"Have you two gone crazy?" RK furiously asks his parents.
"Rishu... please understand. Your life is in danger." Radha says with tears in her eyes.
"I don't believe in this kundali crap." RK replies.
"But we do." Radha tells him sternly.
"Dad? I am just 21! I can't get married. I've to finish my studies. I've to start working. Prove myself. Then only I can marry."
"Your wife will support you in all that. She'll be your biggest strength to achieve all that. She will be your inspiration." Radha tells him.
"Rishu, you need to get married soon. The only way to remove the dosh in your kundali is by getting married." Mohan explains to him.
"What kind of nonsense is that, Dad? How can some Pundit decide that I'll die at the age of 22?" RK furiously asks him. "For all you know, he could be a fraud or he might have been drunk, and it could be that if I marry by the age of 22 then I'll die."
"You are our only son, Rishu. We can't take chances. Please understand." Mohan pleads.
"Madhubala is akhand saubhagyavadhi."
"What the hell is that?" RK asks getting side tracked.
"It means that she will always be a suhagan."
"What if she dies at the age of 21?" RK asks shocked at their stupidity.
"Please Rishu, if something happens to you then we'll die." Radha tells him.
"Don't talk like that." RK says furiously.
"It is hurting you right? Then imagine how much it hurts us?" Radha asks him.
RK looks at his parents helplessly as they looked at him with pleading eyes, then he says "Fine! I will get married but I am not happy about this."
"We matched your horoscopes, you both are very compatible." Radha says smiling.
"Yeah! We will see about that." RK says irritated.
RK sat in the hotel room as he smoked fuming at the injustice done to him. He had thought of talking to Madhubala when they meet and ask her to back out of this marriage but his cunning parents hadn't let them talk privately even for a second and now he was in his shervani, ready for his wedding. He sighs furiously, God! I am just 21. How can I marry? Why did they make the legal marriageable age 21 instead of some 29? Who made that law? He better not come in front me else he will know who Rishabh Kundra is. Oh god! Please I don't want to get married. I am too young to marry. I want to enjoy my life. Please? Run away. WHAT? Who said that? Run away, that is your only option. RK didn't care who gave him that idea from inside his head, he was going to follow that.
He checks the time, one more hour for the wedding before someone come looking for him to go to the wedding venue down, (he had explicitly told everyone not to disturb him till then) and he had to leave. Grabbing his car keys, overnight bag and wallet he runs out of his room. RK sneaks out through the fire escape. Freedom! RK felt a smile break out of his lips as his legs hit the ground. He was a freeman or he'll be if he manages to get to his car undetected. RK looks around wondering which part of the hotel he was in. Finally, figuring out that he was on the west side of the hotel near the car park he was about to run to his car when he hears a thud. He turns back to see a bag on the ground. He curiously looks up and his eyes widens in shock seeing a girl in bridal attire climbing down. Not any girl, his bride!
Madhu jumps down the fire escape and looks to her sides to see if anyone saw her escape. Heaving a sigh of relief she turns around grabbing her bag from the floor and stands up to bolt when she stops in shock seeing her bridegroom standing there gaping at her.
"You..." RK says in shock.
"I am just 18 years old. I am too young to get married." Madhu tells him in a pleading tone.
Oh God! Even she is running away.
Suddenly, he hears voices of people approaching; he quickly holds Madhu's hand and runs towards his car.
"HEY!" Madhu says in shock.
"Sshh!" RK shushes her up as he continued on and stops near his car. "Get in." RK tells her.
Madhu looks at him confused.
"Before anyone finds us and take us to back in, get inside. We need to leave." RK tells her frantically and Madhu quickly sits inside. Closing her door, RK hurries to the other side and opens the driver's seat and throws his bag to the backseat and gets in. He drives away quickly.
"You were also running away?" Madhu asks shocked seeing his bag.
"I am just 21... Where were you going?"
"I don't know. I just wanted to get away from here."
"Where do you want to go?"
"I don't know." Madhu replies scared, now that she was coming to her senses she didn't know where she should go. "Where are you going?" Madhu asks him.
"Dammit!" RK furiously hits on his steering. "No idea." RK replies helplessly.
Madhu sighs loudly as she leaned back on the head rest closing her eyes in dread.
RK drivers around for a while and finally he pulls over at an isolated area and gets out of the car. Madhu follows him out.
"What are we going to do?" Madhu asks him worried.
"I don't know." RK replies as he tried to think what to do next.
They remained silent for a while then RK asks her, "Were your parents forcing you to marry?"
"Yes, in my kundali it says that if I don't get married now then I'll not marry for 12 years."
"12 years?" RK asks, "That specific?"
"Yeah." Madhu replies chuckling. "30 is not a bad age to get married na?"
RK shrugs, "Do you mind if I smoke?"
Madhu shakes her head.
"Thanks." RK replies smiling as he took out a cigarette. "You want one?"
"I haven't smoked before." Madhu replies nervously as she rubbed her hands.
"Are you cold?"
"Slightly... I am nervous." Madhu replies and then asks curiously, "Does that help one relax?"
"It helps me." RK replies.
Madhu looks at the lit cigarette he was holding. RK watches her looking at his cigarette and then she hesitantly looks up at him. RK takes out the cigarette pack and says, "Shoot! I am out." He discards the empty pack and offers the one he was smoking, "Here."
"Thanks." Madhu says as she took it and keeps it to her lips then she slightly sniffs in.
"You need to take it in." RK explains.
"How?" Madhu asks confused.
"Pass it here." Madhu hands him the cigarette. "Inhale through your mouth and take it in into your throat." RK explains as he showed her how to inhale and then exhales out the smoke. Then he passes it to her.
Madhu imitates what he had showed her and the smoke goes into her throat and it starts burning and itching. She starts coughing unable to take the smoke in.
"Easy... easy." RK says as he softly patted her on her head with one hand while he took the cigarette from her with the other hand and put it to his lips. Madhu continues to cough and RK gently pats her. Finally she calms down and looks up at him and he looks at her. Their eyes lock for the first time.
Realizing that he had stopped patting her and was gently caressing her RK quickly moves back and Madhu also breaks out of the eye lock.
"How do you smoke?" Madhu asks trying to recover as she looked away wiping the tears.
"You get used to it." RK replies shrugging. "Want to try once more?"
"Never in my life." Madhu decides.
RK chuckles as he continued to smoke.
"Why were your parents forcing you?" Madhu asks him.
"I would die by the age of 22 if I didn't marry a girl with some suhagan boon."
"Ah!" Madhu exclaims then asks him curiously "You are not scared of dying?"
"I don't believe in that." RK tells her.
"Strange, both our parents believe in all this but we don't." Madhu says amazed.
"We are the smart ones in the family." RK says grinning.
Madhu smiles.
"What are we going to do?" Madhu asks him.
"I don't know. If we were there, we would probably be about to go to the mandap." RK replies.
"Hmmm... what do you think our parents are doing?"
"Freaking out." RK says with a serious face that Madhu couldn't help chuckling. Seeing her chuckle RK smiles at her. She is really very beautiful.
His smile is so... Masha Allah... he is one handsome man. *sigh*.
"Do you regret it?" Madhu asks him.
"I am just 21, Madhubala. I have to finish my studies. I want to do my masters. I want to flirt with girls. I want to be like every normal 21 yr old." RK tells her helplessly. "Then I want to start working, become responsible and take responsibilities. Do things for my parents."
"I was supposed to start college this year. I just finished my 12th. I want to study. Enjoy college life, make friends. Have guys run behind me. Fall in love. A little bit of romance. Then start working." Madhu tells him.
RK nods as he thought about it. They both were right. They had a lot to experience in life before marriage. Why didn't their parents understand that? Why did they simple worry? They would be worried now.
"Our parents would be worried." Madhu says as if reading his thoughts.
"Yes." RK replies feeling guilty.
"Do you think we shouldn't have run away?" Madhu asks him as the guilt started eating her up.
"If we had stayed back then we will have to get married."
"Yeah... we would be married. Then what would happen?" Madhu asks him.
"You would join college." RK tells her.
"Yeah even you." Madhu tells him.
"You'll make friends... guys will be behind you and girls will be jealous of you."
"You'll also make friends... as long as it is just harmless flirting, you will flirt with girls... enjoy college life to the fullest."
"Maybe you'll even fall in love." RK says, with me.
"Maybe I'll." Madhu says looking at RK. "And maybe you'll too."
"Maybe I'll too." RK replies as he looked at her.
They remained silent as they looked at each other lost in thoughts.
"What time is the muhurat?" Madhu asks him quickly.
RK checks the time and says hurriedly. "In 10 mins."
"10 mins?" Madhu asks shocked.
"I can get us there in 9 mins." RK tells her.
"You can?" Madhu asks hopefully.
"I always wanted to be an F1 racer." RK says grinning as he held her hand and ran towards the car.
RK stops the car and starts to get out when Madhu suddenly asks him, "Girls flirting with a married guy?"
"Guys running behind my wife?" RK asks her frowning.
"Maybe no one needs to know that we are married."
"It could be our secret." RK says smiling.
"Yes." Madhu says smiling.
They quickly get down and holding hands runs to the venue.
Mohan, Radha, Padmini and Malik are worriedly talking in the middle of the venue as the guests stood around talking amongst themselves. Radha and Padmini were crying while Mohan and Malik were frantically trying to figure out what to do. They hear loud footsteps and turns to the sound.
"Rishu?" Mohan spots them first.
"Madhu?" Malik says in shock seeing his runaway daughter back with her groom holding hands.
"We want to get married." RK informs everyone.
"We are ready." Madhu says turning to look at RK.
Everyone sighs in relief and they were quickly led to the mandap before they could even think of changing their mind but they didn't even want to change their mind. Madhu and RK happily smiles at each other as they got married.