E2 - Scarred

 

Masked But Scarred

Sometimes even when our scars go away, we may end up wearing a mask.

Train.

The demise of Mr. Jade was a painful event for everyone who knew the man. He was really a rear gem as his name implied. The implication of his death was that the family business now rested in the capable hands of his son Seth.

He had flown over from the States to be in charge. Succeeding the burial were long meetings with his father’s lawyers concerning numerous assets that he had. His weeks were characterized by board meetings that left him exhausted by the end of the day.

His mother never remained herself after the death of his father. She had loved him dearly and getting used to waking up alone in the morning became burdensome for her. This was the reason why he moved into their house regardless of the fact that he had his own apartment in Mumbai.

His initial plan was to get everything started here and make everyone get accustomed to the fact that his father was gone before he handed over the management of their Mumbai branch to his mother. He didn’t want her to know because she was still grieving and she would strongly disagree regarding his plan.

He had dreaded the stables, for there his Pragya had given him herself and he had foolishly made a promise he never kept. He walked over to his father’s grave which was next to the one they had built for Pragya and her family. He laid flowers on their graves and stayed there silently for a while. As he walked back to the mansion he decided that he would have to deal with his demons. At least he owed his mother that.

There was a party hosted to commemorate the engagement of Seth Jade and Francesca Wilde. His mother had talked him into marrying the heiress, she claimed it would be good for the company. He didn’t like her one bit but anyway he wasn’t bound to marry for love. If he was to get married to Francesca because of his duties to the company and his mother, then so be it.

The party was like no other. They had people from all spheres of life but the larger population consisted of CEOs, managers, and owners of agro-based companies and there was no greater way of forming alliances than hosting parties.

He was talking to Mr. Stephan when something caught his attention. There was a beautiful lady just across the room. He had thought himself incapable of love but here he was, love, struck. What was this feeling? He hadn’t felt like this since… he dared not mention her name.

“Excuse me, I will be right back.” He said to his companion.

As he came to a stop where she was, he took her hands and pressed a kiss on it.

“As it is your engagement, don’t you think it, not proper to kiss another lady’s hands asides your fiancée’s?”

” I am sure she wouldn’t mind. And pray to tell what is the name of this lovely woman of which I am most fortunate to meet?”

“Nara, Nara Amari.”

“Ah, I see. Doesn’t Nara mean ‘flower from heaven’ in Japanese?”

“Yes, it is.”

“So are you Japanese? You don’t seem to speak your English with an accent.”

“Well, I am Japanese but I pretty much grew up in the States.”

“I see. I got you a present for your engagement.”

He was surprised to see a woolen sweater knitted with his initials on. “How did you know I wanted this for my engagement,” he said amused.

“Lucky guess.”

Seth had soon forgotten his Japanese love from the party until the day his company was meant to give a presentation to an agro-based company that ruled the agro-based world in all of Asia. This was a big step for the company and he sorted out that it would be best if he did the presentations by himself lest things go awry.

They were seated in the boardroom where Nara walked in. The anchor for the meeting announced;

“Miss. Nara Amari, please meet Mr. Seth Jade, CEO of Jade’s Empire, He is here to give his presentations to see if his company can be fitted into the next project Amari’s Corp is going to embark on.“

As they shook hands, Seth’s eyes popped open in recognition and disbelief. Nara was the CEO of Amari’s Corp, please shoot me, he thought.” You may proceed,” she said.

After the presentations, they went to the café lounge in the office building to have some coffee together. Seth was more than surprised to find out that Nara was the Nara. They engaged in a conversation, she asked about his fiancée and he in return asked about work.

Of course, Amari’s Corp gave the project to Jade’s empire. It was a project that was meant to generate agro-based fertilizers that will help increase the growth and production of crops in Asia. Seth had offered to take Nara out for dinner in order to celebrate the collaboration but she requested to have dinner at his family home.

Dinner at Seth’s home was the best. Nara was introduced to Aliyah and she had taken Nara to heart dearly. She all but worshipped the young girl. Indeed, it was her class and status that drew the older woman closer. After dinner, Jade and Nara took a stroll around the mansion and they came across the gravesite.

“Who is Pee?” She asked. He had this distant look in his eyes as he answered. He said that she was his first love who died in a fire accident.

Sooner than later, Aliyah instigated the annulment of Seth’s engagement to Francesca and his re-engagement to Nara. The whole thing was Francesca’s fault anyway. There was a viral video of a sex leak. The female happened to be Francesca and the male, her brother. Argh! If it had been someone else Aliyah may have reconsidered but she could not soil her family name by having a woman who commits incest to be her daughter-in-law.

Their engagement was a bigger one altogether and the wedding was even much bigger. Nara decided that they should stay with his mother rather than move out, which they did. Everything was going on fine until darkness began to hover around their household.

Seth began to have bad days at work and his company was almost filing for bankruptcy. His wife has refused to consummate their marriage as she always had a reason any time he wanted to make love to her. His mother was always nagging about one thing or the other.

Everything had changed, especially Nara. She changed from being a flower from Heaven into being a flower from hell. In these desperate times when he needed her companionship the most, she was far away.

On the day he eventually walked home after selling his shares in the company and resigned as CEO, he met the most horrible sight. He saw his mother trying to strangle his wife. He had to use his last will power to separate them. His mother kept yelling, ghost, ghost, ghost! He believed she had totally lost it and he agreed with his wife when she told him that they had to lock up his mother in her room because she was going nuts.

She only grew worse. Aliyah kept babbling about things and making illogical statements and when they thought they had had enough, someone filed a case against his mother for arson and first-degree murder. Who the hell was that?

When Seth turned the T.V on, he swore that he had seen the ghost. The news headlines read, “Jade’s empire is now owned by Pragya Samrat. He must be imagining things because HIS Pragya Samrat was dead. The case filed against his mother was also filed in the same name. It was the first time he had drank in years and he turned to his wife for solace. It was the first time they made love and he kept whispering, “Pee I promise I will return to you no matter how long.”

In two weeks’ time, they had gone to court. They were all trying to settle down when his wife came in. He had saved her a seat but she walked directly to the seat of the plaintiff. The color drained from his face. He must have been mute and deaf during the whole court session.

When he went back home, he wasn’t surprised to see the house empty, it was then it all came back to him, last night when they had sex, he must have sworn that he saw Seth tattooed on his wife’s pelvis but he was too drunk. He started to recall the gift for his engagement, how she knew, having her own agro-based company, wanting to stay with his mother. Pragya!!! She had played him, it was obvious, slowly his anger began to rise. It was clearly possible that she had plastic surgery.

His mother had been charged guilty of all crimes and she personally gave the evidence for her downfall ( she did so to save her son and also get the ownership of Jade’s empire).

He was bitter and disappointed, hurt, useless. A woman he called mother and a woman he had loved betrayed him and did things which he never knew could be possible. His mother killed all those people.

With his mother behind bars, he decided it was time he left for the States and left everything behind. As he rolled his luggage down the stairs, he met the ghost herself.

“Well, if it isn’t Nara or should I say Pragya, have you come to gloat? You should be happy I didn’t put you behind bars because you are a murderer as much as your mother is. Besides I am here to hand you papers for our divorce and ownership of Jade’s Empire.”

“What do you mean, I would not let you call me a murderer.”

“Of course you are, you and your mother planned the whole thing, you asked her to get rid of the pregnancy.”

“Pee I won’t ever do that, I didn’t, I swear.”

“Shut up!”

“Pee?”

“Don’t come any closer.”

“Pee I wanted that baby as much as you did, I was only scared that I was going to be a father and I knew that it would be harder for you.”

“You never returned to me.”

“Yes, and I am sorry, it was the biggest mistake I made.”

How could you ever live past this? Years that were stolen from them. Actions of others destroying a love so beautiful. His mother killed her family. She took his company from him and put his mother behind bars. Yet, a love so true can unmask our true selves.

Seth went back abroad and after a year he rebuilt his father’s company. After everything, Pragya realized that her only driving force for the past years had been vengeance and now that she had it she felt hollow.

Two years apart gave them enough time to ponder on what they really wanted and in the end he fulfilled his promise by returning to her.

When we unveil our masks, we find out that our scars are just marks and they have no power to bar our souls.

Train.

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