Ishita Bhalla was one happy women today. She stood in front of her mirror touching up her makeup while dressed up in a saree gifted by Raman. She knew today Raman had definitely planned to confess to her. He had done this many times before, but someone always interrupted their moment. She just prayed that today they will finally be able to say what had been in their hearts for so long.
On the other hand, Raman Bhalla was extremely angry. He had planned on confessing to his madrasan today, but like always things didn't go the way he had planned. They were supposed go on a lunch date in a private hotel suite, and he had asked Mihir to make the reservation and the idiot had screwed it up.
Now he was walking back and forth by his car trying to think of a way to kill time while Mihir sorted things out. He halted in his steps as an idea came into his mind. He had a small debate in his head whether they should go there and he decided to take her there since he had no other option. Now that he knew where to take Ishita, he looked at his watch and it was exactly 11:30. She was supposed to be here by now and she was probably still busy getting dressed. He grinned trying to imagining how she would look to today since she was taking so long to get ready.
He didn't have to wait for long to see her since she rushed into the parking lot 5 minutes later. He didn't have words to describe her. The pink saree complimented her perfect figure and fair skin. Her long silky hair was put into soft curls that bounced by her waist. Her face had some light makeup on it, going perfectly with her natural beauty and smile. He noticed her tightly holding onto her clutch and fidgeting with it. He realized she knew what his plans were today. Great maybe I can make her confess first he thought to himself.
She came up to him and stopped in front of him waiting for him to say something about her. He looked at her pretending to be confused.
"Raman..." She whined to him.
How mean is he! She had spent over an hour trying to make herself look perfect for him, even put on those uncomfortable heels to get his attention and looked at herself at the mirror numerous times to make sure she looked presentable, and he couldn't even give one compliment, not even an indirect one in his taunting Ravan style.
"I don't look good, right?"
"You want to hear the truth."
That didn't sound good. She knew she had overthought everything. She should have just dressed up normally. Her thoughts started to run wild, but he continued speaking...
"Jhansi ki Rani, first I had my doubts, but I am sure you really want to kill."
He leaned towards her and brought his mouth close to her ear. She felt his breath behind her ear as he said...
"True stunning beauty."
He moved back to find her face bright pink and laughed at her cuteness. He opened the car's door for her and signalled her to sit in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the car, he told her there was a small change in plans. Ishita kept on asking Raman where they are going, but Raman kept on telling her to be patient. Finally Raman stopped the car by a small hill in the countryside.
"Where are we Raman?"
"A place very close to my heart. Just follow me."
Ishita followed Raman over the hill and after walking for a few minutes, they both came to a beautiful park. There was a small playground where a bunch of kids were playing, some older kids were playing on the fields. It was a beautiful place. Raman and Ishita both started walking around the park.
"Raman what is this place?"
"It's a park. What type of questions do you ask? I thought I would bring you here and spend some time with you and you are back into your Jagga Jasoos mode. Asking question after question. First in the car and now here. "
"Oh wow! Raman Kumar Bhalla, the great CEO taking a day off work to spend time with his wife. What a surprise, very interesting. Promises lunch date in a hotel and brings her to a hill.
"Okay then let's go back. I knew this was a bad idea."
"I'm just joking, relax! But seriously first all these gifts and now bringing me here? Why?"
"Why not? You're my wife, and I want to spend time with you."
"Sure? Nothing else...like you don't want to, I don't know, tell me something?" she asked while turning into a light pink shade.
"Tell you something? Not really. Why? Is there something you want to hear?" pretending to be totally confused.
"There is something women like their husbands to say to them."
"Why can't the wife tell the husband? In our case, it should be unique right?"
"Raman...so you want me to say it?"
He nodded positively. She knew he loved her back and there was no doubt about it, so why to keep their ego in between? She knew someone had to say those magical words first or they would be stuck trying to find another opportunity like always. So she thought the time & place shouldn't matter and started to say...
"Raman...I"
Just then a small girl probably of Ruhi's ran up to Raman and Ishita.
"Uncle, Aunty Can you help me please?
Raman cursed under his breath. In their house their family became Haddis & now random people he didn't even know were getting under the way of their romance. Why couldn't Mihir just do things right the first time? If it weren't for him, they would have already been able to express their feelings to each other.
Ishita was also disappointed that their moment was once again interrupted, but she just couldn't turn down a small child.
"Of course beta, what happened?"
"Actually, my kite is in that tree (pointing towards a large tree) and I can't get it out."
"Don't worry I will get it out."
The three of them walked towards the tree and there was a small bench under the tree which Ishita stood on trying to get the kite. Since it was stuck pretty high up, Ishita jumped to try and reach the kite.
"Ishita what are you doing? The bench will break from your weight! Let me do it."
"Raman we are in public, think before you speak."
"We should always speak the truth, isn't that what you say?"
Ishita finally got the kite and then she turned around to yell at Raman, but she twisted her foot because of her heel and lost her balance. She fell on Raman they both fell to the ground. Ishita's hands were on Raman's chest while Raman's hand were around her waist.
"OUCH! My back!"
"Sorry."
"What sorry? Can't you see?"
"I couldn't balance because of my heels."
"Why do you wear stupid heels anyways?"
"Sorry, it was accident."
"That's fine, but are you planning to stay like this all day or will you get off me? My back is killing me."
Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?"
He looked into her eyes full of concern and care. His little pain hurt her so much. All his life he wished for someone who would care for him and love him, and today he had that person with him.
She looked into his mesmerized eyes, wondering what going on in his mind. She felt horrible seeing him in pain and felt worse when the pain was caused because of her. She looked at him with apologetic eyes that were filled with love and care.
The two of them shared an eye lock and were unaware of the crowd of kids that had surrounded them.
Finally one of the kids spoke up breaking their eye lock.
"Uncle, aunty. You can do this later, but can we have our kite back?"
Ishita and Raman realized the awkward position they were in and quickly sat up on the ground. They returned the kite to the kids and they left. Raman and Ishita got up quickly and sat down on the bench.
"I am sorry Raman, I don't know how my foot slipped."
"It's alright I know it was an accident. Are you okay?"
"Hmm. By the way, you said you were taking me to a place close to your heart. How is this place close to you?"
"Ishita this is a place where I come when I want to pour out my emotions to myself, or think about something extremely important, or sometimes just to be alone. I came to this place during Ruhi's custody case, and even before our wedding."
"Raman has anyone else been here with you before?"
Raman understood Ishita was talking about Shagun.
"Ishita, I have never brought anyone else here. Actually I discovered this place the day Shagun left me. Shagun and Adi were my life, and all of a sudden everything changed. I was left all alone. I remember Shagun handing Ruhi to me and grabbing Adi's hand and leaving in Ashok's huge car. It was the worst day of my life. I didn't know what to do. I needed to be alone and so I left Ruhi with mom and started walking down the streets. I didn't know where I was going, but I just kept on walking and pretty soon I don't know how, but I came here and I sat here in this very bench crying for hours. I was thinking about all the wonderful memories of Shagun, wondering why she left, why couldn't I be like Ashok, what was Ruhi's fault in all this. I just sat here and thought about everything. I continued to come here until I had become that bitter Raman you had met the first time you saw him. "
"After Shagun left me, I became an insensitive soul. I didn't care for the world. The only thing I cared about was becoming a rich man, so I could show off to Shagun. I always avoided Ruhi since she had that mole and I didn't talk to my siblings since I had shifted to Mumbai and as far as Mummy and Papa are concerned, Papa didn't talk to me for 6 years and Mummy used to call me at times to talk about Ruhi, but I never really cared. I just became a cold stone and distanced myself away from everyone."
While Raman was saying all this to Ishita, the two of them didn't notice when they held each other's hands. Both Ishita and Raman had tears in their eyes.
"You lost everything and everyone all thanks to Shagun. She was so stupid to leave behind a loving and caring husband. But in the end was good for me, I got you as my husband."
"And I got someone like you in my life. You know, Ishita I felt horrible when our relationship of so many years broke because I couldn't give Shagun that happiness she wanted at the time."
"I can understand how you must have felt. I have felt the same way before. It hurts when you disappoint people you love."
She looked away hiding her tears and not wanting Raman to see her upset. But Raman wasn't a fool, he understood by her sentence she was reminded of Subbu. He hated that man more every time Ishita was upset because of him.
"Ishita are you okay?"
"Yea I am fine. It's just that I just got reminded about my past. I know I have moved on, but you can't erase all the memories right?
"Of course not, I talk to you about things about my relationship. So do you want to talk to me about it today?" he asked trying to getting her to talk.
"No Raman I am fine. Actually I shouldn't have even brought this up."
"Ishita don't keep all these feelings inside you. It will only hurt you. Come on talk to me."
"Raman do you really want to know about my past because if you don't really want to listen about it, you don't have to. I don't want to hurt you by talking about the memories I shared with someone other than you."
"You listen to me talk about Shagun, so why can't I listen to you talk. After all I want to know if you are became Jhansi ki Rani after marrying me or were you always like that." He said as he nudged her slightly and wiped off her tears.
"Kuch be" she replied smilingly.
"Well the only actual true relationship I had before marriage was with Subbu. Subbu and I had known each other since we were quite young. We were very good friends. Our families also knew each other, so we would often meet each other at family events. I guess I don't know when our friendship turned into love. I mean I thought we were friends and we would hang out with each other all the time. During college, all our friends used to tease us, talking about our future life, marriage and our future kids. "
At the mentions of children, Ishita's eyes filled up with tears again. Raman cursed himself for making her talk to him about all this and go through everything again.
"Ishita, are you okay? I am sorry, you don't have to talk about this. I shouldn't have forced you."
"No Raman, this is the reality of my life and it doesn't matter now because now I have my own children; Ruhi & Adi."
"So are you going to continue?"
"Yea, so I was saying, everyone used to tease us all the time. I always told them off, but secretly I had started to wish the same. Our real relationship started when the college dance came. I wasn't planning on going and I told this to Subbu as well, but he insisted that I go with him, so I agreed. He even took me shopping for a new dress and all. It was so much fun. Then came the dance. All of us friends were enjoying and then came time for the couples to dance. I obviously didn't have a boyfriend, so I just walked towards into the corner, but Subbu pulled me back by my arm and asked me to dance with him."
"How dare he?!" Raman exclaimed extremely angry.
"What happened?"
"Nothing I am sorry, continue on." He said embarrassed of saying his thought aloud.
"Anyways so I agreed and the two of us went onto the dance floor. We started slow dancing. As we were dancing, both of us didn't notice that everyone else stopped dancing. We were just staring at each other's eyes and then Subbu came closer to me. Then- OUCH"
Ishita looked at her hand which Raman was holding. He has held her hand so hard, it caused her to scream. She looked over at Raman who seemed so mad. She understood it was jealousy. She had a slight smile on her face knowing that her Ravan Kumar was jealous of Subbu. Raman also looked at their hands when Ishita screamed. He was so embarrassed, first he said his thoughts aloud and now this. But he just couldn't tolerate his Ishita with anyone else, especially that disgusting Subbu. He quickly moved his hand away and turned the other way.
"Are you okay? Sorry, that was an accident."
"I am fine, but I think I should just stop talking about Subbu now."
"Why?? I want to know what happened afterwards." She said eager to know what else had happened that day.
"Okay, Then music stopped and everyone started clapping for us. I was so embarrassed, so I went outside. Subbu followed me outside and apologized very sweetly and offered to drop me off home. So as we were driving back home, it started raining and I saw an ice cream stand nearby, and you know ice cream in the rain is simply amazing, so we stopped to eat ice cream. Since I was wearing a dress, Subbu gave me his jacket to cover up. Then both of us went under a tree and there... well...he..."
"What happened under the tree? Tell me!!" Raman asked as he became more and more impatient.
"He told me that he loves me and he knew that I have started loving him back. After that day, we started coming closer to each other and I guess that when we officially started seeing each other. All this went on for many years. At that time I thought they were the best years of my life. Subbu and I used to spend hours talking to each other, and he used to take me out to my favorite places. Soon his family started talking about Subbu's marriage and my family started planning for my wedding. So Subbu talked to his parents and they talked to my parents and before we knew, our marriage was fixed. We were all so happy and then came the day of our engagement. "
"What happened at the engagement?"
"I was very excited and nervous that day Raman. Akka and Mihika were teasing me all day and Amma was running getting things ready. I spent so long trying to get myself ready, trying to look my best
I went down stairs and the rituals started. First we did the puja together. As we sat together during the puja, everything seemed so perfect, I was about to get engaged & married soon to someone I had love since I was a teenager. But that all changed very soon. After the puja, we were about to exchange rings when I felt pain in my stomach out of nowhere and I fainted. I woke up in a doctor's clinic and there I found out I could never conceive. I was shattered, but had a strong belief I would get over this with support from my family and Subbu. But of course that didn't happen. The next day, Subbu's mom came to our house and called off our wedding. I didn't except anything from Subbu's mom, but I was hoping that maybe Subbu would stand up for me, but...he didn't say a word against her decision, infact he said it was his decision to leave me. He said marriage can't run on love forever, you need kids to run a marriage. He went on to get married and I would have to see him with his wife at family functions. It would hurt me and remind that I was incomplete. I would feel rejected and angered every time I would see him."
Raman just stared at the woman in front of him as she told him everything. His admiration for her grew with each passing second. Today he had planned such big things for her, but he knew there couldn't be any other time better than now.
He engulfed her into a tight hug & she hugged him back just holding on to him just grateful for him coming into her life when she heard him say the words she had been waiting to hear for so long...
"I love you Ishita. I love you."
They finally broke the hug after a couple of minutes and Raman looked up at Ishita. His eyes were filled with guilt and tears were forming.
"Raman why are you crying?"
"Ishita, I am sorry. I didn't know what you had gone through so much. I was also so mean to you before our wedding. I remember when you were trying to adopt a child and when your application was refused, I was so rude to you. I called you and Amma such horrible things. Your parents had to go jail because of me. I am sorry."
"It's okay Raman. And if we talk about the things we said to each other before getting married, then I was just as bad as you. Remember your CEO interview and then handing Ruhi over to Shagun. And many other things, so I have also made many mistakes. So if we start saying sorry, it will take us all day. "
She wiped off his tears as he smiled and she continued on...
"And honestly all these things I told you don't matter to me anymore since it was my past. These are just some memories that I remembered. Ruhi and you are my present and future. You know seeing Subbu would make me mad and incomplete, but it all changed when Ruhi came into my life. You & she completed my life. It's difficult to describe the kind of happiness I get when you two are with me. Everything about you two makes me happy. And sometimes I am glad that Subbu refused to marry me because if he had married me, I wouldn't have gotten you in my life. I love you too Raman."
"Why did you have to give a long lecture? You could have just said I love you."
She shook her head at him and finally said...
"I love you Raman. I love you!"
"I love you too Ishita."
He leaned closer to her & they were both so close they felt each other's warm breath. They both looked at each other with eyes filled with passion. The hunger for each other was visible on their faces. He slightly tilted his head & gently pulled her closer. She lifted her head and now their noses were touching. His warm breath was now lingering on her lips. He brought his lips closer and latched them onto hers. It was soft and gentle kiss that slowly became more passionate and fiery. He held onto her waist while she caressed his neck not wanting him to pull away. They pulled away from each other when they start to run out of breathe.
As they pulled apart, their burning desire grew to no bounds. And so he asked her...
"I think that hotel room should be ready by now. And anyways I have to get revenge for my back that you broke. Should we go?"
They both turned around trying to hide their faces which had both turned into a bright shade of red. He turned back around and saw her still blushing and gently tapped her shoulder. His each touch affected her so much, creating more havoc in her senses than it did a few minutes ago. She looked up into his eyes and they did all the talking for him. She knew what he wanted and nodded her head telling him to make her his completely.
They both got up and walked hand in hand entering the new chapter of their life as a true husband and wife together. Finally two lost souls found their way home.
"Moving on doesn't mean forgetting, it means choosing happiness over hurt."
comment:
p_commentcount