Chapter 3

I stared at my dish blankly, today I was sitting with them on the dining table. He was sitting opposite me. When I was serving them juice I hadn't noticed his brother and his sister-in-law with their 4-year-old too. His parents were also there.

My mother kept blabbering about how successful my brother was and how many deals he has cracked. Yash and he kept looking at me as she praised him.

Jaya, my mother-in-law, also glanced at me once before she looked at my mother, and cleared her throat before saying.

"Hemaji, my son, Arjun wants to marry your daughter, tells us about her and not your son", she said with a smile. My mother faked a smile before looking at me.

"Oh about her, well she's ...", and she trailed off. Wow! So much love!

"Well, I'll tell you, she's hardworking, she's kind has been handling work and household chores and has been doing a good job, she is the most selfless person I've ever seen like if she sees beggars on streets she'll feed them or buy them clothes not caring if she has any money left with her after that", he snapped his head up and narrowed his eyes while looking at me," she's an all-rounder"

All of them were staring at me.

"Urmm... Dessert?", I squeaked. I just asked them this to reduce the awkwardness.

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"It's better if they both talk amongst each other for some time", Roshan, his brother suggested with a smirk on his face. All of them seemed to agree and soon we forced ourselves and went to the garden in the backyard.

After a minute of uncomfortable silence, he finally spoke up.

"Happy birthday", he whispered and reached for my hand. I shivered as the cold breeze passed. It's December and it's really cold here. I had tears in my eyes as his warm hand caressed mine. I tried to blink them away as I sniffled.

"T-thank you", I stuttered a little.

"You know, I had a gut feeling when I met you in the restaurant, I thought it was you but I didn't say anything because your face was covered", he said.

"Mhmm"

"You're doing great work"

"Thanks"

"You've become more kind and selfless since the last time I saw you", and I turned away from him as a tear fell down my eye. I quickly wiped it away. The feeling of being so near him and talking to him again was so overwhelming.

"Why did you leave me?", He asked softly. I stayed silent for some time. I heard him sigh.

"I-I stopped loving you", I lied while looking at him. He shook his head.

"You never understand, do you? You don't understand that you can't actually lie to me?", He said before coming close to me and snaked his arms around my back as he drew me closer to him.

"W-what are y-you doing?" I stammered. He still rendered me speechless. He still had the same effect on him.

"Stopped loving you say? But I still have an effect on you", he said as he leaned in a little as he brushed a strand of hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear. He lightly pressed his lips softly on my cheek and I shivered at the feeling of his lips. He then hugged me tightly as if I was about to disappear once again.

"Now, you're never going away from me", he said as he looked at me.

"What makes you so sure about it?"

"Because I know you won't say no to this marriage proposal," He said before leaving the garden.

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So, it's been a week since Arjun had come. And, the funny thing is Yash had informed my father about me having potential feelings for him while I was in university. No wonder they reached out to them. After they had left, I had reached over and hugged my mother for gifting me such a beautiful surprise on my birthday. She looked surprised when I had mentioned my birthday. She didn't even know about it.

I remember going to my room and crying my heart out. Most of the times when my feelings are too much for me, they turn into tears. After crying for a solid hour, I had then written a letter to Arjun. I mean, when I had left him four years ago, I had started writing letters for him. Not actually meant for him to read because I was sure I wouldn't ever meet him because I would avoid him at all costs. I wrote a letter about how happy I was to meet him again. To talk to him again. To hug him again. Just everything that came to my mind.

Because I had no say in my marriage proposal, my mother said yes. A part of me thought it was because she thought I would be happy with them. Another part of me said she was just doing whatever she wanted. Nonetheless, Arjun was right. So our wedding was scheduled in April.

Because he had known I wouldn't give him my number, he had approached Yash and she obviously gave him my number. That sneaky little bitch. He usually doesn't message me. Not that I'm sad or anything but I just wished he would. However, after I had left him, I honestly can't expect him to be nice and sugary to me. I can't believe I'll get arranged married to him. I laugh at that thought because it won't practically be an arranged marriage.

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"Couldn't you be more careful?", Yash asked me as the doctor put a cast on my wrist. I could only sigh in frustration.

"Well, I'm sorry that I got so much of work from the manager who just loves to humiliate me at any chance she gets", I snapped at her while I held my brother's gaze. She immediately shut her mouth and looked elsewhere.

"Look, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you", I said apologetically.

"No, I get it and I'm sorry", she said while trying to smile.

"No extensive work otherwise you can work easily with this. It's just a minor fracture. I'll give you the medicines", the doctor said leading us out of the hospital.

"Great! That means I can still come to work", I said half-heartedly because I knew my mother won't let me sit idle at home.

They both sit in the car while I wait for my Uber. I still remember the day Yash had snapped at me and said why won't I just sit in Sanjay's car.

I remember telling her,

I'm not worthy enough to sit in his car as mom had rightly said. Failures should always be treated as failures.

I remember that day crystal clear as she had slapped me for sitting in his car as we all drove to the beach house. She had confronted me in such harsh words, I remember crying for the whole day.

It's the second month of the year. February. Which means a lot of work because it's the last financial year for the company. So, being an expert in preparing financial statements of the business, I along with two others have to sit and work a lot. However, automation has reduced 20% of our work thankfully.

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Arjun's P.O.V.

When I had met her in the restaurant, I had a gut feeling that it was Anvi. That's what I called her when we were in a relationship. She claims she stopped loving me but I knew she was lying. She couldn't lie on my face. I knew her. I know her. And when my marriage proposal got accepted by her family, I knew she still has some feelings towards me. She's in denial. Even when we were in a relationship and even know I still know she's the most selfless person. She doesn't care about her needs. If doing something would make other people happy then she would do that work.

Our marriage is in two months, and I can't wait to make her mine. Currently, I'm going to Khurrana Co. Ltd. because of some work I have with Sanjay. One part of me wanted to actually see her. She just has this aura around her that makes me wanna stay with her 24/7.

As my lift door pinged and opened, I quickly made my way towards Sanjay's office but her voice stopped me. It seemed like she was arguing with someone. I turned around and saw she was arguing with her manager.

"What kind of work is this? Don't you know how to do simple accounts?", Anuradha shouted. I've learned from my sources that Anuradha is a literal bitch and she does everything in her will to make Anvi feel humiliated.

"Really! Then why don't you do the work?", Anvi said while throwing her hands in the air while huffing.

"Just do as I say, you wouldn't want your mother knowing that you're arguing and make a scene in the office now would you?", She threatened her. Anvi's eyes widened for a fraction of second before she looked blankly at her manager.

"Now do as I say before I get you fired", Anuradha said before throwing the file in Anvi's face and getting inside her office. From where I stood I saw two things, a) her wrist was in a cast and b) her eyes were glistening with tears. She quickly sniffled and wiped her eyes before entering her room. Making a mental note to myself to meet her, I made my way to Sanjay's office.

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"Your cousin does everything in her will to humiliate your sister yet you don't do anything?"

"She's never approached me", Sanjay said while focusing on his laptop.

"Do you honestly think Anvi will ever approach anyone if she even had a problem", I said, my voice raising a little.

"Look! Don't tell me what to do! She's my sister and I know what to do and what not to do", Sanjay said sharply.

"If she was your sister and you truly cared, you would have taken some action against that stupid cousin of yours", I said before getting up from my chair.

Just as I was leaving the room, I turned around and said," it would be better if you see the CCTV footage especially of 5th December." He looked up at me and crossed his arms in front of him.

"And what's there to look for?"

"You should see it yourself", I said before leaving his office and making my way over to Anvi's office.

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