The night seemed to be calm enough to create a doubt about the impending danger. Ragini was soundly sleeping in her locked room when she heard someone calling her name. The voice seemed to be very familiar. The voice was of a man, it attracted Ragini to it. Even in her unconsciousness, she slowly got out of the bed and started walking towards the voice. She stopped in front of the window of her room, it was locked.
Ragini didn’t know what she was doing as she was still sleeping. The attraction towards that voice was so powerful that she just wanted to go out and search for this man whose voice was calling her to him. She turned to her left and picked up the candlestick and hit the glass window with it. The glass shattered to pieces making a loud noise but not enough to wake up anyone except Arjun.
Arjun had come to check on Ragini, he does it every night. He was walking towards her room when he heard the noise of something made of glass shattering to pieces. He got worried about Ragini, so he ran the remaining distance to her room and started hitting the door, trying to open the locked door.
Inside, Ragini’s hands got pierced with shreds of glass as she placed them on the now broken window and tried to get out. Outside Arjun was still trying to open the door of Ragini’s room. All these noises were enough to disturb Shekhar and Sharmishta’s sleep and wake them up. Both of them rushed out of the room to Ragini’s. The saw Arjun outside Ragini’s room wanting to enter. Shekhar immediately opened the door and they all walked inside and saw Ragini lying unconscious, close to the window. There were scratches on her arms and legs, her hands were wounded but it was right one which was bleeding, her left one had minor scratches.
Sharmishta took out the first-aid box while Shekhar picked up Ragini and placed her on the bed. Arjun was standing near the bed, crying silently. Sharmishta and Shekhar had tears in their eyes too. The carefully removed the glass shreds and bandaged her wounds. Ragini was still unconscious, unaware of the fact that this night wasn’t just another dark night for her, this night was special because its going to bring the morning of the day which will change her life.
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“Aaahh!” Sanskar yelped as he felt pain in his right hand. He raised his hand to check for any injury. There was none but his hand was still paining as if someone was stabbing his hand.
Sanskar pressed that particular paining spot on his hand to relieve the pain but to his surprise, the pain was gone as suddenly as it came. He massaged his temples, it was not the first time he had felt such kind of pain. A pain without a wound. It had happened with him so many times but still everytime such a thing happens, it shocks him to the core.
It all started the day he turned 18. It’s been 8 years since that day and still the same thing happens. He had consulted to doctors as well, got checked for numerous diseases but all his reports were negative. He was all fine, no disease, no…nothing.
He cursed himself, as if his nightmares weren’t enough, that he had to go through this pain as well. What else was left to happen?
To relieve the tension in his system, Sanskar went to workout.
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Ragini was standing in front of the mirror in the washroom. Her eyes were red and puffy. She raised her right hand to her eye level and opened the bandage. The wound wasn’t bleeding but it was still fresh and needed to be taken care of. Throwing the soiled bandage into the dustbin, Ragini carefully got undressed and laid inside the bath tub, keeping her injured hand outside.
The lukewarm water soothed her tense muscles. Ragini closed her eyes and tried to think about the previous night’s incident. She just couldn’t remember anything even after trying so hard. It was so frustrating that she couldn’t even remember what she did, it was as if a part of her life gets deleted every night, like it vanishes from her memories. Doctors had said that it was common in case of sleepwalkers and this information is what is keeping Ragini sane.
She relaxed and let the lukewarm water soothe her.
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Ragini woke up due to the sound of her cell phone ringing. She hurriedly stepped out of the bathtub, showered quickly and came out of the washroom wearing a robe. Her eyes widened looking at the phone screen, she gulped nervously and answered the call.
“Hel..” She was about to speak but was interrupted by the caller.
“Hello ko maar goli! Get ready and come fast or else Miss Cruella de Vil will fire us!”
“Oh shit! Where are you now Mishka? Can you pick me up?” Ragini asked as she pulled out a dress for her.
“Oh madam! I am standing right outside your house. Come fast!” Mishka, as in Samiksha Naik is Ragini’s friend and colleague. Both of them work as reporters/journalists for a magazine. They are usually late comers in the office but today their problem has been doubled because they couldn’t find a nice story for their column in the weekend issue.
Ragini got dressed in ankle length blue colored denims, paired it with a white colored off shoulder top, wore ankle strap heels. Her hair were still damp, she applied a layer of lip gloss, mascara and a tint of blush. She completed her attire with cute heart shaped studs and a heart shaped pendant in a long chain.
Ragini ran out of her house, ignoring Sharmishta’s call for breakfast. Mishka , as she had said was standing outside waiting for Ragini. Ragini sat on the scotty as Mishka started it, together they drove towards their office.
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Dressed in khaki colored trousers, a white button up shirt and a navy blue blazer over it and well polished shoes, Sanskar was pinning the brooch at the lapel of his blazer when someone knocked at the door of his room.
“You ready bro?” It was Laksh with an apple in his hand. Sanskar replied in monosyllable, “Almost” and started combing his hair.
“Adi called.” Laksh took a bite of the apple. “That Sareen’s deal of yours….they agreed to your condition, the deal is sealed.”
Sanskar smiled at his younger brother. While he was expanding his family business group [In this FF Sanskar is the richest business man, think him to be a man of status, money and power equal to Mukesh Ambani 😉 ] but Laksh had established his own business. He wanted to do something of his own.
Maheshwari Group Of Industries was started by Sanskar’s great grandfather, it flourished under the leadership of his grandfather and was smoothly run by his father and his uncle.
When Sanskar was 14 and Laksh 12, their parents died in a plane crash and both the brothers were left on their own with a multi-billions empire to look after. The death of his family had matured Sanskar who religiously completed his studies and participated in the family business. He never got that time to enjoy his life but he made sure that his younger brother lived his life on his terms. He never pressurized Laksh into doing something.
Laksh studied to be a fashion designer and in present “Kaya” is a well renowned brand in fashion designing industry.
Both the brothers talked for a while before leaving for their respective destinations. Laksh to his office and Sanskar, well he was going Bombay Business and Commerce Institute for a special lecture on self employment before going to his office.
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“You know I think I should resign.” said Anhaita Basu,aka Miss Cruella de Vil.
Mishka and Ragini were standing in front of her, with their eyes down, their gaze on te floor. “But why Ma’am?” Mishka asked.
Anhaita smiled and replied, “For hiring you two!” she exclaimed loudly.
“Just because of you two, I have nothing to fill up these two important pages in this weekend edition. If you cant do it then why take the responsibility?” Anhaita yelled.
“I am sorry Ma’am. Actually we tried hard but there was nothing..” Anhaita interrupted Ragini and said, “Don’t give me that crap Ragini!”
“Please Ma’am just one chance!” requested Mishka.
“Get me Laksh Maheshwari’s interview then.” Anhaita spoke calmly as she sat back on her chair.
“Laksh who?” Ragini murmured but the next instant winced in pain as Mishka had intentionally stepped on her foot.
“Laksh Maheshwari, the famous fashion designer and brother of the richest man of the country, Sanskar Maheshwari.” told Mishka and Anhaita nodded in positive but Ragini..she was lost.
The name “Sanskar” it stroke a chord, the moment she heard that name, something snapped open inside Ragini. She felt a calmness take over her earlier nervousness. It felt as if she was somehow connected to this name. Sanskar.
Ragini came into senses when Mishka tugged at her hand, making her wince again. It was her injured hand after all. Ragini felt wetness seep into the bandage that she had tied in an untidy way as she was late for office. She raised her hand and saw that the white bandage was turning red fastly.
“Oh fish! Shit! I am sorry yaar Ragini, I forgot about your wound..”
“Its okay Mishka, you didn’t do it intentionally, so there is no need to say sorry.” Ragini smiled, untying the knot of her bandage.
“Stop! Lets go to doctor first, we will get your wound dressed and after that we’ll try to contact Mr. Fashion Designer, okay?!”
“Achha theek hai. Come lets go now.”
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“Sumit? What happened? Why did you stop the car?” Sanskar asked his driver Sumit.
“Sir actually there’s huge crowd in front of us.”
“Dekhkar toh aao, as to what has happened and ask them to move away, they are blocking the road.”
Sumit came out of the car and went towards the crowd, he saw a teenage boy lying in pool of blood. Sumit rushed to Sanskar and told him about the situation.
Sanskar got angry, “Yeh log bhi na! They are standing there, waiting for the boy to die?!” he came out of the car and order Sumit, “Pick him up, we are going to take him to hospital. Do it fast damnit!” Sumit rushed and picked the wounded boy and placed him at the backseat of the car while Sanskar sat on the front seat as Sumit drove the car.
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Fate has played its cards right. It was all fate’s doing that Ragini and Sanskar were in the same hospital. Ragini was their for her hand wound and Sanskar had brought that accident victim.
Sanskar was completing the formalities at the reception area when Ragini came to pay the bill and stood beside him. Both of them were standing close to each other yet they were so far.
The receptionist gave Ragini a paper to sign. Sanskar had just finished up filing the form. When Ragini asked for a pen, Sanskar handed her the one he was using before walking away. He was in hurry as he had a lecture to give. But Ragini was rooted to the spot. Something something had just happened.
When Sanskar handed her the pen, his hand touched hers and Ragini felt an electric shiver run through her body. She felt as if she just gad been shocked. A perplexed Ragini kept looking at her hand, she could still feel some sparks.
“What happened?” Mishka asked.
“Current laga..” Ragini trailed off.
“What?” Mishka whisper yelled. But Ragini ran from there in search if the man whose touch gave her that electrifying experience. Mishka ran after her. Ragini looked for him for few minutes but couldn’t find him because Sanskar had already left.
Finding no one, Ragini also left the hospital with Mishka. Both Sanskar and Ragini continued doing their normal tasks of their normal life, totally unaware of what destiny has in store for them.
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The first episode is done! Hope you all enjoyed reading it. Eagerly waiting for your feedback.
Thank you.