Confusions everywhere

Riya was eagerly waiting for her dad to arrive. Sam left awhile ago and since then Riya had been preparing for all the possible things she could ask him. 

She would get all questions answered today, and can take a final decision about the way forward. 

But, her father took his own sweet time to reach home.

She was waiting in the living room with legs crossed across each other, reading the news about the merger.

The merged entity was called RM (Riya's Marble Enterprises). This was stupid. If Dhruv hated her so much to go to the length of destroying her career, and taking away her company which she gave sweat and blood for, then why retain her name? For luck? For branding? But, that didn't make sense. He can brand the new company with any name he wanted, it didn't need to have Riya's. 

Maybe he wanted to show her, that he had finally become the CEO of her company? Or to remind her, how he fooled her into believing him? These stupid thoughts were only giving her a migraine. So, she decided to sit and relax until her dad came. He would anyways tell her whatever is necessary to know. 

Riya's father finally entered the house after an hour, tired and famished.

But, he was happy to find Riya in the living room. As soon as he saw his daughter healthy, he was ecstatic and all the tiredness of the day vanished.

"You haven't slept?", he asked affectionately.

"No. You know me, dad. How can I sleep?", she replied as a matter of fact. 

He nodded and planted himself on the couch near her. He was more confident now that she must have spoken with Dhruv and got to know everything.

"Hmm.... I know you want to know everything. I will tell you in detail. Ask me what you want to know first", he asked cheerfully.

Riya had everything sorted and she also knew this would be her father's first question. Preparation meant everything for her, and this is the right time to exhibit it. 

She asked him, "You know what exactly happened and you also know who did it. I want to know where I stand right now in my career, dad. No beating around the bush. Tell me what career options I can explore next. Which industry can I try? Or is something like that even possible for me?"

He looked at his daughter strangely.

There he was in the office, fighting for Riya's reinstation with every investor and why was she considering a career change? Didn't she meet Dhruv?

He was surprised and couldn't quite understand what was going on.

"I think you're unaware of it, but I'm trying for your reinstation in the office and I hope in few weeks time, we might succeed", he replied.

"What?"

Nothing made sense to Riya. What is he talking about? Riya's Choice was long gone from her family, right? The investors were partly right to fire her because, she should've treated haphephobia sooner and gotten the damn No objection certificate from the doctor. Plus, currently everything that was once Riya's Choice belonged to Dhruv, the master manipulator of all. And how was it even remotely possible for her father to get her job back? Was he kidding? Maybe he was still living in a dream world. 

They both started at each other in silence. 

"Riya, didn't you want to come back to office? Am I missing something here? I thought you'll want to fight back for your position too", her father said concerned. 

She still didn't get it. 

"How can I come back with Dhruv on the board? Are you joking me, dad?", she asked.

"What? I don't understand. First of all, It's a good thing Dhruv is on the board right now. He's supporting your cause everyday to the investors and explaining everyone why we need to rehire you to smoothly run RM", he explained calmly to his daughter. 

Riya understood that there was a huge misunderstanding.

Either her father was still thinking Dhruv is a good guy or maybe they need to start from the 'who did it' part to be on the same page. 

"Dad, tell me from the top. Who was the anonymous source? And why do you think Dhruv is currently helping me re attain my job? You remember our last conversation right?", Riya asked. She was really curious now. 

"I know you and Dhruv had some misunderstanding previously. But he asked me for a day's time to clear that up with you. That's why I decided to have this conversation with you today, rather than yesterday. I thought he already explained it to you. Anyways, your medical report was leaked by your psychiatrist. A crazy reporter whom you had turned down once had been following you for weeks to dig some dirt on you..... You know how these sneaky bastards are, right? And, finally when you went to meet your psychiatrist, he had followed you there. He threatened her to reveal what you were going through, and she did it due to the pressure. And he went to the media with it, creating all sorts of trouble for us. We have already filed a restraining order against him, and your psychiatrist's license has been revoked.", he explained cautiously and showed the reporter's picture to Riya. Riya looked at it carefully and immediately remembered the guy's face. 

Wow! That was a whole new story!

Her mind couldn't process everything at once. Why didn't she hear it before? What was wrong with everyone? 

She was still blinking at him without any reply. Riya continued staring questioningly.

"Riya?"

"....."

"Riya?"

"Yeah"

"What are you thinking, so deeply?", her father asked. 

"Dad, I'm so confused right now! What you said now, is it the actual truth?", she asked.

"Yes. And I thought you knew it already. Dhruv promised me that he would explain you everything today. We must be so thankful that Dhruv had someone on the inside and he finished the acquisition so fast in order to reinstate you sooner. Currently, he's the one convincing the board why you need to come back, Riya", he said. 

Riya was once again quiet, processing it.

If her dad was telling the truth, then why didn't Dhruv come to her with it first? Or is it possible that he's manipulating her father into believing some bullshit ? But why? What's his motive? 

She now had more questions than before. 

When she left Dhruv, she asked him if he was serious and he said yes. Which meant he was telling the truth. And, it made all sense to Riya. She had been trying to wrap her mind around it for the last few days. What the fuck was happening?

But, the problem was, currently whatever her father said also made sense. Because she vividly remembered that reporter. He acted sleazy when he asked Riya for an interview, so she turned him down immediately. And later, he had been behind her so many times for the same but she never agreed to it. It all made sense, but then according to her father, Dhruv should've cleared everything with her, right? Why didn't he? Now, whom to believe? Or whom to blame?

She wanted to call Dhruv, but refrained from it, in case he was just playing with her father too.

"If you don't believe me, ask Kamu. Dhruv and I had been fighting day and night with the board for your reappointment, Riya. It's the truth! And today, we would've almost won but they wanted one more day to ponder upon the idea of you coming back. If not today, then tomorrow's board meeting. But, we're sure it'll happen. They're slowly warming up to Dhruv!", her father said proudly. 

This was too crazy for her to handle. 

"I need to talk with Dhruv", she hurriedly said and left the house.