The Best of Things
(RagLak, SwaSan) Fan Fiction Series
By Bubble
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Chapter 5
Lakshya heard a stirring behind him.
Ragini had woken up, put out a hand to feel for the man who had just given her so much pleasure, and not found him. A little confused and disoriented, she raised herself on her elbow. Through the open doors she saw Lakshya sitting in the balcony, his back to her. She got out of bed, drew the sheet she was wearing more snugly around her and walked to the balcony.
"Laksh?" she was hesitant. It was difficult to gauge his mood.
He turned to look at her - one quick appraising look from the top of her tousled head, down her beautiful shape now covered by the sheet she had grabbed, down to her scarlet painted toes. "Haan, Ragini?" he seemed calm, and she was a little disconcerted by the sharpness in his eyes.
"Aap theek hain?" the question came out soft.
"Haan, main theek hoon!" and he hauled himself out of the chair and coming to stand in front of her. "In fact, mujhe tumse poochna chahiye. Tum theek ho?"
"Haan," she stammered, "haan, hum theek hain."
"Good!" he said, and walked away to the railing.
Was that all he was going to say? What was he thinking?
"Laksh, woh hum kal raat... you had a bit too much to drink. Hum aapko rok nahin paaye, aur..." she swallowed nervously.
He turned to look at her, the sardonic gleam in his eyes deepening. She was going to pin this on him as well! And she wasn't wrong, he thought.
He walked across to her, suddenly seeming to loom over her. He took her by the shoulders, not ungently. "Did I force you last night, Ragini?"
"Nahin, nahin, Laksh!" She tried not to commit too much to either side, "I was hesitating because you were drunk but you wouldn't take no for an answer. Finally, it just happened! Don't worry, I won't hold you to it. You're still free to divorce me and marry Swara, Laksh! She will never know this happened between us!"
"What has Swara got to do with it, Ragini?" he asked her sweetly.
Ragini frowned. Where was this going? "Matlab? Woh Swara... aap chahtein hain na, ke Swara aur aap...?"
Lakshya looked at her intently. "Tum kya chahti ho, Ragini? What do you want?"
Ragini couldn't believe what she was hearing! Where was the trap? "I want you to get back with Swara, Laksh! I want to make up for all the things I've done!"
Lakshya narrowed his eyes. "And seducing me is going to achieve that... how?"
She rushed into speech, "Laksh, that was a mistake. You couldn't help it - you were drunk, I was helping you into bed and you couldn't help it!" She looked up at him with wide eyes.
Lakshya chuckled, "I started it... and you were the poor hapless lover-girl who couldn't say no... is that your story? How do you explain the sudden appearance of a beautiful negligee, Ragini? Your just-kohled eyes, a fresh squirt of Shalimar on your wrists, your hair that went from sanskaari to tousled in twenty minutes? And the fact that you started to kiss me..."
He took her wrists. "Come, let's have no lies between us!"
Ragini swallowed hard. "Laksh, I... I.. told you..." and looked up at him. Oh, what was the point? If he suspected her... if he remembered so well, then it wouldn't work! There was a curious expectancy in his eyes... something that commanded her honesty.
She tried again. "When you came home with too much to drink, I thought... doing this would bind you to me. That you wouldn't leave me... wouldn't WANT to leave me after this. It was just impulse, Laksh, I didn't think too much... please forget this. Just do what you had planned - win Swara back!" But there was a plea in her eyes.
Lakshya held her hands in a firm clasp as his eyes searched hers. "Ragini, this is a moment of truth, ok? Think carefully and answer me - because that is what will happen. Don't lie to yourself and DON'T lie to me! This is very important - is that understood?"
She bobbed her head in a nod.
What strange mood was this?! He was so earnest! And she could sense how important this conversation seemed to him. It seemed momentous, how their future hung upon her answers to whatever he wanted to know... What would he ask? And what should she say? The truth, or a lie? Which lie? Which answer would bring her what? Her head was in a whirl.
It was about 2am. They stood like that on the balcony, face to face. Lakshya in his dressing gown, Ragini bare-shouldered, with a sheet wrapped around her, wearing nothing but her mangalsutra...
Lakshya raised their clasped hands to his face. His lips were on the back of her right hand. "What do you want, Ragini?"
Anupamaa
