"Kya zarurat thi unhe hamari Insta ID dene ki?" She whisper-screamed at Abhishpa. She folded her hands over her chest as she recalled the things that happened at the airport.
She had been grumpy the whole ride from the airport. She wasn't ready for it. Neither she knew him nor she wanted to. She found it too straight forward for someone to propose for marriage without even knowing the pros and cons. But she couldn't even tell it to Abhishpa as she didn't want to ruin the impression of Anirudh before her.
Abhishpa hugged her from the side and leaned on her shoulder. "How could you not find him attractive? He was the hero at LBSNAA. And he's handsome too." She stated while wiggling her brows as she remembered her some of her friends telling her that when she had visited Mussoorie.
"Ahem, I can hear everything." Soham coughed sarcastically as he got jealous, hearing his wife complimenting other man. "I know you have eyes only for me but atleast, mere aage toh kisi aur ki taarif mat karo. You know I get jealous."
She laughed hard on Aadhriti's shoulder making her uniform to form wrinkles.
They were like this since their first time meeting. Both over possessive as hell. Aadhriti leaned back at her seat as she parted her peach pink lips, getting annoyed by Soham, "Tumse kisine puchha? Nahi na? Toh kyu taang ada rahe ho hamare conversation ke beech?"
And these two were like this since school days. Couldn't digest one another. If one speaks, the other couldn't listen. It wasn't hate. It was disgust. But no one could help, because they had to shake hands for friendship for the sake of their beloved friend and wife, respectively.
Abhishpa, Aadhriti, Tanaya and Hrishika. These four had the unbreakable bonding in school. More than friends, sisters from different mothers.
Hriti, Tanu and Hrishi have always had problems with Soham. They called him 'psycho' without Abhishpa and him knowing. It used to be their code name to talk about the existing bad about him. They mentally threatened him to beat him up in public if anything happened to Abhishpa.
Soham got irritated with Aadhriti's mocking sentence and turned around to shower his words of blessing, "Oh hello. I didn't tell it to you okay? You don't need to order me." He turned around again to concentrate in his driving as he finished his lines. "Aate hi iske patar patar shuru." He mumbled. But she heard him.
"What did you say-"
Abhishpa shook her head while rolling her eyes, getting in between the same old cat and dog fight.
'Phir shuru ho gaye yeh dono. Pata nahi kab ek dusre se acche se baat kar payenge.'
Abhishpa interrupted as she felt Aadhriti's not gonna take it lightly. "Stop it guys. You're not kids anymore. I don't want your bickerings in front of my baccha at home, okay? Tum dono ko jhagarna ho toh ek time fix kar lena."
Soham widened his eyes through the rear view mirror, "She started it first Abhi-" trying to clean his record only to get cut off.
"Is Angshiv's health okay now?" Hriti cut him off, mentioning his son. He gave her an eye roll from the rear view mirror, followed by receiving another eye roll from her.
"He is doing great now, thanks to Madhav- Oh shit!" Abhishpa cursed herself as she realised whose name she had mentioned.
Hriti turned to her with wide, amused eyes, "He is here, too?"
She nodded and released her from the hug. "I'm sorry but- he is Soham's one of the closest friends so-"
"It's fine." She mumbled and looked out of the window. Her eyes saddened again.
'Why does he have to come everywhere I go? It'll either be his memories or himself, who always interferes in my happiness.'
"Hriti, is it really fine?" Abhishpa asked as she noticed her condition. The brave lioness that weakens hearing his name .
But still, she turned to her with a casual smile and said, "Yeah, it's okay. I'll try to avoid him-"
Abhishpa cut her off, "You know I'm not talking about him. I want to know if it's fine for you. For your heart."
Hriti removed her gaze from Abhishpa's eyes and shook her head sideways, "I don't know, Abhi." She lowered her head and engulfed herself within her thoughts. "I tried hard but I couldn't. He exists in every special memory of my life." She sniffed to prevent her tears from falling. She looked at her best friend with weakness in her eyes and smiled, "He had planned everything so well, right?"
Abhishpa kept gazing at her with innocent eyes and parted her rims to comfort her, "It was planned by the immortal, Hriti. You guys weren't meant to be." She held her hand and continued while forming a playful smirk on her beautiful feminine face, "Tell me the truth now, Hriti. Was Anirudh really asking you for your contact?" She said while changing the topic with the thought, 'If Madhav could weaken her, then Anirudh would be able to light her up, again.'
Aadhriti gazed at her with a fake confusion and shrugged, only to receive a 'tell na' expression from her best friend.
She blinked her as twice to hold herself from smiling but couldn't.
'I knew this was coming. I could never white lie to her face. EVER.'
"I think you already found out, Abhi." Hriti said with a small smile, she failed to prevent from appearing in her lips. Its true that she was offended at first, but she, however, liked it. She realised that, it was needed at that time. She needed someone to lift her mind from Madhav.
Abhishpa scooted closer and looked into her honey brown eyes with full interest. "Accept karle, Hriti. Life set ho jayegi teri. He is perfect from every side." She respired in between and continued with the same interest, "Ek toh unka family background accha hai, he has a powerful job, dikhne mein bhi acche hai aur manners bhi first class hai, upar se royal. Aur kya chahiye tujhe?"
Aadhriti brust out in laughter after hearing to Abhishpa's unwritten biography of Anirudh Chauhan.
Abhishpa frowned being confused, "What happened? Yeh sab kam hai tere liye?"
"Kya tu mental hospital he bhagi hui pateint hai? Itna kuch bol diya palak jhapak te hi. Ya phir tune unke baare mein PhD kar rakhi hai?" She said with a broken laughing language.
"Don't talk to me if you don't accept him."
She tried to control her laughter and blew out, "Toh hum unhe shaadi ke liye 'haan' kar de?"
Both Abhishpa and Soham looked at her with what-did-you-just-say expression. Soham rolled his eyes and focused back on his work as he was unwanted in their conversation. The poor soul felt avoided but couldn't help, cause they met after years. His mind was filled with various questions but ignored them as they were 'none-of-his-business' as per Aadhriti's opinion.
"What do you mean 'shaadi ke liye haan kar de' ?"
♪
The tall gates opened for the black Mercedes to enter the huge palace. The guards greeted Anirudh and Abhishek, and continued their work.
The palace's front yard was shining brightly due to the reflection of sunlight from the colourful flowers, smiling to the pink-blue sky.
Anirudh got down the car and the Royal guards came running to help him with his luggage.
A wide smile formed on the face of the woman who was peeking out of a window from the first floor.
Anirudh was very contented to see the one and only person with whom he was free from heart.
"Aa gaye, Kunwar sa?"
Anirudh nodded and bowed down to touch her feet. He took her blessings and received and a slight hug from her side.
"Rani sa, gusse mein honge na?" Anirudh asked his sister-in-law as he remembered, he forgot to call his mother at Delhi.
"Bahut." Shreya Chauhan, Anirudh's sister-in-law and the Royal family's eldest daughter-in-law, said with a smile.
"Aap help karenge unhe manane mein?" He pleaded with puppy eyes.
She thought about it for sometime with her hands folded and parted her lips, "Aapke bhaiya se puchhna padega pehle."
Anirudh gave her disappointed look and scrunched his brows, "Chhodiye na unhe. Aap jyada important ho."
"Accha, aisi baat hai?" She chuckled as he held her hands and continued to request her.
"Please, bhabi." He pleaded with a small smile. "You know I love you, right? And I have to tell you something too." His face turned red as he thought of telling her about Aadhriti.
"Okay okay. Now go freshen up. Hum lunch padosne ko kehte hai."
Anirudh went inside with a glistening face and hydrated himself with the thoughts of his newly created love when he got distracted by a cute little voice, on the way to his chamber.
"Chachu!"
He turned back and bent down a little to open his arms as he got the view of his cute little nephew running towards him.
He quickly engulfed the little boy in his arms and picked him up to swirl him in the air.
"Hey! Little champion. Missed me?"
The little boy nodded with a pout and pinched his cheeks. "You became too thin, Chachu. You don't eat properly?"
Anirudh smiled at him and shook his head, "I've not become thin, Rohan. It's just that I got some good diet and turned more healthy. I've gained abs too." He wiggled his brows at Rohan, with the last sentence.
"You say that same thing everytime you called. I'm curious to see."
"After lunch?"
The six year old Rohan nodded and escaped from his grip and went to his mother.
Anirudh went to his room and got himself prepared for the royal lunch. The most important meal of the day for his father.
The lunch went formal as his parents and other members of the Chauhan family were there for the discussions of their family business. Anirudh managed to console his mother with his sister-in-law's help but still felt awkward to confront his father.
His father didn't accept his decision of joining the Indian Police Service at first because of their heavy business load, but couldn't even stop him from achieving his goal. After all, he was his youngest son and the most stubborn person he knew. But it would be impolite to state that, he was more than happy to hear that his son became an IPS. The first Civil Service officer of their family.
Anirudh thought of confronting his father after their lunch but his father already mentioned it during the lunch and informed about his acceptance.
Now, the only thing left to let out to his family was, Aadhriti Sharma. But before that, he needed to make her his.
"Aap kuch kehna chah rahe the humme. Ab bataiye." Shreya came and sat beside Anirudh, disturbing him and her husband between their business talks.
"Umm- after bhaiya leaves." Anirudh sighed and released an exhale.
His brother, Crown prince, Rudra Pratap Chauhan closed his MacBook and came towards him to sit beside him. Making Anirudh seated in the middle, with him and his wife on the both sides. "Humme nahi batayenge?"
"Aisi baat nahi hai. Bas, bhabi ke saath kuch confidential baate karni thi." Anirudh shrugged and said.
Rudra frowned with confusion and asked, "Aap hamari hi wife ke saath kuch confidential baate karna chahte hai, aur hum yaha se chup chap chale jaye?"
Anirudh widened his eyes, exclaiming, "Exactly. You are smart, bro." And gave him small pat on the back.
Shreya laughed at Rudra's condition and made a fake apologetic smile at him. Rudra is not that possessive about his wife and respects whatever she does. But he wanted to create a light environment between them as Anirudh came after a long period of time.
"Spill whatever you want you say. But remember, your bhabi will tell me everything anyways." He got up and left the room.
Shreya turned to him as she confirmed Rudra's departure and seated herself with crossed legs. Filled with amusement and excitement she asked him, "Kaun hai woh ladki?"
Anirudh blushed, listening to his sister-in-law's question, "Pahado se hai aur... bohot khubsurat hai. Now, the problem is that, I made a great mistake."
"What did you do?" She asked him with worried, frowning eyes.
"I proposed her for marriage and she rejected." He sighed and spoke.
She mouthed an 'oh', nodding and asked him more about her. He denied answering every question saying he didn't know.
"You know nothing except for her name and work?"
He shook his head sideways. Shreya shrugged and asked with great curiosity, finding it difficult to understand, "Toh mile kab the unhe?"
"Aaj subah." He said nonchalantly, without blinking his eyes, maintaining the decorum of the environment.
"What?! Aap sach keh rahe hai?"
Anirudh nodded and released a deep awaiting sigh, diverting his gaze outside the window, to a bird, feeding her babies in her nest. He parted his lips, saying, "Ji, bhabhi. Pehli bar unki awaaz suna toh, aisa laga ki jaise...woh sirf hamari hai. Pehli dafaa unko dekha toh, aisa laga ki jaise, hum unke liye pure duniya se bhi ladd sakte hai." He brought his eyes to Shreya again and continued, "Ab aap hi bataiye. Yeh pyaar nahi toh, kya hai? I'm sure it's not just an ordinary attraction. It's neither an infatuation nor a midsummer night's dream."
Shreya reassured him with a gentle smile and asked, "Humme milwayenge unse? Agar unhe koyi aitraaz na ho toh?"
Anirudh grinned listening to her and nodded, without caring if he could or not, but he was determined. "Hum koshish karenge."
Shreya nodded too and stood up to leave. While turning the door knob, she turned to him and said, "Unse acche se puchhiyega. Ladkiyon ko samay ki avashyakta jyada hoti hai. Time dijiye ga unhe."