Hi! Well, previous chapter got uploaded with Twinkle and Ansh’s pic. Error….
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Moving on… ???
“Words in double quotes” – Talking
‘Words in single quotes’ – Thoughts
(Words in braces) – Telephone conversations
Chapter 4
Ragini parked the bicycle near the beach and hopped off. She went near the waves and took in a deep breath. “I’m free!” she screamed out as loud as she could, making her voice echo throughout the place. Ragini stepped into the water. However, her dress was making her feel uncomfortable. Despite it, she just pulled up her dress till her knees and ran into the water.
Unknown to her, Sanskar had by then reached the beach and got out of his car, watching her in bewilderment from afar.
No where did she resemble the girl that he met in the Gadodia house. It was like she was an entirely different person. ‘Either she has been possessed by a ghost, or she is an alien in disguise.’ Sanskar shook his head of his ridiculous thoughts and walked ahead, determined to find out the truth.
Ragini, on the other hand, was in a world of her own. She splashed the water around her in joy like a child with a new toy. She giggled to herself as she relished her freedom. She felt a big burden lift from her shoulders.
After sometime, when she felt like she had enough, she paused to look at the clear blue sky. “Ah! Everything is just so perfect right now!”
She felt that her life was all set. No troubles surrounded her. However, we all know that life had its own way of giving surprises.
“Okay. You had your fun. Now explain!” demanded a voice from behind her.
Ragini blinked her eyes in confusion. ‘For some reason, his voice seems oddly familiar.’ she slowly turned around, only for her eyes to widen to the size of saucers. “Sa-Sanskar?!”
In response, he just glared at her. “Explain to me.”
Ragini gulped and stepped back. “Um…explain w-what?” she stuttered out. ‘Shit shit shit! He wasn’t supposed to find out the truth like this! What if he goes and complains to Maa. Eeeeeeeee, my posters!’
Sanskar glared harder. “Stop your stuttering and explain to me what’s going on right now!” he shouted, moving forward towards her.
Ragini stepped back in uncertainty, although she knew there was no escape as she was almost near his reach.
Suddenly, Ragini felt herself stumble on a rock. As they were in the water, she did not see her footing and lost her balance. Ragini let out a scream and closed her eyes, expecting herself to get drenched in the water.
However, instead of that, she felt herself jerked back. Once she opened her eyes, she stared directly into a pair of enchanting black eyes. His piercing gaze seemed to stare directly into her soul. Having his face so close to her left her mouth dry.
Ragini had experienced different feelings in her life and dealt efficiently with them. But now, being so close to another male, left her speechless and her mind blank. She may be obnoxious and outgoing. She may have both boys and girls in her friend circle. But never has any boy been so close to her. It was a completely different experience for her.
Sanskar, on the other hand, had simply acted out of reflex and prevented her from falling. That didn’t mean his anger had left him. However, as he stared into her face, some of his anger faded.
Ragini was giving him such a look that made him unable to be angry at her. She was looking at him with wide eyes and a innocent face. Her mouth open in the shape of an ‘o’ and a light blush covering her cheeks. As he looked into her eyes, he could see a kind of innocence that was quite hard to find I’m any girl of her age. She was, in a word…
Beautiful.
Sanskar felt like he could have stared forever into her beautiful brown eyes. However, the cold of the water reminded him of their state. ‘Eep! Cold cold cold!’
Sanskar tried to straighten up. However, Ragini still kept looking at him in shock. Sanskar sighed to himself. ‘Stupid girl!’ nevertheless, he put a hand below her knees, and picked her up bridal style. ‘Aisshh! Who knew this tiny thing could be this heavy!? Well, won’t look manly if I drop her now. Jor lagao Sanskar!’
With great effort, he managed to take steps forward towards the shore.
All the while, Ragini kept looking at him. She knew what was going around her, but she just couldn’t make herself look away from him.
Don’t get her wrong. Ragini wasn’t one of those girls who keep gushing and gossiping about boys. But nevertheless, she was a girl too.
Every girl hoped for someone who would be her Prince Charming. Every girl dreamt of having a romantic encounter with a guy who would save her from danger, for whom she would be the most beautiful girl in the world.
Now, although Sanskar wasn’t her lover, the way he saved her and was carrying her towards the shore was a bit of romantic, she had to admit. Ragini looked down, blushing from her thoughts. ‘What the heck Ragini!? You don’t want to marry this guy, remember? Stop thinking about romancing with him. He just saved you like any other guy would have in the same situation. That’s it!’
However, she couldn’t stop the smile that threatened to break out on her face. She peeked a glance at his face. ‘He is kind of cute though. Hehe… Sanskar ev-eep!’ she felt the hands balancing her leave her. The next thing she knew, she was lying on the sand with Sanskar looking down upon her with a glare, huffing and puffing.
Slowly, she came back to her senses and felt her back throb. “Aa. Aha-aaa!” she screamed out in pain. “Why the heck did you drop me?! My bum hurts!”
“Firstly, I saved you from falling in the water. Be thankful! Secondly, you’re heavy! It’s a wonder I managed to bring you till here! And thirdly, ‘bum’? Which girl talks like that? Shouldn’t you be a little more prudish?!” he spoke in one breath.
Ragini slowly got up and glared back at him. “Oh hello! It’s just water, that too it wasn’t that deep. It’s not like I would have drowned near the shore.”
“Unbelievable! Never have I met such an ungrateful person like you!”
Ragini sniffed dramatically. “Whatever!”
Sanskar’s eye twitched in irritation. However, he let it go. “Okay, whatever! Now tell me your truth.”
Ragini contemplated what to do. However, she knew there was no other choice but to tell him. “Okay. Okay look. It’s not like my parents wanted to deceive you, okay? It’s just that they want the best for their daughter. That is why they tried to get me act all goody-two-shoes.”
“So your parents lied about you being a sanskari person? They just thought about their own daughter and not about their in-laws’ happiness I see.” Sanskar accused.
“Hey! It’s not like that. If I was thinking marry you, I would have tried my best to keep your family happy. I’m not a b*t*h you know!”
Sanskar’s eyes widened at her words. “Could you be more rude? I thought girls are supposed to be sweet.”
Ragini smirked, keeping a hand on her hip. “Not all girls are sugar and sweet. Some of us are wild and obnoxious. We like to play in the mud, get our nails dirty, drive bikes and be our crazy independent selves.”
Sanskar looked at her wide-eyed, surprised at her words. She seemed different from the girls he usually met. “Oh?”
Ragini nodded. She then looked at him in sincerity. “Look Sanskar. My point is that although my parents think highly of you, I don’t want to marry you. You maybe a great guy, but I’m not ready to marry you.”
‘Hey! Those were supposed to be my lines! I was supposed to dump her.’ Sanskar thought in indignation. ‘No way is she ruining my male pride.’ he pointed a finger at her. “Look Miss Ragini. Regretting me is the biggest mistake of your life. But in a way, it’s good you’re rejecting me since I didn’t want to marry a girl like you anyway.”
“You didn’t?” Ragini asked with wide eyes.
“Nah! I want a cool an awesome girl. Not someone so docile and submissive like you.”
“I am so not like that! It was just me acting. The real me is awesome!” Ragini boasted.
“Yea, right.” Sanskar said with a roll of his eyes. “You’re more of an obnoxious tomboy than a proper girl.”
Instead of being angry, Ragini smiled at him. “Thanks! I love being called a tomboy. Maa and Swara are the only reason why I’m wearing this Saree.”
“Whatever! I’m dumping you. Bye!”
At his words, Ragini’s eyebrows scrunched up in anger. “Oi! Firstly, we never intended to marry each other in the first place! So how does the question of dumping arise? And secondly, if anyone has dumped anyone, it’s me who dumped you!”
Sanskar put his hands on his hips and glared at her. “No! It’s me dumping you. Because eventually, you would have fallen for me, the handsome Sanskar Maheshwari and been crazy over me. But I would have rejected you. Hence, I dumped you. Understood?”
“Ahahaha! Biggest joke of the century. If anyone calls you handsome, they would have to get their eyes checked.” Ragini responded. However, she knew he was handsome, although she would never admit it. “And even if you were, I wouldn’t marry you. Because I know we would end up being a disaster!”
Sanskar looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Why so?”
“It’s obvious Sanskar. Look at you.” Ragini spoke, pointing at him. “Earlier, I thought you were a guy who just lives by his parents words. But now, you seem like someone who has their own ego. You obey your parents, but you’ll obviously not be a good husband to me.”
“Hey! I can be good husband.” Sanskar protested.
“Maybe for other girls who would listen to every word of their husband. Maybe they would be happy with a person like you. And maybe you would be a caring and loving husband for them. But in my case…in my case, you’re bound to end up fighting with me.”
“Why so?”
“Because like I said, I like to be independent of other’s opinions. I won’t just nod my head to everything you say just because you’re my husband. I’ll critic every view of yours, ask for equal share in any decision you take, even object if I don’t like something, shout out if you try to impose your views on me.”
Sanskar looked on in shock as she went to state why they wouldn’t be compatible with each other. However, with each word, she was only impressing him more and more. ‘Interesting.’
“If you want me to dine, I won’t until I myself want to. If you’re late any night for dinner, I won’t be waiting for you to come back to eat. If you want me to meet your friends, I will only if I feel like. Even after our marriage, I will keep the male friends that I have and talk to them.”
“You’ll betray me?”
“What? Of course not! I’m sayin I’ll still maintain my frindsh with them. They will all be like my brothers and best friends. But if you get jealous, I won’t leave my friendship just because of you!”
“Okay, continue.” Sanskar spoke, while making a shoo-ing motion.
Ragini felt irritated at his actions, but continued. “I will wear the dress I want, the way I want.”
“You mean dress like those teens nowadays?”
“No! I know how to wear decent clothes. I don’t like wearing revealing clothes.”
Sanskar nodded. “Good good. A woman should value herself and not present herself as a commodity to men.”
“Yeah, that. Now leave that. Concentrate on everything I told you. Now do you realize why I am not suitable for you?”
“So you mean you’ll just bully your husband all life?”
Ragini shook her head. “No. I never said that. Yes, I won’t bow down to his will and change myself. But that doesn’t mean I’ll not support him. I will give him happiness, but without compromising my own. I will support him when he is right, but stop him when he is wrong. I’ll love him unconditionally and do anything for him if he is right. But if he tries to be a tyrant, he should be ready to face my worse side.”
Sanskar smiled at her. She had all the qualities he was looking for in a wife. Bold, independent and intelligent. ‘I wonder…’ a plan cooked in his mind.
“But I got money. If you marry me, you will have the luxuries you’ve never seen in your life. Jewellery, diamonds, dresses…all would be at your feet.”
Ragini glared at him in disgust. “Do you really think these things matter to me? Money is important. But not so much that I will sacrifice my values for it!”
Sanskar’s smile broadened at her words. “You’re the one.”
Ragini blinked in confusion. “W-what?” Ragini jumped back in shock when Sanskar suddenly got on his knees before her.
“Marry me Ragini!”
“The F?!”
“Oho! We have got to work on your language after we marry. But don’t worry. I your husband, will try to make you let go of your cussing habit, in a way that you won’t feel pressured.”
“Marry? Husband? What nonsense are you blabbering about?!”
“It’s love, Ragini. I think I just fell in love with you.” Sanskar spoke with a goofy smile.
At once, she lifted him to her eye level by the collar and glared at him. “Listen here! I don’t like you. Loving you is a far away thing! So stop talking nonsense. In fact, didn’t you say you don’t want to marry me?”
“That was the biggest mistake I was to commit in my life! I do want to marry you Ragini. I’m sorry I misjudged you. Now let’s not waste time. Let’s go and tell your parents and mine that we’re ready to marry.”
Ragini pushed him back, making him fall on the sand. “I. Do. Not. Want. To. Marry. You! Can’t it get to your brain!?”
Sanskar, on the other hand, was still smiling. He sighed to himself dreamily. “I think I can even see our little home. A house with a white picket fence, with two kids and…”
As he went on speaking like in a trance, Ragini looked on in horror. “H-hey! Hey, no! I’m not marrying you! I am not going to marry you! You hear me? I won’t, I won’t! Sanskar! I won’t!”
“Don’t worry Ragini. I won’t try to impose my rights on you after we marry. But I until you agree to become mine, I will.” he said, getting up and dusting himself off. “Oh Love! Let’s go home.”
“Sanskar. Listen to me clearly. I can’t marry you.” Ragini spoke, getting downright serious.
“I told you Ragini. You don’t need to worry about your future life with me. I won’t be a tyrant to you.”
Ragini shook her head. “Everyone says that at first. But they change.”
“I won’t. Please trust me.”
Ragini shook her head again. “That’s not the only reason Sanskar.” she said in a stern voice. “The truth is that I…I already in a have a boyfriend. It’s Caleb.”
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To be continued…
Hope you liked! 🙂
~ ? Mona ?