Bound to my troublemaker

He wanted to reject her. She wanted to escape him. Then they discovered who they were supposed to marry.

Kanak Malhotra is twenty, stubborn, sarcastic, and absolutely uninterested in marriage.

She has a degree to finish, a career to build, dark romances to read, novels to write, and being an obedient, traditional wife was never part of her plan.

So when her family arranges her marriage with the perfect match, Kanak decides to sabotage the proposal before it can begin.

Unfortunately, the man on the other side has exactly the same idea.

Ekaksh Tandon is twenty-eight, an economics professor, successful entrepreneur, and the man his family has failed to marry off for years. He has rejected every woman they have chosen for him, and this time will be no different.

He doesn't even remember the name of the woman he's supposed to meet.

His attention is already occupied by someone else.

Kanak.

The infuriating student who has spent two years and eight months getting under his skin. The backbencher who skips his classes, lies to his face, escapes campus, and somehow manages to make him want to keep her closer rather than simply punish her.

Then he arrives at the Malhotra house.

And discovers that the woman he came to reject is Kanak.

His plans change instantly.

For Kanak, the situation is a nightmare. The professor she can't stand is suddenly the man her family expects her to marry.

She is not the sanskari, obedient girl they were promised.

He is not the respectable, harmless professor everyone thinks they know.

She lies with a smile.
He manipulates without hesitation.
She looks for ways out.
He keeps finding ways to pull her back in.

What begins as an arranged marriage neither of them wants becomes something far more dangerous when Ekaksh stops seeing Kanak as someone who might belong in his life and starts treating her presence as something he simply cannot imagine losing.
And once the rules change, neither of them knows who will break first.