Advaith looked up at Aarohi from his phone, who was frowning looking at two earrings in her each hand, may be trying to choose one of them.
Since they were leaving for Mumbai in the evening, Advaith took Aarohi for shopping as its been two days since they are here and Aarohi hadn't step out of the hotel even for once, except for the time when she was admitted into the hospital.
"Both will look good on you, but golden one will suit you more.", Aarohi flinched a little when she felt him whisper in her ear from behind her, her back almost sticking to his front, as they shared an intimate position.
Aarohi turned around only to come more close with him, as someone around in the public pushed Advaith more towards Aarohi, resulting his hand automatically wound around her waist to protect her from falling, whereas her hands on its own clutched his t-shirt tightly in her small fists.
"Thanks.", Aarohi whispered getting a little away from him, thanking him for both saving her from falling, as well as helping her choose the earrings.
"Please pack this one.", Aarohi asked the shopkeeper to pack the golden earrings and opened her purse to take out money, but Advaith beat her in this as he already paid for the earrings.
"I was paying--"Aarohi said, only to be interrupted by Advaith, "But i already paid. Do you need to buy something more or should we head back to the hotel?"
"I still need to buy for others.", Aarohi replied and walked to the another shop, but noticed that Advaith wasn't following her.
She looked back at him to see him picking up something from the previous stall, May be a kind of earrings.
~May be shopping for Aamira.~ Aarohi's heart pained a little just at the thought of him buying something for some other girl. Though she knew this from the day one, it still hurt her every time he mention or do something related to Aamira.
"What happened? Didn't you like anything here?", In her trance she didn't noticed Advaith coming towards her, until he was already in front of her looking down at her with raised brows.
Their height difference was something most beautiful thing between them. Everytime he would stand close to her, she would unknowingly find herself safe under his shadows.
"How is this one for Aashi?", Aarohi showed him a beautiful anklet with design of stars in it, asking for his opinion.
"Take another one for Aashi. This will suit more on you.".”, Advaith replied and before she can say something, he walked ahead without meeting her eyes.
~He has surely woken up at the wrong side of the bed.~ Aarohi frowned staring at him, who halted at good distance waiting for her to follow him.
Aarohi quickly choose another anklet for Aashi and paid for both hers' as well as Aashi's, before following Advaith who was still waiting for her standing at the same place.
~~~~~
Asad's eyes turn red as he glared at the pictures scattered on the coffee table in front of him in his room. Something burned inside him looking at the intimate position Advaith and Aarohi were sharing in the photos.
The pictures were of Advaith and Aarohi from this morning when they were in market shopping, but what angered Asad more was the photo where Advaith had securely hold Aarohi in his arms to save her from falling when someone had pushed Advaith towards Aarohi.
"Boss--", Mike entered the room and was about to say something but stopped in middle when he looked at the furious expressions on his face, before asking, "Boss, is everything okay?"
"What's the update?", Asad asked clearly dismissing Mike's question.
"The police is finding the guy who gave us all the information about Khuranas'.", Mike informed while keeping the newspaper in front of Asad.
"Discard his body and don't leave even a single trance behind. I don't want even a single mistake here.", Asad said as he now started at someone's picture in his cellphone.
Mike got a bit shocked seeing tears threatening to fall from Asad's eye for a second, before he composed himself again and shifted his glare at Advaith and Aarohi's pictures in front of him.
"You will see the hell Abhiraj Khurana.", Asad gritted his teeth angrily staring at nothingness in front of him.
~~~~~
Since their flight was late than its scheduled time, Advaith took Aarohi for early dinner at the best restaurant in Delhi.
The restaurant offers the best cuisines all over the world with the contrasting modern, trendy rooftop which has the best view in town, with Delhi sprawled out beneath you!
Aarohi looked around and was in awe with the night view which specially from rooftop was breathtaking. The faint golden rays of setting sun with the shining light of rising moon was making the view more beautiful.
"This is the best restaurant in Delhi. The view of whole Delhi from here is mesmerizing.", Advaith said as he took his seat opposite to her, with the beautiful night view surrounding them.
"This is so beautiful Advaith.", Aarohi exclaimed with broad smile still looking down at the twinkling lights of Delhi city, while Advaith forget everything and let himself drown into staring at the beauty in front of him.
"You look beautiful.", Advaith said suddenly taking her by surprise.
The compliment was so sudden that unknowingly Aarohi got conscious under his intense gaze. She shifted a little but didn't dare to look directly into his chocolate brown orbs.
"Why are you doing this?", Advaith seemed to be taken aback with her sudden question but he decided to calmly solve all the issues between them.
"See Aarohi, we don't have any personal issues. I know I always blamed you for all that is recently happening in our life, but you have to understand my side of story as well. What do you expect from a guy who had to suddenly get married to the girl he never seen or met. Imagine you going into someone's marriage and suddenly you get to know that you are the one getting married, that too when you're already in love with someone else, won't you get angry about all this?", Advaith asked calmly yet by the end Aarohi could easily feel the anger surfacing over his voice.
"I--", Aarohi didn't knew what to say. She knows that how he behaves with her is not right, but she can't deny the fact that what all happened with him was also wrong.
"I know how I behaved with you this days was wrong and now when I realize it, I seriously want to apologies to you. I am sorry for all that i said and done with you this days. But Aarohi you have to understand me as well. love Aamira and I can't give you the rights of being my wife which belongs to Aamira.", Advaith finally let out everything out of his heart, clearing his side.
"You know If my father had not had a heart problem, I would never have said yes to this marriage. You are still a boy. Think of me, I am a girl. For me to go to the house of a person whom I have never even seen, or whom I do not even know, imagine how difficult this decision must have been for me!?
I agree Advaith, that you think that maybe all this is happening because of me, but tell me what is my fault in all this? Even I was forced to get married to a stranger just like you.", Aarohi let her tears welled out of her beautiful eyes, along with pouring out all the pain in her heart as well, before she continued, "I was wronged not once but thrice in a single day. My fiancé left me just before the wedding, alone in the pavilion, in front of everyone, without any explanation or questioning. Then suddenly I got married with a guy whom I had not even seen, or whom I did not even know. But still when I tried to give a chance to this marriage, I came to know that my husband is already in love with some other girl. Tell me, what was my mistake in all this?"
Her questions were valid and for first time Advaith felt that indeed Aarohi wasn't at fault as well.
Before Advaith could comfort her or they can exchange any word, waiter came there to take their order.
After placing the order, Advaith waited for the waiter to leave their sight, before he turned his eyes back to Aarohi.
"Look Aarohi, with the time I realized that we both weren't at fault. It was our destiny which played games with us and we just got played by it. And so--", Advaith took a small pause before continuing, "See, I won't be able to give you rights of my wife because only Aamira is the girl I can imagine as my other half. I don't know what the future holds for us, or how long we will have to keep this marriage, but yes I can promise you one thing that from today onwards as long as we are in this relationship, I will respect you and I will respect your efforts as well. And I mean it!!"
"I hope you stand by your words.", Aarohi whispered, and though she said this to Advaith, it felt more like she was comforting herself.
Advaith didn't said anything in return, for he understands that after how he behaved with her in last few days, it is natural for her to take time to trust him.
And he was ready to give her that much needed time!
~~~~~
"Aashi, nowadays you are coming late from your college." Abhiraj said calmly, surprising Aashi by sudden question.
"Yes dad, actually we have a group project so we use to do extra studies in libraries. So I get late sometimes", Aashi replied while biting her lips in nervousness.
"Ok. But if next time you get late, give me a call. I will pick you up from college or you can ask driver to pick you up. It is not safe to come alone so late.", Abhiraj politely said to her, earning a affirmative nod from her.
"I am done having my dinner. I am going to my room for studies.", Aashi said as she got up from dining table after having her dinner.
"Why did you suddenly ask her like this, Abhiraj?", Once Aashi was out of sight, Priya turned and asked her husband.
"Just like that. I am the father of a girl. I have to take care, don't we?", Abhiraj replied with a small smile before looking at the closed door of Aashi's room.
"By the way, Advaith and Aarohi are coming tonight. They would have been already here if their flight hadn't got late by it's scheduled time. But still I guess they will be here by midnight. And before you say something, I have already spoken to the driver, to pick them from the airport.", Abhiraj informed Priya, who smiled widely in response making Abhiraj chuckle at her love for her son and daughter-in-law.
~~~~~
Tucking behind her ear those falling strands of hairs on her face, Advaith kept admiring the sleeping beauty beside him. He had to admit that she looks the most beautiful while sleeping, whether it is under the bright rays of sun or the mild lights of moon.
"Would you like to have something sir?", The flight attendant asked, yet Advaith's eyes still didn't left Aarohi's face, rather he just dismissed her by nodding in negative without even looking at her side.
Advaith once again tucked the falling hairs on Aarohi's face behind her ears, but this time his fingers didn't halted there only. He lightly traced his fingers to her chubby cheeks and finally rested them on her pink petal like lips.
"I am sorry Aarohi.", Sudden guilt filled his heart when he remembered how sad she was this morning when she once again checked the whole room, yet didn't find the ring.
And that was the only reason why he took her for shopping to distract her from the 'ring' thing.
Only he knows that what all it took for him to hold himself back from going to her and comforting her about the ring, telling her that it is safe with him!
His finger again and again kept tracing her delicate lips, until it broke Aarohi's sleep and she moved lightly, alerting Advaith who immediately withdraw his hand.
And he realized that with every passing day, he is getting more and more obsessed with her lips!
"You want something, like tea or coffee?", Advaith asked looking down at her, who was still blinking her eyes cutely to get adjusted to the light around.
Advaith couldn't help the falling smile on his lips when every time he notice her small-small cute antics.
"Huh?", Aarohi asked, not sure if she heard something from his side or not.
"It's still time to reach Mumbai. So would you like to eat or drink something?", Advaith once again asked softly.
"Uhh—no. I am fine. Thank you.", Aarohi replied with a small smile, earning a understanding nod from later.
Aarohi shifted her gaze at the cloudy view outside thinking about how this small trip changed many equations between her and Advaith, and she can't thank god enough for this small blessing.
~~~~~
"Are you ok?", Advaith immediately asked while holding her by wounding his one hand around her waist, when he noticed her stumbling on her feet after getting out of the car.
"Take the bags inside.", Advaith ordered one of the butler to bring their luggage from the car which came to pick them up from airport.
"Advaith!!", Aarohi almost squealed when suddenly Advaith picked her up in his arms in bridal style, taking her by surprise.
"I don't want you to faint again.", Advaith replied her unasked question, his eyes softly staring back at hers'.
"I won't. You can put me down.", Aarohi assured him as she tried getting down from his hold.
Yet her words went unheard by Advaith as he entered his house with her still in his arms, whereas Aarohi's arms were now snaked around Advaith's neck as she supported herself properly in his arms.
Laying her carefully on bed, Advaith let her slide up to take support of headrest, meanwhile he poured a glass of water from side table and passed the same to her.
Giving water to her, Advaith entered the bathroom to get fresh, while Aarohi kept half-laying and half-sitting there with her eyes closed.
"Are you still feeling dizzy?", Aarohi opened her eyes at sudden interruption and looked up at Advaith who had now changed himself into night suit.
"A little bit.", Aarohi replied with tired eyes.
"You go and get change, till then i will get you some lime water. It will help you with your dizziness.", Advaith said and without waiting for her reply he was already out of the room.
Entering the room, Advaith saw Aarohi sitting at her previous place but had already changed into a plain Patiala night suit. Walking to her, he passed her the glass of lime water which she took whispering a small 'thank you'.
Keeping the empty glass on side table, Advaith looked back at Aarohi who was already placing a wall of cushions between them, and for the first time, this thing didn't pleasant him.
He so wished that this cushion were already not there between them, but he couldn't voice it out, for he himself was confused with all the weird thought crossing his mind nowadays.
Advaith didn't knew for how long he kept staring at Aarohi's serene face under dim lights of moon, until sleep consumed him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
