Doosra Chance

Chapter 11

More dilemmas in queue for Aarohi!

"Let me tell you a secret, love. You made my work easy." "What...are you talking about?" The words came out breathier than Aarohi liked. Aryan sat back down in his chair across from her and pulled it in so their knees were touching. He clasped both of her hands in his and began stroking her knuckles with his thumb. "What I mean, my dear fiancée, is that I was planning on coming to your house tomorrow, with my family, as an official rishta. I would've needed to work much harder to convince you. I even prepared a whole folder of ammunition." "A folder of..." 

"Yes, a folder. Your family doesn't own many stocks or shares, but they did invest very smartly in a few real estate properties, including the family home built by your great-grandfather. One of your properties is also in dispute as it was overtaken by a local gang. It just so happens that out of the many roles I play as a businessman, real estate mogul is one of them. I could just as easily end the property dispute as I could force your family to sell the rest of the properties for dead cheap and lose the majority of their wealth. It doesn't stop there, my dear. I could go so far as to fire everyone in your family from their current jobs and blacklist them across the employment market, and even so far as to suspend you from medical school. But none of that will happen. Because now, you are desperate, and only I can help you. It's only fair that you do what I ask in return for my help."

Aarohi knew better than most people the state of Aryan's family business and exactly what power he held in the business world. She slowly peeled each of his hands off of hers and placed them back in her lap before straightening in her seat. She allowed herself the luxury of looking down her nose at him for an entire minute, for daring to threaten her and her family. It didn't hurt that it gave her time to rebuild her demolished pride. Aryan bit his lip to hold back his smile. Known for his infamous, rarer-than-a-blue-moon smiles, Aryan applauded this woman for making him smile more in one day than he had in the past year. Yes, sweetheart. Don't hide that fire and spirit from me. His plan was coming to fruition, albeit with an unexpected twist. It seems that God, the universe, and every other omnipotent entity was in his favor. 

With her spine straighter than a steel rod, Aarohi looked upon Aryan like a queen does upon a benevolent subject. "I am extremely grateful that I did not have to stoop to lower levels of begging and coercion to convince you to play this part. I accept your price; I will be your true fiancée in return for your playing my fake fiancée." Aryan leaned in again, "Shall we seal the deal, then?" Without a blink of an eye, Aarohi took Aryan's hand in hers and firmly shook it. It looked like he was losing his touch. Aryan assumed she would become flustered, or at the very least, pause, understanding his implied meaning. He couldn't tell if it was her determination to ignore the unpleasantness of the situation, or true innocence that caused her to react so unexpectedly. When Aarohi tried to slip her hand away, Aryan held onto her fingers and slowly brought them up to his lips, barely brushing his lips across her knuckles. "Sealed."

As soon as she passed the gate of the property, Aarohi finally breathed out the sigh she had been holding back and slumped against the seat, her fingers tightening on the steering wheel. What an absolute tangle. This was entirely her fault. Instead of taking a few days to slowly convince Rishi and Rhea away from their irrational belief, she opened her mouth and sentenced herself. She had worked so hard her entire life to develop discipline and control, yet her innately impulsive and reckless spirit always managed to claw through at the worst moments. 

She dearly wished to grab Aryan by his collar and shake that wolfish spirit right out of him. How on earth were he and Raj brothers? But she truly couldn't blame him. She was the one who blithely stepped into the hunter's trap without checking the lay of the land. This was definitely a bang-your-head-against-the-steering-wheel moment, but that generally wasn't advised during driving. What Aarohi wouldn't give to melt into a puddle like the Wicked Witch of the West.

As she lazed in her bed that night, with a mug of hot milk warming her palms, she resigned herself to the unnecessary drama that would unleash tomorrow. Not that her family was ever overly dramatic, but she simply wasn't anticipating having to hurt her parents. When it came to Rishi and her marriage, it wasn't supposed to have made a difference. They were to be married for a lifetime, and nobody would know their secret. Besides, there are some things about marriage that are so personal that they can't be shared with anyone, nor do they need to be. Taking the romanticized parda off their eyes about her previous marriage had been difficult enough. 

Now, it was up to her and Aryan to convince them that she, the girl who had never even thought about dating much less had a boyfriend, was secretly dating someone who, for all intents and purposes, for the past several months was in a long-distance relationship with and was now engaged to them. The past two months had been so packed with exams and wedding planning that Aarohi barely had time to talk to her family, whom she lived with. And she was supposed to convince them that she secretly scheduled calls to a boyfriend living in a different time zone? The thought nearly made her choke on the sip of milk she had taken, sending a burning sensation up her nose. As was slipping into sleep, Aarohi sent out a supplication. Universe, if you have mercy on my stupidity, you will skip straight to the day after tomorrow.