PUNARVIVAAH - ARRANGED TO LOVE (L&M #3)

SHOT 33

Abhay's pov!

It was the incessant ringing of the phone that broke my sleep. I opened my eyes groggily and the first thing that came into my vision was a beautiful navel and a golden hip chain laying around the beautiful waist.

I felt disoriented for a moment..

I was lying with my head pressed upon some woman's waist.

What the hell!!

I blinked several times, trying to clear my blurry vision and make sense of the surreal scene before me. As my gaze travelled upwards, my heart skipped a beat, and a wave of shock washed over me.

There, lying beside me on the bed, was Vaiga, her saree pallu pulled down, exposing her waist and the delicate curves of her blouse-clad bosoms.

For a moment, I was frozen in disbelief, my mind struggling to process the unexpected sight. How did I end up here? What happened last night? The questions swirled in my mind, but I couldn't find any answers.

Shaking off the initial shock, I quickly regained my composure and sprang into action. With a swift movement, I grabbed the duvet and draped it over Vaiga, covering her exposed form.

I didn't want her to wake up and find herself in such a compromising situation.

As I sat up on the bed, a sense of panic began to gnaw at my insides. What had I done?

I clutched at my hair in frustration, trying to recall the events of the previous night, but everything was a blur.

I remembered having a soft drink at the party, feeling dizzy a little while later, and then... nothing. The memory seemed to elude me, slipping through my fingers like grains of sand.

It was as if a part of my mind had been shut off, leaving me with a gaping hole in my memory.

As I racked my brain for answers, a sense of unease settled over me.

Did I do anything to her when I was not in my senses? I thought in dread.

But deep down, I knew that wasn't the kind of person I was. I would never do anything to harm Vaiga or anyone else for that matter. And yet, the nagging doubt lingered, casting a shadow over my thoughts.

With a heavy sigh, I pushed aside the tumult of emotions and focused on the task at hand. I needed to figure out what happened last night. But first, I needed to wake Vaiga up. How she would react to finding me here worried me, but she is a calm person as far as I know and she would probably listen to me before creating any ruckus.

I reached out and shook her shoulder, trying to rouse her from her slumber.

"Vaiga, wake up.." Though I shook her a couple of times, she didn't move an inch and that got me worried too.

My thoughts were interrupted by the insistent ringing of my phone. I glanced at the screen, my heart sinking at the sight of multiple missed calls from both Mithran and Shravan.

Before I could even contemplate a response, the phone began to ring again, this time with Shravan's name flashing on the display.

Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves, I answered the call.

"Abhay, is Vaiga with you?" Shravan's voice crackled through the line, filled with concern and urgency.

The weight of his question hit me like a ton of bricks, and I struggled to find the words to respond.

"Yes," I managed to choke out, my frustration and confusion evident in every syllable.

A heavy silence followed my response, broken only by the sound of Shravan's laboured breathing on the other end of the line. I could almost feel the weight of his unspoken questions hanging in the air, pressing down on me like a suffocating blanket.

"It's a trap, Abhay.." Shravan said and I frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean?" I asked anxiously.

"There are police and paparazzi outside your room.." Shravan said.

"What the f*ck! Why the hell are there police and paparazzi outside the room? What is going on?" I asked angrily.

"A clear case of character assassination, Abhay. Someone tipped the media that the Gaming King Abhay Dev Agnihotri is involved in some kind of illicit relationship with a woman. They are trying to paint you as some sort of playboy. God knows what their intention is and what they gain through it.." Mithran said in frustration.

"Damn!! It must be the Gowdas. But why this? What do they even gain by such a stunt?" I asked in disbelief.

"Probably an emotional damage. You belong to a conservative South Indian family, Abhay. Such an allegation would be a huge thing for traditional people. Thank your stars that it is Vaiga with you in the room." Shravan said and I frowned in confusion.

"Listen carefully, there is only one way to clear your names. The target was you, but Vaiga also got involved in this as a collateral damage. We cannot let anything ruin her reputation. She is a divorcee. Any dirt on her name would be made worse by people." Mithran said.

"What are you trying to say?" I asked bewildered.

"You are going to come out of the room as casually as possible. And when the media starts questioning you, you will claim that Vaiga is your wife.." Shravan said.

"What the hell??" I screamed in fury.

"You gotta do this, Abhay. Raghu trusted us when he sent Vaiga with us. Don't let anything ruin her reputation. You have no idea what she had been through once. If her name gets slandered in this way, she will never recover from this." I heard Papa saying and realised that the call was on speaker and that everyone must be there together.

"How can I simply claim her to be my wife? Who is even going to believe?" I asked in exasperation.

"Don't worry about all that. Appa's friend is a registrar. You know the one who got me and Chaahat married. I have arranged everything with him. He already sent the papers that could be shown as proof." Mithran said.

"How did you manage to do all this in such a short period?" I asked helplessly.

"It is just the police who arrived now. The media has been here since hours. They are camping in the corridors. We did everything we could to evacuate them, but they aren't budging. Meanwhile we planned all this.." Shravan said.

"Bhai, come towards the windows and open the sliding window panes. A drone would come up. There is a small pouch tied to it. Come before anybody notices it.."

"What is in the pouch?" I asked, as I opened the window pane and saw the drone.

"Mangalsutra.."

A/N

A story of mine without drama? Impossible..lol😜

Please do vote and comment guys..

And sorry for the delay. This week is tightly packed for me. I will update on the scheduled days, but the time would vary..

Love,

SF❤️