Pehli Nazar Mein

V.

Author's P.O.V.

Rajveer 

Rajveer and Ishita were walking through the gardens of the Malhotra mansion after his mother had pushed them to go talk alone and get to know each other better. 

What he hadn't expected was for her to be so quiet. An awkward silence had settled between them, and Rajveer didn't know how to break it. They walked silently, and Rajveer admired the beautiful garden (and also the beautiful woman walking beside him, but she didn't need to know that). Rajveer did not like the awkwardness and was trying to find a way to break it. Hey, if they were going to be married, they at least needed to be on speaking terms. 

Rajveer blamed his outgoing nature for speaking up randomly "So...we're getting married, huh?"

What a good way to start a conversation. He mentally cursed himself.

"Yeah" Ishita replied, looking down at her feet, avoiding looking at him. Rajveer ran a hand through his hair and messed them up a bit,  a nervous habit of his

They walked for a little bit longer, until Rajveer decided to try again.

"I'm sorry. I don't really know what to say. May I start over?" He asked, and was glad when she nodded, now looking up him. She had pretty eyes, he noted.

"My name is  Rajveer. Rajveer Singh Rajput" He said, and smiled at her, hoping it looked like one of his charming grins that made everyone fall for him and not an awkward toothy smile. 

To his surprise, she cracked a smile "I know that already. But, for the record, I am Ishita. Ishita Malhotra. It's nice to meet you" She stopped in her tracks, and turned towards him, extending a hand forward.

Rajveer heaved a sigh of relief and shook her hand in a friendly way. Of course he knew her name too, but it felt good to talk directly to each other, instead of hearing about the other from their families.  After that brief introduction, conversation between them went about easily, though still a little awkward.

"Of course I know you skate. You're all over news channels. 'Son of the richest man in the country wins another international title' " Ishita said, extending her arms forward to mark imaginary large words in the air. Their conversation so far was going well enough. 

"I guess so" Rajveer could only laugh and look down at his feet.

"I used to skate when I was younger" Ishita told him, and Rajveer looked down at her, intrigued. 

"Oh, really? Then why did you stop?"

"Broke my leg once. It scared twelve year old me enough to never skate again. I do miss skating sometimes though,  but I found myself new hobbies" Ishita said, tucking a lose strand of her hair behind her ear. 

"New hobbies, like?" 

"I like reading and painting. And I recently started learning how to fence" Ishita plucked a small white flower from one of the bushes in the garden as she said that.

Before Rajveer could respond, a strong wind started blowing, making the plants and bushes rustle. Rajveer smiled, he liked the wind. From a tree nearby, many leaves were blown off, directly in their direction. 

When the wind stopped, Rajveer and Ishita stopped walking, looked at each other and laughed. Both of them had been covered in leaves, Ishita more so because of her open hair. Rajveer managed to brush all of the leaves off him, and so did Ishita. But, one leaf had decided to nestle itself in the clips she wore in her hair. She didn't notice it, so Rajveer decided to help her out. He knew she was fully capable to do it herself, it was a silly little thing, but he couldn't understand what came over him.

"You uh, have a leaf in your hair" Rajveer said, trying not to smile at how adorable she looked with a leaf poking out of the top of her head. 

Ishita blinked up at him. Then, in a bold move, Rajveer stepped closer her to her before she could respond. He still maintained some distance though, not wanting to invade her personal space.

"May I?" He asked, looking down at her. 

For some odd reason that he couldn't pinpoint, he felt a strange feeling creeping up his chest when she looked up at him with those gorgeous brown eyes. "I mean- go ahead"

It wasn't supposed to be that big of a deal, and Rajveer didn't understand why it still felt like it. He plucked the leaf out of her hair, and fixed her hair so that it looked like the way they were before. He stepped away, suddenly regretting his decision, because his heartbeat had spiked up abnormally. 

"Thank you" She said. There was a silence between them for a few moments, before they fell back into conversation. But there was a faraway look in her eyes, and Rajveer couldn't figure out why. Her replies seemed shorter, more distant and closed off, but he decided he was most probably thinking too much about it.

____

When the two of them returned to the living room, back to the rest of their family, it had already been almost two hours. They looked at the clock and then at each other.

"Maa...you could have called us back. I'm really sorry, we didn't realize how long it had been" Ishita said, going back to sit between both her parents.

"Arey, it's fine, Ishita. We were engrossed in conversation too" Her mother laughed. 

A few minutes later, everyone stood up as the Rajputs got ready to leave. 

"Gauri,  Mr. Malhotra, and of course, Ishita- we expect you at our house next week. We'll be delighted if you come" Nandini Singh Rajput said, and Rajveer was surprised that his mother was already on a first name basis with Ishita's. 

"Oh, of course, Nandini, we would love to visit you" Gauri Malhotra said, and hugged the woman in front of her. Rajveer felt perplexed at how close they seemed. 

Soon enough, everyone exchanged goodbyes (with Avyansh still missing his jacket, which no one pointed out).

Rajveer looked at Ishita one last time, at least for that week. He found her looking back, and smiled at her, raising his hand to wave at her in an almost childish manner. 

He felt the strange feeling returning to his chest when she smiled right back at him, raising her hand to wave back at him. A thought floated to the front of his head.

Maybe, being married wouldn't be so bad...

____

A/n: Okay....we're finally getting somewhere. Thank you so much for reading the chapter, hope you liked it! Please don't forget to vote if you did <3