For those of you who missed the previous chapter, here is the link :
https://www.tellyupdates.com/in-the-name-of-love-chapter-20/
@Yashi Thanks a lot. You’re right, it’s high time that girls stood up to boys of such kind.
@RiansHLoveR Thank you dear
@Pomu Thank you so much. You’re almost right about the forced marriage bit, but a little change is there
@Jazvine Kaur Thank you dear. Hope all your confusion gets cleared in this chapter.
@Akshitha Thank you so much. Also let me tell you that even Riddhima is a 1st year medical student like you 🙂
Also really sorry for keeping you waiting. Here is the update.
PS :- I’m really touched by your words. (^hearts^). Much appreciated.
@Arthika Thanks a lot.
@Niyati12 Thank you so much. Glad you could resonate with the message. We definitely need to teach our girls from a younger age onwards about how to voice out their opinions boldly.
@Thakur Priyanka Thanks a lot. I absolutely agree with whatever you said. We all can take a lesson from Riddhima actually.
@Shivangi Thanks a lot. Yes, this one was heavily inspired from Qubool Hai. I loved that scene tbh. I was actually waiting for someone to point that out, and you did that.
Haha! Vansh showed Neil his correct place.
@Aisha08 Thank you dear. Glad you liked it.
@Ravneet Thank you dear
@Priyanshi_13 Thanks a lot. Here is the update.
@Mary Thank you so much. Glad you liked the bold and fierce Riddhima. I’ll definitely try to take in your suggestions.
@Priyanka Alright, I’ll try to do that dear
@Vyshnavi Thank you dear
@AarushiSoni Thank you so much. Tbh, heroes coming to save their heroines is very much cliche. It doesn’t happen in real life. I believe a girl should become her own hero.
@Unnamed Thank you so much for your insights. Yes, no girl deserves a guy like Neil, and Riddhima not only saved herself but also other potential girls from falling into his trap by defaming him.
The Covid situation is really dreadful. I know vaccines are available, but they are also not 100% safe, and that is another source of worry.
Even though we’ve entered 2021, it feels like we’re still stuck in 2020 itself.
@Riaa Hey thank you so much. As girls ourselves, don’t we all like strong and brave girls?
Tbh, even I don’t have any soft corner for Vansh as of now. But unfortunately, other readers do.
Not only mothers, but I’ve even seen random unrelated women defend those men whom they don’t even know. Instead of supporting their own gender, they want to support the other one even when they’re wrong. It’s pathetic.
Believe me, I’ve had quite a few debates with a few aunties and grannies from my family, and it’s absurd how they immediately take the man’s side, no matter how wrong he is.
@Neetu Thanks a lot. Here is the update.
@Parita Thanks a lot. Glad to see that you liked it.
@Subu23 Thank you dear. Good to see that the precap got you excited (hehe)
@Qt Thanks a lot. Here is the update. Hope to hear from you often.
P.S. Also, this chapter might seem really similar to the show, so please bear with me. I actually couldn’t think of anything else at this point.
The next day, Riddhima was trying to introduce Nandu to Snowy.
“Come on, don’t be scared.”
Nandu moved backwards. “Nooo, it will bite me then!”
Riddhima forcefully took Nandu’s hand and made her pet Snowy.
“See, he didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“It’s so soft!” said Nandu happily.
Vansh who was passing by, smiled on see them bonding with each other.
Angre came upto him. “Boss, we found him. He is in our godown.”
Even though they were just whispering, but Riddhima’s sharp ears managed to pick up on the conversation.
She wondered, “Who is this ‘he’? Were they talking about my Papa? Did they manage to find him?”
Her happiness knew no bounds at the prospect of finding her beloved father safe and sound. Before she could ask Vansh himself about this, he had already left with his side-kick in his car.
Just then Aryan walked towards her, “Hey Riddhima! You look beautiful as always.”
“Thanks,” she mumbled.
“I was so worried for you after yesterday night. I’m so glad you taught that leech a good lesson. I can’t stand men who disrespect women,” said Aryan. “I mean look at me. Even though I go flirting around with lots of girls,” he said looking at her pointedly. “But I know my boundaries well and never disrespect them.”
Riddhima remained quiet for sometime before saying, “Aryan, I need your help.”
When Aryan looked at her questioningly, she said, “Look, I really need to go somewhere urgently. And you know that I’m not allowed to go anywhere by myself. So will you be considerate enough to give me a lift?”
Aryan brought his face closer to Riddhima’s and whispered, “Do you want to meet KABIR?”
“No, not him. I actually want to meet Mr. Raisinghania. It’s really urgent, and I just cannot wait for him till he returns. I heard he has gone to the godown, so can you please drop me there?”
Aryan hesitated, but Riddhima instead said, “You yourself told me that a true friend helps his friend when he’s in need. So won’t you help this friend of yours?”
Riddhima’s desperation to meet her father was so much that she was even ready to butter up Aryan for that.
Aryan finally agreed. “Alright. But remember that friendship is always supposed to be a two-way thing. Next time when I’m in need, you should also be willing to help me.” He threw a smug smile in her direction.
Even though Riddhima understood the actual meaning behind his words, she chose to ignore them for the time being.
______________________________________
Riddhima soon arrived at the godown. Aryan had insisted to stay back and wait for her, but she said, “No need for that. Mr. Raisinghania will be drop me back.”
Aryan being afraid that perhaps Riddhima might run away, waited till he saw Riddhima heading inside the godown, after which he left.
Riddhima could hear a man screaming. She became frightened. “Is my Papa alright?”
When she peeked into the room, she was horrified to see Neil tied to a chair. He was surrounded by Vansh and his men.
“You filthy moron! How did you even dare to try to spread your filth around, right inside my house and in my party? You misbehaved with RIDDHIMA, and called her characterless. You didn’t do this right, you didn’t do this right at all!” Saying this, Vansh picked up an iron rod, and started beating him mercilessly, while Neil screamed in agony.
Riddhima shuddered to see this face of Vansh. She recollected what Sia had told her,
“Bhai is so possessive about us that if he ever found out that Neil tried to misbehave with me, God only knows what he might do with him. Maybe, even kill him? “
Neil started whimpering when he saw Vansh bring a live wire towards him. Riddhima couldn’t bear the horror any longer, and shouted, “Nooo!”
Vansh turned around and was startled to see her. But before he could say anything, his guards caught hold of Riddhima.
She struggled, “Leave me! Leave me alone, I said!”
Vansh signalled his guards to leave her. He couldn’t bear the thought of her getting manhandled by anyone.
Once out of their clutches, Riddhima angrily walked towards Vansh. “What the hell do you think you are doing, huh?”
Vansh instead asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Don’t dodge my question, okay! Don’t you feel ashamed to hit someone like animals?”
“Because he is worse than an animal!” Vansh tried to reason out. “He tried to misbehave with you, and even tried to malign your character. Such men deserve a punishment worse than death!”
Riddhima continued to yell at him. “Who are you to decide which person deserves what kind of punishment? Are you God? Are you the Head of this country? There is something called ‘law’, and you’ve got no rights to take law in your hands. If you really want to punish him, why don’t you file a case against him? The way you’re treating him, even our Government doesn’t treat the terrorists like that!
Moreover, he wronged me, not you. So why are you acting like a maniac, huh? Why do you care if anyone misbehaves with me or not? Why?”
Vansh shouted, “Because I….”
“Because what?”
“Because….you won’t understand.” Vansh sighed.
Riddhima’s eyes fell upon Neil. He had cuts and bruises everywhere, he was bleeding badly. He fell at her feet. “Please forgive me Riddhima. I’m really sorry….”
Her eyes welled up with tears at this sight.
Just then, Vansh placed his foot upon Neil’s arm, and rubbed it against his already bleeding wound. Neil’s roars sent shivers through Riddhima.
“You are nothing but a monster! Leave him, Vansh!” she pushed him away.
Vansh was taken aback to hear Riddhima take his name. “Vansh did you say?”
Riddhima’s eyes blazed with fury. “Yes, from now on I’ll call you Vansh only. Because you’ve fallen in my eyes! In spite of what you did with me earlier, I still used to respect you a little bit. But now, there’s none left.”
She helped Neil to stand up and supported him. The guards tried to stop her, but she warned them. “I’m taking him away, and nobody should stop me!” Vansh signalled his guards to let her go.
She got him a taxi and asked the driver to take Neil to the hospital, while she stayed behind.
She still couldn’t believe what she had just seen. She had always considered Vansh as nothing but a saviour, but today she realised that he was actually a demon in disguise. She also couldn’t understand why Vansh had acted so possessively for her, when they had no relation between them, whatsoever.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” Vansh’s deep and intimidating voice came from behind her.
“I came here as I thought that you guys were talking about my Papa, and that he was here,” said Riddhima. “But it’s good that I came here and got to see your real face! You are a freaking monster!”
Vansh said, “Yes, I agree I’m a monster. If anyone tries to misbehave or trouble any person of my house, this will be the exact treatment meted out to them. As far as my real face is concerned,” he came closer to her. “Trust me, you haven’t seen it yet.”
“So you are doing all this just because your ego was hurt on thinking that how could someone enter your very own house and party, and misbehave with a girl living in YOUR very house?” Riddhima looked at him in contempt.
“If that’s the case, I’ve a brilliant solution to this. I’ll leave the house, and then I will no longer remain a mere ‘member’ of your house, for whom you’d have to turn into a madman every now and then.”
Vansh warned her, “You are not serious right?”
“Oh , hell yeah, I definitely am!”
“You WON’T go anywhere!”
“Why not? I’ll do whatever I want, and nobody can stop me.”
“I WON’T let that happen.”
“With what rights can you stop me from leaving?”
Vansh said, “You always question my rights upon you, over and over again. But tell me, will I have any rights upon you, if we get… engaged?”
Riddhima was caught in a complete stupor. She didn’t know how to react to this. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Vansh spoke in a clear voice this time. “I want to marry you Riddhima.”
Riddhima gave him a disgusted look. “How dare you!”
“There is nothing wrong in proposing someone for marriage, is it?” Vansh innocently asked her.
“Nothing wrong in proposing someone, but atleast you should see whom are you proposing marriage to,” she spoke angrily. “No. The answer is an outright no.”
“You cannot say no to me,” said Vansh calmly. “Or else…”
“Or else what? You’ll also beat me up like how you did with Neil?” Riddhima looked challengingly at him. “Listen, other people tremble on hearing your name, but me….I fear no one.”
Saying this she turned to leave, when Vansh said, “What about Ishaan?”
Riddhima stopped dead in her tracks.
Vansh gave her a I-know-you-too-well-look.
“Ishaan? You can’t possibly do anything bad to him, right? The whole matter is between us, he has nothing to do with all this mess,” she choked, trying to suppress her tears.
“Don’t worry, I won’t physically harm him, afterall he’s still a minor,” said Vansh casually. “But unfortunately he is accompanied by my very own man, Marc, who can easily trap Ishaan in illegal dope case.”
Riddhima gaped at him in horror.
Vansh clicked his tongue. “He would not only be defamed and disqualified from the match, but also he’ll be rusticated from his school too. His dreams of studying abroad would be shattered.”
Riddhima could not believe this man at all. Few days back, he was their perfect guardian angel, and now he was this.
She felt so angry that she almost felt like slapping him tight.
Vansh continued, “Twenty-four hours. You’ve exactly twenty-four hours. I want you to better give your nod for the proposal, or else…..you’re smart, you know what will happen next.”
______________________________________
Riddhima was pacing in and around her bedroom. That monster wanted to get engaged to her the very next day. She now had less than twenty-four hours left to evade this disaster.
She knew the only person who could help her out of this situation was Kabir. But how could she possibly contact him, when her phone calls and messages were getting tracked 24×7?
She saw Nandu pass by her room, her eyes stuck on the screen in her hands. She was playing a game on Sia’s phone.
She called her in and said, “Nandu, can I please use this phone for sometime? I’ll return it once my work is done. Also, don’t tell anyone about this, okay? It’s our little secret.”
“Little secret,” Nandu nodded.
Using Sia’s phone, Riddhima dialled Kabir’s number, hoping that atleast now he would pick it up on time. Thankfully, he did.
“Kabir, it’s me Riddhima! I’m using Sia’s phone to call you up, so I’ve very less time left.”
“What’s the matter, Riddhima?”
“You were right about Vansh. He’s such a cruel man. He wants to forcefully get engaged to me by tomorrow itself,” cried Riddhima. “And if I don’t agree to him, he may even harm Ishaan.”
Kabir groaned in frustration. “Why did you have to trust Vansh and send Ishaan off with one of his men? You always do some kind of stupidity, and then I’m expected to sort everything out.”
“Kabir, you can scold me later on, but for now please help me. I can try to escape from the house, but what about Ishaan who is stuck in Delhi? Can you send your force to rescue Ishaan?”
“Do you think it’s so simple to rescue someone in Delhi, when I myself am stuck here in Mumbai?” said Kabir.
“So what can we do now? I can’t let anything happen to my brother, nor can I get engaged to Vansh,” said Riddhima, sounding desperate.
“When does he want to get married to you?”
“I don’t know about that. He just spoke about the engagement that is going to be held tomorrow.”
Kabir inhaled sharply. “Then get engaged to him.”
Riddhima was shell shocked to hear Kabir suggest something so absurd.
“How can you be so casual about all this? Don’t you’ve any conscience that would berate you on seeing someone else slip a ring onto your girlfriend’s finger?”
Kabir smacked his fist on the table. “Do you think all this is easy for me, to see my own girlfriend getting engaged to one of my biggest enemies? No it is not! I’m already burning from inside at the mere thought of this.
But you’ve to understand that we’ve no way out as of now. I cannot endanger your’s and Ishaan’s lives.
Plus, it’s only an engagement that Vansh wants, he has mentioned nothing about marriage yet.
I’m very close to finding any potential proofs against Vansh, until then you’d have to play along. Once he is jailed, you and Ishaan will be free forever.”
The only person whom Riddhima trusted after her parents, was Kabir. But now she realised how wrong she had been all along.
“Whenever I need your help, you are never around. You always have some or the other excuse for every situation. Is your love for me even real or not?” she cried.
Kabir tried to say, “Listen Riddhima….”
“No damn it, you listen to me! I wasn’t the one who cane running after you to declare my love for you, it was you who did it,” she yelled at him.
“You want me to get engaged to Vansh, right? Fine, I’ll do it, but before that I need to do something very important. And that is to end OUR RELATIONSHIP for once and all. I cannot stay with a man who is as cowardly as you.
Now, I’ll never, ever try to contact you for any help. Whatever is to be done, I’ll do it myself.”
Kabir tried to protest, but Riddhima disconnected the call.
Even though she was the one who had broken up with him, it still hurt her heart a lot.
______________________________________
Riddhima was staring at her parents’ photo frame with moistness in her eyes.
“If you would have been with me now, I’m sure you wouldn’t have let any of this to happen,” she said sadly.
Just then, she felt someone caressing her head. It was Gayatri.
Riddhima understood why she was here and gave her a not-this-again look. She also knew that she couldn’t possibly confide in her about how Vansh had threatened to harm Ishaan. Because then she’d confront Vansh, and God knows what he might do then in his anger….
So instead she said, “Please, Nani. Kindly leave me alone. Otherwise I might say something to you in anger, and I don’t want something like that to happen.”
But Gayatri instead sat by her, and took the photo frame from her hands. “I think you don’t trust me enough. But do you trust your parents?”
Riddhima looked up at her questioningly.
And then Gayatri threw the bombshell, “What if I tell you that your parents wanted to get you married to Vansh as well?”
Riddhima was in absolute disbelief. “That’s not true! My parents would never do something like this without asking me even once.”
“Nothing was fixed, but yes, we did talk about that. Actually it was me, who had taken the initiative, and apparently both Sunidhi and Sushant were quite happy with the proposal,” said Gayatri.
“They were going to talk to you about this soon, but unfortunately God had some other plans.”
Riddhima felt betrayed.”How could they do this? I did not even complete my studies yet, and they had already begun talking about my marriage?”
“No beta, they were very much concerned about your studies too. They even put forth a condition that they’ll marry you off only after you complete your MBBS,” said Gayatri.
Get married after MBBS?!
Here, she had already made plans of deferring marriage until she completes her specialisation and super-specialisation, and there her parents had already something else in her mind.
Gayatri continued, “I know you’ve a very negative opinion about Vansh, but he is actually a really nice person. And he genuinely likes you a lot, that is the reason why he himself proposed marriage to you, without me having to do anything.”
Nice person, and Vansh? And he likes HER? Riddhima laughed to herself listening to this.
Even though Gayatri was happy to see Vansh’s interest in Riddhima, she was upset to see Riddhima’s reaction. She decided that she’d have to do some more convincing, in order to get her to agree.
“Remember, Sunidhi is not anymore with us. And it was her last wish to see you with Vansh. She and Sushant must have seen something in him, right, that they considered him fit enough to be your life partner? No parents would want something bad for their child….”
Riddhima decided that she had had enough, and politely asked Gayatri to spare her some ‘alone-time’.
As soon as she left, Riddhima started sobbing. She had no idea why all this was happening to her. She looked at her parents’ photo frame again.
“Mumma and Papa, I trusted you both so much! How could you fix me up with a monster like Vansh? And how did you not find it important to discuss this matter with me?
You people wanted a divorce, wanted to marry me off to that Vansh, and what else did you hide from me? Did I even know you both enough? Did I?”
______________________________________
Vansh was in the gym, punching a bag. Whenever he felt angry, this was his way of cooling his temper down.
So much was happening around him, with him. Why can’t life be normal for once? Was that too much to ask for?
Anupriya came inside. “Vansh! What am I even listening to? You want to marry Riddhima! Why are you doing this?”
Vansh ignored her, but she repeated the same question over and over again, until Vansh’s patience had broken.
“Stop asking me stupid questions, Mom! You know very well why I’m doing this,” Vansh said furiously.
Anupriya tried to say, “But….”
“No more ‘but’s’ or ‘if’s’. I want you to fully support my decision. And one more thing, if I see you trying to play those cheap games of yours, then that would be the end of it.”
______________________________________
It was 7.55 pm. The Raisinghania family was about to assemble for dinner, when Riddhima called them out.
“I have something important to say to everyone of you.”
Vansh stood in front, looking at her intently. Riddhima ignored and walked past him towards Gayatri.
“Give me your blessings, Nani,” she said while touching her feet. “I am ready for this alliance.”
Gayatri beamed with joy, and so did Sia and Rudra. The rest of the family did not look much happy, but nonetheless, they tried to force a smile.
“You’ve taken the best decision, beta,” said Gayatri cupping Riddhima’s face.
Vansh felt happy from inside, but he also knew that Riddhima was a rebel and couldn’t be trusted upon so easily.
“But I have a condition,” said Riddhima.
“So here it is,” Vansh thought to himself.
“My mother’s last wish was that I get married only after my MBBS gets completed. So in order to pay respect to her, I’ve decided to marry only after five years. However, we can get engaged if you want,” said Riddhima.
“Of course, it’s completely fine with us. We can wait until then, right Vansh?” said Gayatri excitedly.
Vansh nodded in approval.
“So it’s decided, tomorrow Vansh and Riddhima would get engaged. So I want all the preparations to be done accordingly,” said Gayatri.
Riddhima thought to herself, “Not five years, but only within a few months, I’d make sure to free myself from your clutches, Vansh Raisinghania.”
On the other hand, Vansh too thought to himself, “Five years is a very long period, and I don’t even need that much amount of time. I just need a few months to sort everything out and clear all this mess, after which I myself would free you from this relation, Riddhima Sinha.”
Precap:
Vansh and Riddhima get engaged. Vansh warns her to not do anything stupid.
Vansh and Riddhima struggle to swim against a stormy sea. He sees her sink down and screams out her name.
That is it for today guys. Don’t forget to comment below on how you liked this chapter.
Peace out!