At the reception hall
"How he can take her to his house? She is supposed to be in here, with her family!" Mr. Naik was screaming on top of his voice.
Mr. Barve tried to tell him that she was kidnapped and was jolted at the event. So, Harish was in a way trying to calm her.
At that, Mrs. Naik got up from her seat shouting
"Calming her! what do you mean by calming her?! She is not a kid that she needs to be calmed like this! and that too, in his apartment! Shameless! Humph!!"
"Mind your words! you are talking about my sister!" Hardik jolted at her insulting words.
"Oh, is it! Your sister, huh! Who is right now, alone with your brother in his apartment! God knows what unholy things they might be doing there!!!" One of the Naik family members marched at him for his words.
"What nonsense! He is her friend and he is doing his duty of taking care of her! that is what friends are for!" Rashmi charged at the women's stupid words. She was stopped by Hardik on time before she could have slapped the immature lady.
Rashmi had reached the venue to handle the situation and make them understand the reason why Harish had to cancel their trip.
The Barve and Joshi family were trying their level best to make the Naik's understand the dilemma that Pia had gone through but it was all falling on deaf ears.
Their being conversative was not the issue for their foolish words but the Naik family were downright narrow minded.
They managed to insult the Barve's for their forwarded upbringing.
Akash couldn't take it any longer and approached Abhishek who was quiet the whole time.
"Abhi, tell them that your Pia is not like this! how can they say such things about her!" Abhishek looked at his face and spoke
"Why didn't she call me?" Akash was speechless at his words and looked at Priyanka to help him.
"She didn't want to tense you, maybe that's why?" Priyanka tried to convince him who just scoffed at her answer.
"I am her fiancé. She should trust me more than...* inhaling deeply*. If you are in trouble the first instinct is to call the person you trust. And...I think...that is exactly what she did. So, basically...*scoff* she doesn't trust me. isn't it, hm?" Abhishek counterquestion the couple who were lost for words.
Abhishek tsked and told his parents to move to their house.
As he made his parents sit in the car, he looked back at the Barve family. He instructed the driver and approached them with a serious gaze.
He went to Mr. Barve and told him clutching his hands "I will wait for her in the mandapa at the muhurat time. If she comes, we will get married. If not... then you can forget this wedding,"
He then gave a poker face to the rest of the family members making his decision and walked off from the venue.
Hardik and Rashmi felt bad for Pia as she didn't deserve this from her future husband and his family.
Pradeep Barve was in a trauma as in how all this happened to his daughter.
Priyanka sat with her father trying to console him.
Akash assured him that he will personally go to Harish's apartment and bring her to the mandapa for the wedding.
The next morning
Pia opened her eyes and felt a weight on her upper body. She tried to move but was held tightly in a grip.
She turned and saw his calm face. She smiled remembering how he saved her from those scary goons.
She realised their position and got up with a start waking him up.
"Pia! Are you alright?" He asked her clutching her shoulders. She nodded slowly removing his hands and moving to the washroom.
He was confused at her behaviour and went outside the room.
He checked his phone to find 16 missed calls from Hardik and Rashmi both.
He called Rashmi to hear her narrating yesterday's event that unfolded in the wedding venue.
He was angry at how they could blame Pia for her kidnapping.
He said that she need not go through such humiliation just to prove her innocence.
Pia came out in the living room dressed in her torn lehenga.
"Pia! What...where are you going? Here have some coffee first," Harish poured the coffee in the cup and told her to relax.
"No, thanks. You have done enough. I need to reach the wedding hall. I don't want to be late," Pia tried to hide her true emotions by looking down.
Harish understood her dilemma and told her to wait while he changed.
At the wedding venue
Abhishek was sitting on the mandapa waiting for Pia as he promised.
He could see the tension on the Barve family and knew that he had to stay by his words.
Hardik called Harish in the morning to which he told that they had left the apartment and on their way to the wedding venue.
At the venue gate, Pia moved out of the car and saw that Harish was following her inside.
She saw that the people in the venue were glancing at her and her broken state. She paid zero attention to them and only looked at the man who was watching her approach the mandapa.
Pia looked at his blank face and spoke
"Do you..." Abhishek looked at her torn lehenga and huffed.
He got from his seat and walked to her caressing her arms saying
"Go change. I will wait. Hm?" He tried to smile to assure her.
Pia went inside the dressing room followed by Rashmi and Priyanka.
Abhishek glared at Harish who was not understanding his behaviour. He ignored it and went back to his car as he didn't want to watch the drama.
In the dressing room
Rashmi was applying the makeup on her face with a worried look.
She opted to stay silent and thought to ask her about the incident when Pia was normal.
Priyanka told her to get up for the final check. Pia hissed as she got up, tensing the other ladies.
She told about the fall that she had when one of the goons had slapped her.
Rashmi felt her blood boil hearing the trauma that her cupcake had to endure.
Pia was finding it difficult to walk because of the severe pain but she tolerated it for the sake of her family and their happiness.
As she walked to the mandapa, Abhishek looked at her and smiled.
Pia sat on her seat and waited for the ritual to get over asap.
When it was time to get up for the pheras, Pia hissed and caught hold her abdomen. At his Abhishek caught hold her and asked her the reason.
He saw that she was in pain and wanted her to relax.
At this scene, one of the ladies snickered and shouted
"Seems that she had already spent her first night with her saviour!" everyone looked at the brazen words hauled by the same lady who had managed to insult Pia the other night.
Abhishek looked at Pia for answer which made her scrunch her eyebrows at his questionable gaze.
Rashmi couldn't take it longer and started arguing with the lady.
Pia looked at how her family members were trying to prove her innocence in front of such immature crowd.
Abhishek had decided to keep his mum as the other night. Pia was angered at why her fiancé was silent when he is supposed to protect her dignity.
Mrs. Brave went near Pia who was shocked at the mute behaviour of her fiancé.
Hardik couldn't take it any longer he marched outside to call one person who would silence everyone in an instant.
Harish was resting his back on the bonnet of his car. He wanted to leave the premises as soon as he dropped Pia but he felt restless. He noticed that he needed to be here for his Pia in case she needs him.
An angry Hardik approached Harish and told him the stupidity that was happening inside the venue.
Harish was enraged at the Naik family's behaviour and marched inside to teach them some valuable lesson for misbehaving with his Pia.
Pia was looking down with her built up anger. She was upset that her family had listen to the harsh words of strangers, angry that she was not able to prove any of the incidence and disappointed at her fiancé who opted to remain silent than raise his voice against her attackers.
Harish saw the racket caused in the venue. He went straight to Abhishek and called him out.
Abhishek looked at him with a calm face and saw his pissed off expressions.
He approached him and listened to him saying the actuality of the last night incident.
"So, should I believe that nothing happened between you two," Abhishek asked him who was taken aback by his defensive mode for his brazen family.
His family was continuously blaming his innocent fiancé and he had opted to side his family then protect her.
"Of course not! And why would it happen?!! We are just friends," Harish looked back at Pia and shouted to clear the air.
"Friends! *scoff* *goes near him whispering* or lovers!" Harish got annoyed at his trust issue with Pia but he calmed his stance.
He gulped his anger and said
"We were in love with each other. But not anymore, she loves you! Why don't you understand that!"
Abhishek pouted at his words and smiled saying
"Fine! I believe you. But answer my one question. If she loves me, trusts me then...why didn't she call me first. WHY DID SHE CALLED HER EX?!! Than me, huh?"
Everyone looked at the voice and saw that Pia was tearing up watching her fiancé blaming her.
Harish shaked his head at the way Abhishek showed his trust on Pia.
He looked back at Pia who was crying with a blank face. She got up and made her way to Abhishek.
She stood in front of him and asked him
"Do you love me?" Abhishek looked at her straight in the eyes and lowered it immediately, raising his eyebrows.
"I got my answer. Thank you for waiting for me," she removed her Jaimala and threw it on the ground.
As she managed to move, the lady again spoke
"Humph, this was supposed to happen, isn't it? Create a drama, to insult us and then walk away with your lover. Typical city girls!!!"
Pia stopped in her tracks and looked at the lady who seemed to be afraid of Pia's aura.
"Says the woman whose only daughter eloped with an auto driver last week," The lady was shocked at the truth that Pia slapped on her face.
"Humph, at least my daughter is married now. Not a promiscuous like you!!" Pia was shocked at the brazen accusations thrown at her innocence. Her eyes shaked with answers at which this society wanted her to answer to prove – her innocence.
Was it because she was a women?
Mrs. Naik then approached the lady trying to stop her from uttering nonsense in front of the most powerful family in the city.
Pia felt her world fall apart at her words.
Was she so disrespected just because she slept in her friend's apartment?
Was is it because he was a man and not a woman?
"Humph! There is no place for a woman like you. An unmarried...." Mrs. Naik tried to close the lady's mouth who was going to blurt more nonsense.
Harish was shocked at the thrash thrown at his Pia.
His eyes shaked at the words twirling his mind spoken by that shameless lady. He closed his eyes momentarily and then opened them like a raging bull.
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