For those of you who missed the previous update, here is the link :
https://www.tellyupdates.com/in-the-name-of-love-chapter-22/
@Aisha08 Thank you dear
@Annoyinguser Thank you. Your theory could be right.
@Anjali Thank you!
@Kavya45 Thank you dear
@Jazvine Kaur Aww thank you so much for all the compliments (^hearts^). They really mean a lot to me. Lots of love to you too, and take care!
@Jayanthi Thanks a lot for the kind words. Really glad to see you invested in the story.
@Rukaiya Thanks a lot
@Ravneet Thank you dear
@RiansHLoveR Thanks a lot. Hehe, were you being sarcastic though?
@D It’s already posted. I’ll try to post the next chapter too soon.
@Deepa Thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed it. Ishaan is not back yet, but he’ll be returning in today’s chapter. Hope that clears it up.
@Niyati12 Thanks a lot
@Manya Haha! I had fun while writing them out too! Glad you felt the same.
@Subu23 Thanks a lot. Don’t we all like a bolder Riddhima?
@1234Aayu Thank you dear
@AarushiSoni Thanks a lot.
@Riaa Hey thank you so much. Riddhima is finding new ways to irritate Vansh and the family in order to vent out her frustration.
Vansh definitely feels for her, but he is too emotionally challenged to express them out.
@Priyanshi_13 Thanks a lot
@Sweety21 Thank you dear
@Parita Thanks a lot. Glad you liked it.
@Priyanka Thakur Thank you so much. Glad you caught up with the previous one too. And don’t be sorry dear.
@Pomu Thank you so much. Yes, your theory could be right…
@Akshitha Thanks a lot dear. Yes, I’ll try to include more of their scenes from hereon.
@Jayashree Thank you dear
@Priyadharshini Thanks a lot
@Shivangi Thank you so much. It’s okay, we can talk about anything you like, I don’t have any problem dear.
@Neetu Thank you dear
@Qt Thanks a lot for the compliment. Really appreciate it.
×××××
It was still pouring outside heavily. But thankfully, the cave where Vansh and Riddhima had taken shelter in, was comparatively drier.
Riddhima anxiously searched herself. “Shoot! My phone fell into the sea!”
“Relax, I’ll get you a new one,” remarked Vansh.
“Did you call Angre up and inform him about our situation?” she asked.
“I told you that this is an uninhabited island, so obviously, we don’t have any network here.”
“Shoot again! That means we won’t be able to contact anyone! What if we remain stuck here for our whole lives?!”
Vansh was getting highly irritated by her non stop banter.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure that Angre will figure out everything, and will come to rescue us.”
Looking at Riddhima’s confused face, he said, “Listen, I’ve had enough of your never-ending questions! So please, will you be kind enough to keep your mouth shut for sometime?”
Riddhima thought to herself, “If there is no way by which we can contact Angre, then how on earth will he get to know that we are stranded on this island? Is he some kind of magician or astrologer? Strange.
However, if I try to ask him again, then Vansh would start scolding me. And I’m already so tired that I cannot waste my energy on fighting with him.”
The sky began to grow darker as more grey clouds started to form. Even though it was dark in the cave too, some amount of dim light coming through the crevices of the rocks, made it possible for them to see around.
Just then, Riddhima saw something crawling towards Vansh, who had his eyes tightly shut. When she squinted her eyes to see what it was, it turned out to be a scorpion!
“Vansh!” She screamed and jumped upon him to move him away from the deadly creature. But in the process, her lips met with Vansh’s, which led to a brief and accidental kiss between them.
Vansh could not believe what was happening. One moment, he was trying really hard to nap, and the next moment, he finds the girl whom he secretly adores, right on top of him with her lips pressed against his.
Riddhima’s eyes opened up wide in shock. She quickly pulled herself away from him, and looked clearly flustered.
“What were you doing?” asked Vansh, looking equally embarrassed.
Riddhima saw the scorpion scurrying away. Perhaps, the scorpion too felt embarrassed by whatever it saw.
“You should thank me for saving you from the deadly bite of a scorpion. With no quick medical help whatsoever, you could have died,” said Riddhima.
“Also, I’m really sorry for whatever happened. I got so panicked that I….it was purely unintentional.”
Vansh fumbled with his words. “Mmm…I think we better light up a fire or something. That would keep all the ‘creatures’ away.”
Wait what? Was he indirectly calling her a ‘creature’ too? Riddhima got angry, but stayed quiet.
“You stay here, while I go outside to collect some dry wood for the fire,” said Vansh.
After he left, Riddhima started her self-rebuking session.
“What the hell did I do? I KISSED him for crying out loud! Oh my God, why do all these embarrassing incidents happen to me only?”
When Vansh returned with the dry logs, Riddhima tried her best to avoid even looking at him.
But she was surprised about how Vansh knew where to get the dry wood from.
Vansh took out his lighter to start up the fire.
Riddhima saw that and said quietly, “Smoking is injurious to health.”
Vansh said, “Even if it is, it would be my health that would get affected. So why do you care for me?”
He now looked at her pointedly.
“It’s not as if you love me or something.”
Riddhima raised her eyes up at him. She saw something amiss in his eyes. But what was that?
“I care about your health because you see, I’m a doctor. It’s my social responsibilty.”
Vansh stayed silent, and soon fell off to sleep. Riddhima was feeling sleepy too, but she was afraid to even shut her eyes.
“What if Vansh misunderstands this ‘accidental’ kiss, and decides to get closer to me when I fall asleep?” she thought in despair.
She stared at the deeply asleep face in front of her.
“He actually looks cute and innocent while sleeping,” she thought, smiling to herself. “Such a stark contrast to how he is when he is wide awake.”
______________________________________
It had been more than two hours since they had been stranded on the island. It wasn’t raining anymore. However, Vansh was still fast asleep.
“Looks like he hasn’t slept for centuries,” Riddhima giggled softly to herself. “I’m getting bored simply sitting here. Now that the weather is much better, let me take a stroll outside.”
Leaving Vansh behind, she ventured out of the cave. She saw that the island was covered with huge trees and tall grass. With the sun no longer hidden by the clouds, the birds were back to their chirping.
Riddhima kept on walking further, enjoying the serene atmosphere.
All of a sudden, she felt someone pull her arm harshly from behind.
“Are you out of your mind? What on earth are you doing here all by yourself?” Vansh asked angrily.
Riddhima tried to explain, “I was getting bored, so I decided to explore the island a little bit….”
“Is this your Robinson Crusoe’s island that you want to explore?” Vansh continued to scold her. “Do you’ve any idea that there could be so many dangerous animals out there ready to pounce on you?”
“I believe the most dangerous animal is human itself,” remarked Riddhima.
“Exactly!” Vansh reiterated. “Even though this island is uninhabited, we’ve no idea who actually lives here. Who knows, there might be any savages here?”
He continued, “Anyways, Angre has come to take us back. He’s waiting for us at the shore. Let’s go!”
Saying this, he pulled Riddhima behind him. As she was being taken away, she turned her head behind and what she saw, took her by surprise.
There was someone’s shoe-print. It’s size did not match that with Vansh’s large foot and nor did it match with Riddhima’s tiny foot. That meant that the footprint belonged to some other person.
And it couldn’t possibly belong to any savage, as Vansh had suggested, because savages didn’t wear shoes.
Then who was the other person on the island besides Vansh and Riddhima? Also, the way Vansh had acted clearly showed that he knew much more about this place. What was he hiding?
______________________________________
Vansh furiously ordered Angre. “I want him to be fired immediately. And make sure, that moron doesn’t get any job anywhere.
He told us that sea would be calm today, but instead we got caught in such a huge storm! Thank God, Riddhima knew how to swim, or else she wouldn’t have been able to survive.
Because of his foolishness and out of no choice, I had to take Riddhima to that island. Do you know how difficult it was for me to evade her questions?
Gratefully, she didn’t find anything, that she shouldn’t have found. Or else things could have taken for a worse turn….”
Angre nodded. “Boss, your wish is my command. Also, we must definitely be thankful that Riddhima didn’t get to know the truth about the island.
But there is something else too, that I need to talk to you about.”
Vansh looked at him questioningly.
“Boss, remember, we had heard of a new company being launched in the shipping industry, probably one month ago? Apparently, that company is pulling most of our investors towards itself.”
“What? But how is that possible? We have always kept all the information about our investors hidden from everyone. Then how did this company get this information from, and why is it targeting our company’s investors only? I think, someone is definitely passing on all our secrets to the our new rivals. Do you know who is heading that company?” said Vansh.
“No, Boss. Apparently, we’ve got no information about who the owner of that new company could be. They’re keeping it as a big secret,” said Angre. “But Boss, there is another problem too. After rescuing you and Riddhima from the island, I went back to the office, and I found that some of our highly confidential papers are missing.”
Vansh was already boiling with rage, and this piece of news was too much for him to handle. He held Angre’s collar.
“How could you let this happen! We will be finished, our entire business will be finished!”
“I’m really sorry Boss,” Angre hung his head down in shame. “I tried to check the security cameras, but couldn’t catch anything.”
Vansh continued to berate him. “Angre, you are becoming really careless nowadays. You left the Private Office unlocked and even showed Riddhima the wrong way. She was almost about to enter the Private Office. Thank goodness, I caught her in time.”
Angre interrupted, “Boss, I did not leave the Private Office unlocked. I think someone must have broken into it. Also, I very well remember telling Riddhima that she is supposed to take left to enter the lounge. I really don’t know why she went the opposite way instead.”
Vansh became surprised on hearing this. “Then why did Riddhima lie to me about this? She was trying to enter the Private Office in spite of the ‘NO ENTRY’ sign. On the island too, she was asking me so many questions. It can’t be a mere coincidence that our confidential papers got stolen the same day that Riddhima visited my office. Is she by any chance involved in all this?”
______________________________________
“Wow! How romantic that you and Bhai got stranded together on a faraway, lonely island!” said Sia dreamily.
Riddhima threw a pillow at her. “Shut up! There was nothing romantic at all over there.”
As she said this, she suddenly remembered the kiss. She started blushing.
“Come on, don’t be shy. Something must have definitely happened between the both of you. Please tell me, don’t be such a spoilsport!” pleaded Sia.
“That’s why I tell you to stop reading those cheesy romance novels of yours. They are literally brainwashing you!” Riddhima started getting defensive. “And have you seen your brother? Can you ever imagine him and romance together? He’s the most die-hard unromantic man I’ve ever seen!”
“And what about you? Are you a romantic or not?” Sia asked instead.
Riddhima paused before saying, “I don’t know about that. But let me tell you one thing, I’ve no interest in romancing your brother.”
Sia giggled. “You actually have a very big misunderstanding regarding Bhai. He only wears this tough personality and care-a-damn attitude on the outside, but he is a true blue romantic at heart! You have no idea the things that he used to do for….”
Sia stopped abruptly realising that she had said more than what was needed in her excitement.
“What are you talking about?” asked Riddhima curiously.
“Oh nothing, nothing! Listen, I’ve to take Snowy for his evening walk, or else he’ll keep pestering me the whole night. Bye bye.”
After Sia left, Riddhima grew suspicious. “What is it that Sia is hiding from me? Did Vansh have someone in his life before me? If yes, why is Sia acting so weird about it?
______________________________________
Riddhima was sleeping on her bed, when she suddenly felt someone caress her face with a finger, causing her skin to tickle.
She opened her eyes and was shocked to see that it was none other than Vansh himself!
She sat up with a jerk and straightened her dress out. “What are you doing here in my bedroom so late in the night?” she asked half angry, half nervous.
Vansh smirked at her. “Come on sweetheart! I’m your fiance now. We got engaged two days back, remember?”
“Exactly, we got engaged, not married! So keep your distance from me,” she retorted.
“But yesterday, there wasn’t any distance between us, when we KISSED….Remember?”
“Look, it was just an accidental kiss, okay?” Riddhima tried to reason out.
Vansh inched closer to her. “So let’s make this ‘accidental’ kiss into an ‘actual’ kiss. What say?”
Riddhima tried to move backwards, but Vansh swiftly trapped her in his arms. As he brought his lips closer to hers, she closed her eyes in anticipation……
Riddhima woke up with a start. She looked all around her. She was in her bedroom alright, but there was no Vansh. All that had been nothing but a dream.
She couldn’t believe that she imagined all of that. That she kissed him again in her dreams. She felt embarrassed with herself.
“What is happening to me? How can I even dream about something like that….Yikes!” she scolded herself. “Riddhima, whatever happened yesterday, was just a mistake. It was just a kiss, why am I making such a big deal out of it?”
“But why shouldn’t I make a big deal out of it? It was my first kiss, for heaven’s sake. I had my first kiss with that man, whom I dislike a lot. I don’t feel for him, and neither does he,” said Riddhima. “Oh God! What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I remove that memory from my head?”
Just then, she heard a knock. It was Nandu. “Riddhima Aunty, are you okay? I heard you screaming from outside.”
“Uhm yeah, I’m fine…I think so,” replied Riddhima.
Nandu brought out a rusted photo album with her. “Aunty, I have a school project where I have to make a collage of the childhood pictures of all the family members. Will you please help me in cutting them out?”
“Of course, I will,” said Riddhima pulling Nandu’s cheeks. “But where did you get this album from?”
“From the backyard,” she replied innocently.
“Backyard!” exclaimed Riddhima. “But isn’t it forbidden for anyone to enter the backyard?”
Nandu put a finger to her lips. “Yes, but please don’t tell anyone, or else I will get a lot of scolding.”
“Don’t worry, it’s our top secret,” whispered Riddhima.
“Top secret,” nodded Nandu.
Riddhima took the album in her hands, and started flipping through the photos. She came across a photo of a young boy, perhaps around the age of ten-eleven.
“Who is this?” she asked.
“I think that’s Papa,” said Nandu.
At this Riddhima started laughing. “I don’t think that’s your Papa. Look at the photo, the boy is smiling so widely. And your Papa, doesn’t even know the ‘S’ of smile.”
Nandu too joined her in the laughter. “Then it must be Aryan Chachu, right?”
Riddhima flipped through more pictures, when towards the end, she found some strange-looking pictures. These photos had a younger looking Vansh, maybe in his early twenties, along with a young woman, standing right beside him. But she couldn’t see who the woman was clearly, because in every picture, her face had been crossed out with a red marker.
“That’s really strange. Nandu, do you know who this woman is?” asked Riddhima.
“No, I don’t know her,” replied Nandu.
Riddhima thought, “Why would anyone cross out someone’s face in the photo like that? And even though, I can’t see this woman’s face clearly, why do I feel that I have seen her before? Why?”
Suddenly, she heard a commotion downstairs. She took Nandu along with her to the living room to see what the matter was all about. Unknowingly, she also carried the photo with the red cross-mark in her hands.
Her happiness knew no bounds, when she saw her brother in front of her.
“Ishaan! When did you return? You said that you’ll be coming in the evening.” Riddhima excitedly tried to hug him, but he pushed her away.
“I thought that I would surprise you by coming early, but instead I myself received such a big surprise, sorry shock,” said Ishaan sadly. “You got engaged to Mr. Raisinghania in my absence? Why did you do this? And you didn’t even care to inform me even once?”
Riddhima found Aryan smirking in a corner, and she realised that it must be him only who disclosed all about this to Ishaan.
Riddhima said, “Ishaan, I can explain….”
“You know what, I don’t want to listen to any of your explanations!” cried Ishaan. “I was so happy to win this national-level match, and I was so excited to share my happiness with you. But now, my happiness has turned into disappointment and resentment!”
Saying this, Ishaan ran upstairs to the bedroom. Riddhima tried to follow him behind, when she heard Vansh’s growl through the doorway.
“Who dared to go into the backyard?”
Everybody looked on in surprise. Nandu hid herself behind Riddhima, and started trembling in fright.
Anupriya said, “Why would anybody do that?”
“Do you think I’m just bluffing? I saw the backyard completely scattered, and I also cannot find some of the pictures that had been there,” said Vansh angrily.
“Vansh, who would dare to go against your rule in this house?” asked Gayatri.
“Riddhima!” said Ishani. “She is the only one in this house, who openly challenges the rules and regulations of this house. She has the habit of going into forbidden places, doing forbidden things.”
Vansh turned towards Riddhima. His eyes were burning with fury. Even though she had seen his anger many times before, but this looked completely new and dangerous to her.
“Did you go to the backyard?” Vansh asked in his deep and intimidating voice.
“No, I did not,” she replied. Just then, she realised that she still had that crossed out photo in her hand. She tried to hide it behind her back, but Vansh’s sharp eyes had already caught that.
“Show me what you are hiding!” he ordered.
“Nothing,” she tried to say.
But it was too late. He had already snatched the photo and even seen it.
“If you did not go to the backyard, then what is this photo doing with you?” shouted Vansh. “Do you think I’m foolish? Now why are you standing dumb-struck? Answer me, God damn it!”
Riddhima realised that in order to save Nandu from Vansh’s wrath, she would have to take the blame on her head.
“Yes, I went to the backyard. So what?” she said trying to sound brave. “It’s not as if I murdered or kidnapped anyone…”
“Shut your mouth up!” screamed Vansh. “How dare you! What did you think, that just by getting engaged to me, you’ll get the free will to do whatever you want? Now you see, what I will do with you. You won’t be served food for a whole day!”
Everybody gasped. Gayatri tried to intervene but Vansh shushed her up.
“Stop taking her side every God damn time! I have forgiven enough of her mistakes, but not anymore. You won’t be getting any breakfast, lunch or even dinner. And if I find anyone disobey me, Riddhima’s punishment of not eating will be increased to two or even three days,” warned Vansh.
Nandu started crying. She didn’t want her dearest Riddhima Aunty to suffer because of her mistake. She tried to say something, but Riddhima stopped her.
“Fine, Vansh. I’m ready for the punishment,” said Riddhima defiantly. “What else can you do other than this? You only know to punish others, but remember when you’re pointing one finger at someone, there are three other fingers pointing at you. If someone ever decided to punish YOU for your mistakes, then even an entire lifetime would not be enough.”
________________________________________________________________________________
It was evening, and Riddhima was sitting in the garden. On one hand, her brother, Ishaan was still upset with her, and on the other, her stomach was grumbling and her head was aching severely due to the hunger. Her migraine seemed to recur everytime she skipped her meals. And today, she had to skip three meals.
She couldn’t believe what kind of a monster was Vansh. How could he give her such a big punishment for such a small mistake?
“Thank God, I took the blame upon myself. Otherwise this madman would have punished that poor, little girl.”
Just then, she saw Nandu come upto her. She was crying.
“I am very sorry, Riddhima Aunty. Because of me, Papa punished you.”
“It’s okay. Don’t be sorry,” said Riddhima.
“No! You are very nice Aunty, you always support me whenever I am in a problem. I am going to Papa’s room to tell him the truth.”
“No Nandu, you will not,” Riddhima screamed after her.
She tried to follow her, but the little spunky girl was too quick for her.
Nandu knocked at Vansh’s door.
But he wanted to be left alone. “Go away Nandu! Just go away before I start….”
“Papa, it wasn’t Riddhima Aunty’s fault. I was the one who went into the backyard and took those photos. Please, I’m very sorry Papa.”
Vansh couldn’t believe what he just heard. He had got Riddhima punished when it was Nandu’s mistake. He hated being wrong, and this made him even more furious.
“Nandu! You are becoming very undisciplined. You’re always breaking all the rules, and not obeying me at all. I will punish you!” Vansh yelled at her.
Riddhima who was standing outside, had had enough of all this. She barged in and said, “What kind of a father are you?”
“You…”
“No, you listen to me first. Yes, I admit that Nandu made a mistake, but can’t you see how bravely she came upto you and admitted her mistake? Instead of appreciating her for her honesty, you are scolding her so mercilessly. You also want to punish her the same way you did with me?” said Riddhima angrily.
Seeing them argue like this, Nandu ran to call Gayatri for help.
Vansh said, “Nandu is my daughter. And nobody has any right to interfere between a father and a daughter?”
Riddhima laughed at him. “A father? Are you even a father? Calling yourself a father, is like putting a stain on all the fathers of this world.”
Vansh warned her to kerp her mouth shut, but she stood unfazed and continued.
“Tell me, would you have treated the same way, had she been your real daughter? Obviously, not.
I’ve never seen you playing with her, talking to her sweetly, or even spending any kind of time with her. All I’ve seen you do is to shout and speak rudely to her. And punish her, of course.
I don’t understand, why did you even adopt her if you could never give her a father’s love? I’ll tell you why you adopted her, because you wanted to show to the world what a charitable kind of person you are.
Wouldn’t it have been better that you had left Nandu in the hospital itself, and allowed some better people to adopt her? That way atleast, she wouldn’t have got stuck with you…..”
Vansh angrily threw the vase on the floor. He pinned Riddhima to a wall and said, “Not a word more, or else….”
“Or else what? You’ll beat me up like how you did to Neil? You’ll punish me again like how you always do? I don’t care! Do whatever you want, but I won’t stay quiet today.
You know what, you are neither fit to be a father to Nandu, nor to your own child!”
Vansh grasped Riddhima’s arms tightly. His eyes were trembling with rage.
She pushed him away. “You cannot intimidate me by doing all such things. If you really want to punish someone, why don’t you punish yourself first?”
“Vansh!” Gayatri called him out while standing at the door.
Vansh caught Riddhima’s hand and pushed her out of his room.
“Get out!” he said and shut the door on her and Gayatri’s face.
Precap :
Gayatri tells Riddhima about Vansh’s past.
Vansh hurts himself, while Riddhima nurses his wounds.
Hello everyone! That is it for today guys. If you liked it, do not forget to comment.
Also, stay safe, wear a mask, and practice social distancing.
Peace out!