𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 | 18+

• 𝐟 𝐢 𝐯 𝐞 •

A brief look of relief crossed Meher's face when her father agreed to delaying the engagement. But soon it's replaced with her usual determined scowl.

The men were talking among themselves as they left the room, I turned to Meher. "We need to discuss this, as much as I dislike agreeing with you about anything."

She eyed me warily. "Discuss what exactly?"

"Ways to get out of this ridiculous contract." I run a hand through my hair in frustration. "Surely there must be some loophole we're not seeing."

A flash of realization crossed through Meher's eyes. "Yeah, you're right. Maybe we should take a look at the original contract documents closely? Old contracts often have problems that make them invalid today."

I nodded. "Exactly. And we need the best legal minds sifting through this with a fine tooth comb."

Meher had her father send over copies of the original contract that was signed between their ancestors decades ago. The contract was written in faded ink. We started scanning over the old papers, scanning every line under lamps

"Listen to this clause," Meher said. "It states the marriage is binding only upon the first-born male heir of Rathore and female heir of Arora inheriting the headship of their family businesses."

I leaned in a little towards her. "You're right, I'm not the first born. Back then heirs were more clear-cut but modern laws changed inheritance."

Meher made a note and unknowingly I sneak a glance at her.

How her eyebrows inch close as she scans the contents of the contract with scrutinizing attention. It makes me keep looking at her. My eyes drag down to her long lashes that are slightly curled up, spreading evenly at the outer corners of her eyelids. A small strand of dark brown hair falls loose infront of her face and she softly tucks that hair strand behind her earlobe that frames her face.

From the curve of her nose to the folds of her cupid's bow. Her plump bottom lip glistens with whatever lip oil she'd used that gave a light rosy tint on lips.

When suddenly her eyes snap at me, catching me off-guard. "What?"

I sputter, "I-I wanted to..." as I tried to improvise, my eyes dart around my surrounding. My gaze falls on the pen beside her notepad and immediately I gesture towards it, "I wanted to ask for a pen."

In response, she daintily pushes the pen stand towards my direction while looking straight at me.

I sigh as I snatch a pen from the stand. A familiar tightening blooms inside my chest as the warm blood rushes into my cheeks. What the fuck is wrong with you Aarav?

I felt frustrated at losing grip over my usual emotional restraint. Both at myself and the situation. Frustrated at being caught off guard, allowing my attention to drift from checking papers to studying Meher's features. These stupid attractions threatening to cloud my judgment, derail everything that was a united front against the marriage.