Back with chapter 2. Hope you like the Don concept. 😜
Moving on... 💃💃💃
"Words in double quotes" - Talking
'Words in single quotes' - Thoughts
(Words in braces) - Telephone conversations.
Chapter 2
So, as he had decided, Laksh began his mission to find out who she was, just to prove to Sanskar that he wasn't a coward.
That was the reason he told himself. That was the reason he told his brother.
But his heart knew the real reason.
One of the perks being a don was that it wasn't difficult for him to find out about her through his connections. He just needed to bribe some men to find all the information he needed about her. They gave him a file containing her picture and details, along with her family's.
Turns out, her name was Ragini. Ragini Gadodia.
She lived with her younger sister, Swara and her mother, Shramishtha. 'Ragini eh? Nice name. Ragini...won't it sound sweet when I take her name?' Laksh's eyes widened as he realized his train of thoughts. He shook his head vigorously in horror. 'What. Is. Wrong. With. You!?' Laksh picked up Ragini's photo from the file and glared at it. "It's all your fault! You've done something to me, haven't you Ragini?"
Laksh's heart skipped a beat as he took her name. He swallowed hard and tried spelling it again. "Ragini. Hmm...Ra.gi.ni. Ragini. Ra.gini." a small smile broke on his face. "Ra-gi-ni. Ragini!" he smiled to himself goofily. Simply taking her name filled his heart with a sense of happiness.
Suddenly, he became conscious of what he was doing and smacked himself on the head. "Laksh beta, you're becoming a happy-drunk idiot. It isn't long before you turn into devdas. Ugh! It's all this Ragini's fault!"
"Who's Nagini?" spoke a voice from the door.
"It's Ragini, idiot."
"Okay then. Who's Ragini?" Sanskar qustioned.
Laksh smirked. "What had you called me? Coward, huh? Look now! I found out about her. And her name is Ragini. Ragini Gadodia. Still believe I'm a coward, little brat?"
However, instead of a defeated face, his brother smiled in victory.
"Ah, good good! You're one step closer to her now."
Laksh glared. "I didn't do it to get close to her! I did it so that I can prove to you I'm not a coward!"
Sanskar chuckled. "Sure. Whatever you say big brother." he replied sarcastically, irritating Laksh further.
Laksh huffed and threw the file at his brother. "Take it Sanky! I don't want it anyway. I got what I needed to know. From now on, don't tease me by associating me with her!"
Sanskar grabbed the file on time, preventing it from falling. It accidentally opened to the page which contained the details of Ragini's sister, Swara. Sanskar gasped as he saw her picture. "Swara? Swara Gadodia? Ragini is Swara's sister!?"
"Yeah. Why do you look so surprised?" Laksh asked in confusion.
"Bhai, Swara is my classmate! She's the most beautiful girl in class and also has the most charming personlity ever! No matter what she wears, she just looks amazing in it. And the way she talks? Oh! I feel like I could listen to her speak on and on."
Laksh looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I understand she's your classmate. But I don't understand why you're praising her so much." seeing Sanskar blush, it finally clicked in his brain. "Is it...is it that you like her?" Laksh enquired with curiosity. "And don't you even try to lie to me brat."
Sanskar turned redder at his words. "Well um...y-you see its...it's kind of um..." Sanskar rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Ahahaha...awww...is my little brother in love with Swara? Aww...how cute. Swanky is in luuuwwffffff!"
"Laksh! Stop mimicking a childish voice! You know I hate it."
"Bwat you louuuuuv it, no Swanky? You luffff Swara!"
Sanskar glared back and huffed in anger. "Okay fine! I like her. Stop teasing me."
"Little brother is in love! L. O. V. E!"
"Lucky bhai, stop it already!" Sanskar whined.
"It's like only yesterday when my little brother was walking while holding onto my little finger. And now...now he's become a grown man who is in love!" Laksh teased, rubbing away his imaginary tears of happiness.
Sanskar glared at him. "At least I admit I like her." he crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. "You won't even admit that you like Ragini! Too much of a coward, aren't you?"
Laksh's smile disappeared at his words. "I don't."
Sanskar snorted. "Sure you don't."
"I don't!"
"Tell me the same thing by looking into my eyes."
Laksh clenched his fists and looked at him in determination. However, he could not make himself say it.
Sanskar chuckled. "See? You can't. No matter what you say big bro, the heart knows the truth." Sanskar threw back the file at him. "Leave the topic for today. Sleep on it and tell me what you think tomorrow."
Laksh looked down and nodded with a sigh. "Agreed."
"For now, let's go to the shooting area. You're going to teach me how to shoot."
"Eh?" Laksh looked up at him in alarm. "I told you to stay away fr-"
"Yes, you told me to stick to studies and my career. But I won't anymore. Not when I know the danger you are in."
"You're big brother is a hard cookie. Don't worry man." Laksh smirked confidently.
However, it only made Sanskar glare back harder.
"I've heard Lucky. I've heard you speaking to Adarsh how the Raichands are planning to become number one in the underworld. And the only way would be to kill the ruling one on the throne. Which is you."
"We've got it under control. Yo-"
"By killing you and our gang, they want to rule. I know! And I want to help you guys. You are my brother. And Adarsh and the rest are all are like my own family! I won't sit on the sidelines while you guys fight!"
"Sanky, lis-"
"Don't you 'Sanky' me. I don't want to be a burden that always needs protection. I want to learn to protect myself and you guys. So there! You will help me and that's final!"
Laksh smiled at his little brother and his determination. 'Well, he isn't wrong. There might be times when he might need to protect himself.' Laksh nodded. "Alright bro. Let's go."
#Elsewhere#
She smiled as she ran her eyes over the words in the book. It was always books that made her smile genuinely.
"DI! Where are you!?"
She looked up as she heard the voice. A smile broke out on her face on her sister's shout.
'She knows I'm here. And yet, she can't stop herself from screaming my name. Dramebaz ladki.' shaking her head, she went back to reading.
Books and the fictional world in it brought her peace. It gave her an opportunity to escape from the real world filled with hardships and difficulties.
Suddenly, the book was snatched from her hands by her little sister. "Hahaha...want it back?"
"Swara! Swara, give it back to me."
Swara ignored her words and looked at the pages. "It's another romance story, isn't it? Why do you keep reading all this gibberish Ragini di. It's so boring and cliché!"
"They are my personal guilty pleasures. Now give it back!"
Swara stuck out her tongue at her elder sister and ran away with the book. "Come and get it if you can!"
"Arre Swara, wait! Swara!" Ragini got up from the ground and ran after her little sister. "Swara, wait I said!"
However, Swara didn't listen and ran out of the gate into the open meadow.
In the soft breeze, the leaves of the maple trees danced to the tune of the wind. With the sun shining over the meadow, all the yellow and red leaves of the trees looked like gold and rubies glittering in the light. The two sisters merrily and playfully chased each other amidst the lush and beautiful trees.
Finally, Ragini managed to get a hold of Swara. "Got cha!" Ragini grabbed her book and pulled it away from Swara's grip. "Hah! I won."
Swara pouted. "That's because you're elder than me. Not fair!"
"How is age related to this? I caught you fair and square. You're being ridiculous."
Swara pouted in indignation. "I am not!"
Ragini rolled her eyes at her sister's antics and looked above. "What am I supposed to do with this immature girl?!"
As she looked up, Ragini suddenly noticed a maple leaf falling down from the tree. As it neared them, Ragini put forward her hand on reflex and caught it by the end. She smiled at it as she managed to catch the red maple leaf upright. A gasp from the side made her look at Swara. "What's wrong? Why such a reaction Swara?"
Swara put her hands in front of her mouth and looked on with wide eyes. She was practically bouncing on her tiptoes from excitement, the cause of which Ragini had no idea about.
"Di, do you realize what you just did?! You're so lucky Di!"
Ragini looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Well, yeah. I just caught a maple leaf."
Swara shook her in glee. "Di! Don't you know?! I read it somewhere that if you catch a maple leaf than...than you'll soon find your true love!"
"Ehhhhh?"
"Yosh!"
"What?! That's ridiculous." Ragini laughed at her words. "You're such a child."
"No it's not! It's called loooove! Maybe...maybe you're going to find your true love one of these days." Swara gasped. "Maybe...maybe he's already in town and somewhere close to you?! Ooo...I'm so damn excited!"
"Swara! Shut up already. Stop being obnoxious."
"Di, you're so lucky! Say, I think I can catch one too! Maybe I'll find my Prince Charming too!" saying so, Swara rushed off and got busy in finding falling maple leaves to catch.
Ragini smiled to herself at her sister's antics. 'When will she act her age?'
From the corner of her eyes Ragini noticed the maple leaf still in between her fingers. She raised it to her eye level and looked at it. 'Meeting your true love, eh? Does this stuff really happen?' Ragini shook herself of those thoughts. 'Nah. No way. I'm just being silly and childish like Swara.'
Ragini extended her hand to drop the leaf.
However, at the last moment, she took it back. Instead of throwing it away, she carefully put it in between the pages of her book. She didn't know why she did it, but it felt right to her.
#Maheshwari Mansion, 12pm#
Sanskar's eyes popped open when he heard a creak from his door. At once, he quietly put his hand below his pillow where he had hidden his gun. Although he only knew the basics of shooting, it was the best defense he had at the moment.
As Sanskar heard the person coming closer, he gripped it tight in his hands.
Sanskar could feel his heart thudding in his chest from fear, while sweatdrops ran down his forehead. 'Great! The day I decided to learn shooting and that's the day I get cornered? Man, not cool, not cool! At least I could have gone down with a pose if I had a few days more training.'
As the person stopped at the edge of the bed, Sanskar turned with his gun aimed at the person, safety off.
"Woah there! It's me! It's me!"
Sanskar looked at him in disbelief. "Laksh?! The heck, man?! You could have at least called out to me. I thought you were an enemy or something." Sanskar reached over and switched on the light. "One of these days, you're going to give me a heart attack big bro."
"Well sorry but...but I didn't know who else to talk to."
Sanskar patted the space next to him. His brother was more of a guy who talked with his fists. Heart-to-heart talks were foreign to him. But since he himself was approaching Sanskar for one, Sanskar knew the matter was serious.
"Sit down. Then tell me what you want to talk about."
Laksh nodded and sat beside him. "I...I thought about the girl."
"You mean Ragini?"
"Yea. I...I tried to be as detached and uncaring as possible while thinking about her. And then one thing led to another and then another and...and I ended up thinking about her marriage to another." Laksh admitted in a small voice. If Sanskar didn't know better, he would have said his brother was whining and pouting.
Laksh balled his hands into fists. "I tried to imagine her kissing another guy. I went as far as him breathing close to her lips but then...then I just couldn't! I imagined another guy whispering sweet nothings into her ears. I pictured another guy touching her and...and I just had it! I couldn't do it. I've denied it over and over again but...but it's no use Sanskar. I really like this girl Ragini. Maybe even...even love her."
Sanskar smiled at his brother. "Finally you admitted it. Awesome!" Sanskar spoke, patting his arm encouragingly.
"No it's not!" Laksh exclaimed, getting up from the bed in frustration, smacking away his hand. "If I get close to her, she'll become my weakness. What if our enemy takes advantage of that? What if the Raichands try to hurt her because she's close to me? What if sh-"
"Bhai, you over think." Sanskar got up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look bro. I'm not saying you're not right. It's true that it's dangerous for her. But it's not like we're weak. Our gang still rules this criminal world. We're stronger with more men and ammo! As for your speculations, you can't live on 'what if's bro. In life, it's best to do something and face the consequences, rather than not do anything and keep regretting it for life."
Laksh thought over his brother's words. He couldn't deny that he was right. "I guess you're right on point. I won't know until I try. I can't be afraid and give up so soon." he looked up on uncertainty. "But Sanskar, will she accept me? I mean I'm a criminal. A don! Why would she date me?"
"Leave that to me. All that my college knows about me is that I come from a respected family. It's time I take advantage of it to get closer to Swara. Once I propose her, I could introduce you to Swara as a rich businessman. Through her you could get close to Ragini."
Laksh shook his head. "That's lying and cheating. You're going to lie to Swara?"
"I love Swara from the heart bhai. Don't you dare doubt it! But as for our lie? It's necessary to get you close to Ragini. Once you and her become good friends, you can tell her the truth. Then, it's up-to her if she accepts you or not."
"Oh and say what? Hi, I'm your friendly neighbourhood Don of the town but I kind of had to lie since you wouldn't even try to know me better?"
"No, but wh-"
"Or that hey! I'm your boyfriend but I also kind of gank or kill guys as a side job of being a Don?" Laksh remarked with a snort. "She'll run until she reaches America."
"Well leave that decision to her. And you're a good guy at heart bhai. You just don't accept that you deserve good things. Let's leave for her to decide when the time comes, okay? Now, just say if you like my plan or not?"
"Hmm... I guess I don't dislike your plan." Laksh admitted. "My my! My little brother has got some brains on him."
"It's settled then! Mission RagLak is on!"
Laksh looked at him with confusion. "RagLak?"
"Yeah. Ragini and Laksh. Your couple name."
"Dude, what are you? A fangirl or something?"
"Hahaha.. Shippings are the new form of courting."
Laksh rolled his eyes. "You and your new generation gibberish." he threw a pillow at Sanskar. "Go to sleep. We'll talk about the plan later. Good night bro."
"Good night Laksh. Sweet Ragini dreams." Sanskar teased.
"Want me to shoot you Sanky?"
"Zippp! I'm asleep!"
***********************************
To be continued...
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~ 🌹 Mona 🌹