"Oh, Hello Mr. Raisinghania. Please be seated. Just now your wife left.", Dr. Mehta said.
"Yeah, I know. So, what's the progress?", Vansh asked.
"She is opening up. But she wants to leave your house. Her goal seemed to be to gain your trust so that you could loosen her security and she was ready to take that chance.", Dr. Mehta pointed out.
"I know. Her attention was drawn to something in my home a few days ago that she shouldn't have noticed. I expected her to confront me on that but she didn't which scares me. Yesterday, she asked me for help, which is not at all a 'Riddhima' thing. I can say she was not happy with my reply as I was very casual. She expected some kind of outburst from me.", Vansh replied and he added, "Were you able to find anything about her going missing for 2 months, on those years back?"
"No. I tried but I guess she doesn't even know that she was not at her home for 2 months. I feel like you should consult a female doctor if anyhow she went through any kind of harassment that time.", Dr. Mehta said.
Vansh got worried after hearing about the possibilities what Dr. Mehta said to him. His fingers entwined while his elbows remained on the table and he became restless.
"Relax Mr. Raisinghania. This much restlessness is not even conducive to your health. But I must say you have improved a lot after Mrs. Raisinghania came into your life directly.", Dr. Mehta observed.
Vansh nodded in agreement and he too agrees that his anger issues that sometimes made him pass out are not as problematic nowadays.
The doctor added, "The Intermittent Explosive Disorder you are going through which in the past made you involved in sudden episodes of impulsive, aggressive, violent behaviour or angry verbal outbursts in which you reacted grossly out of proportion to the situation, today puts you in such a messy situation that you are not able to face your wife in afraid of losing her."
"You are right. I'm scared of losing her. I want to tell the her the truth about her parents but I'm afraid of her reactions. Will she be able to take the truth? Is she that much strong mentally? Will she understand my situation and forgive me? I cannot live without her. She is the only purpose for me being alive.", Vansh confessed.
"At the age of 10, exactly after your parents passed away, your grandmother brought you to me, and for 1 year you didn't speak about your problems. Then your grandmother did a huge mistake by not consulting any psychiatrist after that which made your IED slowly increase to an extreme level.", Dr. Mehta recalled the past.
"In my later teenage period, I couldn't trace Riddhima for that 2 months and I was scared that if I opened my mouth then maybe her life would be in danger. I didn't know at that time that I could trust you with these things. Even when I went abroad for higher studies, my grandmother assured me she would always keep a close eye on Riddhima.", Vansh replied.
"Mr. Raisinghania, you did a huge mistake by losing your calmness. Have you thought about how you would handle it after your wife gets to know it?", Dr. Mehta showed his concern.
"Frankly speaking I don't have any idea. Actually, I never thought that her own people would play such a big game. I am happy that I was able to stop it in the nick of time. The thing which scares me now is Riddhima's trust in the whole world except me. I want you to make Riddhima trust me rather than other characters in her life.", Vansh replied becoming restless.
"I will do it. Just give me sometime. We had a session today. I think you will see the effect. But, you should never forget to take your medicines because you just cannot show the demon side of yours in front of your wife.", Dr. Mehta advised.
Vansh nodded and then shook hands with the doctor before leaving his chamber.
Mrs. D'Souza asked Riddhima about the lunch menu when she returned.
"I'll have chowmein. I told the driver to stop the car at one of the street food stalls. You won't believe that he said he couldn't double cross his Boss's order. Just imagine.", Riddhima complained to Mrs. D'Souza to control her urge to eat the street food.
A nod from Mrs. D'Souza was all that was offered in response to her complaints.
Riddhima freshened up and checked her mobile device and found an email waiting for her.
When she opened her inbox, she discovered an image attachment in that email and downloaded it, and her eyes popped out, her mind stopped working, tears escaped from her eyes. Sitting on the bed, her legs close to her chest, she hid her face.
It was evening, Riddhima was still in a bind, unaware of how to fix the problem. She searched all the contacts in her phone and discovered two new entries- Angre and Shakib.
She muttered, "Who is this Shakib?"
As she shuffled through the chaos in her head, she called Ritu, but somehow the call was not connected. Frustrated, she threw the phone at one corner of the bed.
She approached Vansh's desk and opened his laptop to check whether any merit lists of the colleges she applied to were available. She found in one of the colleges, candidates who applied for Botany as an honours subject were given dates for interview.
Despite doing so much, she was unable to forget the email she saw.
After closing the laptop, she turned and saw Vansh standing behind her.
In a bolt from the blue, Riddhima asked, "When did you come?".
"It's been 15 minutes.", Vansh replied.
Riddhima observed him from tip to toe and realised that he had already freshened up.
"You want to say something?", Vansh asked her looking straight into her eyes.
Riddhima noticed that the way Vansh relaxed himself the other day after coming back home was missing.
No, she replied to him.
He bent down to mirror her height, taking her hand in his, he asked again with assurance in his eyes, "Are you sure?"
The young woman stammered as she replied, "Yes."
They heard a knock, and after Vansh granted permission, the servant left with the dinner. Vansh signalled her to have dinner.
He bid a good night to her and slept on the couch.
Riddhima couldn't sleep, the image she saw in that email was still stuck in her mind. She sat on the bed and looked at Vansh who was fast asleep.
Vansh felt some movements around him.
In a jolt he opened his eyes and saw Riddhima sitting on the floor in front of him.
He got up immediately and switched on the light feeling perturbed.
Vansh cupped her face sitting on the floor and asked, "What happened? Why are you not sleeping? Tell me. What is bothering you?"
She gave her phone to him and said, "I got an email. See it."
Vansh without further ado opened the mail and saw the images and kept her phone aside.
"Get up. Come with me and sleep.", he said while holding her arms to help her get up.
Riddhima was looking at him as if she wanted to hear his words.
He helped her to lay down, after covering her with the blanket, he continued passing his fingers through her hair to calm her, after kissing her knuckles, he said, "Nothing will happen. Just relax. You will find me beside you every second of your life. I want you to trust me. Share all your problems, worries, difficulties with me just the way you did right now. I will handle everything. Riddhima, relax and sleep. I'm right here with you."
Riddhima felt a piece of peace in her heart, the serenity engulfed her, the gestures and words of Vansh did all the wonders in her heart and soul. She closed her eyes believing him, trusting him, feeling the care he had for her.
Vansh realized Riddhima was in deep slumber.
He took out his phone and called Angre. Angre answered his phone.
"Did the IT cell find out about the mail they told me about in the afternoon?"
"Yes. Boss. Your guess was right it was him. We are waiting for your next command.", Angre replied.
"4 a.m. In his house. Let's create the real drama.", with a vicious aura, Vansh commanded.
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