Bound To You – Chapter 8 : (Ghosts From The Past – Take Two)

Thank you everybody for the lovely response.

For those of you who missed the 7th chapter, here is the link :

https://www.tellyupdates.com/bound-to-you-chapter-7-ghosts-from-the-past/comment-page-2/#comments

@Ravneet Thank you dear
@Shivangi Thanks a lot. Glad you’re enjoying the suspense.
@Yashi I wanted the past to get over quickly, but unfortunately, it’s taking lot of time. The next episode would be the last part of their past.
@R.N. Thank you dear
@Ishu Thank you
@Priyanshi_13 Thank you dear. I’ll try to post regularly.
@RiansHLoveR Riddhima didn’t kill anyone. But Anupriya is indirectly blaming her for Dadi’s death. When Dadi came to know about Riddhima’s betrayal towards Vansh and his family, she being a heart patient couldn’t bear the stress, and suffered another heart attack. I hope that clears it for you.
@Aisha08 Thanks a lot. Glad you like it.
@Riaa Thank you so much. Yes, definitely inspired from Raazi, especially the training part. I didn’t see the film, as I wanted to read the book first, but unfortunately that never happened. But I did see the trailer, and I still get chills whenever I watch that. But watching that film, is definitely on my bucket list.
@Pomu Thank you so much. Definitely means a lot to me (^hearts^).
@Thakur Priyanka Thanks a lot. Your theory was almost right. Read the update to see what exactly happened.
@Astha Thank you so much. Haha! Even I was laughing while writing that part of breaking 2-3 bones. But unfortunately, that is how most of the Intelligence team is. For saving a larger portion of people, often they’d have to sacrifice someone else.
Maybe you should try watching DDLJ sometime. The storyline is not that impressive, but it’s the chemistry and the acting that sets it apart. And not to forget the songs too 😛
@Pranjal Thank you so much. Your words definitely mean a lot (^hearts^)
@1234Aayu Thank you dear
@Niyati12 Thank you dear
@Mary Aww, thank you so much. I’m really overwhelmed by your words (^hearts^)
@AarushiSoni Yeah they’ll get married in this chapter.
@Riansh1212 Thanks a lot. Glad you liked it.
@Jayashree Thank you so much.
@Priyadharshini Thanks a lot
@JJ Thank you dear
@Vkjhp Thank you
@Neetu Thank you dear

Today’s chapter is a continuation in the past.

Year 2014

Vansh was sitting in his personal rocking chair, with his eyes tightly shut. He was to get married to Ahana in a week, but the only face that crossed his mind was none other than Riddhima. Everything about her, awed him. Her hair, black and long, flowing upto her waist. Her big, almond-coloured eyes, her delicate pink lips, her tiny figure that correctly fitted within his embrace, and her voice as soft as down. Why was she so perfect?

He suddenly realised that thinking about Riddhima was wrong on so many levels. He couldn’t wrong Ahana, and most importantly his family. He couldn’t break the promise that Anupriya had made to Ahana’s father on his deathbed. He had to remove all thoughts about Riddhima from his mind at any cost.

Just then, Ahana sneaked behind him and hugged him from behind.
Vansh angrily jerked her hands off himself. “What the hell do you think you are doing?”

Ahana felt hurt. “What’s wrong? We’re anyways getting married next week…”

Vansh said, “I don’t like all such things, Ahana. Please, leave me alone.”

With tears in her eyes, Ahana left from there without saying a further word.
______________________________________

“What! This cannot be possible. After coming so far, we can’t let all our hard work and planning go in vain,” said Kabir through the phone. “Ahana cannot get married to Vansh at any cost. We have to do something ASAP.”

“But apparently, Vansh is not very happy with this marriage,” said Riddhima. “He behaves very coldly with Ahana, and today I heard him shout at her too, for no reason at all.”

Kabir clapped his hands. “Now, that’s some piece of good news! And what does Vansh feel about you?”

Riddhima hesitated reminiscing her past moments with Vansh. “Well, it does seem that he is gradually developing feelings for me. I mean it’s in his eyes and in the way he looks at me….”

Kabir interrupted, “Now listen to me very carefully, Riddhima. We’ve exactly one week. Do everything in your power to break this marriage off and to make a permanent place for yourself in his heart. Make him so hopelessly in love with yourself, that he himself backs off from the marriage.”

Even though Riddhima agreed to him, but she was also feeling equally guilty for playing with others’ emotions.
______________________________________

The next evening after completing her sessions with Sia, Riddhima was planning to hire an auto to take her back home. Vansh came behind her.
“There is an auto and taxi strike today. It’s too late already, please let me drop you home,” he offered.

Riddhima looked up at the cloudy sky. It could start raining any moment now. “It’s okay, Mr. Raisinghania, I can manage. Plus, I don’t want to cause you any unnecessary trouble.”

“Spending time with you is not trouble but instead is a pleasure….” he mumbled under his breath.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“Oh…nothing, nothing. Dr. Riddhima, please I insist you to let me give you a ride.”

Riddhima nodded and sat in the car beside Vansh. They hadn’t even driven for five minutes, when the rain started pouring down heavily upon the windows, making loud noises.

“See, hadn’t you agreed to take the lift, you’d have got soaked in…..” Vansh abruptly stopped speaking when he saw Riddhima lower her side of the window, allowing the raindrops to fall upon her face.

Vansh watched her, enthralled in her beauty and innocence. When Riddhima caught him staring at her, he embarrassedly turned his face away.

Suddenly, their car came to a halt with a screech.
“Let me check,” he said getting out of his car.
“It’s a puncture, damn it!” He said after inspecting the car.

Riddhima smirked to herself, as she remembered how she was the one who on purpose, punctured the tyre using her hairpin.
But now, she acted worried in front of Vansh. “Oh no! What will we do now?”

“It’s okay, Dr. Riddhima, you don’t need to worry, as long as I’m there with you,” he said looking into her eyes. At that moment, Riddhima knew that Vansh had meant every word he spoke.

The rain continued to beat harder, and the atmosphere around them had become completely hazy. There wasn’t a single individual to be seen on the road. Vansh tried to contact his men for help, but apparently it was impossible for them to come at the said place amidst this dangerously stormy weather.

“We can’t stay in the car for the entire night. We need to take shelter somewhere in a safe place.” Vansh pointed towards a warehouse on their right. “I think that place would be fine for the night.”

Vansh held Riddhima’s hand and escorted her amidst the heavy rains, into the warehouse. It looked unused since a long time, as it was covered with cobwebs. There was no light, and a certain kind of stink filled the place. Vansh found few pieces of log lying in the corner, and made a fire out of them. Soon, not only there was enough light, but also enough heat to dry themselves up.

Vansh took his shirt off, and sat by the fire to dry himself. It was then that he noticed Riddhima crouched up in a corner, and shivering badly. He went upto her and saw that her clothes and hair were still dripping wet.
“I suffer from Hypothyroidism which makes me intolerant to cold,” she said with her teeth chattering, trying her best to not look at his bare chest.

“Dr. Riddhima, you’re totally drenched! You need to dry yourself up immediately, or else your health might worsen,” said Vansh sounding worried. “You need to take your clothes off, or else the wetness of the clothes against your skin will further decrease your body temperature.”

Riddhima flashed him a what-are-you-even-talking-about look.

Vansh quickly took out his handkerchief and blindfolded himself. “Look, I can’t see anything now. I’ll sit far away from you in that corner. Get yourself dried up properly, and once you’re done, inform me. Until then, I’ll stay like this only.”
Saying this, he faced away from her, and even plugged his earphones into his ears, so that he would be able to neither see nor hear anything.

Riddhima hesitatingly took her clothes off, and sat beside the fire, drying herself and keeping warm. She checked up on him now and then, if he was sneakily trying to peek in, but she didn’t have to worry at all. He continued to sit away from her, blindfolded.

A new sense of respect filled her heart, for the absolute gentleman-like way he behaved with her.

______________________________________

“Thank God, you both are safe. You’ve no idea how scared we were,” remarked Dadi the next morning.

“Thank God, that I was there with Dr. Riddhima. Or else, she would have got stuck in the middle of the rains, and that would have been at least ten times more worrying,” said Vansh.

“It’s good to see you showing concern for someone outside the family too,” said Dadi.

Vansh ignored her, immersed in Riddhima’s thoughts. A thin smile played across his face, as he recalled the previous night’s events. He was brought back to reality when he heard Riddhima’s sweet voice ring in his ears.

“Hello Dadi,” she greeted.

Vansh was surprised to see her and immediately started rebuking her. “What are you doing here, Dr. Riddhima? I had asked you to take an off for today and relax at home. You didn’t even sleep the entire night, and plus you already suffer from a hypothyroidism. Why are you so careless about your health?”

“Sia is my patient, and she too needs regular exercise and proper care. I came for her,” explained Riddhima. She tried to act unaffected from outside, but from inside, she was getting moved by his every word, every gesture.

When Riddhima saw Ahana arranging flowers in the vase, she went upto her.
“You know what Ahana, you’re really lucky to have a fiancé like Mr. Raisinghania. Yesterday, when we spent the night together….” She corrected herself. “I mean…when we had to spend the night in a lonely place all by ourselves, he took such great care of me. And he always seems so concerned about me. He is a really nice person. You are one lucky girl.”

Riddhima enjoyed the effect her words had on Ahana, who listening to all this, grew extremely jealous and insecure and decided to confront Vansh for the same.

“Did something happen between you and Riddhima last night?” Ahana asked him directly.

Vansh looked mortified. “What nonsense are you talking about! How could you even imagine such a thing! Riddhima is a very nice girl who knows her limits and would never do anything like this, and neither would I. I didn’t expect you to have such a cheap mentality, where is the trust between us?”

“Trust lies between those people, who actually have something between them,” said Ahana painfully. “But what do we have between us? Literally nothing! If you showed even half the concern for me that you showed Riddhima, then I wouldn’t have had any complains, whatsoever. You always act so distant with me, God knows why! It’s as if you yourself don’t want to marry me, and are instead being forced to do the same by someone else.”

Vansh said, “I’ve had enough of your useless banter.” He tried to leave, but Ahana caught his hand.

“This is the thing about you that irks me the most – your ignorance towards me,” cried Ahana. “If I and my feelings mean nothing to you, I don’t want to marry you.”

Hearing all the commotion, Dadi and Anupriya came upto them.

“What are you saying Ahana? How can you talk about a breakup so casually? Did you forget that this was what your late father wanted for both of you?” said Anupriya.

Ahana tried to explain herself, but Anupriya cut her off. “Fights happen between every couple, but that doesn’t mean you’ll breakup. In five days is your marriage, and from day after tomorrow all the functions start, so please think carefully before saying anything.”

Riddhima who had been listening to their conversation, started feeling upset that none of her plans were working, and the marriage was still on the cards.
______________________________________

“I’ve tried everything, Kabir. From trying to purposely trip over in Vansh’s arms, to trying to instigate Ahana against him, but nothing seems to work. Tomorrow is the wedding, and there is nothing we can do.”

Kabir sighed. “Now we’ve only one way left. And that is to….kidnap Ahana.”

“What!” Riddhima blurted out. “That is so wrong.”

“Please, for heaven’s sake, I am in no mood to listen to your moral policing,” said Kabir. “Tomorrow I’ll enter VR Mansion, and take Ahana along with me. Since you’ve also been invited for the wedding, you can help me out.
Don’t worry, I won’t do anything wrong with Ahana. In fact come to think of it, we are actually saving a nice girl from becoming the wife of a Mafia.”
______________________________________

The pundit had arrived in the mandap and was busy chanting the hymns. Soon Vansh arrived as well, dressed as the groom, and took his place beside the pundit.

Vansh saw Riddhima moving about in front of him and taking care of the arrangements. She looked so damn beautiful, that he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Even though he hadn’t seen the bride yet, but he could vouch that she looked even prettier than the bride herself.

“Please call the bride. The mahurat is passing away,” said the pundit.

Anupriya came downstairs, without the bride, and had a terrified expression.

“Anupriya, where is Ahana? Why didn’t you bring her?” asked Dadi.

All of a sudden, Anupriya started crying. “Ahana….she ran away from the marriage! And she even left a letter saying she is not interested in marrying Vansh anymore.”

Everyone looked on shocked.

Riddhima recalled how Kabir had entered VR Mansion in the disguise of a waiter, and how they had managed to drug Ahana and send her away from the mansion.
To prevent anyone from getting suspicious, Kabir also managed to forge Ahana’s handwriting and write that letter.

The pundit who had been listening to all this, spoke, “If Vansh doesn’t get married within this particular mahurat, then he will never be able to marry again, and will remain a bachelor throughout his life.”

“I don’t believe this nonsense!” remarked Vansh.

But Dadi was a fervent believer in such things, and she not being able to take in all this stress at a time, started feeling dizzy.

Thankfully, Riddhima managed to catch her in time. “Dadi! Vansh please help me to hold her up,” she said.

“Dadi! Dadi! Please wake up,” cried Vansh.

“Her pulse is getting very weak,” said Riddhima worriedly. “We need to call a doctor immediately.”
______________________________________

“She has already suffered a heart attack previously. If she suffers another one, she might not live to see another day,” said the doctor. “Please make sure that she does not take any unnecessary stress that can further burden her already diseased heart.”

Vansh looked at his unconscious Dadi with tears in his eyes.
“All this is happening because of that Ahana. I won’t leave her at all! Angre, did you see anything in the security camera?”

Angre replied, “Boss, don’t know how, but the cameras weren’t working today…..”

Riddhima recalled how she was the one who had hacked into their security cameras, and got them disabled.

“What the hell is going on around here? Let me see what is wrong,” said Vansh.

Soon, he along with Angre left for the security room, while Riddhima stayed by Dadi. She was feeling very guilty thinking about how her plans were adversely affecting an innocent, old lady’s health.

Just then, Dadi regained her consciousness. She started crying, “Why did Ahana do this? I always wanted to see Vansh get settled in his personal life, but that girl splashed water over our dreams. I’ll never forgive her.”

Riddhima felt uncomfortable. The entire family was blaming Ahana, for no fault of hers.

“Dadi, please don’t cry. The doctor has asked you to not stress yourself too much,” consoled Riddhima.

But Dadi refused to listen. “The pundit told us that if we don’t get Vansh married within one hour, he’d have to remain single throughout his life. We need to find another girl for him ASAP.”

“Don’t mind Dadi, but I think that for Ahana’s mistake, you shouldn’t punish Mr. Raisinghania,” said Riddhima. “Marriage is a lifelong bond between two souls. Marriage is not something that is supposed to be done under pressure or helplessness.
You’d be doing injustice with him if you coerce him to get married to someone whom he doesn’t know at all.”

Vansh who had been standing at the door, had listened to the entire conversation. He felt touched to see Riddhima speak the same thing that was there in his heart.

He entered the room and stood beside Riddhima. Dadi saw them standing together and smiled.

“How are you feeling now?” Vansh asked.

Dadi ignored him, and instead turned towards Riddhima. “Today if I ask you something, will you be able to give me that?
Will you be ready to marry my grandson, Vansh?”

Both Riddhima and Vansh stood aghast.

Vansh looked upset. “Dadi, how can you even make such a request to Dr. Riddhima? You’re blindly believing that pundit who himself does not know that what is going to happen in his own life. Then how can he foresee other people’s futures?”

“But I believe him, his words were never wrong,” cried Dadi. “No one seems to care for me over here. Might as well, I should die!”

Vansh felt hurt by his granny’s antics, but more than that he felt worried for her health. He turned towards Riddhima, who looked so stupefied, that she couldn’t even utter a single word.

Gathering enough strength, Riddhima tried to say, “I’m sorry Dadi, this cannot…..”

Vansh suddenly held her hand and said, “Yes, Dadi. We both are ready to get married today itself.”

Dadi became very happy. She blessed them.

Riddhima wanted to protest, but Vansh signed her to stay silent, and quietly escorted her to the privacy of his room.

“What the hell is going on? How can you agree to it?” said Riddhima angrily. “Listen, you can marry whomever you want, but keep me out of all this.”

“I am helpless! I can’t afford to lose my Dadi, or let anything happen to her. You heard right what the Doctor said. I know that it would be absolute injustice with you, considering how you don’t feel anything me,” he said this with a little pain in his voice.

“And ours won’t be a regular marriage, but it would be a contract marriage. After the contract ends up, I’ll go my way, and you’ll do the same. Please, say ‘yes’ for Dadi’s sake. In return of that, I’m ready to give you anything you ask for. You can quote how much ever money you want,” pleaded Vansh.

“Do you think so low of me that I’d marry someone just for the sake of the money?” said Riddhima annoyedly.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it in that way,” Vansh tried to explain.
He handed over a paper to her. “You can write down any clause that you want in the contract. Please.”

Taking the paper in her hands, she said, “I’m a doctor, and I’m supposed to save lives. If by marrying you, Dadi’s life gets saved, so be it.
I know the pain of losing one’s loved ones, and I don’t you, or anybody else for that matter of fact, to ever go through that same agony.”

Vansh heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Riddhima. I’ll never forget your sacrifice.”

He took the paper back to see what she had written on it. He read it aloud : “We won’t have any mental, emotional, or physical intimacy between us.”

Vansh said, “What was the need to include this clause? Of course, I know my boundaries. Do you think that I’m dying to touch you or something?”

Riddhima shrugged. “I just wanted to clarify things from my side. Also, I don’t anybody to have very high expectations from me.”
______________________________________

Riddhima looked all around her. The bedroom was beautifully decorated with flowers and candles.

She looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a red-coloured bridal attire with heavy jewellery.

But most important of all, she now had vermillion in her head and the nuptial chain around her neck. She was now a married woman, married to a dangerous man who strange enough, did not look very dangerous to her.
This marriage was nothing but a means of helplessness for Vansh, and for her it was part of her mission.

What was she doing? She had made a joke out of such a pure institution like marriage.
But then she consoled herself, “I’m doing it for my brother, I’m doing it for my COUNTRY.”

She was making her bed on the couch, when Vansh entered the room.
“Riddhima, what are you doing? You sleep on the bed, while I’ll sleep on the couch…”

“No Vansh, let it be,” said Riddhima. “Besides, I’ve even slept on hard surfaces, abd in front of that, this is cake for me. You on the other hand are more used to your comforts, so you won’t be able to sleep on the couch.”

Vansh said softly, “Well, don’t take me very lightly. I’ve slept on hard surfaces too…”

But Riddhima ignored him and tried to go to sleep on the couch itself. She turned her face away so that Vansh couldn’t see her, and started shedding tears.

Vansh on the other hand didn’t know how to feel. He was partly happy because he got to marry the girl whom he secretly adored, and partly upset to sed Riddhima’s coldness.

That is it for today guys. If you liked the update, then do not forget to comment below. The next chapter which will be coming tomorrow, will be the final one on their past, after which the story would shift back to the present. 

Also stay safe, wear a mask, and practice social distancing at all times.

Peace out!