The Bet is On (Completed☑️)

9. Pasta

"Ami, trust her. She is pure. She has just accepted Arnav's love. You know her. Don't do this to her." Aakifah pleads to her mother.

"Everything has happened for a good reason." Yasmeen replies, feeling a heavy weight on her heart. After marrying off Aakifah, she had thought that she would not think about Khushi's marriage for next two years.

"How is she?"

"Hungry from two days. As ever waiting to be love-fed." Yasmeen chuckles as tears dribble from her eyes.

"You people have already done enough with her. The least you can do is coat the poison with honey." Unable to keep the pain in her heart for her loving sister, Aakifah sneers at her mother.

"Manners, Aakifah!" Yasmeen instantly reprimands her.

"I am free from the clasps." She feels pleased to be out of the trivial girl clasp – don't do this, don't do that, what will people say otherwise?

"Yes, but you are new in that home. Spread love."

"Being a mother how can you be so cruel?" The blood of a sister is shutting her manners.

"I can do nothing." Being a woman, Yasmeen is bound to follow the orders of men.

"The least you could was protest. Arnav is really a good man. He has not once touched Khushi and is ready to fight for her. You think you have calmed the storm but it's the silence before storm." Aakifah wails into the phone hinting her mother about lover boy's determination.

Somewhere, she is scared inside. She fears her in laws reaction knowing that her family not only rejected the proposal but they have fixed Khushi's alliance in a rich family within two days. The man is of Arnav's age but in medical field.

She thumps onto the bed, thinking hard onto the situation.

Her relation in this house is new. Yes, earlier they were only kids and family friends but now she is the daughter in law of Meers. And Aqeeb... how will her husband react to this news?

The top tension point is how should she react to this news?

Being a girl she is feeling bad for her sister. No one should be forced into marriage. But being newly married, she thinks it's good to have some time to mingle with the family. She is herself nervous upon her current situation. When did she went to the apex of jealousy?

***

"Arniee?" Moib shouts for Arnav as he enters in his lush cabin. The brown sleek wood with the combination of white gives the sophisticated aura and sometimes the intimate aura, too. He kind of loves being the bad guy occasionally.

"Brilliant!" He sneers seeing Arnav is sitting with peace, sorting out the files and figures. His alliance is not getting fixed. He should be sitting alone to find some solution.

"What problem have you got now?" Arnav curves his bottom lip in annoyance with his head still dipped into the thick grey file.

"I am sorry. I did not know I would be given such unwanted treatment." Moib bats his eye lashes, slamming the box of sweets in front of his best bud with hump sound.

"Reason?" Arnav opens the box with keenness.

Chuckling, Moib wears his goggles and says with quite an attitude. "Dear poor single lad, pay salute to father to be."

As the information seeps into Arnav's mind, he pounces on his friend leaving the sweet box. "Whoa!" Out of happiness, Arnav punches him on cheek and hugs him extremely tight.

"Your tool is certainly not useless." Arnav compliments his friend whom he has been mocking since elementary. When Moib's lower organ grew with the age, he was too embarrassed to do swimming with his best bud. Arnav would tease him every time, that his tool is for namesake, it would not rise and do the productive work.

"Yes, congrats." Moib pats his own crotch erupting laughter from Arnav.

"Thank you so much for this news. I am in hell bad moods these days." He is genuinely thankful to the little one for making him smile.

"Yes, thank her when she comes." Moib winks at him.

"She? Daddy's angel?" Arnav teases him.

Next, his mobile rings and he asks Moib to hush. His grandfather is calling him. They might have decided something.

"Before you go aggressive showing your bloodline, let me clear you that we have decided to go by your heart. You be here at sharp quarter to four. Then, we will leave for your girl's home." Like a baby, he gets happy in the hope that the second visit might come productive.

"Yes, Yes, I will be there." He happily replies and cuts the call.

Next, his phone again rings and he picks at the first ring. "Yes, Aqeeb Bhai?" He chirrups, keeping the formal greet at side. "Dadu has already given me a call about going to Khushi's home. You are late." He jokes into phone.

Aqeeb clips his lips asking Arnav to sober up and listen to him.

"No, please, I am still unmarried. And I know no ways to woo wives." Small things really make him happy. The enliven hope of getting married to his desired girl is making him childlike bubbly. His elation knows no bounds.

"Aakifah called me before I rang you." Aqeeb's serious tone curves his brows, ringing alerts in his mind.

"Okay, proceed, please." His patience is running out, sensing the thing his brother wants to tell him is not good.

"She told me that Yousaf Uncle has fixed Khushi's alliance with some doctor named Owais." Aqeeb vents out gripping his brotherly emotions under check.

"What?" He bellows at the most stabbing news. She is his. Only his. How come they fix any name with her name!

"Why Yousaf Uncle had to trigger my belligerent side?" The anger bubbles in his mind and he cuts the call before Aqeeb could tell him some wise words.

"What has happened?" Moib's brows knit with confusion. His friend is literally burning in rage.

"The great Uncle Yousaf has fixed my Khushi's alliance. The bastard is a doctor and has nasty name Owais. I don't get why they are hell bent on ruining her pious dignity." He grabs the mug and throws it against the floor. Next, the pen holder gets smashed, too.

"My Khushi... my dignity. I wanted to make her mine without allowing any finger to rise on her character. Now, when they will call off the alliance, she will have to face humiliation and taunts." No one can understand his situation. Since he saw that girl, he is acting as her protector. He shielded her against bad grades, bad mean girls at school, the flirtatious boys, beggars and child molesters. At the end, when he bared his simple desire of marrying her, people ruined his efforts of years. He knows her. She will have it on her heart till eternity that her alliance was fixed with someone else than Arnav – for an awfully short term though.

"Okay, okay, calm down." Moib rubs his biceps, attempting to calm the lava Hamdanis have ignited.

Arnav jerks away his friendly palm and throws almost everything onto the floor. His sweetness is taken advantage of... his polite proposal is taken advantage of. Dare they fix his woman to be with any rascal!

He is a Meer. His woman remains only his. Period!

***

Curious to know more about the alliance? Vote then...

I know this update got extremely Late. Special Apologies to Nimra Mubashir.

And hey I want to change my twitter's user name to some witty one. Kindly suggest good names. I have two names in mind: coldbeam and coldsapphire.

Kindly also mention who commented that they want a scene of his confession that how much he loved her infront of family. That scene was written before the request I would gladly nominate the chapter to rightful person.