Abhijith was relieved with the news Rishi and Mamatha brought for him.
Noticing Abhi smiling within himself, Rishi was enraged and yelled at him, "Do you think it is a good news Abhi? Do you know how hard we are trying for your marriage?"
"Rishi, marriages are meant for companionship. And I have you both for that reason. Who else do I need to take care of me? You both are enough for me." Abhi explained his perspective, continuing further he said, "Women out there are gold diggers. You are a lucky idiot to find someone like mamatha who is out of the crowd. But I cannot blindly trust a random woman and stay married to her for the rest of my life."
"Just because this alliance failed, doesn't mean we let you live as a bachelor. We'll find another potential match for you. I want luck to be bestowed upon you too" Rishi said with determination, and Mamatha nodded her head in agreement.
"I gave my word to your father that I will look after you as an elder brother and I'll stand upon it no matter what." Rishi added further.
"Okay biggie, as you say." Abhi said sarcastically, making both of them laugh.
When they were moving out of the register office building, Rishi stopped in the midtrack and turned to his left trying to get a clear vision of something. Abhi was praying in his heart that Rishi shouldn't find Sangeetha.
But he realized his prayers failed when Rishi asked him, "Is that Dr. Sangeetha standing over there?"
Rishi knew Sangeetha by a fateful encounter in the City multispecialty hospital. Three months ago, When Abhi and Rishi were admitted to a hospital after a riot with goons, Sangeetha was the doctor who attended them. Rishi met Sangeetha for the first time then. However for Abhi, it was second time meeting her. His first time was when he had a fight with her in a restaurant. It was hate at first sight for both of them. Due to that fight, Sangeetha left them untreated.
Unlike Abhi, Rishi hadn't held any grudge for her cruel act. In fact he always supported her saying 'her situations might've demanded her to leave us untreated'. And that was the part of Rishi that irked Abhi most, the art of forgiving people.
According to Abhi, forgiveness is for people who don't love and value themselves. Because people who love themselves more, will never be able to forget the pain and sorrow caused by someone, hence no forgiveness.
Even before Abhi stopped Rishi, Rishi started moving towards Sangeetha. Having no option left, he followed him along with Mamatha.
"Hello Dr. Sangeetha, hope you remember me." Rishi said, forwarding his hand for a handshake, which was reciprocated back by her with hesitation, and he passed a smile to Krishna as a greeting, who was standing beside Sangeetha.
"Why won't she? After leaving us to die, she might be wondering how we are breathing." Abhi said, sounding as sarcastic as possible. It earned him a light punch from Rishi, whereas Mamatha stood clueless listening to the conversation.
"Don't mind him. What brought you here?" Rishi asked her.
"Something that left me in the middle." Sangeetha replied, her voice damp and heavy.
"Who left whom in the middle? Is that your groom or you?" Abhi passed another snide remark knowing her story.
"My condolences for your shattered marriage. Don't take his words seriously. He is upset as his bride stood him up too" Rishi revealed the truth, which earned a satisfactory smirk on Sangeetha's face and scowl on Abhi's face.
After a moment of contemplation, "I know I shouldn't be asking this, especially since the timing is totally wrong. If you are looking forward to another alliance, our Abhi might be a potential match for you. Keeping our past encounters in check, it might sound so lame, but things will not always remain the same. Hope you'll think about this proposal. Here is my contact card. I'll wait to hear from you soon." Rishi said rhetorically, shocking both Abhijith and Sangeetha.
"Here, This is Sangeetha's contact card. We'll think about it and reach you for sure" Krishna invaded in between, passing a card instead of Sangeetha.
Rishi passed a smile towards them in the end, and turned back leaving the register office building, with Abhi and Mamatha following him still in shock.
"Aunty, you know nothing of him. The guy Abhi is the biggest jerk I've ever encountered in my life. Why would I think about marrying him? You shouldn't have given my card to Rishi." Sangeetha complained.
"Sangeetha, do you know who Abhijith is? He is the lawyer you are trying to contact, the one who can deal and solve your hospital shares case." her aunt revealed, leaving Sangeetha in another shock.
"But on top of that, I knew one of his darkest secrets, the secret he is trying to hide from the world. He might not know me, but I knew his mysterious past that no one knows. I'll brief you with the details later. But trust me like always you have and say yes for this marriage with him. You can get your shares after this marriage and in any case, If you find him troublesome, we can use his little secret as a pawn" She explained further weighing the pros and cons to Sangeetha.
"You are in a tight spot with less time left. And do you know how hard it is to find a man with no expectations in marriage? Hence a man, whose wings can be tied in your hands by his secrets, is the best choice for you now." Sangeetha stood frozen to her spot, listening to whatever her aunt was suggesting to her.
She had lot of questions for her aunt. But the most important one was, how did her aunt, the person who never meddled into others personal lives, knows a crucial part of Abhijith's past.
Sangeetha knew her aunt from her childhood. She was trained as a nurse under her grandmother. Later when Sangeetha's mother was paralyzed, she became personal caretaker of her mother, Radha. And she started working as a head nurse in the hospital under Sangeetha, where she almost became a second mother to her.
At that point, Marrying Abhijith was a huge dilemma for Sangeetha. She met him for the first time six months ago in a café and for her it was hate-at-first-sight with him.
Sangeetha knew she could trust her Krishna aunt blindly but she was suggesting her to marry a jerk. However her reasons were valid too. That made her fall into a state of uncertainty, whether to accept or deny the proposal.
🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁
At Abhi's home, he was fuming in anger at Rishi. He couldn't understand why Rishi was trying to tie him to a cruel woman, who left them to die.
"Rishi, did you lose your sense?" Abhi yelled at Rishi in frustration, "Mamatha, at least you try explaining to him"
But Mamatha stood in silence with confusion displaying on her face. Yet she made no attempt to question or confront Rishi.
"Abhi, I don't know why Rishi did what he did. But I can say one thing for sure, whatever he does, he always does it for your happiness" Mamatha replied, her reply made Rishi feel blessed to find such an understanding wife.
"There you go again, always supporting your husband. There's no one to support me." Abhi sulked in disapproval.
"That is the reason why we want you to get married, so that your wife will support you." Rishi reprimanded
"Don't twist my own words" Abhi freaked, with his patience running out, "I agreed to marry any girl of your choice. But why that arrogant doctor?"
"There is no force Abhi. Here, this is her contact card. Take your time and think about it. Contact her only if you feel like forwarding with this alliance. Else you can burn it" Mamatha said, by taking the contact card from Rishi and handed it to Abhi.
"Abhi, forget the past. I have a hunch that she is not as bad as you think" Rishi suggested once more, and left for his home along with Mamatha.
That night Abhi's emotions took him on a roller coaster ride. Apart from hating women, Abhi had other reasons for avoiding marriage. The big one was, his father murder mystery.
Though, he was not open about this matter with Rishi. Abhi was seeking revenge for his father's murder. He was waiting for a clue all his life, meanwhile attaining the power to destroy the person involved, after finding out whoever it was.
He weighed his wedding proportions in two ways. Primarily, Most women are calculative, they either want money or status and he neither can stand nor live with such women. Secondarily, in case he got lucky to find an exceptional woman, she would expect love from him.
But with the vengeance burning in his heart, he cannot love or spare time for someone other than him. Also he didn't want to involve someone in his life, where there is only place for vengeance.
Even though he agreed to Rishi and Mamatha's wish of him marrying, deep down he was praying for a woman who expects nothing of him. But is it possible for a person to expect nothing from a relationship?
That was when it struck his mind, while Sangeetha was whimpering about her reasons to marry, in the end she said something, 'I want someone who doesn't expect anything from this marriage. But where can I find such a guy now? What should I do now?'
A sudden feeling of euphoria engulfed him. That is exactly what he wanted, a woman who doesn't expect anything from marriage. He realized what he had to do next and rushed towards the table drawer where he threw her contact card.
🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁
Whatever her aunt Krishna suggested was still ringing in Sangeetha's mind. And somewhere deep in her heart, she was convinced that Abhi was the perfect alliance for her at that moment.
But the biggest puzzle for her was, instead of hating her, why did Rishi propose an alliance? And she had her reasons to agree, but will Abhi agree to marry her? With the level of hatred between them, it's impossible.
Tring, Tring,
Her phone vibration had disrupted her thoughts. She picked her mobile from the table and found an unknown number calling her. It was 11:4O pm in the night and a call at that late would definitely mean one thing, emergency.
She lifted the call and spoke, "Hello, Dr. Sangeetha speaking"
"Hello Dr. This is advocate Abhijith," The raspy voice with a heavy base from the other side spoke, sending shivers to her spine. She was stunned with his timing, and doubted if by any chance her thoughts had traveled to him, "Sorry for calling and interrupting you this late, Can I talk to you for five minutes?"
"No problem, you can talk Abhijith" Sangeetha tried to sound polite, but failed miserably.
"Not now, tomorrow sharp 10:00 am in the morning at the café where we first met. I need us to discuss something regarding this marriage proposal. Hope you will show up on time. Anytime after 10:05 am, I'll be gone." he said and hung up the call without waiting for her response.
Though his behaviour irked her, she felt dizzy in anticipation of what he wanted to discuss with her, that too about the marriage proposal. However this was what she wanted, a meeting where she could finally decide to step ahead or aback from this wedding proposal.
📥
Q/ Do you think, they will marry each other? ——>