"Is she happy with this marriage? It feels like she is being forced into it."

And that wasn't something she was expecting to hear from Mrs. Khurana's mouth.

"It's not like that Mrs Khurana, I am happy and now I am not forced into it" Jahnvi's confident voice reached Mrs Khurana's ear and she smiled at the gorgeous lady infront of hers.

"Aahaa, call me mom from now on, like Yuvraj does." Jahnvi nodded, pressing a fake smile on her face.

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Sayantika reached the girls hostel, with her roommates freaking out when they spotted the blood on her outfit. She assured them that it wasn't her blood, and she helped some injured stranger take him to the hospital.

She walked inside the washroom, splashed some water on her face, and stared at her own reflection in the mirror. The patches of blood on her outfit and all the happenings started flashing in front of her eyes. She chucked it and took a shower, changing into another outfit of hers, and she walked out of the washroom.

Sitting down, She was lost in her thoughts again; her appetite was totally gone, but she still ate something, forcing the food down her throat, and she finally thought to lie down and rest.

________________

Abhimaan was discharged after staying in the hospital for 12 hours. His head was aching because he was heavily drunk, and the injury made it worse. His right shoulder was paining at its worst as well, and the doctors told him to take complete rest for the next 5 days.

Anubhav helped his son to sit inside the car, and he himself sat beside him, and the driver drove off; he didn't utter a word all the way to their house, neither did his dad.

Once they reached, Avni stood there and helped his son to get inside the mansion.

"You scared us, bhai," Aashika muttered, hugging her elder brother. "I am fine, Aashi." He gently caressed her back and pecked her head.

"Aashu let him sit; he is injured." Anubhav's voice sounded cold yet stern, as if he was trying to keep his anger at bay.

Avni helped his son to sit comfortably on the couch and passed him a glass of water.

"Drink and drive? Seriously? Didn't expect this from you, son." Abhimaan knew he was going to hear his dad's lecture calmly.

"When did you become this much irresponsible and impulsive, Abhimaan, what if something happened to you huh? What were you thinking when you chosed to do this drink and drive shit?" Anubhav raised his voice at his son who was keeping his eyes casted downwards.

"Anubhav, not now; he is already not fine and injured; please don't shout," Avni said, taking her son's side.

"You and your motherly love for your son." He mocked his wife before turning his attention to his son: "You will stay at home until you heal completely; I don't want media houses to know that you did something as impulsive as this. I am disappointed with you," and he left for his room.

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Abhimaan sat on his head, leaning his head back, thinking something deeply; just then he heard a knock, and his eyes snapped towards the door to find Avni standing there.

"You don't need to knock, Mom." He muttered, and Avni smiled and walked in holding the tray, which has his son's favorite sandwiches.

"See, I've made your favorite grilled sandwiches." Avni chirped, sitting beside her son, Abhimaan smiled at his mother.

"Thank you so much, Mom. Also, will you feed me this? I can't raise my right hand because of my injured shoulder." Avni could see how good his son was at hiding his pain and emotion.

"Of course I would love to." She brought the sandwich near to his lips, and he took a bit; with this, she fed him whole and made him drink the water.

Once she was done, Abhimaan lay down, keeping his head on his mother's lap. "Dad is angry," he mumbled.

"I know, but he cares for you, and he won't be angry at you for so long," Avni assured her baby.

"Abhimaan, you were thinking about Jahnvi when you did this, right?" She asked, and he kept mum.

"She doesn't care for you anymore, Abhi; if she does, then she shouldn't get engaged to another boy," Avni went on.

"I lost my best friend, Mom," he muttered. "And I am so sorry for whatever I did last night; I wasn't in my sane state of mind." He apologized to his mother; he was sounding guilty. "I won't do something like this ever again, I promise."

"All thanks to Sayantika that she saw you in that state and took you to the hospital." Upon registering his mother's words, he sat up with a jerk and the next second winced when he felt the pain in his shoulder.

"What, Sayantika? What are you talking about?" He bombarded her with questions. "Tell me na."

"Yes, it was Sayantika, who took you to the hospital and called us. May God bless that kind child." Avni accepted and prayed for the well-being of the girl who saved her son.

"Don't you think you should move on as well? Sayantika is a nice girl; think about her," and his mother started with her rants all over again.

"Uh, not again; she is a gold digger, Mom," Abhimaan stated in disgust. "And she can never match with our status," he further uttered.

"This is not the way to talk about a girl. I and Anubhav never taught you to call someone with names when you don't even know her." The sudden sternness and coldness in her mother's voice caught him off guard.

His mother was taking that girl's side instead of his.

"Also, just to let you know, you would've bled to death if she hadn't taken you to the hospital. Be grateful to her." He just rolled his eyes in return.

"I won't marry her; that's it." He raised his voice.

"Will see," saying she left.

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"Dad, I am sorry. I know I've disappointed you, but please don't be angry with me." Abhimaan said, standing at the door of the study room, he had been muttering sorrys to his dad for the last ten minutes, but neither his dad was listening nor giving him consent to step inside the study room.

"If you are done with your rants, then go back to your room and sleep; the doctor told you to take 5 days of bed rest, and it's only 2 days." Though Anubhav was angry, he was concerned for his son as well.

"I will stand here until you accept my apology." He stated, "Dad, I am sorry. I will do anything for you to accept my apology." Anubhav's eyes rose up at this.

"Anything? Are you sure that you will do anything, Mr. Abhimaan Raichand?" Anubhav repeated his words, raising his left eyebrow.

"How about you marry Sayantika, and I will accept your apology?" Stating those words, Anubhav walked towards his son.

"You've let my image down. I tried to hide the fact that you met with an accident doing drink and drive, but your pictures have circulated on the internet already, and everyone's talking about you, and just because of you, I lost a million-dollar deal. The only way you can repent for this mistake is by marrying Sayantika." Abhimaan heard him keenly without saying anything; no words came out of his mouth. He didn't even know how to answer his dad; he was tongue-tied, so he chose to walk back to his bedroom.

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Sayantika wasn't able to concentrate on her work; her mother's words were ringing inside her head. Rewa sounded so rude when she talked to her daughter.

"We've let you study and are still letting you follow your dreams. In our village, everyone talked bad about you, that a grown-up girl was staying in a city like Mumbai all alone, though your dad sounds chilled out, but his health is deteriorating day by day. Just thinking about you, do us a favor and get married." Those words rang like a broken record in her mind.

"To earth, Sayantika." And this snapped her out of her thoughts; she looked up to find one of her co-workers staring at her with a curious look.

"Yeah, puja?" She let out.

"Go to table no. 32 and take the order; I need to prepare another order." Sayantika nodded and made her way, grabbing the notepad tightly in her hand.

"What would you like to have, sir?" And then her eyes widened seeing the person sitting on the chair, clad in an Armani suit.

Abhimaan Raichand.

"If you're done staring at me, then write down the order; I don't have the whole day." He harshly muttered, making her flinch inwardly. She noticed the Band-Aid on his head and remembered it's been 10 days since that accident incident.

She nodded, "One black coffee and cream croissant." She writes down the order, "One cappuccino for me." The man who sat opposite to the Abhimaan said.

They were sitting with the laptop on and 3 files scattered on the table.

"Sure, sir, you will receive your order in 10 mins." Saying she left hurriedly and breathed out the oxygen she was holding.

She went to place the order on the table. "I don't know why you chose this down-market place for a meeting, Mr. Singh," Abhimaan said. She kept mum and left, giving the order.

"You alright? Why are you sweating?" Puja asked, seeing her nervous.

"Nothing; I am fine." She smiled and continued her work.

_______________________________

For the last 20 minutes, Sayantika's parents were eating her mind, and she was getting way too irritated.

"You want me to get married to him right? Fine, I will marry him now. Stop saying how ashamed you both are for letting me study and stay alone in Mumbai now, irritating me." Yelling She hung up the call.

________________

Abhimaan knew he had messed up big time; he had been in the news for the last few days with all the cooked-up stories and theories about him. His dad's company was going with a loss, so finally he made up his mind, as he didn't have any other choice left.

Taking a deep breath, he walked out of his room and walked towards his parent's room.

"Mom, Dad, can I come in?" They nodded, and he walked in. He also found Aashika lying down on the bed, keeping her head on Anubhav's lap, while Avni was sitting beside with a book in her hand.

"Yes, Abhi says?" Avni kept the book and her reading glasses aside before giving her attention to her son.

"Dad, you will accept my apology if I agree to marry Sayantika, right?" Abhimaan found himself asking.

"You already know it, Abhimaan; there is no need to repeat," Anubhav said, keeping a straight face.

Taking a deep breath , he finally uttered the words his parents wanting to hear from his mouth , from so long.

"FINE I WILL MARRY SAYANTIKA BUT-"

To be continued.

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