My Lover, My Cheater, My Arranged Marriage In Drogheda

Part One

Part 1-

Drogheda was a town about 30 miles from Dublin, known for its quota of independent artists and musicians.
It was there, in one of the oldest towns of Ireland that the Khanna's and Mehta's decided to open an academy of arts.

It was also in that town that Prakash Khanna and Ashish Mehta decided on the day Neil Khanna was born that he would be wed to Ashish's daughter if he was ever to have one, luckily he did.
Her name was Avni, she had a lot of suitors come her way but keeping her promise to her parents and their best friends, she turned them away.

Neil and Avni had grown up in close proximity, there wasnt anything they didnt know about eachother and were more than happy to marry eachother, the marriage was done with great ardour.

But marriage wasn't a joke, it was a life changing commitment, it was several vows you promised to withhold for a lifetime, but life could change in seconds and mistakes were easy to make, Neil and Avni learnt that the hard way.

This is a story of love at its purest form, and the small incidents that can take your love away.
Can Neil and Avni find a way to make their marriage work or when love was lost, was it truly lost forever? 

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I smiled at the guests who shook my hand, im sure these people thought I was the happiest woman in the world. But they were wrong, I hadn't been happy for a long time. It seemed the marriage I once agreed to because I was in love, was now nothing but a marriage of convenience.

It wasnt like anything could be changed, our marriage was as my father always said 'good for business' and a cheating scandal would only break the empire my parents and his had worked so hard to make.

I looked down at Neil's hand in mine, it was warm and soothing and I had to fight to not sink into his hold again.
The way he looked at me made my heart soar, his eyes were full of love and adoration all for me, but I didnt want it, not after what he had done.

I hated how he could still affect me, it had been months since we had agreed to break up but still act as a married couple for our families, even though I told myself I didnt love him, it seemed he still had my heart. I pulled my hand out of his hold and tried not to focus on the lost look in his eyes as I walked away.

"You okay superstar" 
I smiled up at my father and nodded, I just needed to get out, away from my husband.
I walked outside and sat down, finally letting the tears out that I had been trying so hard to keep in.

"Avni" a deep masculine voice called my name, I quickly swiped at my tears and turned around to face Neil, smiling 
His face dropped immediatley "You've been crying again" 
It seemed there was nothing I could hide from him, although there was many things he could hide from me

He sat down on the bench next to me "I want to make this right Avni, I hate seeing you like this" 
I laughed, how could he hate seeing me this way when he was the reason for my pain.
"I hate being like this" 
I watched as he raised his hand to cup my cheek but I pulled back

"Everytime I look at you, all I see is her, all I see is a cheater, not the man I fell in love with" 
He grimaced and put his hand back down
"Ill fix this, I swear" 
"How"
"Ill tell everyone, ill let you go" 

"You think this would make it better, you leaving me, dont you think you've taken enough away from me as it is" 
His face morphed into one full of fear "im just scared that im doing you more damage by holding on, I just want to see you smile again, and I dont know how to make that happen" 

I hated how I felt sympathy for him, he didnt deserve that, but still my heart hurt for him, hurt for us. What we could have been and what we were now, it wasnt how it was meant to be.
"You know, I often wondered how my heart could ever be fixed when the only one that had the power to fix it was the one that broke it" 

"You know I love you right, it was a stupid mistake and it never should have happened, I wont make excuses, but I wonder if you have it in you to let me try to fix it" 
I shrugged "im still with you aren't I" 
He reached for my hand, kissing my palm.

"Thats all I need to hear" 
"You kids alright" asked Prakash
Neil turned to face him and nodded 
It came so easy to him, to lie. Yes we were doing this for our family but I would never understand why it didnt make him even bat an eyelid everytime we said we were okay.