update
Have a safe and great life 😇