Riansh Short Story - A new beginning

Chapter 1 - A new place

It has been 3 months since Riddhima and Vansh left the Raisinghania family, business, and money behind. They were happy in their own space and enjoying this new phase of life, starting fresh. Slowly making a house a home, they cherished every moment together in their own bubble away from the dangers they were confronted with in India.

It was early morning and Vansh was getting ready to go to work. Taking a hot shower on this cold wintery day, he got ready wearing a crisp, freshly ironed shirt with blue denim and a grey sweater on top.

Coming down hurriedly he saw the breakfast table laid and ready for him. He sighed as he knew Riddhima had once again woken up early despite him strictly telling her not to do any work. She made his favorite breakfast consisting of omelette with ham and cheese, alongside some warm oats with fresh fruits.

He looked around but she was nowhere to be seen which worried him immensely.

Was she ok?

Did she take her medications?

Was she again feeling sick like the other day?

She wasn't in the bedroom so where could she go?

He looked around the house but she wasn't anywhere.

Next he looked outside in the garden, but there was no sign of her there either. He would have wondered if she even would have been outside considering the heavy snowfall outside.

He called her but without any luck either.

He furiously shouted "Riddhima, kahan ho tum?"

He was about to call the police to help him find Riddhima when he heard the main door lock cracking and the door flung open. A cold wind gushed through the house and Riddhima entered, stomping the snow off her boots.

"Vansh tum tayar bhi ho gaye? Mujhe to laga abhi tumhe time lagega"

She entered the dining area, her face completely red from the cold weather, rubbing her hands warmly, walked towards the dining table and placed a bag of hot and fresh bread buns into the bread basket.

Vansh looked at her in anger : "Kitni baar bola hai kahin jaati ho to kam se kam batakar jaana chahiye. Tum jaanti ho main kitna pareshan ho jaata hun tumhare liye"

"Vansh tum naha rahe the, maine socha itni deer mein fresh bread lekar aati hoon bakery se. Tumhe pata hai yahan ki bakeries aur unke fresh bread buns are so famous and let me tell you, they taste amazing. "

Vansh looked at her furiously as he couldn't believe that his wife went out in this weather on her own to get fresh bread for him when it was so slippery and dangerous outside for her. She isn't used to this weather. What would have happened if she slipped? Or worse, it snowed so much that she couldn't find her way back?

It had happened before that she got lost while walking around the area and he was concerned for her. And to top all that off she often left her phone on silent and didn't realise people called her. He just could not understand her being so irresponsible when she was carrying the responsibility of two.

Flashback

It had just been 2 weeks since they landed in Germany. Vansh was lucky to quickly find some job openings to apply to and was called for interviews shortly as well. Living in a quiet place away from the hustle bustle city life unlike they were used to in Mumbai, commuting from one place to another was with buses, and finding your way through the routes was a task on its own. Vansh was lucky to have learnt german in school so he could at least communicate with basic vocabulary but Riddhima, for her this place was as alien as her first time entering VR mansion was. Yet she was inquisitive to know more about everything here. She didn't get that here people stayed to themselves unlike in India and communicating with local shopkeepers in English sometimes was a task on its own since not all of them spoke English that well.

That day, Vansh was called for an Interview on short notice and he left the house early. Riddhima was getting bored at home and was feeling hungry too. Her pregnancy cravings were becoming weirder day by day so she decided to step out to the local supermarket to get her favorite crisps and chocolate.

Although she knew the way to and from the supermarket, her never ending curiosity drove her to walk around more further away from the supermarket and soon she was somewhere quite unfamiliar to her. Riddhima didn't know anymore where she was and unfortunately there weren't any passers by to help her either. To add to her miseries her phone battery was dead too.

On the other hand Vansh returned from the job interview, expecting Riddhima to be home as he had got her favorite chocolate cake to celebrate him getting the job. Not finding her home he tried to call her but in vain. Seeing her coat and boots not in the closet aroused his suspicion that she had gone out.

"Shayad paas wale supermarket mein gayi hogi. Wahan jaake check karta hoon"

He quickly ran out to check and reached the supermarket in minutes but couldn't find her inside or outside there.

Numerous attempts to call her failed and Vansh didn't know what to do anymore. It wasn't even as if the police would file a missing report right away unless obviously there was some real danger ahead but Vansh thought of best looking for her nearby as he knew she wouldn't go too far without getting tired. Vansh didn't know how and where to look at all and with every passing minute got more concerned, praying that she was ok as these days she was getting tired really quickly and low on energy as well.

After trying for almost an hour to find her way back to her house, Riddhima was exhausted. She was feeling low on energy and slightly dizzy too. Thankfully she had grabbed a few bits from the supermarket and found a bench to sit on and rest for sometime. She also saw a tourist info center nearby, the only one that was there in this small city and she instantly remembered Vansh telling her to ask for directions there in case she ever wanted to find a new place or got stuck somewhere. She thought of finishing her Pringles Sour cream and Onion mini crips pack and then walking to the place when all of a sudden she heard a familiar voice calling her name. She turned around to see Vansh giving a relieved look towards her as he found her after looking everywhere for almost an hour.

He hugged her tightly and told her off for vanishing away without telling him and also not taking care of herself , their baby or him.

Gosh, Vansh remembered what had happened and how annoyed he had been at her for this. Before he could confront her for once again for her carelessness in this matter she diverted his attention to the breakfast and told him to quickly have it else he will get late for work.

Realising the same Vansh quickly ate his breakfast without saying a single word. He noticed from the corner of his eye that she kept looking at him with hopeful eyes, that he would say something to her, be all loving and romantic with her but he didn't want this. He was mad over her constant carelessness in this matter and wished there was someone besides him to make her explain this not being a joke especially in a foreign country, where people, language, place, everyone and everything was new for the both of them.

And they both came here to start a new life, just the two of them, with their little one arriving soon.

He finished his breakfast and got ready to leave. Without uttering a single word, not even a goodbye he left the house leaving Riddhima looking confused and upset over his reaction. He slammed the door shut making Riddhima get a mere glimpse of the old Vansh who always was angry over petty matters.

She thought of doing something to make his anger go away in the evening.