Vansh was sitting annoyed in the lavish cabin of his office. He never realized that his grandmother could be so adamant and difficult. At breakfast today, she didn’t even reply when he wished her good morning. She was completely ignoring him and it hurt him.
Gayatri was the person whom Vansh loved the most in this whole wide world. And he couldn’t bear her annoyance, especially when the reason for that was so bizarre.
“It’s all Riddhima’s fault,” said Vansh entirely knowing that it wasn’t her mistake that his Dadi was behaving like this, but for some reason blaming her felt justified. “Whenever she enters my life, she manages to create some havoc. She did the same one year back as well.”
“May I come in Boss?” asked Angre.
Vansh signaled him to enter. “Got the work done?”
“Boss, Riddhima refused to accept the cheques.”
“So predictable, isn’t she?” mocked Vansh. “Well, I’m assuming that she wouldn’t have allowed you too into her house. Am I right or am I right?”
“Yes Boss you’re right. She didn’t let me in,” said Angre. “But I’ve got some news.”
“And what is that?” asked Vansh.
“It seems yesterday, Riddhima’s Chachu and Bua came over to her flat and created a huge scene outside and the security guard had to intervene,” said Angre.
“Interesting, very interesting,” said Vansh. “Now that’s what I call news.”
Vansh’s phone started buzzing. It was Anupriya.
She frantically said, “Vansh please come back home immediately. Maa has fallen unconscious.”
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“Why is she not eating properly?” quizzed the doctor. “Is she having some kind of stress or any undue tension?”
The Raisinghanias remained silent and looked at each other.
“Hadn’t I told you before that it is very essential for her to remain calm and happy? It is not wise to neglect the doctor’s advice like this,” said the doctor.
“We’re really sorry, Doctor. We assure you nothing of this sort would ever repeat again,” said Rudra.
Vansh looked on gloomily. He could not believe that his Dadi had gotten sick just because he had not listened to her request.
After the doctor had left, Vansh gently kissed Gayatri’s forehead, held her hand and said. “I can’t see you like this. Fine, you win and I lose. Riddhima and Ishaan can stay with us.”
Gayatri smiled weakly. “Really?”
“Really,” said Vansh. “You are the one who ismost important to me. And if bringing them here makes you happy, so be it.”
Rudra and the rest of the family members tried to put some sense into Vansh’s head, but to no avail.
“No, this is my final decision,” said Vansh firmly. “From now on, Riddhima and Ishaan will be staying at VR mansion. Mrs. D’souza, I need you to make all the necessary arrangements.”
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Ding! The doorbell rang suddenly making Riddhima jump up with startle.
She was irritated to see Vansh standing at her door once again.
“I won’t take much of your time, Miss,” said Vansh. “I know you wouldn’t like a ‘random stranger’ entering your house, so I think we can have our little conversation here itself.”
“There is nothing much left to converse about,” said Riddhima sternly. “Especially after how you sent your sidekick with cheques to my place only so that you could flaunt your wealth in front of me.”
Vansh tried to maintain his cool as much as possible. “Listen, I just wanted to help….”
“Who ever asked you for your help, huh?” said Riddhima. “You can show your charity somewhere else, not here.”
“Just keep that mouth of yours shut,” said Vansh angrily. “I’m not here to listen to this nonsense, I’m here for my Dadi. She got unconscious today morning.”
“What? Is she fine now?” asked a worried Riddhima.
“Yeah, she’s fine now,” he said. “But do you want to know why she fell ill? Because of you!”
“Me?”
He said, “Yes, you. Since the time she has met you, she has been excessively worrying about you and your brother. So much so that she now wants you guys to start living with us, at VR mansion.”
Riddhima fell silent for a moment. Stay at VR mansion? Never! It was totally out of question.
“I’m sorry but this is not possible. If you want I’ll personally speak to Nani and I’m positive that she’ll listen to me,” she said.
“She is not going to listen to anyone,” said Vansh. “She is my Dadi and I know her too well. Only thing she might do in the process is spoiling her health further. And I cannot let that happen. So why don’t you stop arguing with me and pack your bags right now?”
“Excuse me. You can’t force me okay,” asked Riddhima. “I am not going to leave my house for your VR mansion at any cost. You may leave now.”
“I heard some of your relatives created some kind of commotion outside your house yesterday. Is that true?” Vansh asked tauntingly.
“Wait…how did you know that?” she asked.
“I have my sources, Riddhima,” he said. “But that is not important. What is important for you is that there is no guarantee that they wouldn’t turn up here again. Who knows, they might do something more appalling next time?”
Riddhima shuddered as she recalled Tripti’s last words. I’ll kill you, I’ll cut you into pieces. What you’ve done to us, you’ll have to pay for that.
The odds were still quite high that they were behind the murder and the disappearance. What if they tried to do the same with her? Or even worse with….Ishaan?
“Once you are at VR mansion, they wouldn’t even dare to trouble you any further,” added Vansh.
Riddhima realized that what he said was true. She had to think about their safety, especially Ishaan’s. She could take the police’s help in this, but she was sure, looking at their callous attitude, that they wouldn’t even give a damn to her fears. She wasn’t worried about herself, but she couldn’t let anything happen to her baby brother. She would rather die than let something bad happen to him.
After some time she said, “You’re doing all this just for Nani’s sake, right. I know you don’t seem to like me a bit and you actually wouldn’t even want me anywhere around you. I wouldn’t want to stay like an unwanted piece of furniture in your house. It just doesn’t sound right enough.”
“Look, I understand that our previous meetings haven’t been exactly amicable. But I assure you that you will never, ever feel like an ‘unwanted piece of furniture’, if that is how you want me to put in,” said Vansh. “Plus, you might not believe this, but I had always wanted to help you guys since I came to know that he was your father.
“Sushant Uncle was my guru,” continued Vansh. “He did things for me that no one would even do for their own kids. People often say that I don’t forget those who cheat me and hurt me. But they forget to add that I also cannot ever forget those who helped me in my times of distress.”
Riddhima was taken aback by this confrontation. She never knew that Vansh felt so deeply for her father. In fact, she used to think that he had completely forgotten about the favours that her dad had done upon him. How wrong she was.
“So?” asked Vansh trying to end the uncomfortableness between them.
“So?” asked Riddhima in return.
“Should I call some of my workers now to help you around with the packing or you’ll manage it on your own?” he asked.
“Wait, what, no! Not now. I need some time to think about this.” It was almost a yes from her side, but she didn’t want to look like that greedy girl who would readily pounce upon such an arrangement.
“Fine, you have all the time until tomorrow. But the answer better be yes,” said Vansh taking his leave from there.
“And even if the answer is no, I have my own ways to make it into a yes,” he said to himself, smirking.
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Riddhima stared at her brother sleeping peacefully. She wanted this peace to remain upon his face forever, even if it meant that she would have to hide the truth from him about her parents’ impending separation. Her fairytale-like illusion about her parents’ marriage had been broken, she didn’t want the same to happen with him.
Ishaan had seemed excited to stay at VR mansion when she had discussed about this with him. He had none of the qualms that she had.
She remembered how honorably Vansh had spoken of her father that had made her chest swell in pride, unlike the others, who were defaming him by throwing false allegations over him. Maybe Vansh was not a bad person after all as she had earlier thought him to be. She couldn’t help but think of the very first time they had met about one year back….
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It was almost one year ago on a clear morning that Riddhima was out on her scooty, enjoying an amazing ride through the beautiful hills. She saw a petrol station on her way and decided to stop by it. As she was busy getting her scooty refueled by one of the workers, she saw a black BMW standing still in the distance. Just then she saw a man sneak into the dickey of that car.
“What the…?” she said in absolute disbelief. As she said that, another man came by and got into the driver’s seat completely oblivious to the danger lurking in the backside of his car.
“We need to stop him ASAP!” she screamed but it was too late. The car had already taken off.
“Do something please!” she said to the worker beside her who had also witnessed everything.
“We can’t do anything Madam,” said the worker. “Didn’t you see that the car has already left?”
“But you can atleast follow him or ring up the police,” said Riddhima.
“Madam, we have a hell lot of work over here to worry about rather than involve in all this nonsense,” said the worker rudely. “If you are really so concerned, why don’t you go and save that fellow?”
“Fine, I’ll go and save him,” she said determinedly.
She sped up her scooty as much as possible trying to track down the black BMW. She had given up all hopes until one minute later, she saw the same car a little ahead of her. Through squinted eyes, she managed to make a mental note about the plate number of the car.
“That man could be a dangerous one,” said Riddhima. “It would be better if I informed the police about this right away.”
While still riding her scooty, she called the police up. “Hello, there’s a goon who’s hiding in the backside of a black BMW car, MH3456, on Panvel Highway, 2-3 kms ahead of the petrol pump.”
Riddhima tried to honk as much as possible but to no avail. The driver wasn’t paying any attention to her. Nonetheless, she continued following him.
Vansh was getting visibly irritated by the continuous honks from behind him. Through the rearview mirror, he saw a girl on a scooty following him. “Who is she? Maybe she is some random teen who just wants to derive pleasure by troubling others.”
He tried hard to divert her from following him by speeding up and making sudden and sneaky turns, but no matter what he did she always managed to catch up with him.
“She’s calling her own death unto herself,” he said taking a sudden U-turn and pulling the car in front of the scooty. The car skidded for few seconds before coming to a complete halt.
Riddhima on the other hand almost fell off from her scooty because of braking abruptly in an attempt to avoid crashing into the car in front of her. She saw the man behind the wheel get down the car and come up to her.
“What were you thinking kiddo, trying to chase me down like that?” he asked furiously. “Do you even know that you have committed your life’s biggest mistake by messing up with me?”
Riddhima fumed when he called her a ‘kiddo’, but she ignored him and walked past him to his car. She opened the door on the driver’s side of the car, and pressed a button.
“What the hell are you trying to do?” growled Vansh who caught her by her arm.
“Listen, I know that you’re very upset at my gutsy behaviour, but I really need to show you something,” said Riddhima freeing herself from his clutch and heading towards the backside of the car.
Vansh gaped in horror when she lifted the dickey open and there was a man hiding in there.
Riddhima grabbed the goon by his collar and held him before Vansh. “This was the reason I was following you like a maniac. I had seen him climb into the dickey at the petrol station.”
She bashed the goon left and right. “Who are you, huh? What were you doing hiding in his car like that? Are you an enemy, a robber, a murderer or even worse, a Mafia member?”
Vansh flinched at the mention of Mafia from her mouth. How could she know? Did she really know? No, she couldn’t know. She had probably just taken a shot in the dark.
“You should be grateful, Mister. Had it not been for me, who knows you might even be dead?” she said proudly.
Tightening her grip on the the struggling goon she said, “Don’t worry Mister, I’ve got everything covered. You might not know but I’ve got a black belt in karate so I can easily handle this scoundrel. Also I had already informed the police, and they are on their way…..”
“What?” blurted out Vansh. “You informed the police?”
“Yes.”
Vansh smacked his fist against the bonnet of the car. What was wrong with her? How could she inform the police? He had no doubt that this man definitely belonged to his arch rival, Pathak’s gang. Getting the police involved would be equal to digging his own grave. Since quite a long time, the police had been wanting to catch him red handed, but he had always managed to get away.
“Why did you do this? Who told you to inform the police?” asked Vansh angrily.
Riddhima tried to reason out but he cut her midway.
“Our country’s law, law makers and law handlers, everything and everyone is rigged and I don’t trust either of them,” said Vansh. “I’m better off without them.”
He took out a rope and masking tape from his car and tied the goon up and later pushed him into the backseat of the car. Turning towards Riddhima he said, “You better leave now, Miss. I’ll handle this guy myself.”
“But what will you be doing with him?” she asked turning suspicious.
He ignored her question. He walked a few steps ahead before turning around. “Thank you for saving my life,” he said looking into her eyes. Saying this, he hopped into the car and drove off.
“What the hell was that?” said Riddhima to herself. “It was all so weird that how he didn’t want to involve the police at all. Doesn’t give me good vibes.”
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Vansh was resting in his armchair in the study waiting for Riddhima’s call. “The answer better be a yes, Riddhima. Or else….”
Just then he heard a noise from behind the shelf. “Who could it be?” he thought to himself. He grew weary thinking about the past few murderous attempts carried out on him.
He grabbed a revolver from the drawer and stealthily walked past the shelf.
“What the hell!” he said when he saw who it was. “What on earth are you doing over here, Nandu? You know very well that you are not allowed over here.”
“I’m sorry Papa,” said a small girl about the age of five, getting frightened and hugging her knees. “I was playing hide and seek and I came here by mistake.”
“You know very well that I hate it when someone breaks my rules. And you have broken a rule,” said Vansh angrily. “Mrs. D’souza, Mrs. D’souza! Come here at once.”
Mrs. D’souza was the head of the caretakers at VR mansion. She came hurriedly huffing and panting, and mentally making herself ready for a good scolding from her Boss.
“What have I kept you here for? Aren’t you supposed to monitor and look after Nandu? Then what is she doing in my study, when I had clearly specified that my study is off limits for everyone in the house. Take her right away.”
Turning to Nandu, he said, “This time I’m letting you go. But next time I see you breaking any rule, then I’ll definitely punish you.”
“I’m sorry Papa. I won’t repeat this again,” said Nandu sobbing. As Mrs. D’souza took her away, Nandu wondered why her father was like that. Why he wasn’t like other fathers.
Precap : Riddhima and Ishaan enter VR mansion. They meet the rest of the family.
That is it for today guys. It was the longest update I have written. Hope you guys liked it. Do drop in your comments below as I love reading them! Question for you guys :
Are you shocked to know that Vansh has a daughter? What did you think of that?