This one if for all the PreRish AT members on this forum, I know each and everyone of us is disheartened and sad about Rishabh’s sudden exit !!
So here’s an OS on the current track!! Pata hai show main toh aisa kuch dekhne milega nahi 🥺
Zyada kuch nahi bolungi, Happy reading everyone!! 🤗
Title Suggestion- Esha143
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Prerna stood at the threshold of her balcony and keep gazing at the moon. The cold breeze made her shiver a bit, and right on cue she felt someone wrapping a shawl around her
‘What’s worrying my Jaan…??’
She smiled listening to her Rishabh’s voice and leaned back into his strong frame. She rested her head on his chest, and closed her eyes
‘Nothing…’
She lied to him and before he could say anything else she turned in his embrace and hugged him, Prerna wrapped her hands behind his back and rested her head on his chest, she inhaled his musk cologne, it calmed her senses that were on edge since the evening, as the bittersweet memories of the night ran through her mind
*Flashback*
Basu’s and Sharma’s were waiting for Anurag to come back for his wedding with Prerna, the mangalsutra that Anurag had selected for her was not delivered at home because of bad weather conditions thus he had decided to go and get it himself. The distance from their house to the jeweller was hardly of thirty minutes yet it had been nearly three hours that he had returned home. Everyone was anxious, especially Prerna, she had given up all hopes of reuniting with her Soulmate, but Rishabh Bajaj, as always had done something really unpredictable, he not only divorced her but also made all preparations for her wedding with Anurag.
She was hurt that he left without bidding her goodbye, but when she opened the letter that he had given to her, she felt her heart sink after reading his words!! Subconsciously her fingers traced every word that he had written with such clean strokes and his handwriting was so pretty, but not as beautiful as his words. A sad smile crept on her face, the man who had snatched everything from her had given it back to her today and even before leaving her, he made her a silent promise to be there for her! She wished that he would stay back for their wedding but before she could ask him to stay Shivani had come to fix her hair and get ready, by the time Prerna came downstairs Rishabh had left with his family without even informing her.
Prerna couldn’t believe that in a few hours she and Anurag would get married, she wanted to share her Pregnancy news with him! She planned to tell it him as their wedding gift but he left the house to get the mangalsutra that he had chosen for her. She tried to stop him, it wasn’t a good omen to leave the rituals in middle and go but Anraug was adamant, he promised to be back in no time but now it was nearly three hours that he was not back.
‘Aadhe ghante main mahurat khatam ho jayega.. dulha kab aane wala hai..’
Panditj’s question made Prerna more restless, why couldn’t Anurag listen to her and stay at home? He could have gotten the mangalsutra later as well, Mohini already had bought one for her daughter in law but Anurag had been stern that he would only make Prerna wear the mangalsutra that he had chosen for her.
Prerna closed her eyes and prayed to God, her anxiety kept increasing with every passing minute. She opened her eyes when she heard Mohini call Anurag’s name, finally he was here!! Prerna ran to him and started scolding him
‘Itni der kyun kar di aane main? Kab se intezaar kar rahi thi tumhara.. chalo.. Panditji bhi wait kar rahe hain..’
Prerna caught his hand and tried to take him to the mandap buy Anurag stood rooted to his spot, everyone looked at him in confusion, what was wrong with him?? He unwrapped Prerna’s fingers from his wrist and jerked her hand away.
‘Yahan koi shadi nahi hogi…’
His words shocked everyone who was present in the room, except Mohini, her eyes lit up listening to her son
‘Anurag..’
Prerna could hardly whisper his name, what was he saying!? He was calling off their wedding?! Why?! What had happened?!
She noticed his facial expressions, she could see the anger in his eyes. But what was he angry for? And why did he want to cancel their wedding so suddenly?! She had several questions in her mind to ask but her voice was lost, she couldn’t utter a word, she just looked blankly at Anurag. Veena came ahead and voiced her daughters thoughts. She asked Anurag about what was wrong and why was he cancelling their wedding. He just glared at Prerna looked straight in her eyes when he spoke
‘Because I can’t marry someone who betrayed me and my love!’
Prerna just stood numb listening to his words, betrayed ?? The word echoed in her head. Veena asked Anurag to elaborate what he meant. She knew that her daughter couldn’t betray Anurag. Not after what all she had done for him and for his family. But Anurag laughed sardonically at her words
‘You know what.. I thought so too, but just an hour ago, I have come to you that your daughter is Pregnant!!...’
At once all the eyes turned to Prerna while Anurag continued
‘Yes; I was on my way back home when I got a call and I didn’t realise but in a hurry my phone was swapped with Prerna’s, it was a call from the clinic, to remind her to collect her reports, since it was on the way, I decided to go and get them myself, in fact I was worried about her health but when I received the envelope that read pregnancy reports - and the result was positive, I went numb ... the girl whom I was going to get married to, was Pregnant … and I think all of you can guess who the father of her child is…’
He glared at her and gave her a disgusted look
‘It’s none other than the man whom she addressed as her husband for the past one month… Rishabh Bajaj…’
As soon as he took Rishabh’s name Prerna looked at him in shock. When he announced her pregnancy, she assumed that he was angry at her for not sharing the news with him but now she understood why he was accusing her of betraying him and the real reason for his anger, he assumed that Rishabh was the father of her child!
Before Prerna could say anything and clear this misunderstanding, she got a hard slap across her right cheek, she looked up at Mohini who stood in front of her
‘How dare you, even after betraying my son you still had the audacity to get married to him?? .. while my son was drowning in his sorrows you were busy enjoying your new life with your husband !! You saw how much pain he had to go through because of your stupid decision to get married to Rishabh.. agreed that it was a deal you made to protect Anu but the pain that he suffered?? What about that?? In Spite of all this, he still loved you and for his happiness even I was ready to accept you… but you… tell me Prerna, getting Pregnant with Rishabh’s child was also a part of the deal?’
Mohini asked her but Prerna didn’t say a word. She just kept looking at Anurag, who had turned his face to the other side, Mohini walked to Moloy and questioned him
‘This is the girl you wanted your son to get married to right?? She’s pregnant with someone else’s child Moloy.. yet she was ready to ruin my Son’s life by marrying him!!’
Veena came to Prerna and shook her to grab her attention and urged her to say something, but Prerna just kept looking at Anurag. How could he do this to her? How could he not trust her? He didn’t even bother to ask her about the father of her child and so confidently accused her of betraying him !! Did he have such little faith in her?? He claimed that he loved her, he planned attacks on himself to prove his love for her and the power of their love, but then how could he question her loyalty and her character?!
When Veena shook Prerna once again she came out of her trance, she looked at everyone in the room and saw their expressions, the entire Basu clan looked at her in disgust while her own family looked worried for her. She wiped her tears and took a deep breathe before she spoke
‘I am sorry Kaki Maa, that I ruined your son’s life!! But I promise you that from this minute, you will never have to worry about me trying to spoil his life, I know aap hamesha se yeh manti aai hain ki main Anurag aur aap sab ke liye manhoos hun, toh abh iss baat ki fikar mat kijiye ki aapne saath apni manhoosiyat iss ghar main leke aa rahi hun main.. because I am leaving this house right now.’
She placed her hand on her tummy and continued
‘I swear to my child that I’ll never come back in your lives and this house!!’
She gave one last look to Anurag and this time she was the one feeling disgusted about him, without sparing a glance to anyone else she walked out of the house. Veena kept calling her back but Prerna didn’t pay heed to her calls and almost started running from there. Her tears kept streaming down her face as she tired to run far away from that place. When she didn’t have the strength to even walk any further she halted a cab and absent mindedly told him an address, she kept sobbing as the driver took her to the location. When the taxi took a halt, Prerna stopped crying for a minute, she looked at the house in front of her in confusion, it was Bajaj Mansion, she wondered how she reached here but when the taxi driver asked for the money, she realised what had happened.
Paying him the cash Prerna slowly stepped out of the taxi and walked slowly towards the house. Fresh tears had started streaming down her face. She was confused, what was she doing here? Why did she ask the driver to drop her here? Why was it that the only place she wanted to be right now was this house? The house where no one stayed anymore! She knew that Rishabh had managed to get the property transferred legally in his name once again and after Dashmi they were supposed to shift back to this house, but now Rishabh had left for London, without her.
She pushed the iron gates and took slow steps, she kept looking at every corner of the house and hoped that her daughter would suddenly rush outside her room and run in her arms or she would spot Rishabh walking out of his study, she wanted to see them so badly !! She wanted her daughter to engulf her in a comforting hug or Rishabh to say her something that would help her ease her pain!! But they were not here, she was Alone in this house.
Prerna sat in middle of the hall and hugged her knees tightly to her chest, she started sobbing loudly, trying to release all the pain that she was feeling right now!! With every passing minute her sobs become louder and harder. She was so lost in her grief that she failed to notice someone’s presence in the house. She was startled when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned in the direction and was shocked to see Rishabh there, She couldn’t believe her eyes.
‘Rishabh..’
She called him out softly, she feared that it was her dream, but when he silently nodded his head and gently wiped her tears she realised that she was not dreaming, he was actually there, sitting right next to her, she hugged him with all her might and cried again
‘Why did you leave me?? You didn’t even inform me before going!! How could you do this to me!!??! How!!??’
She complained to him in between her cries, Rishabh’s heart broke in million pieces seeing her in this state, she was so venerable, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of hair softly.
‘I am so sorry! I shouldn’t have left you alone.. it’s all my fault.. I shouldn’t have let you be there on your own!’
He apologised to her while trying to fight back his own tears that were threatening to fall from his eyes. He couldn’t see her like this, her pain was killing him. He was already devastated because of the thought that today, he was going to get separated from her forever, as she would marry the love of her live and he would go back to London, he had been trying hard for the past two days to hide his pain from everyone, especially Prerna so that at least she could move on in life happily. But he didn’t imagine that the day would end on such a note.
By God’s grace his flight was late by seven hours and they were still at the Airport Longue when Veena had called him and narrated the entire incident to him, she informed him about Prerna boarding a cab to his house and immediately he rushed here. His heart ached to see her like this. He kept soothing her hair till her sobs became softer, Prerna broke the hug and looked at him. Rishabh noticed some more tears in her eyes and nodded his head negatively asking her to stop crying
‘I am here na… I won’t let you cry anymore! Please, I can’t see you cry…’
He said softly and wiped the rest of her tears from her face, Prerna gently lifted her hands and brought them to his face
‘But you are crying too..’
She wiped his tears and Rishabh gave her a sad smile
‘That’s because I can feel your pain… for which I know that somewhere I am responsible too!.. it’s my fault that you had to leave Anurag in first place.. it’s because of me that he misunderstood you and accused you of cheating on him… because of me..’
Prerna placed her hand on his lips and stopped him for saying anything more
‘No.. it’s not your fault… you didn’t do anything.. marrying you to save Anurag was my decision… deciding to marry him today and letting you go was my mistake.. you have done nothing wrong Rishabh… nothing wrong..’
She removed her hand from his lips and came closer to him. She rested her forehead against his and closed her eyes, Rishabh tried to absorb her words and cherish this moment, they kept sitting in this position for a few minutes but it felt like ages. They didn’t need to say anything because their presence was enough to calm each other, to provide solace to the other.
Rishabh caught Prerna’s hand and guided her to the nearest sofa. He made her sit there and sat next to her, Prerna rested her head on his chest and he just stroked her hair
‘How did you come to know about what happened??’
‘Maa called me … after you ran from there, she was really worried about you!! She also told me that Anurag assumes that this child is mine, and you stood numb…why didn’t you say anything Prerna? Why didn’t you just clear his misunderstanding!?’
He questioned her , Prerna lifted her head from his chest and looked in his eyes as she spoke
‘Because I don’t think that he deserves to know the truth… Rishabh… he .. he just accused me, without even giving me a chance to explain… he assumed on his own that I had cheated on him, even after knowing that I married you only to protect him, and when his Mother was shaming me after knowing about my pregnancy, he stood numb, he didn’t say a word, mujhse pyaar karne ka dava karke itne aasani se mujh pe ungaliyan khadi kar di ussne… how could I tell him the truth after that?? I knew that he wouldn’t believe a word that I would say.. that’s why I just left from there!! And I came home because I knew that this was the only place where I could find some peace.. and I was not wrong about it..’
‘But what about your love for him Prerna?? Do you think you will be able to forget it so easily??’
‘I know it will be difficult, but with time, I am sure I can forget it, in fact, I think I have already forgotten it, because I seriously don’t feel anything else but disgusted when I think about him right now!! And I think that he never loved me because if he did, he wouldn’t have accused me of betraying him or questioned my character!!’
She gave him a sad smile and rested her head on his chest once again, she wrapped her hands around his waist and shifted closer to him. Rishabh just sat there trying to analyse the whole situation and getting himself to believe that this was all happening for real. Prerna was sitting besides him, she had come back to him, to their home!!
‘I read your letter after you left…’
Prerna said softly as she played with his tie
‘And..?!’
‘And… I wanted to say that you have a really nice handwriting!’
She said and giggled making Rishabh frown at her. He broke the hug and looked at her in confusion
‘Seriously?? That’s all that you have to say about it??!’
He asked her astonishingly, Prerna shook her head negatively
‘No.. I also wanted to say that..’
She leaned closer to him and spoke in a low voice
‘In future, you are going to sit with our kids and help them improve their handwriting and finish their homework!’
Prerna laughed whole hearted while Rishabh rolled his eyes at her and shook his head!! She was crazy, and her craziness had managed to make him smile too!
—-
*Present*
A soft cry made them both break apart from each other, Rishabh immediately ran to the aid of their little Boy who was crying in his crib.
‘What’s wrong Champ??’
He spoke in a baby like voice, Prerna came to them and kissed their one year old son on his cheek
‘He’s just upset that we both ignored him for the last few minutes…’
Prerna said while she wiped his tiny nose
‘Waah… so that means that I can’t even hold my wife in my arms peacefully for five minutes!!’
He complained and Prerna just glared at him
‘What!!?? Your kids just don’t let me romance you at all!! We have named him Prem but every time I come close to you, he starts crying and spoils our lovely moment!!’
Prerna rolled her eyes at his statement and took Prem in her arms, she started patting him back to sleep.
It had been nearly two years to their marriage now and Prerna had realised that her husband had a hidden side, he was the most shamelessly romantic person, he wouldn’t shy away from getting close to her around others and he managed to do it so subtly that no one would even realise what he was up to. Rishabh only behaved himself around the kids, he always cribbed that Prerna would ignore him when the kids were with them and whenever he tried to get romantic with his wife, most of the time their son would start crying and spoil their moment, just like he did today or Kukki would barge in with some project work that her parents would have to do with her.
Once Prem was fast asleep, Prerna tucked him in his tiny bed properly and turned to Rishabh, she locked her arms around his neck and tip-toed to kiss him, she gave him a soft kiss and broke it almost immediately.
‘Now he won’t wake up until morning… that means you have the whole night to love your wife!!’
She winked at him, Rishabh gave her a naughty smile and immediately scooped her in his arms and walked to their bed, he glanced at the wall clock and saw that it was already past midnight. He gently lay Prerna on the bed and captured her lips in a sweet kiss
‘Happy Anniversary Jaan..’
He wished her and then without wasting any time he started making love to his wife !!
—-
The universe works in mysterious ways… Rishabh had written this in his letter to Prerna, and little did they know that the universe had planned to make that night a memorable one for both of them, the night which was to be the one that would mark their separation was actually the night when they had become one!! When they had accepted each other wholeheartedly. The night when they got married once again and this time there was no deal, there was only love!!
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