Hey Guys!
So, it’s an OS on RagLak.
Had it posted as a part of a 8 chapter fic on watty, but could be read as a single part as well. So thought of posting it as an OS in here. Hope you like!
P.S – let’s assume the Maheshwaris are Christian.
Anywaysss…..Onwards!!!
“Words in double quotes” – Talking
‘Words in single quotes’ – Thoughts
Chapter – To Let You Go…
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6 months…… Its been 6 months since the accident happened.
*flashback*
#In the Ambulance#
“Laksh, d-don’t-t worry o-ok? Its..it’s going to be alright” Ragini spoke as she sat beside Laksh inside the ambulance. Sanskar wanted to get into the ambulance, but the medics wouldn’t allow more than one member. Sanskar and Swara were coming in their car behind the ambulance.
Suddenly, Laksh opened his eyes.
“Laksh! Laksh, I’m right here”
Laksh slowly turned to Ragini. He moved his hand with great pain and wiped Ragini’s tears.
“Ra-Ragi-ini…Promi-s-se me some-e-thing” he spoke softly with great effort.
“Don’t speak Laksh. You’ll just make your condition worse. Please rest”
“Ragini pl-lease…Prom-mise me”
“I do! I would promise you anything!”
“T-th-e-en prom-m-mise me you….you’ll be o-okay. You….you will l-live a hap-py life”
“Laksh, why are you talking like this! Nothing happen to you. Laksh, don’t give up please!” Ragini cried out.
Laksh closed his eyes in pain. He opened them again and gripped Ragini’s hand with all the strength he had “Promise Me Ragini” He looked right into her eyes.
Ragini was speechless. His eyes had so many emotions…love, worry, sadness, …acceptance?
“Ragini…”
“I…I do Laksh! I do. Please rest Laksh”
Laksh smiled at her “I love you Ragini”
“I love you too Laksh. You need to promise me to get better and come back to me okay.”
Laksh nodded and closed his eyes. His hand left Ragini’s.
#Hospital, after Operation#
“Doctor! Doctor…How is my brother. He…is he ok?”
Swara and Ragini were standing right behind Sanskar. They were waiting eagerly for any news on Laksh’s condition. Shekhar had to go with Manish as he was required in the police station in the matters concerning Purab.
“Doctor please. Tell us. Will he be ok? W-we can talk to him now, right?” Ragini asked hopefully.
“He is out of danger-”
Before the doctor could say something more, Sanskar hugged him “Thank you, thank you so much! You saved my brother”
“Mr. Mah-” the doctor was about to speak, but Sanskar turned to Swara.
“Swara! Ragini, did you hear? Lucky is fine. I told you nothing would happen to him!”
Ragini could barely hold her tears of happiness.
“Look Mr M-“the doctor tried again to speak
Swara hugged her “He’s ok Ragini! He’s ok!”
“MR. Maheshwari. Listen please! Your brother is in a coma”
Sanskar, Swara and Ragini froze.
Sanskar finally broke out of shock and spoke “B-but you said he was alright”
“I said he is out of danger, but….he got hurt really hard on the head. We tried our best but…”
“No…no no no! You..you’re lying!” Ragini screamed in anguish
“I…I’m sorry”
Ragini broke down crying. Her cries sounded like an innocent animal whimpering in pain. It was enough to make anyone cry just by hearing her heart-wrenching cries.
Swara tried to speak between her tears….”Ragini I-“Swara wanted to comfort her…..but what could she say? That it would be alright? How can it be alright after she just got her love….only to lose it again?
She looked towards Sanskar for help but…..Sanskar looked totally broken. Their parents were always busy in work and so, he had raised Lucky by himself. He would rather die than see his brother in this condition.
*flashback end*
It’s been 6 months…but there was still no improvement in his condition. Everyday Ragini comes in the morning with flowers, puts them in near his bed in the vase, while putting away the old flowers. She sits by his side and talks to him, even though she knows he won’t respond back. But she just smiles and hopes that he would wake up. Every day, she hopes that it will be the day when Laksh would wake up only to be disappointed again and again. But she doesn’t give up.
Around 1pm, Swara, Sanskar and his parents visit every day. They have to convince Ragini to go home and freshen up. Ragini doesn’t listen but they tell her that Laksh wouldn’t want her to get sick by not eating and taking care of herself. They never want to emotionally blackmail her, but it’s the only way she listens. At that, she leaves for home only for shower and a light snack, and comes back within half an hour. She has lost weight due to not eating right, but she doesn’t care. The only thing she cares for is Laksh waking up.
“Ragini….. You need to go freshen up.” Swara said softly to Ragini. Swara hated seeing Ragini so sad, but there was nothing she could do.
“I’ll go in a few minutes.”
Swara looked towards Sanskar and his parents. They knew that Ragini was just delaying and wouldn’t leave till they bring Laksh’s name. Sanskar looked at Laksh who was lying on the hospital bed, unmoving….the way he has been for the past 6 months. ‘If only you were here Laksh. Ragini needs you Laksh. We all need you to come back to us. Please wake up soon bhai”
“Ragini. Would Laksh want you to be like this? To not take care of yourself?”
Ragini looked down.
“Go Ragini. We will keep watch ok?”
Ragini nodded and left. Annapurna watched Ragini leave.
“She really loves Laksh, doesn’t she?”
“You still doubt her Annapurna? She has never left his side all these months” said Durgaprasad.
#Gagodia House#
Ragini had took a shower and changed into some other clothes. She didn’t have an appetite, but had some food because Swara and Sanskar would be upset otherwise. She was about to leave when….when she saw the music box and the handkerchief on her bedside table. She went near and looked at them. It was her music box that she lost in childhood, but the one that Laksh kept with him as her remembrance. The handkerchief was his, which she had kept with her.
Sanskar had found them for her and brought it to her as a form of comfort. However, a mere box could never match up to the real person.
‘I wish we could be together like this too Laksh. I see you every day at the hospital, I can touch you every day, I stay by you everyday but…. Still we are miles away.’
She sat down on the bed, crying. ‘Come back Laksh. Every day I plead near you, ask you to listen but its all the same. When will you be back Laksh. I…..I miss you so much! Please come back. I…. I want to see your smile again’
Ragini remembered the smile Laksh gave her at the ambulance. Although he was injured and dying, he looked happy, like he had everything he wanted all beside him, like he…
Ragini stood up in shock ‘Like he was ready to go….Like he had known that he wouldn’t live anymore. Like he knew it was his time’
“NO!” Ragini clutched her heart in pain “Nooo! No No No! Laksh no!”
She wanted to stop thinking about it, but she couldn’t forget the look on Laksh’s face.
“Why Laksh! Why would you do that to me!?”
She fell to her knees crying. “Don’t you care about me Laksh? Why would you leave me? Why!? How could you do that to me?”
Although, she didn’t want it to be true, the more it looked like Laksh was ready to leave the world. Didn’t he care about her? About Sanskar? About Everyone who cares for him? Why would he just give up like that!?
Suddenly, she realized something. If…..if Laksh was to die that day, then why was he alive till now?
‘I guess it is just me over-thinking. Laksh wouldn’t die…..right?’
A memory flashed in her mind.
*flashback*
“I love you too Laksh. You need to promise me to get better and come back to me okay.”
Laksh nodded and closed his eyes.
*flashback end*
‘Is he not able to let go because….because……’ Ragini stood still where she was.
#Hospital,2 hrs later#
“Ragini is late today. Not that I am not happy. In fact, I’m glad that she is starting to take care of herself again”
“Me too Swara”
Annapurna and Durgaprasad had left a while ago. Swara and Sanskar always stay back till night in the hospital.
“I’m back.”
“Ragini. Come in”
“Swara, Sanskar……I need to ask you both a favor.”
“Sure Ragini.” said Sanskar
“Can you please leave for some minutes. I…. I want to talk to Laksh alone”
“O…..sure Ragini” Sanskar and Swara moved out.
Ragini went and sat near Laksh on the chair. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. She had cried and thought over everything for two hours, and now she knows what she has to do. She took Laksh’s hand in hers and smiled at him.
“I finally realized Laksh. I… I finally realized how selfish I have been. The only thing I thought about is you coming back to me and not about what you may want. I just assumed that you would want the same thing, but….but I never realized that maybe….maybe it was your time. I want you here laksh, I desperately want you here, alive and moving, so that I can be with you. I never want you to leave me! I want you to always be beside me. But….but I never asked you about what you wanted. Laksh I ….I’m hoping I am wrong but….but I feel that I’m not wrong this time.”
She smiled at him. She took a deep breath and started speaking “You are not being able to leave because of me and your family right Laksh? You’re worried that we will all break down if you die. You think that I will do something to myself if you die.”
Ragini wiped her tears and started speaking again “We all will be alright Laksh. Stop worrying about us. We only want what’s best for you. If I am wrong, then please wake up soon, I’m ready to wait forever. But … If you really want to go, I….” Ragini could not say the words. She could barely speak. Her heart was breaking every second as she was finally letting Laksh go. “I let you go Laksh. If you really need to go Laksh, go. Don’t worry about Swara, Sanskar and your family. I’ll take care of them like my own family, watch them, comfort them. If we are the ones you are holding back for, and you are not being able to cross to the otherside and be happy…. Then I let you go Laksh. Go and be happy Laksh.”
She was crying openly, but still she continued “And don’t worry about me. I…..I remember my promise to you Laksh. I’ll not waste my life, I…I will be happy, I will try to enjoy every little thing in life, live to its fullest. I..I’m sorry but I won’t ever be able to love another because the only one I ever truly loved was you. But I promise I will find happiness in other things. I will live for others. Keep them happy. And knowing that I am doing what you asked and fulfilling my promise to you, I’ll be happy. And when I have lived my life and achieved my dreams…I’ll come back to you Laksh…Wait for me Laksh, I’ll come back to you. But… now if you need to go….Go Laksh, be happy.”
Ragini kissed his hand and stood up. She took one last look at Laksh and went out. She didn’t turn back as she didn’t want to hold back Laksh.
Swara and Sanskar looked up to see Ragini move out of the room.
#Gagodia House, 30 mins later#
Ragini sat in her bed, with the music box in her hand. She played it softly.
“Sunshine, You are my Sunshine
You make me happy, when skies are grey
You’ve never noticed, how much I’ve loved you
Please don’t take my Sunshine away…
Please don’t take my Sunshine away…”
She suddenly felt a great pain in her heart. The music continued to play in the background.
“Sunshine, You are my Sunshine
You make me happy, when skies are grey”
Her phone buzzed. She didn’t need to pick up the phone. She already knew the news. She could feel it. She could feel a part of her going away from her. Laksh was gone…
“You’ve never noticed, how much I’ve loved you”
Her heart hurt more. She closed her eyes and clutched it in pain.
“Please don’t take my sunshine away…”
The breeze blew outside, softly.
‘I’ll wait for you’ Ragini heard someone whisper in her ear. However, she was in too much pain and couldn’t open her eyes.
‘I’ll wait for you’
The pain subsided and Ragini opened her eyes. She looked around but found no one there.
“Please don’t take my Sunshine away…”
#30 years later#
A woman could be seen carrying some flowers towards the cemetery. It was none other than Ragini. She walked to the center of the cemetery near a grave.
“Hello Laksh. It’s a beautiful day isn’t it?” She smiled as she sat beside the tombstone.
“It’s been 30 years. Time sure flies by easily no? I visit you every month but I couldn’t make it here last month. I… I’m sorry for that. I had somewhere to visit.”
She looked up at the sky and smiled “I had gone to visit Brazil. Always wanted to go there, but never had the chance. But I managed to go there now.”
She closed her eyes “You know Laksh, that was my last wish. To visit Brazil….I already achieved everything I wanted.”
She smiled while keeping her eyes closed “Swara and Sanskar are fine too. I have visited your Ma and Baba at the cemetery too, and came to you right away. I had so much to share with you. Swastika will be here soon too. She wanted to take your blessings before marrying Abhinav” She sighed “Kids…They grow up so fast no? It seems like only yesterday when Swastika was born to Sanskar and Swara. And now, their daughter is about to marry…. Abhinav is a good guy. You would have liked him. He truly loves Swastika and I know he will keep her happy.”
Ragini smile widened “Remember Laksh? I told you I would come back to you once I have fully lived my life as you wanted…. And now…..I think it’s time Laksh. There is nothing more in this world that I want. The only thing I want is to be with you”
Someone approached near her. It was Swastika and Abhinav.
“Hello aunt Ragini. You reached before us. And… Why are you sitting there?”
“I….I feel really tired Saki… and its so…..so peaceful here”
“Aunt Ragini, you can rest in the car. Yo-”
“Saki….only this place can bring me peace”
Swastika didn’t understand. What was her Aunt saying? The sun was high up in the sky. How could she feel peace and happy in such heat? Unless….
“I can finally feel myself at peace. I finally feel like I’m complete again”
“Aunt Ragini…what are you saying? Y-“Swastika gasped. She finally understood.
Her mother, Swara, had told her about Laksh and Ragini’s pure love.
And she now gets it…. Ragini was about to …about to leave this world.
“Saki, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” asked Abhinav.
Swastika shook her head. She was smiling as well as crying. She was happy that her aunt would be reunited with her love again, but she was also sad that she was about to lose her aunt.
“Saki….. Do you remember the song I used to play to you when I sang you to sleep?”
“Yes”
“Sing it to me please”
Saki nodded and sang
“Sunshine, You are my Sunshine
You make me happy, when skies are grey”
She couldn’t continue further as she was crying. She felt someone hold her and sing with her.
“You’ve never noticed, how much I loved you” Abhinav sang with her.
“Please don’t take my Sunshine away…
Please don’t take my Sunshine away…
Please don’t take my Sunshine away…
Please don’t take my Sunshine away…
Please don’t take my Sunshine away…”
~The End.~
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That’s it!
Hope you liked! 🙂
~ Mona