Ragini's eyes snapped up, meeting his. A gasp emitted from her lips. Her stilled on the track pad.  She sat there – frozen. Her mind numb. 

The alarm on her phone went off jolting her back to her senses.

"We need to get ready for the rasam/ritual," she said softly before pulling her hand away from the laptop. She looked at the laptop for a second; closing it a bit so that the photo wasn't clearly visible.

"Umm the laptop" she said looking at him. She was unsure what to do.

"Leave it. I will take care of it," Sanskar told her in a neutral tone

Ragini got up gently. She took her clothes and went to the washroom.

The ensuite washroom was big with a large basin, bathtub, separate showing area, wc and ample space for a wooden bench and space to change. 

She kept the clothes on the bench and walked towards the basin. 

Her hands were trembling a bit. She held on to the edge of the basin tightly to stop the hands from trembling and turned on the tap.

Why? Why? Why was this happening to her again and again? 

Echoes of the past, with Swara's name being uttered, flashed through her mind. She had made peace with her reality. She had accepted it; tried to go as far away from it as possible. 

Fate had different plans for her. Fate dragged her back to the same past a month back – after the incident. 

Now fate was laughing at her; taunting her on her naiveté to believe that she could get away from it all.

But fate had forgotten one thing. Ragini was resilient. 

Situations that broke ordinary people made her dig deep inside her and find the strength to move ahead, despite the obstacles. She had been forced to find her own path to peace, if not happiness. 

Yes, this was a cruel joke of fate, but there was a saving grace.  She wasn't emotionally connected to Sanskar. He was a stranger to her. 

Now it was best that he reminded just that – for her own sanity.

She splashed some cold water on her face; took deep deep breath and reigned her thoughts and emotions under control.

When she came out, heading to dresser to get ready, she did best to avoid looking at him. The one odd time when her glance did trail towards him, seeing him through the mirror, she found him sitting where she had left him – staring at the laptop screen. She didn't need to guess what he was looking at – or who. 

As he stretched his hand to touch the screen, Uttara walked in calling out to him. "Bhai!"

Ragini saw Sanskar surreptitiously wiping his eyes before he turned to look at his sister. 

"Bhai you are not ready yet!" Uttara exclaimed looking at him as he closed the laptop. "Badi Maa has been asking about you"

"I don't understand why I need to be in this function. It is supposed to be for women," Sanskar complained

"Don't drag me into this. If you have any problems talk to Badi Maa," she said before walking towards Ragini. "Bhabhi (sister-in-law) you are looking really amazing!" 

Sanskar walked away to find Badi Maa. He caught hold of her in the hall. "Badi Maa!"

"Sanskar! You are not ready yet!" Sujata exclaimed

"Mom! Please! Why do I need to be part of this? None of the other men are! This is a women's function! Why are you dragging me into this?" Sanskar complained

"You are not just any other man. Do I need to remind you that you are the one who has just gotten married and this is a function to introduce your wife to our relatives and friends? And your Bade Papa, Papa as well as Adarsh were all present with their wives for the function, when it was their time," Annapurna informed him

"May be it is time to change that, don't you think?" Sanskar asked hopefully

"Don't even think about it," Sujata scolded him. "And Bhaisa, your Papa, Adarsh are all going to be in the house in the entertainment room, entertaining all the male guests. No one is getting out of it"

"Besides, Laksh hasn't been able to get properly introduced to his Bhabhi. He will be around to give you company. That is if you are feeling so scared of all the ladies," Annapurna said the last bit with a teasing smile

"I am not scared of them," Sanskar countered, annoyed.

"Good! Then you should have no problems being there," Annapurna shot at him

Sanskar grumbled a bit before storming back to his room to get ready.

***

Mooh Dekhaiyi* rasam was in full swing. Ragini's grandparents had come over to the Maheshwari Mansion. 

For more than two hours Ragini had been respectfully smiling and touching the feet of all the women who came to bless her. 

Sanskar had been forced to smile at all the guests as well. He couldn't wait for this to be over.

Ragini must have met at least 50 women by the time she was done. 

Annapurna and Sujata were introducing her to everyone and lifting her dupatta/veil for each of the ladies to see her and then covering her face again before she met the next person. Uttara was helping manage all the gifts that she was being given.

"Laksh!" Annapurna called out as the last female guest was done meeting Ragini.

Ragini saw someone walk over, from under her veil.

"Where have you been? Everyone has already met Ragini. You haven't met her all these days and you were missing even now," Annapurna chided him

"Maa! Please!" Laksh grumbled

"Its okay jiji," Sujata cut in before things escalated

"Pari, give the gift to him," Annapurna instructed Pari. 

"Gift for me?" Laksh asked

"Gift for you to give your Ragini Bhabhi for the mooh dikhayi," Annapurna explained primly

"Okay, lets hurry up. I need to leave" Laksh said

Before Annapurna could respond, Pari got the gift and handed it over to Laksh.

Ragini could see his feet moving towards her. He extended the gift to her. She took it from him. Before she could realize what was happening, he had lifted her veil.

"Laksh!" Annapurna exclaimed

Ragini's head snapped up because of his sudden action. Her eyes widened as she looked at Laksh.

Laksh looked at her and then collapsed.

"Laksh!" Sanskar, Annapurna and Sujata exclaimed

Ragini jolted out of her chair; the gift falling down from her hand landing by her feet. 

Sanskar rushed to Laksh and lifted his head up. Just then Laksh opened his eyes and laughed.

"Laksh!" Annapurna and Sujata called out, feeling confused

"What kind of joke is this?" Sanskar shot at him

Laksh looked at him with a smile before looking at Ragini. "Bhai, when your eyes fall on an enchanting beauty, you are bound to lose your senses and faint," he said with a whistle

"Laksh!" Annapurna warned him

"When are you going to stop your pranks? You had us scared," Sanskar said getting up and giving Laksh a hand to get up.

Laksh smiled at him. "Thanks Bhai"

He walked towards Ragini. "Hi, I am Laksh," he said extending his hand

Ragini responded by joining hers in a Namaste instead

"What is this Ragini? In this day and age!" Laksh said making a face

"Bhabhi! She is your Ragini Bhabhi," Annapurna warned him

"Maa!" Laksh complained before picking up the bangles that had slipped from the box. "See, you dropped my gift," Laksh said looking crossly at Ragini. "Now I will make you wear them so that you don't drop them this time"

"Laksh!" Annapurna warned

"Maa! I was just kidding," Laksh said turning to Sanskar with a smile. 

Sanskar had been looking at the proceedings with a neutral look on his face 

"Bhai, make her wear this"

"Laksh" Sanskar started to reason

"Come on Bhai. You aren't scared of doing it in front of the guests are you?" Laksh teased

"Yes Bhai, you make Bhabhi wear these," Uttara added in

Sanskar sighed and took the bangles from Laksh. He turned to Ragini extending his hand. He had a serious look on his face. 

Ragini gently extended his hand and he slid the bangles in her hand. 

Laksh clapped and the others joined in.

"Okay Bhai! I am going out. I will meet you later" Laksh said giving Sanskar a quick hug as he rushed off.

***

Everyone was tired after the long day and  had retired to their respective rooms. 

Sanskar was restless. He had a lot on his mind. He was sitting on his side of the bed. He glanced at Ragini. She was on the phone. He didn't need to guess with whom.

"No, I didn't have even a single chocolate" 

"I promise," she said adding, "Would I have it without you?"

"I will take them now and apply the cream" Ragini promised

"Goodnight boyfriend!" she said into the phone giving a smacking kiss as well.

She got some things from her bag and went to the washroom. 

She was all ready to lay down when Sanskar spoke.

"You hadn't seen her or met her before, had you?" It wasn't a question.

Ragini looked at him confused

"I am talking about Swara," he said plainly

Ragini shook her head

"When I visited your home I didn't see even a single picture of hers," he continued, "Why?"

Ragini took a deep breath. 

This wasn't something she liked to talk about. But there are some realities you cannot hide from – and this was one was public knowledge – well, almost considering Sanskar didn't know.

"My Baba has two families and two houses," she said softly looking at him. Seeing his confused expression she added, "One which has my dadaji, dadi, Maa, Ranveer bhai, Aditi Bhabhi, Ashu and I. And the other which has Swara and her mother."

"So you are saying Janki Maa isn't Swara's mother?" Sanskar asked surprised. 

Janki had asked him to call her Maa when they had interacted during the wedding rituals

Ragini shook her head. "Did you not know? Didn't Swara tell you?" Ragini asked

Sanskar didn't respond or react to her question but added one of his own. "So your father has two wives?" he asked just to confirm

Had her mother been around, she would have been hurt hearing this; but technicalities didn't change what existed. She nodded.

They both went quiet for a long time. Ragini glanced at him. He seemed to be lost in thought. 

She gently laid down on the bed and switched off the light by her side. 

That brought him out of the trance he had gone into. He laid down on his side and switched off the light by his side as well. 

But he was not sleeply - he was far from it. His head was swimming in questions.

His mind went back to the first time he had seen Swara. He had been dragged by a friend to the sets of a fashion show. His friend had been into building ramp, stages and layouts for the show. They were supposed to go out for drinks after his friend's work was done, and Sanskar had gone there to pick him up.

She was there with some of the models pouting and taking selfies. He had been caught by her beauty. He had found her number. She hadn't been easy to convince. He has courted and wooed her quite a bit before she gave in. They had only been able to have a short whirlwind romance. 

And then everything changed.

At first, he had found himself drowning in pain and guilt, fearing that she had been hurt because of him – his background. 

He had hid his reality from her –  not because he wasn't serious about her but because he wanted to leave behind the shadow of his past. She had known him as Sanskar Mehta. 

After the incident, he had been dragged back home by his family.

As more information came through, he found out that she was the daughter of Shekhar Gadodia. 

He had never pieced things together before – not even when he knew her name was Swara Gadodia. After coming back, there were many times he had wondered why.

Then came the shock of his marriage. 

The irony of it all: he was supposed to be getting married to her sister. A sister that he didn't even know existed. 

He had objected to the marriage, but his family had forced him into it. Emotional blackmail - that was that it was. Seeing his Mom and Badi Maa breakdown, he had given in.

And then everyone around carried along celebrating the marriage functions as if nothing was wrong – as if it was with everyone's acceptance. 

As the functions moved along, his frustration increased. Finally, he blew up on Ragini on the wedding night when he entered the room. 

He felt a bit guilty about it later; she was Swara's sister. 

But not seeing even a single one of Swara's photos in the house, and seeing Ragini not even recognise her own sister, irked him. 

Then a new piece of information trickled in.

He felt bad knowing Swara. She was kept away from the rest of the family. She had grown up without their love, while Ragini had enjoyed it all. 

He had seen a picture of Swara with her parents on a holiday in her phone. But it hadn't been all that clear. He couldn't make out her mother's face enough to realize it wasn't Janki Maa. 

Swara was at least a year older than Ragini, if Ragini was still in the final year. Did it mean that Swara and her mother had been rejected by the family. Had Shekhar Gadodia been forced to marry Janki Maa – just as he had been?

It didn't add up. Something was missing in this picture.

Something about the way Ragini had answered him made him feel that things were not quite like they seemed. 

Ever since the incident, the more he was finding out, the more questions were rousing in him. 

He needed to find the answers!

And he knew the person could could help him in this. 

He was going to do that first thing tomorrow morning.

*Mooh Dikhayi rasam: Post wedding ritual involving introduction of the bride to the new family.

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