I'll Love You Longer Than Forever

Chapter One Hundred and Five

Previously On...

Riddhima & Rahul come back from Delhi. Armaan surprises Riddhima with a home office.

Things got busy after Valentine's. It was as if suddenly everybody in Armaan & Riddhima's life realized just how close they were to the wedding and how little they'd actually got done to prepare for it.

Very quickly, all their days were a whirlwind of choices and decisions, for both the wedding and their house. Both Armaan & Riddhima went on multiple shopping trips both together and separately, in order to plan for their big day.

The gang was all super excited for the wedding, having waited for it for so long, and they'd thrown themselves head-first into helping very enthusiastically. Somedays Armaan was very irritated with how opinionated they all were, because it wasn't their wedding, thank you very much, and the girls seemed to be able to talk Riddhima into things he definitely knew that she did not want, and neither did he, just because they thought it'd be cute.

"Basket, do we really need a dog at the wedding?" Armaan asked one rare night that they'd wrapped up early and he'd managed to whisk her away for a quick walk.

"Di really wants them, Armaan," she replied.

"Anjy ki shaadi nahi ho rahi hai, Basket. Humaari ho rahi hai. And... Agar tumhe yeh chahiye, toh it's okay, but mujhe definitely nahi chahiye," he told her.

"I mean... Whenever I thought about us having a dog, it was definitely after the wedding, not during. But Di was showing me these pictures and the couple did a photoshoot with a dog and she just kept gushing about it. And I guess... I just gave in," Riddhima explained.

"I know," Armaan murmured. "And I agree. That photoshoot was really cute. But that's not exactly us, is it? Ab agar tum kehti ki tumhe basketball ke saath photoshoot karna hai, I'd have understood. But dog?"

"You're right. You're absolutely right. Lekin main... you know that Di and Nikki and Muski are very important to me. And they've waited for the wedding for so long, just like we have. Main unhe disappoint nahi karna chaahti. At least Rahul has been able to reign Atul in, warna mujhe pata hai ki woh yeh suggest karne wala tha ki hum kisi jungle type jagah pe saari ceremonies kare kyuki woh sab nature ke paas hain," Riddhima giggled.

"Well, thank god for that!" Armaan exclaimed. He wrapped his arms around Riddhima and pulled her close, taking a moment to push stray hairs out of her face and tuck them behind her ear before hugging her. "But... you know yeh humaari shaadi hai, right? Anjy, Nikki, ya Muski... unhe bohot excitement hai, I agree. And woh humaari itni help kar rahe hain uske liye I'm very grateful, par... Basket yeh unki shaadi nahi hai. Aur woh iss tarah ke final decisions nahi le sakte. I think humein ek baar unse baat karni chahiye. What do you think?"

Riddhima nodded into his neck, making Armaan smile. "Done then. Kal sabse baat karenge, okay?"

__________

"Dr. Armaan Mallik?" A pretty girl asked at the nurse station, making Sister Lovely look up.

"Hello ji," Sister Lovely replied. "Dr. Armaan? Ji kya kaam hai aapko unse?"

"Milna hai unse. Unse kehna ki Diya aayi hai," the girl, Diya, said.

"Oh! Ji woh toh iss waqt surgery mein hain, ji," Sister Lovely replied after checking the roster. "Kuch urgent kaam tha?"

"Mujhe unse milna hai," Diya repeated. "Abhi."

"Oh ji, aap toh nahi mil sakte," Sister Lovely repeated. "Maine kaha na, woh surgery mein hain."