Chapter 1
"Riddhima" her supervisor screamed at her for the nth time " I can save you now but there is a limit to it, if you keep repeating the mistakes every now and then, nothing will be in my hands"
"Yes Mildred, I understand this completely" she must have repeated for the umpteenth time.
If only I could get myself to fix this mess, thought Riddhima to herself for the nth time.
This had become a routine now.
Everything was going haywire since the time she had met Ravi, or actually it had started even before that, but the fact was that she was starting to fail at things that she never knew she could earlier on.
She still couldn't believe that a woman like her could do something as tragic as what she did that evening in Livingston when she went to meet Ravi. It was supposed to be a simple harmless meet where he was willing to help her procure a job but maybe it was her naivety or foolishness that he ended up kissing her. No doubt he was far ahead in his game, with a wife a child that she found out about later on. It is on that point that she realized what a big mistake she had made, and what would it have cost her had she gone to meet him.
She was secure in her house yes. But could she stay in such an environment all throughout.
No.
She wanted love and respect. Did she ever get it.
She was not sure.
And hence always at the first hint of love she would fall hard and fast.
Maybe that was the reason she got married to Armaan.
Actually getting married to him was also a task. A horrendous task
She was afraid to face him, because so much had happened between the time she met him when they got married in a rush to now. She was sure that he will prevail, but she was not sure she could. She had to, she knew, as she was a survivor, a born fighter.
The only problem was whom was she supposed to fight with and for whom. Everyone was betraying her in some ways or the other. She knew that she had to fight for what she wanted. She wanted to be single again, to be away from all this hustle of being married of pretending to be sane when she knew she did not belong here.
Ravi called her up, in the midst of her mind conversations. Hesitant at first, she picked it up.
"Hello " she said into the phone.
"Hi, how are you?" Ravi asked.
"I am doing well, Ravi, how are you and wife and kids" she asked.
Sensing sarcasm he replied ," everyone is doing fine, so you tell me what is new in your life"
She was afraid of what she might blurt out " everything is fine Ravi, just finished filing for my husband, he should be here by the end of the year or early next year." She finished
He smirked, "you still hadn't finished it Riddhima. Were you hoping to stop him from coming"
Oh there he starts his sarcasm again. She thought.
"ahaha very funny" she exclaimed.
"so how is halo working out" he asked. " are you still there"
"yes Ravi, it is alright, I mean just alright but still its working out."
"what do you mean?"he pried on
"well for starters there is a lot of bad mouthing, investigations, blunders you name it and its happening."
"I had told you to move out of there" he said reminding her that he was right.
She did not answer anything back
"So when are you coming to meet me"
"never" she said.
"never say never" he said
"so what else is new. Are you still at the same company or moved up the ladder."
"still here... hoping that you would take the position so that I could bring you here"
She laughed "you should spend your energy onto someone fruitful, atleast you would get a good candidate for your position.
"I want you"
"I cant seem to manage this, at that level its gonna be intense"
"so let it be, intense wil make you learn"
"it will no doubt, but I don't want to make a mockery out of myself."
"you wont, trust me."
"you have to stop being kind to people like me," she blurted out
"I cant help it , its in my nature"
"well then I can make it easier for you by hanging up the phone, thank you for your time and everything,"
"Riddhima don't do it. Its almost after a month that I get to talk to you, you hardly ever call."
"do you know what is a jhand" she asked
"yes"
"that is what my life has become, a jhand, everything is falling left and right and I am looking at it like a loser."
He couldn't say anything.
"please lets just hang up"
"okay Riddhima, but I would want to meet you once, whenever you are ready"
She said okay and hung up.
She knew there was no future with him, and yet she felt deeply attracted to him, maybe his power, the pull he had, the situation of being involved with a married man, whatever it was it was enticing to her.
She wanted to meet him too. It was difficult for her to stay loyal to armaan when she did not even have any sort of feelings for him. Whereas she did for ravi. She wasn't sure.
She left work and went home to cook and clean.
.
.
.
.
As she was finishing up the cooking, she heard a door bell.
She looked at the clock. 9:30 am. Who could it be at this hour? She wondered. And nobody knew about her new address yet except maybe her mom n brother.
Hesistant she reached the door and opened it slightly.
She was surprised to see him at this hour.
"Ravi , you ?" she exclaimed surprised
There were several times when she had imagined him arriving to meet her to surpise her, was it one of her imaginations.
"yes me Riddhima, will you let me in"
"umm sure, please come on in," she said and left the door open behind him.
He looked back, "do you not plan to close the door behind, its kinda chilly."
"I would like to leave it open a little" she said.
No one said anything further.
"So how are you?" she asked "what brings you here, and how do you know about this address, no one knows it yet."
"That is one of the reasons why I happen to come here"
"Ohh" she exclaimed
He smiled to himself
"So what were you cooking"
"bhinda and roti, do you want to try some"
"sure would love too." He said
She offered it to him. "so what are you going to eat."
"I will make something else later on" she said
"no please eat your food, I was just kidding, I was close by so decided to say hi to you"
"yeah yeah no worries please go ahead, I have a lot of food with me"
"oh yeah, okay then letssee what you got."
"okay, she went to her refrigerator, lets see there is pav bhaji from yesterday that I can warm up, but I don't have bread, maybe shoprite is open and I can get some bread, and theres lettuce , I can eat lettuce..."
She sensed him close to herself. And turned towards him and moved back.
"I just came to see what do you have"
She showed him the fridge.
"okay riddhima it was nice seeing you after a while, your bhindas were good. I will take your leave now."
"okay " she said, "it was nice meeting you" she brought her hand up for a handshake while le looked at her hoping for a hug, when she did not come forward he shook her hand and she escorted him to the door, before she could open the door he placed a hand on the door. She looked at him, watching his next move. He held her hand and brought it to his heart. His gaze moving from her eyes to her hand on his heart.
"nice try" she thought to herself.
"do you feel it" he asked
"what am I supposed to feel" she asked
"my heartbeat which escalates when I meet you"
if she did not control herself she might fall for his charm' she said "I believe I can recommend a cardiologist to you" she smiled
He smiled weakly. " you just don't understand."
"I do! What you don't understand is everyonce in a while we like someone new, with whom we can escape in our fantasies, but when we starts living in real with them, we escape from then towards another fantasy"
He jerked her hand off his heart " good bye riddhima"
Edited by AR4eve - 10 years ago
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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