Seven years later
It was a busy day at the supermarket; Sundays were bad with everyone purchasing their groceries on a Sunday. Madhu mechanically starts billing up the items as quickly and as efficiently as she could.
"20, ma'm." Madhu tells the lady.
The lady starts taking the money while Madhu filled her purchases into the plastic covers quickly. As the lady left the other customer in the queue moves up.
"Hi."
Madhu looks up in shock to see Rishabh Kundra waiting with a smile on his face. As she stared at the man who had ruined her life smiling at her, he says, "I know... I have this effect on girls."
Quickly recovering Madhu starts to take his items to bill and there was only one item. A packet of condoms. As she fought the furious tears that threatened to spill, she quickly scans it and looks up at him when he passes her his debit card. Then he starts frowning at her, "You look familiar. Have we met before?"
He didn't even remember her!!! How could he ruin her life and not remember her? In that instance she hated him like she had never hated anyone. "This is cash only counter." Madhu replies.
"Come on... there are long queues in the other counter." RK says in that charming way. "By the way what is your name?"
"You will have to stand in the queue, sir if you don't have change."
RK looks at her name tag and says with a flirty smile, "Just swipe me, Madhubala."
"I can't."
"If you don't have money then move, we don't have all day." An angry customer says from behind him.
"They are getting upset." RK tells Madhu.
"Then go to another counter, sir."
RK ties his hand at his chest and says, "I am not going anywhere till you swipe my card. I have the whole day."
"Whole day?" Madhu asks him sarcastically and then pointedly looks at the packet of condom.
"Hot date, tonight." RK tells her with a wink and a smirk.
Madhu's eyes fill up with tears hearing that. She had been struggling and doing two jobs to bring food to their table while he was enjoying his life to the fullest.
Seeing her eyes fill up with tears RK's smirk drops as he curiously looks at her, "Where the hell have we met before?"
"Stop wasting everyone's time and just give me 100."
"I don't have cash with me." RK tells her.
"Then please go to the other counter."
"No." RK replies stubbornly.
"Why is this taking time?" a furious customer shouts from behind the line.
"Sir, please. You are creating a scene."
"Swipe me and I'll go."
"I don't have a swiping machine."
"You can swipe it in another counter."
"That is not how it is done here!" Madhu tells him furiously.
"I don't care. And why are you avoiding my question. Where have we met before?"
Madhu furiously glares at him and he stares at her. Madhu turns to the mic and says, "Calling security to counter 1."
A minute later, few securities come to the counter. Madhu tells them, "He is creating problems and is a nuisance to other customers."
"Please come this way, sir." a security tells RK as he authoritatively held his hand.
"Don't touch me!" RK says furiously while they led him out. RK turns to look at Madhu and she smirks at him proudly.
Four hours later, Madhu walks out of the supermarket after her shift. She was about to turn to the parking lot to cut through the fence to get to her second job at the diner as a waitress when she spots RK leaning near a car furiously looking at her. She ignores him and starts to walk off when he was suddenly near her blocking her way.
"I didn't wait here four hours to watch you walk away." RK furiously tells her.
"Get out of my way."
"You insulted me!" RK says furiously.
"That is what you get for being a pain in the ass."
RK furiously grips her arms, "You don't know who I am. If I want I can buy your whole fucking supermarket, just like that." RK says snapping his fingers.
"Yet you got thrown out." Madhu smirks.
"Don't mess with me. You won't know what hit you."
"What do you want?" Madhu asks him tiredly. "What can you possibly do to me?"
"I'll ruin your life."
"I am asking you again, what can you possibly do to me that you haven't done before?" Madhu asks him furiously.
"What do you mean?" RK asks her frowning.
"You ruined my life once, but still I am living. There isn't anything that you can do that will hurt me, now." Madhu tells him with angry tears.
RK leaves her hand and steps back. "Who are you? Where have I seen you before? We know each other. Don't we?"
"I know you, Rishabh Kundra. I was never important enough for you to know me." Madhu tells him and starts to walk off when he holds her hand.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Let go off me."
"Answer me, dammit!" RK says furiously.
"Leave my hand." Madhu struggles as she furiously tells him.
"Struggle all you want. I am stronger than you so I am not going to leave you till you answer me."
Madhu stops still as she glared at him. "You might be stronger than me." then bending her knees she hits him on his crotch. RK falls down howling in pain. "But I have knees and all you have are balls, you dog."
RK drives into the chawl and looks at the place in disgust. How could someone live here? He checks the address again and confirms this is the place the supermarket manager told him Madhubala lived. As he got out of the car he hears a loud quarrelling, he ignores the fighting kids and starts to walk towards Madhubala's house when he hears a loud sound as if glass was breaking and he turns back to the sound curiously and stands in shock seeing a huge crack running across the front glass of his car. Today was definitely not his day. He furiously turns to look at the kids and both the boys were staring at his car, it was dark but he could see their eyes bulging out in shock and fear. Then they slowly turned to look at him.
"He threw the stone." A boy accuses the other pointing at him.
RK furiously turns to look at the boy. He couldn't see the boy's face but he could clearly see the kid was trembling in fear. Good. RK walks towards him.
"Did you throw that stone?"
"I was throwing it at him." the kid replied in panic.
RK holds his ears and twists it, "Hasn't anyone told you not to throw things at others?"
The kid screams out in pain while the other kid giggled happily.
"Hasn't your father taught you to behave?"
"He doesn't have a father." the other kid sneers.
"I HAVE A PAPA!" the kid furiously tells him.
"Then who is he? Where is he?" the other taunts him.
RK watches as the kid's lips start trembling as he stared at the other kid then pushing his hand off him, the kid runs away while the other one laughed at him.
God! What kind of people lived in this place? RK turns to look at his car and sighs. Forget repairing the glass, that kid's mother could not even dream of a car this expensive. Furiously he takes out his mobile to call the service center when he realizes there was no range. What kind of dump is this? RK wonders as he furiously walked out to make the call.
Madhu walks into her one room apartment tired after the hectic day at work. Work at the supermarket and the diner were really tiring and to top it off she had met Rishabh Kundra after seven years. Now looking at him she wondered what did she see in him? What was so great about him that she was so madly in love with him that she threw away her life for him? Deciding to forget him, he had no place in their life anymore. Madhu starts to heat up the food at the same time starts cooking for the next day. Hearing the knock at the door, Madhu shouts out, "Preethi, the door is open." She has to pay Preethi for the baby sitting and now that the schools were starting she has shopping to do. She needs to ask for advance salary from the supermarket.
The door opens and Madhu looks up with a smile and stops in shock seeing RK in front of her.
"What are you doing here?" Madhu asks furiously as she turned off the gas.
"I am here for answers. You say I ruined your life and I want to know how."
"MAMA!" a girl comes running in from behind him happily.
The blood drains from Madhu's face as their daughter came running in. seeing Madhu going pale RK looks at the girl who looked about 6 years. The girl hugs Madhu happily. "Mama, that Arun tried to steal my doll. He took it and ran away, I tried going behind him but Priya Didi stopped me. But Ayush got it for me." the girl excitedly tells her while Madhu stared at RK. He was looking at her in shock. She could understand what was going through his head then, he was wondering whether Ayusha was his daughter. He had slept with a lot of women that he couldn't even be sure whether he had slept with her. "You disgust me, Rishabh Kundra." Madhu couldn't hold in her disgust.
RK looks at her in shock as he still wondered whether the girl could be his daughter.
"Who is this, mama?" Ayusha asks her curiously.
"You go inside. Where is Ayush?" Madhu asks her.
Ayusha points behind RK and RK turns back to look behind him. There stood a boy about the same age. Seeing the boy he knew that he is a father. The boy was a spitting image of his. RK stared at Ayush as Ayush peeked at Madhubala.
"Ayush, come here." Madhu gently tells him.
RK was about to touch Ayush to see if he was for real or whether he was dreaming when Ayush walks around him and hesitantly goes to his mother. Seeing her son so dirty, Madhu gasps loudly. "What were you doing, Ayush?"
"I told you, Mama. Arun stole my doll and Ayush got it from him."
"Did you pick a fight, Ayush?" Madhu asks him angrily.
"He stole my doll, Mama." Ayusha tells her again.
"That doesn't mean you can pick a fight. How many times do I have to tell you not to fight with others? If he took her doll you should have told either Preethi or me." Madhu says furiously.
"Stop screaming at him, Mama!" Ayusha scolds her mother upset.
Madhu looks at her daughter tiredly as she rebelliously glared at her. Madhu sighs, "Go inside both of you. Take a shower. Dinner will be ready in 5 minutes." Her kids were so rebellious it was becoming difficult controlling them. As Ayush walked past her she sees his ears red and stops him. "Ayush, why is your ear red?"
RK's heart drops to the pit of his stomach hearing that question. He steps closer to look at Ayush. That boy was of Ayush's height. Did I hurt my own son? For a stupid car?
"I accidently threw a stone at a man's car and broke the glass. So he twisted my ears."
"WHO WAS THAT?" Madhu asks furiously. "WHO DARE TO HURT MY SON?"
"It was dark; I didn't see his face properly." Ayush replies while RK's chest closed up seeing how red Ayush's ear was.
"Okay, you go inside." Madhu tells him tired then suddenly asks confused, "Why were you throwing stones?"
"I was throwing it at Arun."
"What is wrong with you, Ayush? What if Arun got hurt?" Madhu asks him defeated at her son.
"Stop it, Mama!" Ayusha says upset hands on hips and stomping her foot on the ground. "He is already hurt and upset."
Madhu runs her hands through her hair not knowing how to handle her kids. She was such a failure. Madhu closes her eyes as tears stung her eyes. Suddenly Ayush hugs her, "Sorry, Mama. That is Ayusha's only toy."
Madhu opens her eyes and looks at her son looking at her guiltily. She sighs and cupping his face she says gently, "I am happy that you are looking out for each other but remember you are not going to get anything by hurting others, my baby."
"When I get angry, I forget everything." Ayush tells her helplessly.
Madhu hugs him and gently consoles him as she looked at RK, "It is something in your blood, Ayush. You both should learn to control it. That is why I ask you to calmly count when you get angry."
"Sorry, Mama." Ayusha tells her as she also hugged Madhu over Ayush.
"It's okay. Now both of you go and have your bath." Madhu tells them.
Madhu closes the bedroom door after they went inside and turns to look at RK. He was furiously glaring at her.
"Why are you still here?" Madhu asks him tired.
RK furiously marches to her and grips her arms and asks her, "Why didn't you tell me? Why did you keep them away from me?"
Madhu winces in pain as his nail dug into her skin. "When should I have told you? How should have I told you? When you refused to talk to me or when you absconded after abandoning me at the mandap?" Madhu asks him furiously.
RK looks at her in shock as he finally recognized her. He steps back in shock as he whispered, "Madhu?"
"Finally remembered me?" Madhu asks him furiously.
"You were pregnant?" RK asks her in shock.
"That is why I told my parents about that one night. It was not to trap you into marrying me. I loved you. I could never have hurt you by forcing myself into your life like that if it wasn't for my babies!" Madhu tells him as tears filled her eyes.
"I didn't know." RK whispers.
"I know."
"I was just 21 then... I couldn't think of getting married and your father threatened to send me to jail. I just didn't know what to do. So when my parents told me to go away for a while I did."
"Leaving me at the mandap."
"I didn't know..." RK repeats helplessly.
"If you were man enough to come and tell me that you are not going to turn up at the wedding, I would have told you. I never wanted to hide it from you. I tried telling you."
"I should have tried talking to you..." RK says as he realized belatedly. "I knew you from school... you were not a gold digger but when my friends said you were trying to trap me for money, I just..."
Madhu tiredly says, "It doesn't matter now. Please go. They have school tomorrow. I have work. It's really late. Please go."
"Madhu..." RK says her name helplessly as he held her hand.
"Don't touch me." Madhu says irately as she stepped back. "Please leave. It is very disturbing seeing you."
"How can I go?" RK asks her in shock.
"What do you mean?" Madhu asks him in shock.
"They are my children, and you are..."
"They are your children and I am the mother of your children, but you have no place in our life now. We have built a life without you." Madhu tells him calmly.
Nothing had hurt RK as much as hearing that. "I want to do the right thing for them and you."
"You had a chance and you ruined that. Just leave, Rishabh."
"You are coming with me." RK tells her sternly.
"Have you gone out of your mind? Do you think I would let you back into our lives?"
"I didn't know about them then, but now I do."
"It doesn't matter."
"It matters!" RK says furiously. "I won't have my children crying because someone asked them who their father is."
"What do you mean by that?"
"That kid was taunting Ayush about not knowing his father." RK explains sadly thinking of the pain Ayush and Ayusha had to go through because they didn't know who their father is. Then he looks at Madhu and realizes that she might have had it worse being an unwed mother.
"How do you know that?" Madhu asks him suspiciously.
"It was me." RK explains guiltily.
Madhu furiously slaps RK, "Who gave you the right to hurt my son?"
"I didn't know, Madhu."
"That doesn't give you right to hurt anybody's child." Madhu furiously tells him.
"I know." RK whispers as he looks down.
Sighing loudly Madhu says "Go, Rishabh. Didn't you have a hot date today?"
"Madhu, they are our children!"
"Stop torturing me, Rishabh. Please go. Enjoy your life and forget about us."
"You are marrying me, Madhu!" RK furiously tells her.
"You are mad." Madhu says furiously.
Madhu hears the door opening and turns to look at Ayusha and Ayush coming out in their night clothes.
"What is for dinner?" Ayusha asks as she excitedly ran to check then her face falls and asks "Why always vegetables?"
"Because vegetables are healthy." Ayush tells her and runs to the window to look out.
"I hate vegetables." Ayusha says making faces.
"Even I hate them." RK says as he walked towards her.
"What are you doing?" Madhu asks him in a furious whisper.
"Getting to know my daughter." RK replies and walks towards Ayusha.
Ayusha smiles at RK and says, "Mama and Ayush are always eating vegetables. It is yuck."
"Ayush likes vegetables?" RK asks curiously.
"He loves them. He and Mama have same taste." Ayusha tells him smiling.
"What about you?" RK asks her as he knelt down to her level.
"I..." Ayusha hesitates for a few seconds and then says, "I have different taste."
"Like your Papa?"
"Rishabh!" Madhu says furiously.
"What's with this Rishabh... Rishabh? You used to call me RK, call me RK."
"You know our Papa?" Ayusha asks with eyes wide.
"HIYAA! Spiderman is here!" Ayush shouts excitedly as he runs out.
"YAAAY!" Ayusha also screams out excitedly as she runs behinds him leaving RK alone with Madhu.
"What are you trying to do?" Madhu asks him furiously.
"I'm claiming what is mine."
"My children are not yours."
"They are. So are you." RK tells her.
"What? Where did I come from?" Madhu asks him shocked.
"You come with them. It is a package deal." RK says shrugging.
Madhu looks at him in outrage and then asks "after what you did to me, do you think I would let you come near them? To hurt them like you hurt me?"
"I didn't know you were pregnant then." RK argues.
"You never tried to find out." Madhu accuses him.
RK sighs loudly and asks her calmly, "Can we just start over, Madhu?"
"No." Madhu replies.
RK starts glaring at her and Madhu glares right back at him. They were glaring at each other, each not willing to back down when "Hello Madhu."
They both turn to look at the voice to see a young man with Ayush and Ayusha clinging on him.
"Who is this?" he asks as he looked at RK. Then he stops in shock as he took in the very familiar features and turns to look at Ayush in shock.
"Leave." Madhu furiously whispers to RK.
"Who is he?" RK asks frowning though his heart started slamming against his chest. He had failed to consider that Madhu could have married in these seven years or started seeing other people.
"None of your concern." Madhu replies.
"What is he doing here?" the man asks Madhu.
"Later." Madhu gently tells him and turns to look at RK expecting him to leave.
"I am not going anywhere." RK replies stubbornly.
"Who is he, Mama?" Ayusha asks as she walked to RK to talk to him.
"I'll tell you later. Let's have dinner now." Madhu tells her. "We are going to have dinner." Madhu tells RK hoping he would leave.
"Great. Even I am hungry." RK replies as he sweetly smiled at her.
"It's vegetables." Ayusha whispers to him. "You hate vegetables, right? Mama doesn't let us waste."
"I'll manage." RK tells her smiling as he gently caressed her cheeks.
Ayusha giggles. "Then come." She says as she held his hand and led him to the kitchen counter.
After dinner, Madhu was cleaning up the plates while Ayush talked to the other man and RK talked to Ayusha though his gaze kept shifting to Madhu and Ayush. He didn't like that Ayush was paying so much attention to some other man, and RK still didn't know who the other man was.
"It's time for bed." Madhu announces while Ayusha and Ayush moans in protest.
Ayush and Ayusha start to walk towards the bedroom when Ayush stops and turns to look at the other man. Then he walks to him and hesitantly asks him, "Spiderman..."
"Yes, Ayush?"
"Can Ayusha and I call you Papa?" Ayush asks him very hopefully.
RK's heart stops beating hearing that question as he stared at Ayush.
"Ayush..." Madhu hesitantly starts as she darted quick glances at RK and the other man.
"Everyone makes fun of us because we don't know who our Papa is."Ayush informs her and then turns to look at the other man expectantly.
"Please Spiderman." Ayusha sweetly smiles at him and he looks at Madhu waiting for her to say something.
Before Madhu could say anything RK pleads her "Madhu... please." Madhu looks at RK confused and he adds, "Please don't punish them for my mistakes."
Seeing the pain in RK's eyes, taking a deep breath, Madhu turns to the other man and hitting the death nail on RK's coffin she addresses him, "Ayushman..."
"Ayushman?" RK asks her shocked. "You named them after him?"
"Yes." Madhu replies as she looked at RK. "He was there for me when I had no one."
RK looks away as he wondered what kind of relation Madhu had with this man. Did she love him? And why is that hurting me?
Precap
It was a strange feeling, more than fatherly he felt special in that moment and only one person had ever made him feel special in his whole life.
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- Lazy