In the Name of Love – Chapter 34

Those of you who have missed the previous update, here is the link :
https://www.tellyupdates.com/in-the-name-of-love-chapter-33/

@Priyanka You’ll get to know all about that in this chapter
@Xyz Thanks a lot
@Mary Thank you so much. Unfortunately, this is the truth. Children often have to bear the fruit of what their parents sowed in their lives.
Lots of love to you too, and you stay safe also!
@Annoyinguser Thanks a lot
@Meenakshi Thanks a lot. Yep, it is on the way
@Yashi Thank you dear
@Ayesha Thank you dear
@Akirti Thank you dear
@Niyati12 Thanks a lot. Hehe, I understand dear!
@Ravneet Thanks a lot
@1234Aayu Thanks a lot
@Parul Thank you dear
@AarushiSoni Thank you so much. Yes, both the ladies are wrong in their respective places. That’s the whole problem about.
@Prapti0809 Thank you so much. Yes, Vansh has to do a lot to make up to her.
@Deepa Thank you so much. Yes, poor Vansh is stuck between his mother and his love. We’ll have to see what he does now, and if Riddhima ever is able to forgive and start trusting him again.
You stay safe too! It’s okay, as long as they’re enjoying the story, it’s fine.
@Samistha Choudhary Here is the update
@Riya89 Thanks a lot. Ohh, that movie was Fida or Fiza?
@Sumisha Thank you so much. Really means a lot to me. You’ll get to know about that condition in this chapter.
@Aisha08 Thanks a lot!
@Jennifer Thanks a lot
@Subu23 Thank you so much. Don’t worry, all your questions will be answered in this chapter. I’m glad that you are liking the characters.
@Unnamed Interesting theories, but let’s see if they are right or not.
@Priyanshi_13 Thanks a lot
@Pretty User Thank you dear
@RiansHLoveR Thanks a lot
@Jayanthi Aww thank you so much! You were really kind with your words. I can’t tell you how overwhelmed I feel by your compliments right now (^hearts^). I don’t know what else to say, but you really, really made my day!
Yep, I was quite disappointed with how the makers handled the whole 6hrs secret and Riddhima’s parents’ drama. I’m sure they could have done better with that. Hopefully, they don’t do the same with this black box thing too.
Ok, I know you checked the previous chapters to make sure if something ever happened between them or not (hehe). Both of your theories are really interesting, especially the 2nd one. But we’d have to see if that is right or not.
@Jasmine Kaur Thank you dear
@Jayashree Thank you so much. I’m glad to see you loving both the stories.
@Priyadharshini Thank you dear
@JJ Thank you dear
@Vkjhp Thank you dear
@Sree Thanks a lot
@Neetu Thanks a lot
@Qt Thanks a lot. Don’t worry, you’ll find out everything in this chapter
@Milee Aww thank you so much. Your words really mean a lot to me (^hearts^). Whether Riansh unite or not, it depends upon them now. I’ll update the other FF too soon.
@Priyanka Thakur Thank you so much. Glad to see you liked it. Yeah, Vansh has to suffer because of others’ mistakes. How did Riddhima get pregnant – you’ll find that out in this chapter
@Cutuuu Thanks a lot
@Parita Thank you so much. It will take quite sometime for Riddhima to come to terms with all this. You’ll find out today.
@Riaa Thank you so much. Oh yes, I really need the best wishes, lol. Yep, poor Vansh is stuck in this situation for no fault of his. As for Riddhima, she’s going to remain upset with him for quite sometime.
Unfortunately Sunidhi’s greed was the one responsible for spoiling and messing everyone’s lives. And yeah, that was the reason why Sushant wanted to divorce her. After all, which sane and principled man would like to live with a wife like that?
Yeah, Anupriya is not someone who is completely evil. Of course, she outright dislikes Riddhima because of her mother, but she loves her children, even when they are not her real ones. Tbh, she has suffered a lot in her life. She lost her love, and then her husband too. It becomes difficult not to sympathize with her.
Oh yeah, Sushant’s matter will also be dealt with soon. I think only he can show Riddhima the right way now.
I’ve always been a fan of Sanam Saeed. She is one actress who can slay both glamorous as well as non-glamorous roles. I’ll definitely try to check up with this one.
@Pomu Thank you so much. You’ll get your answers in this chapter.

xxxx

Riddhima turned towards Anupriya. “I agree, that what my mother did was wrong. That she was money-minded,” her voice was trembling.
“But that doesn’t mean you’ll push her to death! And who gave you the right to decide which person deserves what kind of punishment for their sins? Are you the God himself, or are you the lawmaker of this country?
Moreover, how and why do you expect me to believe you, huh? What if you pushed her from the terrace on purpose, and now trying to lie through your teeth!”

Vansh interjected, “I investigated everything personally, and I found that it was an accident….”

“And what makes you think that I’d trust YOU?” Riddhima snarled at him. “I neither trust you, nor your mother. You have no place in my heart now.”

He flinched. Her words, why did they always manage to pierce right through his heart and break it into a million pieces? Usually, he roamed about the city completely unaffected by anyone’s words, but with Riddhima it was different. He hated the affect she had on him, but it wasn’t in his control.

“Did you kidnap my Papa?” asked Riddhima fiercely.

“No, I didn’t! In fact, I pray everyday for him to return to me…,” Anupriya corrected herself. “I mean to us, safe and sound.”

“Liar! I don’t believe you at all,” said Riddhima. “Besides, I can almost see that you’re literally obsessed with my Papa, so who knows you are the one to hide him somewhere away!”

“No, it isn’t like that,” said Vansh. “And I promise you that I’ll soon find him.”

“Keep your charity to yourself,” snapped Riddhima. “I’d find him myself, without anybody’s help.”

Vansh had been facing her insults for a long time. He couldn’t control himself any longer. “I’ve been tolerating your misbehaviour since the past one hour. Just because I’m silent, doesn’t mean you take me for granted.”

“Misbehaviour? Really Vansh?” she mocked. “You haven’t seen my misbehaviour yet! Never mind, I’ll show you today how actual ‘misbehaviour’ is done.”

Anupriya pleaded, “Stop hurting my Vansh every now and then! He is absolutely innocent in all this mess. And what’s happened, has happened. I can’t change anything. Please forgive me and forget all this.”

Riddhima pondered for a while. “Fine! I will forgive you. But for that, you’d have to turn yourself to the police.”

Anupriya and Vansh looked on aghast.

“What happened? Just a while ago, you said you that you wished to rectify your mistake?” taunted Riddhima. Turning towards Vansh, she said, “And I didn’t expect you to have so less knowledge about the Indian law. Mrs. Anupriya won’t get just two years imprisonment, but rather she’d get much more than that. Seven definitely.”

Anupriya started panicking.

Riddhima smirked at her, “Two years for culpable homicide, and the rest for hiding the body. Do you know how to grind grains into flour? If you don’t, you better learn it because it will be very helpful for your survival in the jail….”

“How dare you!” Anupriya raised her hand to hit her, but Vansh stopped her in time.

Riddhima became furious. “When my own parents never raised their hand on me, how did you even think of doing something like that? Instead of showing any kind of remorse, you give me this kind of attitude?”

Anupriya swallowed her anger, “I am very remorseful. I don’t need to prove anything to you, but only I know how guilty I feel every single day!
And don’t you think that in all this mess, you are ignoring your baby’s health? Concentrate a little bit on him as well.”

Riddhima was confused. “Which baby? Whose baby?”

“Your baby who is growing inside you. Vansh’s baby, and the heir of the Raisinghania family,” said Anupriya.

“What crap is this?” Riddhima blurted out.

Vansh grasped her shoulders and looked at her lovingly.
“This is what I’ve been wanting to tell you since so long, sweetheart. You are pregnant, we are pregnant!”

“Have you turned crazy? Or are you high?” Riddhima asked in disbelief.

“I know you are upset with me, but you cannot deny the existence of this baby,” said Vansh. He tried to caress her face, but Riddhima jerked his hands off. “That night when we came close to each other…..that is the reason for this.”

Anupriya felt uncomfortable as Vansh tried to embrace a resisting Riddhima. She decided to leave the couple to themselves in the room, and as soon as she did that, Vansh latched the door from inside.

Riddhima started shouting, “What nonsense is this? Nothing ever happened between….”

Vansh cut her off by placing his hand upon her mouth.

He winced in pain when she thrusted her teeth into his hand.
“Gosh Riddhima! You’re such an insolent little girl!” he cursed under his breath.

Vansh forced Riddhima to crouch up in a corner. He knelt beside her and said in a low voice, making sure no one else was listening.

“I know that nothing ever happened between us. But the world does not need to know that. They only need to know that you are pregnant, so just play along.”

“I will NOT!” she said defiantly. “I am not a puppet that will dance to your tunes!”

Vansh said, “I don’t know if you’re a puppet or not. But you’ve to do as I say. Or else…” His voice changed to a dangerous one. “I’ll keep you caged here itself. And as far as your biggest weakness, your brother Ishaan is concerned, anything can happen to him.”

Riddhima’s eyes widened in fear. “Finally, you started showing your true colours again.”

“Yes, and I want you to remember that I am a very dangerous man Riddhima,” said Vansh menacingly.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked but got no answer.

Riddhima continued, “I know the reason though. You’re trying to save me from your mother, right? Now that I know the truth, you feel she can try to harm me or something?
When you yourself cannot bring yourself to trust her, how can you expect me to trust her words? She could be lying and she might have done all this intentionally.”

Vansh retorted, “I’ve no time or patience for your stupid theories.”

He was about to get up but Riddhima gave a sharp tug at his hand. Vansh lost his balance and was about to crash right into her, but he steadied himself by placing his both hands on the wall, and trapping Riddhima between them.

Looking straight into his eyes with contempt, she said, “I hate you Vansh. And I will keep hating you forever, until one of us dies.”

Vansh clenched his jaws, trying to keep his emotions in control. The eyes in which he had seen love and affection for him few days back, now just had only abhorrence for him.

His first love had cheated upon him, and his second love, was now claiming that she hated him. Was love not written in his destiny?
______________________________________

Vansh grasped Riddhima’s hand in his hand, leading her inside the VR Mansion. She dug her nails into his skin, causing him to pull back.

Vansh sighed, and entwined his fingers with hers even more tightly this time.

When Gayatri saw them, she said, “Thank God Riddhima you are safe. I was so worried when you weren’t lifting up your phone. It was only after Vansh’s reassuring message that I became calm.”

Sia saw the couple and started coughing. “Ahem, ahem! Bhai, you’re becoming bolder and bolder with each passing day. Holding hands in front of the family, huh? Not bad.”

Vansh asked her to shut up, which she immediately did.

He cleared his throat. “I have an announcement….no….in fact WE have an announcement to make in front of everyone.”

“Oh my God, a wedding announcement?” asked Ishani.

Vansh spoke after a while, “Riddhima and I are expecting a baby.”

The whole family listened to this piece of news in complete shock. They stood there dumbstruck, until Chanchal came and started blabbering.

“See Maa, I was so right about them. This is what they had been doing behind our backs, under the whole pretext of consoling and giving moral support to each other.
Vansh is a man, he might have slipped understandably, but Riddhima is a girl and it was her duty to stop this mishap from happening….”

“Enough Chachi!” Vansh chided her. “I don’t want anyone to comment upon mine and Riddhima’s personal relation.”

Chanchal said, “It would have been personal had you both been married to each other. But now, with this huge mistake, nothing remains personal.”

“Fine. If our ideologies don’t match with each other’s, then I have a solution to it. Why don’t you pack your bags and get out from MY house?” smirked Vansh.

Chanchal stood there open-mouthed, not knowing what to say further.

Gayatri also started berating her, “How conveniently you started blaming Riddhima for all this, and that too just because she’s a girl? Don’t men have any moral responsibilities? Both are equally at fault for what has happened, but in my eyes, Vansh is a bigger culprit. He is mature and has lot of experience about life, as opposed to Riddhima who is very young and naive.”

Turning towards Vansh, she said, “You both have disappointed me terribly. But the good news has drained away all my anger.”
She cupped his face. “I’m so, so very elated Beta! I can’t wait to cradle your bundle of joy in my arms.
Your dream of having your own child, that had got shattered few years back, will now get fulfilled. Now there would be no more sorrows in your life, but only pure bliss and happiness.”

Vansh smiled sadly. He wished he could tell his Dadi that his life was always scattered with thorns and would do so in the future as well. He had even forgotten what happiness even meant.
Happiness knocked at his door many a times, but instead of entering his life, it would turn back away, as if it was angry at him.

On the other hand, Riddhima stood completely oblivious to all this discussion, aimlessly staring into the blank space. She knew that people around her would call her characterless and ‘too easy’ for getting pregnant with her fiance’s child before marriage.
But it didn’t matter to her. When even death couldn’t scare her, how would the prospect of getting a bad reputation scare her?

Riddhima’s mind was only filled with thoughts about her mother. She did all that for what? For getting her married to this psycho man? How could she place money above her own daughter’s happiness?
And now because of her, she was stuck in this hell, with no way out.

What kind of games was life playing with her? Why was God testing her in the most brutal way possible? Why whomever she had started to trust upon with her whole heart, was hell bound on shattering that very trust?

Breaking her from her trance, Gayatri said, “Riddhima, are you happy my child?”

With a blank expression on, Riddhima began to speak emotionlessly.
“Of course, Nani. I am very happy. So happy, that I cannot even express it in words. In fact, I’ve never felt like this in my entire life.”

Everyone looked on, very well understanding the hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Riddhima continued, “This is what every girl dreams of – a charming prince who’d come on a white horse and take her to his palace where she’ll fall in love with him, get married to him, and then bear him a child.
In fact, this is the only dream that we girls are supposed to see since childhood. And if any girl dares to dream something different, people around her punish her by breaking that very dream into many pieces….So yes, I’m very happy now.
Anyways, I’m quite tired so would like to retire to my room. Please, excuse me everybody.”

Saying this, she marched upstairs while Vansh looked on.

Ishani spoke up, “Looks like she’s ambitious and not very happy with this pregnancy. If it is like that, she can get an abortion done.”

Gayatri was mortified. “Ishani! How can you even suggest something like that? Killing an innocent unborn child even before it has opened it’s eyes, is a grave sin. And I won’t let that happen.”

She consoled Vansh. “Don’t get disheartened. All this is very sudden for Riddhima, just give her some time. I’m sure she’ll soon accept her fate.
Also with Riddhima getting pregnant, I think it would be better if we got both of you married at the earliest. I’ll call the pundit to finalize a date.”
______________________________________

Riddhima was tearing papers after papers and throwing them on the floor in a bid to calm herself down, but nothing seemed to help.

She took her father’s photo and clung it to her chest tightly. “Papa, where are you? Please come back. Your Riddhima needs you!
You were never materialistic like Mumma, then why did you say yes for Vansh’s proposal? You knew him very well, yet why did you agree to this?”

Just then, she heard a knock. It was Ishani.

“Please Ishani. I’m in no mood to talk to you now. Just leave me alone.”

But Ishani instead came inside and shut it tight. “I know how you’re exactly feeling, babe. That’s why I’m here to help you.”

Riddhima had a question mark on her face.

Ishani said, “Look, I know that you are not happy with this pregnancy. But the rest of the family and Bhai would coax you to keep the baby. And this is not fair.
A woman has to keep the baby inside her for nine months, has to suffer through the ordeals of labour, and would even have to manage the child for the rest of her life. Therefore ideally, the decision to bring the baby into this world should lie with the woman only.”

She continued, “You are what, only nineteen, right? You have your whole life ahead of you. I’m sure you’d have had to make many sacrifices to even get into a good medical college, only so that at the end of the day, you’d become a good doctor.
Tell me will you be able to fulfill this dream with a baby on board? No!
Listen, I know a gynaecologist who’d do your abortion secretly without anyone getting to know about it. Later, you can brush it off as a miscarriage in front of the family.”

Riddhima pondered for a while.
“How do you know about this gynaecologist? Unless….you also got…..”

Ishani hesitated initially, but later confessed it.
“Yeah, even I had got an abortion done few years back. I was still studying and was probably about your age. I knew if the family got to know, they’d force me to marry my boyfriend and keep the baby, which I didn’t want at any cost.
I know we were wrong to cross our boundaries before marriage, but that doesn’t mean we’ll spoil our entire life for it. When men face no repurcussions for this, why should women then?”

She gently placed her hand over Riddhima’s.
“Look, I don’t want you to take any rash decision. Take your own time and decide carefully. I just want the final decision to be yours. I wish I had someone back then to explain all this to a ‘panicked’ me.
If you want to keep the baby, all well and good, and if you don’t, you know you can count on me.”

Riddhima felt touched by her gesture. She realized that perhaps Ishani wasn’t as snobbish and petty as she had imagined her to be.

“Thank you so much. I know you don’t like me much, but still you went out of your way to talk to me about this. That really means a lot to me.”

Ishani smiled. “I don’t think I can ever bring myself to fully start liking you, though. But of course, I had to reach out to you, because only a woman can understand another’s woman pain.”

“If all women thought like you, then this world would have been a much better place to live in,” Riddhima said sadly as she recollected about the mess that took place between her mother and Anupriya.
______________________________________

“See, my worst fears turned true. Riddhima is pregnant with Vansh’s child. Now everything , from the business to the property to this mansion, everything will go to his/her name,” Chanchal angrily grumbled. She gave her son a slight hitting.
“And it’s all because of YOU.”

“Me? What did I do now?” asked Aryan irritatedly.

“I’ve been asking you since ages to marry a nice girl, but you never paid any heed to my rants,” said Chanchal. “And this Riddhima, God, that girl is too fast. I mean at least Ragini took two years to get pregnant, and moreover it was someone else’s child. But Riddhima, she got pregnant within just two weeks of her pregnancy! How is that even possible? Before Vansh, she had been dating Kabir. So what if the baby is Kabir’s?”

“We have achieved so much in the field of technology, that I don’t think it is impossible to detect a pregnancy as early as that,” Aryan tried to explain.
“To be honest, I’m more surprised at Bhai than at Riddhima. I mean, he always seems to be sincere, strict, mature and decent. But from inside, he’s nothing but a pervert! He never waits until marriage, and does the thing much before that itself.
Well, in Riddhima’s case, he isn’t much at fault. After all, with such a beautiful woman in front of him, no man would be able to control himself…..”

Aryan let out a groan when Chanchal’s hand landed on his face with a smack.

She started scolding him. “How shameless you have become! Talking all this rubbish in front of the mother. Today’s generation I tell you!
Already I’m so tensed thinking about our future. I’m telling you, we will be doomed for the rest of our lives!”

Aryan smirked, “Don’t worry and have some faith in your son. I’m not one of those to give up so easily. I will surely do something really big this time.”
______________________________________

The next morning, Riddhima was in for a surprise when she saw that Gayatri had called their family priest over to their house.

In spite of her refusal, she made Riddhima to sit right beside Vansh. Riddhima made a face and tried to slide away from Vansh as far as possible. Even his signature leather cologne, that she had started to like over a period of time, now seemed to irritate her a lot.

Vansh observed her antics and respectfully moved away to the farthest corner of the couch.

Gayatri said, “Punditji, I want you to arrange their wedding on the nearest auspicious date possible. Actually, we are in a hurry and would like the marriage to be held at the earliest.”
She was careful enough to not disclose the actual reason behind her eagerness.

The priest joked, “What if there is a date two days later? Would you be ready even then?”

“You are talking about two days, I’d even get them married within two hours if possible,” quipped Gayatri.

Riddhima tried to say, “But Nani, what is the hurry?”

But she shushed her up. “We’ve to act as quickly as possible, before any outsider gets the hang of this matter.”

Riddhima panicked. She thought to herself, “I’d rather keep acting as an unwed pregnant girl, rather than getting married to that madman. No, no! I can’t just sit here and watch the show and do nothing. There must be some way out.”

Just then, Mrs. D’souza brought in a plate of samosas and some green chutney to go along with it.

Riddhima got an idea. “Punditji, why don’t you take some samosas?”

“No, no, beta.”

“No punditji, I insist.” Saying this, Riddhima tried to serve him, but in the process, dropped the chutney over his clothes.

“I’m so sorry,” she said trying to sound as apologetic as possible. “Please come over to the kitchen, I’ll help you clean it.”

Vansh looked at the scene amused. By now, he literally knew Riddhima inside out, and understood what she was upto. Nonetheless, he remained silent, allowing the things to unfold before him on their own.

Anupriya clicked her tongue. “This messy and careless girl would become the eldest daughter-in-law of this house? I wonder what will become of the future of this family!”

Riddhima ignored her and escorted the priest away from their sight. Once she was done with helping him clean his clothes up, she flashed a two-thousand rupee note in front of him.

“I want you to give the farthest date possible for the marriage. Preferably four to five months away.”

The priest frowned at her. “What do you think of me? Do I look like a greedy person who can be bought by few thousand rupees?”

Riddhima flashed another two thousand rupees before him.
“Will that do?”

The priest quickly took the money. “Consider your work to be done.”

Riddhima left from there, while the priest stood there thanking his good fortune.

“Today is a very lucky day indeed! I recieved money from two people today to prolong the date of wedding, one from this girl, and one from Vansh Raisinghania himself!”

The priest came back to his place, and started flipping through his astrology book. With glasses perched on his nose, he faked doing some calculations, when in reality, he was just wasting time.

After ten minutes, which seemed like ten hours, he finally opened his mouth to say something.
“I’m really sorry, Gayatriji, but I am able to find a date only after four months.”

“What?” Gayatri sounded worried. “Please do something Punditji. I need to get them married urgently, kindly give us an earlier date.”

“There is no date before that. I’ve cross checked it ample number of times. And let me tell you, if you get these two married at any other not-so auspicious date, then one of them is sure to die immediately after the wedding,” the priest remarked.

Gayatri grew even more anxious. “What a dilemma we have been put in! I don’t what do we do now.”

Anupriya whispered, “Maa, I think the date after four months is fine. I know you’re worried about Riddhima’s pregnancy getting revealed before the marriage, but you should know that nothing much can even be deduced by looking at a four month old pregnant lady.”

With a lot of persuasion, Gayatri finally agreed to get them married after four months.

Riddhima cast a victorious look towards Vansh.
She thought, “I know, your plan must be to marry me as early as possible, so as to trap me here for the rest of my life. But even I’m a step ahead of you this time. Four months is more than enough for me to figure a way out of this mess.”

Staring back at her, Vansh thought to himself, “Riddhima, you’ve no idea how much I love you. And how much I desire to marry you and make you a permanent part of my life. But I also know that you don’t love me. In fact, all you’ve for me in your heart is hatred right now.
I forced you to get engaged to me and even forced you to carry on this pregnancy drama with me. But I can never force or manipulate you to marry me. That would be against my principles, against my love.
I just need these four months to sort this whole thing out, after which, you will be free to lead your life as per your will.”

Precap :
At the party, a video plays out on the projector showing Riddhima and Kabir in a compromising situation. Vansh gets angry and breaks the projector.

Riddhima wipes her tears off and says, “I’ve cried enough. Now it is time to make others cry.”

Hello everyone! That is it for today guys. Do vote and comment below.

Peace out!