Raglak ff: The time to Change

Part 25

"But I have one condition!"

Everyone looked at Laksh curiously while Ragini frowned at him. Laksh took a deep breath and said "We will be staying in our own house, just me and Ragini!" Everyone expect elder Maheshwaris looked at him shockingly. DP, AP, RP and Sujatha just sighed and looked at each other. "What?" Sanskar was the first one to say something while others were still in shock. "What are you saying, Laksh? Why you guys have to stay separately? And..." He looked at his elders and continued saying "Do you realize how much it will hurt them?" Ragini looked at Laksh desperately to know the reason while he looked at his elders and asked "Do you guys have any objection in this?" To everyone's shock they just shook their head in no. Ragini gasped seeing their reaction while Sanskar and Uttara stood frozen. Gaddodias and Arjun looked at the whole scenario with confused expression on their face.

Ragini couldn't believe the things happening infront of her. She gripped Laksh's hand tightly to get his attention. He immediately snapped his head at her. His eyes held something mysterious. She couldn't read them. "They are our family, Laksh. Why we have to stay away from them?" Her eyes looked at him desperately for his answers. He sighed and told her what happened when he went to MM that morning.

Flashback (Muted conversation)

Laksh expressed his feelings for Ragini taking everyone in surprise and shock. They never thought the Laksh, who couldn't stand Ragini's presence, is the one saying that he can't live without her. They stood dumbfounded. Laksh sighed and said softly but determined "I have taken a decision. This may hurt first but it is the best one in this situation." He looked at everyone observing their reactions and said "I want to live with Ragini, forever. But you guys are still not comfortable with the fact that she is going to come back to this again. You may forgive her for my happiness but deep inside you can't forget what all she had done. It will not come out when you are being conscious and cautious. But it will burst out from your heart when you're least expecting it. And yeah, words are more powerful than swords to kill a person. I don't want my Ragini to face such type of condition!" He said while his hands fisted remembering the look Ragini had while leaving MM when her truth was exposed. He doesn't want to see Ragini with that look again in future. His thoughts were interrupted by AP who asked "So...?" She could see what was going to come but she hoped that her son didn't take 'that' decision.

He cleared his throat and said "So, I decided that Ragini and I will live in a separate house." "Away from us" AP asked feeling her hope shattered. His eyes met his mother's. His eyes soften seeing her hurt look. "Maa..." He started saying and tried to hug her but she shook her head and turned away from him letting her tears out. "No Laksh you shouldn't do that!" Sujatha said and came towards him. "You are our son. You belong to this house. You have a big family. You have your own business. Why you have to leave all this for her?" She asked shaking his shoulders like trying to bring him back to normal. "Because I love her chachi" Laksh said trying to sound reasonable. "She is my wife! She belongs to me. Her happiness is my happiness, her pain is my pain! Everything that belongs to her is mine! And the same applies to her. So how can I let her stay here when I know that she might get hurt at any time? You think I will let her get hurt, that too knowingly? No! I won't!" Laksh said strongly.

"You think us as a bad guy?" DP finally asked. Laksh looked at his father and immediately shook his head in no. "No papa, I am trying to save my loved ones from getting hurt." He then looked at his mother who was crying on his father's shoulder. "Maa" He called her and went towards her. "Please try to understand maa. I love her as much as I love my family! And maa, you know that I will do anything to keep my family safe and happy. That's what I am doing this time too, maa. Ragini belongs to our family now. I don't know if she accepts me and comes back to me again, but if she does, I wanted to make sure I just give her happiness, not pain. I know that even if she gets hurt she won't tell me and keep it to herself for my happiness. But I can read her eyes, maa. Her eyes never says lie to me. If I come to know that she is hurt, you think I will be happy and normal with you guys?" He grabbed AP's shoulder and turned her towards him and made her look at him. "Unnecessary fights or misunderstandings will arise, maa. I want to avoid them." He rubbed her tears away and sniffed. That's when he realized he was crying too. "I know maa, it will hurt. But we are not going to stay away from you guys forever. I can't stay away from my family too. We will be living just few blocks away. We will visit here every weekend and spend our day here with you guys. If you want, you can come and visit us whenever you want; or just a phone call, we will come here."