Hello everyone...

Thanks to all for voting and commenting on the previous story. Mills & Boons 4 : Boss & The Klutz (Posted on 8. Jul. 2024)

First of all, bursting your bubble. Please don't assume it is an angst story based on the title.

It is actually a light read. Love after marriage.

I wanted to write a hero who is a man of few words.

And this is a lot like a M&B story, though it has inspirations from other books I have read, a little bit of DBO, a little bit of highway. In short, a mix of everything.

Warning: it has the most M&B troupe. Close to no POV of the male lead.

Word count 17025

Madhu sat in the mandap as she watched everyone worriedly talking amongst themselves. The voices were getting louder. She could see that people were starting to panic. Her heart beating fast in her rib cage.

All because the groom wasn't here.

His whole family was here, except for him.

Madhu dispassionately looks at the people around her.

Her father was there shouting instructions to the police. He was a high ranking police officer.

Madhu looks to her mother and sees her worrying and on the verge of tears.

The groom's father, the financial minister of the country, stood next to her father, but was giving instructions to his henchmen.

The wait was worse than anything else.

Everybody was giving her pitying looks.

She had enough. She starts to get up to walk 0ut when she feels a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

She turns to see who it is and stops in shock, seeing her groom sit down next to her.

From where the hell did he come from?

Noticing the groom had reached the mandap, their parents comes hurrying there.

"Where were you?" Sultan's father asks him furiously.

"Uncle... he was just a little busy." Some guy whispers to him.

"Busy?" Malik asks frowning.

"Don't worry... it's all taken care of." The guy says reassuringly.

"Even on your wedding day, Sultan?" His mother asks him furiously.

"We should get the wedding done soon. We don't have much time." The guy quickly says.

Everyone turns to look at Sultan and sees that he was swaying and slouching.

His face was covered with sehra, so Madhu couldn't see his face, but the way he was being, it looked like he was drunk or high on something.

Madhu looks to her parents.

Seeing Madhu looking at him, Malik says hurriedly. "Get the wedding done quickly."

Soon the rituals started. Madhu goes pale as she went through everything mechanically.

All her hopes dashed.

Her life was over.

**********

Right after the wedding, the family were coming to take a photo when all the lights went off, and they were in pitch darkness.

Madhu felt her husband hold her hand. She struggles to free her hand when she hears a loud scream.

Then it was all panic with people screaming, some lighting their lighter, phone flashlight.

In the ensuing commotion Madhu felt her husband drag her, assuming they were leaving cause of some unknown danger, survivor instincts kick in and Madhu follows him.

He takes her through the backdoor. Through the alley. They stop in front of a car.

He opens the door and gently pushes Madhu in, she gets into the car.

And in seconds they were zooming through the traffic.

As light flittered through from the street lights and she saw familiar road, Madhu frowns, this wasn't the way to the Minister's house.

"Where are we going?" Madhu turns to Sultan, her heart slamming fast in panic.

Rishabh takes off his sehra and looks at her.

Madhu goes completely white seeing him.

"You? What are you doing here?" Madhu asks shocked. "Where is Sultan?"

"Tied up and unconscious under his bed in the hotel room." Rishabh informs her.

"You married me." Madhu whispers in shock.

"Yes."

"Why?"

Rishabh looks at her for a few seconds then he turns to look out the window.

"Stop the car." Madhu says panicking. She moves to the driver and sees that it was the guy she had assumed to be Sultan's friend. "Stop the car."

And the insolent man increases the speed.

Madhu turns to Rishabh and threatens him. "If you don't stop, I'll jump out of the car."

Rishabh continued to look out.

For a second, Madhu wondered if he was deaf. He showed no indication of hearing her.

To show him that she was damn serious, Madhu tries to open the door and realizes that it was locked. She couldn't open it.

She turns to Rishabh and screaming, she starts to hit him when the car drives into a gated compound.

Realizing they had reached their destination, Madhu goes still, her heart and brain screaming in horror.

With Sultan whatever the horror it was, she knew, what she was getting into.

And with Rishabh, she had no idea.

And that scared the very life out of her.

The car stops and Rishabh gets out of the car. He turns and extends his hand to her.

It would be a long day in hell if she was to walk into her own doom holding his hands.

Madhu moves back as she cowered in fear.

Rishabh stood his ground, with his extended hand waiting for her to take it.

They never spoke a word.

For five long excruciating minutes, they were at a standstill.

Madhu realized that she had no other way. She couldn't escape through the other door.

He was at her only exit.

She had to get out of the car if she were to plan her escape from this nightmare.

Madhu looks at Rishabh.

He was neither going to drag her out of the car nor was he going to walk off leaving her.

That man had the patience of a vulture.

Giving up, Madhu slid to him and takes his hand as she got out of the car.

Once he was out of her way, Madhu pulls her hand free.

He holds her hand back and takes her inside his grand house.

She walks in to see an elderly couple.

"Rishu... what is this?" Radha asks in shock.

"This is Madhu. We got married." Rishabh informs them.

"What?" Radha screams in shock, going pale.

"She is... she is the bride on TV. The missing one." Mohan says in shock as he pointed at the TV.

Madhu turns to look at the TV and it was surely her missing news. Their wedding was playing on a loop.

"You married her? HIS DAUGHTER?" Mohan asks furiously.

"How could you, Rishu?" Radha asks him in outrage as her eyes filled up.

"She can't stay here." Mohan says in finality. Then turning to Madhu, he says. "Get out of my house."

Madhu looks at his parents in shock. "He forcefully brought me here. Please help me." Madhu pleads them.

"Oh my God, Rishu. What is the matter with you? Leave her." Radha tells him in shock.

"Madhu is my wife." Rishabh says as he held Madhu's hand strong. "You don't have to love her. But as long as Madhu is here, you'll give her the respect that my wife is due."

Madhu stares at Rishabh in shock. Even his parents.

Then without saying anything, Rishabh grabs her hand and walks off.

Madhu follows him as she looked around, trying to memorize as much as possible as she can make an escape plan.

Rishabh opens a door and walks in holding Madhu.

Seeing it was a bedroom, Madhu panics as she struggled to free her hand.

And was surprised when Rishabh had let go off her hand.

Madhu worriedly looks at him as she moved back. Her heart in her throat.

Rishabh looks at her and if he saw her fear, he didn't show it.

"You'll stay in this room. Don't step out of this room till I give you permission." Rishabh tells her.

Seeing him staring at her, Madhu nods her head in agreement.

Rishabh turns around and walks out. She hears the door locking.

Madhu hurriedly looks around the room for an escape route. There wasn't any. All it had was a dressing room, a bathroom and windows, which had the view of the gate and driveway.

**********

Madhu was sitting on the couch as she bit her nails, her fear was killing her.

She had been prepared for one nightmare but she was shoved into another one.

And the worst thing was she didn't know which nightmare was worse. Sultan or Rishabh.

Hearing the door open, she sits up in fear. She sees the man who had been with Rishabh walk in carrying a heavy suitcase.

Madhu frowns. It was her suitcase.

"You'll have to forgive me. I wasn't going to bring your whole wedding trousseau. I didn't have time and I had to steal. So, I picked the biggest one. Hopefully what you need is in this."

Then he turns to walk off, he turns and looks at her. "If you need anything, let me know, bhabhi."

"Who are you?" Madhu asks him in shock, now she was his bhabhi?

"My name is Patil. I work for sir." Patil informs her With a polite smile.

Madhu looks at the suitcase, she wasn't even going to open them. That was not her priority now.

"So I want anything I ask you?" Madhu asks him.

"Me or any of the servants here. Sir has told us all that we are to do whatever you want."

"Whatever I want?" Madhu asks surprised and suspicious.

"If you say anything then we are to assume that the order has come directly from him." Patil informs her.

"Take me home." Madhu tells him.

"Except for that."

"Give me a phone."

"Except for that too." Patil informs her.

Madhu glares at him and scoffs. "So much for whatever I want."

Realizing she was done talking to him, Patil leaves the room.

Few minutes later, her dinner was brought to the room. Madhu didn't touch it.

She just sat there, hugging herself.

Later at night, she hears the door open and sits up in fear. She sees Rishabh walk in. He saw the food left untouched but he didn't say anything. He just turns and closes the room and locks it.

And that is when it hit her that she wasn't given her own bedroom. She was sharing Rishabh's bedroom with him.

Panicking and worried for her life and body, she runs to the corner of the room in panic, because he was blocking the only exit.

Fire flares up in Rishabh's eyes as he saw her do that.

Seeing the fury on his face, Madhu presses herself against the wall.

He takes a step forward then in uncontrollable fury, he says. "I am not a rapist."

And she believed him.

Madhu rigorously nods her head to let him know that she believed him.

Seeing that, Rishabh relaxes, he walks to the dressing room and closes the door.

Madhu stares at the closed door, she stood there staring at the closed door without blinking till he came out, fresh from his shower.

He looks at her for a second then closing the door, he walks to the bed and gets on the bed.

As Madhu watched, he stretches on the bed and closes his eyes.

Madhu watched him in the dim lights, for a long time. Even when she saw his even breathing, she waited for a few more minutes to be really sure that he was sleeping.

Then she quietly walks to the door and as quietly as possible she opens the door.

"Did you want something, bhabhiji?"

Madhu jumps in shock seeing three guards outside the door.

Madhu shakes her head and gets back in, realizing that she couldn't escape this way.

She closes the door but doesn't lock it. She turns back and sees Rishabh watching her.

She worriedly looks at him, fearing what he was going to do to her for trying to escape.

He just closes his eyes.

Madhu was tired. She had draining couple of days. Now, she was tired to the bone.

She will try to escape tomorrow. Madhu decided.

She walks to the bed, and gets on the other side of the bed and curling up on her side, giving her back to Rishabh, she closes her eyes.

The moment she closed her eyes, she was dead to the world.

Seeing her curling up, Rishabh sits up and puts the duvet on her properly. Then he goes back to his side of the bed and sleeps.

**********

Madhu wakes up and finds herself alone in the bedroom.

Wanting to get out of her wedding clothes and jewellery, Madhu goes to the dressing room and sees that someone had shifted her suitcase to the dressing room.

She removes all her jewelry including her nuptial chain.

She opens the suitcase as she couldn't remember what she had packed in that. She sighs disappointed that it was mostly her party wears. As she dug in, she luckily found her underclothes bag, and there was 2 nighty and a few salwars and casual wears. Taking her salwar and underclothes, she walks to the bathroom. Noticing only one towel in the bathroom, Madhu puts her clothes in the hanger and walks out.

She opens the cupboard and one was filled with Rishabh's clothes. All neatly arranged. She opens the next and finds it empty.

Was she supposed to unpack her clothes? No way!

She pulls open the drawers and finds spare towels, bedsheets and all. Sighing in relief, she takes one towel and goes to take a shower.

Feeling fresh though mentally tired, Madhu comes out and sees Rishabh's mother waiting for her.

"What do you want from us?" Radha asks her frustrated.

"I don't want anything."

"Then why don't you leave."

"I want to but I am not able to. There are guards outside the room." Madhu tells her.

Radha walks to the door and tells the guards. "Let her go!"

They uncomfortably looks at her then one of them says. "Madam, you please talk to sir. We can't do anything."

"My father is the IG. The police are going to find me soon. He is going to be in trouble. Please ask him to let me go." Madhu pleads.

Radha scoffs. "We know what your father and his police are capable of."

Madhu gulps as she looked away.

Radha in hatred tells Madhu. "The thought that you're in our house. Polluting the air that we breath... "

"MA!"

They both turn to the door and sees Rishabh at the door.

"She cant stay here, Rishu. I will not allow it!" Radha tells him.

"I told you to treat my wife with respect." Rishabh calmly reminds her.

"I will not accept her as your wife."

"That is your decision. But she is my wife. If you cant treat her with respect then don't come into our room again. She will not come in front of you." Rishabh tells her.

"Why cant you understand what it is doing to us with her here?" Radha asks as she cried.

"She is not going to be here for long. A week. Then she will leave. But as long as she is here, she is my wife." Rishabh tells his mother.

Helpless and angry, Radha walks off.

Rishabh looks at Madhu then without saying anything, he walks to the couch, picking his laptop, he got busy on it.

"Bhabhi..."

Madhu turns to the sound and sees a maid at the door, she had come couple of times last night first to check on her then to ask her about her food preference then with her dinner.

"Would you like tea or coffee with breakfast?"

Madhu worriedly looks at Rishabh and sees him busy with his laptop.

He couldn't have made it any more clear that he wasn't bothered with this conversation.

"Green Tea would be good if not black tea." Madhu tells her.

"I'll bring green tea." She says smiling.

"I need toothbrush." Madhu tells her.

"Inside the drawer in the bathroom." Rishabh says as he continued to give his laptop full attention.

The maid leaves and Madhu goes to the bathroom and finds new toothbrushes inside the drawer.

**********

After finishing her breakfast, Madhu goes to the bed and sits on it, as she watched Rishabh working.

He hadn't said a word to her.

"PAPA!"

Hearing the excited shout, Madhu looks at the door and sees a small girl running in.

Keeping his laptop aside, Rishabh opens his arms for her and the girl gets on his lap and hugs her.

"You're waking up now?" Rishabh asks her as he smiled at her, kissing her cheek.

"Nani didn't wake me." She says then noticing Madhu, she asks curiously. "Papa, who is that?"

Rishabh looks at Madhu and sees Madhu watching them.

"That is my wife, Madhu." Rishabh informs her.

"Wife? Nani said you would marry Ridhima Aunty." The girl says with a confused frown.

Madhu frowns hearing that.

"I married Madhu aunty." Rishabh tells her.

"Okay." She says smiling. "I'll go talk to her."

Jumping off Rishabh's lap, the small girl walks to her.

Seeing the girl smiling at her, Madhu smiles at her.

"Hi... what's your name?" Madhu asks her as the girl reached near her.

"Aami." Aami says as she struggled get on the bed.

Seeing that, Madhu lifts her up and makes her sit on the bed.

"When did you come?" Aami asks her curiously.

Madhu looks up and sees Rishabh was watching them with hawk eyes.

She turns to Aami and says. "Last night."

"I would have been sleeping." Aami says. "That is why I didn't see you. What were you doing here?"

"Nothing. I am so bored." Madhu tells her, deciding to test her waters were Rishabh was concerned.

"What do you do at your home?" Aami asks her.

"I read. I've a kindle and there are like tons of books. But my kindle is in my other bag. Patil didn't bring it." Madhu tells her. "So, I've nothing to do here."

"Oh... do you want to play? I've lots of toys." Aami asks her excitedly.

"Yes." Madhu says smiling. Some or any distraction was a blessing.

"Come then." Aami says excitedly.

"Aami... if you want to play then play here in this room. Madhu Aunty will not go outside this room." Rishabh tells her.

"Oh." Aami looks confused but she doesn't ask why Madhu was not allowed outside the room. "Okay... I'll go bring my toys and come."

Bouncing off the bed, Aami runs out of the room.

Madhu looks at Rishabh and sees him staring at her. Then as if dismissing her, he turns his attention back to his laptop.

Aami comes back with her toys and Madhu spent an hour playing with her.

Then it was time for Aami's online class. Aami had mentioned that her Papa had told her not to go to school for sometime and she was now attending online classes.

Madhu wondered whether it was a precaution to protect Aami while Madhu was kidnapped.

Madhu sat there in unbearable silence. The only sound was when Rishabh typed away or his phone rang or when he spoke to someone else on the phone.

She couldn't make out much of the conversation because that man spoke very little. But from the snippets that she caught from the conversations, she wondered whether he was into politics, because there were some political talks.

"Bhabhi..." Patil walks in.

Madhu curiously looks up and sees Patil giving her brand new kindle. Madhu immediately looks at Rishabh and he wasn't looking at her.

"Thank you." Madhu says smiling as she took the kindle and opens it.

She quickly switches it on. She starts to login so she could retrieve her books then she stops.

She couldn't remember exactly whether when she logged in then for linking the device to her amazon account an OTP was generated or not.

If an OTP is generated then it would go to her mobile, which is not with her. It was in the room that she got dressed for wedding.

Sometimes, a push notification was send when Amazon detects a new login. Did that happen with kindle too?

If that happens, then somewhat of a location would also be mentioned, not exact but a location. That might give her father a clue to where she was.

She couldn't be sure and she couldn't take the risk.

Madhu looks up at Rishabh. "I wont be able to link this kindle to my account without my phone. I need money to buy books."

Rishabh looks at her then with his head, he gestures to his wallet lying on the table.

Madhu picks the wallet and opens it. There were couple of credit cards, she picks one in random.

And she just had to push it a little more.

"Can I use your laptop?" Madhu asks him.

Rishabh looks at her frowning. "For what?"

"To create an account for kindle."

"Tell me what to do." Rishabh says.

Madhu walks to him and sits next to him.

Rishabh looks at her in surprise, just for a second then he looks back at his laptop.

"Go to amazon." Madhu tells him.

"You can use my amazon account. You can't login to yours." Rishabh tells her as he logged in to his account.

Few minutes later, Madhu had moved to the couch near Rishabh's and she snuggles up on the couch with her new kindle.

Though she had her kindle open and ready to read, she didn't read a word, her whole concentration was on evaluating her new situation.

**********

Rishabh and she didn't speak much. She didn't meet his parents after that. Rishabh spent most of the time in the room with her but busy with his work. When he leaves the room, the guards come outside her room to guard her.

Her only entertainment was Aami and her kindle.

After reading back to back, Madhu was tired and needed a break. Aami was in her class.

Seeing Patil walk in to speak to Rishabh, she dramatically sighs loudly as she closed her kindle.

"I am tired of reading, Patil." Madhu tells him.

Patil looks at her confused.

"You said if I need anything to tell you. Can I get a TV or iPad or something so I can watch something?" Madhu asks.

Madhu looks at Rishabh and he was busy on his mobile and doesn't say anything.

Nodding his head, Patil tells her. "I'll see to it at once."

Within the hour, Madhu watched in astonishment when Patil had come with TV and started setting it up in the room.

"Bhabhi... I've set up YouTube, netflix and couple of ott platforms. Cable connection will take a little time." Patil tells her as he passed her the remote. "By tomorrow it will also be done."

"There is no need for that. She will leave soon." Rishabh declares.

Patil nods and leave while Madhu looks at Rishabh, hurt and panic filling her.

He couldn't just give her a safe haven and snatch it from her.

She wanted to scream but she didn't.

**********

Rishabh stops in astonishment seeing Madhu and Aami dancing as they played some song on Youtube.

Aami was on the bed while Madhu stood next to the bed, bringing them to same height, as they sang on top of their voice and danced or rather, jumped around.

Madhu notices Rishabh at the door. She stops. He was staring at her as if she grew two heads. Then ignoring him, she continues to dance with Aami.

**********

Madhu had put the news on to see how the investigation regarding her kidnapping was going. But for once, the breaking news wasn't her kidnapping.

The government had toppled. Madhu sits up in shock.

Many MPs have withdrawn their support to the ruling party and have joined the opposition. The ruling party has lost majority.

Sultan's father will no longer be the minister.

"Did you see this?" Madhu asks Rishabh in shock.

Rishabh doesn't even bother to look up at the TV screen.

And Madhu understand, what some of his phone calls regarding politics had been about.

"You did this." Madhu says in shock.

Rishabh looks up at her. Then turns his attention back to the laptop without confirming anything.

Madhu resisted the urge to smack her husband right in his head.

**********

"I haven't gone out in so many days. Papa is not letting me go out." Aami tells Madhu sadly as they lay on the bed talking to each other.

"Awww... where do you usually go?" Madhu asks her.

"Nanu and Nani take me to park, mall, beach and all. Now, I don't go to school also." Aami tells her.

"It is just for a few days." Madhu tells her, realizing once she is gone, things were going to fall back in order for the household.

"Yeah." Aami says still disappointed.

Seeing her sad, it broke Madhu's heart. She couldn't see her like that. Wanting to cheer her up, Madhu things of a way.

Excitedly sitting up, Madhu says. "Let's go out for dinner."

"Papa told me not to go out." Aami tells her sadly.

"No... we won't go out." Madhu says excitedly. "We'll have dinner here in this room. But we will act like we are at a restaurant. We'll wear nice dress and makeup and all."

"OKAY!" Aami says excitedly as she sat up.

"Okay then.. go down, ask the cook to come up. Then ask Patil also to come. Then you get your best dress and come here." Madhu tells her excitedly.

"Okay." Aami jumps out of the bed and runs off.

Few minutes later, the cook comes up and Madhu discusses with her the menu for Aami's and her's dinner date. Just as the cook was leaving, Patil had come up and she had told him what she needed.

**********

Rishabh frowns seeing the bedroom door open and the guards curiously peeping in.

"What are you looking?" Rishabh asks furiously. "You are here to guard my wife, not ogle at her."

Realizing that their boss wanted to murder one of them, they quickly says. "We are not looking at bhabhi. She is not there."

"What?" Rishabh frowns as he walked in and stops in shock.

There was a table set in the room with two seats on either side. Patil was setting the table correctly while someone was lighting candle all around the room.

"What's happening?" Rishabh asks feeling lost and he hated not being in control.

He hears the dressing room door open and turns to look and sees Madhu step out.

His breath got caught in his throat.

His wife was wearing a sleeveless black gown, that accentuated all the curves and her slender figure.

Rishabh gulps as he stared at her looking so beautiful and yet sexy.

"Ready?" Madhu asks Patil.

"Almost." Patil replies as he helped light the candles.

Rishabh looks around the room and realized that it was the ambiance for a romantic dinner date.

Was she trying to seduce him?

The thought itself making him tight all over his body. And he had no idea why, out of nowhere, he was feeling that.

"Done." Patil tells her.

"Okay, great." Madhu says as she turned to walk back in when she notices Rishabh staring at her.

Madhu couldn't understand why he was looking at her.

Was it because he had had enough with his captive acting as if she owned his house and was vacationing here?

No.

There was something in the way he was looking at her. It made her feel warm all over.

"We'll go, bhabhi?" Patil asks her curiously.

"Yes. Thank you." Madhu says as she forced herself to turn away from Rishabh.

She walks into the dressing room and closes the door.

Rishabh frowns, unable to understand what she was playing at.

He hears the door open again and stops in surprise seeing Madhu walk out as she held Aami's hand.

Aami was looking too adorable, wearing a black dress. With a little hint of makeup.

He couldn't hide his smile seeing his daughter all decked up.

"PAPA!" Aami shouts happily.

"Ssshh Aami, we don't talk to strangers. And we are not home." Madhu tells her.

"Oh. Yes." Aami replies as she put her chin up and let Madhu lead her.

"How do you like this restaurant?" Madhu asks her.

"It is nice." Aami says as she looked around like some celebrity.

"Would you like to sit here or prefer another seat?" Madhu asks her.

Aami frowns in displeasure. "Another."

"Okay." Madhu holds her hand and they walk around the room and comes back to the same table. "How about this?"

"This is good." Aami approves.

"Even I like it." Madhu says smiles as she helped Aami to the chair.

Then Madhu sits opposite to her.

Rishabh sits on the couch as he watched them. Now, Aami and Madhu were making small talks.

He didn't understand what was happening, but those two were having the time of their lives.

"Good evening, Madam. I am your server for the day." Their maid comes to them.

"Good evening." Madhu says.

Seeing that, even Aami says. "Good evening."

Rishabh frowns seeing the maid hands them what looks like two files from his office. Then he lets it go realizing that Patil might have given it and he would have given some empty ones.

"Oo do you want soup?" Madhu asks her.

"Sounds interesting." Aami says nodding.

"We'll share?"

"Yes."

"So, we will have the hot and sour chicken soup." Madhu tells the maid. Then looking at Aami, she asks. "What do you want to have for main? Fish?"

"Nooo."

"Duck?"

"No."

"Pasta?"

"YES!"

"Good choice." Madhu says smiling.

Rishabh couldn't help wonder how Madhu knew Aami's favorite dish was pasta and she never said no to it.

"I'll also have the pasta then." Madhu tells the maid.

Then deciding on Chocolate Cake for dessert, they dismiss the maid.

Rishabh watched as Madhu and Aami spoke to each other as they had their dinner.

Rishabh's heart starts beating fast. He had never wanted anything silly in life and now, he so badly wanted to, and if he was honest to himself, he was a little upset that he wasn't invited to the silly dinner date that his wife and daughter were having.

**********

By the time, they finished Chocolate Cake, Aami was dozing off.

Seeing her slightly dropping to her side, Rishabh was jumping up from his seat, when Madhu immediately runs to her and picks her up.

She walked carrying Aami around the room for a few rounds.

"She slept." Madhu tells Rishabh.

Rishabh who had been watching them, slowly gets up.

"Should I put her on our bed?" Madhu asks him.

Our bed. Again that tightness.

"She sleeps with my parents." Rishabh says as he walks to Madhu.

He picks up Aami from Madhu and their hands, and body brushes against each other.

They look at each other but neither move back.

Hearing Aami make some noise, Rishabh picks her up, and walks out of the room.

Madhu walks to the dressing room with a sigh realizing the acute desire she was feeling for the man that she was living with.

Madhu shakes her head.

He had said 1 week and that means, day after he was going to set her free.

Madhu didn't know what he had achieved from this marriage or what his intentions were.

She never asked him because speaking to him was like talking to a wall.

She hears him walk into the dressing room. Madhu looks at him through the mirror.

"What are you doing, Madhu?" Rishabh asks her.

"What?" Madhu asks him softly.

Rishabh walks close to her, so close but not touching her. He stood behind her as he looked at her reflection on the mirror.

"What are you doing to my daughter, Madhu?" And to me.

"Aami was feeling upset that she hasn't gone out for a while. She has been stuck in the house. Even I have been stuck in this room. We both needed a break." Madhu tells him.

"You'll be free day after, Madhu." Rishabh tells her. "You can leave. Then as soon as it is legally possible I'll give you a divorce."

Hearing that, Madhu turns around. Their body brushing against each other.

Rishabh immediately starts to move back, feeling the fire that had caused to his body.

Madhu grabs his shirt collar and pulls him close.

Rishabh moves closer to her.

Madhu leans up and takes his lips in hers.

Rishabh stiffens for a brief second then he pulls her close and hungrily kisses her.

Madhu snuggles into his frame, fitting so perfectly with his, as she hungrily kissed him back.

Breathless they part. They look at each other a few seconds, then Madhu turns and grabbing her clothes walk to the bathroom while Rishabh walks out.

**********

The next day, they acted as if the kiss never happened. But both were on edge and wanted to pounce on each other.

Wanting a distraction, Madhu finally asks Rishabh. "Where is Aami? Why didn't she come here?"

Rishabh looks at her and says. "You're leaving tomorrow. Aami is attached to you. Better you start keeping your distance from each other. Otherwise it will be difficult for my baby."

Madhu furiously looks at him. Her eyes filling with furious tears, wanting so badly to smash his head in.

If Rishabh saw her tears then he didn't act like it.

They were engulfed in uncomfortable silence when as a reprieve his phone rings.

"Hello?" Rishabh answers the call.

Then Madhu sees him tense up. She sits up.

Rishabh jumps up as he cut the call and started to leave the room.

"What happened?" Madhu asks as she ran behind him.

Rishabh stops to look at her then he steps out and closes the door.

"Rishu... tell me what happened." Madhu says panicking as she knocked on the door.

Then she hears the door locking sound.

Confused and worried, Madhu walks to the couch when she hears the sound of the siren.

Madhu runs to the window and gasps in shock seeing police jeeps, cars and media vans.

Madhu turns around and starts banging on the door. "Rishabh... open the door.... Patil... Aami... someone, open the door."

It felt like eternity for Madhu as she screamed and banged on the door. Then she hears someone unlocking the door.

The door opens and Madhu sees Aami at the door.

"Who locked you, Madhu Aunty?" Aami asks her shocked.

"Thank you, baby." Madhu says as she hugged her in relief. "Don't come down. Stay here." Madhu tells her and runs off.

"Papa also told me not to go down."

**********

Rishabh, Patil and his parents step out of the house. There were Madhu's father, Sultan, Sultan's father, police and media.

"What is it?" Rishabh asks them as he glared at Sultan.

"Where is my daughter?" Malik asks furiously.

"I asked what do you want?" Rishabh asks him.

"Search the house." Malik says furiously.

"Do you have a warrant?" Rishabh asks him back.

"We do." One inspector says.

"You thought you were clever." Sultan says sneering. "Sneaking in. Hiding. But we saw your face in one camera."

Rishabh holds his hand tight to stop himself from killing Sultan.

"You have changed. Become rich. But did you think I forgot you?" Sultan asks him then leaning towards him, he says with a perverted smile. "That was one hell of a week."

Rishabh furiously screams as he started to pounce on him.

Mohan, Radha and Patil quickly hold him back.

Even the police interfere and pull Sultan and Rishabh apart.

"Stop wasting time and find my daughter." Malik orders the police.

They were about to step in when the door bursts open and Madhu comes running out.

"Madhu..." Malik calls her in relief as he walked to her.

"What are you doing here, Papa? What is all this?" Madhu asks him furiously.

Malik stops in confusion. Rishabh looks at her in shock.

"Madhu, I have come to take you home." Malik tells her.

"Take me home? I am home! And what is this press doing here?" Madhu asks furiously.

"Home?" Malik asks confused.

"What are you saying, Madhu?" Sultan asks furiously.

"Just come with us." Sultan's father says.

"I am not coming anywhere." Madhu says as she held Rishabh's hand.

"Madhu..." Malik starts furiously.

"Madhu, aren't you being kept captive here?" One of the media person

"What?" Madhu asks shocked. "Haven't you all being playing my wedding video all these days?"

"But wasn't Rishabh acting as Sultan when he married you? You thought you were marrying Sultan, right?" Another reporter asks.

"No. I knew I was marrying Rishabh." Madhu says as she moved further closer to Rishabh.

Mohan and Radha looking at each other in shock.

"What the hell are you saying, Madhu?" Malik asks her in shocked.

"What are you doing, Papa? You knew I love Rishabh. I begged you to accept our love but you wanted power and you forcefully tried to get me married to Sultan." Madhu says.

"What?" Malik whispers in shock.

Rishabh looks at Madhu and Madhu also looks at him at the same time.

Seeing the confusion on his face, Madhu squeezes his hand. Silently asking him to stand by her.

He squeezes her hand back.

Madhu turned to look at her father. "I asked Rishabh to come and marry me. Because you left me with no choice."

"You don't even know him." Sultan furiously tells her.

"Oh I know him." Madhu tells him in hatred.

"How?" Malik asks her frowning in confusion. "You have never even met him." Then turning to Rishabh, he asks in fury. "What black magic did you do on her that she is saying all this?"

"He might have given her so me drug or something." Sultan's father says.

"Yes. That is it. He has done something to her. Otherwise, Madhu doesn't even know him. Inspector arrest them all."

"I know, Rishabh. Do you want me to tell you when I first met him?" Madhu asks her father furiously.

Hearing her question and the fury in her voice, Malik got worried that it was not going to be good for them. "Stop the nonsense, you come home. And arrest them."

"When did you meet Rishabh?" Someone thrust a mike to Madhu.

"7 years ago." Madhu says.

She felt Rishabh stiffen hearing that. She holds his hand tight.

"What?" Malik asks in shock.

"7 years ago, one SI and CI brought almost beaten to death Rishabh to my house." Madhu says.

"Shut up, Madhu." Malik says furiously.

"My father was there. Sultan was there. Even his father." Madhu continues on. "They brought his parents also to my house. They threatened to kill Rishabh if they didn't take a police complaint back."

Madhu looks at Rishabh, his parents then she looks at the media. "Rishabh's sister was kidnapped, held captive for a week by Sultan and his friends. They gang rapped her and she was near dead when they found her. They filed a case. Rishabh was not ready to take back the case. He was causing too much trouble for them. They started beating him up in front of his parents. Threatening to kill him. Finally, his parents agreed to take the case back."

Madhu looks at Rishabh and his face looked devoid of any emotions but his eyes were filled with pain.

"Is this true?" The reporters asked Malik, Sultan and his father.

"It is all lie." Sultan's father say furiously.

"Sultan is a serial rapist." Madhu says furiously. "My father knew it and helped cover his crimes for power. Rishabh's sister wasn't the only girl. There were many. Papa and his father covered it all up. They wanted power. That is why Papa tried to get me to marry Sultan. Rishabh saved me."

"All these days, why didn't you come forward to say you were not kidnapped?"

"How could I? They had police and political power. I didn't know who I could trust and who I couldn't. The only people I could trust was Rishabh and his parents. And all these days they were protecting me." Madhu says furiously.

"Madhu... you are..." Malik says furiously as he stepped forward raising his hand.

Rishabh steps forward and holds his hand, Madhu instinctively moves behind Rishabh.

"You hurt my wife, I will break your hand." Rishabh says furiously.

"This is going out of hand." Inspector whispers to Malik, "your daughter wants to stay here. We can't do anything."

Understanding they had to escape, Malik starts to leave.

"How are you letting them leave when a rape has been accused?" Some reporters asks.

Soon the Media started hounding police asking them why Sultan wasn't arrested. Finally, the police had to arrest Sultan, his father and also Malik was asked to go with them.

"You'll have to come with us. You kidnapped Sultan." Inspector tells Rishabh.

"What else was Rishabh supposed to do? Leave me at the hands of a serial rapist?" Madhu asks furiously.

"He shouldn't have taken law into his hands, a crime has been committed."

Seeing Madhu about to fight, Rishabh holds her hand. "It's okay."

"Rishu." Radha worriedly calls him.

Seeing Rishabh's parents scared to death, Madhu realized that they were reliving the nightmare again, she turns to the inspector and says. "Make sure my husband comes back exactly like this, the media is here and this time, you can't hide your crime, I will have all your jobs,"

Rishabh turns to look at her, "take care of Aami and my parents."

"I will." Madhu promises him, then she couldn't help it, she quickly hugs him.

Then she feels his hand snaking around her waist. Just for a fleeting second then it was gone.

Rishabh steps back and looks at Patil. "Lawyer."

**********

"Is he going to be okay?" Radha asks worriedly. "They won't hurt him, right?"

"He is not like before. Sultan's father doesn't have power like before. His political party is not in power." Madhu reassuringly tells her. "And now, the media is also with him. I think Rishabh has connection with the ruling party now."

They look at the TV and it was a huge breaking news, with people outraged and coming in support of Rishabh and his family.

"He has been through so much." Mohan says softly seeing Rishabh's photos splashing on TV and the videos of him walking into the police station.

"He was always reserved. He never spoke much but after that, he just closed off completely. Doesn't even tell us what he is feeling." Radha says sadly.

"We didn't even know that he has been planning to take revenge all these years." Mohan says.

"If we knew, maybe we would have been able to stop him." Radha says.

"I don't think we could have done anything. He has changed so much. I have only seen him smile when he is with Aami ever since that day." Mohan says depressed.

"She is his sister's, right?" Madhu asks softly.

Radha nods. "When Trishna was admitted in the hospital doctor told us that she is pregnant. She was in coma. Rishabh was fighting for his life. We thought at least we will have Trishna's daughter. We decided not to go for abortion."

"Trishna never woke up from her coma. A year after her delivery, she died." Mohan informs them.

"Rishu said that he is going to be Aami's father otherwise we'll always see those rapists in her." Mohan says.

"She doesn't deserve that." Madhu says softly.

"She loves you." Radha tells her with a smile.

Madhu smiles. "Even I love her."

"When you came here, we could remember only what happened that day in your house." Mohan says. "We saw your father in you."

Radha squeezes her hand. "We are sorry. We shouldn't have judged you like that."

Madhu keeps her hand over hers.

"We are happy that Rishu married you." Mohan tells her Smiling.

"Yes." Radha says as she also smiled at her.

"Rishu told me that tomorrow I can leave." Madhu tells them.

"What?" Mohan asks in shock.

"But he hugged you when he left." Radha says in confusion.

"Maybe I remind him of my father and Sultan." Madhu says with a soft shrug.

Mohan and Radha looks at each other in disappointment.

Finally, Aami comes to join them. They were just chatting when she had asked for Rishabh.

"Papa has gone out, baby. Do you want chocolate cake from yesterday? I am sure there will be some left." Madhu tells her trying to distract her as she didn't want Aami to ask more about Rishabh.

"Yes!"

Hearing his mobile ring, Mohan answers the call.

"Hello.... Everything fine here... Yes?... thank God... are you coming home now?... okay." Mohan hangs up the call. Smiling happily, he informs them. "That was Rishu, he got bail. He is on his way here."

Radha and Madhu sighs in relief.

Madhu and Aami were having the cake as they chatted with Mohan and Radha.

Madhu felt overwhelmed realizing that they have accepted her wholeheartedly.

Now, only if their son also would think like them.

Hearing the car drive in, Madhu sits up in panic, "he told me never to leave the room without his permission." Madhu whispers to Mohan and Radha.

"Madhu... surely that was..." Radha says reassuringly.

"He told me I can leave tomorrow. If I am to stay here for more, then I can't piss him off." Madhu says and runs to their bedroom.

**********

Madhu was sitting in her room with the TV on, trying to keep up with all the updates while she waited for Rishabh to come up. It should be close to 10 minutes since he had reached.

The door opens and Madhu looks up to see Rishabh walk in. He looks at her and keeps her half eaten cake on the table.

"You forgot that." Rishabh tells her.

Madhu awkwardly looks at him.

"In the car, you didn't ask 'who are you?' You had asked 'what are you doing here?' I thought it was because you had seen my photos on business pages. But you knew me before that." Rishabh says.

Madhu nods confirming.

"How?" Rishabh asks her softly.

"I was awake that night." Madhu confesses softly. "I witnessed everything."

Rishabh didn't say anything, but gives an acknowledging nod.

"Then few years ago, I saw your photo in a news article about you how your startup was a huge success and you becoming a millionaire. I recognized you." Madhu tells him. "I have been following your news ever since."

Rishabh turns to walk off.

"I was just 17, Rishabh. There wasn't anything else I could do." Madhu guiltily whispers.

Rishabh turns and looks at her. "I don't hold you responsible for what happened to my family. They were too powerful for you and me then."

Madhu nods, feeling sense of relief and her guilt easing. Rishabh walks off.

**********

Few minutes later, Rishabh comes back with Patil.

"Madhu, you can leave." Rishabh tells her.

"What?" Madhu asks in shock. "You said tomorrow." Her heart slamming against her chest in panic.

"It is not safe for you to go home now. Only Sultan is in jail. Yours and his father are still free. For now, Patil will take you to a safe place. Do you have your passport with you?" Rishabh asks her.

Madhu shakes her head in no.

"I'll get you a duplicate passport. I've made arrangements for you to move to New Zealand till this case is over. It is not safe for you to remain in the country. I' spoke to my lawyer, we can give an application in court and you can testify via video call." Rishabh tells her.

Madhu stares at him in shock, realizing he had already planned and set it in motion regarding her.

"Get ready." Rishabh tells her and turns to leave.

"I AM NOT LEAVING!" Madhu declares as she stood up.

"What?" Rishabh asks in shock.

"I am not going anywhere." Madhu says as she tied her hands at her chest.

"What do you mean?" Rishabh asks her in shock.

"What I said." Madhu says as she glared at him. "I won't go. I am safe here. I feel safe here. I will not go anywhere else."

Rishabh stares at her in shock.

Madhu had to hide her smile seeing him so speechless, though her heart was going crazy in panic. "If you throw me out, I will keep coming back."

"You've to leave, Madhu." Rishabh tells her.

"Make me." Madhu challenges him back.

Rishabh stares at her for a few seconds then turning around he walks off as he ripped open the already open door and send it slamming to the wall.

Madhu turns to Patil and sees him staring at the door that was now slightly moving because of the earlier force.

"You will have to drag me out if you want, Patil." Madhu tells him.

Patil turns to her in surprise. "Why? Sir gave you permission to stay."

"He did? I didn't hear." Madhu says confused.

"He didn't say no, right?" Patil tells her.

Madhu looks at him in confusion.

"If he doesn't agree to something, he will say it." Patil explains.

"So, silence means yes?" Madhu asks curiously.

Patil nods. "I've been with him for years, so you kinda pick on these things."

Madhu nods thoughtfully.

Then Patil gives her a teasing smile. "Don't worry. You've time. You'll learn to pick on these things."

Seeing that she had an ally in Patil, Madhu smiles.

**********

Madhu had a hard time hiding her smile seeing Rishabh looking at her in confusion. He was so out of his element.

She just let him be as she didn't want to rub him wrong as her stay here was hanging by a thread.

They didn't speak to each other much. Just kept their distance.

Next morning, Madhu was getting ready after her shower, she takes her jewelry box and takes out her nuptial chain and wears it.

She comes out and sees Rishabh in the room. He casually turns to look at her and he stops in shock.

Seeing him staring at her nuptial chain, Madhu ignores him and walks to the couch.

Rishabh walks to the dressing room and stops in shock. The dressing room was finally neat. All of Madhu's things that had been lying around were all gone. He resisted the temptation to open the cupboard to see if she has finally decided to unpack.

Unable to control he was about to do that when he hears a knock at the door. He walks out to see who it is.

"Come in." Madhu calls out.

Rishabh looks at her in surprise. She had never done that.

Patil walks in.

"Good morning." Madhu wishes him with a smile.

"Good morning." Patil says with a smile as he turned to Rishabh to speak to him.

"Patil, i have unpacked my suitcase. Can you keep it somewhere? It is taking up space in the dressing room." Madhu asks him.

Patil nods. "I'll keep it in the store room."

"Thank you. Where is Aami, Papa and Ma?" Madhu asks him curiously.

Rishabh's eyes widen hearing her address his parents just like him.

"They just sat down for breakfast." Patil tells her. "Your breakfast is coming."

"It's okay." Madhu says as she stood up. "I'll have breakfast with them today." Madhu declares with a sweet smile to Patil.

She purposely doesn't look at Rishabh to see how he was going to react.

Rishabh stares at Madhu in shock and confusion while Madhu walked out.

Madhu walks out as nonchalantly as she could, as she put her foot outside the threshold of the room, her heart was beating fast, waiting for his command to get back in.

But it never came.

Madhu grins all the way to the dining realizing, silence meant yes.

**********

"Good morning." Madhu says as she walked to the dining room.

"Good morning, Madhu Aunty." Aami wishes her happily.

"Good morning, beta." Mohan says smiling at her.

"Come, Madhu. Have breakfast with us." Radha tells her smiling.

"That is why I came." Madhu says as she leaned down and gave Aami a big kiss on her cheek.

Aami smile at her and kisses her back.

Madhu takes the seat next to Aami.

"That is Papa's seat." Aami informs her.

"He can sit somewhere else." Madhu says in a dismissing tone.

Rishabh stops hearing that.

"Papa, you can sit here." Aami says patting at the chair on her other side.

Rishabh smiles at her and sits next to her, he leans down and kisses her forehead.

"You didn't have sindoor, bacha?" Radha asks Madhu.

"No." Madhu says shaking her head.

"There is in the mandir. Take it from there after breakfast." Radha tells her smiling.

Madhu smiles at her as she shook her head.

**********

One of the staff told her that Rishabh was in his study. Apparently he usually works in his study when he is home, only the last one week he had worked from his bedroom.

Madhu didn't even bother to knock, she just opens the door and walk in.

Rishabh was in mid discussion with Patil, he looks at her and frowns wondering what she wanted now.

"Patil, I need a car. I need to go shopping." Madhu tells him.

"You are a key witness in a high profile case. You should be hiding not going for shopping." Rishabh tells her.

"I'll buy whatever it is." Patil offers.

"I needed clothes." Madhu says as she leaned over the table and pulled a blank paper and took the pen that was in Rishabh's hand. "You see the suitcase that you "stole" has party wear and handful of clothes to wear at home. I need new clothes to wear at home."

"Er... bhabhi... I don't know anything about women's clothes." Patil says worriedly. "You can order those online." He suggests uncomfortably.

"Yeah, I'll do that. Don't worry." Madhu says smiling at him, then she walks to couch and sits down.

Rishabh frowns as he watched Madhu writing on the paper.

"Don't mind me, you guys continue." Madhu calls out.

Rishabh turns to looks at Patil and sees him waiting for him to continue. Ignoring Madhu he resumes from where they had stopped.

"Patil... here is the list." Madhu says as she passed the list to him and then kept the pen in front of Madhu. "If something is not available, call me on Rishu's phone, I will tell you what to buy instead."

Madhu walks out while Patil looks at the list. "iPhone 15 pink 128 GB."

Then he looks at Rishabh and reads out, "Airtel to get duplicate sim, slippers to wear at home size 6, scented candles, hair straighter.." He stops and looks at Rishabh.

"Lots more, sir. I'll need the full day to get all these." Patil says as he stood up. "The card that you gave me won't cover all this. I'll need your card."

**********

"Are you done with your work?" Madhu asks as soon as Rishabh walks in to the bedroom.

Rishabh looks at her and sees Aami was with her. "Why?"

"I need your laptop. To order clothes for me." Madhu tells him.

"And for me." Aami says excitedly.

"Yeah." Madhu says as she grinned at Aami. "We are going to max out Papa's card."

Aami laughs hearing that though she didn't understand what that meant.

"Give, Papa." Aami tells him.

Rishabh opens his laptop and unlocks it and gives it to them.

As Madhu and Aami got busy checking out the site for clothes, Rishabh turned his attention to the news on TV that Madhu had on.

People had started coming forward with complaints against Sultan, his father and also Madhu's father.

It was like another MeToo movement with many women coming forward with their assault story against Sultan, and the threats.

Then many had come forward with corruption allegations with incriminating evidences.

He felt his mood darkening.

**********

Two days later, Rishabh was in their bedroom as he watched the news. He was getting angrier as he watched the news.

"Rishu, just sign into your amazon account. My account, I will have to add the address, your card and all. Better to use yours." Madhu says as she extended her phone to him.

"How much would you shop, Madhu?" Rishabh asks her exasperated.

"I came here empty handed. I need stuff. I need to get hair bands, I've been taking them from Aami, hair brush, I use yours, I don't have emergency pads, next week it would be time for me to wax, so I need wax strips. I can't ask Patil to buy all these." Madhu tells him frowning.

Rishabh snatches her mobile and types into it. Then he hands it back to her. Madhu sits next to him as she made necessary purchases.

She keeps her phone aside and looks at Rishabh. She could see that he was furious.

She wondered whether it was because of her. The news should be cheering him up.

The CM has assigned a special team to investigate. Her father has been suspended. Even Sultan's father had to resign his MP post due to the allegation and he has been suspended from the party he was affiliated with.

"Finally, they are getting what they deserve." Madhu says softly as she smiled at Rishabh.

Rishabh furiously gets up and walks to the window.

Seeing him do that, Madhu gets up and walks to him.

"Rishu... aren't you happy?" Madhu asks him as she kept her hand on his shoulder.

"Happy?" Rishabh asks furiously as he turned to her.

"What happened, Rishu?" Madhu asks him in shock.

"7 years! 7 years, day and night, I wanted one thing, revenge." Rishabh furiously tells her.

"And it is happening..." Madhu starts.

"You snatched it from me, Madhu." Rishabh accuses her.

"Rishu, what are you saying?" Madhu asks him in shock.

"Revenge was my right. And you took that from me. You screamed out to the world and the rest of the world has taken control of this. I have no control over this." Rishabh accuses her.

"Why does it matter who, Rishu?" Madhu asks him.

"I should be the one inflicting these pains to them. Not anyone else." Rishabh tells her.

Understanding how much the need for revenge had consumed him, Madhu says softly. "You're obsessed with revenge."

"It is my right!" Rishabh says.

"What about all the other people that were affected by them?" Madhu asks him.

Rishabh looks away. "I started this. I should have been the one to finish it."

"Is your need for revenge more than justice for Trishna?" Madhu asks him softly.

Rishabh stops hearing the question.

"Justice for you, for your parents, for Aami, for me, for all those people that we don't know?" Madhu asks him.

"This was all I had." Rishabh whispers.

Madhu holds his shoulder and turns him to face her. "You've more than that."

Rishabh doesn't look at her.

"Aami lost her mother, she needs her father. Your parents lost their daughter, and there son, in spite of being with them , is not with them." Madhu tells him.

Madhu cups his face. "Please let go, Rishabh. Heal yourself."

Rishabh looks at her.

Madhu leans up and gently takes his lips in hers. "Let me heal you, Rishu. Let me in."

Rishabh kisses her back. Then he feels her hand on his shirt, tugging it up. He doesn't stop her. He lets her.

**********

They were in bed, spent. Madhu looks at him and he was looking at the ceiling.

Madhu turns to lie on her side, giving her back to him. "Rishu."

"Hmmm?"

"Why did you bring me here?" Madhu asks him softly.

He was silent for a few seconds, then he says. "For 7 days, we were searching for Trishna. We didn't know where she was, what was happening to her. It was worse than death."

Madhu sighs hearing that.

"I wanted them to go through that pain. Specially your father. When we filed the missing complaint, and the police found Trishna within a day, but when they found it was Sultan, they didn't do anything. Because of your father's orders." Rishabh says then he scoffs, "he told me that."

"After that what were you going to do?" Madhu asks him.

"I would have taken away their power. It was already happening. I had been collecting evidence against your father. Once the minister lost his power and it was your father's turn."

"Then?"

"I would have tortured them one by one and killed them."

"You would have gone to jail." Madhu says in shock.

"I have financially secured Aami and my parents." Rishabh says.

"They need you more, Rishu."

Rishabh doesn't say anything.

"Do you still plan to kill them?" Madhu asks him softly, worriedly.

Rishabh sighs. "I don't know." He softly confesses.

"Your family needs you, Rishu. They will not be able to bare one more tragedy." Madhu tells him.

Rishabh doesn't say anything.

"Why did you marry me, Rishu? Why didn't you just kidnap me?" Madhu asks him.

"Sultan wanted to marry you. Till I divorced you, he wont be able to marry you."

They were silent for a while, lost in thoughts.

"Madhu..."

"Yes?"

"What do you want?" Rishabh asks her.

Madhu doesn't say anything.

Rishabh moves to her and leaning up, he keeps his hand on her shoulder. "Why are you not leaving? Why do you insist on staying here?"

Madhu takes his hand and holds it between her hands. "I didn't want to marry Sultan." Madhu tells him.

Madhu takes a long breath. "I told my parents. I begged them. They knew better than me how he is. Papa said that young boys are like that. They are wild but once they get married, they will change. Mama said husband is just one aspect of life, let him be however he is. Look at what I am getting. Unbelievable riches, power, everything,"

Rishabh sighs hearing that.

"I had no one. other than my parents, the only person I had was my best friend. Sultan didn't like it and he made my father drive my best friend away. I was all alone. I was scared to death as I thought of life with Sultan. With the power they had I couldn't even escape. I tried but I couldn't. All I had was God and I prayed hard. I prayed to be saved."

Madhu turns to look at Rishabh. She keeps her hand on his cheek. "And you saved me."

"Madhu, I married you for revenge." Rishabh tells her.

"Whatever your reasons were, you saved me from Sultan. You saved me from my parents. When I first saw you, I thought you were going to take your revenge through me. You brought me here. I was scared. Then you said that you are not a rapist. And I knew, you wouldn't hurt me like that. You had me locked in this room. But for the first time, I started to feel free. When I was amidst people I knew, I was so alone. Here, you never spoke a word to me, but you stayed with me the whole day. I didn't feel lonely here. You showed respect towards me. You didn't let anyone disrespect me or hurt me, be it yours parents or mine. I feel safe with you, Rishu. Ever since Sultan entered my life, first time I started to feel safe. Started to feel as if no one is going to pounce on me."

"Has he tried to rape you?" Rishabh asks her in a chilling voice.

"I told my parents, they didn't take it seriously. Finally, I told my parents if Sultan manages to rape me then he would lose interest in me and he might not even want to marry me. That scared my father and he had a talk with Sultan's father. After that Sultan never tried anything with me." Madhu says.

Seeing how angry Rishabh was getting, Madhu keeps her hand on his cheek. "Whatever the reason be that you married me, you're my savior, Rishu. You are God's gift to me."

"Madhu..."

Madhu keeps her finger on his lips to stop him.

"I know I am burdening myself on you. You don't want me. I promise I will leave the next time you ask me to. I will go away. Till then let me be with you." Madhu says as she lovingly looked at him, her eyes filled with tears. "I have never felt like this before."

Madhu feels Rishabh kiss her finger.

She drags her finger down and Rishabh leans down and kisses on the corner of her eyes, sucking in her tears. Then he gently kisses her all over her face.

Madhu moves closer to him, their naked bodies brushing against each other. Madhu cups his face, and Rishabh takes her lips in his.

**********

From next day, things changed between them. Rishabh wasn't the romantic husband of dreams. He was still a little aloof. But Madhu knew that was how he was. Day time Madhu spent her time with his parents and Aami. Rishabh had started going to office but Aami, Madhu and his parents were asked to stay at home, with full time guards. And at night, they spent in each other's arms making sweet and passionate love.

Madhu was in the sitting room when she hears the door open. She curiously looks to see who it was and sees a pretty girl at the door.

"Hi." Madhu says with a curious smile, knowing that no stranger could come all the way inside without the guards stopping her.

The girl steps in and Madhu noticed the hostile attitude of the girl.

"Who are you?" Madhu asks her.

"Don't think I believe all the lies that you were spewing that day. I know Rishabh doesn't love you. He is mine. He married you for revenge but he will kick you out soon once those people are punished. Then he will marry me."

It was like an epiphany for Madhu and she whispers in shock "Ridhima."

"So, you know me." Ridhima says smiling.

"Aami mentioned it once." Madhu replies, still reeling from her shock.

"Rishabh is mine. He belongs to me." Ridhima tells her.

Madhu gulps, her eyes filling up hearing the girl.

"Ridhima..." Radha says in surprise as she walked in. "When did you come back from Australia?"

"Radha Aunty..." Ridhima says as she ran to her and hugs her. "I saw the news."

Radha hugs her as she worriedly looks at Madhu. Madhu just walks off.

"Why did Rishabh marry her, Radha Aunty?" Ridhima asks her sadly.

"Ridhima... it happened..." Radha says guiltily as she guided her to sit. She holds her hand and says. "I know, we asked you to marry Rishu one day. Rishu said that he wasn't thinking of marriage and we thought when he finally decides to get married, he would marry you. But God had decided Madhu and Rishu to be together."

"I didn't believe what she said. I know they are not in love." Ridhima argues.

"Madhu said that to protect Rishu." Radha tells her. "I know you don't deserve it. I am very sorry."

"Does Rishabh love Madhu?" Ridhima asks her.

Radha had no answer to that, so she instead says. "We all love her." Then she adds on. "Ridhima you are like our daughter. You will always have a place in our family."

Hearing someone walk in, they curiously turn to look and sees Rishabh walk in.

"Rishabh..." Ridhima calls him excitedly as she ran to him.

Seeing her he nods at her and continues to walk on.

Ridhima quickly holds his hand. Rishabh stops and turns to her. Ridhima wraps her hand around his hand.

"I saw the news, Rishabh. I came as soon as..." Ridhima starts and stops seeing that he wasn't looking at her.

He was staring at her hand on his.

She could feel the anger emanating from his body.

Gulping, she removes her hand and moves back.

"Stay in your limits." Rishabh tells her and walks off.

**********

Madhu was in her room, heart broken and angry at herself.

Why she never asked anyone more about Ridhima? Why did she just assume it was some proposal or some passing comment? Why didn't Rishabh say anything?

Madhu wipes her tears. Could she blame him? She had offered herself to him and which red blooded man would deny what was offered so freely?

Madhu closes her eyes as tears dropped. She thought Rishabh was such a man.

Hearing the door open, she sees Rishabh step in.

Rishabh closes the door and turns to head to the dressing room when he notices Madhu looking at him.

"What happened, Madhu?" Rishabh asks her as he walked to her in concern.

"Why didn't you tell me about Ridhima?" Madhu asks him as she wipes her tears.

"What about her?" Rishabh asks her.

"About the marriage with her."

"You knew that. You heard Aami that day." Rishabh replies frowning.

"That is why you wanted me to leave. Why didn't you tell me that?" Madhu asks him, then gasping she says in shock. "Oh my God, I am the other woman."

"YOU ARE MY WIFE!" Rishabh tells her furiously.

"Then who is Ridhima? Didn't you promise to marry her? Do you love her? How could you be disloyal to her?" Madhu asks him in hurt.

"Did she say that?" Rishabh asks furiously.

Hearing his fury, Madhu stops in shock, "not in so much words. She said you two were going to get married."

"She was Trishna's best friend." Rishabh tells her. "My parents felt that Trishna's best friend will be able to love her daughter also. So, they wanted me to marry her."

"Did you want to marry her?" Madhu asks him softly.

"If I did then I wouldn't have married anyone else." Rishabh tells her.

"Why didn't you tell her that then?" Madhu asks him, frowning at him.

"My parents said that to me and I said I am not thinking of marriage. If and when I decide to get married I will give it a thought. I didn't see the point in having this conversation with her." Rishabh tells her.

"She thought you would. Your parents also." Madhu says softly.

"I never told anyone anything, so it is not my fault." Rishabh declares.

"But..."

"You thought the worst of me." Rishabh accuses her softly.

"Rishu, when I suddenly..." Madhu starts to explain.

"Save it." Rishabh mutters and walks off.

**********

Rishabh had left home and Madhu was sitting in their room upset over what had happened.

Hearing a knock at the door, she looks up and sees Radha at the door.

"Ma..." Madhu says as she sat up.

"I couldn't come up earlier. Ridhima was here." Radha says as she walked to her.

"She left?" Madhu asks softly.

"Just now." Radha says as she sat down next to Madhu.

Madhu nods.

"I wanted to tell you about Ridhima." Radha gently starts.

"Rishu told me." Madhu tells her.

Radha sighs, "it is true that we thought Ridhima will be a good mother to Aami and a good wife to Rishu but we all are very happy with you, Madhu."

"I know, Ma." Madhu says softly.

"Ridhima was Trishna's best friend. When Trishna was in hospital, Ridhima had helped us with the hospital bill." Radha tells her.

Even she had. But Madhu doesn't say it, she didn't want it to be a competition between Ridhima and her.

"Years later, when Ridhima had come to meet us... when we see her, we feel like Trishna is with us." Radha says. "After everything our family went through, we wanted Aami and Rishu to have a happy and secure life. We were worried whether Rishu's wife would accept Aami. When Ridhima told me she loves Rishu, we thought, Ridhima was Trishna's best friend and we thought she will love Trishna's daughter. She will never differentiate her children from Aami. Rishu said that he wasn't thinking of marriage. We told Ridhima that and she said she will wait for Rishu."

Madhu nods, feeling guilty for Ridhima's heartbreak.

"Madhu, I told Ridhima that she can come here whenever she wants, will you have a problem with that?" Radha asks her worriedly.

"No, Ma. I don't have a problem. Rishu cleared all my doubts. Ridhima can come whenever she wants." Madhu tells her with a smile.

**********

Madhu watches as Rishabh laid on his end of the bed with his back to her.

Ever since they made love, he has never slept so far away from her.

"Rishu..."

Rishabh ignores her.

Madhu moves to him and sits on her knees. "I'm sorry, Rishu."

When he doesn't reply, Madhu keeps her hand on his shoulder. "Rishu..."

Rishabh flicks her hand off him.

Madhu glares at him then she with both hands holds his shoulder and pulls him, making him lie on his back. Then before he could move, she gets on top of him and straddles him.

"Get off." Rishabh tells her.

"No. You've to listen to me."

"You saw me no better than Sultan." Rishabh accuses her. "If there was another girl in my heart, if I had promised another girl, if a girl was waiting for me, I wouldn't have touched you. I would have never made love to you."

"I know, Rishu. I am sorry."

"I don't care." Rishabh says as he tried to shrug her off.

Madhu leans down to hold him when their private parts brushed against each other, and she felt a jolt through her and at the same time, she felt his organ stirring.

Madhu looks at Rishabh and grins at him.

Rishabh scowls at her.

"I was insecure, Rishu." Madhu confesses. "You told me to leave. I forced myself on you and stayed on. When she said all that, I got insecure."

Rishabh holds her and he turns over, trapping her beneath him.

Madhu yelps in shock.

Rishabh holds her hand and pulls it over her head and holds it.

"That doesn't excuse you doubting me." Rishabh tells her.

"I'm sorry, Rishu. I'll never doubt you again." Madhu says then she says in a pissed tone, "it is your fault too. You never say what is in your heart. I am left guessing what is in your heart. Do you know how difficult it is to live with someone like that?"

Rishabh leans down and tells her. "Then you better get used to it, Madhu. Because you are going to be with me forever."

"What? Rishu, do you..." Madhu whispers then she asks with a frown, "why did it take you so long to say this?"

"I wasn't sure whether you really wanted to be with me or having a bad case of Stockholm syndrome."

"Stock..." Madhu starts in shock then she stops feeling his organ getting hard.

Feeling his erection against her core, Madhu on reflex, moves against him. "Rishu..." Madhu softly moans.

When he just watched, Madhu slightly lifts up her chest and rubs her breasts against his chest.

"What are you doing, Madhu?" Rishabh asks, his amusement in his voice.

"Trying to seduce you." Madhu replies then she says desperately. "Leave my hand, Rishu. I need you. Take your clothes off."

Rishabh grins at her and asks in a flirty tone. "My captive bride, do you have any idea how bossy you are?"

Madhu stops in shock seeing him smile at her.

"What?" Rishabh asks her softly seeing her reaction.

"You're flirting with me." Madhu tells him, still in shock.

"My wife, I'll flirt." Rishabh says with a smug smile.

"Rishu..."

"You need to be punished, Madhu." Rishabh says then he moves against her, thrusting against her core.

Madhu moans getting turned on even more. "Then punish me, Rishu. Punish me to your heart's content."

Sated and spent, Rishabh pulls Madhu towards him, kissing her on her forehead, he settles her on his chest. Holding her close, he closes his eyes to sleep.

"Rishu..." Madhu softly snuggles to him. "Do you want to punish me more?"

Rishabh looks at her in shock, then grinning, he takes her lips in his and nibbles on it. "You are insatiable, Madhu."

"Only for you." Madhu says as she kissed him.

"Rishu..." Madhu calls him as he started to kiss her down her body.

Rishabh looks at her.

"Did you forgive me?" Madhu asks him.

Rishabh lovingly keeps his hand on her cheek. "You forgave me for marrying you for revenge, for kidnapping you, for using you as a pawn, for marrying you without your consent."

"You didn't say sorry." Madhu reminds him.

"Sorry." Rishabh says, he leans down and kisses her forehead. "I'm sorry, Madhu."

"But I'll just have to punish you." Madhu tells him.

Rishabh looks at her as he grinned at her. "To your heart's content?"

"Yes." Laughing happily Madhu replies as she hugged him.

**********

Ridhima was a permanent fixture at their house. She was rude to Madhu and snubbed at her when they were alone. Madhu let it pass because she knew how attached Papa and Ma were to her. Rishabh didn't care for Ridhima and bless her soul, Aami also preferred to be with her than Ridhima and that is all that mattered to Madhu. So, Madhu didn't care how Ridhima behaved with her.

"DID YOU HEAR? DID YOU HEAR?" Madhu asks excitedly as she ran down the stairs to her family.

"Just saw now, I was coming to you." Rishabh tells her.

"What is it?" Mohan asks curiously.

"They arrested Papa." Madhu says happily. "Finally!"

"Thank God." Radha whispers softly.

Mohan also sighs in relief.

Rishabh holds her hand and asks her in concern. "You are okay, right? He is your father."

"Yeah, I am fine." Madhu replies then she declares, "he deserves to rot in prison."

**********

Much later, they were all sitting together. As usual Ridhima had come over, and Aami had brought Rishabh also to sit with them.

Aami and Rishabh were talking while Mohan, Radha and Ridhima were speaking, Madhu sat with her phone while Mohan and Radha tried to include her in their conversation.

"Bhabhi..." one of the guard walks in.

"Yes?" Madhu turns to him with a polite smile.

"A man is here to see you." He informs her.

"Who is it?" Madhu asks curiously as she looked at Rishabh and sees him also look at the guard.

"He didn't say his name."

"What do you mean he didn't say his name?" Rishabh asks frowning.

"Er... he said he won't say his name. He said he wants to surprise the..." the guard stops as he worriedly looked at Rishabh. "Erm... erm... surprise the dash off bhabhi."

Rishabh frowns murderously, Madhu howls.

"Send him in." Madhu shouts in excitement. Then she turns to Rishabh. "It is Mukund, Rishu." Madhu says as she jumped up and started to run out.

The door opens and Mukund walks in laughing. "Madhu,.."

"Oh my God, I can't believe you are here. why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Madhu asks in surprise as she ran to him.

"I wanted to surprise your undies off you." Mukund declares.

Madhu laughs as she jumped on him and hugged him.

"I missed you so much." Madhu says as she hugged him tight.

"Ah I missed you too."

"How come you are here?" Madhu asks excitedly as she stepped back to look at him.

"I saw on the news, you kicking your father to the curb."

"And took you so long to reach here?" Madhu asks him.

"He got arrested only today." Mukund says with a shrug.

"You were always a coward!" Madhu says and she turns to Rishabh. "Rishu, this is Mukund, my best friend, I told you about him? Sultan made Papa to threaten him? Remember?"

Rishabh nods.

"And Mukund, that is Rishabh, my husband." Madhu excitedly introduces them.

"Hi man." Mukund says as he walked to Rishabh extending his hand.

"Hi, nice to meet you." Rishabh says as he shook his hand.

"This is our Aami." Madhu says excitedly as she hugged Aami.

"Hello, sweety." Mukund says as he leaned down and lovingly pulled her cheek.

"Hello..." Aami says smiling at him.

"We were your age, when we met. Ever since then, we have been best friends." Madhu tells Aami.

"You went to school together?"

"Yes." Madhu says.

"She copied from my answer papers." Mukund informs her.

Aami gasps in shock. "You cheated, Madhu Aunty?"

"Once!" Madhu says in shock. "And only cause I got the time table mixed up and I studied for the wrong exam."

Smugly grinning, he says. "And you copied from my paper."

"And I failed!" Madhu reminds him exasperated. "Because you didn't know a thing. I was copying your wrong answers."

Mukund shrugs.

"And when the teacher caught us because we wrote the exact same wrong answers, you said I copied from you and you had no part in it."

"Oh get over it. Your father threatened them to not suspend you." Mukund mutters.

"I was grounded for a week because you didn't know a single right answer!" Madhu declares then remembering, she turns to Mohan and Radha. "Papa... Ma... this is Mukund. Mukund, meet Papa and Ma. And that is Ridhima, she is our family friend."

"Hello." Mukund says with a polite smile.

"Sit, Mukund." Mohan tells him with a smile.

"Later." Madhu says as she held Mukund's hand. "Come with me, there is so much I want to tell you, so much I want to hear. Where the hell have you been?"

Mohan and Radha smiles seeing the way Madhu had dragged her friend off.

"She is so happy." Mohan tells Radha with a smile.

"Yes." Radha replies then turning to Ridhima, she says with a smile. "Reminded me of Trishna and you."

Ridhima fakes a smile as she nodded. Then she looks at Rishabh to see how he was reacting to this "friend" of Madhu's.

Rishabh was playing some silly game and joking around with Aami sitting on his lap.

She looks at where Madhu had gone with Mukund, she needed to find more about that Mukund.

**********

Two days later, Rishabh was in his study with Patil when Ridhima comes to him.

"I wanted to tell you something." Ridhima starts as she sympathetically looks at him. "It's about Madhu."

Rishabh leans back in his seat as he silently watched Ridhima.

When he remained silent, Ridhima continues. "I met a friend, she is a friend of Madhu's. They went to same college. She was saying that Madhu used to date Mukund."

Rishabh simply stares at her.

"The way she is with him, it doesn't look, right, Rishabh. You had married her forcefully... he keeps coming here..." Ridhima says then she adds. "I worry for you, Rishabh."

Rishabh leans forward as he took his pen and gets back to work, dismissing her, "don't bother. My wife is here to worry for me."

Ridhima looks at him in shock.

"You can leave." Rishabh tells her.

Ridhima walks off.

Rishabh turns to Patil and sees him staring at him.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" Patil asks him in shock.

"What do you expect me to do?" Rishabh asks him.

"She just accused bhabhi of something." Patil tells him.

"I heard." Rishabh replies.

"Is that all you have to say?" Patil asks him in shock.

"I know my wife. And I am not going to defend my wife to the likes of her." Rishabh says pointing at the door.

"You have to." Patil says frowning at him. "You know how free bhabhi is with him."

"Are you accusing my wife of something, Patil?" Rishabh asks him murderously.

"No." Patil replies. "But do you think you are the only one she is going to say this to? She is going to tell your parents too."

"Just like you know her, they also know her." Rishabh says in a dismissing tone.

"Still it will be in their mind, it won't be long, they will misunderstand an innocent gesture. Once that happens they are going to see everything with an eye of suspicion." Patil tells him.

"Even if Madhu dated him, it is in the past, Madhu is not a cheat."

"Just speak to her and clarify it with your parents before a mess happens." Patil advices him.

**********

Hating himself for having to have this conversation with Madhu, Rishabh walks into his room.

"This is not Rishu's." Madhu says as she checked the pile of clothes that had come back from the laundry. "Maybe it is Papa's. Check with him."

"Okay, bhabhi." The maid takes the shirt off the pile.

Madhu checks the remaining. "All these are Rishu's." Madhu says as she picked them up.

"Bhabhi, I will keep them in the cupboard."

Madhu smiles at her. "It's okay, I will do it. You go, you'll have work."

Seeing Rishabh, Madhu smiles at him. "I'll just keep these and come."

Rishabh follows Madhu to the dressing room. He sees her open his cupboard and neatly keep the clothes.

"Madhu, did you ever date Mukund?" Rishabh asks her.

"What?" Madhu asks chuckling. "No."

"Okay." Rishabh says and turns to walk off.

"Wait!" Madhu says in surprise. "Actually, I did. I can't believe I forgot that."

"You forgot?" Rishabh asks shocked.

Madhu laughs. "Yeah... you've to listen to it, Rishu. It is a crazy story." Madhu says as she held his hand and led him to their bed.

She makes him sit and sits opposite to him.

"We were in college. So, one day Mukund watches Maine Pyaar Kiya on tv." Madhu says chuckling. "There is this dialogue something like a guy and a girl can never be just friends."

Rishabh nods.

"So, he got it into his head, what if we have feelings for each other and then realize it later when either of us is in a serious relationship. So, to avoid a crazy mess, he said we should go on a date and bring out our top game."

"Now I can see why you two are best friends, he is as crazy as you." Rishabh declares dryly.

Madhu laughs hearing that. "So, this date... we tried for ten minutes maximum and I see this girl, who is totally his type and I point her out to him. She was giving him all looks, he wanted to go, he tries to find a guy for me, pointing out guys. I finally told him to go off. He goes off to this girl. I am finishing my food and I see this hot guy."

"Which hot guy?" Rishabh asks frowning at her.

"Some guy... he was hot... he was also into me... we were having an eye lock and all." Madhu says chuckling. "I finished my food and went home. Crazy story... no?"

"Who was that guy?" Rishabh asks possessively.

"I didn't speak to him." Madhu says shrugging.

"How hot was he?" Rishabh asks frowning.

Madhu looks at him surprised. "Are you jealous, husband?"

"Madhu..."

Madhu laughs as she put her hand around his neck, "I don't even remember his face, Rishu. He was some random guy. Even you might have had these kind of moments with some random stranger where you have eye sex."

"Eye sex?!?!" Rishabh shouts murderously.

Seeing he was so jealous, Madhu thought it important to inform him, "Rishabh Kundra, My husband. You are my very first kiss."

"Still eye sex, Madhu?" Rishabh asks her helplessly.

Madhu shrugs then she asks him curiously. "What about you?"

"You know what my life has been." Rishabh mutters.

"Still... a little bit of something."

"I was a virgin." Rishabh declares. "Including my eyes."

Madhu couldn't help herself and she grins. "I have eyes only for you. I don't want to look at anyone else, ever."

Rishabh leans to her and takes her lips in his and kisses her.

"Why did you ask by the way?" Madhu asks curiously as Rishabh was walking out.

"Ridhima." Rishabh says as he turned to her and explained everything.

"Did you doubt me, Rishu?" Madhu asks him softly.

"No." Rishabh replies.

"Not even a little?" Madhu asks him.

"You thought you were the other woman when you thought there was something between Ridhima and me. Loyalty is very important to you, you are not a cheat."

Madhu smiles hearing that. Then she asks curiously. "You seemed chill when you thought that I might have dated Mukund, but you had issue with that guy."

"You and Mukund behave like two high school girls." Rishabh says as he walked off. "No way in hell, any kind of eye sex is happening there."

Madhu comes to her in-laws and sees that Ridhima was still there.

"Ridhima..." Madhu says as she stood behind Radha.

Ridhima looks at her.

"Your friend was right. Mukund and I did go on one date that lasted only ten minutes because we realized that we can't see each other in any other way other than as best friends." Madhu tells them.

Ridhima glares at her.

"I am not surprised." Mohan says laughing.

Madhu smiles hearing that.

"Ridhima was simply worrying." Radha says smiling.

"I was just telling Ridhima how you two reminds me of two kindergarten kids." Mohan says chuckling.

"At least Rishu considers us a little more mature." Madhu mutters dryly.

**********

Everybody seemed gloomy that day. Madhu didn't know why.

Madhu was looking for Aami as she didn't have online class today, and she was not anywhere to be found.

She finally sees her, leaning on the couch, with her arms on the armrest as she looked at the huge photo of Trishna on the wall of the hall.

"Aami..." Madhu calls her as she walked to her.

Aami looks at her.

"What are you doing here, darling?" Madhu asks as she knelt next to her.

"That is my ma." Aami says as she pointed at the photo.

"I know." Madhu says softly as she looked at the photo.

"I have never seen her." Aami says.

"Do you miss her?" Madhu asks her softly as she kept her hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know." Aami says with a shrug. "Nani had said Papa will marry Ridhima Aunty one day and she will be my Ma."

Madhu felt hurt hearing that. "Do you want Ridhima Aunty to be your Ma?"

"She only speaks to me when Papa, Nani or Nanu are there. Otherwise she doesn't talk to me." Aami says.

"Oh baby. Why didn't you say anything?"

Aami shrugs, "I don't want Ridhima Aunty to be my Ma." She turns to Madhu and asks her. "Will you be my Ma?"

Madhu's heart beats fast in joy, her eyes fill up. "Do you want me to be your Ma?"

"Yes, do you want to be my Ma?" Aami asks her worriedly.

"There is nothing more I like." Madhu says as she hugged her.

Aami hugs her. "I will call you Ma from now on, okay, Ma?"

Madhu chuckles as she wipes her tears, "yes, please."

"Now, tell me why were you sad?" Madhu asks her as she looked at her.

"I heard Nanu and Nani speak. They are sad. Today is Ma's birthday." Aami informs.

**********

Rishabh, Mohan and Radha walk into the pool room and stops seeing the decorations. They see a cake on the table with Aami standing on the chair with a knife and Madhu behind her.

"What is this, Madhu?" Mohan asks confused.

"Today is Trishna's birthday and we are going to celebrate it." Madhu says smiling.

"And I am cutting the cake for Ma." Aami excitedly informs them.

Mohan, Radha and Rishabh smile hearing that.

"Let's cut then. Rishu, you also stand with them." Mohan tells him.

Rishabh walks towards them. He stops next to Madhu and he wraps his hands around her waist, pulling her close, he gently squeezes her waist.

Madhu blushes and smiles at him.

Rishabh couldn't control, he leans to her and kisses her temple. "Thank you."

"Papa, even me!" Aami excitedly says.

Rishabh smiles and leans to her and kisses her cheek, "thank you."

"You are welcome, Papa."

Rishabh smiles at her, "okay, you cut the cake."

"No... Ridhima isn't here yet, I invited her." Madhu tells him.

"What about Mukund then?" Rishabh asks her.

"It's family, so I didn't invite him." Madhu tells him.

"Why, Madhu? Your best friend is our family." Radha tells her shocked.

Madhu smiles hearing that. "I will keep that in mind from now."

Few minutes later, Ridhima walks in.

Seeing the decoration and Aami near the cake with a knife, she says in surprise, "Madhu, you should have told me the surprise was Aami's birthday. I would have got her a gift." Ridhima hugs Aami. "Happy birthday, my love."

"Ridhima, it is not Aami's birthday. It is Trishna's." Radha gently reminds her.

Ridhima's smile drops and she gulps as she looked at Radha embarrassed, then recovering she says sadly, "I am sorry, Radha Aunty, I forgot, it hurts so much to think about her that... so, at times, I just block memories of her, it hurts so much to even think of her."

Radha nods understanding.

"And surprisingly, you keep coming to her house." Rishabh points out.

Everyone turns to look at Rishabh in shock.

Letting out his thoughts like that was not something Rishabh ever did.

"Rishu..." Madhu keeps her hand on his in shock.

Rishabh shakes his head and tells Aami. "Cut the cake, darling."

They cut the cake and as they started eating the cake, Madhu suggested that they share something about Trishna, so Aami can know about her mother.

Radha, Mohan and Ridhima spoke of some old memories of Trishna. Even Rishabh told Aami about a small childhood incident with Trishna.

By the time they wrapped up, the whole family's mood had been up and they were celebrating the memories of Trishna and not mourning her.

They were going back to the house, Aami who was running ahead of them slips and falls.

Aami starts crying, hearing that Rishabh and Madhu runs to her.

"Did you get hurt, Aami?" Rishabh asks her worriedly.

"Where does it hurt, Aami?" Madhu asks her worriedly as she looked her all over.

Radha and Mohan also reaches her as they started fussing about her.

Madhu and Rishabh checks her thoroughly and realizes that Aami wasn't hurt, she was crying cause of the scare.

Madhu starts making up stories and jokes to distract her and within minutes Aami was laughing.

**********

"We will go change your dirty clothes." Madhu tells Aami.

"Madhu, ask someone else to help her. You stay." Rishabh tells her.

Madhu nods and asks one of the staff to take care of Aami.

Once Aami was gone, Rishabh turns to Ridhima. "Ridhima, I want you to leave and don't ever come here again."

"What?" Ridhima asks in shock.

"Rishu, what are you saying?" Radha asks him in shock.

"I never said anything for so long. I kept quiet, not anymore." Rishabh says.

"What is the matter, Rishu?" Mohan asks him in shock.

"What did I do, Rishabh?" Ridhima asks him in shock, tears coming from her eyes.

"Did you think I don't see the condescending way you speak to my wife? You tried to create misunderstandings regarding her best friend." Rishabh asks her.

"Rishu, she is heart broken." Madhu softly tells him.

Rishabh shakes his head in disgust. "You keep speaking about Trishna and you didn't even know it is her birthday Today."

"I forgot, Rishabh, that doesn't mean I don't care for her." Ridhima says.

"Her daughter fell down and you were least bothered." Rishabh accuses her.

"You all were there, I didn't want to crowd her." Ridhima argues.

"Aami told me you don't speak to her if they are not around." Madhu says softly.

"What?" Radha whispers in shock.

"Is that true?" Mohan asks in shock.

"You love Trishna so much..." Radha says softly.

"It made you happy to see her because it made you remember Trishna's beautiful memories. So I never said anything." Rishabh says.

"Say what?"

Rishabh looks at Ridhima and asks. "We were always here, around you Ridhima, but you reached out to us, came to meet us, when I made my first million and there was an article about it. Did you think I never realized that?"

Ridhima gulps hearing that.

"I don't know whether I would have got married or not, but I knew, I would never marry you."

"But she paid the hospital bill..." Radha starts confused.

"No, Ma. It was not her." Rishabh declares. "Madhu never told me, but I know, the anonymous young girl who paid for Trishna's and my treatment was Madhu. Not Ridhima."

"What?" Radha shouts in shock. "Was that you, Madhu?"

Rishabh turns to Madhu and says. "You told me 'There wasn't anything else I could do' and I realized that you did something for us. And I understood it was you who had paid for the treatment."

Madhu nods and asks him. "Why didn't you ask me?"

"Because I knew." Rishabh replies then turning to Ridhima, he says, "when Ma asked you whether that girl was you, you had shamelessly said yes."

"I..." Ridhima stammers, thinking of a way to justify herself.

"You should leave, Ridhima." Mohan tells her.

"You were shamelessly using our dead daughter." Radha accuses her, eyes filled up. "You even forgot that she considered you her best friend."

**********

"You know, you could have told all this a long time back." Madhu says as she followed Rishabh to the room.

"It's not easy, Madhu." Rishabh says helplessly.

"To say what is in your heart?" Madhu asks him softly.

Rishabh nods.

"Ma said that you were always a little reserved. Never sharing your pain." Madhu says softly.

"I am not comfortable with these things." Rishabh tells her.

Madhu nods. "Then those things happened, and you just went into this shell. You just kept everything to yourself. All yours thoughts, pain and revenge."

"I know you want me to open my heart and speak what I feel, I am trying but it is not easy."

"Take your time, there is no hurry." Madhu tells him smiling.

"What if it is never easy for me?" Rishabh asks her.

"I love you, Rishu." Madhu tells him.

Rishabh smiles hearing that. "I know."

"And I know what is in your heart. I know you love me." Madhu says smiling. She keeps her hand over his heart. "Your heart is so full of love, thoughts and dreams for Papa, Ma, Aami, Aami's Ma and Trishna."

Rishabh stops in surprise then he starts smiling. "Aami's Ma?"

Madhu smiles. "She asked me whether I will be her Ma." Madhu says as her eyes filled up.

Seeing her so happy with joy, Rishabh hugs her. "Aww love."

**********

Things slowly became perfect after that.

The case against Rishabh regarding the attack on Sultan, considering the power he was up against and it was to save Madhu, the court had given Rishabh community service and a fine.

Sultan, his father and Malik were found guilty on multiple accounts and were given heavy punishments.

They have appealed in higher court, and it is another long court battle for them.

Being alone, Padmini tried to reach out to Madhu, and Madhu refused to have anything to do with her, and reminded her that even if her husband wasn't with her, some of his black money was still with her, and asked her to find her happiness with that.

**********

Epilogue

Rishabh helps Madhu to sit up.

"Are you comfortable, love?" Rishabh asks her.

"Yeah." Madhu says softly then smiling eagerly she says. "Give her."

Rishabh picks his newborn daughter and gives her to Madhu.

Aami walks to her and stands next to her as she leaned next to the bed.

"Just like you wanted, a sister." Madhu tells Aami happily.

Aami nods, sadly.

Seeing her so upset, Madhu asks worriedly. "Baby, what happened? Aren't you happy?"

"I am happy, Ma."

"Then why aren't you smiling?"

"Nani said I can't hold the baby." Aami complaints softly.

"I said let the baby grow a little then you hold her." Radha quickly says.

"I want to hold her now, Ma." Aami softly whispers.

Madhu smiles hearing that, she looks at Rishabh. "Rishu, make her sit next to me."

Rishabh picks up Aami and places her next to Madhu. Madhu puts her hands over Aami's head, bringing the baby to her front. "Now, hold under my hand."

Aami holds the baby along with Madhu.

"Happy?" Rishabh asks her with a smile.

Aami nods then she sees the baby open her eyes.

"Baby is looking at me." Aami says excitedly. "Hi,baby. I am your sister, you can call me didu. I love you and I will always play with you."

Everyone smiles hearing that.

"Do you know what your name is? It is Mahi." Aami tells her.

Madhu and Rishabh looks at each other surprised.

Mahi watches Aami for a few seconds then she starts crying for milk.

"It is time to feed the baby. Visiting hour is getting over. We should leave." Mohan says.

"Are you sure you will stay, Rishu? I will stay with Madhu." Radha tells him.

"I want to stay, Ma."

Radha smiles. "Come, Aami let's go."

"Mahi, I will see you tomorrow." Aami says and kisses the baby. Then she kisses her parents and leaves.

Once they left, Madhu opens her top and Rishabh helps the baby find the nipple.

"Did you know?" Rishabh asks once the baby had started suckling.

"No... are you upset? You wanted to name her Trishna." Madhu asks him.

"I did but Aami made her decision. I don't want to break her heart." Rishabh says.

"Mahi is a cute little name." Madhu tells him.

Rishabh smiles. "Trishna always said she would name her daughter Aami, so Ma named her Aami. Aami named her Mahi. Maybe next baby I can name her Trishna."

Madhu scowls at him, "not a nice thing to say to your wife who just came out of her 4 hours labor."

Rishabh chuckles hearing that.

Once the baby was finished and gone back to sleep, Madhu hands the baby to Rishabh.

"Are you sleepy? Mukund had called, he said he will be coming." Rishabh informs her

"That idiot is going to come after visiting time is over and demand that you sneak him in." Madhu declares.

Rishabh grins at her and says. "I sneaked you out of a crowded wedding hall. I am sure I can sneak him in through a crowded hospital."

*** the end ***

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- lazy