What if - Rishmi FF

Part 10

The next morning Rishi woke up earlier. He was too anxious about his meeting with Shalu where he was finally going to know the complete truth. He went to the washroom to get ready. Lakshmi woke up and was surprised to see Rishi not on his side. She was used to waking up to him sleeping cutely everyday. She was surprised and realised he was in the washroom getting ready. She took out his clothes. Just then Rishi came out wearing nothing but a towel. Lakshmi saw him and got lost. She was feeling something different and she couldn't put a finger on what exactly she felt. She just kept staring at him holding her breath. Rishi realised Lakshmi was awake and was looking at him. First he blushed a little but then he came on with his Rishi Oberoi confidence. He came closer to Lakshmi and whispered "Saans to le lo"
Lakshmi got embarrassed and looked down at the floor.
Lakshmi: Wo main... Main... Sorry main bahar jaati hoon. Tum kapde pehen lo.
Rishi: Arre koi baat nai Lakshmi tum apne hi pati ko check out kar rhi thi, isme kuch galat nai hai. Aur jab pati itna hot itna handsome itna dashing ho to koi bhi use ghoorega hi
Lakshmi: Nai nai aisa kuch nai hai. Main jaati hoon
And she ran out leaving Rishi smiling.
Rishi: Bahot jald Mrs Oberoi aapki ye saari sharam khatam kar doonga main
Lakshmi (blushing hard and thinking to herself): Ye kya kar rhi thi main. Rishi ko dekh ke mujhe ye kya ho rha tha. Kya kya thoughts aa rhe the. Ye ladka mujhe pagal kar dega.
Rishi comes out of the room just then.
Rishi: Ab aap andar aa sakti hai madam. Maine saare kapde pehen lie hai
Lakshmi goes in and goes to get ready.
At lunch time in office.
Aayush: Rishi bhai chalo na shalu se milne Jana hai na lunch pe
Rishi: Haan aayush yaad hai mujhe. Tu itna utawla kyu ho rha hai. Important to mere lie hai na ye meeting. Subah se 10 baar remind kar chuka hai
Aayush: Haan important hai aapke lie islie to keh raha hoon. Chalo jaldi
Both of them go to meet shalu at a restaurant. After exchanging pleasantries and asking about general well being they get to the reason for the lunch.
Rishi: Haan Shalu to ab wo baat karte hai jiske lie aaj hum yaha mile hai, tumhari di se alag.
Shalu: Haan jiju bataiye, ye jhalle aayush ne mujhe kuch bataya hi nai bas itna kaha ki aapko mujhse akele me kuch baat karni hai. Sab theek hai na, kya hua?
Rishi: Haan Shalu sab theek hai aur jo kharab hai use main theek kar dunga.
Shalu is puzzled.
Rishi: Main tumse puchna chahta tha ki us din aisa kya hua ki Lakshmi ne divorce papers pe sign kar die. Usse pehle to hamari ache se baat hui thi, infact hum to friends ban gye the.
Shalu is scared whether she should tell them everything or not. What if they didn't believe her and misunderstood Lakshmi even more. Afterall at one point according to her knowledge Rishi was in love with Malishka and it wouldn't be easy to convince him that she was not at all the person she pretended to be.
Shalu: Aapne di se iss baare me baat ki hai jiju?
Rishi: Nai main jaanta hoon wo mujhe kabhi poora sach nai bataegi. Aur waise bhi tumhe yaad hai na shalu article wali baat bhi tumne hi batayi thi mujhe. Lakshmi ko to aajtak yehi lagta hai ki mujhe lagta hai wo usne kia tha. Usne kabhi mujhe uss baare me bhi kuch nai kaha
Shalu: Theek hai jiju main aaplogo ko sab sach batati hoon but mujhe nai pata aap kitna bharosa karoge but main jo bhi kahoongi 100% sach hai. I hope you will believe me.
Rishi: Of course Shalu we trust you. Tum aise kyu soch rhi ho. Tum batao poori baat
Shalu: Theek hai jiju to main aapko shuru se sab batati hoon. Wo bank wale incident ke baad se.
She tells Rishi and Aayush the entire thing, how Lakshmi came to know about the Markesh Dosh, how Neelam came to her with money to buy Lakshmi and her love for Rishi to save her son's life. How Lakshmi went to see him in the hospital without anyone knowing.
Rishi looks at Shalu and Aayush in disbelief and Aayush nods his head in yes as he had witnessed Lakshmi being there in the hospital. Shalu continues with the events of how Lakshmi had decided to go and stay with Rishi till the completion of one year to save him from his dosh after the kidnapping incident. She told him how Neelam threw her out and how they insulted the pandit and Lakshmi and accused her of buying off the pandit in greed of money and power of the Oberois.
Shalu: Di ko aapke paise aapki property se koi matlab nai tha jiju, wo to bas aapse itna pyaar karti thi ki ye jaante hue bhi ki aap ek saal baad use chhorke Malishka se shaadi kar loge wo fir bhi aapke saath rehne ko taiyar thi taaki aapki jaan Bach sake..
She then tells him how Malishka came to their house with the divorce papers and told them how Rishi had crossed all limits with her and how they loved each other. She also told about the threat she made of throwing them out of their home and how Lakshmi had to sign out of helplessness. She made them aware of the fact that Lakshmi wanted to tell Rishi everything and find out a way but no one would talk to her or listen to her side of the story.
Rishi could not believe his Lakshmi had to go through so much. His eyes welled up with tears. Even aayush had tears
Aayush: Lakshmi bhabhi ko itna kuch sehna pada aur wo ye sab sirf Bhai ke lie kar rhi thi. Aur humlogo ne na jaane unko kya kya keh dia. Gold digger, lalchi, begairat. Kya kia humlogo ne ye
Rishi is still silent. He had too much information and he couldn't come to terms with  it. The way he hated on Lakshmi after the divorce thing, the things he said to her, what he did to her. He is drowning in guilt. He couldn't believe Malishka did something so sinister. He really liked her earlier and still thought of her as a very good friend, above all whether love or not he thought she was a good human being but he couldn't imagine she would do such things.
Shalu understood his feelings, she consoled him
Shalu: Jiju I know ye sab baatein bahot jyada hai but di ne kabhi aap logo ko koi nuksan pahochana nai chaha tha. Use pandit ji ne especially kaha tha ki uska aapke saath rehna hi aapko safe rakhega. Aur ye ek saal baad agar aap use kahoge to wo aapko Khushi Khushi chhor ke bhi chali jaegi, sirf aapke lie. Jiju di aapse bahot pyaar karti hain aur use aapse koi shikayat nai hai.
Rishi: Main khud ko itna chota mehsus kar rha hoon. Mujhe kuch samajh nai aa rha ki main Lakshmi se kaise maafi maangu. Maine uske saath itna bura kia hai ki maafi maangte maangte poori umar nikal jaegi par guilt khatam nai hoga. Maine aur mere poore parivaar ne Lakshmi ko kya kya kaha hai, use kitna kuch sehna pada hai. But ab bas bahot ho gya. Pehle to main us pandit se milunga jisne Lakshmi ko mere lie apshakun kaha tha. Uski wajah se itni problems hui aur mom Lakshmi ke itna khilaaf ho gyi hai. Aur jabki Lakshmi ne hamesha meri jaan bachayi hai wo mere lie unlucky kaise ho sakti hai. Aur Lakshmi par se ye unlucky ka tag hata kar hi main usse sahi se maafi maanguga. Main ab sab theek kar dunga. Dekhna tumlog
All of them smile after this and finish lunch..
While they are leaving, Rishi gets a call from Lakshmi. She was panting and panicking on the call and she said something about City Hospital. Rishi couldn't understand what happened..he just heard hospital and couldn't keep calm and ran to his car fearing something happened to her. Aayush and Shalu ran behind him..
Aayush: Kya hua Bhai
Rishi: Pata nai aayush. Lakshmi bahot ghabrai hui thi. Kuch city hospital keh rhi thi..hume jaldi se waha Jana hoga..
Shalu: Hospital... Kya hua jiju di theek to hai na
Rishi: Pata nai shalu. Jaldi chalo abhi bas
They all reach the hospital. There they see everyone gathered outside the ward. Dadi and Devika are in tears. Rishi doesn't see Lakshmi there and gets even more worried.
Rishi: Dad, dad kya hua? Kya hua hai yaha pe. Dadi to kyu Rahi hai..
Devika: Bhai (crying) wo Ahana. Ahana theek nai hai.
Rishi and Aayush: kya hua Ahana ko.
Just then Lakshmi comes out of the room and starts crying..
Rishi sees her and hugs her, she hugs him back tight.
Rishi: Kya hua Ahana ko Lakshmi, please koi bataega mujhe hua kya hai
Lakshmi: Ahana ne apna baby kho dia. Uska miscarriage ho gya (sobs uncontrollably)
Rishi and Aayush are also shocked.
Aayush: Kya hua, kaise hua ye.
Devika: Pata nai kya hua, main aur Ahana Sonia ke saath shopping karne gye the. Achanak Ahana ne kaha ki use bahot pain ho rha tha. Humlog jaldi se use yaha lekar aaye. Yaha aakar doctor ne bataya ki miscarriage ho gya hai uska. Wo bahot ro rhi thi Bhai
Lakshmi: Haan fir jab tak hum sab aaye wo behosh thi. Kuch der pehle use hosh aaya. Main abhi usse milke aayi hoon. Mujhse uski takleef nai dekhi gyi
Everyone is very sad. Rishi and Aayush also go to meet her. The doctor suggests for a one day observation in the hospital.
Lakshmi says that she would stay with her. Karishma objects but Ahana says she would really like it if Lakshmi would stay.
Everyone else goes home. At home Malishka comes over to see what happened since Sonia had told her of the incident. Rishi is extremely exhausted because of so much happening in one day and seeing Malishka angers him even more. He doesn't talk to anyone and just goes to his room. Malishka finds it odd at how Rishi looked at her with anger and didn't even bother to greet her before leaving.
Rishi freshens up, has his dinner and then takes dinner for Lakshmi and Ahana to the hospital. He decides to stay there for the night with them
At the hospital, Lakshmi feeds Ahana her dinner and ask her to take rest. She and Rishi go to the canteen so she could have her dinner. She notices Rishi very tensed and thinks it's because of Ahana
Lakshmi: Rishi, tum pareshan mat ho. Sab theek ho jaega. Ahana theek hai. Doctor ne kaha ki kabhi kabhi aisa ho jata hai aur first trimester me thoda jyada dhyan dena hota hai. She is physically fine. Bas mentally bahot disturbed hai, kuch din use hamare pyaar aur saath ki jaroorat hai.
Rishi thinks to himself: Kya ladki hai ye! Hamesha sirf dusro ka sochti hai.
He is even more determined to prove that she is the best thing that ever happened to him and especially to his mother as she was the only other woman in his life who mattered most in his life alongside Lakshmi.
Both of them then go upstairs. The visitor bed is pretty small but both of them somehow squeeze in decently to sleep. Lakshmi sleeps on Rishi's hand as a pillow.

I wanted to give closure to Ahana's pregnancy track as I have something else planned for her that will also act as cupid for Rishmi. Also I want Rishi to be aware of everything before he confesses. No loose threads or misunderstandings so that they could be finally happy.
Feedback is always welcome