In the Name of Love – Chapter 44

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Previous update’s link :

https://www.tellyupdates.com/in-the-name-of-love-chapter-43/

Looking straight into Riddhima’s eyes, Vansh said, “I know that you used to hate me back then, at the time of our engagement. I, on the other hand, have been secretly admiring you since quite sometime before that. But in spite of my growing fondness for you, it never felt right to me to force this alliance upon you this way….”

Riddhima’s heart was overflowing with emotions. She wanted to say so much more to him, but strange enough, her tongue refused to obey her command. She simply kept staring at him endearingly.

Vansh fervently searched her eyes to see what emotion they held for him. He now knew her so well that whenever she’d remain tight lipped about any matter, he would instead look for answers in her eyes. And those incredibly beautiful and expressive eyes would give away everything hidden inside her heart.

He felt relieved to see love in her eyes for him. To be honest, he had been weary how she would take all this information as.

Vansh turned towards Gayatri and Ishani, and explained them about how it had been his plan only to fake the pregnancy.

“I knew that Anupriya wanted to harm Riddhima once she learned about her mother’s truth. But I also knew that Anupriya loved me a lot, and wouldn’t want anything to happen to my child and the heir of this family. So I in turn decided to take advantage of that very love.”

Turning her nose up in disgust, Gayatri came towards Anupriya and tried to slap her. But Ishani stopped her from doing so.

“Don’t dirty your hands by touching this cheap woman,” she said.

“Ishani!” Anupriya called her out, feeling extremely hurt.

“I kept calling you as Mom, but you instead turned out to be my own mother’s killer?” cried Ishani. “I feel ashamed to even have ever loved you, respected you or trusted you. Because of you, I even misunderstood Riddhima, for crying out loud!”

“If I’d have my own way, I would have loved to give you an extremely painful death, similar to the one you gave to both our mothers,” roared Vansh. He casted a glance at Riddhima. “All these years, I’ve only done things according to my own wish and thinking. But from now onwards, I want to think and act in the way that Riddhima prefers.”

Riddhima looked up at him in surprise.

Vansh nodded. “Yes, that’s right. I have realized that the worst punishment for her would be handing her over to the law. And I’ll make sure that she leads a torturous life in jail and never comes out of it. Ever.”

He questioningly looked at Angre, who confirmed that he had already called the police up and that they were on their way.

“I’m sorry, Riddhima,” Vansh said out of the blue. “You had saved by Maasi by risking your own life, and so you had full rights to know all about her. But I instead lied and hid her real identity from you.”

She took his hand in her’s. “You did not lie to me, Vansh. It is said that a maasi is supposed to be equivalent to a mother. So it wasn’t wrong when you introduced your Maasi as your Uma Maa in front of me. If anybody can take Uma Maa’s place in your life after her, it would be Urvashi Maasi herself.”

Ishani walked upto Riddhima with her head hung down in shame.
“I don’t even have words to say how guilty I feel right now. I am sorry, Riddhima. Please forgive me if possible.”

Riddhima stayed silent, causing Vansh to worry. He knew that whatever Ishani had done was wrong, but she had done it purely out of misunderstanding. Would Riddhima forgive his little sister, or not?

“It is okay, Ishani. I forgive you,” she said after sometime, much to Vansh’s relief. “But before pointing fingers at someone, always remember to listen to his side of the story, too. And you, never allowed me to recount my side of story to you all.”

Tears running down her face, Ishani flung herself at her brother.
“I was so small when Maa had died. In fact, I don’t even remember how she looked in person. Grew up watching her in mere pictures only. And the woman whom I considered as my mother, she betrayed us so badly…”

Even though Vansh was angry with Ishani for having spoken so rudely with Riddhima, but he knew that this wasn’t the time to talk about that. This was the time when he would have to act strong for his family and support them.

“Sshhh! It’s okay. Everything will be fine,” Vansh tried to comfort her, fighting back his own tears.

He soon took Gayatri too in his embrace, and the three of them stood there together, consoling and wiping each others’ tears off.

Riddhima stood and watched them from afar, feeling emotional herself.

Angre, on the other hand, stood close by Anupriya, keeping a lookout for her in case she tried to run away. But that wasn’t even needed. Because Anupriya was so broken, that she had lost of all her senses.

The sound of the siren of the police van, brought them all back to reality. Some of the female constables came by and handcuffed Anupriya to take her away.

“I know that all of you really hate me a lot, right now,” said Anupriya meekly. “But remember, that I always loved you all, and will continue to do so in the future as well.”

“Before I change my decision of sending you to jail instead of punishing you myself, you better get lost from here!” Vansh growled at her.

As she was being taken away, she stopped in the middle, glaring at Riddhima.

“Why are you eyeing her like that, huh?” A familiar voice spoke from afar.

When Riddhima cocked her head to see who it was, she was astonished to see Kabir in front of her.

He confidently walked towards them, and said, “Enough of your evilness, Mrs. Anupriya. For now, a grand welcome awaits you in the jail. Constables, take her away right now!”

The police van drove away with Anupriya and the rest of the police team inside it, while Kabir stayed behind.

He looked at Riddhima lovingly, while she appeared least bothered.

“How have you been, Riddhima?” he asked her softly.

Vansh who had seen all this from a distance, clenched his fists in anger. He took long strides towards them and scowled at Kabir.

“Why is it that whenever the Raisinghania family goes through a legal hassle, you are the first one to come by under the pretext of being a ‘police officer’? Are you that jobless, Inspector Sharma?”

“It is my sheer helplessness that I have to pay you and your family a visit, time and again. If I had it my way, I wouldn’t have even wanted to see your face!” Kabir spoke sharply.
“But unfortunately, I have to do it only in order to ensure that Riddhima is doing well.”

“She is my fiancee and my responsibility! You needn’t waste your time worrying over her.”

Kabir ignored Vansh and instead directed his attention towards Riddhima.

“Did you see how this entire Raisinghania family is filled with shrewd criminals? Aryan, Anupriya, and of course, not to forget, our dear Vansh, the underworld kingpin.
Now that your Papa has returned and all the mysteries regarding both of your parents have been solved, it is high time that you leave this cursed mansion and this vile family, too. Forever.”

Vansh could not control his temper any longer and began to tell him off.

“Stay in your limits, Kabir. If you don’t keep that tongue of your’s in control, I wouldn’t even think twice before slicing it into two! Your job was to arrest Anupriya, and with that done, I think you must leave immediately.”

“I won’t leave without taking Riddhima along with me,” said Kabir adamantly.

Vansh grabbed Kabir’s collar and began shouting, “Enough is enough! I won’t tolerate this nonsense any longer.”

With a lot of difficulty, Riddhima pulled the two men away from each other.

She started berating Vansh for his immaturity and asked him to let her handle this on her own.

“But….” Vansh sounded doubtful.

“Do you trust me?” she repeated the question that she had posed to him in the morning.

“Yes, absolutely,” Vansh replied without even thinking.

“Then let me. Please.”

Folding her arms across her chest, Riddhima tossed her head haughtily at Kabir.

“If I am not wrong, according to you, Vansh is an evil man just because he is in the Mafia, and you are a righteous person just because you are a police officer. But don’t you think that’s such a superficial way to judge a person as a whole?

Even I used to be think like this earlier and be quick to judge people around. I had assumed you to be a good person, because a police officer is suppposed to be good by default, right? But oh dear, I now realize how wrong I was!”

“What do you mean?” asked Kabir confused. “Can you stop talking in riddles?”

Riddhima fished out the stolen phone from her bag. Kabir’s eyes widened in shock on seeing it with her.

“W-what is this phone doing with y-you?” Kabir stammered, getting nervous.

“I stole it,” she replied coolly. “From your cupboard. If you want, you can try to file a case on me for that.”

“Come on Riddhima, why would I file a case on you out of all people? You know I love you too much for that,” said Kabir.

Vansh got furious. How dare Kabir say that about his fiancee, his Riddhima! He wanted to teach him a lesson, but Riddhima signalled him with her eyes to not do anything. What was even going on in her head?

“The word love sounds really cheap from your mouth now,” she remarked.
“Amyways, we’ll talk about that later. But first, shall we talk about Ragini?”

Kabir started perspiring and breathing heavily, while Vansh stiffened up at the mention of Ragini.

“Now, don’t act as if you didn’t know Ragini at all,” retorted Riddhima. “Because I know that you were the one to send Ragini as a spy into Vansh’s life. You were the one who asked her to trap Vansh in her love and collect proofs against him.”

She turned towards Vansh, worried how he’d take this piece of information as. She knew that talking about Ragini, had always been his trigger point.

But to her surprise, Vansh stood there unaffected.

Looking at the question mark on her face, Vansh grimly said, “I have known it all this while.”

Riddhima was taken aback by this revelation. Vansh had already known that Ragini actually worked for Kabir, so why didn’t he ever tell her that?

“Yes, I sent Ragini to spy upon Vansh. So what’s the big deal in that?” said Kabir. “I am a police officer, and sometimes even police officers have to resort to such meansin order to trap a hot-shot criminal like him.”

Riddhima narrowed her eyes at him. “Oh! If Ragini was working for you, then you must be also knowing that she was having an affair with another man. Do you know who that man was?”

“We had purely a professional relation between us. I had no idea what was going on in her personal life,” said Kabir wiping off the sweat from his forehead.

“Okay, then. Let us listen to these audio messages. I’m sure everything will get cleared then.”

Saying this, Riddhima clicked the play button on the phone in her hands, and the audio recordings started playing one after the other :

“You know, Kabir, that I love you so much and can do anything for you….” a girl’s voice spoke.

“Yes, I know that Ragini. But for the sake of my love, you’d have to trap Vansh in your love instead and collect proofs against him. My biggest dream in life is to send Vansh to jail. Once that happens, we both shall get married and live happily ever after,” Kabir had said.

*

“Oh God! Kabir, I am pregnant, and this baby is your’s! I can’t keep fooling Vansh even now. Let us end all this here,” Ragini had said.

“Wow! That is an even greater news! Now, that you are pregnant, Vansh would obviously assume that this baby is his, and he’ll begin to trust you even more,” Kabir had spoken.

“B-but….this is wrong….”

“Do you love me, Ragini?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Then you have to do this for me, for our love.”

*

“My game is up! Vansh came to know everything about me. He has ousted me from his house, from his life. Please, Kabir I need you.”

“You stupid woman! Everything was goingon perfectly well. How did you get caught just two days before Vansh’s and your marriage? You literally spoilt all my hardwork and planning.”

“I am sorry Kabir. But now I am pregnant. Let us leave all this, get married and lead a happy life together – you, me and our baby.”

“How did you even think that I’ll marry someone like you?”

“But you love me, right?” Ragini had asked.

“No, I never loved you. It was just a pretend from my side to get you to work for me.”

“But I’m pregnant now…you can’t leave me like this…” Ragini had started crying.

“I don’t care! Better get an abortion done.”

“But it’s too late to get it aborted….”

“So dump this baby in the garbage. Just do whatever you want, but keep me out of all this. Understood?”

*

Vansh was shocked beyond words. He knew that it was Kabir who had sent Ragini to trap him, but he had no idea that he was the one whom Ragini was having an affair with. It means that Kabir was Nandu’s….

Ishani and Gayatri were also equally astonished to hear this.

“Can’t believe that you are Nandu’s biological father,” said Riddhima looking at him with disgust.

“Listen Riddhima, I can explain….” Kabir tried to say.

Before he could say anything further, he felt a hard blow land on his face.

“You bastard! How could you do this?” Vansh continued to beat the hell out of him.

“Vansh, no!” Riddhima pulled him away. “You are already wounded, I can’t let it worsen further.”

Kabir looked devastated. He steadied himself and said, “I was the one getting bashed by Vansh. And instead of worrying for me, you are worrying for him?”

“I’ve no sympathy for a man who neither had any consideration for that woman who claimed to love him, nor for his own daughter even,” snapped Riddhima.

“But I never loved Ragini, damn it!”

“And what about your own daughter? Wasn’t it your responsibility to bring her up? What was her mistake in all this? How heartlessly you asked to dump her somewhere as if she were a piece of trash!”

Riddhima’s eyes had moistened at the thought of Nandu’s own biological parents think so lowly about her. Nandu’s cherubic face, her cute little actions and talks, all flashed before her eyes. How could someone be so cruel towards such an innocent, little girl like her?

In the past one month, Riddhima had developed a close bonding with Nandu. The thought of someone thinking so meanly of her, ached her heart.

She continued yelling at him, “You always used to go around badmouthing about Vansh. I agree he might be in the Mafia, but he is thousand times better than you. He never used a woman only for his personal vendetta nor did he ever play with anyone’s feelings. He carried out all his responsibilities with utmost sincerity and dedication, always. He has such a big heart, that he adopted that woman’s daughter who had cheated upon him with another man. He brought her home, gave her a home, a family, his name and everything that her own parents had denied to provide her with.

“And you, on the other hand did what? You left your own daughter to die? It’s better to be a Don, rather than be a police officer like you!”

Vansh felt his heart bursting with joy listening to all the praises that Riddhima spoke for him.

Kabir, however, looked ashamed. “I know I did wrong. But I am ready to rectify my mistake. I am ready to take Nandu under my wing and carry out my duties of a father. I’ll do anything to obtain your love, Riddhima!”

Vansh started burning with rage. “How dare you talk about taking my daughter and my to-be wife along with you! Nandu might have your filthy blood running through her veins, but she is my freaking daughter, did you understand? And no one can snatch her from me!”

“So keep your so-callef daughter to yourself. I’m not at all interested in her,” said Kabir with a care-a-damn-attitude. “I only want Riddhima back.”

Holding her hands tightly, the craziness in his eyes was evident. “Nobody can ever love you as much as I do, Riddhima. Not even Vansh.”

Vansh tried to charge at him, but Riddhima came in between instead. Facing Kabir, she reiterated, “A person who couldn’t love his own daughter, cannot be expected to give love to any other woman either.
Do you know what’s the most beautiful and selfless relation in the world? The one between parents and their child. But you put a black stain on that very relation!
Remember, the world can forgive a bad son, a bad brother, and maybe even a bad husband, but there’s no mercy for a bad father who leaves his own baby girl to fend for herself.
You have fallen so low in my eyes that I feel ashamed of ever having nice thoughts regarding you!”

Kabir began to pull at his hair in frustration.
“Whatever I did, Vansh is to be blamed for that! He spoiled my life, got my father suspended from the police department on wrong grounds, and I will never, ever forgive him for that.”

“What nonsense is this? How much more would you lie, Kabir?” Vansh thundered at him. “I never even met your father, ever.”

“He is lying!”

“Fine. Let’s see who exactly is liar amongst the two of you. Even though I know the answer to it, but this is being done just for your satisfaction only,” said Riddhima.

“What do you mean?” Kabir asked, but he was cut off by the sound of an approaching motorcycle. It halted a little away from them, and soon, Kabir’s brother, Ashok got down it.

“Bhayya, what are you doing here? What is going on?” asked a perplexed Kabir.

“I called him here. To clear this matter, for once and all,” said Riddhima.

She went up to Ashok and requested him to tell everything truthfully.
“Vinod Uncle is no more with us. But can you tell me and all of us as to why did Uncle leave the police force all of a sudden? Was he suspended with regard to any fake encounter case?”

“Yes Bhayya. Tell them everything,” Kabir backed him up.

Ashok swallowed hard. “Papa wasn’t suspended or anything. He had in fact taken voluntary retirement owing to his deteriorating health.”
He looked sympathetically at his younger brother. “Kabir, you have got a really big misunderstanding.”

At first, Kabir stood there open-mouthed. And then all of a sudden, he started acting hysterical.
“You too, Bhayya? Why is everyone teaming up against me and hell bound on destroying me?”
He violently shook his brother’s shoulders. “How much money did Vansh buy you for? Or wait a second, is he blackmailing you or something? We all know how low Vansh can stoop….”

“I’ve had enough of this man!” Vansh shouted and started beating him blue and black. He was so caught up in his fury, that he wasn’t even paying any heed to the cries of the ladies behind him.

Ashok pleaded to him, “Please, leave my brother. Let him go…”

“How many times should I let him off?” Vansh shouted back. “Time and again this man comes by with that cursed face of his and begins to spew venom in my life.
If he is so dear to you, why don’t you keep him in control?”

“Because he suffers from a psychiatric illness,” Ashok blurted out in a desperate attempt to save his brother from his wrath.

Vansh stopped abruptly. He and Riddhima stood there aghast.

Ashok broke down looking at Kabir’s bruises. He started sobbing remembering the past.

“We were quite young, when we lost our mother many years back. Even though, all of us managed to move on, but Kabir, he could never do that. He started becoming delusional, suspecting everything and everyone around him, and even started making weird theories about different matters. He also started obsessing over quite a few things….

“We showed him to a doctor and got him treated. But God knows when, but the illness made a comeback again. Initially, he was only obsessed with sending Vansh to jail. But lately, after having met Riddhima, he has started growing obsessed for her too.

“I know what he did with you all, cannot be justified, but please, I beg you to forgive him. Please….”

Everybody was silent for some time, until Vansh finally decided to speak up.

“If he suffers from a psychiatric illness, get him treated. I am warning you to get him admitted into a mental asylum, because if you don’t do so, I wouldn’t think twice before killing him off.”

Ashok nodded and forcefully took a screaming and struggling Kabir away in a taxi. Even as they drove away, they could hear Kabir’s wails.

Riddhima shuddered as she heard her name being screamed out even when the taxi went farther from them.

Vansh held her. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that he never gets close to you again….”

As Vansh and Riddhima were caught in each other’s gaze, Ishani, Gayatri and Angre realized that it was best if they left the couple alone to themselves. They quietly left from the scene.

“I always used to believe that my Papa was the best father in the world. But now I realize that I was very wrong indeed. You are a much better father than him.”

“It is not like that,” said Vansh looking away.

“Of course, it is. It is easier to love and care for your own child, but it requires a great deal of courage and selflessness to love someone else’s child, too. Had it not been for you, God knows what condition Nandu might now have been in,” said Riddhima.

“I’m afraid, Riddhima, but I wasn’t a good father to Nandu ever,” said Vansh sadly. “I always behaved so rude and distant with her.”

“But in spite of that, you are a very good father. And I am proud of you for that,” she smiled.

Vansh opened his mouth to say something, but Riddhima placed a finger on his lips.

“Today, you won’t say anything. Rather, I’d be the one speaking my feelings out, and you’d be listening.

“I never trusted you and always misunderstood you, instead. But you….you always showed this blind trust on me, even when all the proofs stood against me.
I also realize that it was always you, who tried to keep our relation intact. While I, on the other hand, did nothing for this relation and in fact always tried to run away from it.
But now, I want to change all this….

“For me, it was my family that meant the world to me. I was always under this impression that what I felt for my parents and my brother, I can never be able to feel the same for anyone else.
But now, you are my world too, Vansh….”

Vansh’s eyes started brimming with a mixture of tears and joy. Riddhima grasped his hands and kissed them.

“Unlike you, I don’t know how to express my feelings in beautiful words. But I don’t want to undermine the value of your love and this relation, by just saying a mere ‘I Love You’.
I just want to say that now, I cannot even imagine my life without you. I don’t know when and how this happened, but this is the only truth.

“I want to do so much for you, for us and for this relation. I realised that I never valued you enough, but now I want to make up for all my mistakes.”

Keeping his emotions in control, Vansh caressed Riddhima’s face.
“Well, it is okay if you didn’t value me before. Now you’ve an entire lifetime to do so.”

“And what if an entire lifetime also seems short for that?” she asked looking up at him.

“Then we’d have seven other lives to do that,” Vansh chuckled.

Riddhima made a face at him. “That’s too cheesy for my liking.”

“But I like it that way, sweetheart,” he grinned, pulling her into his arms.

After breaking the hug, Vansh said, “Now, no secrets or lies remain between us. We’ll start afresh. This is a new beginning for me, for you and for us. Are you ready for this?”

Entwining her fingers with his, she whispered, “I am ready to embark upon this new journey with you….”

Saying this, they walked hand in hand, completely oblivious to their surrounding, and looking forward to this new phase in their life.

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

Peace out!