Mareez-E-Ishq (Chapter 13 – Blooming Love)

Hello guys! Hope you’re doing well!

Long time, no see! Well now I have started going school and I hardly get time to write. But sparing my time, I managed to type this chapter. Many of you might have forgot the storyline, so here’s the link for the previous chapter, https://www.tellyupdates.com/mareez-e-ishq-chapter-12-and-they-meet-again/

Let’s start with the story…

Blooming Love

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Sometimes, you fall in love with a person and do not realize it. But your actions are enough to show this.

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Author’s POV

The sound of the laughter came as a beautiful song. The fluttering curtains danced here and there listening the melodious laughter.

“Catch me, if you can!” came a soothing voice.

“Riddhima stop. You’ll hurt yourself,” came a manly voice.

“No Vansh, if you want me to stop, you will have to catch me.”

Huffing at her stubbornness, he began chasing her. After about 5 minutes, Vansh got hold of the edge of her dupatta and seeing it as an opportunity, he pulled it. In a blink of eye, Riddhima crashed on Vansh’s hard chest and his arm involuntarily snaked around her waist.

When his hands came in contact with her bare waist, Riddhima felt butterflies in her stomach. She felt herself getting hot in the close proximity. It was for the first time in her life when she got touched by a man.

“Caught you!” he whispered near her ear.

Riddhima shivered when his lips brushed her hot ears while speaking. She felt her knees going weak at the close proximity. Had it not been for Vansh holding her, she would have fell down. A shade of pink spread across her cheeks and she held onto his shirt more tightly for support. His presence was driving her crazy, and so was his touch. Both of them looked in each other’s eyes and got lost in it. No one knew who leaned first, but their lips were just a little away. The gap between the lips started reduce, but..

SPLASH!

“What the hell!” Vansh shouted as he felt himself drenched in water.

“What?” Ahaan asked innocently.

“You idiot, I was about to ki…” Vansh blurted out but stopped in the nick of time realizing his mistake.

“About to what?”

“I don’t know what I was about to do, but if you don’t get away from my sight I will surely kick you out,” Vansh said as he sat on the bed, muttering inaudible curses under his breath.

What’s wrong with him? Since yesterday he’s behaving out of character, Ahaan thought as noticed Vansh all lost in his thoughts.

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At some other place…

“How’s this possible?” asked a man in furious voice.

“I don’t know sir. My men did their work properly, but looks like luck was on their side.”

“No it wasn’t their luck. It happened because fate wants them to be dead by my hands,” said the man and he started laughing like a maniac.

The sound of clicking heels bought his laughter at rest.

“Why did you call me here?” asked a woman.

“I need to tell you something important,” answered the man.

“And what is it?”

“Vansh and Riddhima, both our enemies are now related to each other.”

“What’re you saying? I’m not able to understand. And who is this Riddhima, I only know my Vansh and he is not my enemy at all,” said the woman in an angry tone.

“Calm down woman, you’ll get to know everything soon. All you need is a visit to VR Mansion to get your all doubts clear,” saying this the man poured out a drink for himself and began to drink.

Huffing the woman went away with rage filled in her eyes.

“I need to go to VR Mansion,” she stated as she sat in her car and drove somewhere.

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I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Since the time, I came from hospital, there hasn’t been a single day I thought about her.

And today, that dream?

What was that dream about?

From when did I start getting dreams, and that too of these types?

All these thoughts were running in Vansh’s mind since morning. He was very clueless about all this. Never in his life he had been this distracted but now the situation was out of control. He could hardly stop himself from thinking about her. He was an early riser, but today he was not able to get up even after being called out many a times.

“Mr. Raisinghania,” Riddhima spoke for the umpteenth time but there was no response from the other side. Not having any other way out, she gently held his shoulder and shook him.

Feeling something soft on his broad shoulder, Vansh came out of his trance. That soft thing was nothing but a hand, which belonged to the one who remained in his mind. It was Riddhima standing in front of hem in her full glory, but with a confused look on her face.

“Are you fine Mr. Raisinghania?” she asked nervously.

“Yeah! What might have happened to me?” he said trying his best to sound casual.

For once, there was a pin drop silence, which was broken by Vansh.

“Let’s begin with the exercises,” he said, trying his best, to not sound desperate.

“Mr. Raisinghania, let me tell you that this session will continue for 12 weeks, and once it is done, I’m sure you’ll totally be fine and will be able to walk properly,” Riddhima informed and once could see sadness on Vansh’s face.

It means I have only 12 weeks to spend my time with her, Vansh thought sadly.

Little did he knew that a span of 12 weeks could be changed into lifetime, only if he realize his feelings as fast as possible.

“Mr. Raisinghania, let’s begin with some warm up,” she said and moved towards him.

She began with neck rotation, followed by chest stretch, upper body twist, and many more. And once the warm up was done, she began with the exercises.

“Stretch your arms  and try to lift up your leg,” she said and Vansh started to try, but was not able to do so. At a time, he could either stretch his arm or lift his leg. He was not able to make a coordination with his body parts. At first Riddhima let him try, but when he repeated this for many times, she held onto his arms and supported them.

“I think you should meditate daily so that you can make a proper coordination with your body parts,” Riddhima said, trying hard not to smile, as she held his stretched arms.

Seeing her stifle her smile, unknowingly a smile appeared on Vansh’s face. He noticed that along with being dedicated towards her work, Riddhima was so friendly towards her patients. It was true that she took time to be comfortable with others, but once she becomes comfortable, she does not feel shy at all.

“Now it’s time for ankle stretch,” she said as she held his left foot in her soft hands. Vansh felt as if his body was put on fire.

“This stretch will improve ankle flexibility and lower the risk of developing a blood clot,” she stated as she helped him stretch his ankle at different angles.

The exercises continued and all the while Vansh’s concentration was only on Riddhima. There was no moment when his eyes took off her. It was as if someone has casted a spell on him.

The ring of Vansh’s phone bought him out of his trance and he cursed the unknown caller for disturbing him.

“Excuse me,” Vansh said as he wheeled his chair towards the window as took the phone call.

Not having any other thing to do, Riddhima’s eyes aimlessly wandered around the study.

It was indeed a very big, and Talking about the interiors, she couldn’t help herself admiring them, be it the beautiful paintings or the lavish showpieces. She could make out that Vansh had a great choice in decors.

Her eyes drifted from the interiors towards one of the wall cupboards, which was all piled up with various books.

A mini book collection!, she thought as she dreamily moved towards it.

The cupboard was so big, nearly 13 fit high that it almost hid the wall behind it. It was divided into different sections, on the basis of genres.

She couldn’t stop herself from tracing her hands on the books. The ups and downs she felt while moving her hands across the books gave her a content feeling, the one she felt when she used to do the same at her school library. She remembered how her classmates used to call her a crazy bookworm, but she just ignored them.

For a moment, she forgot everything about her surrounding. She just stood there closed-eyed, running her hand over the books, feeling them. She was too engrossed that by mistake she slid her hand over something sharp and a sudden pain shot across her left hand.

“Ouch!” she yelped shaking her hand up and down.

Listening her painful cry, Vansh turned towards Riddhima, only to see a painful expression over her face.

“I’ll call you later,” he said ending the call and wheeling his wheelchair towards her direction. Thankfully, she was standing close to Vansh and it took him no time to reach her.

To be shocked would be an understatement to describe what Vansh felt at the moment. His heart pounded against his chest as he saw her eyes squeezed and some droplets of blood flowing from her hand.

Seeing her in pain, Vansh felt his heart pain as well. His eyes were full of hurt, which was enough to indicate what he felt for her.

Without wasting any time, Vansh caught her hand saw that she had a cut over her finger, and blood was oozing out at fast speed.

Without thinking anything, he bought her injured finger near to his mouth and sucked it. All the while he did so, his eyes did not leave Riddhima’s face. Her eyes were still closed, but the pained expression of her face changed to a relaxed one after some time.

As the pain subsided, Riddhima opened her eyes and saw Vansh looking at her all worried. Both of them stared into each other’s eyes and that was when she realized their position. She drew back her hand slowly and averted her gaze.

“Are you fine?” he asked in a concern-laced voice.

Riddhima just nodded. Vansh forwarded her a glass of water which she readily took. He then wheeled his wheelchair towards a drawer and bought a transparent box.

“Here’s the first aid kit. You may dress your wound,” Vansh said forwarding the kit. Although he wanted to do so, he thought otherwise, as he did not want to make her uncomfortable.

“No problem, Mr. Raisinghania. I’ll do it once I reach at home. And it’s just a very minor cut,” she just whispered the last line.

“Minor cut! Are you serious Riddhima! Didn’t you see the way blood oozed out from your finger?” he said surprised.

“Or are you afraid that you’ll cry while dressing your wound?” Vansh tried to provoke her. A smirk formed on his face as he saw her getting pissed of.

“There’s nothing the way you’re thinking. It’s just that I..” she ended the first line with a huff but stammered towards the end of second line, not knowing whether to continue further or not.

It was always that Sejal did her dressing whenever she got hurt, and due to that reason, she did not know how to do it. Though, she was a doctor but she did not know dressing at all. Perks of being Riddhima.

“I…?” he asked raising his eyebrows.

“I don’t know how to,” she confessed sadly as tears started welling up in her eyes, remembering Sejal.

Noticing the sadness in her voice and seeing her eyes almost at the verge of flooding, Vansh understood that he did press the wrong nerve and he mentally scolded himself for doing so.

“Hey! There’s no need to be sad. Let me help you,” he said as he held her hand softly and made her sit in front of him.

Drenching the cotton with the antiseptic, he applied it over the injured finger. Riddhima shut her eyes and hissed in pain when the antiseptic burned, but soon the burning sensation got soothed. She opened her eyes to see Vansh blowing air with his mouth.

Seeing his caring nature, she remembered Sejal, who used to treat her wound in the similar way. Absentmindedly, Riddhima reached her hand for his face. She lovingly touched his face and ran a hand across his hair, while Vansh, on the other hand was taken aback by the sudden change in her behavior, but continued to do his work.

“Done,” Vansh said as he finished dressing the wound.

“Thank you!” Riddhima replied meekly.

This whole scene got witnessed by two pair of eyes, out of which one was happy, while the other was burning in rage. The one who was happy was Ahaan, and the other one, you’ll know soon.

Now I understood what the problem is. Bade bhaiya is in love, Ahaan concluded as he witnessed the whole scene. There were many reasons that indicated so.

Firstly, he never saw Vansh getting affected so much when someone gets hurt, except for his loved ones. But, in case of Riddhima, the hurt expression was visible all over his face. He did also notice that Vansh would completely forget all his worries with Riddhima and a smile would never leave his face, when she is with him. Also he didn’t say a word when she ruffled his hairs, when he used to get pissed off when someone else did so.

Who is this girl? And why is she behaving so lovey-dovey with my Vansh, thought Ahaana, who arrived VR Mansion few minutes ago and was welcomed by Vansh-Riddhima caring scenario. Not able to control herself, she marched towards the study.

I don’t understand this Bahaana always become a third wheel every where, Ahaan frowned as he saw Ahaana making her way towards the study.

“Hi Vansh!”

The voice startled Vansh and Riddhima and they turned to see who it was. Vansh just made a poker face and forced a smile. Riddhima on the other hand, gave her a polite smile greeting her with a hi as well. Seeing her smiling, Vansh couldn’t help himself from smiling.

“How are you Vansh?” Ahaana asked in her fake sugar-coated voice, trying to gain Vansh’s attention.

“Better,” he said.

“That’s great,” she said and gave Riddhima a skeptical look.

By the way Riddhima started fidgeting with her fingers under the unwavering gaze of Ahaana, Vansh could easily sense that she felt uncomfortable.

“Ahaana, Ishaani is calling you,” Ahaan said as he made his way inside the study.

“Tell her that I’m with Vansh and will come later,” Ahaana said.

“No, she is having an important work with you. And about Vansh, he is busy with his physiotherapist. Uh… I mean his physiotherapy session.”

“Oh! No problem, I’ll see you later Vansh,” Ahaana said as unwantedly marched out of the study.

“You both continue… with your session,” Ahaan gave Vansh a playful smile and went.

Vansh and Riddhima continued with their session and they did not know when it got over.

“That’s all for the day Mr. Raisinghania,” Riddhima said collecting her belongings.

“Would you mind if I ask you a question?” Vansh said to which Riddhima nodded.

“How did you get hurt?”

“Um… I… I just got… too engrossed watching your… book collection that I… did not know when it all happened,” she said nervously looking everywhere, but him.

“Oh! Be careful next time,” was all he said. Riddhima was surprised that he did not shout or yell at her for roaming in his study without his permission.

“I think I must leave,” Riddhima said as she stood up.

“Take care Riddhima!” Vansh said and heard a faint ‘you too’ in response.

As Ahaan saw Riddhima move out of the study, he made his way inside.

“I think I’m sitting here,” Vansh said stressing each and every word he spoke, as he noticed Ahaan watching Riddhima’s retreating figure.

“When did I say you’re sitting on mars?” Ahaan said as sat on the couch where Riddhima was sitting.

“Was I supposed to laugh?” Vansh asked as he saw Ahaan laughing at his own joke.

“I don’t think so laughing will cost you much,” replied Ahaan as a matter of fact.

“You are-“

“Impossible. I know,” Ahaan said shrugging.

Vansh chuckled at his childish behavior, and they both continued to talk.

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{Word count: 2732, excluding the author’s note}

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Here’s the next update. Do tell your views regarding it.

What do you think whether Ahaan is right?

Is Vansh really falling for Riddhima?

What do you think about the person who claims Vansh and Riddhima as his enemy?

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Please comment and motivate me to work harder.

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Till then, take care!

Stay safe, stay healthy!