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"I love you, Sanskar. My each breath reminds me that! That I love you, I belong to you, I will always, I want to be always!"

Ragini smiled contently in her sleep even though her head felt heavy than usual. She flipped on her bed, snuggling further into the duvet as her 'dream' played on loop in her brain.

The heaviness of her head felt persistent and she slumped against the headrest, slowly, with a pout.

9:25

Ragini's eyes widened seeing the clock. She missed her usual wake up time, aarti and morning kitchen chores for the first time.

As she continued counting her failures for the day and pushed away the duvet to jump off the bed, a glass appeared before her.

"You might require this, this morning, Mrs. Maheswari!" Sanskar said in a stern voice making Ragini's face fall further.

Ragini rushed to freshen up and the previous night clear ran through her head.

It wasn't a dream afterall! She did it!

And she wasn't disappointed! She will never regret!

She walked out from the washroom to see her husband digging into his laptop, sparing her no glance.

Did that go in a wrong way? She was sure about his budding feelings.

And this sudden indifference!

She gulped down the lime juice as she continued hoping that he would glance her once but in vain.

"Sanskar!" She called out not able to take the silence, even for a few moments.

Sanskar who was doing nothing but typing a few words, backspacing it and repeating the same over and over, finally shot his pointed gaze towards his wife.

He stared her for a second and rose from his seat to stalk towards the table beside their bed and fetched a tray with a plate of food and glass of juice.

Ragini's mouth widened seeing him thrusting the tray to her hand, silently, and getting back to his work-buddy devotedly.

"All of a sudden, it feels like Laptop is his wife and I'm some unwanted guest!" Ragini mused, irritated.

Her mind screamed to keep aside the food and grab her husband's collar knocking some senses but her growling stomach made her decide against it.

Ragini shoved pieces of Roti into her mouth trying to finish the breakfast as soon as possible, her pissed off glare boring into her dear husband, her mind determined to confront him as he talked animatedly over his phone.

Sanskar continued his act, gnawing his teeth into inner lips, resisting his urge to steal a glance at Ragini. He was well aware of his wife's angry glare. But he isn't wrong. PeriodT!

•~•×✿ו~•

Ragini stormed off to the kitchen with the plates to witness the whole family lazing around in the hall.

Perfect! Her husband had been spoiling her day in every possible way!

Swara grinned widely seeing and joined her to the kitchen, filling her with the details of events.

"Aru got call early morning. He managed to scoop up Ananya and the luggage at earliest. He didn't wanted to wake you up." Swara said softly handing over a letter to her. "He'll call you! Don't be pissed off." She added, noticing the foul mood of her sister.

Ragini sighed audibly. "Sanskar! He's acting weird, I feel! I guess, I'm going to kill him if he dares to say something against what I said yesterday!"

"You said what?" Swara asked excitedly, crossing her fingers on her back.

"I said exactly what you're thinking!" Ragini plopped an apple towards her, a smile lingering on her lips. "Well, I can't let him slip in the middle. Need to treat him. Don't know from where my attitude got such a makeover!"

The duo walked to the hall where the family laughed merrily at jokes and memories.

"What's that lazy lad doing over there?" Laksh asked dramatically, munching onto the pakoras.

"Work!" Ragini resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"What work?" Durgaprasad asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "He's a drama king, worse than this Laksh. There's no work for a week to be handled by us. Ask him to find new ways to irritate you, beta!"

Ragini bit her lips, taking in the information and smiled at her Bade Papa. She walked over to Shekhar and spent a few minutes with him. He had started trying to walk slowly from morning and she's excited at the improvement.

Sharmishta pulled her from the hall to upstairs as she got to know the things in a hushed exchange with Swara. She raised her eyebrows at Ragini while Ragini pouted like a whining child.

"He acts disappointed!" Ragini confided in her mother's embrace. "And I won't like if he admits that."

"He won't do that. He won't hurt you." Mishti caressed her head lovingly. "And you should talk to him without wasting time." She patted Ragini's head pulling away and blinked her eyes in assurance.

•~•×✿ו~•

Ragini sighed before pushing the door open to grab Sanskar's attention. She would have missed him flinching a bit, if she hadn't been fully attentive to him.

What's with this sudden obstinacy?

Ragini huffed and closed his laptop forcefully as he stared her back.

"What's the problem, Sanskar?" Ragini asked, heaving a sigh of defeat. Her tone made Sanskar sigh and rise to his feet.

"We never had communication problems." Ragini continued, pressing her temple. "What went wrong? You can say anything to me, Sanskar." Ragini spoke, despite the thought of rejection made her heart bleed.

Sanskar walked closer, lessening the distance between them.

"What were we?" Sanskar's gaze intensified as he held Ragini in his hold.

Ragini raised her gaze to meet his stern gaze as she felt her heart drop on the past tense usage.

"Friends!" Ragini gulped visibly as she she felt an ache in her heart.

All she feels is various types of pain. Even then, she had a hope. He won't hurt her!

Not hope but belief!

"And what happened yesterday?"

The seriousness is Sanskar's voice scared Ragini.

"I... I conf--confessed my love to you. I love you!" Her eyes turned glassy yet she gathered courage to look straight into his eyes.

Within a moment, Sanskar's hold loosened while he continued staring.

"Rag--" Ragini closed her eyes expecting another heartbreak in her life while Sanskar trailed off seeing her reaction.

"Friends are supposed to support each other, Ragini." Sanskar lowered his head to her ear and said, a huskiness lacing his voice.

Ragini's eyes flew open at his words and pulled a little bit backwards sensing their proximity as goosebumps erupted on her skin at his tone.

Ragini!

It rang in her ears again and again.

He always called her 'Ragz' and now, when her name rolled off his tongue, it felt different.

She stood there as if in a dumb world, staring back at him as he stared back with a look, neither the stern one nor the 'Sanskar' one.

"We are fri-friends even now, Sanskar." She managed to say in a voice which she never realised she had, a feeble one, as he took a step closer to her.

A smirk formed on Sanskar's face as Ragini took a step backwards on his advancement.

"You kind of insulted me infront of my brother, your sister and our friends. That's not something a friend would do; a wife would do!"

His tone remained same as he continued taking small predatory steps towards her while she continued stepping backwards.

Ragini gulped again not able to process the words. Her eyes constantly shifted to his smirk and eyes filled with mischief.

"You accused me as an unromantic!" Sanskar shoved his hands into the pocket of his joggers while Ragini's back hit a table at a corner of their room.

"Huh!??" Ragini blinked in surprise.

"Such a huge accusation! And I would like to prove otherwise!" He said softly, leaning towards her further, closing the distance between them.

Ragini closed her eyes, feeling the air around her thickened, an unknown feeling creeping up her body and her heart fluttering with unsaid emotions.

She felt his warm breath on her shoulder as he proceeded further, his left hand placed over table on her right side locking her with him.

Ragini felt him retreating his steps and opened her eyes to see him standing with a mischievous smile with a towel in his hand.

"Towel!" He raised the towel to show her, shrugging his shoulders. "It should have been easy if you stepped aside to give way for me. But it's okay. I enjoyed!" He said with wink before closing the bathroom door.

Ragini's mouth widened in surprise with his sudden mood swings. Blush crept up her cheeks as the feeling of having him close, in a different way, left her smiling.

Did he threw a tantrum for calling him childish yesterday?

Her heart fluttered again recalling the moment he called her 'Ragini'. She couldn't explain why it felt so special.

He didn't utter a word about her confession, even when she mentioned it!

He was the Sanskar she knew; but there was something different between them; something they didn't felt until that moment.

•~•×✿ו~•

Ragini settled herself in the balcony chair, taking in the fresh air on remembering Arvind's letter which got crumbled amidst the tension.

"Seriously Aru! You're writing a letter in the era of WhatsApp and Insta messages." Ragini chuckled while opening the letter, caring not to tear it.

Hi Bhabhi,

Ummm... I'm not very good at letters and messages, you know.

But this is something I want to let you know when part ways; and I want you to remember this always; not like a conversation that would fade away as a memory or a social media message that would be deleted once the phone get damaged.

Bhabhi, you're one of the most strong woman I've ever known personally. I could see a reflection of my mumma, whose memories always inspires me. And I will always adore you for what you're.

From a normal, traditional girl to the one fighting against all odds for your family, it needs a level of determination and passion to reach there. The fierceness I saw in your eyes, the vulnerability you showed at extreme situations, I never felt so personal.

Something about you always made me feel a bit jealous.

I wish I could meet you earlier; I wish you were a part of my life permanently; I wish you were my sister!

I always called you Bhabhi because Uttara called you so. But, I want to address you as my sister; as my 'Di'!

I want you to be in my life as a sister. I want to call and trouble you, complain about life, cry and bore you about my love life, want you to lecture the one who comes into my life and advise me on life!

If possible, I want to stand as a support to you, to shower my love to you as a younger one, to fight for you.

I know, there's a lot of people around you to be there for you. And I want to be one of them, not as Arvind's colleague, please! *Rolling eyes*

I'm not good at expressing and I'm writing one fourth of what I want to write and if I spoke it would have been one-eighth of this.

You inspire me as a human, as a loving daughter to family, as a loving sister, as a fantastic friend and an awesome wife.

I will come to see you once in a while so that I can collect some inspiration to move forward *hihi*

Always keep this in mind, that you're strong, you inspire someone, there's is someone who loves to be loved by you.

My dad too is so fond of you. You're so lovable, Di.

Love you
Take care

Ananya :)

"---- have to visit Mumbai. I've a conference there." Sanskar said but she sat there rooted as she continued reading the words repeatedly, smiling.

Sanskar observed Ragini and found her smiling fondly reading something. He was certain that his words didn't reach her ears.

He had passed a teasing session at the breakfast as the family attacked him to know about drunken Ragini and in return, they promised him a day of privacy which gave him the opportunity to rile her up.

He stood beside her and saw the letter; he knew from whom it was!

Ananya was disappointed that she couldn't meet Ragini and talk to her before bidding bye. She had come to their room to sit beside Ragini for a while and kissed her lovingly.

Sanskar could feel the warmth in the girl's affection towards Ragini, though she never expressed it.

He placed his hand on Ragini's shoulder grabbing her attention while she looked up with a smile, a layer of happy tears in her eyes.

"I got a younger sister!" She chuckled. "That too emotionally challenged to an extent!"

Sanskar chuckled hearing her and sat in the chair next to her.

"So start packing." He said.

Ragini frowned suddenly on the change of subject. "For?"

"Gotta visit Mumbai!" Sanskar winked. "I've a conference. And you should make up for the accusation! So you're coming with me this time."

Ragini's mouth became an 'O'. "What am I? Your P.A?"

"Nope!" He pops the 'p'. "You're never my P.A, Ragini!"

A warmth engulfed Ragini again hearing him call her that.

"You're L.P; Life partner." He grinned widely like an idiot while Ragini threw a cushion at him laughing.

"Be ready to fly to Mumbai; WITH ME!!"

Ragini smiled for the umpteenth time remembering Sanskar's words while Swara cleared her throat teasing, both of them doing the packing for RagSan's journey.

She threw a pillow at Sears after huffing playfully; her smile lingering throughout...

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Hey everyone, a chapter after long time :)

Don't know how it is! Just went with the flow.

It's a filler chapter. Will be edited later.

As I always say, you can drop comments genuinely.

Romance genre is not my area *sighing* though I'm trying.

So, Arvind-Ananya is closed. I love them though ♥️

Thanks a lot for the support till now. It had been so heartwarming.

A shout out to the silent readers◉‿◉

Tons of love to all
Stay safe and happy

Sameera:)