Arjun woke up before Diya today, he had never noticed her sleeping, except the few days that she was at home, in bed rest, on all the other days, she was in a hurry. She reminded him of Dev as a teenager in the way she slept, one leg in the blanket, the other out, except Dev had hairy muscular looking legs that were usually covered with pyjamas. He went to get himself some tea and came back and stood in the balcony. He looked to the side and he could view the barns, he saw a man waiting there. It was Ranjit, a name he had found out about just yesterday morning, he had seen them together, not just him, the entire village had. Arjun kept lying to himself that he declared that she couldn't meet Ranjit to prevent the villagers from talking, it was also because he was not comfortable with it, at the end of the day she was his wife. You could call is the magic of male ego or mere hypocrisy.
Diya's body clock was already fixed, she woke up 15 minutes late, freaked out on seeing the time, then realized that Arjun had exempted her from making the morning tea. She was still confused about the 'miracle' that took place the other day. She looked to the side but didn't spot Arjun, she then noticed that the balcony was open, She saw a bare chested Arjun leaning against the railing. "Arjun Stop!" She screamed
A puzzled Arjun turned around as Diya ran towards him, she then noticed him holding a cup of tea. "Oh, oh you were just drinking tea, oh okay cool, great, that's great" She said almost feeling embarrassed. Arjun was surprised and he raised his eye brows,
"What did you think I was going to do?"
"I-I, I ju-, I just thought you were going to jump?" She said, embarrassed
"what!?" Arjun said as he began laughing.
"I mean i don't know, you seemed so transformed and civil last night, I thought maybe you were planning to do something of this sort" Diya said as she sniggered. Arjun broke into laughter and just nodded his head in disbelief.
"How, how is it that your brain works in a different direction all together!"
"I thought we were not on talking terms, only working terms"
"I think we have already crossed that bridge Diya"
He then looked at his watch and put his cup on the table there, "Okay listen, papa and your papa will reach any minute now, so get ready?"
"What, they're coming today?!" Diya exclaimed
"Yeah Diya, today is the board meeting remember!"
"ohhhhhhh, that's why your being so civil to me"
Arjun smiled to her and replied, "yeah" even though that clearly wasn't the case.
-
Ranjit waited in the morning for Diya to come, he saw their servant march by, "Arrey Gopi kaka, is Diya madam not coming today?" He asked, assuming that she was 'madam' for Gopi kaka,
Gopi kaka scanned him and said, "No no, chote babu has given me the duty of making his morning tea now, what work do you have with Diya beti?" Diya had mentioned to Gopi kaka specifically to call her only 'Diya' and not to attach any madam to it, so Gopi resorted to DIya beti.
"Oh no no, I didn't have any work, actually I help her with milking the cows every morning right" Ranjit politely justified.
"yeah well now your help wont be required" Gopi kaka bluntly told him as he walked away. Ranjit was still sitting there dumbstruck. As he looked around, his vision produced a tiny view of the balcony. He saw a bare chested young man come out with a coffee, a few minutes later he saw a woman come out, he immediately recognized her as Diya, he saw them talk and then break into laughter immediately. He could see Diya's bare legs. They slept like that together? Of course they did, they were husband and wife. "lucky bastard" he whispered to himself. He was disappointed seeing them as a couple.
-
Both the fathers hugged both the children, they were seeing them almost after 5 weeks, Diya's father was lost in chit chat with Diya while Arjun's father felt a certain sense of relief coming back to his house. They went for a walk outside, in the backyard. "Diya seems to have lost some weight, I hope she isn't sick" Arjun's father expressed an obervation. Arjun had barely looked at Diya to know about this, it suddenly did strike him how she barely ate. He had never since they came seen her eat a proper meal. "Yea papa, She isn't sick"
"Then it must be the air and water here in the village. Take care of her beta, you have been through this village life since you were kids, you would come here every summer, but Diya I dont believe has experienced much of this" Arjun's father continued, "I also wanted to talk to you about something"
"Yeah sure papa"
"I noticed the hostility between you and Diya that day, when shreya wasn't found and even as you were leaving for Rajgera the other day, I hope every-"
"No dad, there is nothing like that, maybe we were tired"
"Arjun, I'm your father, I've also had a marriage, it's okay, disagreements happen in a marriage, there is some hostility sometimes, but that's okay, I just want to tell you that don't hurt anyone so much that they can never come out of it, even if it's there mistake. Never try to dominate or overpower, it creates a void that can't be filled."
"Yes dad"
"I know that the circumstances that you married Diya in were harsh and maybe i should've spoken to you about it before, but Arjun, my belief it that those 7 pheras really tie you, then there is no coming back" sniggered his father
"It is your dharma, to protect Diya, to care for her, to care for her opinions and I know you're the new generation and you'll probably not understand Dharma but it's your duty Arjun, to care for Diya, yeah tiffs and teasing keeps going on, but, yeah,
She's a nice girl, Diya, really intellectual and so driven, it's a good thing you convinced her to join the company, she'll be a real asset" Arjun's dad said as Arjun looked over to Diya who was laughing at something with her dad.
Arjun had missed this laugh on her face, back in Delhi Dev and shreya managed to keep it intact but now it was just him, being someone he didn't know.
-
The board meeting was quite the success. Arjun had used reverse psychology to convince Diya to do the presentation, no one could quite describe her idea's as well as she could. He pretended to underestimate her skills to rile her up, "I don't think you could do the presentation in front of the BoD" he had to say and that's it, he had challenged her and Diya had managed to pull it off quite wonderfully.
By the time all the guests had left, Arjun had gone up to Diya and said, "welcome aboard", it was popular demand that she be placed in charge of the event. Everyone wanted to see the extent of the skills of someone with such well thought ideas.
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