Her Unexpected Husband- 35

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*35*

“What do you think about love?”

Meera sat straight hearing his firm voice. Her heart galloped as if she has finished a marathon. Sweat beads formed on her forehead & roll down her temple as the time passes. Her palms turned wet with sweat making her grip slacken on her school bag. Her eyeballs struggled to stay still as it slewed across the cafe. She gulped her saliva on her parched throat looking frightened by his question which carries a menace.

“Jiju…” She stuttered not able to look at his sharp questioning eyes.

"I heard you seem to know a lot about Love. So I thought to update my knowledge." She is glad he has not seen Abhay when she met him after her school but she’s sure he has an idea about him else why would he pick her up from school unusually saying he has to talk something important and asks this question. Not to forget Aakash is aware of her love matter thus chances are high for this meet.

He thinned his lips as her face itself shows she got the matter. He has to admit she’s sharp just like Khushi but the difference is Meera is not so innocent as Khushi. To a certain extent, not being so innocent is also good in this modern cruel world. But that should be outside one's house. One should stay loyal, innocent, vivacious at home thus getting rejuvenation to tackle the situations outside. And he's not sure how strong and focused Meera is on her life. That’s why he arranged this meet keeping both sisters in mind. If Meera is just passing around or presuming infatuation as Love, disturbing Khushi in this matter is nothing but seizing her happiness. She just started to enjoy her life so he’s not going to cost her happiness for a matter which is still unclear. He’s going to give it a try and solve the matter himself and if it’s beyond his limit, he’s not going to stop himself from revealing the matter to Khushi. He knows Khushi has better ways to deal with the problems. That's also the reason why he didn't want to push every problem to her & leave her alone to solve. Why always she has to face the negatives of their life? Let him face something also.

“Jiju…”

He blinked his eyes & leaned on the chair. Seeing her reluctance, he planned to slow down and changed the topic, “Leave it. Are you feeling comfortable at our home? Khushi always says you’re comfortable yet I’m not satisfied. I feel you’re restricting yourself. You’re not of yourself at home Meera. It’s always Khushi who has to drag you in our conversations.”

Meera still feels her heart racing against her chest. Though she can feel, he is diverting the topic only because of her, she felt warmth by his gesture. He doesn’t seem like a dominating person as she and Abhay thought. Seeing Khushi always obey his words and in all praises of him, she always thought he’s controlling her. That’s why she used all possible ways to limit herself in the room, spending time with Abhay through mobile.

“Hey chill… Calm down Meera. I’m not going to gobble you down. First, drink this delicious coffee. You cannot get such an appetizing coffee from your sister.”

Only after his words, she noticed the two cups of cappuccino in front of her. Her lips slightly expanded remembering his last words. Arnav moved a cup towards her and took the other for him. She looked at Arnav and then lowered her head taking the coffee, immersing in it. Arnav waited till she finishes the drink. His gaze never left hers. As soon as she finishes the drink, he started off the topic slowly.

“Have you once thought I belong to your family as you both belong to mine?”

She met his eyes in surprise.

“What? As much as you both are addition in my life and known as my family at my circle, I’m an addition to you both if you look at from your perspective. Thus we’re family and a Family cannot be healthy if we keep secrets from our own family members.” Arnav stopped gauging her reactions and continued, “Khushi told me you are in Love with someone.” And that hit the bullseye.

“Ji...Ju…”

“Come on Meera… Since we're a family, I thought I can clarify myself about the dude who managed to steal your heart. But if you still think I’m not worth to know about your Love, then fine. I’ll ask this to Khushi itself.” He was about to get up from his seat as if the conversation is over when Meera got perplexed and called out his name. Arnav sat back with winning smirk.

“He’s Abhay Sharma. He was fixing some electric wires when I met him at my friend's house for the first time. Something urged me to know more about him & I succeeded in my mission by pestering my friend. I came to know he works on the nearby electrical shop part timing to meet his college fees. I still don't know why my visits suddenly increased to my friend's house. And I don't really remember which moment I started to like him that every alternative day I went there only to get a glimpse of him. One day he noticed my stares & asked me directly. Maybe that's the moment I realised I've indeed fallen in love and confessed it immediately. He is hesitant at first but accepted as the days pass. Often we met and spoke mostly through phone… which he gifted me. But he's strict about my studies Jiju. He never encourages if I ignore my studies for him. Now he's doing his second year of a bachelor degree. As soon as he finishes his studies & settles bank dues he promised to speak about us to Jiji. I'm sure Aakash bhai is the one who informed you about me. After him, it's only you who's aware of this. Jiji… doesn't know this yet…"

Meera looked up hesitantly and searched for the trace of anger in his eyes but found none much to her surprise. Arnav smiled slightly and took a sharp intake of breath.

"You can count me into your side if you're sure about your choices Meera. But… I've limitations. See I'm not against your love but the time you chose to involve in your relationship is disturbing me. As an individual human being each & everyone has the right to choose what they want. I respect your choice at the same time I'll give a green signal only after you complete your graduation and get stable in your life. Until then try to be in your limits.

However, you'll be provided with all the freedom in the world. I'm not going to restrict you from speaking to him or seeing him instead I'm going to request you to reduce the frequency. Speak to him once in a week, meet him once in a month. You want to see him in a better position right? This will help you both to concentrate on your life. If you both sustain this long distance relationship I'm sure no one will ever separate you both. But… If by any chance I found you betraying my trust, don't accuse me of the repercussions. Now give me his mobile number if you feel I'm working on your betterment only."

Meera sat astonished unable to digest the words he spoke. She never thought he'll provide his support when all she expected was a restriction from his end. In fact, she is preparing herself to fight against the battle when her love matter reveals open in front of her sister & Arnav. She anticipated a strong opposition especially from him as he's certainly an outsider for her still, period. But when he spoke totally out of what she presumed, she couldn't simply ignore the warning alarms on her head. How many movies she has seen? Either parents oppose vehemently and locked them inside the house & marry off her soon or parents will act as if they're supporting her love and then betraying her at the end. To the worse, honour killing is also happening in this very world. She fixed a sharp gaze on him as the above thought popped on her mind. But the truthfulness in his eyes indeed made her calm.

"Meera…" Arnav waved his hands seeing her lost frame.

"Huh…" She jerked out of her thoughts & gave Abhay number.

Arnav notes down carefully. His brain quickly calculated something and send that number instantly to Aakash. From the last two days, he had been noticing each and every action of Meera. One thing he could conclude is, she's rebellious of her age. Though she seems to obey Khushi, most of the time he felt an impulsive streak in her. He could say she's the total opposite of Khushi. If something was denied to Khushi either she'll forget & accept it as her fate or bury it under her heart shedding blood every day. But if something is denied to Meera, she seems to do the exact opposite of the thing. He cannot blame her alone either. It's her age which drives her to react crazily. Everyone cross those phase & didn't he know how he was back then. So he planned to take a cautious step.

One wrong move her life would be at stake. He cannot deny her love right at her face. If he does then none could be stupid than him. Moreover, her love can be pure too. That person could be a good boy who truly loves her too. But on the other note, her infatuation could be mistaken as Love and that boy might be playing around. Unless he looks deep into the matter getting personal with them he cannot assume anything. If their love is true he's more than glad to marry them off but if it's contrary then he has the responsibility to safeguard Meera from heartbreak. Upon all that, her studies are more important than anything. He'll never compromise on anything regarding her studies. That's why he requested her to reduce the frequency of meets. If Abhay is proved to be not worthy of her love he's going to make sure to extend the frequency of the contacts and meets thus by eroding his memory slowly. It may look like utter criminal brainwashing but nothing is wrong from the perspective of True Sensible Parents who wishes nothing but good to their child.

"Jiju… Jiji…"

Arnav thought process was again broken by Meera.

"What Meera?"

"Jiji…" She trailed her words scared. Deep down she’s really guilty for betraying her sister trust. But her Love for Abhay surpasses everything.

"Leave that upon me."

Meera sighed in relief finally feeling the weight lift off her head unknowingly shifting the entire load to her brother-in-law.

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