Ragini knew this would happen when her mother visited the house, within five minutes she was talking about honeymoon and grandkids. Ragini was slightly relieved because she had talked with Laksh mom before hand still it was an awkward conversation that drained her energy by the time her mother left, the only positive aspect of the visit had been her husband who finally understood her mother's meddlesome nature when he had been subjected to it throughout dinner.

   
 " Where is your cousin, did she leave you with all the house work.. Ragini, she is the eldest bahu of the house and you need to assert your rights soon. The only fortunate thing you have is that Sanskar is Laksh cousin, use it to make sure Sujathaji remains on your side. She is bound too choose her own daughter in law over her nephew's wife, "her mother final advise of the day made her furious because she always manipulated Ragini feeling and made her feel inferior to her cousin. 

       
Then the sound of thunder brought  a smile to her face, she loved thunderstorm it always made her feel elated to hear the sound of nature in its violent form. And for the time that day she felt like laughing because her mother was not here which meant ragini can get soaked in the rain as she always wanted but never could do so until that day. It was freeing in a way she never imagined it felt like the rain was washing away her sadness . 

       
That was how her husband found her later that night, unlike Ragini, her husband seemed to be averse to getting wet that he stood inside their room and called out to her who was standing in their balcony. But at the moment she felt no interest in heeding to his request. 

   
" Ragini, you will get sick " the concern in her husband voice made her want to heed to him but she didnt care if she got sick, this was something she had been prohibited to do among others all her life and it felt like she was rebelling in her own way. 

   
" It just a little rain laksh , you should join me " she dared him but knew he wouldnt join her from the way he was looking at the rain . She only walked back inside when she felt the chill sweep through her at last, and after changing her clothes and getting behind the biggest blanket available she felt happy. Until her husband spoke up taking away all those blissful moment of happiness.

   
" Ragini, I never knew your mom was like that .." he spoke up and Ragini mind whirled back to her mother ,a  topic she thought she forgotten few seconds ago.

     
" It because you never listened to me Laksh, not truly. You just heard what you want to hear. We are married Laksh and all i ask from you is to talk with me before you make any decision about us " Ragini spoke up hoping for once her husband would indeed understand her .  

   
 " I am sorry Ragini, i promise to do better from now onwards. I will even work in your father company if that what you want " he spoke and she knew it was the guy she fell in love with the one who would do anything for her as well.

     
" No Laksh, you cant work for my father . I worked for him and i know it wont be easy for you . You will be under constant scrutiny and it will make your life miserable, and why would you need to work for him.. Arent you working at Karma?" Ragini asked him, as her husband smiled at her sheepishly which made her wonder if he really held a job before, Ragini worked nine hours everyday after college in her father company that she felt like she traded one prison for other.

    " I do have a job in bhai company, it just that i also have capable people working under me that i rarely visit " he answered back surprising her. She didnt like it but neither did she blame him. The reason she was drawn to him was his carefree nature and it was her fault that she never saw the drawback to it .

 " Laksh, dont you think Sanskar would want you to help out as well,  I heard from your mom that he overworked himself and that was why she pushed him to marry to stop him . If you helped he wouldnt have been stressed, i know you care for your brother , and if you do why didnt you help him, " Ragini asked him as she tried to understand her husband . 

" After Sanskar dad died in the car accident, It was dad who took over the company until bhai grows up. I always knew that the company would be Bhai and i can either work under him or do something different. Not because he was  older than me but because he was good at it . At first i did join the firm after i graduated and tried my best but i was never able to outmatch him, the employees were enamored of him that i decided to step back and do something else but then dad died and i was too grief stricken to do anything else " her husband spoke up and for the first time Ragini found the similarity between them of being over shadowed by their cousins .

  " Were you ever jealous of Sanskar ," Ragini asked him and hoped he would answer in the affirmative,so she can feel better about herself and then realized how screwed up her logic had been until her husband spoke up.

 " I was jealous of Sanskar and Uttara back when we first moved in to this house because until that point , i had my parents entire attention and i didnt like sharing it with them . My brain back then didnt realize, they both lost their parents and yet i was the one feeling jealous for sharing my parents affection. It made me feel horrible most of the time but i couldnt help it until two years later . It was my birthday and my parents forgot about it because Uttara had been sick for over a week with a flu , I throw a temper tantrum that day much to my shock , it was like the lid i kept on my emotions were out 

 I still remember the way Uttara face fell at my words and the way Sanskar face turned grim , he looked like he wanted to punch me and i would have deserved it for being an idiot. Yet no one said a word, neither my parents or Sanskar until i stopped talking then i went back to my room unable to face them, my mom walked in few minutes later and i think i cried because i did miss them , mom had been too caught up with Uttara and dad had a business to run. Maybe it was at that point of time , i realized never to overwork myself and keep a healthy balance between two but ended up playing more than work. 

Anyway my mom apologized for forgetting, and my parents took me out for dinner. It was a tradition of sorts and yet that day i felt miserable because i knew Uttara was at home sick and Sanskar stay behind to take care of her, such knowledge couldnt make me enjoy the day until we returned back home, i apologized to my parents in the restaurant for my behavior and dad just told me to remember Uttara or Sanskar doesnt have parents to celebrate their birthday with, that he understood my disappointment and that he will try to be a better parent but i should never blame my cousins for it.

It already made me feel terrible until i walked inside my house to find the whole living room decorated and banner that read happy birthday Laksh. There stood my cousins waiting for me to return back home , Uttara had been the one to wish me first and even had managed to find a present for me , a hand written greeting card and then it had been Sanskar who wished me next in his gruff voice . And i learnt that day how unreasonable  i had been for so long, instead of thinking of themselves as my siblings, i saw them as my competition when there was never one. 

 It was that day, i made myself a promise to never be jealous of my cousins and so no i hadn't been jealous of bhai success, when it comes to business ,because by then i was only proud of him, the reason i wanted to do something different had been because i liked challenges and with my bhai as CEO , there wont be any challenges in that company. " Laksh spoke up , ragini knew it was by the longest her husband spoke up about anything but she understood him better know, his reasons for always looking after his cousins and trying to make them happy.

He loved them and had been able to keep the love alive inspire of everything unlike her who let her jealous nature blind her to the love Swara had for her . So she made herself a promise that day to try to make peace with Swara and not let her mother words pollute her mind ever again.

   --------------------------------------------------

  Swara woke up the next day to find Sanskar missing from his side of the bed, she glanced at the clock on the wall and found it was just around 5 which made her wonder where he went this early, she didn't have an habit of waking up that early but she was curious to find him that she made her way out and found Sanskar in the living room couch, the sight shouldn't have come us a surprise except for the tiny bundle in his hands.

Her Nephew, Swara didn't know how she could love someone this soon but her nephew held her heart as she made her way towards them in silence not wanting to wake him up, Sanskar looked up to her with a smile and she smiled back in return as her eyes found its way to have a peak at the sleeping back . 

" Already got caught up in baby sitting duty " She whispered to him as she sat beside him to get a better look at her nephew.

"Adharsh and Pari needed to sleep ,they have been all night because this little one didnt sleep due to thunder storms " Sanskar answered her back and she knew he would have been the one who volunteered to help and as Pari sister, she should have thought about it first.

" Then i should do my part, i will cook breakfast for them before we leave if it okay with you " She asked him because she wanted to help her sister in some way . And when Sanskar agreed she went back to the kitchen to cook until her sister joined her an hour later.

" Sorry Swara, I didn't expect adahrsh would ask Sanskar to look after the little one " her sister apologized to her as she held her nephew in her hands. And Swara knew that Sanskar wouldnt have minded it one bit but before she could calm her sister and let her know that she need not worry about it , the sound of the calling bell cut through their conversation.

 Swara went to open the door before the sound woke up her nephew yet again and found her mother standing at the other side of it. Swara greeted her mom with a smile but it wasn't reciprocated that she began to wonder why her mother look so displeased to see hr .

 "Swara , i know this marriage was forced on you , But this is not right. Since your marriage, you spent one day on the hospital,one day at our home and one day at your sisters. Your in laws and Husband might be so understanding but still you should not have stayed the night here without your husband . I know you both came to help Pari yesterday but i didn't expect you would stay the night too, " her mom kept speaking and Swara felt like her heart was getting broken by her words, it wasnt enough that she had to marry against her wish but to be reprimanded for her behavior was the last straw 

" Relax Mom, i didn't stay alone. He also stayed with me and we couldn't go because of the rain and not because i was desperately trying to be away from my in laws and husband. You need not blow it out of proportion, i just wanted to cook breakfast for pari di and we are leaving right after that " Swara answered back not caring that her voice was no longer calm .

 " I am sorry for Misunderstanding about you staying alone, But even then Sanskar is new to this family and he woulnt be feeling comfortable staying in this house. So try to avoid visiting your sister often ,i am here right i will help her with the baby and cooking." her mother words were like more fuel to her anger, she always believed that her decision were right, her perception were right and never once assumed that she could be wrong as well

" Yeah ,So what about me Mom, I should be able to accept the new house and stay in his house all day and he should be spared from staying in my sister house for a night.Great Mom , He seem to understand me a lot better than my own Mom " Swara answered back feeling frustrated by her mother words, even Sanskar hadnt expected her to come to terms with their marriage this soon but her mom expected Swara to be not only okay with getting married but also behave according to her wishes .

         
Swara was taken back by her mother double standards as well, she still does everything to keep peace with her brother and let Swara spend countless night in her uncle house as Ragini playmate but swara cant even stay a night in her sister house without getting reprimanded for it. She walked back inside unwilling to speak further and headed to their room ,so that she can ask Sanskar if they can leave. At that moment she didnt want to stay any longer . 

         
Swara was stopped by her sister on the way who had apparently overheard the conversation, in her sister eyes she seen the concern and understanding.  Her sister being two years older was never subjected to her mother demands as much as swara and yet her mother was never satisfied.  Her sister said that she will talk with her mother but Swara knew it wont make an difference but as she went back into their room, she had found Sanskar asleep in the bed that she didnt have the heart to wake him up either . 

       
 When the sound of phone call burst through the room,Swara searched for the source of it ,so that Sanskar could sleep a little but what she didnt expect was to see the name "Kavitha " in the caller id. She didn't know why his ex fiancee was calling him but she didn't feel like she had the right to ask the question  either. The sound woke him up that she placed the phone in his hand and walked out of the room trying to avoid both him and her mother that she ended up in her nephew room. Holding on him was calming in an way and she didn't know why she was affected by the fact Sanskar was in touch with kavitha more than her mother words . 

     
" Hi" the sound of his voice got her attention, she hoped her face looked calm because she couldn't explain her reaction to him.

   
"  She called to apologize and this was the first time we talked after that day .I am sorry if it bothered you" he spoke up, just three sentences but it went a long way in making her better because she trusted his words which meant she trusted him .  

 
" It not you, it just my mother " Swara answered not willing to let him know she had been sulking because of his ex and then proceeded to tell him everything that happened few minutes ago.  

 
 " Swara, i cant tell you how to deal with your mother but i can tell you this that you wanted an equal partnership and if i prohibited or restricted your freedom to visit your family or stay the night with them , then it definitely not one, so trust me when i say your family is important to me as well because they are my family too " he spoke up and maybe it was the sincerity in his voice but Swara realized that she indeed was  lucky to have married him and felt oddly thankful to his cousin for his manipulation not realizing Cupid lucky was planning yet another surprise that would leave them shocked.

P.S:" That it for now,  Let me know your thoughts and feedbacks ,Hit the votes if you liked it "

Juanita Reid