Prerish - {TS/OS} ✔️

You Are My Mr. Right - VI

Chapter - V

Prerana opened her eyes slowly, and then she remembered that last night she was busy remembering the Past while they were traveling back home from the pooja pandal; after they were done with the pooja, and looked to the side to see her husband sleeping like a baby hugging her waist which made her smile. She ruffled his hair and got down from the bed.

Past Continues:

"Don't make me repeat myself!" He spoke exasperatedly, giving a fed-up look in the woman's direction, who stood unmoving and unyielding and continued playing the game.

The living hall of Bajaj Mansion felt every inch like a courtroom as Rishabh stood two stairs above with his jaw clenched just as tightly as his fingers around the railing.

"For the last time, I am asking you, Prerna," Rishabh gnashed his teeth. Prerna continued staying mum, staring back into his furious eyes with the same intensity. Her eyes were as impassive as her demeanor. This enraged Rishabh all the more.

"Don't let personal feelings cloud your judgment, Mr. Bajaj," Prerna remarked as Bajaj's face scrunched up at her insinuations.

"Took you long enough, Mr. Bajaj," Prerana said, and Rishab hissed in anger.

"You underestimated me," she started, turning her head to look at Prerna, standing behind him with Kuki closely attached to his frame. "You thought I won't be able to see past the web of lies you have weaved...that I won't know who the actual perpetrator is!" Prerana said, and he looked at her in shock.

"Mr. Bajaj, you bit back the truth to keep me near to my so-called family, right?" She asked. Rishab only nodded, confused about how she had come to know it all. As if she had heard his unspoken query, she tilted her head and took a deep breath.

"I heard your conversation with Mrs & Ms. Sharma the day they asked you to divorce me," Prerana said, and he looked at her in shock.

Flashback:

Prerana was walking towards the office door in Basu Publications to surprise him with homemade lunch as, after marriage; it was the first time she had cooked for him precisely as she entered inside. Only to stop outside of the cabin where Rishab's was as she could hear her mother and sister's voices shouting at her husband, which made her frown in confusion and shock.

"Mr. Bajaj, my daughter loves Anurag, and you have snatched a happy life from her and seen what would have happened today," Veena Sharma said sternly. Rishab did not utter a word as he felt guilty even before Veena and Shivani were here to guilt trip him.

"Mrs. Sharma, I don't have to explain why and how that could have been avoided. She was Mr. Basu's Lover and Fiancé in the Past, but now she is my wife and mother of my daughter," Rishab said sternly, which made Prerana smile slightly, listening to how he was showing his rights.

"My Di can never be something to you or someone else. She is and always belongs to Anurag. Today we could have lost her and the unborn baby," Shivani said, and Rishab winced slightly listening to it.

"We are here to say only one thing, Mr. Bajaj, leave my daughter and give her old life back so that she and everyone else can leave in peace," Veena declared and walked out along with Shivani while Prerana hid behind the wall so that they could not see her.

*****

She had barely managed to stumble past the threshold of the doorway when her ankle twisted, and she slipped onto the floor. Her head was reeling. No longer could she maintain her rationality. Her sanity had splintered away. Once again. And once again, HE was the one to be blamed.

Prerna snorted, looking down at the blue saree draped on her body. This professionalism had proved to be but a garb.

Should she be happy? Amused perhaps! Or maybe, simply wallowing in resignation that life seemed to be throwing her way at every damn step, she would start rejoicing. She felt hollow, however. Numb to the bone. It was ugly and lonely. She had, after all, spent her life clinging to hopes, dreams, love, and then revenge. Nothing remained now. She was drowning, but she wanted to survive. She needed to hold on to something. To someone. To his comfort. His warmth.

Slowly, she pulled her body up, only numbness coursing through her. No, there was anxiety, or was it anticipation starting to pound in her chest? Dragging her feet through the floor, mindful of the scattered decorations, she finally caught hold of the railing and looked up the stairs, his voice already beckoning her.

****

"Mrs. Bajaj?" That deep, soothing voice broke into her haze as she turned her head towards him and saw the man dressed in a night suit standing by her side. Rishabh smiled at Prerna as she approached him. Her pace picked up, just like her heart rate.

"All this while you knew all this, still you kept silent, allowed me to die every second, day and night all these years thinking I lost you," Rishab accused her, and she shrugged.

"Yes, I knew, but I wanted you to tell me why you have asked me for divorce even without talking to me once, but you are more idiot than I thought. I wanted you to see the faces of the people once upon a time who was my family, and now you are considering them," Prerana said, looking at him in the eyes.

"I don't know what made me do that, but from your words, I have an in-linking that you knew what was happening all these years in this house," Rishab said, making her smirk.

"Of course, I know I have ensured that Rani will be the caretaker and cook in the family until I return. Do you think that it's easy to find a nanny with our requirements for our daughter," Prerana said, and he shook his head, knowing it was a waste of time to argue with her.

Present:

As the crowd of guests poured in and servers moved about the hall, serving drinks and refreshments, Rishabh found himself surrounded by his future investors, who were just as excited about their new venture as he was back in Kolkata after a long time because all the while Mehra was the one who handled the business here.

Then, his eyes caught Prerna descending the stairs like a graceful swan, the trail of her halter neck dress sliding against the stairs as her brown curls were pulled to one side. Her blue-green eye shadow complimented her dress, and he could not control the smile when she looked away.

Moving past the Basus & Sharmas, Prerna managed to spot Rishabh near the bar counter and engaged with the investors. And he looked gorgeous. He was out of the world in that ridiculously low v-necked beige Suit revealing an eyeful of his chest. The many women around ogling him were proof enough. Next time, she would surely sew the damn v-neck into a bandh gala!

"Can I steal my husband away for a minute, gentleman?" Prerna smiled, approaching as Rishabh was pulled out of his conversation. Smiling as the men moved away, Prerna entwined their fingers and started pulling him out of the hall.

"You are intentions are not looking so good, Mrs. Bajaj," Rishabh teased, trying to hide that his intentions were not good, especially when the back of her gown was nowhere to be seen.

"I can see who is having the naughty thoughts, my dear husband," Prerana teased him back, and at the comment, Rishabh cleared his throat, embarrassed, and Prerna only chuckled.

"On a serious note, you are looking beautiful as always, " Rishab complimented, making her smile.'

"Like what?!" Prerana questioned, and Rishab pretended to think for a moment. "Like a predatory fox, cunning and tempting in the same proportions," Rishab said, and Prerna barely controlled the words that would've spilled out.

"You know Basu sure has bad manners. Peeping on us when we were busy and conspiring while being married to Shivani," Rishab commented absent-mindedly, making her laugh lightly.

"Let him be. He or anyone else doesn't hold any meaning in our lives anymore," Prerana said.

~ Edited Date: 21st July 2023

Published Date: 21st July 2023 ~