Rishabala SS : Lemons & Lemonade

Part Four

Madhu stared at her father and RK over the dining table as they discussed about POLITICS!!!! That's right! They were talking about politics!!! Of all the things in the world - POLITICS!!! "Can you pass the water, Madhu?" RK asks her as he looked at her. All he got in return was a murderous look from her. "Madhu, pass the water." Malik tells her. She quickly took the bottle and passed it to RK. Her father and RK were like house on fire, getting along like hell and she was getting burned! After RK had dropped the pregnancy bomb on her father, he had screamed and screamed for a long-long time. Then he had cooled down and asked her to show RK to the guest bedroom, pointedly saying that RK WILL BE sleeping in the guest room and that they would finalize the wedding date in the morning. Yes, he never bothered to ask her whether she wanted to marry RK, just that she was marrying RK. Without her father noticing she had dumped all his things in the guest room and he had slept there the previous night.

In the morning RK had come down in fresh clothes, and her father thankfully decided not to ask about the change in his attire. RK had requested to talk to her father alone, and they had gone off to his study. An hour and a half later, they had come out laughing like old friends. RK had the good sense to stay clear of her path and not try to talk to her. Around afternoon, he had "hugged" her father and left to Mumbai promising to bring his parents soon to finalize the wedding date.

Later, Malik had called up Padmini and informed her about Madhu's marriage to Rishab, leaving out that Madhu might be pregnant. Padmini who was apprehensive about Rishab at first due to his history with Dipali was finally appeased when Malik told her that Madhu and Rishab loved each other. She was then happy for them, as she did feel guilty for what Dipali did to Rishab.

After he left, he didn't call or text her, he gave her the much needed space. It's been three days, and she hadn't talked to her father after that night in the kitchen. She decided to talk to him and goes to his study. "Papa, can we talk?" Madhu hesitantly asks as she looked at him. "Come in, Madhu. You know you can talk to me." Malik says smiling at her. Madhu goes to him and kneels down in front of him as she kept her hands on his knees. "Do you hate me?" Madhu asks worried trying to control her tears. "Because of you and Rishab..." he says vaguely. Madhu nods her head and says in tears, "I broke your trust." "You did." Malik agrees, "but my love for you is not so feeble that it would just go away because you made a mistake." "I am sorry, Papa." Madhu says crying. Malik wipes her tears and says, "You both are going to be married soon, and the wrong would right itself." "I don't want to marry him." "Why because he made fun of you and your love?" Malik asks. Madhu nods her head and says, "He broke my trust." "He broke your trust?" Malik muses, "He didn't get you pregnant and abandon you, Madhu. If anything, he is fighting you, to be with you. That's not breaking one's trust. It is standing up to the love and trust you have on him." "After what he did I can't trust him." Madhu says looking away. "I am your father and I don't like talking about this, but I have no other option. He said he seduced you." Malik tells her embarrassed himself. Madhu stares at Malik in shock wondering why RK lied to her father like that. Finally, she realizes that she couldn't let her father think low of RK, and tells him, "He didn't. I don't know why he lied to you, maybe for me. But he didn't. I..." Malik starts smiling, "I knew he had lied. He loves and respects you a lot to take advantage of your innocence like that. I just wanted you to know what he did for you." Madhu looks away wondering whether RK really loved her. If he did, then he wouldn't force her to marry him, he would let her make the decision regarding her life. "He told me everything, including the fact that he was living in our house for three days. Very rarely in life we find true love, rarer that love would fight the whole world for you and still rarer when life gives you a second chance with your true love. Don't give it up, Madhu." Malik advices her, when she remained silent he goes on, "So what if he made fun of you and your love? When was that? A time that neither of you even remember. Don't forget Madhu, he was young then, you know how vicious teenage is. You might have done things that you regret now, just like that Rishab regrets what he did and he repents for them. Now he wants to make it up to you. You don't get people like that, Madhu." "Why are you supporting him? You are my father!!" Madhu angrily reminds him. "I am your father and that is the reason I am supporting him, because he is quite simply the best thing that ever happened to you." Malik tells her.