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Mumbai!

The city of dreams!

She didn't get the chance to dream and plan this trip though! It was sudden; too sudden for her senses.

It was only this morning she was having a hangover and jumbled mind; and by evening she is at another city; miles away from her home.

Be ready to fly to Mumbai... With me!!

A small smile formed on her lips as she continued gazing out of the balcony of the flat in which they're staying.

Whose flat? She doesn't know.

When she asked her dearest husband, he flashed an idiotic toothy grin and winked at her and all she could do was shaking her head.

As wind passed in making her tresses fly, she couldn't help stare at the vast of ocean which could see far from there.

Peaceful from outside... But the story of depths will be totally different.

Maybe just like how she feels now.

"Hume bhi dekha karo, ji!!" Sanskar said dramatically, making Ragini stifle a chuckle.

Whatever happens in her life, this man never fails to be bring a smile on her face.

She turned around to see him cladded in a white shirt, neatly tucked into formal pants.

He looked different! Entirely different....in a good way!

Ragini closed her eyes, sighing to herself. She has probably gone crazy.

"Feels different on not wearing suites." Sanskar sighed dreamily, straightening the non-existent wrinkles on his shirt.

Ragini continued gazing him, taking in the childish excitement he shown.

"Chale!?" Sanskar asked her, raising his eyebrow with a smile.

She nodded her head silently and he led her way.

Ragini glanced Sanskar in between as they walked towards their car. He was happy...

But was she? Obviously not!!!

She was a mess! A Total Mess!!

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Ragini sat in the beach sand, her bare feet covered with sand, fresh waves from the ocean teasing her by softly touching her finger tips.

The roasted peanuts in her hands were probably offended on not getting attention as it was wholly directed towards Sanskar who was standing a bit far from her, talking on phone.

Ragini leaned to her forearm, diving into her own thoughts.

She felt peaceful as she bared her feelings to him!

She was ought to be in peace!

But, the same time, she felt dejected because he continued to act as if nothing happened last night... As if it was all a dream.

But it wasn't! He didn't denied when she said she confessed her feelings.

He could say something! Something... about what she said.

"It's pretty crowded, right?" Sanskar sat down next to her, with ice creams for them, breaking Ragini's chain of thoughts.

"Hmm.." She hummed and took the ice cream he held out for her.

Sanskar frowned. "What's wrong?" He asked cocking his eyebrows. "It's your favourite flavour, Ragz! Vanilla." He grinned.

"Great! We're now back to Ragz!" Ragini controlled the urge to turn her face away. She was getting irritated more by each passing moments and she didn't know why.

She knew he needs time!

Even then, her heart felt heavy..

Maybe she expected a different reaction from him.

"Come, it's getting late." Sanskar stood up, offering hand to Ragini.

Ragini stared at him for a while and he frowned trying to gauge her.

"Why do I feel a Red signal?" Sanskar thought confused.

Huffing silently, Ragini stood up on her own making Sanskar pout.

"Wasn't that a bit rude?" He pouted again glancing at his palm. "My poor heart." He dramatically caressed his heart.

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Ragini shook her head, smiling a bit as they started walking along the sea shore.

Calm waves caressed their feet as they walked together, their hands almost touching, footprints left behind for the waves to treasure them as their memories.

The scenes awaited her there, in Juhu beach were pleasant. Families spending time, laughing and teasing each other; couples walking hand-in-hand; children running here and there....

But she felt a pang of pain in her heart; a fear that her life would fail her again.

Everytime she convinced her own heart that it was Sanskar with her, who would die before hurting her; her past experiences reminded her of her own not-so-lucky fate.

"Ragz, why are you so silent yaar? Com'on where's that chirpy Ragz I knew?"

"We will go and rest, Sanskar."Ragini said and she felt her voice not soft as usual. "Maybe it's because I'm tired." She tried reasoning.

"Hmm." Sanskar hummed. He held her hand softly and pulled Ragini to his other side, seeing a crowd of college students coming against them indulged in their own world.

"We had to go directly from here for the conference. Are you really tired, Ragz?" Sanskar asked.

"Protective.... Caring about her likes.. Why is he like this?" Ragini thought.

Those actions of him were drowning her further.

Was she just a responsibility for him? Just because he married her, will he feel an obligation to return her feelings?

She doesn't want to be a responsibility...

She could feel the affection radiating from him... Is it going to be just because they're married?

Sanskar snapped his fingers before her eyes, bringing her back from her reverie.

"Huh?" She blinked, dazed on trying to recall what he said.

"What's bothering, Ragini?" Sanskar asked sighing.

Ragini! Evertime he called her that, it made her feel different.

She shook her head with a smile making him stare at her for a while.

"Can we go directly to the office from here? They want to meet you also." He asked softly.

"Today itself?" She asked, sounding tired or maybe more confused with herself.

"Yeah.." Sanskar said with a puppy face.

"Okay." She nodded in agreement and continued walking besides him.

He did make her feel different.

A sense of --- A sense she couldn't define. And it scared her. She had fallen so hard that another heart break would destroy her.

And she didn't want that.

The yearning to be loved by him was consuming her.

The fear of being a responsibility to him was crushing her.

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"Sanskar..." Ragini panted as she leaned against the wall. "This building, really, has a damn lift. Why are you keen on making me die young?" Ragini flared her nostrils seeing the goofy grin of Sanskar.

If she was irritated earlier, now she was on fire.

And she did make him know that she is messed up but he acted as if he didn't even hear her.

"Chill Ragz...." He winked at her making her heart flutter. "You had to either cheer up or flare up. And for that, some twists were needed." He sticked out his tongue and ran up the stairs further.

Climbing up 7 floors is the recreational activity that Sanskar Maheswari diligently planned for her.

As she reached the 7th floor, Sanskar was waiting for her with a soft smile which warmed her heart.

He walked down few steps, reaching out to Ragini, entwining their fingers making her smile instantly and climbed the rest few steps tugging her along.

He directly walked in to a well-furnished office, the security watching Sanskar in amusement and a bit confusion, while he had a content smile on his face.

As they entered, party poppers were blown scaring Ragini, making her cling to Sanskar and he chuckled as the expected occurred.

"Welcome back, Sanskar!" A group of 15-20 people, who seemed to be Sanskar's friends yelled in happiness, clapping all the while.

"Finally buddy! You scooted one day, did hysterically crazy things and got married without inviting us. Very bad, Sanskar!" A man of Sanskar's age walked close to them with bouquets in his hand; his eyes twinkling in mirth.

All Sanskar did was laughing merrily, holding her close. "Ji!" He acknowledged the complaint. "And this is my Wife, Ragini.... Ragini Sanskar Maheswari."

Ragini's heart swelled in happiness and unknowingly her eyes welled up, as he heard him acknowledging her again as his wife.

"Ragz, this is Ajit, unfortunately one of my best friend." He said earning a playful smack from Ajit.

"And this is Swarna, his girlfriend. This is Revathy, Amal... Error.... leave it! It will be dawn if I start introducing you all to her." He threw an attitude playfully and made his way further into the office pulling her along making others laugh.

They stopped in the middle as everyone said a short but happy 'hi' to Ragini. She could see Sanskar's eyes glistening as he glanced around the office and looked at Ajit.

Ragini looked around the space, and instantly she felt better. There was some positive energy revibrating there that she could feel her heart and mind settling down.

"And this...." Sanskar paused a while staring deep into her eyes for a while. Then, with a smile he continued. "This is Saranga!"

"Our life" Ajit said.

"Our passion." Swarna, one among them said.

"And our dream" Another said.

Ragini looked at Sanskar intently trying to read if he wanted to something further. She knew it held more value to him and he was too overwhelmed to put it into words.

"Come..." He held her and lead to the inner most cabin.

There, it was left empty but clean; neatly furnished and lively but then also, empty!!

On the desk, a photo was kept of Sanskar's, him holding guitar, more younger, totally different.

She glanced around to spot various wall photos of the band; some their performances, some their practices and some candid.

Ragini glanced at Sanskar amused, while he had his stare fixed on her studying her expressions.

"There was a time when this idiot and we were so mad about music that we had started Saranga secretly. We used to bunk classes for practise, lie about extra-classes for performing in programs and loot more pocket money from home for funds."Ajit giggled.

Sanskar tugged Ragini inside along with him, making her comfortably settle on the couch.

"We had got splitted into two during college days as most of us joined here. But we aren't the ones who accept defeat that easily, right. Sanskar and others used to come here often for programs. It was on the brim of success but he took Kavitha from us." Swarna said in a cracked voice, gazing upwards.

"But he, your patidev, was so determined not to let it go down. After a crash for almost One year and half a month, he revived Saranga." Ajit said proudly.

Ragini tightened her hold on Sanskar's hand as she glanced at him.

"We revived Saranga." Sanskar corrected. "Saranga was the symbol of everything in my life, Ragini."

Ragini felt slight goosebumps as the passion with which the spoke hit her.

"My childhood dream of becoming a musician and loving music, my school life where I planned with these fellows and created a small band, my friendships, my love, brotherhood and everything else in my life. Laksh and Adarsh bhai also used to join us before we moved it to Mumbai. The serenity I felt when we performed, it was and is always unexplainable." Sanskar closed his eyes trying to control his emotions.

"But it has been more than 3 years..." Ajit mumbled making Sanskar look at him.

Ragini pressed her hands a bit more, assuring him her presence, her support.

"Saranga has seen every version of me!" He said to her with a smile, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"That's true.. Saranga saw 'the Sanskar' as a boy, as a young adult, and also as an unshaven man. After almost 3 years, we are seeing him so cleaned up." Ajit chuckled. "Because of you, Ragini." He added.

"True, we never knew that he was this handsome." Keerthi, one among them teased with amusement in her voice.

Sanskar made faces to her and Ragini chuckled wholeheartedly as all of them bickered and shared stories with her.

"Time up, guys... Time up!" Sanskar raised his hands in defence and offered his hand to Ragini which she happily accepted.

Ragini's eyes widened in surprise when he pulled her along with him and started running, making the whole Saranga whistle, clap and cheer for them.

"Sanskar!" Ragini tried calling out to him, expecting him to stop a bit for her to catch breath, but Sankar continued running up the stairs tugging her along.

She should try some marathon from now!

As they reached the terrace, Ragini glared at Sanskar, panting and huffing for air while Sanskar had a winning smile on his face.

Ragini followed Sanskar's gaze and her surprise doubled when she saw a helicopter aka chopper landed on the helipad.

Her bewilderment never left her, even when Sanskar dragged her and pulled into it along with him.

"Sanskar!" She spoke, still bewildered, but it came out as a mumble.

"Surprise!!" Yet again, the only thing he did was flashing his toothy grin at her.

It's not WOW anymore; it's Wonder of Ragini's World!

The same day, at morning she was in Kolkata, by evening she was roaming in Mumbai, and now she is flying to somewhere else.

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Hey, Hello!!

Anyone remembers this story??🙊

Short and Highly apprehensive about this update...

But.. yeah!

Thanks a lot to all who have supported this till now.

This book completed 25K reads... It's huge for me. Thank you so much.

Stay happy and safe

♥️