Arranged to be mine ft. Shardul Thakur

𝙵𝙾𝚄𝚁

She reaches the place Shardul asked her to come.
But to her surprise he himself was late.

'Mujhe toh phone kar ke yaad dila rahe the, aur khud aaye nahi.' she thought to herself.

She waited for there like 20-25 minutes. And boom, the sane lady lost her cool, and got up to leave.

Just then, Shardul comes along Shreyas.

"Mr. Thakur aap bohot late hain."she complained."Aap khud mujhe phone karke yaad dila rahe the, aur khud itne late hogye."

Shardul opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by her,"Main kitni der se wait kar rahi thi, abhi aate nahi na toh main chali jaati."

"Ahh,  bolne toh do mujhe, he is the reason, isne late kara diya." Shardul said while pointing to Shreyas.

"Hi! Ishika, Shreyas here." Shreyas said as he forwarded his hand to greet.

"Yeah I have seen you!" She shook hand with him.

"We never knew Ro bhaiya had such a pretty sister." Shreyas continued.

"Well actually none of the youngsters knew, the seniors do know me. Tum logo ne jab khelna start kiya toh main practice ke liye abroad chali gayi thi."

"Yeah! Shardul ne bataya tum doctor ho. Aur kaafi strict doctor ho."

"Strict toh nahi hu main. Bass straightforward hu."she said in a childish tone.

"Yeahh tum bilkul strict nhi ho!" Shardul said sarcastically.

"By the way tumne practice kahan se ki hai?" Shreyas asked.

"Cardiff University, Wales."

"Nice! Actually sorry yaar main tum logo ki date pe third wheel banke aagya.."

"ITS NOT A DATE!" Both of them interrupted him loudly.

"You guys certainly don't require a date! Look at the timing." Shreyas said and sealed his lips.

"He will be silent now." Shardul says.

There was an awkward silence there for about 5 minutes. While Shardul and Ishika looked around at the ambience, Shreyas was continously observing the two.

'Hopeless people! Ye baat nahi karenge, mujhe hi bolna padega.'he thought.

"Toh what's the plan?" Shreyas asked casually.

"Plan? Kaisa plan?" Shardul asked.

"Tum logo ka, like gharwalo ne rishta fix kar diya, toh engagement-shadi ka kya plan hai, ya puri umar chup hi baithoge ek dusre ki company mein?"

"As far as I know, as per Rits, the moms are planning on a low-key engagement thing. Like only the immediate family and very close friends." Ishika said,"Shaadi ka baad mein dekhenge."

Just then Shardul's phone ringed, he picked up the call, listened to the other person, and just said an Okay.

"It was Ro bhai, he has asked me to drop you home." Shardul said.

"Its okay, I will manage.. You don't have to bother.."

"Kya bother?" Shreyas interrupted, "Its his responsibility. Bhai ka phone nahi aata toh main kehne wala tha isko."

"Since when you became this thoughtful?" Shardul asked him sarcastically.

"Okay then we should leave, its quite late." Ishika said.

They all got up to leave. Just then Shreyas says to Ishika in low tone, "He might look an angry bird, but he us very sweet from inside."

Ishika looked at him for a while and then laughed a bit.

~

On the way to her home.
Ishika was about to say something but suddenly took a pause.

'Mr. Thakur bolungi toh gussa karenge' she thought to herself.
"Shardul aapne kyu takleef li, main chali jaati. Ro bhaiya toh aise hi worry karte rehte hain"

"Takleef kya, itna toh mera farz banta hai."he said, "and haan Shardul sounds much better than Mr. Thakur."

Ishika giggles at this, and Shardul innocently stole some glimpses of this.

"See Shardul, I know I was supposed to say a no that day, but I ended up saying a yes. Agar aap chaahe toh back out kar sakte hain. But to be honest, since it was my fault, main backout nahi karungi kyuki hum dono ki families ki emotions iss se jude hain. You know what I mean.." Ishika expressed her heart out.

"You know what is going to be the most beautiful thing about all this?"
She gave an "I don't know look".
"We are doing this for our families. I think that's the only thing that is common among us, and its certainly most beautiful thing!" he said.

"Indeed it is!"she exclaimed.

"So Miss! You need not to worry, I will be there till the end." He said calmly. Calmly."By the tumhare interests kya hain?"

"Umm nothing much, actually time hi nahi hota apne khud ke interests explore karne ka, yeah but sometimes I read."

"Don't you watch cricket?" He asked her with an raised eyebrow.

"Vo toh obvious hai na. For me TV is equals to Cricket."

"Toh obviously tumhare favourite bhi Rohit bhai honge.."

"Yeah!" she said with a wide grin.

"You know what, maine tumhe pehli baar khush dekha hai.."

"Its only the third day since we know each other."

"By the way, ever had any guy in your life?" Shardul asked with a little hesitation.

Ishika looks at him and doesn't say anything. She didn't spoke a word for rest of the drive.
They finally reached her home.

"Come I will accompany you till your floor."

"Its okay Mr. Thakur, I will manage."

"No! I don't want to have scoldings from Rohit bhai."

Ishika agrees to him, because she had no energy to retaliate.

As soon as she opens the door, Magic, their pet dog jumps over her. But soon, the sweet doggo took warrior avatar, as he noticed an unknown person along with her.
He moved forward to attack Shardul, and was about to do it, Ishika came in between.

"No Mags! He is family."

She carresses his head and calms him down.
Shardul was really touched by the way she called him family.
By then, Ritika came.

Ishika quietely went to her.

"What happened to her?" Ritika asked.

"Maybe, I asked something I shouldn't have asked..." guessed Shardul.

"She must be tired!"sighed Ritika,"These Sharma siblings are hard to predict at times. You better relax and don't bother. How was your date?"

Shardul facepalmed at this question.
"It was not a date!"

~

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