Tangled hearts in love

Chapter 2 - Fire meets Water

The sun's rays slowly entered the train compartment. Ajay's eyes slowly opened, and he noticed Uma, who was busy observing the sun deeply. Thirteen years of their lives were in the dark. The sunlight's warmth gave them happiness. Uma was mesmerized by seeing the sun.

Ajay remembered the event that had happened last night. He immediately took the visiting card from his pocket that Riddhima had given him. Staring at the visiting card for a few minutes, he understood why the name was so familiar to him. He tried to recollect the person’s face, but he couldn’t.

After six hours of travel, the train reached the Satara railway station. But the entire railway station was quiet as a calm before the storm. The couple realized something was wrong. Twenty men wearing black suits were standing in the railway station with an equal number of gaps between them. The train halted at the railway station.

When the couple peered out the window and saw the twenty men standing at the railway station, they realized their plan to flee him had failed yet again. Ajay quickly shreds the visiting card and throws it on the floor. The couple didn’t know what to do. They kept their eyes away from them by gazing down so as not to see them.

A man who is the head of the twenty men came and stood in front of them. They slowly got up from their place. That man tugged on Ajay’s arm and came out of the railway station. The couple was pushed into the backseat of a car.

After four hours of travel, the couple again reached their hell, where they have been caged for the past 13 years. The man pulled the couple out of the car and pushed them into a cell by closing the gate. That man took the key from his pocket and locked the cell.

Uma was scared because she knew what was going to happen after a few minutes. She closed her eyes to get some peace. Ajay was highly disappointed because this time, too, their escape plan had become a failure again. After 15 minutes, the cell was unlocked by the same man who had locked it a few minutes earlier. That man moved back to give his way to his boss.

"BOSS, we found them. Both are inside the cell. " Reported the man by bowing his head in front of his boss. He sighed to his assistant and entered the cell.

From his shoes' sounds, Uma identified who it was. She opened her eyes to see a man in a royal dark blue blazer standing in front of her, enraged. 29 years ago, she carried this same man in her arms with Ajay. Remembering that beautiful moment, the corner of her eyes was filled with tears. Ajay refused to look up at the man, each time he was ready to humiliate them both. So he remained silent by gazing at the ground. That man came and raised the chin of Ajay.

"131 times! You both tried to escape from this cell. But not even once have you both succeeded in escaping from me. Again, your mission became a failure. I won this time also." yelled the man, clenching Ajay’s chin.

"Angre, Splash the cold water on them. " Growled the man by looking at his assistant.

Angre and his men started to splash water on the old couple as ordered by their boss. The sound of the couple's teeth chattering could be heard. With a sneer on his face, the man who was supposed to execute the punishment was observing the action of his assistant. Again, Angre brought some cold water with a lot of ice on it to splash the water bucket on the couple.

The lady screamed with a high tone, "Vansh, please stop it... please..."

That man's temper went high after hearing his name from Uma’s mouth. He immediately clenched the jaw, which gave her more pain.

"How can you call me by my name? I am Vansh Raisinghania, the leader of the fire clan. I am soon going to be the leader of the entire mafia world in Mumbai. Address me as "SIR" or "MASTER". Do you understand? "warned Vansh by spitting words at his mother.

Uma couldn’t control her tears, which were flowing from her eyes. The pain given by his son broke her heart into pieces.

Vansh noticed a dupatta over the handcuffs. He removed it. Then he noticed Uma’s hand, which was in a fist. He held her wrist tightly and tried to open her hands. Somehow, he opened it and noticed a 2000 rupees in her hand. After examining the money, he was completely lost in his thoughts.

He glanced at Uma and Ajay. His deadly glare made Ajay tell him, "A stranger helped us escape from Mumbai to Bangalore."

"Don’t worry, the stranger will be killed in front of your eyes within the next 24 hours for helping you both." Thundered Vansh by punching the wall.

He quickly came out of the cell by holding the dupatta and 2000 rupees in his hand. He was astonished by the sudden stranger who helped his dad and mom after 13 years of imprisonment by him. He ordered Angre, his assistant, to find the details about the stranger.

After an hour, Angre came with the stranger's details in front of his boss, who was busy reading the documents. He played the CCTV footage, where the girl’s side view was visible, but her face was not.

"Boss, this girl wearing an orange dupatta and carrying a blue rucksack travel bag has helped Ajay and Uma escape from Mumbai. Her name is Riddhima. From her train ticket booking, we got this information. "

"Angre, do you know about her surname?" inquired Vansh by zooming in on the girl’s image and the rucksack travel bag.

"No, boss. We couldn’t get any further information about that girl, but soon we will find out about her family details. But we don’t have any idea how to proceed further. "

"Look at her rucksack travel bag, which has a Caduceus symbol and a heartbeat stethoscope symbol on it. This girl must be a doctor or a medical student. Have a look at the social media pages to find out about this girl. " Angre nodded his head.

Angre begins to scroll on his phone. He finally got the profile of Riddhima by examining lots of profiles.

"Boss, she is currently pursuing her MBBS at a reputed medical college in Mumbai. I will call the college management and let you know where she is," told Angre.

"I need all the information about her soon," demanded Vansh, clenching his fist.

Angre got the information about that strange girl’s current location from the college management authorities by using Vansh’s power. Vansh told him that he wanted to meet her immediately.

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“Riddhima, have you completed your assignment?” asked Sejal, Riddhima’s best friend walking in the hospital corridor with Riddhima. Riddhima didn’t listen to her friend’s statement. She was worried after getting the message that the couple didn’t reach Bangalore from her Shankar uncle.

Sejal snapped her finger to bring her back to reality. Riddhima looked confused, suddenly a huge sound was heard from the nearby room. People from the different rooms came rushing through the hospital corridor.

Riddhima and Sejal enquired of the nurse why people were screaming and running from one place to another. From the nurse, they got to know that due to an electrical accident effect, the fire had started to spread all over the building. Sejal pulled Riddhima towards the outside gate of the hospital, but she refused to come out.

Her mind went back to her childhood days. She was even ready to sacrifice her life to save others from the fire accident. No one should experience the same pain that she had undergone in her childhood days.

She pushed Sejal outside the hospital gate and started to help the patient to get out of the hospital. She heard a screaming sound of a kid from the left side room.

Sejal was sobbing out loud by shouting Riddhima’s name. Sejal realized someone placing a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to notice two men standing behind her. One was wearing a black coat and another was wearing the royal dark blue blazer.

“What happened to Riddhima?” asked the man wearing a black coat.

“Riddhima went inside the hospital to save the life of the patients from the fire accident.” Exclaimed Sejal.

Hearing her words, both were standing calmly with no expression on their face.

“I need that girl alive, Angre,” whispered Vansh.

“Boss, I will call the fire engine immediately”

Vansh noticed a kid coming out of the fire-covered hospital building running to save his life. The kid was crying after coming out of the fire-covered hospital building safely. The kid was still gazing at the fire building. His parents lifted the kid in their arms. But the kid refused to stop crying.

He pointed his index finger towards the direction of a window. Vansh observed the direction and found a girl struggling to come out from the fire.

Suddenly, his heartbeat was rising fast after seeing the incident through the window. He quickly went inside the fire-covered hospital building. The room was covered with red and yellow flames.

A line of fire was between that girl and him. He jumped to the other side to save the girl. Riddhima was chuckling out loud amidst the fire covered in the room. When she was spinning around herself to escape from the fire, she was astonished to find someone coming towards her. She realized that must be the god of death who has come to take her soul from his earth.

Riddhima was staring at the man who is 6 feet and 2-inch-tall. She rubbed her eyes and understood that the man had come to save her from the fire-covered room. She considered that man must be a superhero from the marvel universe.

Vansh was glancing at her from top to bottom. Her magnetic eyes were enough to pull him towards her. He was admiring her doe-shaped nose and cherry-colored lips. Her entire face was glowing in red and yellow color due to the fire flames. But the only thing which irritated him was, the way she was laughing like a mad inside the fire-covered room.

Suddenly the laughing Riddhima started to cough loudly due to the smoke created by fire, Vansh slowly came near her to hold her wrist. But within a second she went to unconscious mood and collided in his chest. Vansh patted her cheeks to bring her consciousness. She didn’t wake up, he carried her in his arms, he tried to escape from all the four directions, the path he came inside also became a dangerous one to exit. He heard a fire engine alarm sound outside the building.

Angre entered the room with the fire engine crew and sprayed water all over the place. Vansh emerged from the fire, tenderly holding her in his arms. Riddhima was murmuring something to himself in her slumber. “My dear superhero….... why didn’t…. you come before 13 years to save my family like this?”

Vansh couldn’t understand her statement. He dropped her on Sejal’s lap, he was about to move from that place but he was tugged by something. He glanced at her chain tangled with his shirt button.

He removed her chain from his shirt button. Again, He realized someone was tugging his pant. He noticed a kid tugging his pant, he understood the kid wants to talk with him. He kneels to the kid's height and the kid kissed his cheeks. He was calm and composed after receiving the kiss from the kid.

Vansh went near his assistant who was shocked after looking at his phone.

“Boss, we have got some information regarding this girl.”

Vansh asked him to proceed by both walking a little far away from others.

“Boss, this was the same girl who helped Ajay and Uma to escape from Mumbai to Bangalore from another CCTV footage, we got a clear view of her. Her full name is Riddhima Malhotra. She also belongs to a mafia clan in Mumbai.”

“Interesting, Angre. Do you know which clan she belongs to?” he inquired.

“She belongs to the Water clan. Her father’s name is Rishi Malhotra. Her parents died when she was eight years old. She is currently living with her uncle’s family in Mumbai and pursuing her MBBS degree.” Angre’s reply made Vansh end up with astonishment.

“Fire and water clan are enemies for so many years. The water clan's motive was to destroy the fire clan. But how did a water clan member help a couple in fire clan?” Vansh's thoughts came to an end when Angre interrupted by calling him.

“Boss, there is also another information regarding this girl. This girl is going to marry Kabir Sharma, who is the Air clan leader within this week. But her family members had hidden the information about her marriage with Kabir till now to her. I got this information from Panchamahabutas of Air clan.” Informed Angre.

Vansh smirked, looking at Riddhima a little far away from them.

“We don’t need to kill her. Marriage with Kabir is equal to death. He will torture her daily and give her the pain that I want to give to her. Let’s go to the mansion.” He said, walking towards his car.

Sejal was splitting the water drops on her face to bring Riddhima to reality. Riddhima woke up slowly and realized she was in the Sejal lap. She quickly came back to her normal sitting position. The kid came near her and kissed her cheeks.

“She saved my life.” told the kid with a soft tone.

The parents of the kid joined their hands in front of her and thanked her. Riddhima couldn’t speak due to the smoke of the fire. She made a grin towards them. Riddhima’s head were rotating 180 degrees to find the person who helped her from the danger. Sejal realized who Riddhima’s eyes were searching for.

“He saved your life.” said the Sejal pointing her index finger towards the parking lot. Riddhima was disappointed that she couldn’t thank the person who saved her from the danger.

What would Riddhima's reaction be if she found out about Kabir's secret marriage with her?