Falling For You

Chapter 3

Kyra

I was working when I received a text from Aayushman. he had told me to be ready by 7 pm. Knowing I had team meeting at 6 and would take 7 to leave, I told him to pick me up from the office. I did not notice how time had passed by while working and it was 7 already. I said bye to my colleagues and texted Aayushman that I was done. I was waiting for the lift and once it opened there stood Aayushman in his suit. He smiled after looking at me and I entered the lift.  

"I'll get the car here. Give me a few minutes.", he said and went to get his car. I got into the car and he played some lofi- music. I asked him after think for a few minutes, "Can I play some different music?" He looked at me while running his one hand through his hair and steering the wheel with his other and said, "Of course you can. And ummm..please don't call me sir when we are alone or in my cabin. You can call me Aayu or by my full name." I mumbled a small okay.

He stopped the car into my favorite restaurant. he said while flashing his smile which flashed all of his teeth, "I asked your mom for your favorite restaurant so I booked a table here." We entered the place and were headed to the private room. It had the view of the entire city from the top floor and it felt surreal. I sat down on the chair opposite to him and looked at him. "So umm, tell me more about yourself." I asked curiously. He said that he loved travelling, working, spending time with family and close friends,  going on long drives and so on. I smiled at his reply finding some similar likings between us. "I love travelling, reading, working, partying, dancing and I am really crazy when I'm with my close family and friends." I said while waiting for the waiter to take our orders. 

Soon the waiter came and took our orders. I ordered a fettucine pasta along with red wine for both of us while he went for a garlic bread with Gnocchi soup. He asked me, "Why did you say yes when your mom asked us to meet?" I replied after taking a sip of the wine, "I don't have a boyfriend or anything nor am I interested in anyone. And my parents have been asking me to think about settling down. When I saw you yesterday and we had eye contact, I don't know but there was this sense of familiarity that I felt. And when I saw you at my house I got to know you were none other than Obi uncle's sons Aayu and Abhi and we used to play all the time before you both left for boarding school. I did forget you for the past years, but yesterday was way too quick and awkward and I am still processing stuff. And one more thing about me, I love to talk, but I'm also very good listener."

He chuckled and said, "Honeslty my reasons is that my parents were pushing me and Abhi ti get married. Abhi . Umm if you don't mind, did you date anyone before?" I replied," A guy did court me for a few days but then I rejected him because I didn't like him and personally it wasn't the best time for me to get into a relationship." I continued, "What about u? Did you date anyone?" He said," Yea I did.... for 3 years but we broke off  cause she cheated on me. It was hard to get over the trauma and get myself to be open for a relationship. I agreed on taking you out now as I'm purely ready for a relationship."

I mumbled nice and said that if he ever needed to talk to someone, he could talk to me. Soon our food came and went spent time cracking jokes. He drove me off to my house. I told him while shaking hands with him before leaving, "I had fun today. I am looking forward for more meets. I blushed and ran into the house. I found my sister who was the only one awake while watching her favorite show. I threw my bag exhausted from the day and plopped on the couch besides her. She stopped the series and looked at me and asked me about my day. Kiara was definitely excited knowing my meet with Aayushman was successful. Exhausted from the day, I just slept on the couch for the night. 

Aayushman

We had a lot of fun on our date-, I mean meet up and I was very excited to see her tomorrow at work. I slept like a baby after 3 years. I was having breakfast with my family when Abhi came on the table and said, "You know mom dad, yesterday Bhabi and this idiot went out for breakfast too. That's why he left early." The urge I had to smack that guys head. I looked away slightly when my mom said, "Well, we knew what we were doing when we decided to get you both married years ago." My fathers eyes widened in shock, and gave mom a are you serious face, while she gave us a nervous face, as she said something that she shouldn't have. I said in almost a angry way, "You what?" She said in a serious voice, "Apparently, you both were arranged from the time you were sent to the boarding school. You were inseparable since the time you met so we thought you would be good matches. I hope you are not angry at us." "Angry mom? I'm frustrated, you are lucky that I like her and we are willing to see and then probably date each other. But about marriage I would like to talk with her and then decide."

I got up and left for the office. I was very angry at them, but on the other hand, I was happy that I was probably going to end up marrying Kyra and no other person. I went to the office and started working. I was working when my intercom rang and it was Kyra. She wanted to talk to me so I told her to come to my cabin.She came in with her hair open. She was looking pretty and I couldn't get my eyes off her. I was awestruck by her. She came in and said, "You called me here, Sir?" I nodded at her and asked her to sit on the couch. I quickly made two cups of coffee for us and sat besides her. She thanked me with her beautiful smile and I said,"Ummm so I was having breakfast today with my mom and she told me something shocking. She said we both were arranged to get married since childhood. What do you think about it?"

She had an utterly shocked face which was funny but my mind was a mess to even think about it for a second. In the past three days, I had fallen for my childhood friend, who is my colleague, is the daughter of my dads best friend and has been arranged to marry me for more than 20 years ago. She spoke after a few minutes, "Are you sure? My mom just told me she wanted the both of us to meet. And I thought we controlled their excitement to get us married by telling them we would meet each other for some time and then decide?"

"Well Ms. Malhotra, I thought the same thing but my mother told me today morning that we have been arranged to get married  and they want us to get married.", I said in a loud voice which was bustling with anger. "Excuse me don't scream at me. I'm also getting to know about it right now. And it's not only you who is getting caught up in this. So just take a chill pill for now and calm down.", she said with a hint of sass which left me awestruck. 

I got up and went near her, so close to her face that she stepped behind till her back hit the wall. I trapped her between my hands and said,"I don't know what this feeling is but I know for sure that I want to be with you every second of the day. Know everything about you. You don't leave my mind for a minute. Everything is unexpected but I'm still calm than I would have actually been. I called you here to figure out what we can do." I put the loose strand of her hair behind her ear and went back to sit on the chair. I heard her release a long sigh which made a small smile appear on my lips. 

 She came and sat in front of me and said, "What is your solution to this?" "We can stay together, for 6 months as a trial period and if we work out we will get married or politely reject our parents. Are you okay with it? I don't want to deceive any of our parents. And I don't wanna lie that I trust that they would have taken this decision after thinking." She looked like she was thinking about something and then said, "I'm okay with it. I'm not interested in any guy  and I know for sure that you are not a bad guy and we can get to know each other in a better way. BUt I don't know hot to convince our parents about it."

I smiled at her and said, "We can find a place for us and buy that place for us." She almost screamed and said, "Are you crazy or something? We don't need to buy a place for 6 months or something. I have a penthouse which in near Marine Lines, where I stay for every alternative week. This week I was living with my parents, tomorrow I will go back to the apartment. So we can just go there."  "Woahhh I didn't expect that coming.", I said while chuckling a little. "Well what could I do, I have a good chunk of share in my parent's company, so I just get the money as returns. And there are many things that you won't expect to be coming from me." , she smiled and continued "Let's tell our parents about this tomorrow.

We can have dinner at my penthouse tomorrow and discuss stuff. Now I need to get back to work as I have team meeting." I nodded and she left. I spinned the chair while smiling when someone entered the cabin while saying in a teasing tone, "Looks like bhabi and you are doing really well, huh?" I could feel him smirking at me while saying it. "Trust me Abhi we are doing better than ever so I hope you keep out your sticky nose out our relatiosnhip and find someone to spend your life with. And umm... Keep tomorrow evening free we all are going out for dinner."