Payal
How many times have you accidentally landed with impossible coincidences?
By accident, I got involved in a fake marriage in my fake husband's family business with accidental meet-ups with his family members and now I am stuck with two fake husbands at different places at the same time, all by accident.
Unfortunately, How did I end up so lucky?
"What the hell are going on about?" I was freaking shocked.
"I mean— " He paused to continue, "One second, You didn't hear me calling her mom?" His eyes stared through me. I was caught by surprise but then as I recalled my memories, I remembered him calling her 'mom'.
I nearly face-palmed at my stupidity. Am I that dumb?
Yes, girl. You are dumb. My mind retorted with all honesty at a very wrong time.
"I guess not." A small smile formed on his lips and I just wanted to smack him up for internal relief.
"I want to go home." I hung my head down, pulling my hair like a whiny little kid who just can't stop throwing tantrums. "Why am I like this? Why do I have two husbands? Why?"
"Two husbands!" The fright was visible in the voice that came all of a sudden. Siddharth and I dashed out to face his mother.
Her face was shocked in disbelief. "Mom, I…" Siddharth looked flustered, getting caught off guard. He gestured towards me to continue.
I bit my lips before turning to her. "Haha… I heard that…" The words trailed off and my brain had nearly shut down when I babbled out the answer that clicked on my mind at the right time. "Someone married her lover in the temple while being still married to someone else already."
"What? That's disgusting." She scrunched up her nose in disgust before turning to Siddharth, “Come out, if you are done here.”
I smiled and replied, “The house is nice.” I couldn’t help but feel a sigh of relief come out as we followed her out.
★★★
Siddharth
Finally, things were sorted out as Payal signed out the papers so that she could move in today itself. A car arrived just in time, bringing in all her stuff. I nudged Abhiraj to follow her and then was about to go after them when my mother asked me to stand aside.
"What's going on?" Her vague question made me wonder what answer she was expecting.
"What?" That was all I could say in reply.
She sighed and looked in the direction of Payal. "It's not like what I am thinking, right? You are not into a married girl, are you?"
My jaws dropped but I could imagine my mother being frank. She never hesitated much to speak her mind but this time, it felt different. "Why would I—" I fake laughed as if it was the most ridiculous statement ever.
"Be careful." She didn't have to say anything more than that. Her glaring eyes tore through my soul, convincing me that she was going to haunt me in my dreams if I ever fell in love with the married Payal.
But the main thing that she doesn't know is — Payal is not even married.
"Do your work here and come back home straight. It might take some time for them to move in." My mother walked away after emphasizing 'straight'. Finally, I felt I could breathe.
As the workers placed her stuff in the room, Abhiraj was actively helping her as the old lady kept her eye on him as if to read the biodata of this man.
Payal looked up at me and I noticed her making a 180-degree turn as she indicated to me to join them. "Let me also help." I offered a hand. It was better now that my mom left earlier.
Abhiraj placed a careful glance at the lady who was talking to the workers and turned to both of us. "What are we going to do next? I can't stay here."
"Why would you stay here?" I felt my voice rise but I couldn't help it. Somewhere deep, it felt so weird. It was strange enough that I had to let him act as a husband. Why would he think of that?
"Can you speak low?" Payal hushed me off while she noticed the lady looking at them.
"Are you all okay?" We all nodded.
Payal walked over to the lady and said, "It's late now. You should go and eat your lunch. I will unpack these things." She turned to the workers repeated the same thing and added, "Thank you for helping us."
"Oh dear, why would you take the trouble? Your husband will do it. Isn't that right?" The lady looked over to Abhiraj who was visibly exhausted. He looked like he would just take down the offer.
Everyone looked at him for his answer. "I—"
"It's okay. I can do it. They must be tired." Payal interrupted.
Her face turned sympathetic as she held Payal's hand. "You are too young to take so much stress. What are the men for if they can't even do this job?" Her look changed to a neighbour auntie that didn't leave chances for an explanation.
"They will do it. You come with me. Siddharth beta, you should come too."
"Sorry auntie, I will help him here. You both can go and eat something." Payal shook her head at me as if to say she didn't want to go now but she was dragged away.
She turned to Abhiraj before exiting. "You have to clean it properly and then you can join too maybe."
As if on cue, he fake nodded, ready on a mission until his last remaining enthusiasm left his soul. "What was that?"
I couldn't help but break into fits of laughter. "Is that funny? What did I do so wrong? She didn't even bother to ask me when she even asked you."
"Maybe your appearance wasn't appealing," I said just to get kicked on my leg.
"Why? I am so much better looking than you. So stop." He shook his head, blowing on his hair as if to look cool.
"I feel at ease. She seemed like a nice neighbour. Payal can stay without any worries." I couldn't be any more relieved to see Payal making her best impression on her first day. Though things are messed up, it might still work out.
He sighed. "Now I see why young couples can be annoying?" He sat on the side of the bed, avoiding sitting on the dusty cloth that barely covered the bed.
I laugh, getting flustered for a bit. Couples? We are not exactly couples.
"Why don't you help me sort things up here?"
"Before that, I have a card on me. You promised that you would do anything I say." Abhiraj raised his eyebrows, giving me a smile that seemed to hide the fun he was having, thinking about how to use it on me.
"Don't tell me to do everything alone here. I really need help—"
He interrupted, "Call me 'father' from now on till I tell you to stop."
I wanted to snap at him. "Why should I—" I sighed when I saw him glare at me. "Fine. Father. Now help me."
"You talk to your father like that, you ungrateful brat," he snapped back, putting his arms on his back. "You should do everything on your own. Let your father relax." He lay down against the chair only to cough out because of the dust.
"You will die one day like this…" A pause followed as I saw him stare at me. I blinked my eyes and continued,"... Father."
"Haha, I like that."
★★★
Author's Pov
"Thank you so much for the food. It was so good." After the day's toil, the food seemed more delicious than ever for Siddharth. The taste of labour.
"You all should visit more often."
They greeted her goodbye and after she left, Abhiraj let out a sigh of relief. "I felt like she would kill me. I am just glad I am not your real husband. It's so strange that she liked Siddharth more than me."
Before Payal could reply, Siddharth replied, "Maybe your appearance is lacking, father."
And a series of hand-fights ensued when the boys heard Payal's voice. "Stop it, you both. Do you know that we already landed ourselves in the dirt?" Abhiraj and Siddharth pulled their hands off each other, feigning to be serious.
"Listen, I already told her that my husband will stay the night at his mother's place because she is sick. That is sorted out for today but I don't think this excuse will suffice for the long term."
Abhiraj interrupted, "That's good enough. We can think of something tomorrow. I want to take a rest." He stretched his arms wide as he yawned.
“Why are you so tired when I did all the work?” Siddharth let out a grumble.
“You both should leave for home. I will go back to work.” Payal checked her watch and smiled, “We still have two hours left for the market to close.”
I can’t believe this girl, Siddharth thought. "Why are you going back when there's only two hours left? Leave it. You should probably go inside and rest a bit."
"It's okay. Don't worry, I—" She couldn't finish her sentence as Siddharth budged in.
"Relax, okay? I will call up and tell them you had a rough day and to give you leave for the rest of the day."
She snapped, "You both did the entire work. I should probably go—"
"Yes, you will go inside your new house." At this point, he didn't care if he was being a nagging old woman. He just wants her to relax. It had to be a tough day for her to cope up with suddenly getting two husbands with a whole new burden of lies.
He pulled her close to me and for the moment, when her eyes met with his, he was lost in her wide glance. Snapping out of his fantasy world and kicking all thoughts away, he pushed her inside her house.
"Sorry for that but good night." Siddharth smiled as she made her lips shaped up in a pout so cute that his heart was about to melt.
He closed the door only to hear his heart beat faster than usual. His face blushed up with a smile when he turned around chanting, "She is adorable, she is adorable."
He let out a chuckle and looked up to see Abhiraj blinking his eyes away. "I really shouldn't have gotten involved in your little drama." He seemed slightly distracted or rather, he wanted to distract himself before looking at his phone. "Ah, here's my wife. I missed you."
He left the balcony as he walked while talking to Shruti. "This guy is insane." He shook his head but not before turning back to Payal's apartment.
As he turned away to leave, Payal opened her door slightly to see him walking away and as she was about to call him, she stopped.
She whispered to herself, "Siddharth, you make me so uncomfortable but I feel so at ease when I am with you. But I feel like I shouldn't be like this? What should I do?" As the dilemma struck her, she closed the door as she turned her eyes away to look at her new house.
Should I thank you or should I be sorry? Her thoughts accompany her for the rest of the night with a bowl of Maggi as she watches the Penthouse episodes.
~•~
This chapter had multiple POVs. Sorry if it was confusing. The scenes had to be told that way so I wrote them from different POVs.
Hope it wasn't too confusing and hope you liked this chapter.
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