RAGLAK FF : THE SPRING OF LOVE – Part 1

Hi friends….I’m back with an new story it’s title is suggested by my best friend astra…like my previous works I hope u all enjoy this too it is story of different one which I had written till now it is an intense story of a couple who bind together with out their willingness so here is the first part of this story……..

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The sound of her payal was all that could be heard as she raced  along the wide banister of the staircase nd then you heard her giggles. 

She : You can’t catch me..

she said as she turned the corner and ran down the stairs he raced after her, laughing as he tried to grab her duppata that was dragging behind her. 

He : Ragini, stop….

he said as he followed her down the stairs getting to the foot of the stairs she quickly veered to the right. 

Ragini : You’ll never catch me

she said with more giggles as she ran towards the hallway, glancing back to see if he was still following behind….”Umph!” …ragini barely had time to react as she felt herself hitting something hard  the impact had her squeezing her eyes closed and holding on for dear life She felt an arm snake around her waist and pull her closer nd then time froze…or atleast it felt like it did Slowly she opened her eyes nd followed the length of the warm body that was holding her so close..she followed it up to his face Her breathing shallow as she continued to clutch at his shirt nd then she made eye contact with big brown eyes that stared back at her so intensely her own eyes widened and she quickly pulled back he let her go immediately and watched as she took another step back. 

Ragini : Sorry

she said softly not meeting his eyes she didn’t say his name…she never said his name  It just didn’t feel right nd then she felt a pair of arms grab her from behind, hugging her. 

He : I told you I’d catch you

he said laughing ragini’s eyes slowly made her way up to the man standing in front of her he stared back at her, disappointment evident in his eyes ragini chewed on her lower lip as she pushed the pair of arms hugging her away. 

Ragini : omi….

she said helplessly omi looked up at the man that stood in front of them. 

Omi : Laksh Bhai….You’re home…

he said pulling away from ragini and taking a few steps before throwing his arms around his brother  ragini saw HIS eyes visibly soften and a small smile spread across his lips as he hugged his younger brother back. 

Omi : I’ve missed you bhai…..What took you so long?… I’m getting married in 6 days and you make an appearance now?..

Omi said pulling away and looking at his big brother HIS eyes wandered back to ragini looking at her shrewdly. 

Laksh ( in his deep voice ) : I’m here now omi……You didn’t think I’d miss my little brother’s wedding did you?

he asked turning back to omi

Omi : Nah, you know I wouldn’t get married without you being there anyways…right Ragini???

Omi asked pulling away from his brother and moving to ragini slipping an arm around her waist. 

Omi ( with a smile ) : Ragini knows that without my big brother’s input I don’t do anything
Laksh ( looking at Ragini with narrow eyes ) : Other then propose to women
Omi ( with laugh ) : Well the proposal was a spur of the moment kind of thing bhai….I didn’t know I was going to do it myself until it was already done

Omi said with his booming laugh ragini elbowed omi in the ribs and glared at him must he tell that story to everyone she thought to herself Especially to the “kadoos.” 

Ragini : I should get going home

Ragini said quickly pulling away from omi and turning away.  

Omi : Okay, I’ll call you in a while.”

Omi said with a smile as he watched ragini rush back down the hallway turning to his brother he said happily. 

Omi : Isn’t she great?
Laksh : Sure

Laksh said turning around and heading to the family room omi followed after him. 

Omi : Can you believe I’m getting married?
Laksh : No

Laksh replied as he sat down. 

Laksh ( thoughtfully ) : How long have you and Ragini been together? Omi : Well, bhai, we’ve known each other since we were 16 when her and her family moved in next door.
Laksh ( taking the deep breath ) : I know that omi…I know who our neighbors I want to know how long you’ve been serious about each other.
Omi : Oh that….Well she’s been one of my best friends since almost the moment we met, but I guess the whole being in a serious relationship started about 5 months back.
Laksh : 5 months…I see so now that you’re going to be a married man what are your plans for a career?
Omi ( slowly ) :  A career…I have lots of plans I’m going to finish university and then figure out what I’m going to do with my life.
Laksh ( staring at him ) : You should be finished University by now nd you most definitely should have figured out what you were going to do with your life before you decided to get married.
Omi : Bhai, please don’t start..

I’ll have it all figured out Ragini is a great influence on me, she’s always pushing me to do better.
Laksh : You shouldn’t need anyone to push you omi, you should know you need to do better I’m your brother, I want you to excel ….Come to Mumbai and join my business
Omi : I will bhai, I will….Eventually I will probably end up there, but just give me some time…after all I’m only 24.
Laksh ( with frowning ) : Yeah, you’re only 24 and you’re about to get married.
Omi : You don’t think I should be getting married do you???

Laksh : It’s too late to care about what I think…..You’ve made a commitment to that girl and there is no way you’re backing out now especially not with 6 days left till the wedding.
Omi : Well it’s a good thing I have no plans to back out…..I love ragini and I’m ready to be married

Laksh didn’t say anything by seeing this omi starts saying

 Omi ( teasingly ) : You’ve become even more rigid in your old age bhai.
Laksh ( narrowed his eyes at omi ) : Old? 
Omi ( with laugh ) : Well you are 5 years older then me
Laksh ( while shaking his head ) : nd 10 years older in maturity
Omi ( while rolling his eyes ) : Sorry, not everyone can be like you and leave home at 19 to move to Mumbai to build an extremely successful real estate development empire from the ground up!!!!
Laksh : I don’t want you to be like me omi I’ve built the business, I just think that now is a good time for you to join it I’ve been hesitant about forcing any responsibility on you until now thinking you’re young, but now that you’ve forced responsibility on yourself by planning on getting married I just think it’s time for you to stand on your own two feet.
Omi ( with hesitantly ) : I, I will bhai….Just give me some time.

Laksh stared at him for a moment and then finally smiled. 

Laksh : I just want what’s best for you..Just think about what I’ve said.

  Omi nodded and watched as his brother stood up and mentioning something about making some business phone calls, walked away.  As omi stared after him he noticed how laksh walked with so much confidence  he’d always been like that self assured, confident, Knew what he was going to do, and how he was going to achieve it laksh always got what he wanted, be it the best grades in school and then University which he started 2 years before everyone else because he was a freaking genius be it his business which he worked very hard to build and in which he and his partner had become one of the largest and most successful developers in India nd when it came to women, even though Laksh bhai never talked about it, omi knew he had no problems in that department Women were attracted to his good looks, his success, his attitude, his intelligence and offcourse his money  No, when it came to women,laksh maheshwari definitely had no problems

It was pretty hard to live up to being Laksh’s brother but omi didn’t feel anything but pride because whatever Laksh was to the rest of the world, to omi he was his big brother who had always taken care of him apparently from the day omi was born Laksh had told one and all that omi was his and he would take care of him nd since that day he’s taken that responsibility very seriously he’s always protected and cared for omi,  when they were younger he’d covered up his mistakes and as they got older he tried to clear the path so things were just easier for him be it getting into University with his not so great grades or making sure that omi always had whatever he wanted nd growing up Laksh had been the one that tried to shield him from his parent’s every day violent arguments they didn’t physically assault each other, no, they did a lot more damage to each other and to omi and Laksh… with words..

just their words as Laksh and omi got older they learned to ignore the arguments and bhai did his best to protect omi from the scars that his parents verbal confrontations were sure to leave  as a result omi had turned out to be a reasonably happy young man, the class clown and joker but Laksh had grown up harder, more cynical, more ruthless as his parents aged, their fights got less and less, not because they had less to fight about no, more then anything it was because they started to live separate lives and in doing so they barely ever saw or spoke to each other living under the same roof, they were strangers at one point it had bothered omi, but not any more so, yes, he was spoiled and as much as Laksh bhai said he wanted omi to grow up, it was partly Laksh’s fault that he hadn’t y would he want to work hard for anything when he knew his older brother would do it for him and he could reap the benefits from it no, he was going to enjoy life for the next little while. 

 
Ragini laughed at the sight of herself in her wedding lengha her, and her two best frienduttara nd swara were gathered around staring at raginii through the mirror the sales woman stood behind them smiling. 

Sales woman : that turned out beautifully Miss.Gadodia…You look gorgeous in it.

Ragini smiled and then with a mischievous glint in her eye turned to her friends.  

Ragini : If I have to wear this heavy duppata all day I’m sure my back is going to be hunched over permanently by the end of the day… I think this dupaata weighs almost as much as I do.

Uttara ( frowned at ragini ) : Can you please learn to take a compliment!?’..
Swara : You look breathtaking in this outfit omi is going to go crazy when he sees you.

  Ragini stuck out her tongue at her ever frowning friend uttara nd turned to the mirror once again, looking at herself with a careful eye she did look good she thought to herself the lengha was a straight cut gold net with magenta and gold stone work and embroidery throughout the choli was magenta and short with little capped sleeves also in net with stone work all along the neck and bottom of the choli the duppata which was so heavy with it’s embroidery was a two toned gold and magenta. 

Ragini ( said finally ) : It’s nice. Uttara ( exclaimed ) : “NICE?”..What am I going to do with you?It’s too late to change your mind now the wedding is in 3 days
Ragini ( with a sudden smile on her face ) : I’m not changing my mind Miss Tyrant…I like it…more importantly omi will like it.

By listening this both uttara nd swara smiled

Swara ( while fixing her hair ) : Okay, quickly change we’ve got to get back to your place….We still need to get ready for tonight’s pre wedding party….nd we need to look our best for omi’s brother.

Ragini made a face she knew about Swara’s infatuation with omi’s brother she just didn’t know why Ragini just thought he was very…cold nothing like omi who was so jovial, always laughing and joking around as ragini changed she thought about the two brothers they were polar opposites in so many ways while omi was shorter , his features more boy next door… just what I like she told herself quickly laksh was tall, and devastatingly handsome said a little voice in her head but he was also arrogant, and cold, and she knew for a fact he didn’t like her he’d never out right said anything to her but she could feel it in the way he looked at her It was almost as if he didn’t want to bother with her she could probably count on one hand how many times she’d seen him smile…and she was almost positive all those smiles had been directed at omi as far as she was concerned that was the one good thing about him…his love for omi she knew HE loved his younger brother very much and that omi loved him just as much what do I care she said to herself as she stepped out of the change room since she moved next door eight years ago, she’d seen him a handful of times..  If she was lucky it would stay that way.
 

Ragini : Kaka, not like that

Ragini said as she walked into her house and saw an older man stringing up some flowers

Ragini : You two go up and get ready, I’ll be right up.

she said to her friends the girls nodded and ran up ragini tried to explain how she wanted the flowers done but the poor man just couldn’t get it right. 

Ragini ( with sweet smile ) : Okay that’s fine.. You come down from the ladder and I’ll do it.

  The man had no objections as he quickly made his way down ragini grabbed some of the flowers pulling her duppata off she threw it on the chair next to the ladder. 

Ragini : Alright kaka you pass me the flowers and I’ll string them.

He nodded and held up the first string for ragini she made quick work of them and started on the next, and then the next.  

Ragini ( holding out her hand but not looking back ) : Kaka, the next ones.

then she felt herself start to wobble and before she could grab the ladder she was falling her eyes slammed shut and she braced herself to feel the impact of the cold hard marble floor Instead she felt herself fall against something hard but definitely not cold a pair of warm, strong arms caught her and held her tight ragini’s heart was beating a mile a minute, thank you god she said silently as she opened her eyes and looked into a pair of all too familiar stormy ones Ragini gulped. 

Laksh ( coldly ) : Are you trying to kill yourself?

Ragini’s mouth dropped open and then before she could help herself she said

Ragini ( with a small smile ) : From that height I think the likely hood of me killing myself is pretty slim….But maybe a twisted ankle.

  Laksh stared back at her, his lips drawn into a tight grim line ragini’s smile quickly disappeared. 

Ragini ( mumbling under breath ) : “Karoos”
Laksh ( narrowing his eyes at her ) : What did you say?
Ragini ( quickly ) : Nothing

Laksh continued to stare at her, his eyes hard and cold and ragini continued to stare at the wall behind him ,finally breaking the silence

Ragini : Um, I’m fine you can put me down now.
 
Laksh quickly put her down nd said

Laksh ( barked ) : Next time be more careful

By saying this he stalked past her towards her father’s study Ragini stuck her tongue out at him. 

Ragini : “Kadoos!”

she repeated louder this time because she knew he was out of hearing range.   

So how is it??did u all liked this??? please do share ur views through comments…