Shantivan,

Raizada Mansion is shining in glory, for, today is the engagement of their son with Lavanya Kashyap. It is so beautiful from the outside but from the inside, it isn't as beautiful as it should have been.

For, Raizadas and Kashyaps are blaming each other and fighting with each other while Lavanya stood in the corner, all ready to get engaged when early morning news broke all their dreams apart.

Lavanya can still hear Manorama scream so loud that everyone had come downstairs.

The early morning news at 6 AM shocked them.

"Many in the business industry were invited by Raizadas for their son — Advay Singh Raizada's engagement with Lavanya Kashyap, the daughter of Devynag Kashyap. Just after the invitations were out, we've seen a video speculating around social media."

A video was played on the TV in which Lavanya was seen talking to Advay.

"I'm pregnant with your child, Advay!" Lavanya cried, pushing him on the chest.

"Calm down, Lavanya. We'll take care of it," Advay said, taking her in his arms, and consoling her.

And the audio was muted further as Advay was seen caressing her back, comforting her.

Anjali screamed in shock looking at Advay and Lavanya in each other arms and that Lavanya was pregnant, "What?"

She couldn't believe what she heard. Invitation cards were sent in Advay's name and the clip recording was with Advay and Lavanya. It shocked the whole Raizadas and Kashyaps.

Devnag Kashyap, who was staying in Shantivan for engagement preparations, screamed in anger, "What the hell is this news?"

His daughter was supposed to get engaged to Arnav, isn't she? He ran to one of the corners, examining the invitation card.

It had been written grandly, 'ASR, Advay Singh Raizada betrothed to Lavanya Kashyap.'

Advay was expressionless and Lavanya was trembling in her place. Their truth was out finally. But who took the bloody video?

Devyani dismissed Devnag's words and murmured, in disgust, "Lavanya is pregnant with Advay's child?"

Lavanya was ready to defend herself, "No, it is all a lie."

For the past two hours, the same argument had been going on. With Devyani questioning Advay and Lavanya. While Advay stood as if he was deaf, Lavanya, in the span of two hours, had over a hundred times said it was a lie and that someone was framing them.

Devnag only supported his daughter, fighting with Devyani while Devyani was not ready to accept Lavanya into her family. A woman who could get pregnant before marriage is not a woman with morals. It'd be an insult to the Raizadas and their reputation. She wasn't allowing Lavanya to be part of their family anymore.

Such a woman was unwanted. A shame to their family. She didn't want that. Devyani concluded. On the other hand, cards are already distributed and their reputation would be at stake anyhow if the engagement doesn't happen. Devyani was in dilemma after an hour of argument and another hour passed getting persuaded by Devnag to let the engagement happen for the sake of their reputation.

Nobody noticed Arnav entering the Mansion, looking like a greek god in the charcoal grey suit with cologne as fresh as it was a few hours ago.

Lavanya was trying hard to make everyone believe that it was a lie, "Believe me, guys. It's a lie. Why would I sleep with Advay when I love ASR?"

She spent crocodile tears for the next few minutes. Arnav was amused at her acting skills and breathed aloud, making everyone aware of his presence, "Really, Lavanya? What was this then?"

He threw a file that's always safe with him on the table that was put in the middle. Anjali was the first one to take the report and study it.

"What file?" Lavanya was afraid looking at a confident ASR who seemed like he already succeeded in getting her off his back.

Everyone looked at Anjali in curiosity and Akash made his way toward Anjali to know what was in it. Anjali was shocked, recovering from the silence, she murmured. Silence filling the Shantivan had given them the liberty to hear even the lowest voice, "The report says that Lavanya had aborted her kid. It was a report from the hospital where she aborted her child."

Arnav was straight to the point, it was a jab at Lavanya, "Are these reports lying?"

"These are original," Akash murmured, loud enough for everyone to hear, making Devyani feel more disgusted.

Lavanya shook her head, tears already rolling down her eyes, "No. I was never pregnant. How can I abort it then?"

"Is the report or the video lying, then?" he quirked his eyebrow in question. His gaze squirmed her in her place.

"The video might be fake and so is the report," Lavanya isn't able to take the blames which is true too and she knew it. But if she'd agree, she'd lose ASR and she didn't want that. Her mother is supporting her, standing beside her.

Devnag wasn't able to tolerate the drama and the fingers that were pointing at his daughter's face. "Yes, who knows who released that video? It might be a trap to revenge on us. After all, we are rich and have enemies," Devnag explained, trying to take it from another point of view.

Lavanya nods hurriedly. In a desperate attempt to make everyone agree. Huh! She'd lose her ASR if no one agrees. ASR had to know. She's not pregnant.

Arnav snorted quickly, gazing at Lavanya who was out of her mother's embrace now and gazing at him in longing, "Really, Lavanya? What if I show the clip where you thought it was me and spiked Advay's drink? I have that recording too." He smirked, leaving her no choice but to get trapped in his web of words.

He did not take much time in showing the clip on TV from his Pendrive.

That was yet another shock.

Lavanya was astonished and didn't know what she said in a daze, looking at the video still playing on the TV, "So, was it you who took the video when I was talking to Advay about my pregnancy because of that party night? I only spiked the drink because I thought it was you."

She doubted and cleared her stance.

If he had this video, the other video that was telecasted on TV must be his work too.

Not realizing, her words only confirmed that whatever the video TV Channels had been showing are true. She was pregnant with Advay's child. She spiked Advay's drink thinking it was Arnav too.

Devnag closed his eyes in frustration. How much more foolish can a person be? His daughter is surpassing every limit. He is here trying to save her and she's hell-bent on destroying it.

Every lie and excuse he had been giving is such a waste.

Arnav's smirk grew at his achievement of finally getting the truth out of her mouth. Lavanya quickly realized what she blurted and closed her eyes in regret. Advay facepalmed. Anjali's mind was blown out. 

Devyani's anger touched the heavens in the sky. 

Ignoring everyone, he asked, turning towards Devyani. He wanted to know what she would say now. Isn't she the one who always admired and drank praises for her, always behind him to marry her? Did she ever listen to him? Never.

"Is this the woman you wanted me to marry?"

He waited for her reply.

Devyani was already disgusted with the thought and having it confirmed from her mouth only made it worse, "I didn't know she'd sleep with someone before marriage and that too with someone else. Chi!" Devyani looked at Lavanya as if she were some roadside trash.

Lavanya squirmed in her place, bowing her head down. This was the same woman who always praised her. She had always behaved that way, all traditional with good morals, respecting everyone. Now that her truth is out, she couldn't bear she's getting loathed by her ASR's grandmother.

Arnav wanted to bang his head on the wall, for taking his words into a completely different meaning.

"The point is not that, Nani. Look at her, if she really loved me, would she have spiked my drink?" He raised the point he wanted her to catch. Alas! Why would he be standing here, trying to kick Lavanya away from his life if his grandmother ever understood him?

He, nonetheless, continued explaining, looking at a frowning Devyani, "If she really loved me, wouldn't she have recognized me? She doesn't even know the difference between me and Advay!"

Before Devyani could respond, Anjali did, earning a furious glare from her brother and a few others who were genuinely concerned for Arnav, "Anyone would be confused, Chotte. You both look the same."

Arnav was mentally counting from 10 to 1 as his doctor suggested. Not wanting to lose his call and destroy the right moment when could finally have Lavanya off his back, "Anyone, Di. Not her. She claimed to love me. Also, what does this mark on my left eyebrow say? Isn't it enough for someone to know I'm not Advay?"

He pointed towards the gash he had on his left eyebrow. The same gash that made him look more handsome. The only difference between them was the gash. While Advay was flawless, at least on his face, Arnav had this gash on his left eyebrow.

Who knew both Arnav and Advay can easily recognize who's who.

"Especially Lavanya who always said she loved me. Doesn't she know at least that?"

His question was genuine.

Anjali raised a point that seemed valid to her, wanting to save Lavanya. "She might have been drunk too, Chotte."

"Right, drunk! If she'd been drunk, she would not have been all ready to take me to a hotel room and sleep with me. I also have that recording of when she took Advay to the room, all steady. No traces of being drunk," Arnav huffed, scoffing at her foolish reply. He'd show that too if they want but there's some inappropriate content and even he was disgusted with the video.

His family would die of embarrassment.

Anjali shut her mouth. If he said he had the video, he must have. She'd not prove herself as a fool and play smart.

But Lavanya didn't.

"ASR, trust me, I really love you. It was just a mistake," she changed her statement. Hoping her mistake would be forgiven by ASR and he'd get engaged to her.

Arnav chuckled aloud, his hands making their way to the pockets, "Obsessed is the right word, Lavanya. You don't love me."

Lavanya widened her eyes at him, baffled and hurt, "ASR!"

Arnav didn't care, he's par everything. They decide on his engagement without even his consent when they know he doesn't like that woman. He was hurt but was it new? He had already expected that out of them. "Not anymore, Lavanya. I won't come into your lies. You're out of my life. Get engaged to Advay as the news showed or do whatever the fuck you want. I. don't. care."

Devnag was beyond furious at the last-minute twists in the events. What would happen to his reputation? He so grandly had shown off to everyone that ASR would be his daughter's husband. And now here is the breaking news — Advay's engagement with Lavanya. To whoever he showed off, they'd definitely ask him.

Devyani is not accepting his daughter and if she's not accepted by Arnav too, her future will be finished. A vibration in his pocket gets him out of thought and he looked at the message, his eyes widening in shock.

Gaining the courage, he opened his mouth wanting a solution out of the mess. Enough of blame games. "What should we do now? The guests will be coming soon. Just two more hours are left."

His words made them realize they'd been arguing for three hours. All the workers were sent out. They need to check on last-minute preparations too. They don't have any chance to cancel this engagement, it'd bring losses to their business and family's name. While Arnav didn't care, Devnag did.

Lavanya tried her last chance at him, trying to make him understand of her situation, "ASR, please, my reputation is at stake, please get engaged to me. We'll talk later about all the mess. Please."

She literally begged walking up to him, her eyes teary and her palms fisted together.

Arnav stroked his head, tired of explaining to one stubborn woman who was just obsessed with him, "Whose engagement? Which engagement?"

His nonchalant retort was an arrow at her heart and she whispered brokenly, crying hard, "ASR."

"Nobody told me it was my engagement. Even if they'd told me, my reaction would have been the same. In fact, I heard it was Advay's engagement on TV. Good, the cards were printed wrong. Do whatever you guys wanted. I don't give a damn!"

"ASR, please." Lavanya was about to touch his arms but Arnav backed away pushing her off.

"Chup, stop all of this."

(Shut up, stop all of this.)

A scream was heard in the silence of Shantivan. Surprisingly, it was Devyani who came forward and slapped Lavanya tight, taking her anger out, "What do you think? Getting pregnant with another man and trying to marry another man? I never thought of you like that. Chi. I'm so ashamed I thought of you as good."

Devnag wanted to kill Devyani for hurting his daughter but held back. He wouldn't want the situation to be worse than already it is now.

Lavanya shook her head, with her hand on her cheek, trying to calm down the demon inside who is trying to slap Devyani back, "Nani, you are misunderstanding. I really thought it was Arnav at the party."

Devyani detested her words, "So, you're ready to sleep with him before marriage?"

Lavanya had no answer. What would she say? That she know it was Advay when she took him to the room and yet they had sex? Or would she say that she did that to make Arnav fall into her web? She'd loathe her more.

Manorama who was silent spectacularly until then had opened her mouth, typically reminding them about some of the guests that were to come early, "Hello Hi Bye Bye, I've invited my kitty party friends. They'd be coming soon. What will I answer to them?"

Again the same question was put in front of them putting them on spot. Arnav didn't want to be a part of it anymore and walked away, ignoring the calls of Lavanya, Kashyaps, and Raizadas, gesturing to Aman who was in the corner to come to his room.

Aman nodded in agreement. Huff! Finally, he'd be freeing himself from the drama of 'who kills whom'.

Devnag had only one option left and shared it, "Let's get Lavanya engaged to Advay."

Lavanya looked in astonishment at his father. What is he saying? She wanted ASR, not Advay.

Advay who was acting deaf and dumb until then found his organs back and screamed at them, "What the fuck? Me and marrying this mad girl? Did you guys forget I have a girlfriend?"

Devyani who was finally convinced with a lot of thoughts in her mind had shut Advay up, "If you'd have remembered, you'd have never slept with her."

The media already know Advay is getting engaged to Lavanya. They'd give some excuse to people who personally know it was Arnav and not Advay. Saving their reputation was important. Accepting Lavanya will be difficult but she had no choice. She'll do something about it later. For now, Advay and Lavanya have to get engaged.

"And thanks to the media, everyone knows Lavanya had been pregnant with Advay's kid," Anjali didn't forget to add ghee to the raging fire. Devyani and almost everyone there was thinking the same too, anyway.

Advay looked away snorting. Manorama tried to make him understand, "You've to get engaged to her, Advay Bitwa. The media will destroy our reputation if you don't get engaged to her. My friends will insult me and our family. Do you want that, hello hi bye bye?"

Devyani left him no choice with her next words, "I won't even give our ancestral property if you don't get engaged to her."

Advay was baffled at her words. If he is still maintaining relationships with his family, that was for property, including the ancestral property from his grandmother's side.

"Fine, I'll get engaged to her." For him, money is more important than anything else.

"Good. Now go and get ready," Devyani ordered. Before he could walk away, they heard Lavanya scream in anger, "But I won't agree."

Devnag wanted to slap his daughter. He, with a lot of struggle, had finally made Devyani agree to something that seemed impossible before, and here she was hell-bent on destroying every bit of it.

He walked towards her and took her to the side. Lavanya was still angry, wiping her ire tears.

"Lavanya, if you don't get engaged to Advay, you'll never get engaged to anyone from Raizada Family," he whispered slowly, gripping her arms tight.

"But Arnav-" she was cut off by him.

Why did he even pamper her so much that she doesn't even know to use her mind?

Devnag maintained the peace on his face, everyone was gazing at him, he needed to maintain that, "Forget Arnav. He's a snake in the grass. Do you know he had backed off from getting financial support from us?"

Lavanya's mind blew out of its place as if it was ever in its place. "When did this happen?"

It's not possible that he'd back out from their investment. He needed that badly and the only thing that was used by the father-daughter duo was to use him to their whims. Thus when she heard he had left the biggest investor, she was thunderbolt-ed.

"Just today," he mumbled, having seen the message from his manager a few minutes ago. He was bomb shelled and pissed at the sudden turn in their lives.

"How?" Lavanya had only one question.

"I don't know. He got someone else. He knows I will destroy his name and company if he ever disobeys me or disregards me or our investment, but if he did that, he surely got a big fish," he managed to guess. That could be the reason. He'd not risk his company for trivial things like engagement with Lavanya.

"So, what do I do now?"

Devnag breathed a sigh and hit himself multiple times at his daughter's question. She still didn't get it, did she?

"Just get engaged with Advay. Marry him and you can have an extra-marital affair with Arnav or maybe divorce Advay later. Whatever it is, you'll at least stay near Arnav. Think about it," he offered her many options that would come with her one yes.

Lavanya pondered over for a minute. It seemed advantageous. She'd anyhow seduce Arnav later and get him in her life, at least she'd be in Raizada Mansion, with him in the house a room away. Great!

"I'll get engaged to Advay."

Finally, the workers were called back. 

The Drama had ended. 

——————————

Arjen citing a business meeting, walked out of the house, handing over the file he had with him, the same file his strawberry asked for a few days ago. With Dhruv's and Myra's visit, it took him late to get that done. Thus, when it was done, he was here to thump the file on her head.

Khushi had called the manager of their company and asked him, without beating around the bush, as soon as she was done going through the file, "Where's dad?"

The manager mumbled, fearfully, sensing the angry tone of their Boss's daughter, "He went to Paris."

Khushi cut the call, gritting her teeth in anger, cursing under her breath, "Dammit! What the hell! Aghh! I want to kill someone so badly."

It was one of those rare days when she was angry, that kind of angry when the last thread of her patience is lost. That kind of anger when a wanton in her would wake up with a loud growl. 

She took her phone out again, dialing Arnav's number but it was on voicemail. She huffed and puffed in anger before clutching her phone hard.

She wanted to talk to Arnav so badly and thrash him in the bin. Alas! His phone was on voicemail.

The only option was left to go to his office.

AR office,

London,

A receptionist was seen working on her PC when Khushi greets her, "Excuse me?"

The woman was too engrossed to notice her. Khushi was already angry and it only made her angrier.

She banged the desk hard, loud enough for the woman to hear, "Hello!! Madam, excuse me!"

"Y-yes?" She was startled.

Khushi raised her eyebrows, "Where's your boss — Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada?"

"He went to India," she was too afraid looking at the woman fuming in red to deny her the answer.

"What the hell man!" Khushi cursed, got out of the office, and drove to her home back.

Neither her father nor Arnav — none of them are here to answer her. She need to take out this anger, so, when she came back, she entered a room designed for Fencing and started practicing it, taking out every single thing on the fight with no one but empty space.

Half an hour passed since she started practicing. James entered munching on popcorn after he was informed by one of the workers that their princess was practicing Fencing.

As soon as he entered the room, he knew the air was thick. Thick with her anger, she was still fuming and he didn't know the reason. So, standing in the corner, he asked, teasingly, "Hey, Kat. What's wrong? Why are you so angry? Did some dog chase you?"

Khushi stopped her practice and glared at him so hard tha James stopped chuckling and a few seconds later started chuckling again. Khushi removed her costume and ran towards him to beat him when her phone rang.

So, she changed her way to the phone that was lying on the floor. It was Barun. Finally!

"Are you coming to India?" Barun screamed in joy.

"Yeah, book a ticket for me. I already messaged you, didn't I?" she rolled her eyes. Barun agreed in excitement and cut the call.

James frowned at her bestie and asked her, "Are you going somewhere?"

As of he didn't know she was going to India. Didn't she tell just that on the phone?

"To the Mars," she was sarcastic.

"Oh, so India is shifted to Mars? Great, Elon Musk, you did it. At least some part of our world is up there," he laughed off, munching into another fistful of popcorn.

Khushi rolled her eyes and dragged him out with her.

Khushi Kathie Gomez is going to India, for what? James could only wonder, getting dragged by his bestie like he was some ragged doll.

Gupta House,

"Payal, someone has proposed for your hand today. No dowry and nothing. What do you say about it?" Garima asked Payal who had come home from the office just then.

Payal washing her face and hands, asked, not really caring much about the proposal while Garima was excited about it, "Who's he, Amma?"

"He's our friend's neighbor's friend's son's cousin's wife's brother."

Payal widened her eyes at her mother's description and sighed before facing her, "Amma, I did not tell you to tell me how you know him. What's his name?"

"Karthik Nanda."

To be continued..,

Okay, this was the first step taken by Arnav toward his freedom. 

Apologies. I was caught up with my office work till late and then a few household chores held me up. So, go late in publishing and didn't draft anything today. 

Let me know what you think about the update. 

How was the drama?

What do you think about the whole Plan?

Why Khushi is coming to India?

Regards,

Poly

09/02/2023