"Holi! I don't like Holi at all and the earlier you understand it and stop putting shitty colors on me on that so-called day, the better!" Samarth hissed as he entered the room. Jiya looked at him through the mirror while applying lotion on her arms and smiled. "Don't insult Holi like that. It's one day wherein you should also let your hair down, lock the grumpy and rude Samarth in a closet and showcase the cheerful side of yours to the rest of the world." Jiya spoke nonchalantly.
"And, what makes you think that I have a cheerful side to me?" Samarth looked at her with astonishment. "Everybody has a child within themselves. You, me, everyone. The difference is that I let that child out on several occasions whereas you, never! Learn something from this cute, innocent wife of yours." Jiya smiled still looking at him through the mirror, her back facing him. Samarth rolled his eyes.
"That's the difference. Well, I am a man and you are a....child." Samarth smirked while Jiya put on an offensive expression but soon sighed. Samarth was tired of this. He was trying to provoke Jiya and make her fight with him because that was something he had started enjoying since the first day he met her in the hospital and at the restaurant. "Miss Jhagdalu, Miss Samajhdaar kaise ban gayin?" Samarth raised an eyebrow making Jiya give out a chuckle.
"I have to control my anger in front of my friends, right?" Jiya spoke as she sat on the other side of the bed much to the surprise of Samarth. "I already told you that am not your friend. We are married, what friends?" Samarth spoke arrogantly and started looking for his laptop at the bed side table. "Kya? Laptop dhoondh rahe ho?" Jiya questioned with a hint of mischievousness in her eyes. "Haan, tumne dekha hai?" Samarth asked while searching for the device. Jiya handed him the laptop from the study table.
"Tumhari himmat kaise hui mei cheezon ko haath lagane ki?" Samarth showcased his rage and opened his laptop frantically silently praying for it to be working just correct after Jiya had touched it. "Waise, I really wanna become your friend." Jiya's smile returned and Samarth glared at her only to return to his laptop screen a second later. "Maine kaha na.." Samarth was interrupted by Jiya. "Ban sakte hain. Husband wife bhi friends ban sakte hain. Pehle ham friends banenge. Aapko bhi Mihika ko friend banna chahiye tha tab aapki bonding aur bhi strong hoti." Jiya had just hit a nerve that she was not too aware of.
"Meri aur Mihu....Mihika ki bonding bahut strong thi! Aur woh meri best friend bhi thi aur wife bhi." Samarth's anger was increasing with each passing second. "Thi na! Thi na woh aapki friend cum wife? Toh main kyun nahi ban sakti? Ham apne relationship ki shuruaat achhe dost banke karenge aur..." This time it was Jiya's turn to be interrupted. "Aur? Aur phir pyaar? Tumhe lagta hai mujhe tumse pyaar ho jaayega? Dekho Miss Jhagdalu, aisa sirf films aur serials mein hota hai jahan dosti do logon ko kareeb laati hai aur unhe pyaar ho jaata hai ek doosre se. Aise sapne tum mere saath mat dekho! We can never be more than friends. And, love will sure shot never happen, not from my side at least, so you better not try to break that tiny little heart of yours for me because I have no plans of mending it. You might be a good friend but you can never ever take place of my Mihika, you can never become a wife to me." Samarth finished off rather abruptly.
But, Jiya was strong this time. She had strived to not fall weak in the process of making Sanki her friend. She had waited and seen. This ultra charming, intimidating husband of hers would never let his wall down. She had to do something. And, what could be better than making him her friend and getting to know him better especially since she had to endure him for apparently the rest of her life? So, why not give this relationship a try? She was a bit afraid of falling for him too but she knew this was the only way she would make Samarth sweeter because finding sarcastic comments to throw at her Sanki everyday was becoming increasingly challenging.
"Main Mihika ki jagah lena chahti bhi nahi hoon. Samarth, I know, she is not an item to be replaced, she is a human, and she holds value for you and I very well understand that. I am a doctor, Samarth. I see people dying on an everyday basis at my workplace and it's terrible to see the relatives, the mothers, father or closed ones being snatched from people. I can see the dread, fear, grief in their eyes as soon as I announce someone dead. I know human emotions, am not a robot Samarth. Just because you are my first husband, doesn't mean am inexperienced in love. I had also loved a boy in college and you knew what happened. So please stop saying that I want to replace or take the position of your lovely wife because neither do I want to do that nor I can." Jiya's voice almost broke towards the end and Samarth felt guilty.
"Ok, my apologies." Samarth spoke in a pure formal tone. He was looking straight at her throughout her speech and Jiya's emotional avatar had attracted him more towards her, a fact this rude billionaire would obviously not acknowledge so soon. Jiya decided to break the silence when she saw Samarth won't speak anything after his apology and had returned back to his laptop.
"Toh, tum maante ho na ki main at least tumhari friend toh ban hi sakti hoon?" She spoke with the excitement of a child. "Hmm." Samarth responded absentmindedly. "Yayyy!!" Jiya did a little victory dance and made Samarth look at her in pure disgust making her sit on the bed again, quietly. Samarth resumed his work. "Toh friend, if you do not mind, can you tell me more about your Mihika?" Jiya pronounced each word slowly as if afraid of his sudden reaction to Mihika's name because it evidently was a very sensitive topic in this house.
Samarth blatantly ignored her. Of course, Mihika's name brought back all the old memories and he stiffened as the day of the hospital and the scene of Mihika lying on the hospital bed, dead flashed in his mind. He, anyways continued his work not paying anymore attention to Jiya's repeated, "Hello?" "Sanki?" "Are you there?" "Kaam karte karte marr gaye kya?" He continued typing emails briskly.
Jiya was irritated of not getting any response from the past 10 minutes. She was now visibly irritated. She wanted to control her anger but this man was making it all the more difficult for her. At the end she just gave up, for the day. She told herself to try again the next day and got up from his bed with a sigh. She went to the couch, lied down and waited for sleep to take over. However, sleep seemed to be far away from her.
After around half an hour, Samarth was done with his work. He kept the laptop aside after shutting it down and stretched like a cat. He looked at Jiya who seemed to be sleeping and smiled at how she was trying to grab his attention. He wasn't purposely ignoring her but when it came to work, Samarth would forget everything. Work had been his solace since a very long time. He would dive into the paper works, presentations, reports whenever he fought with Mihika, whenever things didn't go his way, whenever Mihika's thoughts blinded him, hurt him, whenever he fought with Jiya! And so work was now his topmost priority.
"Soo gayi?" He asked while laying down on his master bed. "Haan." Jiya answered, wide awake. Samarth looked at her and smiled. "Waah, itna dedication hai tum mein mujhe apna dost banane ki, ki neend mein bhi answer kar rahi ho?" He found it amusing. Jiya didn't reply but simply turned her back to him. "Kya jaanna chahti ho Mihika ke baare mein?" Samarth began while laying on one side, facing Jiya, taking the support of his elbow, a cute smile on his face.
Jiya's ears perked up and she instantly stood up and came to the bed and sat beside him. "Sab kuch! Ya phir, kuch bhi." Samarth chuckled at her answer. "Ab, friends ko toh ek doosre ki jeevan ki baat pata honi chahiye na." Jiya shrugged. "Alright. First of all, main Mihika ko Mihu bulaata tha." Samarth began. Jiya interrupted because it was her habit to do so whenever Samarth told her about his past. "Wow! So romantic!! Mujhe kya nick name doge tum?" Jiya batted her eyelashes at him trying to appear cute.
"Already de diya hai na, Jhagdalu!" Samarth's comment made Jiya huff. "Sanki! Continue." She muttered the first part under her breath. Samarth chuckled and Jiya was surprised to see such a change in his mood. The transition from an enraged Samarth to an all smiling Samarth and back to the enraged one was something very characteristic of Samarth, only he could do that perfectly.
"You already know about her. What else do you want? Are you trying to write a book on my first love?" Jiya nodded her head in negative but late came up with a quick reply. "I might as well write a book on her. I am sure with her awesome personality, it would fetch millions of readers." Jiya smiled sweetly and Samarth was swept away by her politeness for a while. Which second wife, in today's world, would be so interested in her husband's first love? But, Jiya genuinely seemed to be and that meant she was actually trying to become his good friend.
"Mihika was a diamond. There was this one time that I had gone to her house for a ritual after one month of marriage. According to her, we were still strangers and she still hadn't developed feelings for me...." He was yet again interrupted. "That's understandable." Jiya's serious expression made Samarth laugh even as he tried to retain his composure. "Sunna hai toh suno warna, couch udhar hai!" He pointed to the direction of the couch and Jiya did a zipping her mouth action.
"So, we went to her house and I don't know why but her brother had very strong hatred reserved just for me. He hated me to the core. Now, don't ask me why because I myself don't know. But, it's true that he despised me. He was Mihu's elder brother and he loathed me just as much as Mihu loved him. So, he tried to pass sick comments my way. He tried to insult me indirectly but I was trying hard not to react because that was the time when I was trying to win Mihika's heart and any wrong move could bring me down to square one." He sat up on the bed indicating that something really significant was going to happen next.
"Then Mihu stood up, for me! She had had enough of it. And I still remember her words."
"Bhaiya!! Bass keejiye. Main yahan apne pati ko zaleel karne ke liye toh bilkul nahi lekar aayi hoon." Mihika defended Samarth making him look at her. It warmed his heart that his wife was going against her brother for him. "Lekin, kya galat kaha maine Mihu? Isne tumse zabardasti shaadi ki hai, ab thodi Jija ji ki taang kheechne do hamein." Mihika's parents were embarrassed by their son's words.
"Bhaiya, tameez se baat keejiye. Woh pati hain mere. Aur main abhi tak chup thi iska matlab ye nahi ki main aapko unse badtameezi karne doongi. Aur ye shaadi zabardasti hui ho ya meri marzi se, lekin ab main khush hoon. Har baar jaisa ham chahte hain waisa nahi hota. Bhaiya, kehte hain na, agar mann ka ho toh achha aur na ho toh aur bhi achha. Mujhe koi shikayat nahi hai bhaiya aur achha hoga agar aap bhi iss haqeeqat ko apna lein toh. Kyunki Samarth ji sach mein bahut bhale insaan hain." That was the first time he had ever seen reflection of his love in her eyes. She seemed to be proud to be her wife and that was enough for Samarth. He forgot whatever insults were hurled at him and internally screamed like a teenager who got his crush's attention.
Jiya smiled at him. She didn't know why seeing him having big grin on his face made her feel elated. Suddenly, she just wanted him to keep smiling every time. She obviously liked this version of Samarth better than his other one. She somewhere envied Mihika who got to see the smiling Samarth every day whereas Jiya here was usually deprived of it.
"Lekin, phir pata chala ki Mihika ke bhaiya tumse itna naaraz kyun the?" Jiya interrogated as she didn't find a reason for Mihika's brother to be angry on Samarth. "Naaraz? Arey, nafrat karta tha woh insaan mujhse. Maine toh Mihu ke saath uske family functions mein jaana bhi chhod diya tha. Kyunki, I don't visit the places where people despise me." Samarth spoke the last line with a fake authority and Jiya giggled. "Tab toh tumhe iss room mein bhi nahi hona chahiye." It took a while for Samarth to understand what Jiya implicated and he pouted. A first! Jiya was surprised to see him pouting so cutely. At the moment, she just wanted to kiss those delectable looking lips of his. She fantasized about his lips on hers, all over her body, down her navel and then she stopped, turning all crimson red which fortunately went unnoticed by Samarth.
"Uhmm, abhi bhi woh tumhe hate karte hain?" Jiya asked, regaining her calm persona. "Haan, shayad, I don't know. I have not met her brother since last 7 years. He had gone to London. I have heard that he returned India just a few days ago and started working somewhere, I can't remember the name.." Jiya nodded her head in understanding. "What is his name?" Jiya enquired. "Kyun? Meri beizzati ka inteqaam logi?" Samarth joked. "Nahi, usse haath mila loongi aapko beizzat karne mein.
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"Good morning, Dr. Jiya." Rahul greeted her with an unusual smile on his face. Jiya thought after the night drive to her home in his car, their indifferences would have gone. Man, was she wrong! "Good morning, Sir." Jiya smiled humbly and started to go towards her cabin. Rahul blocked her way, the smile not leaving his face. Jiya looked at him curiously.
"Coffee?" Rahul asked. "Sir, actually...." Before Jiya could make a relevant excuse, Rahul spoke. "Please Jiya, ye mat kehna that you won't be able to drink one cup of coffee with me. We are acquaintances, aren't we? Do you think I will eat you up in broad daylight? Heck, I wouldn't do that even at night, because am not a man-eater!" Rahul laughed at his own joke while Jiya chuckled nervously. "So see you at the nearby café in 10, I will come after completing some of my pending work."
"Ye har din hospital itna jaldi kaise pahunch jaata hai? Aur phir, iske plans hamesha ready hi rehte hain." Jiya sighed. She and Rahul met after few minutes in the café. "What would you like to order?" Rahul asked her courteously and Jiya was, for a moment, impressed by his politeness. "Latte." Jiya replied. "Ohh, you are just like me." Rahul smiled and turned to the waiter. "Two lattes for now." The waiter bowed and left.
"So, tell me Jiya. How long have you been married?" She was taken aback by the sudden question. Coming to think of that, she started counting the how many days they had been married for. "It's been two weeks." Jiya declared casually. Rahul gasped. "Just two weeks?" Then, you should be going on honeymoons and planning romantic night outs with each other instead of working your ass off." Rahul suggested.
"Ohh, that's not a problem. Even if I take a leave for doing all those things which you suggested, my husband won't because, well, he is a workaholic." Jiya chuckled making Rahul smile too. "What does your husband do anyway?" Rahul asked and Jiya was finding the conversation becoming way too personal. "He is actually a businessman." Jiya nonetheless spoke. "Ohh? Billionaire kind of businessman?" Rahul prompted. "No, uhmm, I mean, yes. However you wanna take it." Jiya didn't know why Rahul was getting so interested in her life.
"Okay. Love marriage?" Rahul asked yet again. Jiya didn't know what and how to answer that. There was no love, for sure. But to Jiya's family, it appeared a love marriage, to Shipra, it appeared as an arranged marriage and to Jiya and Samarth themselves, it was a special case of arranged marriage + deal + Pari's happiness. "Hmm. And, are you married too?" Jiya quickly dodged the question. Rahul narrowed her eyes at her for a moment. "Uhmm, No. A bachelor."
"Ohh ok." Jiya sipped on her coffee. She looked around and saw a car and not an ordinary one. It was a Rolls Royce, a car that screamed the wealth its owner possessed. But this was not what attracted her to it. The car was looking quite familiar to one that her......husband rode! Her eyes widened in horror. She quickly checked the number plate and registered that it was indeed Samarth's car. She quickly hid her face with the purse.
Rahul was startled by her sudden movements. "Kya hua Dr. Jiya?" Rahul questioned. "Arey he is here." Jiya muttered, trying to hide herself with the purse not really paying attention to Rahul. "Who?" Rahul began looking here and there. "My husband." Jiya finally spoke. "Ok, so why are you hiding? It's not as if you are cheating on him." Rahul spoke sense. Jiya looked at him. Yes, she wasn't cheating. She quickly kept her purse on the table and straightened herself.
But she again picked the purse and hid one side of her face with it remembering the incident from a night before. How Samarth had started doubting her just because Rahul dropped her home. She and Samarth were starting this new bond of friendship and she didn't want anymore fights. Moreover, Samarth would always get agitated when he would spot her with a man, the reason of which was unknown to her.
"Where is your husband exactly?" Rahul began searching the area again. "Outside the café." Jiya spoke, frantically. He followed Jiya's line of sight and spotted people outside the window through the glass window of the café. He looked at everyone but soon his eyes stopped at a familiar man who was talking to the owner of the café. He looked at him and soon it clicked. "Ye Samarth ka bachha, yahan bhi aagaya!" He muttered in a low voice through gritted soon. Soon, his eyes widened at the possibility of what he was going to ask Jiya now. "Is....is Samarth Saxena your husband?" He voiced out. Jiya simply nodded her head while gaping at Samarth in fear. His mouth opened wide at the drastic turn of events. "So, you are his second wife? Mrs. Jiya Saxena?" He dreaded the answer but as fate would have it Jiya replied yes to this question, obviously looking confused. "Wow!" Was all Rahul could say.
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