For anyone who forgot - Purab was the one who was obsessed with Ragini when they were in Pune 2 years ago. However, when she didn't accept him, he tried to kill her as he thinks that if he can't have her, no one can.

Onwards!!!

"Words in double quotes" - Talking

'Words in single quotes' - Thoughts

(Words in braces) - Telephone conversations

Chapter 6 -  Finally Found You

Shekhar explained everything to them. However, there was still the confusion of who called Ragini home? They assumed that it was Purab who somehow faked Shekhar's voice and lied to Ragini.

They wanted to go find Ragini, but they didn't have a clue where to start. Shekhar hoped that Ragini wasn't kidnapped, but was visiting a friend, although he knew that it was unlikely as she would have told him. Still, he had called all her friends, but no one knew anything of her.

#5pm Maheshwari Mansion#

*phone ringing*

It was officer calling. Shekhar put the phone on speaker "Hello Manish. Did you find her?"

(I'm sorry Shekhar. We haven't found her, but we know where Purab is staying. He is in Lotus Hotel)

"Then he must have Ragini with him! Search the place."

(We did, but we couldn't find anything. I think he has Ragini hidden somewhere else)

"Ask him! Beat him up if he doesn't speak up. Do anything but make him speak Manish"

(We can't Shekhar. His father had already informed the DCP and he has restricted us from going near Purab without solid proof. Our hands are tied)

"I can't believe it. Fine! I'll find her myself" with that Shekhar cut off the call, angrily.

"He must have hid her somewhere near. Where he would be able to keep an eye on her without getting caught" concluded Sanskar

"You'r right. But where could he have hidden her? Do you have a map of the town?"

"I do. Be right back" Sanskar went up the stairs to retrieve the map. He came down with it and laid it on the table.

"This is Lotus hotel. There is the park to the north. The stadium in the south"

"The stadium is under renovation. Do you think he has hidden her there?" asked Laksh

"No. Kids and teens still go play sometimes. He wouldn't risk it"

"There! In the east. Look its warehouse. I'm positive Ragini is there."

"You're right. I'll call Manish to bring his officers there. We would need some back up." Shekhar took out his phone

"And maybe we can catch Purab red handed. No DCP can defend him then! Lets go." Laksh said moving towards the door.

"Go? You all stay here. I'll go with the police"

"I'm going. No one dare to stop me."

"No you're not. I don't want to endanger your lives."

"It was my responsibility to keep her safe while she stayed with the Maheshwaris. So, I'm going" Sanskar said with determination.

"She is my friend. I'm going too!" Swara exclaimed 'And my about to be sister-in-law too'

"You kids don't understand! Why do--Where are your parents. Why are they not coming to stop you?"

"Our parents had left to visit Masi. They won't be home for a week. And even if they were here, they would tell us to go and do what s right!"

"I.... Why are you insisting so much? I care because I'm her father. Why do you care so much?"

"Because I lost her once because of fate, twice because of my foolishness. But I refuse to lose her again!" with that Laksh stormed out of the door.

Shekhar looked at Laksh's retreating back shocked. He turned to Sanskar for answers.

Sanskar rubbed a hand over his face and sighed "I'll explain everything on the car. Lets go"

Shekhar nodded and moved forward, followed by Sanskar and Swara.

#Warehouse#

Shekhar saw Purab's car parked outside, which confirmed their suspicions about Ragini being there.

"Lets go inside" Laksh was about to open the rusty gate, but Sanskar held him back.

"No Lucky. We need back up. Who knows how many goons are there. Wait for the police to arrive."

"And give him more time to plan an escape and take Ragini elsewhwere? No way bhai. I'm going"

"Listen to your brother Laksh. We might cause more harm then good by rushing in. Purab may try to shoot her again like before." said Shekhar. Sanskar explained everything to him. He now knew why Laksh was so determined to save Ragini. He loved her.

Whenever Shekhar had told Ragini to think of marriage, she had always told him that she won't marry anyone until she finds Lak. He called her silly and foolish for hoping to find someone she has no idea how to find. They often had arguments over the topic. But now he knows that he was wrong in not trusting her. She always said that she felt as if Lak was waiting for her.....and guess her faith won.

"How could you wait here knowing that your daughter could be there, crying! Calling out for help!"

"Laksh, I'm her father. Of course I care for her. But I want my daughter back alive, not dead. Stop being wreckless and be patient."

"Y-"

"Lucky please. Shekhar ji is right. Calm down Lucky, please?" Swara tried to console him.

Laksh just fisted his hands and punched the wall in anger.

"Lucky, why don't you go take a walk. You're too angry right now. If you make any wrong decision, all of us could be in danger."

Laksh wanted to argue, but he knew his brother was right. He nodded and went away.

#Fifteen Minutes Later#

Manish arrived with the police squad. Another officer of the same rank as Manish stepped forward "I'm sorry we couldn't arrest Purab. Iwish our DCP wasn't so corrupt."

Shekhar nodded. Sanskar took out his phone to call Lucky.

#With Laksh#

Laksh was thinking about all the times he was was with Ragini when he thought she was Nikita. Now he knows why she always felt so familiar, why hefelt so free in her presence. He didn't need to pretend to be cool or awesome or any other persona. He could be himself. All this time, Rag was right in front of his eyes and yet.....yet he failed to see her.

'But if what Swara bhabi said was true, why didn't she come to tell me the truth? Why Ragini Why? Do you want me to suffer? Or did you do that because you thought your parents called you to get you married? I have so many questions for you. Where are you Ragini. Where are you my RAG!'

He closed his eyes to hold back his tears. However, he failed to watch where he was going and hit a dumpster accidentally.

"Ow!" he exclaimed "Stupid dumpster. Did you have to be here. I-" suddenly he noticed that the fence near the dumpster had a hole in it...... enough for a kid to pass through.

"Its small but......I-I think I can pass through."

Laksh nodded to himself and tried to go through it. He was halfway through, when his shirt got stuck on the fence. He tried to get free and pulled at it hard.

"Arghh!" He was able to get his shirt free and get inside, but the edge of the fence injured him. He had a big gash on the side which was bleeding. However, Laksh paid it no attention and slowly and cautiously entered the warehouse from the back door.

'I'm coming Ragini'

If he had looked back, he would have seen that he had dropped his phone on the ground, which started to buzz.

#Sanskar and the Rest#

"Damn Lucky! Pick up your phone!"

"Sanskar, we can't delay. We must go in." Shekhar said

"Okay." Sanskar turned to Swara "Swara, stay here and make sure Lucky doesn't do anything wreckless when he arrives ok?"

Swara nodded at Sanskar "Be careful Sanskar. Don't get hurt or else I'll kill you!" Swara said in fake anger.

Sanskar smiled. He knew that was Swara's way of saying 'Please come back. I don't want to see you hurt.'

#With Laksh#

As Laksh entered the warehouse, he didn't see anyone at the back door. He searched in the different storage rooms, but still couldn't find anyone. Finally, he heard some noises.

He hid behind some boxes and watched a couple of goons playing cards. He couldn't identify any of them as they all had their faces covered. Another goon approached them.

"Hey, Yaku, get up. Its your turn to guard the girl."

"Ugh...fine. But let me get my gun first."

He saw the one called Yaku get up and move to  the door at the right. Laksh silently made his way to the door, opened it and got in. The room had a table and some chairs.

'Looks like its their main chamber'

The goon, Yaku, had his back to him. Laksh took the opportunity and hit him on the head from behind, knocking him out cold. He immediately formed a plan.

#Sanskar and the Rest#

The officers moved first, followed by Shekhar and Sanskar. However before anyone could do anything, the guns were knocked out of the hands of the police officers and they were surrounded by goons. They had their guns pointed at Shekhar and the rest.

"Hands in the air and move forward!" ordered one of the goons. They had no other option but to follow his word.

"Welcome Father-in-law. Welcome!"

"Purab! You! Where is Ragini? What have you done with her?"

"Relax. Relax. Don't get your blood pressure up. One question at a time, dear father-in-law"

"I'm not your anything!"

"But you will be. See, I've already readied a pandit to marry me and Ragini. Only thing lacking was your presence. But I guess we got some guests who accompanied you here." said Purab with a smirk, pointing at the ones with Shekhar.

"Where is Ragini!?"

"My future wife is safe, don't worry. In fact, I'll let you met her in a bit. Look there" Purab pointed towards the left. He had the mandap ready.

"What the- what is this nonsense!" exclaimed Sanskar in anger.

"I don't now who you are, but my friend, that is where I'll be marrying Ragini soon. Rony,go get panditji. Her father's here to bless us" He smirked and nodded to one of his goons, who Shekhar guessed, was Rony. Rony nodded and went out of the warehouse.

#With Laksh#

(Don't forget! Each of the goons have their faces covered :-P)

The goons were playing cards when someone approached them.

"Arre...Yaku, I told you to go and guard the girl. What are you doing here?! Didn't you say you would go get your gun and leave to guard her?"

"*cough* I did..but..but I forgot the way *cough*"

"What! This is our base. How could you forget your way around here? And why does your voice sound different?"

"*cough* Its because of all the dust and this cloth is muffling my voice"

"So just take it off" he reached for Yaku's face to take off the cloth

"No no! I'll... I'll manage somehow. Otherwise I might get more dust in my nose. *cough* *cough*"

"Okay fine. But how could you forget your way!"

"Arre..let it go. Just tell him the way and rejoin the game."said another goon.

"Fine fine. Go to the left, then take the right. The first door is where she is. Now stop slacking and do your job"

Yaku nodded and was about to go when he was stopped

"Wait. Your shirt has some blood on the side. When did you get hurt? You were fine a while ago" he looked at Yaku suspiciously

"I....I...Hey, won't Purab sir get angry if he doesn't find anyone there?"

"Oh! You're right. I was the last one guarding so I'll get blamed.Go fast!"

Yaku nodded and rushed out of there.

(Guess you guys already know who he really is no? ;-P)

As soon as Yaku moved out of their sight, he leaned on the wall for support and let out a breath of relief. He slowly took off the cloth over his mouth. It was not Yaku...but Laksh!

"How do they wear these things! Its so suffocating."

Laksh had swaped his clothes with Yaku and grabbed his gun. He successfully managed to find out the location of Ragini. However, it was only when the other goon pointed out that he noticed his injury.

'I wonder where I got th-' he smacked his head 'The fence! Oops..... Anyway. Come on Laksh, lets find your love!' he thought to himself.

#Sanskar and the Rest#

"Boss, he's here" Rony said, as he came with the pandit.

"Great! Go get Ragini!" Purab said, laughing aloud.

Sanskar and the rest looked at each other helplessly.

'Lucky.... You're our only hope now. Wherever you are, I hope you can save us all' thought Sanskar.

#With Laksh#

Laksh followed the directions and finally found the door. He looked around to make sure no one was around. He opened the door and got in. Suddenly, as he turned around, he was hit with something hard.

"You good for nothing goon! Take that! And this!" Ragini kept hitting him with her bag.

"Ow! Ow! Hey wait! Ow! Ra-Ragini! Ragini! Its me, Laksh!"

"L-laksh?" Ragini stopped to look at him.

"Yes Ragini. Its me" Laksh smiled at him.

"Thank goodness you're here. I thought no one would be able to find me here. I-" Ragini suddenly noticed the fact that Laksh was calling her Ragini, not Nikita. This meant that....that he knew.

Her eyes widened. 'I can't let him know that I like him' She moved back.

Laksh tried to reach for her "Ragini lis-argh.." he accidentally stumbled and fell on his side where he as hurt. Ragini looked back when she heard him cry out in pain.

"Laksh! Laksh! Are you okay?" She saw him bleeding from the side 'Better put pressure on it' She looked for a cloth in her bag. She grabbed  the first thing that she found, which was a handkerchief and took it to Laksh. She held it over Laksh's injury.

Laksh looked at the injury. He noticed that the handkerchief looked old and that the handkerchief had 'L.M' engraved on it. Laksh knew that it could be no coincidence that Ragini just happened to have a handkerchief of hers with those initials, and he didn't remember giving her any when she was at the Maheshwari Mansion. Which meant.....

"Ragini.... Is this the handkerchief I gave you as a child? As....as Lak?"

Ragini adverted her eyes. He held her by the chin and made her look into his eyes. Her eyes spoke volumes.

"It is, isn't it?" He saw tears in her eyes.

"Ragini, we know that Purab trapped you by telling you that your parents had called-"

"No. It wasn't him"

"He didn't call you? Then who?"

"I..... I lied" Ragini looked down

Laksh looked shocked, which soon turned to anger "What!? Why!? Why would would you lie about such a thing!? You know what I felt when I heard that you were getting married!? I felt like I was dying from the inside. I felt like I have lost everything! How could you do that to me?" Laksh looked at her in pain "Do you....do you hate me that much?" He asked,softly.

"NO! I could never hate you or hurt you. I would rather die myself than think of hurting you."

"Then why? If you don't love me, you could have just told me. That would be better than telling me that you were getting married."

"I love you more than anything else in the world. That's why....that's why I had to leave. For you to be happy." Ragini said, barely holding her tears.

"What...what do you mean?"

"I was too late Laksh. I know that.....that you've found someone else now. And I want you to be happy with her. I don't want to cause any trouble for you."

"Rag-"

"I knew you would feel guilty Laksh. That's why I left telling you that I was getting married. I thought you would then forget me and settle down with the one you love."

"Ragini! Its you I love!"

Ragini looked up in shock.

"Yes. I.....The one I was giving up Rag for was Nikita. I ....finally found someone who could take the place that I had always left for my Rag. I guess I now know why. Because it was Rag herself. No one could replace Rag's place but herself" Laksh said teary eyed. However, he was smiling. "I don't care if you are Rag, or Nikita or Ragini...all I know is that I love you. I truly do."

Ragini was crying by now, but those were tears of happiness. "I love you too Laksh"

Laksh opened his arms. Ragini rushed over to him and hugged him. Finally, after so long, they had finally found each other. They have found their better halves.They held each other in their arms. Time didn't exist for them. They felt complete happiness.

However, they were brought to reality when Laksh heard someone knocking on the door "Hey! Who's in there with the girl. Boss is asking for her"

Laksh signaled Ragini to keep quiet. He put on the cloth over his face and started speaking "Its me Yaku"

"Yaku, what are you doing inside the cell? You were supposed to guard her from the outside, you fool"

"I...I was outside, but this girl was causing a ruckus so I came to tell her to keep silent. I locked the door so that she doesn't escape."

"Whatever. Lets go. The boss wants the girl at the mandap right now. He has her father captive along with another guy andthe police officers."

Ragini looked at Laksh in distress. Laksh hid the gun he had stolen from Yaku properly.

"Don't worry Ragini.I won't let anything happen to you or anyone else. But you have to listen to me okay?"

Ragini nodded.

"Okay Ragini, listen. Act like I'm one of Purab's goons that is trying to threaten you and take you to Purab. Trust me on this Ragini. I'll think of something, but for now you need to play along"

"I trust you more than my life Laksh"

"Thank you Ragini" They smiled at each other.

"Come on Yaku. Boss doesn't like to wait"

The door opened to reveal a struggling Ragini, trying to break free of the grip of Yaku(Rony thinks he's Yaku, but we know better no? :-P)

"Let me go! You low life! Let go!" acted Ragini.

'Ow! Ow! Ragini, I know you should act like I'm the real Yaku, but you don't need to hit that hard!' thought Laksh, as they went with Rony.

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To be continued...