BONDED BY LOVE – A TALE OF TWO SISTERS (One Shot By Stella)

Hii everyone…!! This is the OS I told you about in the last episode. I know you all are waiting for #MITWAA, I’ll post it by tomorrow night. By that time, I hope you all will like this one.

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“Our paths may change as life goes along but our bond as sisters will remain ever strong.”

The little nine year old Ragini is pretty excited today as after a very long time her father Mr. Shekhar Gaddodia has taken an off from his busy businessman schedule to take his wife and their daughter to the fun fair of Durga Pooja which is quite famous in all over West Bengal.

“Maa… Baba… Come soon. Both of you are very slow . First that stupid Lucky is not coming and now you guys are also taking so much time”, Ragini chirps sitting on the couch of their living room unable to contain her excitement and immediately jumps down as she sees her parents approaching. Holding each of their fingers with her tiny little hands she drags them to their car.

As they reach the fair Ragini opens the door of the car and runs around stopping right in front of the huge ferry wheel, “Baba look. I wanna go round round. Come let’s go”. Saying this she runs away again followed by her parents who are having a pretty hard time managing their pace with their little ‘bag of naughtiness’.

Hopping from stall to stall for almost two hours, Ragini finally settles down to eat a cone of ice cream at around seven in the evening. But even then she couldn’t stop her naughty eyes from roaming here to there. And that’s when she sees a bunch of balloons stuck in between two branches of a nearby tree.

Somehow without getting noticed by her parents she climbs the tree to get the balloons and as she was about to get down after getting the hold of the bunch, her frock gets stuck and she rolls over, “Maaa…”, she shouts hanging down from the branch.

Shekhar and Sharmishtha run towards the tree along with other people whoever notices Ragini.

“Ragini…!! Oh My God…!! Shekhar do something. Save my daughter”, Sharmishtha cries seeing Ragini holding the branch of the tree with one of her hands. “Shomi, you go near the tree in case she falls down then you can catch her. I’ll go up the tree to bring her down”, Shekhar says and runs hastily.

But just then he notices a girl around twelve years of age climbing the tree. Shekhar runs to her, “Beta, what are you doing? You might get hurt.”

“Don’t worry about me Sir. Please go and help Ma’am. I’ll get her down”, saying this the girl gives an encouraging smile to him and Shekhar himself doesn’t know how come he believes and agrees to the girl.

Giving her one more glance Shekhar runs back to Sharmishtha who looks at her husband with a angry yet confused look, “Why are you back? What about my Ragini?”

Shekhar points towards the other girl without saying anything which makes Sharmishtha burst out in anger, “How can you trust her Shekhar? She’s a child herself. How is she supposed to save our child? I don’t know anything, go back”.

Shekhar is about to run back to climb the tree but by then the girl reaches near Ragini forwarding her hands towards her, “Here, hold my hand”, she says looking at Ragini.

“But what about my balloons”, Ragini pouts looking at her other hand still holding the bunch of balloons. The other girl chuckles lightly seeing her childish antics, “Okay, give them to me”.

“Why should I give them to you?”, Ragini looks at her angrily.

“Don’t worry I won’t take them from you. Once you get up here I’ll give them back to you”, she says smiling back at her.

“Pinky Promise?”, Ragini confirms for the one last time and as the girl replies back with a ‘promise’ Ragini hands over her precious bunch of balloons to her. The smiles taking them and ties them to a branch, forwarding her hand towards Ragini again.

Ragini looks at her and then at her parents standing down below her and finally at the girl saying, “Please don’t make me fall”.

“Trust me. I’ll never let you fall. I promise. Now, come”, she replies back with a smile and Ragini holds her hand as the girl pulls her up.

Ragini hugs her once she gets back up again. The girls hands over the balloons and helps Ragini down as Shekhar holds her. Sharmishtha immediately embraces her daughter checking if she’s hurt anywhere. Whereas on the other side Shekhar helps the other girl in getting down, “Thank you so much Beta for whatever you’ve done. You’re fine right.”

“Yes Sir”, she replies back.

“What’s your name and where are your parents? I mean why are you alone in the fair”, Shekhar enquires to which the girl replies, “My name is Swara and I don’t have anyone except for Mother Martha.”

“Mother Martha?”, Shekhar looks at her confused to which Swara nods her head, “Hmm… the warden of our foster house down the street”.

“You mean to say Mother Mary Foster house”, Shekhar asks confirming again and Swara nods her head. “What happened to your parents?”

Swara shrugs her shoulders, “I don’t know I’ve never met them. I think I should leave now or else mother will get worried. Goodbye Sir.”

Giving him one last smile Swara walks away slightly rubbing her arm where Shekhar notices a large bruise which she might have got while saving Ragini.

——————–.

Two days later, Mother Martha calls Swara saying that someone wants to adopt her. She reaches the office and gets shocked seeing Shekhar and Sharmishtha over there.

Mother Martha looks at her, “Swara, my child, Mr. Gaddodia wants to adopt you and they are going to be your family now.”

Swara looks at Shekhar and asks, “Are you doing this because I saved your daughter? Please, don’t. I saved her not because I wanted anything.”

Shekhar sits in front of her on his knees and smiles, “I know Swara that if I’ll say that I’m doing this because you saved my daughter then your self respect will get hurt. You’re the first child I have seen with such a respect for her own self at this young age and from where I’m standing I can see that you have a huge potential and by taking you in my family today, I’ll be giving this world a much better person tomorrow. And for that I don’t mind having one more daughter. In fact, I’ll fell blessed to have an elder daughter like you.”

“So, you’re my Baba from today”, Swara looks at him with shining eyes and Shekhar nods his head smiling.

“Wow, now I have a sister?”, Ragini starts jumping getting back to her own self. Sharmishtha smiles and nods her head looking at Ragini who in turn grabs Swara’s wrist dragging her towards the car, “Come on Di. Let’s go home. I have to show you my toys also.”

—————-.

A few days later, one night, Ragini asks her mother to tell her a story. Sharmishtha makes a face saying, “I don’t know any new story.”

Shekhar chuckles looking at the duo, “Now, I get it from where Ragini has got her unique expressions. Come Ragini I’ll tell you the story of the princess and the dragon.”

“Nahiiii”, Ragini shouts keeping both her hands on her ears, “You’ve already told me that story at least twenty times.”

“I know a new story”, just then Swara says smiling at all of them. Ragini exclaims, “Really!! Let’s go Di. You’ll sleep in my room today and tomorrow and then after that and tell me new stories everyday. Okay?”

Swara looks at Shekhar and Sharmishtha who in turn nod their head giving their approval. Swara smiles back at Ragini, “Okay.”

“Let’s go then”, Ragini is about to take her when Sharmishtha calls from behind, “Swara, get ready tomorrow in the morning.”

“For what?”, Swara looks at her confused.

Shekhar looks at her and smiles, “You’re going to school from tomorrow.”

Swara looks at both of them as a tear drop rolls down her eyes and she runs to hug them. Sharmishtha wipes off her tears as Shekhar speaks, “Swara, have you studied anything before?”

“I know the basics. Mother taught us.”

“That’s good. Then based upon your performance in the test they’ll decide to which class you’ll go”, Shekhar replies back and Swara nods her head, “Now off you both go.”

Both of them run towards their room where Ragini sleeps as Swara narrates her a story. Covering both of them with a blanket, Swara too dozes off still not able to believe the turn of events in her life.

——————.

As Shekhar expected, along with exemplary self respect, Swara is pretty intelligent too. Seeing her test results, Swara gets the direct admission in the third standard, a year senior to Ragini.

Years pass on and with that the love between the two sisters too starts becoming stronger. For Swara, Ragini is like a support to her who helps her out whenever she gets stuck anywhere. She gives suggestions to her elder sister in the best way she can. She is like her special combo of best friend and younger sister. Whereas on the other side, for Ragini, other than the elder sister, Swara is more like her support, her guide and her mentor. Whenever she seeks any help or any advice, one place she knows to go to is her elder sister.

One night Ragini turns everything in her room upside down. Swara enters the room and gets shocked seeing its almost wrecked condition, “Ragini, what have you done. Why are you so tensed today?”

Ragini, “How do you know that I’m tensed?”

Swara, “I’m your sister. Itna toh jaanti hoon tumhe. Now tell me what happened?”

Ragini, “My syllabus for this semester has been changed and I’m not being able to find any books.”

Swara, “Then you should have asked your faculty.”

Ragini, “They are saying no proper book is available for the all the subjects. I’m still not able to find books for two subjects.”

Swara, “Then try finding by topics from the syllabus. It will be little bit more time taking, so, share the topics amongst your friends and try finding topics separately. Once done you can share them with each other. Aise kisi ek insaan ko saara kaam bhi nhi karna padega.”

Ragini, “Do you think this will work?”

Swara, “Something is better than nothing. At least you’ll have something to study from.”

Ragini, “Right. Okay, thank you. Love you Di.”

Saying this she picks up her mobile phone to call her friends.

——————.

Swara becomes a graduate today and the whole Gaddodia Mansion is in a festive mood as their elder daughter has made them even prouder by securing first place in the whole of university. Even though it’s not a party but people are continuously coming and congratulating them.

As Ragini gets bored of all the elderly talks she holds Swara’s hand and drags her out…

Swara, “Ragini what happened?”

Ragini, “Wow!! I always drag you from place to place but you never complain.”

Swara, “You wanted to say this. I thought it was something important.”

Ragini, “Tch. Nahi naa!! I wanted to say something else.”

Swara, “What?”

Ragini, “What are you planning to do now? I mean you have a degree in fashion designing now.”

Swara, “I’m planning to join some firms now.”

Ragini, “Aren’t you going for a master’s degree then?”

Swara, “No. I want to do things myself now. You people have already done so much for me. In fact, it was you only who suggested me to opt for fashion designing or else it was never in my mind.”

Ragini, “I haven’t done anything. I just said what I saw. Alright, now since you’re going to do a job, I really wish that you find my Jiju soon.”

Swara, “ Shut up Ragini. I’m not going to marry.”

Ragini, “Areyy aise kaise!! Mujhe joote churane hain!!”

Swara, “Tumhe joote churane hain, so, you want me to get married.”

Ragini grins widely and nods her head to which Swara rolls her eyes, “No!! Other than that why don’t you consider telling Laksh that you like him.”

Ragini, “Don’t talk about that duffer di. He’ll never understand that I like him. He just considers me as his best friend.”

Swara, “He’ll know when you’ll tell him. First get rid of these baggy t-shirts and jeans. You need to make him realize that you’re also a girl and to top that a lot more beautiful than those stupid girls he usually dates.”

Ragini, “Oh hello Ms. Gyani Guru. First, find my Jiju. Idea!! You find my Jiju, then get married to him and in your marriage I’ll tell Lucky that I like him. Good idea, right?”

And there she goes again!!

Swara rolls her eyes again, “Bad idea!! And I’m going now. Stop having those weird ideas in that little brain of yours.”

Ragini, “But at least consider it. I think that’s a good idea.”

“Stop it Ragini”, Swara chuckles as she walks back to her parents.

——————.

Standing right in the front of one of the biggest fashion house in country, the Karma Fashion House, Swara wipes off little sweat droplets forming on her palms. Gathering all her courage and confidence Swara enters the office.

The receptionist divides all the applicants into a group of two and announces, “It has been decided that half of you will be interviewed by our president Mr. Siddhant Rawat and the other by his son, our managing director.”

Swara’s group gets chosen to be interviewed by the MD. As the receptionist leaves, one of the applicants, Disha says, “Oh My God, that means SSR will take our interview!!”

Swara, “SSR?”

Disha, “Hmm!! Mr. Sanskaar Siddhant Rawat. He is the MD here and I have heard that he is very strict and particular about selections. This will be pretty tough for all of us. Some people say that he rejects just by the look of the person if he doesn’t find them up to the mark.”

Swara, who for sure is not a fashionista, looks at her simple attire. A simple white Kurti paired with light pink leggings and dupatta along with simple slipper sandals to go with it. But she is not regretting her attire even a single bit because that’s the dress she feels more comfortable in and she can’t change that.

—————–.

Almost an hour later everyone has been interviewed except for Swara as she is the last one on the list. She knocks the door and enters the cabin just to find a very handsome man, probably, the most handsome she has ever seen.

“Sit down”, he says in his enticing voice and Swara finds herself almost lost in his aura. For the first time in her life she has been affected by someone’s presence to this extent.

After a few questions, Sanskaar asks, “So, Ms. Swara in the whole of the batch I find you the most suitable. I guess you won’t have any problem in joining us from tomorrow onwards.”

To say that she is shocked would be an understatement and before she could know she blurts out, “I’m Selected?!!” Realizing what she just said Swara immediately covers her mouth with her palm, “Sorry!!”

Sanskaar chuckles, “Why? You had any doubt about that? Or like others do you also think that I reject people just seeing their attire. Trust me I’m not like that.”

Swara raises her head to meet his eyes and her heart skips a beat as he smiles looking at her for the first time in the whole of the half an hour interview session.

Swara, “No. I didn’t mean it like that!!”

Sanskaar smiles, “It’s okay. No need to explain. I can understand. People don’t know me much. So, you can leave now and you can get your appointment letter from the reception desk.”

Swara stands up, “Thank you Sir.”

Sanskaar forwards his hand for a handshake “Welcome to the Karma family.”

Swara smiles shaking his hand before heading out with the final word of farewell.

——————-.

A few months later, it’s almost evening when Shekhar and Sharmishtha are talking about Swara’s marriage…

Sharmishtha, “Swara is twenty five now Shekhar. We should think about her marriage now.”

Shekhar, “I know. But I need to find a guy who can actually take care of my daughter. Even though we haven’t given her birth but she is our elder daughter, isn’t she?”

Sharmishtha nods her head in agreement but just then Swara comes there along with Ragini…

Swara, “Maa. Baba. I want to say something.”

Shekhar, “What happened Swara? Is there any problem?”

Swara sits on her knees in front of her parents holding each of their hands, “Baba. Maa. I don’t want to get married.”

Sharmishtha, “What? Why?”

Swara, “Apne pehle hi mere liye itna kuch kiya hai. I don’t want you to burden more with all these things. I have a job now and I can handle myself. I don’t want you to spend any more money on me now. Please.”

“If that won’t cost you any money, will you still say a no?”, someone says from behind. As everyone turns around Mr. Siddhant Rawat enters the house along with Sanskaar and his wife.

Swara, “Sir. Aap?”

Siddhant, “Well, Sanskaar wasn’t very sure how Swara will react to this, so, I thought of asking you directly.”

Swara looks at Sanskaar to which he just smiles looking at her.

Shekhar, “About what?”

Siddhant, “Let me come straight to the point. Sanskaar wants to marry Swara. So, I’m here to make your daughter my daughter-in-law.”

Swara looks at all of them with wide eyes and before she could say anything, Ragini exclaims, “What. Finally!!”

Sharmishtha, “What are you so excited about?”

Ragini, “Joote…”

But before she could complete Swara closes her mouth by placing her palm in her lips and drags her out along with her.

——————-.

Same day at the night, Swara and Ragini are getting ready to sleep when Ragini speaks, “Wow. I don’t believe that your marriage got fixed.”

Swara, “You only wished for it so much and now you only are not able to believe.”

Ragini, “So, that means…”

Swara, “What?”

Ragini, “You’ll leave me after some time.”

Swara, “Ohoo!! Somebody pinch me. Ragini Gaddodia is serious today.”

Ragini whines, “Di…”

Swara, “Stupid. How can I forget you?!! Ever since the day I met you everything in my life has become so beautiful. Even though God hasn’t made us sisters by birth but we are sisters by choice. Our relation is not connected by blood but it’s ‘bonded by love’ and such type of relationship never fades away but stays for forever long.”

Ragini, “You mean to say Sisters Forever types!!”

Swara, “Wow. Finally my younger sister is getting intelligent.”

Ragini chuckles, “Really!! Now I’m happy.”

Saying this she pulls the comforter over head. Swara shakes her head slightly, “Yeah right. Sleep. You have to plan out how you’re going to confess to Laksh too.”

Ragini peeping from the comforter, “Yeah right. Di… I was thinking. If Jiju had four legs…”

Swara gets shocked, “What?!! You want a Jiju or an alien?”

Ragini, “No seriously!! Agar jyada pair hote toh joote churane ke jyada paise milte naa.”

And there she is on it again. Swara literally slaps her forehead laughing her heart out and soon enough Ragini joins her too.

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A/N

So, that was it friends. I haven’t written the end at the end as honestly such stories can never end. Sibling either by blood or by choice share a bond of love that has no end, so, how can a story.

I know there is nothing special in this story. Just a simple one to be exact. This is a small token of my love to all those who read my stories and consider me as their sister and friend. I feel blessed to have you all in my life. Thank you so much for reading. I hope I haven’t bored you all much.

With love,
Stella ❤️