Tying The Knot With Ex's Brother

SHATTERED TIES

"He called me a slut! Sid, did you hear me? He called me a slut. How could he even...? Am I a slut? Do you think I am?"

Sid wiped Ragini's tears and patted her back. "I tried to convince him, but I guess he doesn't believe either of us."

"He called me a slut, Sid!" Her tears kept rolling down her soft cheeks. Her eyes were red and swollen and her heart was aching. Hearing the word "slut" from her husband had totally shocked her and that word kept echoing in her ears.

In his room, Sparsh was unable to control his tears. He felt betrayed by Ragini, however, he regretted calling her by that name. He despised himself for not being able to handle his anger and uttering things he didn't mean. He loved Ragini genuinely and he was disappointed too, but he never wanted to call her by such a derogatory term. He pulled his own hair in disgust and anger, he couldn't think sensibly.

Ragini sat on the floor in Sid's room with her arms surrounding her knees and she wept tremendously, enough to hinder her breathing.

"Stop crying, Rags." Sid had a hard time watching the love of his life weeping like that. Though he was satisfied that the situation was finally into his favour, the weeping face of Ragini filled him with sadness and guilty.

"Just a little bit. Then, I'll make you the happiest. I promise," Sid said to himself.

When she didn't stop crying, Sid took her into his arms and caressed her hair. The warmth of his embrace made her melt down. More tears fell down, but she felt better to have someone by her side. She was grateful to have a friend who understood her and cared about her.

Sparsh decided to go and talk to Ragini. He had realised his mistake and wanted to apologise, so he instantly got up and ran towards Sid's room.Through the ajar door, he saw his wife wrapped around by his brother's strong arms. He felt something inside him break in silence. It hurt a lot. He walked back to his room, pathetically and laid down on his bed to catch some sleep and forget everything.

"What? She's not at home? Then, where is she?" Ragini was missing. She was nowhere to be seen. Even Sid didn't know where she was. She told Sid that she wanted to be alone and went for a walk to the garden. After that, Sid fell asleep waiting for her and in the morning, she was gone. Ma was worried for her.

Papa asked Sparsh, "Did you fight with her? Otherwise why would you not know where she is?"

Sparsh looked at Sid as he thought he'd know her whereabouts, however, his scared face told him the otherwise. Now he got more scared.

"Did you try calling her?" said Papa.

"I did. A lot of times," said Sid.

Ma began sobbing. "What did you say to her that she left the house like this? What if something happens to her? Who will be responsible?"

Papa comforted Ma saying, "Most probably, she has gone to her parents' home. Try calling them. Don't say anything that worries them, in case she's not there."

"It's ringing, but they are not picking it up." After several calls on her parents' phones, no one answered their phones. Sparsh tried calling Ragini too, but in vain. Her phone was now switched off.
He moved towards Sid and whispered, "Did she tell you anything? Do you really not know where she is? She must have told you after all you are her..." He let Sid complete the sentence in his own mind.

"Sparsh, what exactly happened? What did you do to her that she left home." Ma was bursting in tears, worried for her dear daughter-in-law.

Sparsh stood silently, his heart at unease. He was worried for his wife. He remembered his last words to her and he genuinely regretted them. "I must be crazy for calling her with that word," he whispered to himself in disgust.

Ma's phone rang. It was Ragini's call. She answered the call in an instant and said,"Ragini, where are you? We are worried about you, child. You were not even picking up the calls and now your phone is switched off. Everyone here is worried for you."

It was Ragini's mother on the other side. "Ragini is here with us. No need to worry."

"Thank God. We were so scared. Let me talk to her. Where is she?"

"She's sleeping in her room. I'll tell her to call you when she wakes up. I called you to let you know that she's fine. You can talk to her later."

"When did she reach there? Is she okay?"

"It was around 5 in the morning when we heard the door knocking. We were completely shocked to find her there."

"But is she okay? Why did she go to you suddenly, without informing any of us?"

"You would know it better. She didn't tell us anything. All she did was cry. I want to know from you, what happened to her? Why did she leave your house like this?"

Ma felt bad listening to all this. "It must be something between Sparsh and her. I'll send him over to your house to talk to Ragini. Such matters can only be solved by communication. Don't worry. Sparsh will talk to her and everything will be fine."

"What exactly did you do to her, Sparsh?"
cried Ma. "She left the house. What if something happened to her? Now go and talk to her. Bring my daughter back. She's nothing less than Jeevika to me. I need her back at our home today," warned Ma.