Simran

******

"How will we execute the bachelorette? Look at the men always hounding us," Niharika complained.

"It's happening. Don't worry." Di assured her about the bachelorette, which I had thought was not going to happen.

Everyone's henna had dried, and they had even removed it. Though mine had dried, I was not allowed to remove it. Because, according to some of my relatives, if I removed it early, the colour wouldn't be dark and my husband's love would lessen. Poor relatives, they did not know my darling husband had no love for me. So even if it lessened, would it impact me? Of course not. But debating over any customs with old relatives was going to create chaos. It would lead to altercations and whatnot. I decided to choose peace, which was so out of my character, and did not remove the dried henna from my hand.

Dad's cousin, the obnoxious woman I had ever known, came towards us. She had a problem with anything and everything. A few minutes ago, she was bickering about coffee spilled on a chair. Turns out she was the one who spilled it in the morning.

"Beta, you can remove the henna now." She said, eyeing my dried henna, smiling over how I did not remove it earlier.

"Are you sure? What if my husband's love decreases?" I feigned innocence.

"No, I am not taking the risk at all. I believe I will keep it till morning." I shook my head vigorously while saying that. Niti was trying hard to stifle her laugh. Shruti's laugh almost slipped out of her mouth, but then she coughed to cover it up.

Di pinched me to not mess with Aunty while still stifling her laugh.

Aunty made a face and was about to say something. I was ready to retort to whatever was about to come my way when Di interrupted, "Simmi, the henna is not supposed to sit on your hands for long. We also have to pack some of your gifts, don't we? Come on, let's go in."

Then she turned to aunty, making sure there was no chaos coming now.

"Aunty, did you have dinner?"

Only my sister could handle people like her calmly; meanwhile, I preferred exploding like a bomb. She took her to the dessert section and made sure her plate was filled with everything sweet before she came back to us.

"I thought the bachelorette was not happening," I commented.

"Oh, silly, we can skip anything but that," Shruti said, her eyes glittering with mischief.

"Besides, we have everything planned already," Sonia added, smiling.

While my little heart bubbled with excitement, I was curious how they were going to pull it off with all the guards guarding the place, and so were the men as if we were in some kind of grave danger. I knew the media were not invited to the wedding, and everyone was being discreet, which was the primary reason for that much security, but I wondered how we were going to leave the premises without breaching security.

"God! I miss Saavi's Bachelorette." Adya Bhabbhi muttered.

"I have heard so many good things about that night. What did you guys do?" Anvi's curiosity took the shape of words.

"For starters, no men were there." Niharika started.

"Except the hot bartenders..." Shruti interrupted.

"I meant our men...They were not there to disturb us."

And then Niharika narrated how we sang, drank, danced, flirted, and then made everyone's husbands jealous and had them act like a puppy. Well, not exactly like a puppy, but similar to that.

"Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun." Anvi seemed excited, and well, she was right. That was indeed an amazing night.

"We will have more fun today, don't worry..." Di winked at her.

"So, where are we going tonight?" I could not control the excitement.

"Nowhere." Di replied as she stared at her mehndi, which had turned a beautiful shade of red. I knew by the next morning it would turn into the darkest share.

"But but but....We are gonna make our men run like headless chickens." Adya Bhabhi said, feeling excited about whatever they had planned.

"But is it really necessary?" Saavi seemed a little dubious, perhaps worried about Dhruv Bhaiya.

"Yeah, is it?" Anvi mirrored her expression.

Anvi and Saavi did not seem much pleased with whatever was going to happen to the guys, with whatever Di and Niharika had cooked. Niharika and Di gestured to each other and talked to both Saavi and Anvi in hushed tones. I knew they were convincing the two innocent women of the group who did not want to trouble their husbands. But I wanted more than trouble for my fiancé. If troubling our men was the theme of my bachelorette, I was so in.

"Nitya..." I gestured for my best friend to sit beside me. When she took a seat to my right, I whispered, "You have to tell me something at least."

She narrowed her eyes at me and questioned, "Did you tell me how you ended up having an initial K on your chest?" I did not get time to tell her about it before and I had covered it all the while. And the Henna artist also wrote his name on my hand. So now, his name was imprinted on two places on my body.

"I told you it was Kiaan." That's what I could tell her. I had been busy throughout with so many rituals and covering my chest that I could not get private time with her to tell her everything that happened.

"Details, Simmi..." She crossed her arms. I was about to finally tell her what had exactly happened and the evil scheme my fiancé played against me when Di said, "Niti, Simmi, let's go...We need to change."

And just like that, I still could not tell her what had happened during the mehndi ceremony.

******

Author

******

Dhriti's intention of revealing her pregnancy news was a way to take the men into confidence. As expected, they had been extra cautious regarding a lot of things, starting from her food to not letting anyone bother her. Hence, she knew she and her friends would get enough window to host a bachelorette in the disguise of her pregnancy news. Though she had no intention of revealing the news to anyone else yet, not even her friends, and not even Simran too. She had planned it for later, for after the wedding. She was contemplating whether Simran and Kiaan's reception would be a good opportunity, but she was not fretting over it.

******

Kiaan

******

"Let's go swim." Arjun proposed the idea while trying to solve the Rubik's cube, which he had successfully aced for the seventh time. This was his eighth attempt, and he was trying to beat his own record every time.

"In that deadly lake? No thanks." Ishaan said, scrolling through his phone.

"I was talking about the basement pool. But now that you talk about it, the lake is not that dangerous...."

"I would rather want to be in one piece instead of getting eaten by any crocs." Ishaan retorted.

"Yeah, Saavi freaks out every time anyone mentions the lake." Dhruv was sipping his iced vanilla latte, half lying on the couch and his legs resting on the coffee table in front.

"There are no crocs or alligators in it. That's a rumor I started." Arjun said. Rumours and Arjun went hand in hand sometimes, but the other times it was me.

"Go convince our women," Namit said. His focus was completely on the wishlist of a shopping app filled with infants' clothes. He was obsessed with it. And since Dhriti already confessed about her pregnancy to us and even told Jai and Nikhil too when they came this morning, Namit did not have to hide it.

"Fine. Nikhil and I will convince them..."

"Woah!" Nikhil raised his hands in surrender.

"When it comes to my safety, no one can convince my wife...not me, not any God. Like Dhruv said about Saavi, Anvi has been freaking out too just by the glimpse of that lake." Everyone had given up their ammunition except Arjun and Jai. Jai was busy bouncing the basketball he had taken from a kid after bribing him. He was a cop who had bribed a kid with chocolates. Ironic!

"I will come with you..." Jai said.

"Finally, someone agrees." Arjun got up on his feet, smiling widely, beating his own record of solving the Rubik's cube.

Their wives will chop their ears off with all the berating. Niharika would legit scold Jai, and Nitya would whine like a child until Arjun gave up on this idea. I could easily meddle and sort things, convince their women, but it was fun seeing them all riled up and planning to go swimming like it was some mission and they had to convince their army general, i.e., their wives. To be honest, my not interfering was actually a good idea. If they went to their women, at least they would not be hounding me and annoying me. Every one of them had been teasing me about the proposal, and now Ishaan, Jai, and Nikhil had joined them too. They had not given me space to work in a quiet space, and the more I tried getting them out of that room, the more they troubled me.

"It will be fun seeing your asses getting kicked by your wives," I said.

"Says the one who has been kneeling for his fiancée..." Namit teased.

"His wife..." Jai corrected him, emphasizing the term wife.

And that's why I wanted everyone gone. I wanted some peace to keep my head in place for the online research I was doing on the trafficking incident, which was finally in the news. I opened another article from ten years ago on my ipad before I raced my eyes over the words completely ignoring the presence of those assholes.

"You really haven't allowed anyone to look her in the eye?" Ishaan asked, curious and playful about the fact that my men were not allowed to look his sister in the eye.

"I have a hunch they are married secretly," Nikhil remarked.

"Who knows...Maybe they are...." Jai wondered.

They all laughed like they had just inhaled laughing gas. I had decided I would make their lives hell if they did not stop bothering me in another five minutes. But as luck was on my side, I heard Arjun say, "Come on, guys, let's go swimming. I am texting Niti to get everyone there."

"Leave them, they are having a relaxing night playing cards." Hredhaan, who was quiet throughout and reading a monk's book, eventually spoke up. Glasses covered his eyes, and his gaze fixed on the inked pages.

"You haven't even stepped out of this room in three hours. How do you know about them playing cards?" Namit arched an eyebrow.

Hredhaan opened his phone and slid it to Namit, staging how Dhriti was constantly sharing stories on her Instagram handle. The last one was from five minutes ago.

I opened my account on my phone. I could not stare at my fiancé on Hredhaan's phone because that would give them another reason to tease. When I was looking at Dhriti's stories, I realized something was off. The clock on the bedside table showed the time two hours back. Dhriti preferred sharing pictures instantly on her stories instead of saving them. She always updates stores instantly, but with posts, she took a few days. My intuition hinted that the women were planning something.

"Dhruv, when did you last talk to Saavi?" I inquired my brother.

"Why? Want her to take everyone out of your wife's room so that you get to meet her even if the ritual demands otherwise?"

I glared at him. He chuckled and said, "Sorry, bro. Not a chance. I barely survived my wedding, you're doomed too."

I did not care for any stupid ritual that wanted me to stay away from my fiancé till the wedding. If I wanted, I could visit her anytime, even in front of others. But the thing was, I did not want to, not yet. And just wait until these idiots figured out what I had pieced together from my sister's story, they'd be running to their women like spooked horses.

"Namit, when was the last time you talked to Dhri?" He did not tease me, but simply answered, "Two hours ago."

"Surely, neither of you talked to your wives in the last two hours ..."

"Yeah...Einstein." Jai mocked.

"Are you insinuating something?" Arjun questioned. His brows raised. Finally, someone tried to think in another direction, other than pulling my leg.

"The bachelorette. They are having it tonight." I put the iPad aside, pushing myself off the chair.

"I hope they did not fool the security to go out," I mumbled, dialling Enzo's number. The one thing these women forgot about while trying to have fun was their security. They mostly comprised that.

I had no idea how it slipped my mind. But now that I remembered, there was no way I was going to sit back and do nothing. I didn't mind them having fun, but whenever they all got together for parties, chaos followed, and I had to make sure they were safe. They could be incredibly careless sometimes.

When Enzo picked up the phone, I instantly instructed, "Enzo, check every exit and CCTV. Find out the whereabouts of my sister and everyone in her group and you personally check their rooms first."

"Sama is pregnant. Just because it happened twice doesn't mean it's happening again," Namit said, though it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than me. He knew his wife better than anyone, yet still didn't want to think in that direction.

"Check her story. Check the goddamn clock."

Namit opened Instagram to view his wife's story, only to immediately realize what I meant.

"Damn it," he cursed.

"What?" Nikhil asked.

"The clock shows a time from two hours ago," Namit replied, now visibly worried.

"And?" Jai asked, placing the basketball aside.

"Sama never posts old pictures in her stories." That was an unshakable fact about my sister. According to her, stories were for the now, and posts were for later.

"What if the clock just isn't working?"

Everyone turned to stare at Dhruv, who still clung to the belief that there was no plan in motion. I couldn't understand how he still had hope, knowing perfectly well the potential of our women.

"You actually believe that?" Ishaan asked, raising an eyebrow. Dhruv had no answer.

Then Hredhaan muttered something as he shut his book with a thud. "She posted that story intentionally."

"Indeed," I agreed. There was a plan, because otherwise, why post an old photo as a story? She was definitely cooking something up... or maybe it was already done. And we? We were just the clueless men chasing our tails.

******

Simran

******

I hadn't known this place existed. It was the basement of the mansion where Kiaan and his family were staying. It had a massive pool facing a large projector screen, so we could float around and watch movies at the same time. We were not in the pool yet, but settled on the comfy couches around.

Everyone was wearing their husbands' shirts paired with the same coloured skirts, except Shruti, Sonia, and me. We had on the same skater skirts as the others, but wearing our own shirts. Tonight, we were going to have the best pool party of our lives.

Di's Instagram story had one purpose, which was to make the men chase us. And by now, they definitely were.

No one could guess where we were, not for the time being, at least. So while they ran around like headless chickens trying to track us down, we were comfortably settled in, watching hilarious videos everyone had secretly filmed of their husbands... all while munching on the cupcakes Adya Bhabhi had baked.

******

Kiaan

******

"Rewind it..." I ordered the security staff.

The footage showed them entering Simran's room together, but that was it. There was no clip of them coming out. Enzo had already checked their rooms; all of them were empty.

"They all went into Simran's room, and then... nothing?" Namit asked, just as puzzled as the rest of us. Maybe they'd tampered with the CCTV, or maybe they used the window to escape.

"Did they use the window?" Jai said, echoing my thoughts.

"Nope. It's been closed the whole time," Namit replied. He was reviewing the camera feed covering the window side of Simran's room.

"This doesn't make any sense," Ishaan muttered, clearly frustrated.

Dhruv and Nikhil had gone to check the basement, just in case. The odds of the girls hiding there were low, but I didn't want to rule it out yet. Then again, it didn't sound like them. Just a pool and a theater? That wasn't their idea of fun or freedom. And in a mansion with Z+ level security? Definitely not freedom.

"Hey guys, come check this out. There's black footage here," Arjun called out, eyes locked on another camera feed.

We rushed over to him.

"What area is this?" Jai asked.

"Back entrance. It leads straight into the woods," I said.

"But wait," Jai frowned. "To get there, they'd have to leave their rooms. And we didn't see them leave. Plus, the entry camera wasn't tampered with either."

"We missed something," Hredhaan said quietly, seriously. And I agreed.

We rewatched the footage.

And then we saw it.

They had left the room, but right when a group of Simran's relatives was passing by. It was a crowd, likely part of a ritual, with people carrying things and moving in a cluster. The girls had blended in perfectly. Their direction changed just enough to avoid full capture on camera. They were hidden in plain sight.

And now... the woods were a real possibility.

******

Author

******

"By now, they must be thinking we are in the woods," Dhriti said, chuckling at the idea of how clueless the men would have been this whole time while they were enjoying themselves.

"This feels refreshing," Shruti muttered, sipping her Cranberry Rosemary Herb Soda. Sonia was good with cocktails and mocktails, so it was she who made whatever everyone liked.

Dhruv and Nikhil had reached the area and found the women. Instead of leaving the area, he clicked a picture and sent it to the group chat. Neither of them wanted to leave and kept an eye on the women, considering they were unpredictable. One moment they were there, and who knew the other moment they would be in a club without security. They were hiding behind a recliner perfectly which no one was using. The men got notified with Dhruv's message, and they rushed to the basement.

They quietly reached the place and safely hid themselves. Namit and Hredhaan chose to stay behind the curtains as the curtains blended with the colour of their shirts. Arjun and Ishaan were under the huge table, which was covered with a flowing tablecloth that hid them. The table had a lot of eateries on it, decorated beautifully by Anvi and Saavi. Jai was behind the frog showpiece. Kiaan, however, left with no choice, had to hide behind the male mannequin who was wearing a gold-plated bikini. It was a gift from Arjun when Kiaan purchased this mansion. Even though he always hid that male mannequin wearing a bikini in the store room, Arjun, whenever he visited that place, made sure to take it out and keep it at its rightful place, which was by the poolside.

"Yeah, sometimes our men can be excessively curious, and I needed this break," Adya said, receiving playful chuckles from the women while Ishaan made a shocked face. Arjun looked at Ishaan and shook his head while Ishaan rolled his eyes at him.

"I know, right? You know, a few nights ago, Nikhil kept on asking about the lotion I use, why I use that, and so many other things... I literally had to research it so that I could tell my husband everything he needed to know. In research, I found out the lotion was not animals cruelty free." Anvi pouted sadly.

"At least you got to know something good because of his curiosity. Arjun kept on talking about this fabric I have been obsessed with, and he ended up making me choose another one because, according to some outdated report, it was not skin-friendly."

"Aww...." Shruti cooed and hugged her sideways.

"So what did you do with the fabric?" Simran asked curiously.

"I turned it into a Kurta for him and made my backless blouse from the left fabric." The girls could not control their laughter, and neither did the guys, but they could not make a sound.

"The one he and you were wearing this morning? And he does not even know?" Sonia asked this time, and Nitya shrugged playfully, replying, "That fabric is skin-friendly, and I have been using it for years. Sometimes his lawyer mind overthinks unnecessarily." It was Ishaan's turn to mock Arjun and shake his head at him, giving him weird looks while Arjun glared at him. Arjun took out his hand from under the table and had it reached up to the top so that he could grab something to eat. He finally grabbed hold of a cupcake and pulled it inside. He sat under the table Indian style and began eating it, relishing the taste while Ishaan's mouth watered, so Ishaan did the same.

"At least they are not afraid of me working extra hours. I love working, prefer being a workaholic, and while Jai does love that too for himself, for me, he wants rest. I don't like to rest." Arjun chuckled inside, hearing Niharika's story, and this time it was a little audible. The girls did not notice, but Jai extended his leg and kicked him under the table. Arjun chortled again as Jai had just kicked Ishaan, who pulled the tablecloth up and threw a small marble stone at Jai he had found there. Jai caught that marble before it hit him.

"Your husband, at least, does not get jealous of a dog," Saavi said sadly.

"He still is jealous?" Shruti asked.

"It never faded. He likes Snow's Company now, but envy is quite apparent. My poor Snow." Niharika patted Saavi's hair with love.

"That dog ate the cookie I made for her. The only good cookie of that batch." Dhruv whispered incredulously, and Nikhil stared at him weirdly.

Dhruv did not like his friend's eccentric gaze and remarked, "Don't give me that look, at least I don't inquire about her lotions."

"Yeah, at least she switched to cruelty-free lotion." Nikhil retorted.

"So Snow sleeps with you and Saavi?" Jai whispered from behind the frog while Dhruv fumed.

"Good that your husbands are not obsessed with cleaning," Dhriti said, her voice filled with a tinge of frustration. She put wafers inside her mouth and chewed them like a baby while recalling what Namit was putting her up to these days.

"Cleaning?" Sonia raised her brows, and everyone waited for Dhriti to elaborate.

"Don't ask me about it. So lately, if Namit and I have an argument over anything, he starts cleaning the house."

"That's a good thing, right?" Adya inquired, being oblivious of the full details. The guys now stared at where Namit was, wondering what he had done.

"Yeah, it would have been a good thing if it were not in the middle of the night when I am trying to sleep. Once he went out to clean the neighbour's porch, when I told him I could not sleep because of him cleaning our house. Oh, that was so embarrassing. He throws whatever he finds on the floor while cleaning, as for him, even a sock on the floor should land in a dustbin." The girls laughed while Hredhaan gave him a look filled with disbelief. Arjun pinched Namit's leg, causing him to wince. This time Saavi's attention went to where the guys were hiding, and the men got cautious. But it was momentary, and she soon ignored it.

"At least he does not use six spoons and seven utensils for making pasta and calls cooking exhausting." Everyone laughed at how Ishaan always made a mess in the kitchen. Instead of helping Adya, he always ended up increasing her workload.

"My advice to you women is, we should have nights like these often. These men, I believe, give you more headaches than anyone." While the women nodded at Shruti's advice, everyone gave a weird look to Hredhaan as if it was not Shruti but Hredhaan who gave that advice. Everyone was aware there was something unsaid between them, even when Hredhaan had a fiancée with whom he hardly made any public appearances. Hredhaan rolled his eyes, ignoring his friends.

Everyone had their fair share of stories to tell, and while the men thought it was the best time to come out of hiding and confront their women, Shruti's question to Simran had them stop.

"What about Kiaan?" Kiaan, who was till now a silent spectator of everything, got alert. Every man had their eyes on him, smirks playing on their faces, hoping to get some unbelievable info.

"What about him?" Simran asked innocently.

"Tell us something about what annoys you about him......." Anvi clarified.

Simran gave her an anxious, innocent smile and contemplated what she should tell them. She wondered if she should tell them that she lost her spot as a soloist to perform because of him, or about how he broke her heart, and then she thought whether she should confess that Kiaan now had lost his mind and was hell bent on marrying her after every hurtful thing he did to her. But sharing painful stories was not the theme of her bachelorette; rather, the funny ones were. Moreover, she could not tell the truth to anyone. While wondering what she should do, she weaved a plan in her head.

A playful smirk played on her lips, and Kiaan could see her from where he was hiding. He waited with bated breath for what she was up to as he was sure it was not something nice. He knew his woman was going to put him in a huge trouble, something which he might not come out of anytime soon.

With the sneer still playing on Simran's lips, she started, "So one night, he came to see my dance. After the performance, he praised me so much, got me flowers and chocolates...but guess what?"

"What? Arjun ate your chocolates, and Kiaan gave you an empty box?" Shruti teased. Arjun looked baffled as he mouthed to Kiaan, "You did not get me any chocolates? Where is my share?"

Kiaan fumed but could do nothing.

"Fuck You!" He mouthed that to Arjun. Arjun had made up his mind he would get his share by hook or crook.

"The box was not empty, but the thing was, I had not performed. Another dancer had twisted her ankle, so my group did not perform. He did not even know I was not on the stage."

"How?" Dhriti asked, utterly shocked.

"He had gone out in the hallway to attend an official call."

The guys gave a nasty look to Kiaan, who could not believe Simran would lie so effortlessly to everyone. He was relieved it was not worse, but he sure knew he was not going to hear the end of it from anyone anytime soon.

"I can't believe this man," Dhriti commented.

"That's not it. There is one more." Simran said. Now that alarmed Kiaan more than ever.

"The same night, he took me to a movie...but..." Simran took a brief pause, creating suspense. She was enjoying lying about Kiaan, not knowing the devil was right there. Ending the pause, she added,"....did not care to tell me it was in French."

"It had subtitles, right?" Adya was hopeful that even though it was French, there were sure subtitles, but her eyes widened when Simran shook her head.

"Oh, poor you..." Adya said gloomily, hugging her sideways. While Kiaan was left flabbergasted with her lies, there was someone else, too, who knew Simran was lying, her best friend, Nitya. Nitya, all the while, had stifled her laugh. She would not have known whether Simran was lying or not if she had not told her that Kiaan and she were never dating.

"Hey, French guy..." Arjun whispered to Kiaan and threw one of the marble stones scattered there at him. Kiaan dodged it, but the marble made a sound when it came in contact with the floor. The girls got alert and wondered who was there, still clueless that all the men were in hiding.

"I will check..." Saavi volunteered as she walked to where the guys were hiding. When she looked behind the recliner, she found Dhruv and Nikhil. She stared at them agape in shock. Before she could tell the girls, Dhruv got up and pulled her to a corner not visible to any of the girls.

"Hey muffin..." he kissed her cheek, holding her while she struggled to set free.

"You look perfect in my shirt." He mumbled. Saavi scoffed and said, "You are not supposed to be here yet."

"Oh yeah?" He trapped her hands behind her back and was having fun gawking at how beautiful she looked in his clothes.

"Dhruv, leave me."

Saavi tickled him in order to set herself free, but instead, caused him to lose balance, and he fell into the pool holding her. The splash sound echoed, and the girls knew something was wrong.

"What's going on?" Sonia wondered. Some of them got up and headed to where Saavi had gone. Anvi was in the front. The men began coming out of hiding, and when Anvi found Nikhil there, she was stunned.

"Shit..."Before Anvi could run, Nikhil picked her up in his arms and jumped into the pool with her, causing her to squeal.

Nitya looked at Arjun, who was mischievously smiling at her. She knew what was in his mind.

"Don't bother, I will jump myself." She said, Before she could take a step, Arjun shook his head and said, 'Not without me..."Arjun grabbed a cupcake, put it in his mouth, then grabbed his wife's arm and jumped into the pool.

"So, who is left, ladies?" Jai asked with his arms wide open, ready to push everyone into the water. A water war had begun by the time everyone went inside the pool. Women and men were grouped against each other, splashing water and tickling each other.

When no one was noticing, Kiaan had backed Simran into one corner in the pool.

"It did not seem like you would be here." He commented. Simran did not meet his gaze and was trying to find a way out so that she could get to the girls.

Like Kiaan had said, Siman did have other plans for tonight, plans to stop the wedding. But for some reason, her intuition had warned her against it. And as much as she didn't want to listen, eventually, she did.

She abandoned her original plan and now had no choice but to go through with marrying Kiaan.

Yet doubt lingered. She kept asking herself: 

Was any of this worth it?

Was Kiaan worth it?

And most of all:

What was his actual endgame?

"Now here is the thing, Mr.Chauhan. I might not be as predictable as you consider me to be."

Kiaan indeed wondered why she did not do whatever she had planned to. This was her night to try to escape. Though he would have stopped her, he knew she was gonna at least try to escape.

"You are as predictable as a sunrise, firefly. Your illusion of not being one will wear off soon." He moved closer, hitching her breath in her throat, bent down and mumbled in her ear, "By the way, the K looks pretty on you. Would you mind if I take a look?" 

Her heart raced like a car chasing the finish line, but she did not lose herself. Even though he was too close for her liking and they were out of everyone's sight, she found her drowning willpower, held it tight, and then pushed him away from her. She swam to where the girls were. When she was surrounded by her sisters and friends, she looked at him again. His eyes twinkled like stars, and his words from before reverberated in her head like a command.

By the way, the K looks pretty on you. Would you mind if I take a look?

She knew she was deep in the swamp created by him, with no way out.

******

Simran

******

This bachelorette was what I needed to cool my mind off things lately. It was happening, fun, and had no unnecessary adrenaline rush. I needed this calmness, the fun aspect. Even with Kiaan around, it did not feel like he was there to ruin my life. He was smiling, passing quirky comments, of course, not at me. But for a moment, it was refreshing to watch the beast acting like a human.

The party ended two hours after the boys had arrived. The guys parted ways from their wives, being upset as if they were leaving for another country. But the girls were simply going to share a room with me and were not going to be that far. It was nice watching them all head over heels for their wives and vice versa. So, after we parted ways, the guys went back upstairs as they were staying in that mansion while we headed to ours. Everyone had slept, but I could not. I decided to head to the library for a moment and read a book. Reading a book always triggers my sleep, and then I turn into a baby who needs a long hour of nap. With that thought, I sneakily hopped off the bed without disrupting Niti, Di, and Saav, who were on the same bed with me. Thankfully, I was sleeping on the side, so it was easy getting off it without waking anyone up. The others had arranged a perfect bedding on the bed and were sound asleep there.

After I walked out of the room, I shut the door behind me quietly. The library was on the ground floor, and when I reached there, I found the lights were on. Before I opened the half-closed door, I heard my father's voice. His voice was not loud but coated with anger. I should have knocked and gone in, but I did not. I kept my ear to the door and eavesdropped.

"I don't care. I want her to be gone from my life. That's it."

Was he talking about me?

That was the first thought that crossed my mind. His words were so bitter, more bitter than he had ever used that bitter with me. His words were smothered with hatred, not anger. Anger meant he cared, but hatred meant we were far gone from making up to each other.

But I was not the one he was talking about, right?

He did not hate me; otherwise, why would he even talk about me on the dinner night and wish me well for my new life ahead?

I was convincing myself, yet my heart was beating fast as I heard more.

"So even if the customs say otherwise, I want the wedding to happen at the time it was scheduled earlier." With dad's next words, it was obvious he was talking about me. He wanted me out of his life. Dad and I did not get along after Mom's death. But I never knew what I did was so unforgivable that he would start hating me in the process.

"I want that burden out of my life..." I flinched at his increased tone.

"Enough...." Then I heard another familiar voice, not expecting it would be my fiancé.

"Not a word, Mr.Kashyap. I have heard enough, but not anymore." No one dared to raise their voice at my father, but he did without any care in the world.

"The woman in question here is mine, my fiancé and I would not let anyone demean her, not even you."

"You don't talk to me like that."  

"Or what? This is how I take my woman's stand."

My eyes teared now, realizing along with my mother, I had lost my father too three years ago, and there was no way I would ever get either of them back. My mind stopped processing everything, completely unaware of what to do next. The man I loved betrayed me with his words, but the man I hated was taking my stand.

I did not know how to feel about the entire situation, so I stood there, struggling to breathe and consistently wiping my tears.

By mistake, the door was pushed by me, and it opened, drawing the attention of the two men. There was shock on my father's face, but Kiaan had a poker face. It gave away nothing. Even though I had wiped my tears, my soul was crying internally, weeping because she just found out that the superhero dad of hers harboured so much poisonous hatred for her in his heart.

I should have gone back to my room, but I did not. I could not just leave. I was figuring out what exactly I wanted, yet I stepped inside the room, not timidly, though.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop," I murmured. I was not looking at my father, but Kiaan. He stood there holding so much powerful aura that my gaze could not stray, not for one moment.

"I..." I tried speaking, but there was a lump in my throat that did not let me speak. I gulped the lump in my throat, still staring at his face, which gave away zero expressions.

"I could not sleep, so I came here...."

"To read...." He stated and did not ask. Just like every other thing, he knew this too about me.

"To read..." I repeated after him. I kept walking until I was really close to him, not removing my gaze from his face.

"I don't care about the customs either, just like my father. It's better if we are done with this wedding soon." I confessed before I tiptoed and took my face closer to his and kissed his right cheek.

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Author

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Simran kissed Kiaan's cheek as she mumbled, but loud enough for both of the men to hear, "I can't wait to change my surname to Chauhan." Her wet lashes touched Kiaan's cheek, and he felt her vulnerability. "Kashyap has..." She paused, struggling to complete, but she did it anyway, "Kashyap has become a little suffocating." She moved back and gave him a clipped smile before walking out of the room, broken for the umpteenth time. She acted this way because she was drunk, not because of alcohol, but because of pain. There was too much pain in her system that if someone drew her blood for a test, it would show on the reports.

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Kiaan

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Her wet lashes flapped on my cheek for a really slight moment. No one could notice it, and no one else could even have felt it, but I did. It was momentary and for the slightest second, but I felt it. I felt the vulnerability, her pain, her control over her emotions, and her stupid act of pretentious bravery. She was ready to throw her life under the bus and marry the man she hates for her dignity and for her self-respect.

My heart was not normal, not since I saw her standing at the doorstep like a little kid stands and overhears her father say that her favorite doll, which she thought was kept safe, was gone. She appeared the same as the little girl, heartbroken over the fact that her father had been lying to her about the doll being safe all this time. When I saw the unshed tears, I knew if I touched those glossy water, it would burn me, and it did when it touched my cheek through her lashes. The experience was worse than I could have ever imagined. And I agreed to both the father and daughter duo, I wanted her to be my wife as soon as possible. She needed to be by my side, and I was going to make it happen just like it was planned.

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Hi Lovelies,

The wedding part is partially complete, that's why I could not add it here.  🥹

Any idea what would happen next?  🤔

Hope you guys liked the chapter. Do share your views about the same. It would mean a lot. ❤️

Thanks, 
Shrishtee