Finally!!! I'm here with an update!!! :)

Sorry for the extreme delay!!! I had personal commitments!!! :(

Hope you all will like this update!!! :D

Will try to update frequently but no promise!!! ;)

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Dedicating this part to @anish_17

Part – 43 (UNEDITED)

Madhu was in her dance class training her students and that's when Rk walked in there carrying Ruhi in his arms. As soon as Ruhi spotted her momma, she yelled "MAMA!" and the whole class turned their heads to her side and laughed.

"Linda, you assist them. I will be back in a couple of minutes" Madhu instructed to her assistant and jogged to Rk and Ruhi's side.

"How many times I told you not to shout like that, Ruhi?" Madhu scolded her daughter for always embarrassing her by being too loud.

"Papa and I saw the baby" Ruhi completely ignored her mom's scolding and said excitedly about meeting Sofia's son. "I love him" she clapped her hands in glee. "Soiee said I can play with him" she told her momma with a baby smile. "Right, papa?" she asked circling her arms around her daddy's neck.

"Right, darling" Rk pecked her cheek and set her down so that she can go and join the other kids practicing dance. "He is a cute boy" He said to Madhu with a smile.

"I told you, right?" Madhu grinned. "I will go see him and his mother this evening after my class gets over"

"Hmm... Madhu, we are conducting their engagement" Rk informed.

"Engagement? You mean your brother and Sofia's engagement?" Madhu asked in surprise.

"No, my sister and Vihaan's engagement" He corrected her and gave her a tight smile. She rolled her eyes. "Sofia and the baby will be staying with us till they get engaged"

"Cool" she said clasping her hands.

"Um, Madhu... Sofia said me the reason behind her baby's name 'Riaan'..."

"Riaan is a ship name of two brothers. 'Ri' from Rishab and 'aan' from Vihaan, right?" Madhu asked, winking. She'd already guessed that as soon as Sofia said the baby's name.

"Yeah" He shrugged.

"That's really thoughtful."

"She said she named her baby after the two men she loved the most in this world." Rk said with a bright smile feeling blissful. "I thought I meant nothing to her but now I know she sees me as her own brother and it warms me. She even asked me to give away her hand at wedding"

"Aww... That's really sweet of her, Rk." Madhu said placing her hand on his arm and rubbing it gently. "I hope through her you two brothers will form a bond"

"He is not my brother and I don't want to form a bond with him, Madhu" he snapped

"Why? When you can accept a complete stranger as your sister, why can't you accept Vihaan as your brother who is actually your half-brother?" Madhu questioned.

"I don't know why exactly... I just don't like him"

"What did he do to you, ever?"

"My despicable dad messed with Vihaan's mother and his father... I mean that Mehra Sr. messed with my mother. He took my mother away from me. I suffered. I committed mistakes. I lost everything. So I don't like Vihaan. Simple." Rk said hoping she would understand him.

"Your reason doesn't seem to be justifiable to me. I still don't get why you don't like Vihaan. He didn't do anything to you. He didn't hurt you. He didn't take your mom away from you. In fact he brought her back into your life."

"Why are you hell bent on making me like him?"

"Once, you hated love. You disrespected women. Why because you hated your mother then. And now, you hate your own brother because you hate your 'despicable dad'..." She air quoted the same words he used to describe his father.

Rk stared at her impassively waiting for her to come to the point.

"I don't want you to hate anyone because I know your hatred can be disastrous." She said looking straight into his eyes.

"You are telling me that, Madhu?" He asked sarcastically. You fucking hate me, girl! He thought.

"I don't hate you, Rk" Madhu said in a mere whisper as if hearing his mind voice.

"Yeah, you don't hate but you don't like me. You don't want to marry but you want me to stay with you. You know what? You send me mixed signals and I really get confused. I foolishly believe you are trying to forgive me...but no, you want only vengeance for what I did to you. You don't see that I am truly repenting and you are making me mad..."

"Rk, it's not like what you think..."

"Well" he closed his eyes and took a cleansing breathe. "For the one last time I am asking you this, Madhu and I won't ask this question ever again. What exactly you want from me?" he asked.

"Time" that was her reply.

"Time" He muttered the word softly as if testing it. "Still you give me that one stupid word 'Time'? Wah!" he chuckled. "It's been over a year since we met in the mall after our massive break-up, Madhu"

"Look, Rk, I told you I like you because I am seeing genuine changes in you and I want you to stay with me, nah, with us... because Ruhi needs you. You agreed to co-parent her, didn't you?"

"Yes, of course, I did and I feel that's what I am doing. I think I am taking care of my daughter pretty well but that's not what I am talking about now. I am not talking about Ruhi. I am talking about us. I want to know why you care for me. Why do you want me to build a relationship with that Vihaan kid?"

"I care for you, Rk"

"And that's exactly what I am asking, Madhu. WHY?"

"Because you are my friend. We agreed to be friends, right?"

Rk laughed, sarcastically. Madhu frowned in confusion.

"So you care for me as a friend?" He asked for confirmation. She nodded her head.

Why is she fooling herself? Why can't she accept that she has started feeling something beyond friendship for me? Is she scared that I will leave her again? How can I prove this to her that only my death can take me away from her? He thought.

"Alright, Madhu. I will think about your suggestion and try, at least, try to be cordial with Vihaan because I don't want to disappoint my dear friend" Rk said emphasizing the word 'Friend'

"And moreover, he is also going to be my sister's fiancé soon"

Madhu smiled.

"Now, can you please take care of Ruhi for a while? I have a friend coming to meet me" he said.

Who is this friend? Madhu momentarily had forgotten about Dipali's visit to the café to meet Rk.

Oh right! That director lady is coming.

Why he seems so excited to meet her?

Why did he ask me 'What about us?' question now? Did he want to know whether I have changed my mind and ready to give him a chance? Did he think of moving on if my reply was negative? Oh shit! I gave him a negative reply, didn't I?

I asked him to give me 'time' but I said 'we are friends'. God! My own words are confusing me. Madhu's mind raced with various conflicting thoughts.

"Madhu" Rk shook her shoulders to bring her out of her reverie.

"What?"

"I asked can you take care of Ruhi?"

"Yeah... Yeah, sure" she agreed.

"Great. Bye" Rk said and quickly turned on his heels and walked out of the dance room.

--0--

"Hey Hero" Dipali said stepping out of her car and hugging Rk in her tight embrace.

"Whoa! Dips, you look different." Rk held her at arm's length and assessed her body. She looked smoking hot in her black halter neck dress and black pumps. "Are you still a movie director or an actress?"

"Why?" Dipali asked biting her plum bottom lip.

"You look stunning yaar. A perfect heroine material you are, now"

"Really?" she beamed. "Well, I haven't thought about becoming a heroine till date but now I might think about it as I got your flattering comment" she winked making him laugh.

"C'mon, let's get in" he said and taking her hand in his, he led her into his café.

"Nice place" Dipali looked around the café taking off her coolers. "Hmm... Clear view to the Eiffel tower" she said walking closer to the floor to ceiling glass wall. "I better fix the shot here"

"Madhu says the view is more beautiful from our house because you get to see a wider view from that height."

"Oh that reminds me, how are your wife and daughter?"

"They are good" he smiled.

"Hmm"

"So how is life for you?" Rk asked conversationally as he signaled a waitress to come and take their orders. They quickly placed their orders to the waitress.

"I should be the one asking you that question. What are you doing here, Rk? Your life is there in India. Your fans are still waiting for your come back. Why you abruptly quit the industry?"

"You know why" he said with a casual shrug.

"You think I believed the lame excuse you gave to the media?"

"That's the truth, Dipali. I want to be with my family so I quit industry"

"You can be with your family even without quitting film industry. You know that right?"

"But this is what Ma..." he stopped himself from blurting out that Madhu wanted him to quit acting in films. "Um... This is what I want... This gives me happiness"

"Rk, you made a mistake there"

"I don't think so, Dipali"

"Yes, you did." She thumped her fist on the table noisily. "Firstly, you married that girl at such a young age. Now-a-days, which Actor in Bollywood gets married before 40 years? But you married her at what age? 26?" She shook her head disapprovingly. "Then you abandoned your wife when she was pregnant with your child. That's so inhuman" Rk lowered his head in shame. "And finally you quit industry when you were in the peak of your career and disappeared all of a sudden. That's a foolish move." She huffed. "Actually, what are you doing here, Rk? What you do for a living?"

"I manage this place"

"The Superstar Rk managing a small café? What a shame!" she smirked.

"Dipali!" Rk growled.

"Sorry" she raised her hands up as if surrendering. "I know I don't have any business in your affairs. I'm sorry"

"Now, you tell how's your life going?"

"Good. Did you see my latest movie 'Long Drive'?" Dipali asked excitedly.

"No! I didn't want to tempt myself or miss cinema industry so I completely quit watching movies and reading cinema news..." He said nonchalantly. Dipali gaped at him, open mouthed. 'The man who lived and breathed for acting in movies is no more watching movies?' she was astonished with his statement. "...but I can make a guess..." his words brought her back from her thoughts. "...It's yet again a heroine centric movie, right?"

"Oh, well, you got it right. It surprisingly did well in the box office"

"You can trade your movies easily with your name, Dipali" he said with a wink. She was one successful director and so far all her movies were appreciated by the audience.

"Actually, I traded in your name, so far, Rk" Dipali and Rk had worked together for half a dozen of movies and all were Blockbuster movies.

They were one 'Hit' combo in the industry.

"Credits to your strong script"

"Credits to your acting, Rk. You gave life to my imaginary characters"

"Alright! We both made good money with our hard work and that's what matters now." Rk laughed.

"Will we ever work again, Rk?" Dipali asked hopefully.

"No!" Rk said after a brief pause. Dipali sighed in disappointment.

"When are you planning to get married?" he asked to change the topic.

"Don't know" she shrugged.

"Dating someone?"

"Not really. I'm actually waiting for someone" she said looking into his eyes.

"Who?"

"You" she said with a small smile.

Rk burst out laughing. "You can't be serious, Dipali"

"Yes, I am serious. I never thought you would secretly marry a girl and have a kid with her." Dipali said feeling a little melancholy. "I thought of proposing you at the right time but before that boom! You left the industry and flew away to Paris"

"Dipali, I never knew you had feelings for me... I'm sorry... but you should move on. I'm happy with my Madhu..."

"I know. You wouldn't have kissed 'goodbye' to your acting career if Madhu and your daughter meant nothing to you. You love them and I can see that. You are no more the Arrogant Superstar Rk I knew. You are now a simple and sweet husband and daddy!"

"Then why are you waiting for me?"

"Don't know why, exactly! Maybe, hoping you will divorce her, one day" she said, jokingly and laughed.

"That will never happen, Dipali" Rk said, confidently. To divorce Madhu, I should be married to her in the first place! He thought with a humorless chuckle.

"Good. Now, tell me about your daughter. How old is she? Do you have a picture of hers?"

"Ruhi, my daughter, she is such a darling. She is two and half years old but already talks non-stop, just like her daddy." He said with a proud grin "And of course I do have lots of pictures of her in my phone but I won't show you"

"Why?" Dipali pouted.

"I won't show you her photo but I will show you her in person. Come" he stood up and held out his hand for her to take. She stood up and elegantly walked around the table and took his hand.

"Madhu's dance school is in the third floor and our house is in the fourth floor"

"I see"

"Ruhi is now in the dance school with her momma. She loves dancing just like Madhu"

"Oh really?" Dipali eyes lit up in delight. Rk guided Dipali to the dance room and pushed open the door and let Dipali to step in first.

He looked around the room, his eyes searching for his little girl and finally found her sitting at one corner sipping her milk from her bottle.

"Ruhi, come here" he softly called and also gestured with his hand and she came running to her daddy holding her bottle securely in her hands.

"Papa" Ruhi smiled showing her cute dimples. Rk scooped her up in his arms and soundly kissed her cheek.

"Dipali, meet my..." he turned to her side but she had moved closer to the stage where Madhu was dancing.

"Dipali" Rk walked to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Is that your wife?" Dipali asked in astonishment, pointing her finger to Madhu.

Dipali had seen Madhu a couple of times in Rk's mansion whenever she had come there to discuss about the movie they were working together then and at that time she saw Madhu as a silly little girl fooling around with the superstar but now? She was seeing a strikingly attractive and skillful woman.

"No, she is my mama" Ruhi chipped in, cupping her bottle closer to her chest.

"Meet my daughter, Ruhi Kundra"

"She is so beautiful... looking like a living painting" Dipali whispered, her eyes transfixed on Madhu.

"I know right" Rk thought Dipali was referring to his daughter so he smiled and kissed Ruhi's head as his chest swelled in pride.

"I want her to act in my next movie"

"I don't want to spoil my daughter's innocence by exposing her to the film industry at this tender age, Dipali" Rk roared angrily.

"No, No, No! I am not talking about your daughter" she turned to Rk's side and that's when she acknowledged Ruhi's presence. "Hey cutie pie" Dipali gently pinched Ruhi's chubby cheek. Ruhi pushed her hand away, angrily.

"I don't like her, papa" Ruhi said with her pouty lips, getting pissed at Dipali for ignoring her for this long. No one has ever done that to Ruhi! She has always grabbed everyone's attention in a blink and become their instant favorite but now? She felt insulted so she didn't like Dipali! Period!

Rk chuckled thinking how brutally honest his little girl was!

Dipali laughed and said "But I love you, bambina (baby in Italian)"

... To be continued!

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