Link to the 10th chapter : https://www.tellyupdates.com/bound-to-you-book-two-chapter-10/
*
The pundit stood up and acknowledged the bride and the groom.
“The marriage is completed. You both are wife and husband from so on.”
The crashing of the flower vase caused the rest of the family to avert their gaze to the door from where the sound seemed to have come. Their eyes widened in extreme shock when they saw who it was.
Anupriya would have fallen down had Roshan not supported her at the last minute.
“Vansh!” she muttered disbelievingly.
Freeing herself from Roshan’s hold, she scurried towards her son. Tears streaming down her face, she cupped his face between her weak and frail palms.
“You came back, you came back!”
She hugged him and cried.
Vansh reciprocated her gesture and held her close to him. The strong woman that he knew since his childhood was reduced to a crying mess. And it was all because of him. He felt immensely guilty for troubling his poor mother like that and ended up getting emotional.
Peering over Anupriya’s shoulder, his eyes fell on the beautifully decorated mandap, and the bride and groom standing there. It seemed as if they were ridiculing at his situation.
Every drop of his blood was boiling now, as the sight of married Kabir and Riddhima glared back at him. His whole body was shivering right now. He had been late in coming here, really very late.
Pulling away from his mother, he looked at the couple pleadingly.
“Please tell me it’s a joke. You guys didn’t get married for real, right?”
Dressed in his cream sherwani with a garland around his neck, Kabir took few steps ahead.
“What do you mean by ‘married for real’? Marriage is not a joke! Vansh, you are my best friend. And I’m happy that you are alive. But the marriage has been done. And there’s no denying that.”
Vansh felt his entire world crumbling down. Riddhima was his God damn wife! His wife! How could she marry someone else in his absence? Just how?
Balling his hands in fists, his fiery eyes cast an accusing glare at Riddhima. Even though he couldn’t see her face that was hidden behind the veil, he could make out how beautiful she was looking in that red bridal lehenga and all those ornaments. If only all that adornment was meant for him, and not any random man.
“I was away for 2 months, barely 2 months, and you found it fit to marry someone else?” he thundered, yet the pain in his voice was very much evident. “You couldn’t even wait for me to return? Is that your so-called love for me you always used to go around claiming?”
“What nonsense are you talking about!” Anupriya berated him for his senseless blames. “The only reason Riddhima married Kabir was because of me. Plus, this is solely your mistake! Who told you to disappear like this into thin air? Where were you for these past two months? Do you’ve any idea how much pain we went through all this time?”
Realizing that there was no one to blame but himself, Vansh stumbled to the ground, shattered beyond repair.
When Riddhima was his legally wedded wife, he could never spend some casual time with her, because he was so embroiled in fulfilling his duty to the nation.
And now that he was finally back, fate had played a really twisted game. Riddhima had become someone else’s wife. She wasn’t his anymore.
He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream. But he knew nothing of that could change the bitter truth. Moreover, he was a soldier. And a soldier never broke down and showed his vulnerabilities to others. Rather, he always kept his emotions under control and tried to come up with a possible solution.
Standing up on his feet and looking utterly devastated, he spoke up. “You are right, Mom. The mess that is created today is all because of me. I’m sorry, Riddhima. I shouldn’t have said all those things. But don’t worry, I’ll make everything alright.” Wiping the tears away, he said, “If marriage is done, even divorce can happen. Angre will prepare the divorce papers and you both can sign it and end this meaningless relation right away.”
Kabir looked at him with disgust. “Is this all a game for you? Get married whenever the family wants, and end it when someone else wants? And don’t you know how Hindu Marriage Act works? A couple can’t divorce each other until and unless they live for 6 months with each other.
And even if this law did not exist, I would never agree to your stupid demands. Marriage is a holy institution, and I’d never insult it in this way.”
Vansh was stupefied. How could Kabir say such things? However, he was right about the law though. What would he do now? To add to his anger, he noticed a ghost of a smirk appearing on Kabir’s face. Vansh felt like almost murdering that man right then and there.
“I always considered you as my bestfriend. But how wrong I was! I should have known that you were always behind my Riddhima. Now that your long lost dream is fulfilled, why would you do agree to divorce her…”
“Mr. Raisinghania,” a voice interrupted him from behind.
“Can’t you see that I’m stuck in an important issue?” Vansh barked without even turning behind and conveniently started blasting Kabir left and right again.
“Mr. Vansh Raisinghania.”
Vansh went completely still as this time, the voice was louder and crisper. His face lit up in recognition and at that point of time, this particular voice sounded sweeter than honey to him. He closed his eyes and sniffed. There it was – her lovely fragrance which seemed to entice him everytime she used it. Half expecting it to be his hallucination, he swivelled around.
There she was, standing in all beauty, his Riddhima, smiling all the way. Her cream coloured lehenga effortlessly blended with her skin tone, making her look even more alluring.
He reached out his hand to her face to make sure that it was not his imagination. When he could really feel her for real, he did a double take and realized that the woman dressed in the bridal costume with a veil and standing alongside Kabir in the mandap wasn’t Riddhima. That was some other woman and Kabir had gotten married to someone else.
Still to confirm his doubts, he asked her, “You didn’t marry Kabir?”
Riddhima shook her head. “I was, I am and I will always be yours.”
Unable to hold back any longer, Vansh took her in a bone-crushing hug. Riddhima wrapped her arms around his neck even more tightly as Vansh slightly lifted her off the ground so that their faces lay at the same level.
They cried with joy as their foreheads and their tears now mingled with each other.
“Vansh…” she whispered happily.
“Riddhima…”
When Vansh opened his eyes, he noticed everyone’s smiling faces in the background and realized that it was all nothing but a prank.
Roshan ran upto Kabir and gave him a high-five.
“Whoa! What a performance you gave dude! I never knew you were such a good actor.”
Kabir grinned, “If I didn’t act properly, would your devil of a sister leave me alive?”
Getting angry at being tricked, he put Riddhima down and began scolding her.
“I can’t believe that you carried out such a big drama.” Emotions got the better of him and he grasped her shoulders. “You didn’t even think what I’d go through? I nearly died knowing that you married Kabir!”
“And I nearly died when I got to know about your death!” she retorted pushing him away. “Did you think about Mummyji, about Sia, about your kids….and about ME before doing this drama of being dead?”
Vansh was flabbergasted. “That means…you knew all along that I was alive?”
She smirked. “Yes. Me, Kabir and Angre – we kind of knew it.”
“But how?” asked Vansh still reeling in disbelief.
Riddhima closed her eyes, reminiscing the past event. “Well, it’s a long story. But remember that when you were attacked by the crocodile, Kabir had seen it all. Even though you were dragged into the river following which you had disappeared under water, but Kabir knew that you still had your knife with you. One stab in the eyes was enough to injure the crocodile and get rid of it. So there was no way you’d be killed by crocodiles at least, especially when you had a freaking knife to protect yourself.
“With the Maoist rebels dead, there wasn’t much chance of you being kept under hostage or something. And we even got to know from our ‘sources’, that you weren’t sent on any new mission too. We kept pondering where exactly you could be, but always seemed to reach a dead end.
“I waited for two months, expecting you to return. But you never did. So in order to get you back, we hatched a plan. I knew how you always seemed to be insecure with Kabir and my relationship. So I decided to use that against you. So when Mummyji started pestering me to marry Kabir, I knew that this was the golden opportunity to fool you. We ensured that the news of my remarriage is all over the place so that it reaches you.
“And that’s exactly what happened. You couldn’t bear to see such a big mishap taking place causing you to come out of your hiding and appear before us.
Of course, rest of the family had to be kept under the dark until just before the marriage to ensure that our plan doesn’t leak outside.”
“That means you people actually fooled me?” Vansh asked getting a little annoyed.
Riddhima rubbed her palms together and grinned. “Which is fair enough. Till now, you used to go around fooling others. But now, it is the other way round.”
Well, it was right though. For more than ten years, Vansh has been living his life by fooling people around him. Of course, it was done as part of his duty to the nation, but still.
Something clicked him. Turning towards the veiled bride, he said, “Wait. Then who did Kabir get married to?”
“He got married to me,” spoke the bride and Vansh instantly recognized who it was. Nonetheless, the bride did lift the veil up revealing her face to him.
Shocked and furious, Vansh said, “Kabir married Sia?”
Sia trembled under her brother’s death stare. “I’m sorry Bhai…”
“Sorry my foot!”
Vansh marched towards Kabir and began shoving him.
“First you were behind my wife, and now you went a step ahead and married my sister! Why are you behind the women in my life?”
Kabir was still trying to make something out of this reaction, when to his and everyone else’s surprise, Vansh started laughing out of the blue.
“I was just joking dude! Look at your face!”
Kabir hit him back. “Who does this such kind of jokes?”
“Just like how you guys fooled me sometime back, I did the same.”
Still continuing to laugh, Vansh spread his arms beckoning him for a hug, which Kabir readily did.
Soon Vansh took Sia too in his embrace. He playfully warned Kabir, “You better keep my sister happy. Or else…”
“Of course, I will. But you also don’t forget that I’m your brother-in-law from hereon. So treat me well, or your dearesr sister would have to bear the consequences” joked Kabir.
“Shut up you bastard!”
“Watch out you rascal!”
The rest of the family mused at the close friendship between these two grown up men, who now looked like two teenagers.
Now it was Angre’s turn to greet him. Normally, an unemotional man, but today on seeing Vansh after a long time, all safe and sound before his eyes, even he couldn’t keep his feelings under control.
Vansh too didn’t hold himself back and hugged him. Angre was not only his confidante and friend, but he was also his family.
And then out of nowhere, Ronita came forward and clung to Vansh. He was quite taken aback by this behaviour but didn’t retreat out of his sheer politeness.
“Thank God you are back Jiju. Just imagine if Di and Kabir Bhaiya would have really married each other, then I’d have to call Kabir Bhaiya as Jiju! How weird it would have felt!”
Roshan clapped sarcastically, “Wow! So the only reason you didn’t want Kabir to marry Di was because you’d find it strange to call him as Jiju? Unbelievable!”
Everyone began chuckling. Because this was just Ronita being Ronita.
Giving her head a gentle pat, Vansh pulled back from Ronita and headed towards Roshan.
“For the sake of the relation we have between us, we too can share a hug.”
Unwillingly, Roshan gave in. He was glad to see him back, but his relation with him wasn’t exactly an amicable one. And he preferred it that way.
Hugging him in the most formal way possible, Roshan said in a hushed tone.
“Sharing all such nice pleasantries is just a show for everyone, especially Di. But nothing can make me really like you ever.”
“Feelings are mutual. Good to see we think similarly on this matter at least,” said Vansh with a twinkle in his eye.
After his meetup with almost all the adult members of the family was done, Vansh’s eyes began dancing around the place for his two lifelines.
But before he could ask about them, Angre interrupted.
“Boss, but it is still not clear why you remained in hiding for the past 2 months.”
Vansh inhaled sharply and started off. “That night, when I was attacked by the crocodile, I surely did as you guys predicted. I slashed my knife across that creature’s eyes in self defence. The injured crocodile swam away.
But even I was wounded and was bleeding profusely from the place where I had been stabbed by it’s sharp teeth. Because of that, I soon fell unconscious, letting the river take me wherever it wanted.
“When I woke up, I realized I was in some other village where I was rescued by some fishermen. It was a safe place and the natives were really nice people. They took care of me for the next one week or so.
“I knew that since there was no trace of me whatsoever, I was assumed to be dead by the authorities. So when I finally recovered, I decided to come back to Mumbai to give you all a surprise.
“But when I reached Mumbai, I saw Aryan partying with my arche business rivals! On further probing, I cane to know that not only Aryan had escaped from jail, but he was also teaming up with my rivals to take down the entire Raisinghania business empire!”
Everyone seemed aghast at this.
Vansh continued, “I know Aryan too well for his own good. His biggest flaw is his overconfidence. So even I decided to play a game with him. I would let him dwell in this bubble that I was long dead so that he could do whatever he wanted more relentlessly. And then, I’d strike upon him at the right moment.”
Anupriya squeezed her eyes shut in shame. How much more would this Aryan stoop? Calling herself as his biological mother felt like an insult to her womb.
Vansh understood what she was feeling. He took her hands in his and pecked her knuckles.
“Mom, it isn’t your fault. So don’t you dare blame yourself for all this. Till I’m alive, I won’t let anyone do any harm to our family or to our business.”
A clatter of quick footsteps down the staircase caught Vansh’s attention.
“Papa!” Reyansh and Rhea screamed in delight and ran towards him.
Vansh went on his knees, all ready to hold his precious kids close to him.
Rhea sat on his folded knee and put her short arm around his neck. “Papa, you came back?”
“Yes…” he cried. And why not? It was after a total of eleven months that he was able to see his children before him.
Reyansh sat on his other knee and said, “God listened to our prayers. That is why He sent you back us. Isn’t it, Papa?”
Papa! How badly he had craved to hear this word from their mouth. And now that these two were going on about chanting this very word every now and then, he couldn’t help but doubt if this was all nothing but a dream.
He kissed all over their chubby faces. It seemed like all the love that he had kept hidden inside himself all this while, was being showered over them in one go.
Rhea pulled away from him and rubbed off the wetness from her cheeks that she had received from her father’s innumerable kisses.
“Eww Papa! Don’t kiss us so much.”
Vansh snortled, “You troublesome little girl!”
He squeezed the twins in his arms, tickled them, cuddled them and then went back to kiss them yet again. Finally when he let them free, Reyansh crossed his arms.
“Papa, but we are angry with you. You stayed away from us for so many days.”
“Yes, just like how our teacher punishes us when we don’t listen to her, you will also be punished,” huffed Rhea.
“I’m so sorry my babies,” he said cupping their faces. “You can give me as many punishments as you want. I’ll do whatever you say.”
“Yay!” The twins howled in excitement.
“But what is the punishment?” quizzed Vansh.
“Uhm…not now. We’ll think and tell you,” said Rhea putting a finger on her head and acting as if she was really thinking hard.
Vansh laughed at her antics. Rhea was still his little drama queen and Reyansh, the exceptionally well-behaved child. Nothing had changed.
He turned around when he heard Riddhima call him out.
“You have met everyone except her.” She walked towards him carrying the baby in her arms. Nuzzling her nose with the baby’s tiny one, she said, “Payal, won’t you meet your Vansh Uncle?”
Vansh peered down at the little baby. Her eyes wide open, she was trying to analyze this new person she had never seen before.
Scared that he might accidentally drop her or something, he didn’t pick her up. She was so delicate, so fragile. What if he ended hurting her?
He softly caressed her face with the back of his hand. Riddhima was right. Little Payal had totally taken after her father in terms of appearance.
“She is so beautiful,” he mumbled in admiration.
When he looked at Payal again, he found a little of Ahana in her too. He so wished that she too was there among them today. But not all wishes are heard and some of them are often left unfulfilled…
*
Hello everyone! That is it for today guys.
Do comment.
Peace out!