Page 102 of The Royal Beast & His Rising Queen

"You heard me right... when I got to know what father did to my Ishu for making her marry Ranawat, I was furious, so furious that I would have killed him but Ranawat saved my father, he shifted him to a safety place where I couldn't reach... because Ranawat wanted to punish Kailash Rajput in his own way... but then, my Ishu was angry with me for too long, she was not talking to me... so I caused my father's accident... so that she would come to me, at least to console me, and that worked... she started talking to me again...", Ranveer said, Ragini's eyes widened at what Ranveer said... is he crazy ?? Can anyone really do it ?? Is he sick in the head... Ragini shook her head to control her thoughts, Ranveer chuckled seeing the strong ambitious Ragini Shah confused and scared... "I know you might be having a lot of questions, don't worry, I'm not sick in the head, if you know the things my father did to Isha, you would want to kill him too", Ranveer said with a deep sigh...

The food arrived and they had it peacefully...

"So, will you tell me what exactly happened these days that made you like this ??", Ragini asked after some comfortable silence...

"Isha called me for help, to help her escape her wedding... but I didn't even know about it... Vikram hid it from me... and all these days, I blamed her for not calling me... but deep down I know it's all my fault, I should have come here to stop the marriage even if I thought she wants it... my father played such a dirty game that made me think Isha was okay with this marriage when she was not... she suffered because me...", Ranveer said

"Sh... please... control yourself", Ragini consoled softly holding his palm...

"I just can't forget what happened... my Ishu called me for help, but I wasn't there to help her... I can't get that out of my head, and the fact that my best friend contributed to ruining my sister's life is unsettling", Ranveer said

"Why are you saying it ?? Isha and Maharaj might have had problems at the start, but now they love each other a lot, Maharaj loves Isha a lot... they are happy... stop feeling guilty now", Ragini said

"It's not that... it's not that simple... my sister's marriage isn't simple... you aren't understanding", Ranveer said shaking his head, neither could he tell her the whole matter, nor could he make her understand without it...

"Then make me understand, why do you have so much problem with their marriage ??", Ragini asked, surprised at how aversive Ranveer is of the thought of his sister being Abhyansh Singh Ranawat's wife...

"I can't tell you", Ranveer said and Ragini glared at him...

"Really ?? Why ??", Ragini probed...

"Woman, don't you want to live a beautiful life with me ?? You want me to get killed before that ??", Ranveer said when Ragini gaped at his open statement as if they are in a relationship, while they are just talking like friends... yes, she has feelings for him, though she hasn't named them yet, but she is not sure of him, in fact she felt the opposite, she didn't think they both are right for each other...

"Ranveer... I... I don't think anything is possible between us... stop saying things like this", she said...

"Why ?? Do they make you feel things ??", he asked looking her in the eye... she just shook her head and continued her food, both of them talked for some more time before deciding to leave to their respective work places. Ranveer insisted he would drop her, but she refused politely before booking a cab. Ranveer understood she needs some time to cope up with all the information he provided her today. He knew it's a lot to take in for anyone, so he agreed.

"Let's go", he said

"What about the bill ??", she asked

"This is my brother-in-law's place, you think I would pay here ??", Ranveer said before walking away... Ragini was shocked and was talking slow steps afraid of someone stopping her and Ranveer noticed this, he chuckled and walked back to her...

"No one will stop you to ask you for money... let's go", he said holding her wrist and pulling her with him... his gentle act stirred up emotions in her but she held herself back, she needs to think with a clear mind, she can't give in to her hormones...

"My cab is here...", she said hesitantly pulling away her hand from his hold, after they reached the gate... he opened the back door and she got in, she is not used to his gentlemanly behaviour, it was oddly comforting and in just a day, she felt as if getting used to it... the cab left and he drove back to his office.

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"Hi Akshay, I'm Reetu and this is Isha... I'm so sorry, Ragini had to leave urgently... we asked to re-schedule this meeting but yourcalendar wasn't free... so, we can discuss the things and Isha and I will update to Ragini", Reetu said, trying not to fumble or show her nervousness, mentally cursing Ashley who didn't help them in talking to Akshay's PA, Ashley was in a senior position and she is responsible for them till they get transferred to the HR department completely. If she wanted, she could have helped them but she chose to taunt them instead, with phrases like undeserving to be in R Empire, useless etc... Reetu would have punched her if she is in front of her, but thankfully, that was on a phone call...

"Yeah, I was going to Delhi in the evening... so, I don't have time... no problem... we can discuss and you can let Ragini know about it... anyways, there would be one more review of the finalized designs before releasing our festive collection", Akshay, the middle-aged man replied kindly. Isha and Reetu sighed inwardly hearing him. He was down to earth and easy to talk with for an All-India design head but again, if the queen of the whole R Empire can be as down-to-earth as Isha, anyone can, thought Reetu...

"He is kind, not like that bi**h Ashley Parker", Reetu whispered to Isha who so wanted to glare at her friend for speaking nonsense but controlled herself...

"Thanks for understanding Akshay...", Isha said and he smiled at her...

"Before going on with our discussion, I must tell you, I don't know if you recognize me or not, I was there during the acquisition presentation, I never got to meet you again to let you know this, your designs were exceptional... you have a lot of potential... and you are going to have a very busy scheduleduring this time as it's a festive collection, you design Indian if I'm not wrong ?", Akshay asked

"Yes sir, and thank you so much for your appreciation", Isha said politely...

The next hour was spent in discussing the upcoming launch, Isha and Reetu noted down the mentioned changes and they thanked Akshay again for being kind and understanding, before walking to their workstations...

"Reetu... don't you have a filter on your mouth... you were calling Ashley that in front of Akshay, thank god, he didn't hear...", Isha said...

"Baby, it's called bi**h, come on, say it, and what do you mean by calling her that in front of Akshay... she is one, and any person's name doesn't change, doesn't matter who is in front of you, you have to call them by their name only", Reetu said and Isha rolled her eyes at her friend's description...

"Anyways, leave it, thank god the meeting went fine... I'll block Ragini's calendar after lunch, we can detail her", Isha said

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