Ishra FF ||A Contract Of Love|| Prologue ~ Chapter 24B - Page 100

Originally posted by: sparkingsoul

very nice update yaar 👏

do continue soon waiting to know about raman's past...😊

Originally posted by: 9900

Sad but nice update.

Originally posted by: divazfankau

awsome updated continue soon

Originally posted by: sukanksha

Yes the story is a bit on slow pace. But this is the requirement of this particular story. You have to show through certain small small incidents that how there understanding care concerns is increasing day by day how they are actually becoming fond of each other. So for that no need to rush but write as u planned.
Loved those incidents
They wanted to look at each other but were avoiding
They wanted to eat together but were not.

That pain btw two was beautifully portrayed I love it.
End Mein when he said I will never stop talking to you. I was reminded of a song's line. Have you heard ' o saathi re' from" tanu weds manu returns"
It has a line which is suitable for it.
KITNA BHI HUM ROOTHE MAGAR BAAT KARENGE SAATHI
MAUSAM MAUSAM YUN HI SAATH CHALENGE SAATHI.

Originally posted by: avni_19

awesum updatee!! loved it soo muchh! <3

Raman ishita silence does kills but thankfully ishita took the initiative.. Happy that everything is cleared...

Cont soon... Goodluck for ur exams! :D

Originally posted by: janani_divan

Both are mad about each other. :-)
silence is killing them..:-(
Awwe raman is so cute and ishita is a crying baby.

Hmm raman past is dragging as well as ishita past too..
Its already completed 23 parts ..

So we readers demand to know it..

Thanks for brilliant update..

I love the dinner encounter...raman knows ishita is eating salty food..how sweet he is..:-)

thanks for pm:-)

Originally posted by: ishracool

Nice update...👏..wanna know why Raman is hiding it to ishita....update soon...👍🏼

Originally posted by: SahasYuvreenian

Hey Prabh!

Amazing update once again. Loved it dear. I am so glad they are back to talking atleast. Their not talking session was really painful for us readers. Its fine. Make the story fast or keep it in the same pace it doesnt matter. But dont slow it down please!

Hope u r fine and your exams are going well.

Love

Sahas

Originally posted by: 143rhb

Thanks for pm.

You have sketched ishra relationship very differently like understanding and caring one.

I think it's high time now raman has to open up.

Their silence was killing me too.

Thank god they finally spoke. Otherwise again my poor ruhi would been confused about her parents behavior.

Ps. Pls let us know raman ' s past in next update its a request.

He sat by her side as that debate he was having before going to bed had now returned and it was more powerful and he knew he had to make a choice now. He couldn't suffer and have Ishita suffering as well because of a past that can't be changed, so...

What was worse, having to see her cry because of him or telling her what he had never told anyone else? He looked at her sleeping form, and then his eyes slowly looked at her hand that clutched onto his. He carefully took his hand out of her firm grip as she turned in her sleep and hugged Ruhi. He walked out of their room and decided he needed a walk to figure things out. After turning on Ruhi's baby monitor and making sure the two were sound asleep, he quietly headed out with the speaker of the monitor in his pocket.

He sat down on the stair outside the apartment leaning against the wall. He just wanted a clear picture in his mind of what he needed and what he should be doing right now. Sitting out in the cold breeze he remembering Ishita's each word about whenever she wanted him to tell her about Shagun.

"It's alright. I won't push you, but if you ever want to say something, I am here."

"I have a feeling you don't share your past because for one it's painful and maybe because you feel like I will change my opinion about you. So let me tell you Raman, nothing will ever change what I think about you."

"You can talk if you would like. I don't mind."

"Raman please speak up, what is it about her that bothers you so much? It hurts to see you act like this."

"It's okay if you can't tell."

"Fine...it's okay if you can't say what you want to. I will always be right next to you if you ever change your mind."

"Raman, I promise I will never ask you anything again, just don't stop talking to me. I don't like the silence."

"Take all the time you want. But don't stop talking to me."

She always respected the fact that he wasn't ready to tell her everything. She never pushed him to a point where he had no choice, she always gave him the opportunity to avoid this if he wanted. But why was he feeling the need to tell her now? Despite knowing this would change what she thought of him, he wanted to tell her because he was hurting him when he hid his past from her.

Maybe it was because this very past of his was causing this rift between them. It made it seem as if he didn't trust her enough to let her know this. Though she didn't say anything, it was starting to hit him that this was affecting her a lot. She had kept herself away from him thinking he didn't want her talking anymore and whatever happened in their room a few minutes ago was the result. If he kept on hiding things, their friendship would fade away which was something he didn't want at any cost. And it wasn't like he could hide this from her forever. She would know one day or the other and it would be better if he told her now when they were just starting to know each other rather than her finding out when they had formed a deeper friendship that would be more affected than right now.

He needed to choose between having to revisit his past or losing a friend and the respect she had for him...

~~~~~~

"Ishita..." he spoke up after their quiet morning.

She had woken up to find Raman wasn't there in their room and Ruhi was next to two pillows insuring she would be safe. Ruhi was already awake and was busy playing with the cartoons on her blanket. She got Ruhi and herself ready and having dealing with that horrendous norming sickness again, came out looking perfectly fresh in her blue churidar and her red chooda complimenting it perfectly. When she reached him as he sat reading the newspaper. He had chosen to get up without a word and sat at the table waiting for breakfast. Worried about why he was ignoring her again despite what he had said last night, she thought of asking him, but he spoke up before her...

"After breakfast, do you have time because I need to talk to you. It's really important."

Nodding silently she sat down to eat. The silent breakfast was nothing like yesterday. He looked at her and smiled occasionally while she was assured he wasn't mad, but it was something. Though the wait for him to finish was testing her patience, she tried to avoid the questions unsure of how he would react. As he cleared off his plate and placed his dishes in the sink, he finally talked.

"Will you come with me?"

"Where?"

He got up and started to go near the room of the apartment. She followed him as he went over to the room furthest from their room. She had always noticed the room was locked and unlike her mother-in-law's room that was kept open despite not having anyone use it.

"Have you ever wondered why I locked this room?" He asked pulling out a key from his pocket.

"Well it is unusual since the other room isn't locked despite being empty."

"Well, this is why..."

He opened the door to the room and they walked in to find a perfectly furnished room that she knew instantly belonged to him and Shagun. A huge wedding picture hung above the bed where he looked much younger and Shagun again looked like what people would describe as a perfect bride. She looked around as he led her to the couch in the corner of the room.

"Raman..."

"This was mine and her room. The other room is ours."

"Why did you lock this? And why don't we use it?"

"I locked it after she passed away. Each and everything is the same. After I came from the hospital, I never stepped in this room again. Today is the first time I opened this place. And we don't use it because you have your own place in my life and house. This was her place and now it's become a place I don't want to come near."

"Then why are we here?" she wondered what had gotten into him today while he took a deep breath before speaking up...

"I want you to know everything."

"I don't want to know if you're not okay with it." She spoke in a soft tone worried about this leading to another session of ignoring each other.

"But today I want to tell. I want you to know." He was sure of what he was about to do.

"You don't have to do this."

"I do! And I will."

"Why? Just last night you had asked me for time, and now..."

He looked away from her and she sighed before she spoke up. She felt as if he was only trying to tell her everything because of what happened last night...

"Listen Raman, I'm not Ruhi here. I don't cry to get what I want. I truly didn't like having you avoid me. It hurt me how you were there next to me, but your mind was somewhere else. How you kept your head down and didn't look up at me. How you chose to stay away from me. The way you still cared for me despite wanting to ignore me. How we slept without any words. All that hurt me, not the fact that you couldn't share your past with me because trust me Raman I myself would have hesitated to talk and I did hesitate to ask you before as well. But I have seen you in these few days and the way you behave when her name comes in front of you, and it's a look that is full of the hurt you try to hide. You're living in pain that I wanted to take away, not a past I wanted to know about. I wouldn't mind if you never share your past with me as long as you find a way to come out what you are living in right now."

"And that's why I want to tell. You aren't just any other person who wants to those secrets I keep inside of me. You aren't like those people who want to know everything about me so they can taunt me or use my past as a way to judge my present. You actually want to help me come out of this hell I put myself into. And today I want to tell you only for that reason. I'm tired of hiding from you, I'm tired of hurting you in the process...I'm tired of keeping my feelings to myself...I want to talk. So I'm asking you today will you sit with me and listen to me?"

"I will..." she said with a smile on her face. This time he wanted to tell her genuinely and what more could she want from him.

"And if anytime you want me to stop or you want to leave this room, go ahead I won't stop you."

"Tell me whatever you want to tell... I'm not leaving you anywhere."

"Ishita...I...well actually she...just wait a moment."

"However you want Raman and whenever you want."

"Sha...Shagun...Shagun Arora."

She held his hand to let him now it was fine if he couldn't go through with this. He turned his hand around and clutched her hand tightly wrapping his fingers around hers. He was trying to be okay with this, but she could only imagine trying to relive her past. He wasn't even able to say her name easily, but he also really wanted this to happen, so she kept their hand intertwined supporting him as he was having difficulty continuing...

"We met through our parents. They wanted us to get married and when I say her for me it was "love at first sight". I liked her the moment I saw her, I was attracted. And she seemed to like me as well. When we talked, we seemed to have a lot in common and wanted to know each other, so we both said yes."

She noticed his straight face had a tiny bit of expression as he talked about their first meeting. His lips had curved into the tiniest smile she had seen...

And like most arranged marriages are, everyone wanted everything done as soon as they could. And at the age of 23, getting married to a woman who had me smitten the moment I saw her was something I wanted done fast. And we got married in 11 months later after we both thought we knew each other well enough."

"Still didn't beat our record. Marriage in a month." She got a smile out of him. He took a moment as she quietly waited for him to continue...

"3 years. Everything was fine. She was busy with her modelling and ads while I was busy with my own work. In between all that our relationship was only getting better according to me. We spent whatever little time we got together, we both loved each other and always tried to work together to make our lives better than they already were. But then..."

She knew this was coming to the point where that bad memory he talked about formed. She felt his grip getting tighter on her hand and she looked up to find tiny droplets at the corner of his eye. The tears burned his eyes as his grip hurt her hand. But none of them said a word. He took a deep breath and she took her other hand and held his shoulder before he continued...

"The 4^th year. It was close to our anniversary and we always tried to celebrate it together. But that year she had to go to London for a fashion show. We tried to work something out and she said she couldn't miss it since it was the biggest event in her career and a huge accomplishment for her. So I cancelled my recent contract and went with her. I wanted to be a part of this moment in her life that she had been working hard for years now. In London it was all fine, it was almost like a vacation for us when she had time off. But that trip didn't end up too well though..."

"2 days before the actual event she was attending, there was a rehearsal for the ramp walk and other stuff. I was there with her and watched her as she walked down the ramp only to faint halfway. She hadn't been feeling well for the past few days, but she refused to stop working and brushed it off. And her fainting was the last straw for me. I took her to a hospital and there I got the best news of my life. She was pregnant!"

The tears that fell from his eyes when he had talked about her fainting and their trip were lessened as he talked about her pregnancy.

"But my happiness didn't last for long..."

~~~~~

Precap - The talk continues...

~~~~~

That was all for now! Please like and leave your feedback! Will look forward to reading it.

Chapter 24B- Page 144