Shubman's POV

"Well, yeah I guess we could give this a shot.", she agrees.

"That's great!", I cheer and grin at her which makes her return a warm smile towards me.

"But, I- uh want to ask you something.", she tells me.

Not about what happened, please.

"Of course.", I tell her.

"Could have time of like, a month or two before we get engaged?", she says and explains, "I mean, it's been a while since we've spend time and well, we need some time to you know, get over the awkwardness."

"Yeah you're right, we could do that.", I agree.

"So, ab chalein andhar?", she pointedly looks at the door.

"Yeah, okay let's leave.", I agree and we make way out of the balcony to the hall.

"So what have you both decided?", my mom asks us.

"We'll have agreed to do it, to get married", Smriti tells my mom.

"That's amazing.", her mother squeals excitedly as she clasps her hand together.

"But, will it be okay if we have two months of time before the engagement?", I ask, "we just want some time to spend and... get to know each other."

"Oh yeah of course", my dad tells, " all of this might be a little weird for the both of you."

"Weird?", Smriti asks with her eyebrows raised in confusion.

"Yeah, I mean the both of you were friends and now you guys are going to get married.", her dad tells us, "you guys with need time to know each other in... that way."

(A/N: Even though it's Smriti's step-dad I'll be referring him as her dad since they're very close and share a bond like a father and daughter do)

"Uh.. right.", I tell as I awkwardly scratch the back of my neck and Smriti tries to suppress a laugh.

Our families talk to each other while my sister, Shreyas, Jess and the others come to talk to us with surprised expressions on their faces.

"God don't look at us like that, it's not like we are some new species of animals.", Smriti tells with a noise, which sounded somewhere between a groan and laugh.

"We just never thought you guys would agree.", Shahneel di stated, "I mean, aadha gante ke pehle tum log ek doosre ke shakal bhi nahi dekh rahe the."

"Well, I guess people change.", I mumble.

"Do you think ki they ever suspected you guys were together?", Jess asks us.

"I highly doubt that. I mean, my parents live in Bihar and Shubman's live in Chandigarh. We kept it quite low profile", Smriti shrugs.

"But then, ye sab kaise hua?", Shreyas asks us in confusion.

"Hume kya pata?", I snort, "we had zero clue that we were going to meet each other until she even came out of the room."

"I'm glad that they didn't bring some family friend's son or Abhay because he's my friend.", Smriti sighs, "That would've been so awkward."

"Haan, but waise bhi, Abhay would've got an excuse to meet Anu.", Kashish teases Anushka, making her blush.

"Am I missing something?", I ask them in confusion.

"A lot.", Smriti laughs.

"So basically, Anu aur Daivik RCB aur SRH ka match dekhne gaye the and Abhay flirted with her in his not-gross style.", Ishan explains.

Now we all know what THAT meant.

"It's not something THAT big.", Anushka shrugs it off.

"It is if you know Abhay well.", I tell her and she looks at me, absolutely confused.

"See, if Abhay thinks a girl is good looking, matlab like if he wants to flirt bas aise hi and it's grossly stupid. Theek se kuch bolta bhi nahi hai and he ends up looking like an idiot.", I explain, "but then if he's flirting all subtly and sweetly with a person, he genuinely likes them."

"Okay shut up now you guys will make me more red than the colour red.", Anushka mumbles and we all burst out into laughter.

Ishan's POV

"Shubman.", I say and I walk towards him in the kitchen, he hums in response.

"Are you sure about this?", I ask him, "Marriage and all of this. It's not like the previous time, bas dating so you can cut if off when you feel it isn't working for you."

"Yeah, I did.", he explains, "I was the one who suggested my parents about the whole arranged marriage thing. Although I had no clue ki they would've brought me to meet Smriti."

"This has nothing to do with what happened last month right?", I ask him softly since that might be a really touchy topic.

"Nahi yaar", he nods, "I could never that to Smriti. Especially considering what she's been through, I can't do that to her."

"That's nice to hear.", I tell him with a small smile.

"You guys seem awfully shocked about all of this though.", he mentioned.

"I mean, like Shahneel di said, you both wouldn't even look at each other like an hour ago.", I commented, "and now the both of you will be spending the rest of your lives with each other."

"Pretty much like the fictional tropes that she likes.", he tells with a grin.

Let's hope it went like those stories did.

Published on: 20 June 2021