"Would you like to have something?", Vansh asked.
"Yes. Would like to have lunch.", Riddhima replied.
"Come with me.", Vansh started walking from there along with her, intertwining his fingers with Riddhima's.
Riddhima was feeling weird with his acts and also when the airport staffs started looking at their intertwined fingers.
They both made themselves comfortable inside the car and Vansh asked his driver to drive them to Vansh's exclusive hotel, ZEST. The driver put on the partition between the back and front seats to give them privacy.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were hungry? If I had not asked, you would have never told me.", Vansh threw his question getting a little irritated by her apathy nature.
"You are assuming too much.", Riddhima replied turning her face towards Vansh.
Vansh raised his eyebrows and said, "Assuming! Really! You are a rank holder in that category, Riddhima."
By saying that he shifted his focus to his mobile. Riddhima furrowed her eyebrows but then let it go because she was really hungry.
They sat in a cosy, private area with a view of the river in the front, the place which was exclusively designed as per the owner's choice.
The waiter came with the menu card and Vansh signalled him to give it to Riddhima. Riddhima almost snatched from his hand and the waiter left from there.
Riddhima was going through the items and Vansh was quietly observing her expressions. Only with her weird expressions which were changing every second, Vansh understood that the waiter had handed her the list of continental cuisine.
He signalled the waiter to come again and said, "Bring the list of Indian cuisine."
The waiter became flummoxed by the demand of his Boss.
"Sir, this is continental. Just the way you like it.", he said.
Vansh gave him a stern look and ordered, "Indian Cuisine. Right now."
The waiter nodded and hurriedly brought what was asked. Riddhima ordered her part and pushed the menu towards Vansh.
"You are done.", he asked. She nodded in positive.
"Same items for me too.", Vansh said to the waiter.
He smirked at her and said, "Lunch date. The suggestion you gave me the day before yesterday."
Riddhima gave him a confused look.
Vansh excused himself for a while and Riddhima gave him a nod. He went to the head chef and directed him not to add prawns, shrimp and lobster in any form to any of Riddhima's dishes.
While coming back to Riddhima, he received a message from Angre where it was written, "Kabir has shuffled his men's work and Shakib has been allotted for other works so he is unable to stay close to Kabir but he is trying hard to find out about his next move."
He took a mental note of the situation and came back to Riddhima.
Vansh saw Riddhima was reading something in her phone with furrowed eyebrows and the moment she saw Vansh standing opposite to her, she kept her phone aside.
Vansh was keenly watching her movements- playing with fingers, sipping water every minute, looking here and there except Vansh, those were the signs which concluded in Vansh's mind that Riddhima was in a convoluted situation.
Vansh cleared his throat and said, "Do you want to say something?"
Riddhima nodded in the negative.
He again tried, "Are you sure?"
Riddhima gave a nod.
Riddhima's mind played Ritu's word of advice where she specifically mentioned sharing the problems with Vansh.
Riddhima again gave a thought and this time she sipped half a glass of water.
Riddhima cleared her throat to gain the attention of Vansh who was on his phone.
She said, "Actually, I have something to say."
Vansh put his phone aside immediately as if waiting he was waiting for this moment.
He said, "I'm all ears, Riddhima."
With a lot of hesitation she started, "I think I did a mistake."
Vansh gave her a questioning look and asked her to confess.
"That manager of the bank, where I went to activate Mom and Dad's account, messaged me and is asking for more money.", she confessed.
With this confession all the loose links got connected in Vansh's mind and he solved the mystery of 2 lac rupees but still he wanted Riddhima to say it, so he started questioning her.
"What do you mean by again?", he asked.
"He said if I don't grease his palms with his demanded amount of 2 lac rupees he won't activate the accounts within 24 hours rather he will take months to do so. So, I paid and allowed him to debit 2 lac rupees from Dad's account.", she explained it explicitly.
Vansh took a deep breath and said, "Riddhima, you trust most of the people in this world except me. What do you think about me?"
"I know I did a mistake. I want you to save me.", Riddhima sawked help from him which Vansh could not believe for a few seconds.
"Can I check your phone?", he said in reply.
Riddhima without hesitation passed her phone to him.
Having read all the messages from the bank manager, he checked the other messages, the saved contact numbers, and the call history without knowing Riddhima.
He gave back the phone to her and said, "Don't reply to any calls or messages from him. Thank you for sharing your problems with me."
The food was served and both of them satisfied their appetites. They left for their home.
At night when both were ready for a deep slumber, Riddhima informed Vansh, "Tomorrow I have an appointment."
Vansh looked at her while sitting on the couch.
He nodded and said, "Visit him and do share all your problems with him. At least don't hide it from a doctor."
A nod was given by Riddhima and she watched Vansh lay on the couch with the blanket.
A woman with tied hands and legs, her mouth was shut by strong tapes was sitting on a chair. She saw a man enter the room and an urge came to her to shout at the top of her voice for help but alas! She couldn't.
"So, you were the receptionist at Global Health Hospital. Now, tell me why did you leave the job?", he asked her and opened the tape from her mouth.
"I was facing difficulty while travelling so I left it. That's it.", she replied.
He nodded his head and started walking around her.
"I want the truth. One lie can end your life, right now.", he said in a minacious tone.
He started moving his knife around her throat and signalled her to tell the truth.
"Don't kill me. I'm telling you. Vansh Raisinghania asked me to leave the job and assured me that he would pay my salary without any work.", she revealed.
He smirked, "Be more precise. I want every details. So start now."
She got scared when he took out his gun and pointed to her, "Miss. Riddhima Dasgupta was attacked and got admitted to that hospital. While filling in the patient's details I asked him about his relationship with Miss. Dasgupta and he replied that she was his wife."
"What! That Riddhima is Vansh's wife. When did they marry?", he asked, thunderstruck by the fact.
"I know only this much and only two days ago his employee came to my house and asked me to leave the job and I did the same.", she explained.
He put the tape on her mouth and left the room not before locking it.
Next morning, Riddhima had her breakfast and was ready to visit Dr. Mehta.
Her first action after boarding her car was to message Vansh, exactly the way he requested her to do.
She shared a lot of problems with her doctor and it was indeed a very productive session for Riddhima. Dr. Mehta asked her to visit once again after a month. Riddhima assured her and went out of the chamber and sat on the car to depart for home.
The moment her car left the place, Vansh parked his car and went inside to meet Dr. Mehta.
How was the chapter?....
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