Our Lawful Marriage

Chapter 3

At Rastogi Manpsion:

Anika and Deepika both reach home. Anika asks Deepika to stay with her as it is late night and Deepika is used to staying at Anika’s house.
“Go change and come. I will get your favorite chocolate milkshake meanwhile.” Anika said handing Deepika her night dress.
“Thank you, baby, I love you so much. And yes extra whipped cream for my milkshake please!”
“ I know that my princess!”
Anika went to make a chocolate milkshake for them.

At Anand Nivas:

“Papa, how do you know them?”
“Wait! Raghu let me check with your mom and then I will let you know tomorrow.”
“Bhai do you know anything about them?”
“Of course not Raghu. If I knew why would I ask to look into her background.”
“I’ll have to wait till tomorrow then”
In Mr. and Mrs. Khanna’s room:
“Maya ji do you remember the Rastogi’s?”
“They had a law firm, you are talking about them right”
“Yes yes it’s them. Their daughter is also an excellent lawyer now!”
“How did you get to know Khanna Ji?”
“Raj and Raghu were talking about her. Raghu met her and spoke to her regarding our case.”
“Oh wow that’s great! Such sweet and beautiful girls they were. I still remember when I first met them. Anika’s mother Suma Ji, had helped me so much with setting up our home.”
“Yes yes even Mr. Subhash used to drop me off at my office and then go to his firm so that I would not be late. I am so happy that we got to know about them”
“Let’s speak with Raj and Raghu tomorrow”

Next morning:
At Rastogi Mansion:

“Deepu! come out fast all are waiting for breakfast” Anika called Deepika as she was showering.
“Annu two minutes…coming”
At the dining table:
“Did you sleep well yesterday Deepu?”
“Yes.  Aunty and Annu even made me my favorite chocolate milkshake too.”
“How was yesterday’s party girls?”
“It was nice Papa. I met new people there and the show was also very nice”
“ Yes uncle the new summer collections are amazing. I am waiting for them to get into the markets”
“Mr. Shah has the best designers. They always come up with something new
every time” Subhash Ji added.

At Anand Nivas:

Everyone was at the dining table for breakfast.
“So Papa did you remember how you know Anika Rastogi’s family?”
“Why are you so curious Raghu bhai? From yesterday you are asking Papa about her” asked Ranveer.
“I know what you are thinking and please give a stop to that, I just want to finish off this issue as soon as possible that’s it!”
“Yes Beta I can understand that. Do you all remember your mother and I had shifted to Mumbai first and we had left you guys with Dada Dadi in Pune?”
“How can we forget that you guys had abandoned us” cried Ranveer.
“Aye, we had left you guys because we didn’t want to disturb your studies and here in Mumbai, nothing was set in our new office, there was a lot of shifting and we even had to rent a place for one year till this house was fully built and ready to move in.”
“Yes Papa we know how much you and mumma worked, don’t listen to this kid,” said Rajveer
“Ya, so when we were in our rented house the Rastogi’s were our neighbors, they helped us a lot. They are two brothers and both have one daughter each, the younger brother’s daughter is only Anika.”
“She was my favorite, she used to come to our house with her friend (Deepika) and she used to bring me a rose from her garden every time she visited. She was such a cute and sweet girl. The elder brother’s daughter was a little shy I have seen her only a few times too when we were invited to their house for dinner sometimes.”
“Mumma we got to know how she was your favorite,” told Raghu
“After we shifted here we lost contact with them. Once when I had gone near that house I tried to search for them but it seemed like  they also had shifted and after that, we got so busy in our life that we had forgotten about them, that was until Raghu told me about them yesterday.”
“We would love to meet them again, what say Khanna Ji?”
“Of course Maya! First, let this legal issue get sorted then we can invite them to our house”
Their conversation was broken with a voice “Whom do you want to call Bhai” It was Shankar Ji, Rudraksh Ji’s younger brother. They all live together but Shankar Ji and his family with Dada and Dadi Ji had gone on a trip.
“Prinku I missed you my monkey,” Ranveer said lifting Priyanka.
“Excuse me! You might be a monkey not me.” said Priyanka
“Ok ok don’t start fighting now. Prinku and all of you go freshen up and come I will prepare breakfast for you.”
“Didi don’t make everything I will also join you”
“Bhavani first go and freshen up you might be tired. Rest for some time and then you can help me with the lunch preparation.”
All of them went to their respective rooms to freshen up.
“Ok then papa, I will call Ms. Anika and set up a meeting tomorrow.”
“Yes go ahead.”

At Rastogi Mansion:

“Annu here is your phone, let’s go”
“Dadi amma I am kidnapping your granddaughter.” Deepika joked.
“Don’t you dare take my jalebi away from me”
“Is she the only one sweet to you? Am I not?” sulked Deepika.
“You are like Chashni for the jalebi, okay?”
“Thank you Dadi Amma, we are going out for lunch with our friends”
“Ok but come home early”
“yes dadi, bye!” Anika waved bye and both of them left.
“Annu I will drive the car pleaseeeee...”
“Don’t make those puppy eyes I won’t melt”
“Pleaseee….”
“Okay fine”
“Thank you so much, Baby”
In the car:
Author’s pov
Anika was on her phone when she received a text from an unknown number, “Hi Ms. Anika this is Raghuveer Khanna. If you remember, we met at the launch party the other day I wanted to meet you and discuss the case I told you about. Can we meet at the Blue Stone Hotel at 11 a.m. tomorrow? We have to start one of our important projects but it is on hold due to this case. Please help us with this case.”
Anika read the text and talked about it with Deepika.
“Deepu remember those handsome guys from Mr. Shah’s party?”
“Yes of course! Such handsome boys they were.”
“Ha ok ok now listen, the one who spoke with me has texted and asked me to meet him to discuss the case.”
“Aye accept the case oh my god! They seem to be good”
“Ya, even I am thinking of the same thing.”
Anika replied by saying:
‘Hi Mr. Raghuveer, yes I do remember about the case. I will be there by 11 a.m. tomorrow. Please get all the information and the previous investigation papers also if you have it will be a great help for me.’

At Anand Nivas:

“Didi when we were on the trip Pandit Ji called and said he would come to our house on Wednesday for the Satya Narayan Puja.”
“On Wednesday? Omg! How can we prepare everything in two days?” Maya Ji feared.
“It is ok didi we can do it. Let’s put everyone at work.”
Both families are religious but Khannas believed in astrology, horoscope, and the predictions made by their family’s Pandit Ji.
Time skips…
At the dinner, both Bhavani Ji and Maya Ji told the family about the puja on Wednesday and how they should start the preparations tomorrow.
“Now will go to work for 2 days, Raj call your assistant and ask him to manage for two days.”
“Mummy I have an important meeting tomorrow! I can’t miss that”
“Whatever might be the meeting postpone it. I want everyone in the house for two days, Pandit Ji is coming home.”
“Papa please make mummy understand the meeting is with Anika and I have to hand over all the information about the case so that she can start working on it. Mummy, please try to understand!”
“Ok fine but only you can go and, immediately come home after the meeting gets over”
Next day, at the Blue Stone Hotel:
Raghuveer entered the hotel and found Anika already waiting for him at the table.
“Hi Ms. Anika nice to meet you again, thank you so much for coming!”
“Good Morning Mr. Raghuveer, nice to meet you too! So have you brought all the information about the case? Was there any investigation done previously?
“Yes, our previous legal team had done some ground investigation but they failed to find anything against them as a solid proof”. All the information is on this pen drive. Please do check it.” Raghu said handing her the pen drive.
“I will check it Mr. Raghuveer, but before that what do you think? Who can do this? Do you have any doubts about anyone?”
“Honestly I can’t exactly tell but it might be our rivals who couldn’t get the Summer project because if the project gets successful we are going to have great profit and our company will be recognized globally. That’s why this project is very important to us but our rivals trying everything to sabotage it.”
“Hmm… I can understand. I will go through the case and I will try my best to help with the case.”
“Thank you so much Ms. Anika for taking up this case. Please try to solve it as early as possible. And what about your fees?”
“I have a habit of taking my fees only after I win the case, so don’t worry about it now.”
“ Oh wow, that’s amazing yet brave of you. Anyway, you can call or text me anytime if you need anything regarding the case.
“Sure Mr. Raghuveer I will and  I saw your brother seemed disturbed. If it is about the case then ask him to relax cause I will give my best to win the case for you guys.”
“Sure I will let him know, Bhai is very much dedicated to his work and company that’s why.”
They both waved goodbye to each other and left.

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Hi My Lovely Readers
This was the 3rd chapter,
Hope you all liked the chapter 😊
I will upload the next chapter tomorrow.
Thank u so much reading
💗
Writing - RRK
Editor - PN