Chapter 4

*Kavya Pov*

This is not the Suhas, I remember at all. He was such a sweet guy and also a great friend. At that time, I was ok with marrying him because I know he would have taken good care of me.

Nonetheless, now I am having second thoughts completely. Maybe he is doing everything this because he was just hurt.

Like he said maybe he wants to get married to Navya just to rub it in Dad's face. He never hurts anyone, but his threats are proved otherwise.

"Kavya! Are you listening?" I heard Rajeev asking me.

"Sorry! Just got lost in my thoughts." I replied shaking my head.

"If we don't do what he is asking, then we all will go to jail along with Navya. But making her marry him is also not a good one." Dad said sighing.

"Will he hurt her after marrying her?" Mom asked looking at me.

"He is not that type of person to hurt a girl mom. You know how much he loves his Mom." I replied with a half-smile.

"How can you be certain, Kavya? If he is such a good person, then these threats would have not been placed in front of us." Rajeev said looking away.

"I know, Rajeev. But he is just hurt." I said, trying to make him understand.

"Are you saying that we should get Navya to marry him?" Rajeev asked, looking at me like I am crazy.

"Can I talk to you in private?" I asked him back.

He nodded and we went inside my old room, locking the door. I sat on the bed and thought about how to make him understand what is going on in my mind.

"Rajeev! After trying for all these months, I am finally pregnant. Now if I got into this stress about no job or about going to jail, then I don't think our baby will be fine. And even if she is not married to him her life would be hell as she will be noted as a girl who went to jail. But now there is a chance that she will be fine if we go with his demand." I said calmly.

"But that is selfish Kavya. I can't let myself allow her life to enter hell." He said not understanding me at all.

"I want to just be selfish for my baby. And I want you to be selfish too." I said taking his hand and placing it on my stomach.

"You can't do this to me Kavya." He asked with pained eyes.

"You don't even know how I am feeling Rajeev. I mean she is my own sister, but I don't think we have another option." I said with finality.

We went outside and told Mom and Dad that we should go on with it. Rajeev didn't talk to anyone but just sat there because he still didn't want to go with it.

In the evening, Navya arrived from her office with a tired face. If she marries him, then she may don't have to work too as he has more than sufficient money.

"Navya! We need to talk to you." I said as no one opened their mouths and looked at her stunned.

"What is it Di?" she asked suddenly smiling.

She just loves when we wish to say anything relating to the family. We too want to share everything with her, but we don't want to get her stressed too.

"We found a match for you." I replied.

"What? But I am just 22 I mean I am going to be 22." She said frowning.

"But I trust you guys. If you think I am now eligible to get married then, I must be." She immediately added.

Oh god, Navya! You are turning it into even more difficult with your words. I thought and saw that the three are also feeling the same with pain evident in their eyes.

"We selected Suhas for you." Dad finally said.

"You mean Di's friend Suhas?" She asked shocked.

"Yeah! He said ok for you when we asked him today." I said with nothing but sarcasm in it.

I am sure everyone heard it except Navya. She started thinking sitting in front of us with a small frown.

"Di! Had he always respected you and his parents?" She asked suddenly.

"He did, Navya. He just loves his mom so much." I replied with little confidence.

"Are you all ok with this match?" She asked, looking at each and everyone.

We all slowly nodded and suddenly Rajeev said, "If you are against it, then you can say 'No'."

I glared at him because if she says 'no', then we have to tell her the situation because of which she will get hurt even though she needs to go through it. But by doing it as some matches, then she will at least be happy, and he may not tell her about all this at all.

"Can I meet him?" she asked us.

"Sure! I will call him tomorrow and tell him that." I replied.

She nodded and said, "I will go and take a rest. I am so tired."

After she left, we all left our breath. It was so hard lying to her this much. I just hope she will be happy because of this marriage.

*Navya Pov*

After I went inside my room, I sat on the bed and started thinking. So they actually wished to get me married. Am I really of the proper age to go through that?

I just hope so, but the shocking thing is they decided Suhas for me. I mean he is Di's friend right. I never thought of him as anything else other than that, but now marriage with him is a little out of comfort.

Nonetheless, my family decided this, and I am sure they always do best for me. So this must be good for me as well.

Anyways, I am going to meet him right then I will see whether it is a good thing for us to get married or not. But the only question is. How will I know that?

I mean I never had a boyfriend. Forget that I never even once thought of having a boyfriend, but I always thought that I will get married to the guy selected by my family then I will live happily ever after with him.

I shouldn't think this much about this and just take some rest for now.

The next day I woke up feeling a little happy and a little worried. I hope everything goes well in this meeting.

As this is the weekend, I can meet him in the morning itself. I went to the living room to see all my family sitting there with dull expressions.

*Kavya Pov*

"Hello!" he said when I called him.

"Hello, Suhas! This is Kavya." I said, looking at Rajeev, who is sitting in front of me.

"What a surprise, Kavya? I thought I would get the call after some time, but not at 6am." He said in a mocking tone.

"Suhas! We are ready for this, but if you hurt her, then we will not leave you alone." I said in a serious tone.

"Tsk! Tsk! I don't think you are in a situation to demand anything from me. Anyway, like I already said I may be doing all this just to rub on your father's face." He said in a serious tone at the end.

"We didn't tell her anything about your treat." I said slowly.

"As expected!" he mumbled.

I ignored him and explained how we told her about this marriage, and that she wants to see him today.

"Ok! I will message you an address and ask her to come there." He said after hearing this calmly.

"Don't you think it will be good if you talk to her here itself." I said after a few seconds.

"I want privacy when I am talking to her." he said hanging up.

I set the phone down and looked at Rajeev to see him having a blank expression on his face. Then I heard the message tone.

"He just messages the place where he wants to meet Navya." I said and got up to leave the room.

Nonetheless, he stopped me and pulled me on his lap. He hugged me tightly, and I hugged him back understanding his feelings.

He always blamed himself that he could have done something to rescue his parents and sister. Now, Navya in whom he sees his sister can be wounded by all this.

After some time, we went outside to see Mom and Dad sitting on the couch with the same gloominess. I informed them about the phone call, and we all sat calmly.

After sometime Navya came and asked, "What was the case with you guys?"

"Nothing, Navya!" I replied, smiling lightly.

"Please tell me." she asked worriedly.

"You are going to get married right now so that's why we are sad." Mom said after a few seconds.

"The marriage is not yet fixed. And keep in mind one thing whoever my husband maybe, but we will come here once in every month. So don't feel bad at all ok." She said smiling at us.

We all nodded and smiled. I am sure if he sees this smile, then he will not even be able to imagine anything else except her.

She always overlooked if anyone tries to show some interest in her, so they always come to our house to ask our dad to date her.

My Dad being Dad always threw them away saying to stay away from her. How I wish he didn't do that with her?

Or how I wish he didn't do the wrong thing with Suhas? We all are suffering from just that one small decision.

"Navya! Get ready dear. Suhas wants to meet you." Mom said getting up.

"I am ready mom. And why should I get ready grandly when we are actually meeting to get to know each other properly. So he should know that I want to be as simple as possible." When the words came out of her mouth, we all looked at her in shock.

Did we hear clearly? What she said is completely true, and we all know that. Nevertheless, we never execute thinking we should always follow like what everyone does every time.

We gave her the address, and she left the house after having some breakfast. I just hope he doesn't have any other intentions.

"I have some work." Saying this Rajeev left the house.

*Navya Pov*

I reached the café and started waiting for him. I started counting the number of tables in the café when I heard someone clearing their throat.

I looked up to find Suhas standing there with a bouquet of white roses. I just smiled at him and said "Hey!"

"Hey, Navya!" he said, sitting down.

"These are for you." he said, giving me the roses.

"White roses?" I asked him confused.

"My way of saying that my intentions are pure for this meeting." He replied making me smile at him.

"So, you said ok for me and that too without meeting me." I stated the first question roaming in my mind.

"Direct to the point? That's really good, but let's just order something." He said and ordered some cappuccino for us.

"So tell me?" I asked him after taking the first sip.

"Who said I don't know you that much? Kavya always used to talk to me about you." He replied.

"But these two years you are not in contact with her, right?" I asked him confused.

He suddenly looked at me with a blank expression and then shook his head saying "Yeah! But I trust your family's upbringing, so much."

"That's so sweet of you. If I tell this to Mom and Dad they will already love you." I said smiling.

"They will!" he said, taking a sip.

"And what about your mom...?" I started asking him, but he cut me off in the question itself.

"Yeah! My Mom is looking forward to meeting you." He replied, but I didn't hear his reply because when he said the word 'Mom' I felt the love for her in his tone.

"Do you want to ask me anything?" I asked him because I am the only one asking everything here.

"I don't have any questions. I already decided to marry you, and I am sure we will." He replied confidently.

"I may reject you." I said raising an eyebrow.

"I know! But I am hoping you don't." he said, giving me a half-smile.

"You don't smile that much?" I asked him confused because that's what I observed.

"I will eventually around you." he replied. I observed another thing is that most of his answers are cut short.

Like that, we continued to talk for some time but stopped when his phone started ringing continuously. Finally, he excused himself and lifted the phone.

"Hello!" "What?" "Ok! Thanks for informing Me. I will do something." These are the words I heard from his conversation.

"Is there any problem?" I asked him after he hung up.

"There is! But it will be sorted out soon. So do you have any questions?" he asked me, ignoring the problem he just told me.

"Everything is clear to me now." I replied, and we both left the café.

He dropped me and while driving we talked for some more time. I actually loved his hobbies so much. He even gave me a choice that I could either continue working, or I can stop.

After he dropped me, I went inside to see Di and my parents waiting for me eagerly.

"Where is Jiju?" I asked them.

"He had gone outside. So what is your decision?" Mom asked, looking at me.

"Are you guys sure that he is good for me?" I asked them one last time because I trust them more than me.

"Yeah!" I heard Dad replying after few minutes.

"Then it's yes from me." I said smiling.

"We will talk to pundit and then search for some good date." Mom said and started checking the phone book to call Pundit.

At the same time, Kavya Di's phone ranged. She lifted it confused and said, "Hello?"

"Yes! I am Mrs.Shukla." she replied.

"What? Yeah! I will be there in a few minutes." She said hanging up.

"What happened Di?" I asked her worriedly.

"Nothing Navya! I have some work, so I will just go." Saying this she left the home.

I just hope everything is fine...