“I suppose, I’m too special to her that she does not want to share me with anyone” Vidyut said with a laugh. Ragini gave a small smile. The waiter arrived at their table with the bill.
“Sir, your check” he said passing on the bill to Vidyut
“There you go” he said while handing over the money.
“So you’re coming with us now” Laksh said to Ragini, she and Sahaj gave him a surprised expression.
“Laksh I’m sure Ragini has other plans, we should not intrude” Sahaj said. He was about to say something when Vidyut interrupted.
“Actually Mr Maheshwari, Ragini and I have plans for today. But don’t you worry I will drop her back safely”
“Laksh, I… I already informed aunty that I will be coming after dinner” Ragini said.
“Fine” Laksh said in an irritated tone
“Shall we move then?” Vidyut asked putting his arm around Ragini. He noticed Laksh’s body stiffen and gave a little laugh
“Bye. Hope you guys have fun” Sahaj said to both of them
“You too” Ragini responded with a smile and left with Vidyut.
“Laksh. What is wrong with you?” Sahaj demanded “What was all that? You made it so awkward for both of them”
“Let’s go home” Laksh said
“What? We didn’t even have lunch yet.” She said “Look, I don’t know what is wrong with you all of a sudden. But one thing I know for sure, you’ve changed since Ragini arrived here and it is so damn irritating, because she has been here only for one day and you’re losing your mind over her”
“Sahaj, let’s not create a scene over here.” He said “We’ll have lunch and then leave. I don’t want to have this discussion”
“Oh, we will have this discussion. Just not here” she said and sat down at her table
“Vidyut, I’m really sorry about Laksh’s behaviour” Ragini apologised to him while getting into the car “I don’t know what happened to him”
“Dear God, Ragini, relax. I am not a kid to take offense at everything” he said while laughing “Besides, I think someone is insecure of me”
“What are you talking about?” she asked
“Oh c’mon, don’t tell me you did not notice how upset he was to see you leave with me” he said
“Vidyut, don’t read too much into it” she said “And how long will you keep driving around. Let’s go to your place”
“Yes mam” he said. They reached Vidyut’s apartment and settled in there.
“Tell me something, how come Laksh doesn’t know about me?” he asked Ragini
Ragini gave a small laugh and said “because whenever I spoke to him, I didn’t really feel the need to talk about anyone else”
“Ah, now I come under the ‘anyone else’ category. You break my heart every time Ms Gadodia” he said by clutching his chest in a dramatic way
“Oh, get over it” she said while hitting him
“Look at you, Little Miss Fool in Love” he teased her “but let me warn you, the insecurity he has today, will transform to jealousy in no time. So be careful”
“What? What rubbish. I think you’re losing your mind” she dismissed him
“Let’s see. Next time we come face to face, you follow my lead and I’ll prove my point to you” he challenged her
“Listen, I am not interested in your childish games” she said “Secondly, he is getting engaged in 2 days and you’re sitting here telling me that he’s jealous?”
“Engaged or not, he is not used to another man in your life” he laughed
She sighed and said “You’re used to cooking up a lot of imaginary scenarios aren’t you?”
“Deny all you want missy, but fact will remain a fact” he laughed “C’mon, I’ll cook you some dinner”
“Oh My God! The great Vidyut Sharma will cook for me” she said with mock astonishment “the last I remember you cooked was to impress some girl. Is that what you’re trying to do now? Impress me?”
“Oh please, do not hold yourself in such high regard. I once ate something that you cooked and ended up with food poisoning. Don’t want that again” he said and she hit him on the arm.
After dinner both of them were cleaning up and he said “give me 2 minutes, I’ll get ready and drop you home”. She nodded and packed up her stuff before leaving
They reached home and he got down escorting her out of the car.
“Gentleman as ever” she said with a laugh
“So, I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked “You’ll be busy during the day. Let’s go for dinner?”
“Let me check with aunty if she needs my help. I’ll call you and inform whatever he plan is” she said
“Sure. Goodnight then” he smiled and gave a brief kiss on her forehead
“Goodnight and drive safe. Message me when you reach, I’ll be awake till then” she said as she walked towards the house, he waved back and left
She rang the bell and Annapurna opened the door. “I was just about to call you. What took you so long?” she asked
“Aunty, turns out I didn’t have a meeting today, my friend pranked me. He is also in town and wanted to surprise me” she said as they settled onto the couch. “Then he took me for lunch and then we spent time at his apartment, he cooked dinner and then dropped me off. By the way we bumped into Laksh and Sahaj at lunch. Didn’t he tell you?” she asked
“Laksh? I guess he and Sahaj had a fight today. He hasn’t spoken a word since he arrived” she informed Ragini “Sometimes, I feel like he rushed into this relationship. They fight so much, it scares me and gets me thinking if they can survive this marriage” Annapurna sighed
She held Annapurna and said “Don’t worry Mother India, they’re mature adults now, they’ll handle their problems. Besides aunty I’m sure they’ve thought this through, because the decision to get married is not a small thing”
“I pray and hope for the best. Anyway, so this friends of yours, someone special?” she teased Ragini
“What? No. Vidyut is just a friend. We’ve known each for a long time now. But that’s it” she laughed
“Sumi told me about him, she wishes you both get married” Annapurna said
“I wish you both stop talking about all this. Please” she said in an exhausted tone “Anyway, I am off to sleep, you should sleep too” she said “And don’t worry about Laksh, I’ll talk to him”. They both hugged and went to their rooms
Ragini woke up to see Laksh sitting on her bed and playing on his phone. “Laksh, what the hell” she said as she woke up startled
“What?” he asked as was playing with her phone
“How long have you been sitting here?” she said as she walked over to the cupboard to get her robe
“It’s been a while. So what time did you come home last night?” he asked without looking up
“Around 11. You slept early yesterday” she said as she tied her hair
“That guy, what was his name Vivek? Vikram? He dropped you home?” he asked
“Vidyut. His name is Vidyut and yes he dropped me home” she said “and what is this interrogation going on? Now please get out, I need to bathe and change”
“Alright alright” he said as he got up to leave. Just then her phone rang and Vidyut’s name flashed on it. He picked up the phone
“Good morning madam” Vidyut said
“Who’s this?” Laksh asked on purpose
Ragini stood there asking who it was via gestures to Laksh
“Ragini is that you? What happened to your voice? I told you not to drink so much vodka last night” he teased
“Laksh here, just a moment I’ll hand over the phone to her” he gave her a stiff look and left
“Hello? Vidyut?” she said into the phone “What did you say? Why did Laksh just glare at me?”
Vidyut was laughing loudly
“Vidyut, what did you say to him?” she asked again, he told her exactly what he said
“Are you crazy? I am going to kill you” she said
“I am going to prove my point. No matter what” he said while laughing
“And I am going to punch you in the face no matter what” she said
“Anyway, what’s your plan for the day?” he asked
“I just got up. Let me talk to aunty and then I’ll call you. In the meantime if you have any plans, go ahead with them” she said
“Cool. I have no plans as such, so let me know whatever your plan is” he said
“Alright. Bye” she said and disconnected the call
Ragini got ready and sat for breakfast with everyone. “So Ragini, I hear you had a good time last night” Durgaprasad teased her “Let us also meet this friend of yours”
She looked up to see Annapurna and Durgaprasad laughing at her
“Let me guess, your best friend Shekhar told you about him” she asked with a frown
“What is going on?” Laksh asked
“Nothing” Ragini said “Our parents have gone mad”
“But we didn’t say anything” Durgaprasad said “I just asked you if you enjoyed yesterday. I am not asking you to marry him”
“Uncle I have lots of practice in decoding what baba says to me. So not asking me to marry him is asking me to marry him” she said
“Are they talking about Vikram?” Laksh asked
“Who’s Vikram?” Annapurna asked
“He means Vidyut” Ragini said looking at him
“Whatever” he said and got up from the table
“What happened to him now?” Durgaprasad asked looking back and forth between Ragini and Annapurna
Annapurna shrugged. Ragini sighed and said “I’ll talk to him”
Ragini went to Laksh’s room and saw him working on the laptop
“Laksh. What is wrong? Why are you behaving this way?” she asked
“Nothing” he said in a clipped tone
“Laksh, it is so clearly visible that you’re upset. Please tell me what happened” she said again
“Who the hell is this Vivek Ragini? Where did he suddenly appear from?” he asked angrily pushing his laptop aside
“Firstly, his name is Vidyut and secondly what is Vidyut got to do with anything?” she asked
“You never told me about him, and today your parents and my parents are wishing that you marry him” he said “I thought I knew everything about you.”
“Laksh. We’re not kids anymore that I need to tell you every aspect of my life” she said “I have never demanded to know everything about your life either”
“So do you love him? Or is he just a distraction from me?” he asked in a spiteful way
Ragini felt her blood boil at that moment “What the hell do you think of yourself? How dare you judge and insult me. Did I ever question any of your relationship, who gave you right to question me?”
Laksh realised he had gone over board and tried to rectify what he had just said but before he could say anything she cut him off.
“I can’t even look at you right now” she said and she turned to storm out of his room
“Ragini, listen, I am sorry…I – I didn’t mean that” he said following her
As Ragini opened the door to leave, they saw Sahaj standing there with clear anger across her face.