For those of you who have missed the 4th chapter, here is the link :
In the Name of Love (Ishq Mein Marjawan) – Chapter 4
Fifteen days had passed since the disappearance of her parents, but still the police had no clue whatsoever. It seemed that she was stuck in a weave of unluckiness, as she had also not recieved any reply from the person whom she had trusted upon and sent a message to. These fifteen days seemed like fifteen centuries to her. She always tried to reassure herself that soon everything will be alright, but still she could not stop the horrifying thoughts from trespassing her mind. Whenever her hopes would weaken, she would turn to God, because she knew that only He could do something in this situation.
She and Ishaan continued staying at their Chachu’s house. Her Bua along with her husband also used to come over daily to visit them. Her cousin, Nikisha, being her age, tried to give her some company now and then unlike her brother Adi, who was the eldest and hardly ever tried to strike a bond with his younger cousins.
Riddhima was engrossed in her own thoughts, when she was suddenly interrupted by Meera. She looked up at her giving her full attention.
“Beta, I hope you are feeling comfortable here. I can understand your pain dear, but Dinesh and me are trying our best to keep you guys as comfortable as possible.”
“Yes Chachi I am,” said Riddhima disinterestedly.
“Well, I do believe that Sunidhi Bhabhi must have kept her jewellery at home itself?”
“Yes. What about that?”
“Riddhima dear, you are so naive,” said Meera. “But I don’t blame you as you are too young to understand this. Its not safe to keep jewellery and other valuables at home with no one around to take care of it. So why don’t you do one thing? I’ll ask your Chachu to accompany you to your house, from where you would get all the ornaments and cash present there and hand it over to me, so that I can keep it safely with me for you. What say?”
Riddhima raised up her eyebrow. “Why don’t you directly say it Chachi, that actually you want mom’s entire jewellery for yourself! Why to beat around the bush, huh?”
Meera was taken aback by this blunt remark. “No, no Beta, you have a misunderstanding. That is not what I meant to…..”
“I very well understand everything,” said Riddhima angrily. “I can’t believe it! Instead of worrying about Mumma and Papa, you are concerned about the jewellery. There is a limit to everything. Just because I’m staying in your house, doesn’t mean that you can take me for a ride!”
Saying this Riddhima stormed out of the room, while Meera stood there angrily grumbling to herself.
Later when Dinesh returned home, Meera started badmouthing about Riddhima to him. “That girl is so mannerless. Has no consideration for elders! Her parents had given too much freedom to her.”
“Why do you do all this, Meera?” asked Dinesh irritatedly. “I had forbidden you to talk to her about all this, but you had to do exactly that. Anyways I spoke to the lawyer today.”
“So what did he say?”
“He told me that once we get the official news about Sushant Bhai’s death, we can easily divide the family land between us and Tripti’s family.”
“But what if Sushant Bhai’s children claim their share from that land? That Riddhima is very cunning,” said Meera.
“Don’t worry about that. The lawyer has assured me that he’ll take of everything,” said Dinesh. “Just pray that Bhai and Bhabhi are dead for sure and won’t return ever. Until then, we have to behave as the best Chacha and Chachi ever, and continue to take care of the children so that the society doesn’t get a chance to point fingers at us. As far as extorting the jewellery from Riddhima is concerned, stay out of the matter and leave it to me. ”
Unbeknown to them, Riddhima was standing outside their bedroom and had heard everything. Tears welled up in her eyes recalling how her papa was so willing to forgive these people, these greedy, money minded and selfish people, who didn’t care about him and his family at all. Her opinion about them was right after all, but strangely enough, being right didn’t feel good at all this time.
“Ishaan, we need to leave right now!” said Riddhima picking up her bags.
“Why Dids? What happened now?” asked Ishaan. He had no idea what was going on.
“For once just do as I say!” Riddhima was raging so much, she felt that she could even murder someone right here.
Ishaan also understood that something was off. He trusted his sister and obeyed her command without asking anything further.
Seeing both of them leave the house with their bags, Dinesh and Meera came hurriedly towards them.
“Where are you guys going?” they asked in unison.
“To hell! This is what you wanted right?” screamed Riddhima.
“I don’t understand anything. What is wrong with you Beta?” asked Dinesh.
“Don’t you dare call me Beta! I’ve never seen someone as greedy as you all. And before you say anything further, let me tell you that I had been eavesdropping upon your entire conversation.”
The couple looked shocked. They wanted to say something but Riddhima cut them midway.
“My dearest father loved you and Tripti Bua so much. You people had snatched our mansion from us by fraud, yet he was ready to forgive you all. And yet here you are, wishing that my parents were rather dead so that you can have that stupid land to yourself. I don’t care about that damned land ok? Keep it with you. But don’t, and I repeat again, don’t ever try to eye on that which is rightfully mine. You have snatched enough from us, don’t try to do more. And now coming to think of it, who knows maybe you guys are the ones behind my parents’ disappearance? If God forbid, I found your hands behind this, then you’ll watch out for the blo*dy consequences.”
Saying this, she grabbed Ishaan’s arm and her bags, and slammed the door behind her. She had barely walked up ten steps ahead, when she recieved a phone call from ACP Lakshya.
“I’m sorry to say, but your mom was found dead. You can come to the police station and complete the rest of the formalities.”
Riddhima stared at the burning pyre in front of her. Her eyes were red, not from the smoke, but from the grief that had struck her. How ironical it was that the one who had given life to her, was now herself rendered lifeless. She recalled the conversation that she had with the ACP two days ago.
“Riddhima I know this is tough for you but I need you to process this calmly,” said the ACP.
Riddhima nodded her head while wiping off her tears with her handkerchief.
“Remember how i had told you last time, that I had caught both of your parents on the CCTV heading away from the mall in the right direction? There’s an under construction six storeyed building which is about a hundred metres to the right of the mall. When we had searched the surrounding area previously, we hadn’t found any body there. The construction of that building had been halted for a month or two. But today when they began it, one of the workers found the body buried underground.”
“Does this mean that my mom was murdered?” gasped Riddhima barely able to hold herself together.
“Yes. Otherwise why would her body be buried like that? The perpetrator wanted to hide the body from us. Even though the autopsy is yet to be done, but on initial inspection of the body, there were no stab, bullet or any other weapon marks. There are no external signs of poisoning as well. She must have then died due to a fall from height. The autopsy will be completed by tomorrow after which we’ll give you the final report.”
“Do you…. do…. know who could be behind this?” asked Riddhima. She was sobbing so hard that her words were barely audible.
“The last person seen with Sunidhi was your dad. Plus he’s missing,” said ACP. “So our initial suspect is Sushant.”
Riddhima was jolted back to the present day by a loud commanding voice of a man.
“Oh Mr. Vansh Raisinghania, it was so kind of you to come here,” said Dinesh. Even after their altercation with Riddhima few days back, Dinesh made sure he and Tripti along with their respective families, attended Sunidhi’s funeral. After all if they wouldn’t, the society around them won’t even take a second to raise questions on them.
“I’ve not come here out of kindness, but rather out of respect for Sunidhi Aunty,” said Vansh.
“Oh of course, of course,” cried out Dinesh. “She was too young to die. Plus she left her two dear children behind. God know where Sushant Bhai is. I’m so worried for my brother. You won’t believe it when I say that neither I’ve been able to eat anything, nor have I been able to sleep properly for the past fifteen days.”
Riddhima had been listening to all this. She had heard of Vansh Raisinghania from her parents and had also read his interview in one of the magazines. She also knew how it was her own dad who had helped Vansh during his intial days to set up his business. She couldn’t help but feel furious at her uncle’s cheap act of showing remorse, when in actual, he had none. She looked at Vansh through the corner of her eye.
Vansh was getting bored with Dinesh’s nonchalant chatter, when he suddenly felt someone staring at him. He turned to see a pair of fiery eyes looking straight at him. He returned her stare, until finally she looked away.
“What about the children? Where will they be staying?” Vansh asked Dinesh, his eyes still on Riddhima.
“Of course, they’ll be staying with us. I’m their uncle after all, they are my responsibility now.
After the funeral was over, Dinesh went upto Riddhima, and tried to convince her to return to his house.
“You are all alone dear,” he said. “Leave your stubbornness behind, and come with us. How will you able to take of Ishaan all by yourself?”
Riddhima jerked off his arm. “First of all, I’m almost nineteen, which means I’m an adult. So I can take care of myself and Ishaan. Secondly, I am not alone. My brother is there with me, and we are enough for each other. Thirdly, the thing which you are claiming to be my stubbornness, is actually my dignity. For my dad also his dignity was the most important for him, he never took anyone’s help even in the toughest of situations. Being his daughter, I’ll also follow his principles.”
She walked away from there along with Ishaan in a bid to search for an autorickshaw that can take her back home, when suddenly she saw Vansh, standing like an obtacle in her way. She blankly looked up at the tall, bearded man in front of her.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” he said solemnly. He waited for her to say something but when she didn’t, he continued. “Here is my card. If you need anything, just give me a call.”
Saying this he left for his car, while Riddhima continued to stare at the business card blankly.
Precap : Riddhima struggles to juggle between college, work and home. Someone rings the doorbell. She sees Vansh through the peephole.
Hey everyone! Thank you for all the comments you guys put in there. Keep commenting like that and do tell me how you liked this update. Question for you all :
Do you really think it is Sushant behind Sunidhi’s murder? Or is the police being led astray?
What was Vansh doing at Riddhima’s door?