Back with the fourth OS. You guys are really creative, all of you...providing such amazing scenes. 😍

I'm so glad that I could write on these.

Scene created/ Idea credit : tendte

Moving on... 💃💃💃

"Words in double quotes." - Talking

'Words in single quotes' - Thoughts

Timeline - Laksh's second engagement to Ragini. He doesn't love Swara though. He knows about Sanskar's truth as well.

Fixing Your Bleeding Heart

"Is he picking up?"

Parineeta put down the telephone and shook her head.

"This boy. How can he be late on this day?!" Durgaprasad gritted out. 'He is so irresponsible. I just hope it isn't what I fear he's doing.' he looked over at Ragini, who sat without a word on the couch.

Dressed in her engagement dress, she looked beautiful. However, her face looked as if she was attending a funeral.

Suddenly, she stood up.

The living room which was filled with panic stopped altogether to stare at her.

Ragini didn't look at anyone, but started walking towards the front door.

Annapurna rushed to stand before her. "Ragini wait! I'm sure Laksh is on his way!"

Ragini looked at her with a wry smile. "It's been 5 hours Badi Maa. The sun already set."

Her family members had already left. They knew Laksh wasn't coming. She knew too, but stayed because of Badi Maa's hope.

"Then it mus-"

Ragini placed a hand on her arm. "Maa, just stop. It's okay. I understand that Laksh never really wanted this engagement. This was bound to happen."

Annapurna had tears in her eyes. "Ragini, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you're suffering so much because of Laksh. How could he?!"

"At least I'm not publicly humiliated since only we family members are here." she replied flatly. "I'll be leaving then."

"Ra-"

"Annapurna..." Durgaprasad sighed in defeat. "You're only making her suffer more with false hope. Let her go."

Parineeta came near Annapurna. "Baba is right."

"But someone needs to comfort her!"

"The only one whom she would want isn't here. And even if he is he would only break her. It's best if she gets some alone time."

Annapurna walked back to the couch and sat down on it helplessly. "Why is Laksh making her suffer so much? Wasn't it bad that he broke her heart once, that he's doing it again?!"

Elsewhere...

'Wasn't it bad that I already broke her heart once that I'm doing it again? When did I become that cruel?' Laksh thought to himself. He sighed and threw a stone towards the river.

Laksh watched as it went underneath without bouncing even once. He laughed bitterly. "As expected. I'm not good at this, just as I'm not good at anything else." he let out a groan. "Only reason I agreed to marry Ragini was because of Sanskar. But that bastard..." Laksh gritted out his name in anger. "That slimy traitor! Ugh!"

As he sat there venting out his miseries, he heard a sniff.

'It's near 7pm. No one visits at this time because of the nearby forest. Then who...' for a moment, he was reminded of the stories about witches and weeping ghosts he heard as a child. Laksh shook his head of those thoughts.

He decided to investigate and walked closer. As he looked over the large rock, he saw a girl wearing a red dress and weeping.

For a second, he felt the hair on his body stand thinking of ghosts. However, as he looked closely, the dress seemed familiar to him. 'That's the dress Maa brought for Ragini!'

The reminder of her saddened him. No matter how much he apologized to her, it would never be enough. He broke the engagement with her...twice.

'But it's not like she didn't know! She knew I was marrying her for Sanskar. I never responded to her feelings. Besides, she agreed to take care of Sanskar only because I agreed to marry her.' he sighed. "I better go and explain my reasons."

As he neared her, he could hear her soft cries. If hearts could bleed, he was sure hers would fill an ocean. And he hated for being the reason Ragini was in that state.

"Laksh."

Lakshs feet stopped when he heard her utter his name. However, he was behind her and she wasn't even looking at him.

Nevertheless, he was about to respond when she continued speaking.

"Do you like seeing me in tears? Do you like to make me suffer? Is it because I made you agree to marry me?"

Laksh flinched. "I..."

"I'm sorry if I made you miserable. I'm sorry but I loved you and still do."

'Is she really talking to me?' Laksh walked to the side and peered over. His confusion was soon cleared when he saw her holding a picture of him.

"Laksh, remember when you said you won't marry me the first time? I felt like I couldn't breathe. I...I felt like dying. And after today, I...I think I am dead on the inside."

Laksh swallowed the lump in his throat at her words. Guilt couldn't describe the amount of self-hatred he felt at the moment.

"Hahaha...I'm such a push over, aren't I?" she laughed bitterly. Ragini sniffed and calmed her breaking voice. "Y-you know Laksh, when Dadi told me you would be my future husband, I felt scared. I never had been in a relationship before. It was all so new to me." a smile appeared on her face at the memory. "But I had seen how much my Dadi and Dadaji love each other. And I have read so much about true love I...I placed all my hopes on you."

Laksh leaned on the rock for support. Her words were making him feel like the worst person on earth.

"I would talk to this picture of yours for hours and hours! I would share how my day went, where I planned to travel with you, my sorrows, my joys. I accepted you as a part of my life. That's how you became someone I felt close to when I actually met you." Ragini smiled, despite the tears flowing non-stop. "You came in to our lives like a blessing. You fixed Maa and Baba's relation. Your actions made me fall for you all the more. You were my hero."

'No. I'm the villain in the story. You loved me so much! But all I did was think about myself and how I could avoid the marriage. You're the beautiful flower whom I destroyed in the most cruel way!' Laksh laid back his head, looking at the night sky.

The stars and moon made it beautiful. Just as Ragini looked beautiful in the moonlight to him. For the first time, he was looking at her as someone who truly loved him and not who was a nuisance to him. Why didn't he ever value her feelings and let her break? Even if he didn't accept her, he should have given her solace, comforted her, instead of sneering at her.

"When you said you won't marry me, I...I was completely broken. But I accepted it. You know why? Because I wanted to see you happy. And when you asked me to take care of Sanskar, I agreed because it meant you would stop crying. I hated how you cried when Sanskar refused to remember you. I wanted to be the reason you smile." she paused to suck in a shaky breath. "Yes, Dadi told me you would agree to our engagement if I looked over Sanskar. But that I got to know later."

Laksh fell down on his knees, as if a physical burden had been dropped. He felt like his lungs wouldn't get enough air with the suffocation he felt because of his guilt.

"I knew you didn't love me. Yet I agreed. Because..." Ragini smiled a heartbroken smile. "Because I was a fool in love. I thought maybe...once we marry, I could make you fall for me. I thought we good grow to accept each other."

"St-stop...please stop." Laksh whispered to no one in particular. He clutched where his heart was. It was physically killing him to realize how wrong he had been about her.

All she ever did was love him. What did he do? Repay her with hate, bitterness and treachery? He wanted to beat himself up for what he had done.

"What am I supposed to do now Laksh? I feel like I'm falling apart, piece by piece. I don't know how to look for happiness anymore."

Laksh balled his hands into fists. He gritted his teeth and stood up with a look of determination. He didn't speak, but kept watching her with a grim face.

'Ragini, I won't say sorry because sorry would never be enough to fix your aching heart. But I'll do everything to fix what I broke. I won't just go and reveal my changed feelings for you. That would be too harsh. You might think I'll betray you again. But I promise you. I'll fix you. I'll be the reason for your smile. I promise.'

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Hope the fic turned out as per your expectations tendte. 🤗

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