AROUND THE RING !!!!
“She looked at me and my heart raced” as I said this I saw her eyes glistened, when I started to tell her this story.
A few moments ago,
“Once upon a time , there was a beautiful girl and she looked absolutely stunning as she graced the humble concrete roads along her way, There she is , ” I told myself. “SHALINI” I yelled running towards her and hugged her with all my strength . It has been three weeks since I last saw her and there she stood laughing next to another girl in the bus stop. My god I was angry at her for not calling me, for not texting , but right now I missed her with all my heart so all that reprimanding had to wait .
Clappppppp !!!!! I heard . Well no one was clapping , she had slapped me and she looked at me like I was a rougish knave, and she shouted “who the hell do you think you are , you blackguard, how dare youu…..” Her voice trailed away . She yelled again to the other girl “wait I have to get the bus too.”
I was stupefied . How can she forget me ? Was she playing one her pranks again . I would have grabbed her waist, but she seemed much quicker than she was three weeks ago . She left in the last bus up the hill and I saw her go as I sulked back to my car from where I saw her in the first place driving uphill to our temporary home.
Sanskar was getting married , who thought he would choose an arranged marriage , today he was going to see his fiance and I was supposed to pick him up from this bus stop , well I didn’t expect to see HER.
Back at the bus,
“There she is “sanskar said as he saw his fiance , as he smiled to himself and was busy in glee he heard a loud voice if a girl .
“Who the hell do you think you are pushing that girl like that as the bus jerks , you think none of us would notice , huh! And you too Meera you shouldn’t be quiet about such abuse you must voice out if you want help no one can help you if you stand there simply squirming”
“SWARA huh! ” Sanskar told himself. Tough one , life going to be fun haha, but right now I must hide myself lest she sees me.
Wait is that SHALINI , I think my brother is getting into my head with talks of missing our childhood friend way more than he should that where ever I look it looks like her , I have to find her for him or he might either die of depression or much worse he might kill me by talking about how much he misses her.
Back at the house,
” I found her and hugged her” Laksh announced.
“Wow, finally” Sanskar muttered under his breath and was sending silent thanks to God for hearing his plea.
“And she slapped me, can you believe it ! ”
“WHAT” sanskar exclaimed and then he grinned saying “welcome to my world she did that to me anytime I argued with you”
“Was she angry ???” sanskar enquired
“No, I was angry that she didn’t have any emotions , she seemed perplexed” he lamented .
“Right now I am going to bed tomorrow i am going to find her and talk to her” he said as his fingers trailed along the balustrade as he went upstairs into his room.
“Well suit yourself, I have go to swara ‘s house and later meet up with the interior decorator Ahmed for our new house ” he declared as he was walking into his own room , his parents old room was his now that they are no more , he began to ponder upon life , swara and his brother and suddenly , SHALINI ! Wasn’t she talking to swara and she called her ragini didi ?
Maybe it was my brother’s talks that blurred my eye sight anyway I will send swara tomorrow that the happy part of today and the fact that he will be fulfilling his parent’s wish marrying her , and he was already in love with her since the time he first saw her photo in new York , the random girl he picked out the lot his father and mother had chosen, now that they were no more it was important to take up responsibilities as his brother seemed lost about his beloved, although the marriage was decided a good to years ago and their parents died in a plane crash and the brother were strong , the Maheshwari’s raised their kids to be strong , confident , yet tender hearted loving men . But right now he had to fulfill his duty to marry swara and somehow see his brother happy again. Time went by as he thought about all this and somewhere around the time he was thinking about swara again he was swept into the arms of Morpheus as he whispered the name of his beloved , “swara,swara”.
Next day,
As Sanskar was eating the jelebies from the table swara walk in from the front door
“Hi mom…..”her heart stopped a beat as she saw him.
“Wow” both their minds resonated simultaneously
“Hello, how are you? I am Sanskar. I am assuming you already know that, but anyway there is something you must know that they all said you beautiful , but your beauty exceeds any humble comments they have graced you with my dear, ”
Swara blushed, of course she expected some rich guy , who was too busy with work to bother about her and told herself continuously that her job was her life and nothing mattered , of course nothing mattered than saving lives as a doctor ,but this guy is sweeping her of her feet with every word that crosses the border of his lips, like they were a treasure to her, of course she was compliment ed before by many guys she always brushed them of saying they were nothing but good old plain flattery. But he was different maybe , just maybe marriage with him wouldn’t be as bad as she assumed it would.
Suddenly, his expression changed to confession.
Wait is that SHALINI? Was I not day dreaming yesterday and did my brother hug her . Some how on close inspection she didn’t seem like SHALINI , this girl looked more vibrant and bold as opposed to shalini’s radiant and innocent characteristics.
“And you are SHALINI?” He asked.
“I this some game , that you setup swara that you get all the men I meet to ask me if I was SHALINI, yesterday some random guy hugged me saying the exact same thing” she frowned.
“Actually that would be my brother, and I would prefer hugging swara thank you , but on the contrary you look just like SHALINI but I must have noticed you don’t have the engagement ring I don’t think my brother noticed either. ”
As swara excused herself and went into her bedroom sanskar explained to the puzzled ragini about his brother and shalini.
“What do you mean, he is engaged to someone who looks like me but is called shalini and you were all childhood friends from school in new York and he proposed her two years ago when you both brothers were supposed to get married here , but your parents died , marriages were on hold for mourning and suddenly she realises she was adopted leaves her fiancé and comes to india to find out her birth parents, but is now missing and you brother is worried and sick I tell you and you believe me I am a doc too. But I am no shalini. But ragini.”
Suddenly, she felt bad for slapping him, after all he love his fiancée and that’s why he boldly hugged her, no one dared to do that , it was totally unexpected, but now she realised it was totally honest concern. Does it feel like that ? To be hugged by a man who loved you so much . She remembered the joy in his eyes but also saw his dark circles, claiming that that he hadn’t had a wink since she left him. Some how she felt remorseful for slapping him. she had to correct it and tell him that they got off on the wrong foot . After all her sister was marrying his brother she told herself or was she just trying to find excuses to meet the man , who was so lost without his beloved she questioned again. Well if she was going to apologise anyway , why not now .
“Where is he now? ” she enquired
“At our new house , I had to meet him there with the decorator but we postponed the meeting to the day after our marriage”
So , now is the time , for once I must apologise for my hasty actions, mother will be so happy that someone could finally get me to eat a humble pie.
Back at the new house,
Laksh was roaming the new grounds exploring the picnic spots the huge land offers so that someday he can spend time with shalini . There his brain froze , how he missed her ? what happened to her ?why did she leave him in the first place ? Questions flooded his head as he began feeling a little light headed , he saw the beautiful gazebo by the lake in his property .Quietly he walked towards it and shed a silent lone tear whispering I miss you shalini as he turned , there she was .
“Shalini , is that you or are you going to slap me again? Do you have any idea how much I missed you , don’t you ever do this to me !!!”
“I apologise for my pranks laksh , please forgive me !!! Will you !!!”
He held her in a bone crushing hug . “It’s okay shalini !!! ” Sanskar hugged both from back and all shared a group hug .
Laksh kept on questioning her and somehow ragini managed to escape !!!! After laksh went she explained everything to sanskar and swara and they supported her .
At night ragini was sitting near the gazebo when laksh wrapped his hands around her !!!
He held her hand and kissed while ragini was numb to react .
“Shalini where is the engagement ring which I gave you ??”
“Laksh I don’t know !!”
“What was that ???”
“Actually when I reached here I met with an accident and at that time I think someone
Stole the ring !!!”
Though laksh wasn’t convinced with her reason because shalini was naughty and prankster but she remained loyal and honest to laksh !!! He reached to his pocket and took his box where there was a big gorgeous diamond ring !!!
“Shalini this time don’t lose the ring !!! I know you are careless that’s why I bought a big ring !!!! ” He laughed at his own joke .
At that time winds blew strongly and the ring from his hand fell down in the pool .
“Offo laksh !!!! Let’s get a new one !!!”
Okay said he and both went inside .
Next day the decorator Ahmed came to their house to check the design and details where he stood horrified ,
“SHALINI !!!!!!!!!” He gasped !!!
She was shocked at his expression . All these time she thought only laksh was becoming mad so that only she was acting !!! But when she saw him she felt fishy but didn’t react !!!
That guy had palpitations and was sweating profusely , ” how come you are here ??? You must be there in the pool right ??? ”
At that te laksh came and she went to bring coffee for him , laksh asked him to check the whole mansion !!!!
Ragini went to change her cloths in the change room where the decorator went to check !!!! She was there inside so that he couldn’t see her .
When he entered the room , a shadow of shalini appeared , ” do you remember this room Ahmed ???”
He stood still , ” he couldn’t open up !!! Shalini please !!!! I know I did a big mistake !!! ”
Ragini was shocked at first then she tried to listen to his conversation …….
” I ‘m really sorry shalini !!!! I know I shouldn’t have cheated you !!!! I felt lusted in your beauty and did this !!! I shouldn’t have molested you and killed and thrown on the pool !!!! Please forgive me !!!”…. Saying this he died out of myocardial infarction ( heart attack )
Ragini was horrified ……she covered her mouth with her palms to suppress her cry !!!! She felt really bad for shalini ….. Though they both don’t know each other she felt bad for her condition !!!!
Laksh came and saw the decorator dead and stood puzzled . He informed the police and they tried each and every way to get some clues .
At that time ragini neared laksh , “laksh can u ask someone to search for the ring ???”
“What are you blabbering shalini ????”
“Please laksh !!!”
He nodded his head positively and asked some of the guys to Check !!!
They went in search for half an hour after that they came up with a dead body . All were shocked except ragini !!!! The most affected ones were Sanskar and laksh because they saw the ring in the hand . Though the body was disfigured and decomposed , both screamed , “Shhaallinniiii !!!!”
Laksh felt down and cried a lot !!!! Ragini kept her hand on his shoulder when he jerked !!!!
“Stay away from me you …….. !!!! How could this happen ??? If that’s shalini they whom u are ???”
All these while sanskar held his head in pain and then he shouted raginiiiiii !!!!!!!!!
“Yeah now I got it !!!! Laksh this is ragini, swara ‘s sister not our shalini !!!! I ‘ll tell you what happened to her” and then he narrated everything !!!
“How u know sanskar ??”
“Even I listened to his confession ragini !!!!”
Laksh went from there , sanskar fell down with a thud , ragini neared him and hugged him , ” sshhhhh Sanskar please calm down !!! Now laksh needs you !!!!”
“No ragini now he needs you !!!! Go to him !!!”
She wiped her tears and went in search of him …. There he was sitting in a lonely bench , Ragini composed herself and spoke up ,
“Laksh I know you miss her !!!! You didn’t even see a girl other than shalini !!!! But the day I saw you I was attracted to your charm !!! I must admit that and the moment u hugged me I felt a new different feeling !!!! To be honest I loved that feeling but at that time a stranger hugging you , what ‘ll u do ??? Accept that ??? No nah !!!! Same thing I did !!! But truth is that I fell for you !!!! When sanskar told me about shalini and your love story I fell for you even more !!!! Then I made my heart as stone for not falling for you and I made up myself to act as shalini !!! I know I did a big mistake but if you are willing then please accept me because ” SECOND CHANCES ARENT WRONG ALWAYS !!!! OPPORTUNITIES DOESN’T KNOCK THE DOOR ALWAYS !!!! IT’S YOU WHO SHOULD MAKE UP WITH IT !!!! if u aren’t okay also we ‘ll be friends forever !!!!”she left wiping her tears . Laksh saw the disappearing figure of her in the sunset and smiled a little .
Laksh dialed ragini ‘s number and when she picked up the call ,”laksh are u okay ???? You have called me at night ??? Is everything fine ??”
“Yeah sha …. Sorry ragini everything is fine . I ‘m here to tell you that we ‘ll marry after a month . I thought about your words and came up with it . Will you marry me ??”
“Yeahhhhhh sure laksh !!!! ” She was on cloud nine !!!! She couldn’t express her joy !!! Her voice chocked and a big lump formed in her throat .
“Bye ragini !!!”
In this one month laksh changed his mind to some extent !!! He fell for Ragini ‘s nature , her cute antics , her true beauty which is her character !!!!
Their marriage took place in a pompous way !!!!
At their first wedding night !!!
Laksh was walking here and there nervously . He decided to propose ragini !!!
He entered the room slowly and pulled her veil gently !!! He fell for her glowing eyes !!!
He composed himself and spoke up
“You know what ragini ??? Everyone in this world deserve second chance !!! I think shalini would be happy if I accept you !!! I think it’s god blessings that I saw you, the carbon copy of shalini !!!! I know I can’t give a special place in my heart where shalini was there but I fell for you by ur true nature !!!!You are always on my mind and all the time I keep on thinking of you. Come to me, hold my hand and then never leave it. I want to spend my life with you, and to walk beside you. All I want is to be with you all my life!!!! Will you give me a second chance ??? Will you accept this idiot of yours ???”
Ragini giggled and uttered , ” I love u laksh !!! I ‘ll accept you !!! I don’t want shalini ‘s place in your heart !!! I want a place for ragini !!! The thing I felt for you is that you didn’t see any other girl than shalini !!! I want you to be with me forever !!! Even death sho…….. ”
Ragini was shocked with his act , he smashed his lips with hers. He bit her lower lip . She opened her mouth in pain and laksh took this as a chance and let his tongue inside hers !!! After that they couldn’t breathe laksh broke the kiss and hugged her !!!!
“Don’t talk about your death ragini ” said he with tears in his eyes .
Ragini hugged him and whispered in his ears , “I won’t my hubby !!!! Will u waste your time like this ???”
Laksh eyes widened and he smirked !!! He pressed her waist and she moaned his name in pleasure !!! He was driving crazily with her moan and both consummated the marriage !!!! They were sleeping peacefully with both becoming a soul !!!!!
With this you were born !!!! ” He finished the story !!!!
Ragini was watching them when their 4 year old daughter asked her to come and hug her !!! All the three shared a group hug !!!
Laksh kissed her forehead and wished , ” GOOD NIGHT SHALINI !!!!!”
Ragini wiped her tears when he came out and hugged her tightly !!!!
All these were seen by someone !!!!! That is shalini in the heaven !!!
” I know laksh u loved me truly !!!! That’s why u deserved a girl like ragini !!!! She ‘ll take care of you !!!! I ‘ll be always there for you laksh and ragini and for your daughter shalini !!!! Though I didn’t have you !!! I ‘ll be happy with this ring !!!” She smiled through her tears seeing the big diamond ring which laksh bought for ragini thinking as shalini which fell into the pool !!!!!