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Aarvi was nervous as she walked with her laptop in her hands. Today she was going to tell her family about him, the love of her life, Ansh.

The guy she was totally in love with.

“Adaa,” the word stopped her where she was as she felt a hand sneaking around her waist. She closed her eyes and leaned against the strong chest, and took a deep breath.

“If you do not want to, you do not have to do it today,” he said as he placed his lips on her head.

Aarvi inhaled his scent as she closed her eyes for a moment, “They need to know now, Ansh, it's been almost a year now,” She said. her grip on the laptop was telling him how much their approval mattered to her. And why would it not? She loved her family like no other.

“Don’t stress okay?” he said, kissing her head again as he touched his nose with hers. He kissed her nose and then moved to her lips. Before he could kiss her, she put her hand on his lips.

“What?” he asked, frustrated. She kissed his lips on the hand.

“Adaa,” he whined, he really wanted to have his way with her right now.

“I don’t want my family to know I made out with you just before I called them,” Aarvi said as Ansh clenched and unclenched his fist.

“This is so wrong,” he complained like a child as she smiled.

“We will have a blast after I am done,” She shyly whipped in his ear before she ran off to the rooftop. Ansh shook his head with a smile on his face. His Adaa was not like other girls.

She was shy but at the same time brave. She loved him and stood by his side when he thought she would leave as well.

He was lucky to have her in his life and now today, she was going to tell her family about him.

Aarvi set up the laptop for a video call before she noticed her mother and sister on the other side of the screen. A genuine smile made its way to her lips as she looked at them, “Maa,” her mother Mrs. Nilla Sharma was equally excited.

“I miss you so much my baccha,” (child) she said as Aarvi nodded. They had some small talk but Aarvi’s nervous hands were rolling against each other on their own as her mother noticed that.

“I know you want to say something, Aarvi,” Nilla said as Aarvi looked at them before she nodded.

“maa, actually... I—I love someone,” Aarvi said as she closed her eyes for a moment.

“No Aarvi,” her mother said the very next second. Nilla’s expression changed into a hard one as she looked at her daughter.

"I love him, Mom," Aarvi said as she looked into the rectangular screen of her laptop, she wanted to introduce her family to the love of her life and they just did not want to listen to her at all.

"We sent you there to study Aarvi, not to fall in love. I don't know what kind of guy he is. How can I know if he is right for you? Hell, what if he is a serial killer or a criminal?" That was her mother overreacting to the news of her boyfriend.

"Mom, he is a really nice guy, he is not a criminal, he is a businessman," She said, hiding the fact that he used to be one. He left all that when she asked him to. The guy loved her too much for her good. Now he did not have any link to the criminal world and that's all that she desired. She was happy with him and that was all that mattered.

"I do not believe the pause you took in between Aarvi," her father came into the frame. Her breath got stuck in her throat, it was not like she was not loved by her family or her father. She was scared of him. Anyone would be scared of Viraj Sharma.

"Papa, I love him," Aarvi said. She tried not to meet his eyes.

"I taught you to keep eye contact when talking, Aarvi. Are you forgetting all of that while staying away from us?" Her father asked in a harsh voice. She closed her eyes tightly in fear as she made fists of her hand.

Aarvi shook her head; her eyes moistened a little, she still felt like the little girl who was denied affection when she did anything wrong.

"I would like you to give up your studies there and come back to India, am I clear?" her father said as her eyes widened. She shook her head even before her tears started to fall down her cheeks.

Parting from Anushman was not even a question, she could even breathe without him.

"Papa... I--I love him. He loves me... I want to marry him. Please don't do this to me, please let me stay here," Aarvi begged her father with tears in her eyes.

"Aarvi Sharma, I sent you there to study not to have sex with that boyfriend of yours," Her mother gasped at the words her father was using against his own daughter.

"Viraj, she is your daughter," her mother said.

"That is why I am still talking to her," her father said. He was breathing rage at the moment.

"Aarvi, I expect you back within a week," he ordered as he looked at the laptop screen.

"No… papa," she said no to him for the first time.

"I won't be back just like this, I love him, " Aarvi argued.

"You decide, Aarvi, who you want in your life then, your boyfriend or your family, " with that being said, her father hung up the call.

Aarvi cried, looking at the laptop screen before she ran back downstairs to Ansh.

“Adaa, what happened?” He asked as he kept his phone aside.

Aarvi did not answer him but hugged him tightly as she cried out. Ansh rubbed her back and kissed her forehead.

“Mom and Dad, did not agree?” he asked in a soft tone. He knew at this moment she needed his soft hand.

Aarvi nodded with a hiccup, “They—they want me to be back by the end of the week,” She said, looking at him with a teary gaze as he nodded.

“You should go back then,” he said, as if it was not a big deal.

Aarvi pushed him away from her and wiped her tears before anger filled her eyes, “what did you say, huh?” She asked, daring him to say the words again.

“I think you should go back, “ he replied in the same calm tone.

“You idiot!” She launched punches at him and he let her hit him.

“Why are you not fighting for me? With me or with them? Don’t I matter to you?” She asked as she sat on the floor when she was tired of punching him.

He rubbed his chest before he pulled her into his lap.

She kept his fingers under her chin before he made her look at him.

His thumb traced her lower lip before he took it to his lips and gave her a punishing kiss. He sucked on her lips like a baby. All the tension left Aarvi’s body as if it was not there a few minutes ago.

“You are the reason I breathe, Adaa,” he said as she looked at him breathing heavily from the kiss they had just shared.

“And no one can steal you from me,” he said before he kissed her again.

“Promise?” she asked.

“Promise on the devil,” he said before she pulled him by his collar to kiss every inch of her body and make her forget the reason for her tears.