Fear & Love

Twenty-four

Gita dived face first into her bed and dug her face as deep as she can in the bedsheet. Her insides cringed at what just happened , she wanted to roll over and and just kick in the air as if that would undo the events. The one and only time, she outsmarted Isha and Ami, he had to barge in and listen! Can't she just have her moments of victory? Why was it only her who was caught in these situations? The thought of how she was going to face him bugged her. Should she pack her bags and runaway some place far? Or should she pray for some magic to happen and let Anand forget this memory? A lot of overthinking later, she did the only thing that could solve lots of problems : she slept.

A quick nap later, she definitely felt better. The runaway thoughts had vanished, the embarrassment did stay but now her vision had clarity. She would be brave and face the two idiots and Anand. That night she was thankful that neither Anand nor Isha and Ami had called her.

The next day at school, Gita remembered the flashes of what happened and flinched a lot of times but the thoughts were at bay due to her mischievous students. She informed her close colleagues of her wedding being one month away and also her holiday schedule, their reaction was not far away from Shaina's. They congratulated her for the wedding and asked the same question.

"Your wedding was few months away, right? May be two or three months?"
To which Gita nodded. "Then how it jumped to one month away or the love birds couldn't stay far?" One of them asked wriggling her brows.

Love birds? Love birds? Yes, right! Gita scoffed at the thought. After all the embarrassment she had, she remembered he didn't even react! Gita knows he is far from blushing but a small smile? A smug face? Anything as a reaction to her unwanted confession. But she got nothing. A part of her was glad that he didn't make fun of her but any normal person would atleast smile.
Can she ever expect something normal from Anand?

She gave her colleagues the same answer she had given Shaina. Anand was to attend some international conference and right after that the wedding would take place but Anand's grandfather, Daddu understood that his busy schedule would not let him be involved with all the wedding functions and he wanted Anand to be hands-on. So the wedding was pushed ahead of the conference where Anand would get little time to be involved before getting immersed in work. Gita couldn't be happier with Daddu's decision as she knew if the wedding was after the conference, Anand would just come and attend the rituals. Attend his own wedding, like a guest.
Now, he had accompanied her to the designer, chose wedding outfits and coordinate with Isha.

That reminded Gita that today she had to face both Anand and Isha. They were going to finalize some of the decor and the flowers. At first, Gita thought of skipping it and avoiding the embarrassment but then her brain said she will have to face them someday, so why not now? Let's put on a brave face and forget the cowardice. She professed her crush for her fiance and not some random man. And if Anand can keep an indifferent face, so can she!

As usual Harish came to pick her up after her office. As time has passed, Anand's staff and Gita were getting warm towards each other. Not just Harish, even Priti and Prakash had more than just formal conversation with her. She could see the respect they had for Anand and because of him, she was respected by them.

Harish dropped Gita at the Cafe they were meeting. Instantly, she knew this was Isha's choice. With Anand, she has only been to Bastian and this place was too much buzz for Anand. Prakash was the at the entrance welcoming her and guiding her upstairs where the siblings sat. The table was huge and the three of them - Anand, Isha and Preeti were on their laptops. Once she entered, Isha had a mischievous smile on her face and Preeti greeted her with a 'hi, how are you'. Anand looked up from his laptop and acknowledged her with a nod and went back to his work on laptop.

"Ma'am, finally we met again! It was boring to discuss on WhatsApp. Why don't you visit office sometime?" Preeti asked with a glee on her face. Along with Isha, it was even Preeti and Prakash coordinating for weddings, talking to different teams and looking for their portfolio of work.

Gita told Preeti how happy she was to see her but kept quiet on the question asked. 'Even his secretary is asking me to visit, but he can't.' Gita thought.

Preeti and Prakash left from there and Isha didn't leave a single chance to tease Gita with her wriggling eyebrows and a cunning smile. Gita wanted to take the fork on the table and stab it on Isha's hand. After having enough of it,  she took out her phone and message Isha to not mess with her. Isha was not the one to step down.

"Or what?" She typed back and sent it to Gita.

"Or I will tell your brother about the little weekend outing you had with your 'love'." Though Gita would have never done it, there was no harm in sending a threat. Isha paled a bit and appreciated the move.

"Wow! Threatening me! I see you are learning how to deal with people from my Bhai. Where is my innocent Gita?"
Isha typed.

"Learnt from the best! Now stop with your teasing." Gita replied and put an end to their text conversation while both of them were sitting infront of each other.

Anand looked up from his laptop finally after his work was done. He stared at Gita with his big eyes taking all of her. Over the weeks, since their engagement, something had changed and he was not sure what he felt about it. She was more vocal. She was always expressive, never the dull one, but around him, she was careful of her words and every action and as the wedding is coming closer, he could see her starting to get comfortable around him. He liked it but his mind always making him aware to not fall for her. If nothing had wavered him, neither would she. He would not allow this stupid fool to break the wall around his heart with her kindness.

When he had heard the video call and about her teenage crush confession, it did make him happy and he struggled to hide the smug look. How could she like him? She was and is a very kind person then how can she like this asshole? Especially back then,he was a bigger jerk. He just chuckled at the irony.

God doesn't make good matches, otherwise Gitanjali wouldn't end up with him. Looking at her, the way she was, he believed she deserved someone like her - kind, warm, average earning and giving her the movie love she expected. Both would be a fool of a couple having faith in the niceness of the world. But perhaps, this was God's way of protecting Gitanjali - by pairing her with someone who understands the cruel world and protect her innocence. Anyway, now she was his. He doesn't want her love or to be his perfect wife. What he expects from her is to be his perfect half for the world and his family and that was enough. They both would mind their business, Gita would not meddle in his business nor was she greedy for his money, so life was sorted.   He would try to be her friend, her company was interesting to him and it would bring little sunshine to his world. The only task for him to is to guard his heart and mind against this ball of cuteness. He believed love is for the weak and only used to control people and he would never let Gitanjali have such control over him. On the other hand, he would not mind having such control over her. What was wrong in it? And how far is that day when she loves him? Already, she is marrying him as her teenage dream is getting fulfilled but he just wishes that she knows he is not the hero of her dreams.

Sometimes, he can't believe that he is really marrying her. The stupid girl who trusts people, has faith in them and also the one who never lies. He wants to belive that this all is an act. How can someone be so ...so ..nice? It's plain foolish to be this good, according to him. If he had not seen her over the years, he wouldn't belive this was the real her! But then again, the less problematic she is, the best for him!
And god forbid, if one day he finds out that this was a facade, he would strangle her with his own bare hands.

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I am soo sorry to update so late!!

Please leave comments and thoughts on this chapter.

Byee
7/7/21