Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi
2:30 p.m.
Aayan comes out of the departure gate and takes a deep breath, the warm afternoon breeze greeted him, telling him that he was definitely back at his hometown, it was beginning of summer in Delhi, mid of June..
Though the sky had a thick cloudy cover, of it didn't took long for Aayan to start perspiring because of the famous Delhi heat...
He takes out the handkerchief and wipes his forehead and adjusted his specs, meanwhile looking around for a cab..
'You never pay attention to anything I say...' he hears a voice behind him and turns around
Ved shakes his head in disappointment and Aayan chuckles, he was dressed in white shirt, and black trousers, hair neatly gelled, and wore rimless spectacles
'Wow... You look old...' Aayan comments
'I see you after 3 years and these are the first words I hear ? What was I expecting....' Ved rolls his eyes
'Come here you...' Aayan hugs him tightly, and Ved hugs him too
'Welcome back Amayraa ke Papa...' Ved teases
'Thank you Vedika ke Papa..' Aayan leaves him
'I never thought we will address each other as someone's dads...' Ved chuckles
'Yeah... It seems yesterday, that we were back from the boarding school...' Aayan sighed
'Wow dude, you have lost weight, looks like you skipped eating...' Ved comments looking at Aayan
'I hardly had time so...' He began, but someone jumped on him from behind
'You two ladies, started chatting already, we are waiting for you.. And Big Brooo I missed you....' Sameer sang hugging Aayan tightly and he laughs
'Sameer bro... Congratulations...' Aayan turns around and hugs Sameer and he hugs him back
'Thanks bro.. And it's great to see you back...'
'Who is the lucky girl...? When and where did you guys meet...?' Aayan asks while Ved puts Aayan's luggage in the trolley
'Her name is Disha, I met her at Ved's office...*Ved smirks at this* and then I told Vansh that I like her, so he pulled out all her details for me, then we went out on few dates, we started liking each other, I told Jai uncle about her and he arranged for this wedding...' Sameer grinned
'That's awesome...' Aayan says as they walk towards the car
'You know what Aayan, he specifically searched for a girl who looks similar to Annie...' Ved laughs
'Why so ?'
'You took the original one, so i'll settle with the copy...' Sameer teased, while Aayan hit him
'No one can be like Ananya... Not even close...' He says proudly and Ved - Sameer smirk at him
'Someone is still lovestruck...' Ved laughs
'And in trouble...' Someone completed Ved's sentence and they looked at their direction
Vansh was leaning against the bonnet of the SUV, looking at them, with not so happy expression, Aayan too became serious now...
He and Vansh now shared a very formal relation, mostly because of his behavior towards Ananya and Vansh was now convinced that he is not good for his sister
'Don't worry Jeejaji... I am not here to hit you, my sister will be enough for that...' Vansh smirks and Ved glares at his twin
'Can't you be nice to him...?' Ved scolds
'I don't have any convincing reason to be nice to him, except the fact that I promised Khushi, that I won't harm him...' He shrugged his shoulder, and Aayan sighed
Ved was about to argue further, when Aayan stopped him
'He is right Ved, he has all the right to be angry with me... I deserve this...'
'Aayan you didn't...' Ved began
'You are seriously going to justify his cowardly act of running away...' Vansh loses his patience and lashes out at his twin
Ved and Vansh glare at each other, While Sameer - Aayan stared them worriedly...
'Why don't we head towards home... I am sure Naina aunty would be excited to see you...' Sameer intervenes in between, and says this to Aayan
'Oh trust me, she is anything but excited...' Vansh said
'Anger doesn't suit to a father to be... He has to keep smiling all the time so that his baby is happy too...' Sameer tries to pacify them
Aayan looked at Sameer surprised and then at Vansh...
'You are going to be a dad...? Congratulations...' Aayan says and Vansh's expression softens
'Thanks...' Vansh says
'When is the baby due ?'
'Anytime now...' Vansh scratched the back of his head, the mention of his child always soothed him..
'This means I am back home in a great timing...' Aayan smiles looking at Vansh and Sameer
'Oh we'll see about it...' Vansh smirked and Ved huffed
'Get in the car everyone...' Ved says and they nod
'Why does he keeps on smirking...? Am I in trouble..?' Aayan asks Ved
Ved sighs, 'Not really in trouble, but he's going to enjoy seeing you struggle to deal with Annie..'
'I can deal with my wife...' Aayan huffs taking the back seat
'Ha ha.. Again, we'll see about it...' Vansh replies before Ved could say anything
Ved leans against his seat, massaging his temples, Sameer to sighs, while Vansh smirks at Aayan from the driving seat...
'What's going on...?' Aayan asks confused
'Nothing, Let's go... Jai uncle is waiting...' Sameer says and they drive outside the airport
Delhi Social, Hauz khas..
3 p.m..
Ananya sat at the barstool, sipping her mocktail and waiting for Deepika, when she recieved a call from her boss
She rolled her eyes and ignored the call, and looked around, the cafe was empty, after all it was an odd hour to visit the place, she took a half day from her office and asked Deepika to do that too...
Her phone rang again, she looked at the caller and huffed
'Yes Sir...?' she answers bored
'Where are you Ananya...?' came her Boss's exasperated voice
'I am home, I told Gracy...' Ananya replies innocently
'Your clients were waiting...' he growls
'I gave them Monday's appointment...'
'I decide the appointments here, not you...' her boss began
'Why ? Because you are the son in law of the owner...?' Ananya matched his tone and her boss became silent
'You can't talk to me like that...' he began after a while
'What will you do...? Fire me...? Go ahead ! Do it ! First ask yourself, can you afford to do that...?' Ananya taunts him
'Don't use your Father's influence on me...' He shot back
'Who is talking about my dad here...? You don't have lawyers, and before I joined, you guys didn't win a single case in 2 years, and now you are the leading firm because of me... If I leave, you'll be back to scratch...' She replied arrogantly
'You live in your own Dreamland Mrs. Verma...' The boss laughed
'Ask your father in law if you don't trust me...' Ananya yawns
'Oh, I will do that... You need to be tamed urgently, you are going out of our control now... And I am aware of your deed today in the office, Dhruv patel injured his arms, because of you...' The boss said and Ananya's anger elevated at this
'Did he tell you what he did...?' Ananya asks
'Single women attract such attention from men okay, you over reacted in my opinion...' her boss said, and Ananya angrily throws her glass on the floor, and the staff looked at her shocked, even her boss was startled who heard this through the phone
'How. Fucking. Dare. You...' She gritted and Deepika who now hurriedly rushed towards her, seeing her angry face, held her shoulders
Her boss was silent on the other side, he knew he would not be spared for this
'You Pathetic, Spineless, Misogyinstic Man ! How Dare You !! Just because my husband doesn't live with me, I become available to bastards like Dhruv Patel and You..? And me protesting to such advance means I over reacted ?' she growled
'Ananya...' Her boss began
'You better watch your back when I return on Monday, Dhruv just injured his hands, I'll fucking break your spine... And no one, trust me, no one can save your ass, not your old father in law, not that bimbo wife of yours, no one ! You want to fire me ? Do it ! I'll still harm you, do you understand...?' She shouts angrily and Deepika tries to calm her down
'Annie Relax...' Deepika massages her shoulders
'Ananya Verma you cannot...' Her boss began
'Oo.. go fuck yourself you prick...!' Ananya growls and cuts the call..
She took a deep breath and looked at the staff who were staring at her horrified, her face was all flushed with anger, and she was breathing heavily
'Deeps please take care of the bill, I am waiting for you in the car...' She hands her wallet to Deepika and walks out of the bar
Deepika pays the bill for the damage and follows Ananya outside
When she opened the backseat of the car, she found Ananya leaning against the backseat, massaging her temples, her eyes closed, Deepika takes a seat beside her and asks the driver to take them to a different place..
'No ! Take me home...' Ananya orders, her voice was hoarse, like she was about to cry
Deepika gulped at this, she knew Aayan could reach home anytime and Ananya was not in the mental state to see him, who knows how will she react, given the fact that all the suffering in her personal as well as professional life were partly because of him
'Annie, let's go to some different cafe, you'll be more upset at home...' Deeps suggested
'I just want to go home Deeps, I am sorry that I wasted your time, but I am not in a state to go anywhere else...' Ananya said, with difficulty, as she was about to cry
'Okay...' Deepika gave up and held her arms, and Ananya burst into tears
'It's okay Annie, you are stronger than this...' Deepika wipes her tears
'I am tired Deeps, I don't want to be strong...' Ananya cries and Deepika hugs her
'Everything is a mess, this is not the life I wanted...' she cries and Deepika's eyes fill with tears too
'Everything will be fine Ananya...' Deepika assures her, remembering that Aayan is back
'When...! Please reverse everything Deeps, lets go 6 years back ! I wish I never met Aayan...' Ananya cries and Deeps sighs
He was in your fate Annie, you are his and he is yours...
Verma's House...
4 p.m.
The car halts in front of the huge door of the house and the men get out of it, the servents quickly rush towards them and takes out Aayan's luggage
Aayan looks around and then turns to Ved, while Sameer and Vansh walk inside the house
'I see more people working here now, did we increase the staff ?'
'Yeah, after Bade Papa and My Papa officially retired from E market because of health issues, Maa increased the staff in both the houses to take care of them, since the Daughter In Laws of both the houses are working...' Ved informs
'Where does Deepika work...?' Aayan asks as they walk inside
'Deepika works as senior partner in a advocate's firm, while Annie holds the same designation under a different lawyer who is a former Supreme court Advocate...'
'Wow..' Aayan was impressed
'Yeah, she doesn't need you to help her get through a case now...' Ved laughed and Aayan hits him
'I'll sacrifice all my wealth, if it can help her win a case...' he smiled
'You have already done that Aayan...'
'But she lost much more than I did...' Aayan sighed
'Now you are back to compensate for the loss...' Ved smiled
'Hopefully.. Will she ever forgive me...?' Aayan asks
Ved gets uncomfortable at this, and Aayan understood what he was thinking
'I am sure you will find a way...' Ved patted his shoulders and Aayan sighed
Jai comes out of the house, followed by Mrs. Kumar and Sameer
'Son...' Jai calls and their attention is on him now..
Jai was leaner now, and he started to crouch due to his back issues, he had to hold a stick to support his body, not permanently, just to avoid pain, his greying hairs, turning white now, but he still stood tall and had the charisma of old Jai Verma, who was the next hearthrob after Arjun Thapar
'Dad..' Aayan runs towards him, and hugs him tightly
Jai hugs him back and tears fill his eyes, he caresses Aayan's hair, and noticed Aayan was leaner now, Jai left him and saw his face and winced, his handsome son looked sick and had dark circles under his eyes, he lost all the charm he had here, the fighter Aayan seemed to be gone, but little did Jai knew that he was very much alive inside his son, and was ready for his final test
'You are leaner now kid...' Jai looks at him worriedly
'Don't worry Dad, now that I am back, Pappy will take care of my diet.. Won't you ?' He turns to Mrs. Kumar who smiles
'Of course Baba, Welcome back...' Mrs Kumar smiles and he hugs her too
'Where is Amayraa...?' he asks
'She and Vedika are at Arjun Sir's house... He'll get them here in sometime...' she informs
'Okay good...'
'Let's go inside...' Jai says and they all walk inside
Vansh was sitting on the sofa, watching TV, he looks at Aayan rolls his eyes and then diverts back his attention to the television
'Are you ignoring my son...?' Jai asks
'Yes..' Vansh replies coolly
'Why ?' Ved asks
'Because I want to...' Vansh replied bored
'I really hope your child inherits Khushi's manners...' Ved glares at him
'I hope that too, because there can be only one me...' he says proudly
'That was not a compliment...' Ved rolls his eyes
'I'll take it anyway...' Vansh looks at the screen, ignoring Ved
'Ignore him Aayan, you are anyway used to his stupid tantrums...' Ved says and Aayan chuckles
'Tara ji, please bring something to eat, I feel like Aayan will faint any moment now...' Jai says and others laugh
'Come on Paa..' Aayan whines and they sit on the couch
'So how is everything here...?' Aayan asks
'Well, Ved is ready to print his second best seller, his princess is a troublemaker, looks like she will be like her chachu...' Jai says looking at Vansh
'Of course, I coach her how to trouble Ved, recently I showed her how you glue his shoes with papers...' Vansh grinned
'I knew it, I knew it was you who taught her that...' Ved glares at him
'She cannot grow up to be a sadu like you or Aayan...' Vansh rolled his eyes
'No one should grow up to be like me Bro...' Aayan said sadly and now they were silent
Mrs. Kumar served snacks to everyone and now the silence was getting awkward
'Yeah sooo... Sameer's wedding is a week away, and you being his brother are now responsible for it's preparation...' Jai orders and Aayan nods
'Yes sir.. Just tell me when to start...' Aayan mock salutes
'You have to ask Annie about it...' Sameer says nervously
'Yeah, do it... I dare you...' Vansh smirks
'Why are you warning me about her ? I know how to deal with her, She is my wife, not some stranger...' Aayan says to Vansh, who now looks at him amusingly
'You know nothing Jon snow...' Vansh laughs and others sigh
'What's going on...?' Aayan looks at Ved
'Annie is not the same person anymore...' Ved sighs
'Yeah, she is now your female Version, with extra abilities like violent reactions and glass breaker...' Sameer explains
'My female version ? but I don't get angry anymore... I took therapies okay, trust me... I don't get violent...' Aayan assures
'Your old self we are talking about...' Ved says
'Oh...' was all Aayan could say
Just then the bell rings, Mrs. Kumar opens the door and Adi - Sash come inside
'We heard our beloved son in law is back...' Sash says
'Yeah "Beloved"...' Adi gestures with his fingers
The others chuckle and Aayan takes their blessings
'No more running away now kid... Life is about facing difficulties...' Sash says with a stern expression
'Yes Chachu, I promise...' Aayan smiles
'Where is Arjun...?' Jai asks
'He was behind us, with Vedika and Amayraa... Maybe they stopped to buy ice cream...' Adi says
'I'll recieve them outside..' Aayan says and walks towards the door, as he was excited to see his daughter after so many years
He was about to open the door, when the bell rang, and Aayan got happy
There they are.. He thought and opened the door
'Hey Princess... I missed...' He began, but words ceased to leave his mouth seeing the person in front of him
Ananya stood there with a shocked expression, not believing that he was really here, and behind her stood Deepika who looked startled too...
Aayan was spellbound, there she stood, in her beautiful self and the best part was she was real, and not his imagination, she wore formal dress and pants, her hair tied in a high ponytail, she wore big framed specs and her eyes and nose were red, looked like she just cried
Tears rolled down her eyes, when she saw him, it was like she was dreaming, she took a step back, and tripped on her heels, which made her lose her balance, Deepika rushed to help her, but Aayan was quick enough to catch her by arms and helps her stand properly..
This is when she realised he was really here ! All the memories flooded her mind and mood went from tired to sad to surprised to angry within minutes...
He on the other hand was nervous as hell, he couldn't find words, and inspite of different emotions playing inside them, their bodies spoke a different language, they both had gooseflesh all over and their hearts hammering in their chests..
All of them were silently witnessing their eye contact, none of them saying anything, Ananya was the first one to recover, and pulled her hand away from his hold, which broke his reverie..
He still couldn't take his eyes off her, and now she glared at him and furiously wiped her tears and got inside the house, ignoring him as he was about to say something...
She took long strides towards her room, ignoring everyone's call, and mixed emotions were playing inside Aayan, he understood something was wrong, yes she was upset with him, but those tears were something else..
He turned to follow Ananya, when Deepika holds his hands firmly, and he looks at her confused
'Leave her alone Aayan, she needs peace right now, so I request everyone not to disturb her, especially you Aayan, you are the last person that should face her...' Deepika says
'Why...?' Vansh asks
'Something happened in her office, and she is super upset about it...' She informs
'What happened...?' Aayan asks
Deepika looks at him, debating whether she should say this in front of him, or not but then sighs, he will eventually come to know..
'Deepika, what happened to her...?' Ved asks
Deepika narrated the whole incident, right from Dhruv's inappropriate gesture, to her fight with her boss and then eventually breaking down, getting tired of all this...
Aayan got angry at this, but his anger was not explosive anymore, he just fisted his hands and took a deep breath, as he was taught in his sessions
Ved and Sameer became worried for Ananya and look at Aayan, expecting a sharp reaction from him, but to everyone's surprise he did not say anything
Vansh walked upstairs, towards Ananya's room and Deepika was about to follow when Ved stopped her
'She won't listen to anyone right now, except him...' He said and she takes a step back
'What happened...?' they hear Arjun's voice
He walked inside followed by Vedika and Amayraa, who got excited seeing Aayan
'Paa..!' Amayraa exclaims and ran towards Aayan, who smiled at her
She jumped on him and Aayan was pushed back, to balance her weight... He indeed was weak now
'You are here...! Yeeaahhhh....' Amayraa says hugging him tightly
'Yes baby...' he smiled, 'Look how big you are... I can't even pick you up...' he says
'I am not big, you are thin...' Amayraa argues and gets down from his arms
'Are you sick...?' she asks him and Arjun too looked at him concerned
He indeed lost weight, and looked sickly
'No Baby... I am fine...' Aayan smiled
'How are you...?' Arjun asks and Aayan looks at him
'I am good Dad...' he answers, not sure whether to hug him or not
He went near him to take his blessings and Arjun stopped him, and hugged him
'You will be surprised to hear this, but I am really happy to see you here...' Arjun says
Aayan did not have reply to this, he hesitantly hugged him back
'No more games kid... Enough with all your insecurities and problems, be a man and face them, if you do something stupid this time, I will marry off my daughter to another guy without even caring about my and Jai's friendship...' Arjun warned
'I'll help you in finding the groom...' Jai glares at Aayan too
'I promise I won't hurt her again...' Aayan says
'I don't trust you Aayan... You promised this to me long back and see where are we today...'
'But I won't do it again Dad... I promise...' Aayan pleads
'This is your last chance...' Arjun says and walks upstairs
Ananya and Aayan's room
Ananya sat on the bed, controlling her tears, mixed emotions were playing inside her..
She was surprised, that he was back
She was curious, why was he here
She was angry, because he left
She was relieved, that he was back, and was safe
She was scared, what if he invokes feelings inside her and runs away again
And most importantly, she was worried about their future now...
All this thoughts flooded her mind and she forgot about what happened today
There was a soft knock on the door and Vansh came inside
She looked at him and wiped the tears brimming in her eyes
'You don't need to hide them from me... I have seen you do nothing but cry, since that guy entered your life...' he said angrily looking at the wedding potrait behind Ananya
'Why wasn't I informed about his arrival...?' Ananya asks
'To be honest, I came to know about it this morning when Ved asked me to take them to airport...'
'Classic him, he leaves unexpectedly and comes back unexpectedly...' She chuckles darkly
'How long do you think his drama will go on ?' he asks sitting beside her
'I don't know and I don't care...' she replies irritated
'You loved him at some point Annie, he is still your husband, you cannot ignore his atrocities and suffer...' Vansh matches her tone, but she doesn't reply at this
'He's not going back you know...' he continued
'Good for him...' Ananya answers
'And you...?'
'Like I said, I don't care..'
'You can't suffer because of him your entire life !' Vansh exclaimed
'What other option do I have Bhai...? Get separated ? I should've done that long back, but now we have Amayraa, we can't just create another Aayan here...' Ananya shot back
'I can't see you suffer anymore, because of that coward...' Vansh growls
'He. Is. Not. A. Coward...' Ananya gets furious
Vansh smiles at this and holds her arms
'Who says you don't care...' he smiled and Ananya's was speechless
'You guys need to sit down and talk about it Annie... If it didn't end because of all this drama, I doubt whether this will ever end...'
'I don't think we are meant to stay peacefully under one roof...' Ananya sighs
'And I don't think you guys can be happy with anyone else... I know the day when you angrily said to him that You will never be his, but I would like to rephrase that to You will never be anyone else's except Aayan's...' he pats her shoulders and gets up
Ananya doesn't let go of his arms and stands up too
'I am tired bhai...' she sighs and places her head over her brother's chest
He sighs and embraces her in his arms and kisses her head
'I know kid... And I have a feeling that this will end soon... All your sufferings, difficulties are going to end...' he smiled
'I hope so Bhai...' Ananya says hugging him back
Arjun who witnessed all this from outside the room, wiped his tears
I hope that too...
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