“Even though I am Vivaansh’s biological mother.",
Tejaswi said with a small smile as she alongwith Meera walk in the corridors of
the west wing, and Meera was hearing everything with utmost focus, while
Tejaswi continued, " But in Vivaansh’s heart, Sheetal didi's place is always
above mine."
"Vivaansh was only nine years old when his father
passed away. After that I was the only one who look after his business. I used
to always stay outside because of business. It was Sheetal didi who has given a
mother's love to Vivaansh in my absence.", Tejaswi said and Meera noticed
that not even for once there was jealousy in Tejaswi's voice or expressions.
Tejaswi opened the door of her bedroom and as they entered,
Meera was shocked to see the beauty of the room. If her and Vivaansh's room was
beautiful, then this room also had beauty of its own.
" Even today he can ignore my words for once, but he cannot
even hear a word against his Badi maa.", Tejaswi said and then asked Meera
to sit on the bed before sitting beside her as she continued, "She is little
bit strict and orthodox. But she is very good at heart."
Meera looked back at her with frowns but did not say
anything , and Tejaswi then walked to the walk-in-closet on the other end of
the room. Whereas, Meera sat there in a bit uneasiness. May be she was over
thinking it, but there was something in Sheetal's stares that made Meera
anxious and ill at ease.
"These are our traditional jewelries. You can look into
them, and take whichever you like.", Tejaswi said coming back with few boxes
in her hand before opening them and keeping them on bed in front of Meera who
immediately said, "This is not needed. These are too heavy and I do not
wear such heavy jewellery."
“You are married yesterday only. You are a newly wedded
bride, so get ready like the one. Wear new dresses and jewelries and all.”,
Tejaswi said caressing Meera's hair and Meera gave a small smile, before
turning her eyes to look at the beautiful jewelries in front of her.
Meera was busy in admiring necklaces and other jewelries of
Malhotra heirloom, but Tejaswi did not miss to notice a countenance of worry
and awkwardness on her face and she took Meera's palm in her owns', also
bringing Meera's attention, while she said, " Don’t get any confusions or questions
in your heart, Meera. Now this home belongs to you too."
Meera smiled slightly in response, though her eyes had
turned a bit glossy remembering her mother. Tejaswi's love was no less than how
her mother always loved her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A lady in her twenties entered Sheetal's bedroom with a mug
of coffee and gave it to the later one before standing aside. Layla was
Sheetal's personal hand maid and also one of her most trusted.
"Layla, What do you think about Meera?", Sheetal
ask taking a sip of coffee while sitting in the balcony and gazing at the
beautiful garden, whereas Layla took a minute before saying, "I think she is
nice and innocent."
Sheetal glanced at Layla for a minute before chuckling with
a nod of head as she said, "But I can see something else behind those innocent
eyes."
"I did not get what you mean.", Layla asked
frowning while helping Sheetal to get up and then walk into the bedroom.
"What was the need to decide everything in just three
days, and then getting married in such a hurry!? And that too without informing
me. Vivaansh never does this.", Sheetal remarked and Layla nodded agreeing
to her before saying while helping her to remove her jewelries, " By the
way, I have heard that Meera Ma’am was already engagement to someone else. But at
the end moment, she got married to Vivaansh sir.."
"Who told you this?", Sheetal asked looking back
at her with frowns and Layla replied, "All the servants in the mansion are
discussing about this only.”
"Really?", Sheetal asked thinking about something
in deep while Layla said further, "And I had also heard that before
agreeing to get married to Vivaansh sir, she had put forward some conditions in
front of him."
"What conditions?", Sheetal asked in urgency and
Layla said, "That I am not aware of."
" So find that out, Layla. And yes, also keep an eye on
her every move.", Sheetal ordered with curtness and Layla immediately
replied with a nod.
" The calmer the water, the deeper it is.",
Sheetal commented staring at her own reflection in the mirror.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meera turned the knob of their bedroom, but did not enter
when she heard Vivaansh shouting at someone inside the room. However, the boxes
in her hand were heavy to handle and so she quietly entered the room, not to
disturb him.
"Steve, I asked you to keep this low profile and take
proper care of the security. Then how did they get the pictures of my wedding?
No, I am not listening any excuses. Just do anything but not even a single
picture from my wedding should go public.", Vivaansh shouted and then
throw his cellphone on the couch after disconnecting it, before turning around
to see Meera entering, more like sneaking into the room.
"Meera.", Vivaansh's voice rough and hoarse made
Meera halt in her steps and going stiff, but she did not turn around, and
Vivaansh frowned looking at her unmoved.
"Meera!?", Vivaansh called her once again, this
time his voice a bit soft then before, and Meera took a deep breath before
slowly turning around with her eyes casted down making Vivaansh sigh.
"Is there something wrong with that floor?",
Vivaansh asked and Meera immediately looked up at him before slowly nodding her
head in no.
"Get me your certificates.", Vivaansh said sitting
on the couch and Meera looked at him confused asking, "Huh?"
"Your certificates!? You are going to work in Malhotra
Fashions, right!?", Vivaansh asked raising his brows at her and Meera
nodded her head in agreement but then said, "But my luggage hasn't arrived
yet. And all my certificates are in there only.”
Vivaansh nodded in understanding and then his eyes fall on
five to six boxes in her hands and he asked, "What is this?"
"This actually...aunty--", Meera started but
immediately corrected herself as soon as Vivaansh looked back at her with
raised brows, and then she continued, "I mean mom...mom gave me this. These
are some jewelries."
"So, where will you keep them?", Vivaansh asked
and Meera thought for a moment before asking innocently, "Where should I keep
them?"
Vivaansh first looked away chuckling at her innocence but
then immediately composed his expressions before looking at her, and then got
up walking towards her, whereas Meera simply stared back at him innocuously.
Vivaansh took her downstairs in her walk-in-closet and then
opened a huge wall-fitted rose-tinted glass locker in the right corner before
turning back towards her and then asked, "What is your Birth
date?"
"8th of November.", Meera replied and then saw
Vivaansh punching 0811 on the keypad of the locker as he said, "You can
keep all your important things in this locker."
Vivaansh step aside and Meera came ahead as she kept those
boxes in the locker and then slowly closed it before turning towards Vivaansh
who said, "you can change the password afterwards."
"This one is fine.", Meera replied while
Vivaansh frowned saying, "But now I know this password."
"I don't mind. A wife's everything belongs to her
husband as well.", Meera said and then walked away from there, leaving a
stunned Vivaansh behind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Venisa and Meera came up from the closet room downstairs,
after arranging everything in the closet as soon as her luggage arrived from
her home.
"Ma'am, here is the menu.", Venisa said passing
her the I-pad making Meera frowned who said, "Venisa, I already told you
that we are of the same age so don't call me ma'am. You can call me Meera. And,
what is this menu?"
"There are some protocols that they need to follow. So,
she can not call you with your direct name.", Vivaansh said entering the
room and startling her, before he signalled Venisa to leave who immediately
left after bowing, and then Vivaansh turned towards Meera while forwarding his
hand in front of her for I-pad which Meera gave him immediately and he said,
"Here is the menu where you need to select what you want to eat in lunch
and same goes with dinner as well. Menu includes every type of delicacies from
all around the world. So, you can have anything you want to eat."
Meera nodded in understanding before going towards the sofa
and sat there, followed by Vivaansh who sat beside her with his laptop.
"Though I have handled the situation, but our marriage
pictures might go viral before tomorrow.", Vivaansh said after a minute
with his eyes still focused on laptop screen, and Meera looked at him with
frowns before asking with a tint of hesitation, "You don't want
that?"
Vivaansh looked at her for a moment before turning back to
type something in his laptop as he said, "I don't mind. I just wanted to
make sure if you are okay with this. This might affect your privacy since media
is eager to know whom did I got married to."
"We won't be able to hide it forever so I am fine with
it.", Meera said shrugging but still there was something that was
disturbing her, and Vivaansh could decode that immediately after looking at her
disturbed expression as he asked, "What happened?"
Meera sighed and took a deep breath before asking, "Can
I work in some other firm and not in Malhotra Fashions!?"
Vivaansh stared at her for a minute with frowns settled on
his forehead before he asked, "Why? I mean I don't mind but do you have
some specific firm you want to work with?"
Meera looked contemplating about something for few minutes
before asking, "I won't be able to work in Malhotra Fashions once the news
about our marriage goes out. I mean I don't want people there to think that I
got the job just because I am your wife."
Vivaansh kept the laptop aside before slightly turning
towards her and then tried to frame a good sentence for a minute before saying,
"Meera, if you will worry about other's opinion, you won't be able to
achieve anything in your life. You and I know the truth and that is all we
need. Alright?"
Vivaansh was extremely patient while explaining her the fact
and Meera nodded her head in understanding like an obedient child.
But after a minute of thinking, Vivaansh said, "But I
won't mind if you would want to work in some other firm. I mean I don't want to
overshadow you. So, if you have some other preferences, you can apply there as
well."
"I will think about this.", Meera said after
thinking and Vivaansh nodded affirmatively at her muttering, "Good."
There was a knock and Vivaansh sat back properly with his
laptop before allowing the person to enter. It was a butler who had came to
take the order for lunch from them. Meera quickly selected what she wants to
eat and then passed the I-pad to Vivaansh, who took a minute to see what all
Meera had selected, before choosing for himself as well, and then gave the
I-pad back to the butler.
Meera sat there with her one leg mounted on other and hands
joined at her knees as she glanced at Vivaansh who was still busy working on
his laptop, before she started roaming her eyes all over in the room getting a
little bored. And even though Vivaansh had his eyes focused on the laptop
screen, his lips curled a little at the corner into a hidden smile as he was
aware of Meera's cute antics.
"Getting bored?", Meera was startled and she
immediately looked back at him but frowned when she saw him still looking at
the laptop and not her, while Vivaansh again asked without looking at her, “ Want
to go out?"
"But...you work!?", Meera asked hesitantly and
Vivaansh did not say anything for a minute but then she saw him closing his
laptop and then turning towards her as he said, "Let's go."
They got up and were about to exit the room when suddenly
Vivaansh said, "You can get changed into something comfortable if you
want."
Meera nodded and excused herself to go and get changed,
while Vivaansh himself went to his own closet to get into another pair of
clothes and then went to inform Tejaswi about them going out and not having
lunch at home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Five minutes later, Meera came out of the mansion and saw a
beautiful neon green colored Aston Martin Valkyrie spider in the Porsche, while
Vivaansh was standing with the support of the door of passenger seat, wearing a
white shirt with two of the top buttons opened and paired with light blue
knee-ripped jeans, doing something in his phone.
Vivaansh looked up from his cellphone and saw her coming
towards him wearing a simple off-white chicken embroidered high-end kurta and
Palazzo pants, paired with an off-white pearl decorated high heels. Her nuptial
chain in her neck and those golden colored kundan earring in her ears were
enhancing her natural beauty. Her long hairs were kept open and a long stroke
of vermilion was there in between the partition of her hairs. And those red and
golden colored chooda (bangles) were complementing her look perfectly.
Meera was in awe with the car when Vivaansh opened the door
to the passenger seat for her, and then he kept his hand near the edge to cover
Meera's head and to prevent her from getting any injury on her head while Meera
slowly sat inside after muttering a small 'Thank you'. Vivaansh also made sure
that Meera had her dupatta in her lap and it is not hanging outside the car,
and then he finally closed the door and then walked towards the driving seat,
and Meera had her eyes following him.
"Where do you want to go?", Vivaansh asked turning
the engine on and Meera only shrugged her shoulder not having anything specific
in her mind and said, "Anywhere you like."
Vivaansh nodded and pressed on the accelerator to speed up
the car and once when they were on the highway, Vivaansh said with his focus on
the road, "You are looking beautiful."
A tint of redness spread on Meera's cheeks as she looked
down at her fidgeting fingers in her lap before muttering a small 'Thank you'
and then said, "You too!"
"What, am I looking beautiful?", Vivaansh asked
with frowns but had a tease in his tone, and Meera immediately realised what
she said before she corrected herself saying, "No, I mean....You also looking
handsome."
Vivaansh smiled at her before turning back to driving and
Meera also looked the other side outside the window.
The highway was calm and covered with long trees on both the
ends and also there was no traffic or loud horns, giving them a peaceful
feeling. Vivaansh glanced at Meera who was now enjoying the beauty of nature,
by leaning her head slightly out and with her chin on back of her palms that
were entwined and kept on the open window panel.
Sometimes she had a beautiful smile playing on her lips as
the cold breeze were caressing her face, and sometimes she would get irritated
when her hair strands would irritate by coming on her face.
Even though Vivaansh was focused on driving the car, he now
and then would keep glancing at her and observe her keenly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was lunch time and Sheetal came downstairs with Layla
behind her, and saw Tejaswi already sitting on the dining table.
"Where is Vivaansh?", Sheetal asked sitting on her
chair and Layla started serving her, whereas Tejaswi already had her dish
served and was about to eat, but then looked at Sheetal and said, " Actually,
Meera was getting bored in the house so both have gone out. They will have their
lunch outside only."
" Now when he got married, he even forgot his Badi maa.
I have returned back since morning but he did not come to meet me even once.",
Sheetal said while having her food and Tejaswi smiled lightly before saying,
" Perhaps he does not even know that you have returned back. Otherwise you
know he would have definitely come to meet you."
Sheetal sighed and looked at Tejaswi before slowly nodding
her head with curtness but then she asked, " Well, any reason to get them married
in such a hurry?"
" Actually Vivaansh has finalized a deal with Meera's
father. So this is one type of business marriage only.", Tejaswi said not
knowing what else to say and Sheetal nodded in understanding before inquiring
more, " I heard that she was about to get married to someone else. She was
also engaged before this marriage happened. Then suddenly she got married to Vivaansh.
Why?"
"Even I didn’t knew about this. I got to know only after
we went to her house for Ritual of Roka. But Vivaansh already knew about this
and he had no problem with it.", Tejaswi replied and Sheetal frowned
asking, "Vivaansh is still a child. He does not see anything in front of business
deals. But you are his mother. You should have seen once that who is the girl
and how is the family. Why was there such a hurry to get them married!?"
"I checked everything when we went there for Roka. Meera
is really nice and sensible girl. And her family is also good.", Tejaswi
immediately said in defendant and sighed in relief when Sheetal did not say or
ask anything more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lunch was a silent affair but Vivaansh did his best to make
her more comfortable around him and was relieved when he saw Meera now behaving
a bit normal than yesterday.
By the time they reach their destination, it was early
evening. Vivaansh parked his car in front of a deserted sea before they came
out of the car and Meera was in awe with the beautiful scene in front of her.
The sun was almost getting set behind the sea and even
though it was early evening, but since it was winters in Mumbai, the sunset was
happening early.
"Wow!", Meera could not help but exclaimed being
in daze with the beauty of nature in front of her, but Vivaansh had his eyes
settled only on the beauty standing beside him.
Meera took off her heels and then suddenly ran towards the
sea with her hands opened freely in air, whereas, Vivaansh leaned back with
support of the car and folded his hands near his chest while smiling looking at
her enjoying self. He was happy that she is smiling, unlike how she is panicked
and feared around him.
Taking her heels from the sand and then keeping them
properly in the car near her seat, Vivaansh took the jacket from his side of
seat and then went towards Meera who was now standing at the seashore with her
hands wrapped around herself, and looking at the beautiful sunset.
"Its cold.", Vivaansh said when he saw Meera
flinch a little as he put the jacket around her shoulders.
"Thank you.", Meera whispered while adjusting the
jacket on herself and giving him a small smile, before turning her eyes back to
admire the sunset.
"You like sunsets?", Vivaansh asked looking at her
who now looked back at him and then replied, "I love both sunrise and
sunset."
"And what about you?", Meera asked slowly and
Vivaansh shrugged his shoulders saying, "Same."
"Aren't you cold.", Meera asked and was about to
take the jacket off, but Vivaansh immediately hold her hand stopping her as he
nodded in no saying, "I am fine."
A current passed through them and Meera felt good when his
warm hands touched her cold ones, but it did not last long as Vivaansh realised
that he touched her without her consent, even though it was a mere touch of
their hands, and he immediately withdraw his hands.
"What else do you like?", Vivaansh asked trying to
ride off the awkwardness between them and Meera started sharing about how she
love beaches and mountains as well. And then how she love spending her time
drawing some designs or reading books. Whereas for Vivaansh, he was listening
to her keenly and keeping the mental notes of the same in his mind.
Two hours went by and they did not realised as they kept
sitting there on the cold sand, sometimes asking about each other's likes, and
sometimes just staring at the beautiful nature around them.
"Shall we go now?", Vivaansh asked checking the
time in his watch and Meera nodded before they stood up from there.
However Meera stumbled a little when a small pebbles pierced
in her bare foot and Vivaansh immediately supported her from her shoulders
asking, "Aap thik hai?"
(Are you fine!?)
Meera's heart skipped a beat when he addressed her with
"Aap" in respect, and she looked up at him directly in his beautiful
brown orbs which held concern and worry for her in them.
And the screen freeze as they had a cute eye-lock.
