The projector displayed the bottom line for the project analysis, letting the team break into applause laced with the lights turning back, curbing the darkness in the meeting room. Hopeful faces stared back at Anirudh who kept his eyes hooked on the charts and figures placed in the binder in front of him.
The chatters died and eyes rested on his team who shared confused glances before waiting for their boss. He closed the file and placed it back. He took a glance around and passed a small smile towards his new-to-be partner, Sanjay Bajaj, and his son, Akshay Bajaj.
Only if he agrees.
"Shall we sign the contract, Mr. Chauhan?" Sanjay fidgeted with his pen, looking hesitant at the question. "The papers are ready."
"My manager will inform you in 3 days, Mr. Bajaj." He answered, standing up he fastened his suit jacket button and forwarded his hand for a shake. "The projected figures look promising yet we will like to think more on cost-cutting and marketing strategies."
"We had settled on these before, Anirudh." Sanjay tipped with a frown, taking his hand.
"I don't think so." Anirudh clenched his jaw at the use of his name. He nodded and pocketed his palm.
"If this is about Arushi, I can bring her to apologize to Mrs. Chauhan." He offered.
"She is remorseful for her actions." Akshay butted in with an encouraging nod.
Of course, after being slapped with defamation that could eat her whole.
He wanted to comment but held it back.
"I can bring Arushi tomorrow to the Gala to apologize. We should keep the business and personal problems aside, Anirudh. I hope you consider this."
"I never said I won't." He smiled tightly. "This was never about your daughter but yes, I would like her to apologize publicly. Just the way she insulted my wife."
"Then, we should be signing the contract today as it was scheduled. Why are we postponing it?" Akshay asked him with irritation.
"Did we schedule the contract signing today, Dishant?" He questioned his secretary with a warning glare which had him stumble his way toward them.
"No...No, Sir. Today was only for the financial plans." Dishant cleared. His 50% salary deduction after the last intervention between him and Dhwani had cost him a huge.
"See." Anirudh pointed. "Now, if you shall allow me to leave. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Bajaj." He chipped with professional grace and nodded at Akshay before walking out of the glass doors of the conference room.
Dishant followed him along with two other analysts who worked beside him. His car was efficiently brought to the main door and he nodded in gratitude towards the driver and settled in the back seat. Dishant took the shotgun.
"Next time" Anirudh gritted, taking Dishant's attention at him. "You stutter, you will lose 10% salary on each word."
"Sorry, sir."
"Better." He nodded and surfed his mobile. It was an hour past lunch and he could eat a human at this point, but before that, he had to check if someone else has been fed. "Take me wherever my wife is."
The car halted in front of the Gala venue. It was their business center and the hall was big enough to accommodate the double of their guests.
The architectural enigma was silent yet he had an inkling of what he will catch behind the closed doors. He could hear work being done behind the walls and the clatter of steel against the marbled floor was an indication enough.
The Gala was tomorrow coupled with Rakshit's engagement with Shreya.
The duo may have promised to take up the decorations and check with event planners but he knew who would bear the incidence of their lack of responsibility.
True to his assumptions, he watched Dhwani running from one corner to another. Her lips moved continuously to shoot instructions, criticism, and appreciation.
Clad in plain dark green Palazzo pants and white kurta, her hairs were up and sweaty, and as always, a set of metal bangles clinked together as she answered the phone yet her eyes not taking a minute to rest.
"How long has she been here?" He asked the guard who straightened at his presence.
"From morning, Sir. People have only entered. No one left." He piped the information as if tired from the constant vigilance he had to maintain.
Anirudh nodded at the information and walked inside the double doors avoiding the ropes, lights, wires, heaps of table clothes, and boxes laying upside down.
"The flowers were ordered three months back. How could you say that they are not available? Is this the level of services you provide?"
He heard her on the phone, never her words came out this powerful. He watched her frowning and his lips twisted in distaste at the amount of stress that sounded.
"I need lilies. White lilies circled in layers." She reiterated to the caller and gritted. "You have three hours. You are being paid for this work and I expect it to be done."
She hangs up and raised her hand to throw the device in frustration as a muffled yell passed her lips. She groaned and he watched in amusement as she pushed her hair strands back and searched for her next target who could be anyone and Anirudh felt bad for these workers.
"Dhwani" He made his presence known and she stilled.
"You? What are you doing here?" She glanced at him and stepped away from him as if showcasing how busy she was. "There is a lot to do. I can't talk."
"Okay." He tested with a nod of understanding "I am here because..."
"Because?" She propped with impatience.
"You missed your appointment today." He pointed watching her fidgeting with the lights.
"What? No!" Spinning on her heels, she fixed him a glare and he cocked a brow. "I did call. They said they were booked."
"Really?" He played along.
"Why will you believe me now? You never did." She shrugged scowling.
"Let's say I do."
"You do?" She hesitated, staring at him as if he was talking in an alien language.
He nodded. "Yes."
"Okay. I will get one for tomorrow." She pondered and tried walking past him when his fingers held her back. "What do you want now?"
"You skipped lunch."
"You are keeping tabs on me?" She raised her brows, daring him to say yes.
"What if I say yes?" He prompted with an amused smirk.
"You are wasting my time." She grumbled shaking her head and shrugged his hold, she sidestepped him and hurried towards the other end of the stage where a canopy was being prepared for the engagement tomorrow. Her foot tangled with wires and a shriek left past her lips.
Anirudh was quick to act and tried grabbing her but what caught his reach was her kurta, the tearing of fabric resonated in his ears. He was quick to cover the distance and hug her back to his front, arms holding her front laying on her waist and shoulders.
Dhwani froze at the unfolding of events, her breathing stopped as the tears pooled in her eyes. Several eyes watched them but none in the close vicinity who could have heard the noise.
"Shush, petal." He whispered to her, squeezing her upper arm. He glared at the workers. "Get back to work."
She swallowed at the lack of oxygen.
"Breath, please." He murmured, his lips caressing her temple in assurance. "Don't move till I fix your dress."
She panicked feeling him moving and held his palm. "Anirudh."
"I am here." He stated with assertion. She felt his hands leaving her yet his torso touched her back. "Nothing will go wrong. I got you."
He shrugged out his coat and wrapped her small frame in it. He turned her towards him slowly, finding her lips quivering and eyes unfocused.
"It is done." He cupped her face breaking her daze. Her cognac eyes met his and he blinked in affirmation. "Let us get you out of these?"
She nodded wordlessly, still traumatized by the situation. He held her shoulders and lead her out into the passenger seat, dismissing his driver.
"Say something, petal." He didn't know why he was worried seeing her this silent, it was rare to see her face blank. For the last 2 years that they had shared dinners together, not once had she sat with a blank face. She used to think things and all her emotions would give away her thoughts to him.
Not that he cared then but today, he couldn't sit back to watch her sitting like a wooden log.
"Do not make me force you to talk, Dhwani." His threat met her glazed eyes, raising into an ephemeral glance.
"Can we go home?" She stuttered inaudibly, something that he had missed in the burning traffic. She watched him taking into an unfamiliar street and her voice heightened a little. "Can we... go home?"
"Home?" His head snapped at her reference and he blinked in surprise, he glanced in front and back at her with a regretful smile. "It will take 2 hours from here and seeing you will wish to go back to that damn place, I thought we could go to a store, shop whatever you need and get lunch."
"I don't want to eat." Her protest died by a quirked brow shot at her which dared her to repeat. "Please?"
"The hospital is 10 minutes from here." He commented and passed her a knowing smirk.
"Okay." Her announcement made him put back his victorious smile and park in a basement.
"I like the fear that mere place brings you." He teased and stepped out, halting her fingers from unlocking her side. "Wait for me."
He helped her out, holding her close to him which made her fidget with her ring, a thick diamond band with two layers of precious stone encrusted and held back to crawl around her ring finger. She remembers this ring being made to wear by him.
That day, he looked a little human with the number of emotions he held on his face before the dreadful wedding day.
He looked like someone in control and conniving his way to exit planning and being executed in the background.
But his plan was crushed.
She had mistakenly intruded on his argument with his family on her way back to the hotel room allotted to her.
He was trying to postpone the arrangement towards a gap of eight months much to Gayatri Devi's annoyance. He had argued and placed his best shot of wises to hold back but he was talked into marrying her within a span of a week.
She saw him making his way out of that room with blank nothingness on his face that continued for 2 years--
"This way, Sir, Ma'am." The voice of the attendant broke her visit to memories and pulled her back to feel his arm holding her securely as if she was a porcelain doll that would break by little force.
He wasn't wrong.
She was porcelain, fragmented, and breakable, but no doll.
"Have you shopped for your dress for tomorrow?" He leaned and whispered the question in her space, preventing any audience.
She passed him a small nod that was hard to believe.
She didn't shop.
She didn't need to.
She wasn't attending the event, shopping came at a later stage.
"What did you buy?" He probed with an interested frown on his face.
"S-saree?" her words were more of a question to herself. She didn't sound convincing and this man was too smart for his own good.
"You didn't." He started with a disappointed shake of his head.
"I am not planning to." She cleared as they were guided into the ladies-only section. She quickly made her way to the racks of clothes she preferred to wear, her comfort zone.
"GM will chew me alive if you show up wearing one of your existing sarees, not that they aren't bad." He twisted, loosening his tie and folding his shirt sleeves unto his elbow. "Now that we are shopping, you can try on some gowns, sarees, or anything you wish to have."
With her back to him, she tried clearing her stance again. "I am not planning to attend the gala tomorrow."
She heard his steps halted and cufflinks drop to the tiled floor.
"You are fooling me, aren't you?" His words were laced with bewilderment.
"I am not." She took a random cream kurta and pants from the rack, checking its tag to be affordable, and walked towards the dressing room.
She changed into the loose-fitted attire and glanced at the wall-mounted mirrors. The fabric drowned her as a whole, eating her curves and dips. It made her look more aged, unappealing.
The loss of weight was noticeable with her old size loose, hollow cheeks glaring back at her.
If someone looked at the girl back in past years, they wouldn't recognize her to be the same person.
Not that she was the same person anymore.
She was Dhwani Chauhan, not Dhwani Gandhi.
She averted from her reflection and collected old clothes and his blazer.
"Let's go." She announced her presence to the man who had occupied himself in checking gowns, pacing the length of the secluded hall.
His head turned towards her, eyes taking her form before he clicked his tongue in disapproval.
"That's too large on you." He pointed and called for the assistant slash personal shopper. "Show us a size smaller and better colors."
"I don't need..."
"Furthermore, fetch us some gowns for her size. Minimalistic, sober but trendy, or whatever the fashion terminology is." He ushered them to hurry ignoring her words. His eyes shifted back to her. "We need to improve your diet. I prefer your chubby cheeks like before."
Did... did he notice?
Her mind blanked and the next minutes passed without a word. He shoved vivid colors in her hands and pushed her into the changing room. She again saw the glimpse of a controlling man in him, one she had witnessed long back.
Trepidation dropped past her forehead.
Wiping away the sweat drops, she once again changed, tried the others, and collected them back wearing one that she chose before. Without a look at her reflection, she stood with her back straight and head held high.
"Done?" He asked before he fully turned to watch her nod and his eyes turned into glares, one that she had witnessed 3 days back. His jaw slackened as he took predatory steps toward her. "You are one hell of a stubborn woman, do you know that, Dhwani Chauhan?"
"I haven't done anything to be called that." She piped with a shrug, walking past him and dumping his selections in a pile.
"If you wish to play hard" he paused with a curl of lips "you are doing that with the wrong person."
"I am doing nothing." She defended and passed him the coat. "Thank you for today."
He held the coat, not taking it away. He stared at her with a glint of unquenched curiosity.
She tried leaving the article to him when he clasped her wrist, fingers snacking around her slender arm. "Let go."
Her words met a shake of the head followed by an order. "Change into pink so that we can select your gown for tomorrow."
"No." her argument came instantly "I like this better."
"I don't." He countered with an underlying threat to defy him which she royally ignored.
"Glad you aren't the one wearing it." She shrugged and wriggle her arm away.
His smirk tightened "You will be glad if you do as I say." He leaned closer to her "Now if you want me to carry you to changing room and help you change, I'll do it but I'm sure you do not want that. Do you?"
"Whom do you think you are threatening?" she hissed, narrowed eyes pinning him with a raging glare.
"You, my wife." He offered with a lop-sided smirk. "You have 30 seconds to make up your mind, Petal."
The determination in his gaze frightened her resolve. Glancing at the side mirror, she watched their reflection a little too closer than necessary.
Clutching her eyes, she gave up. "Don't think you won."
He stepped back, hold loosening and she snatched the dress from the pile, to annoy him she picked a yellow kurta with pants and hurried before he could stop her.
"Not when I'm on the verge of losing you." He had whispered to her leaving figure. It was meant to be left unheard yet she had.
She stayed uninterested as he went through the options, he picked one and asked her opinion to which she shot him a look that screamed vengeance.
Not that he was intimidated by her.
He was enjoying her annoyance to the extent that he made her parade in and out of that room for another half an hour until she had stomped her way towards the mannequin in the far end adorned with an amber gold satin off-shoulder dress with no slit and enough flare for her to walk perfectly.
"I am taking this." She announced to him who looked amused at her change of behavior. "Now if you are not satisfied, bury yourself in this store for all I care but I'm hungry and leaving in another minute. With or without you."
"Not bad." He drawled after a long pause. "Try it so we can pack and I take you to eat."
She took a minute to try it and it clinched to her at all the perfect places. Without giving it another thought, she doffed it back and handed it to the shopper's assistant.
Before she could join him, their bill was cleared and bags ready to be carried out. She snatched them from the poor assistant and marched out towards the nearby restaurant, not waiting to watch him follow her.
The glass door was opened and she was ushered inside.
"Table for 1?" The hostess asked watching her straight face ready to eat human alive.
"Make it 2." A voice piped from behind and Dhwani refused to acknowledge his presence. She was irritated beyond fervor with no limits left while he looked like she was torturing him for the past hour. "You could have waited for me."
The bags were threaded out of her hold and passed to someone as she was led to a table. The cold glass made her sigh and she placed her forehead against the glass table.
"Are you okay?"
She kept mum, letting her irritation calm against the cold, letting it seep into her head. The movements were heard and she felt a pat on her hair and soft rubbing on her back.
"Petal, do you feel dizzy or something else? Are you okay? Can you talk?" He was worried.
She nodded and sat back catching him hovering above her. "I am sorry."
"No, I'm sorry." He checked her for any visible symptoms, checking her forehead for fever and fingers to see if they were shivering.
"I'm tired." She tried calming his concern. "And hungry."
"I am sure you are." He nodded with a satisfied nod, he took the seat in front. "I placed the order for us before we got the table. I hope you don't mind."
The waiter was quick to reach them with some starters and a platter of the main course which was served by him.
"Have it." Anirudh gestured toward her plate as soon as the waiter left them alone.
She dived in. Taking a bigger bite than that would be called high-society, Dhwani stuffed her face with the food, not caring that there was a man who looked at her while she ate like she has been starving for months.
Anirudh bit his smile yet sat unbothered at her complete disregard for him but for her food. Dhwani has always been a foodie, trying out anything and everything when she lay her hands in the kitchen. He had often found their dinner unexpectedly creative because she liked eating a series of things and didn't bother trying out.
Her portion was replenished and he shot her a glare when she dipped a spoon into the curry adding a pinch of extra salt before serving herself more.
"That is bland." She mumbled at being caught. He stealth the salt jar from her and served her without it.
"You need to avoid salt." He stressed at her glare. "Now eat, we are getting late. We are still left with jewelry and shoes."
"I am not coming with you." She declared pointing her fork at him.
"You are." He announced irrespective of her stubborn glare. Ziddi ladki.
Taking a bite, he checked a notification and placed the phone back. "After that, I will drop you home before going to the Vidyut's place. Rakshit is there too, I guess cribbing about his fight with Shreya."
Much to Dhwani's distaste and agony, she was paraded between different shops for shopping as he termed it. Their bags were carried to the car as he again pulled her outside from the jewelry store where she refused to utter a word, riling Anirudh's calm composure as he glared at her but nonetheless, what could be a good match for her dress?
She eyed him selecting diamond earrings that reached her shoulder, a trail starting from the small stud and then falling like a stream.
She was impressed with his choice but kept quiet as he went through rings, chains, pendants, and many other articles that she refused to purchase. She never liked diamonds, gold, or Silver. She was rather content wearing those oxidized, metal jewelry that went with every attire she chose.
He opened the backdoor for her this time as the driver was called. She settled and he rounded the car, entering from the other side as the vehicle came to life.
They were on the road and she felt sleepy as the day's fatigue and medicines caught her up. Leaning her head back, she closed her eyes. She moved but someone patted her back, lulling her to rest.
"Take rest, petal."
She hummed, watching his silhouette adjusting a pillow behind her head. She called for him. "Anirudh."
"Yes." He answered lowly as if not to disturb her.
She smiled at the softness. "Thank you."
Dhwani is way too stubborn for him, don't you think?