"Because I..."

"Mumma... dadda... What ale you doing?" they hears Aanya's voice.

Both of them turns their faces to look at her and finds her standing in the hall, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Ragini was about to get up from Laksh's lap when...

"No, mumma wait..." says Aanya as she starts running towards them.

She gets upon the chair which was placed besides the one on which Raglak were sitting. They were looking at their daughter confused.

Aanya stands on that chair and then holds Ragini as she sits on her lap. She then starts clapping happily. Laksh starts laughing at that. Ragini also smiles pulling Aanya's cheeks.

"Ishu, come hele fast." shouts Aanya for her twin.

Ragini and Laksh chuckles at that. A few seconds later, Ishanvi also come out. She looks at the three of them.

"You left me." she says as she also starts running towards them.

"Careful bachcha..." says Laksh.

Ishanvi also gets upon the chair and then sits on Ragini's lap, at the other side. Laksh then encircles his arms around the three of them, smiling widely.

"My beautiful ladies..." Laksh says happily.

Ragini looks up at his face. Laksh wriggles his eyebrows playfully. Ragini shakes her head but doesn't say anything.

"Okay, let's click a family selfie." says Laksh as he somehow takes out his phone from his pant's pocket.

He angles his hand in the air.

"Come on, say paneer..." says Laksh showing all his white teeth.

"Paneeeeer..." says everyone together while laughing.

Laksh clicks a few pictures in different poses and making weird faces along with the other three.

"Mumma, I'm feeling hungly." says Ishanvi.

Ragini holds her and carefully makes her stand on her feet. She also makes Aanya stand on the floor. She herself gets up too.

"I'll bring something for you to eat." she says before leaving for the kitchen.

Laksh looks at his daughters and smiles at them.

"You did your homework?" he asks pinching their noses.

The girls shakes their heads in no. Laksh gets up and picks up the duo in his arms. He makes his way to their room and starts making them do their homework.

He was helping Ishanvi when he looks at Aanya. He holds his head laughing, seeing his replica. Aanya was laying on the bed with one of her legs bent and other leg was placed over it. One of her hand was on her head and with the other she was holding a pencil in between her teeth. She was looking at the ceiling.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

"I'm thinking." says Aanya.

"Oh! Like this? And what are you thinking mam?" he asks suppressing his chuckle.

"I saw you yeshtelday. You wele oso thinking like thish." she reasons out.

Laksh smiles remembering the incident.

"Aanu, do your homewolk. I'm not going to do youlsh." says Ishanvi to her sister in a serious tone.

Laksh laughs hard at that. He was even feeling proud that his daughters are so smart and intelligent for their age. They learns and catches things very soon.

"Huh... Hurr..." says Aanya glaring her twin.

Laksh shakes his head at that. Just then Ragini comes there with snacks. She puts the plate on the bed. She starts making them eat. Laksh gets up from the bed.

"I'll be just back." he says before leaving the room.

***

"No no no..." shouts the twins as Ragini and Laksh tells them that he's leaving the next day.

"Bachcha, please... I'll comes back soon. Promise..." says Laksh seeing his daughters crying.

He wasn't liking their tears but he was helpless.

"We'll come with you." says Ishanvi stubbornly.

"No baby, you can't come with me." he says taking them in his embrace.

Ragini frowns at that. The man in front of her was making her confused as hell.

Finally, after crying a lot, the girls falls asleep. Laksh sighs as he caresses their heads and kisses on their heads. He then looks at Ragini who was already looking at him.

"Next time when I'll come back, I'll take them with me." he says.

"And I'll let you?" she asks lifting her eyebrows.

"They needs a father." he says.

"They needs a mother too." says Ragini rolling her eyes.

"Again, when I said that they needs their father only? I'll take you too." he says smiling.

"Huh! You've gone mad." she says as she turns to leave but stops when Laksh holds her hand.

She turns back to look at him again. Laksh takes a few steps towards her and holds her face in between his hands.

"Marry me Ragini." he says looking straight in her eyes.

Ragini's breathing stops for a second as his words reaches her ears. She wasn't believing what she heard.

"What?" she asks shocked.

"Marry me Ragini. You, me and our daughters, a beautiful and happy family. I'll do everything to keep you happy. I'll give you everything you deserve." he says merging his head with hers.

"This isn't a joke Laksh. Stop acting crazy." she says as she takes a step back.

"I'm not joking Ragini. I have never been so serious in my entire life. I want you in my life. I want my daughters in my life. I want to keep you happy always and pamper you till no end. I want to spoil the three of you with my pampering and love. Please, accept it." he says holding her hand again, not letting her go.

"I don't know... I'm confused. I don't know how to take this. I don't know what to think and do." says Ragini holding her head.

"There's no hurry Ragini. Take your time. I'll wait for your answer. I want you to tell your decision to me when I will come back. But please, think about our daughters before reaching any decision. Your decision will affect their future a lot and you like it or not, I'll never let anyone else take my place in their lives." he says the last line like a warning.

"You're threatening me?" asks Ragini frowning.

"Take it as a threat or anything. I have told this to you many times and I'm saying this once again. They're my daughters and I'm their father. No one can change this. No one can take my place in their lives. I will not let anyone." says Laksh gritting his teeth.

"You've changed Arhaan." says Ragini staring him.

"I'm not Arhaan, Ragini. I am Laksh and Laksh was always like this. The boy whom you met in the college was just a shadow of Laksh. He wasn't the complete and real me. The one who's standing in front of you now is real. This is me." he says sighing.

"Yeah, you're not the one I loved." the words instantly slips out of Ragini's mouth.

"Ya, true... I'm not the one whom you loved." says Laksh chuckling bitterly.

"Good night." he says before making his way out of the room.

"You just want to marry me for our daughters Laksh. You don't want to marry me because you love me. You don't love me Laksh." says Ragini looking in his direction as tears starts forming in her eyes.

"I thought you'll start loving me as Laksh but I was wrong. You're still stuck on Arhaan. You don't love me as I am. You love me as I was. I wanted you to love me as Laksh, before telling about my feelings to you but I guess I have to keep my love as a secret only." says Laksh standing in the hall.

***

"Come on, give me a smile." says Laksh to his daughters as he turns on the camera of his phone.

The twins were standing in front of him with angry faces. They were wearing similar clothes.

"We will not smile for the photo." says Ishanvi as she turns her face away.

He holds Aanya's hand and turns her too. Laksh shakes his head at the stubborn duo while Ragini was chuckling seeing his struggle with their daughters. Laksh smiles looking at the picture he clicked.

"My babies are sho cute." he says kissing the photo.

Aanya and Ishanvi turns to look at him and he immediately clicks a few pictures of them.

"Mumma, dadda is cheating." says Aanya whining.

Ragini starts laughing at that. Laksh moves his phone and clicks a picture of Ragini as well but she doesn't notice.

Ankit comes inside and takes Laksh's bags to keep in the car. Laksh sits on his knees and kisses his daughters.

"Come on, give me your sweet kisses." says Laksh bringing his cheek in front of them but the girls turns their faces away.

Laksh looks at them sadly and hugs them. He gets up and moves towards Ragini who was knowingly avoiding looking at him. He circles his hand around her waist and kisses her cheek. Then only Ragini looks at him.

"Take care... Call me if there's anything wrong." he says before letting her go.

He looks down as the girls hugs him through his legs.

"Please don't go..." they says crying.

"Arre, stop crying. I need to finish an important work there. I'll come back very soon. I promise and I'll take you with me. Then we'll live together. I'll never go, leaving you. Please don't cry my babies." says Laksh as he bends down again.

Ragini holds the hands of the girls and pulls them away from him.

"Leave before they gets out of control. Then you won't be able to leave." she says not looking at him.

Laksh nods sadly as he gets up. He looks at the three of them for the last time before leaving the house.

The tears Ragini was holding till now starts falling continuously from her eyes as she hears the sound of the car leaving.

"Mumma, we want dadda..." says the girls crying as they hugs their mother.

"He left again." says Ishanvi sniffing.

Ragini hugs them.

"Shh... Stop crying. I'm here na." she says rubbing their backs.

'It would have been better if he would have left without telling these two. Don't know how long they'll take to calm down now.' thinks Ragini.

***

Ragini was sitting in the hall with the girls. Doraemon was playing on the TV to divert the attention of the girls and it was working because they were not crying now. Just then her phone starts ringing. It was an unknown number. She picks up the phone and keeps it near her ear.

"Hello, who's this?" she asks.

"Mam, this is Ankit, Laksh sir's bodyguard." says the person on the opposite side.

"Hm... Why did you call?" asks Ragini confused.

"Can you come to the city hospital right now? Please bring the girls with you." says Ankit.

"City hospital! Why? What happened? Is he okay? Did something happen to him?" asks Ragini shocked and worried.

"Laksh sir got shot." comes his reply from the other side.

Ragini's heart stops beating at that. Words were not forming in her mouth to say anything.

"Please come fast." says Ankit before disconnecting the call.

Ragini keeps sitting like a statue and tears starts rolling from her eyes. She jerks when Aanya shakes her.

"What happened mumma?" asks Aanya.

"Let's go. We need to go to daddy." says Ragini getting up immediately.

The girls gets happy at that.

"Yeah... Yeah..."

They starts jumping on the couch. Ragini holds their hands and runs out of the house.

***

Ragini finds Ankit standing in front of the ICU. There were a few more men in black and many police officers were also there.

"Where's he?" asks Ragini to Ankit.

Her voice was breaking and her body was shaking with fear.

"He's inside. He got shot on his neck. Before losing consciousness, he said that he wants to see the three of you. That's why I called you here with the girls. His condition is very critical." Ankit tells her sadly.

"Mumma, what ale we doing hele? Whele is dadda?" asks Ishanvi pulling the end of Ragini's kurti.

Ragini looks at her daughters with tear filled eyes. She wasn't getting what to answer them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

So, what would you like to say about this part? Please drop your comments about the chapter.

Please ignore any mistakes.
Thank you for reading.