"Tere zulfon ki yeh nami, teri aankhon ka yeh nasha,"

Inayat's POV

I was bidding farewell to some of my dad's friends and their families alone. After they left, Shreya and Rishi walked towards me. We had a little chat and then Shreya checked at the time and reminded Rishi that they had to leave for the airport. I saw them off as they walked away.

"Inayat," I heard someone call me, and I turned towards the voice. I found the smile on my face dropping immediately. It had been a long time since I had heard him calling me by name. It hurts a little hearing that but that's okay.

"I have to tell you something," He explained. Tell me what? That he's actually in love with that bi— girl and wants to get married to her?

He directed me towards a different place, near a few chairs and walked there as I followed behind him trying my best to hide the uninterestedness on my face. Trying my best to act like I care.

He pulled out two of the chairs and sat on one of them and I sat down too. Why should I stand when he's sitting?

"Okay so, here's what happened. Before dinner I went outside, looking for my mother. I found her but she was crying. But, apparently it was just tears of joy because she was so happy that I was getting married to you. Now, she believed that we had worked out our differences and got together and tried to give this marriage a chance. She looked very happy, so I didn't really tell her that it isn't like that. I might or might not have led her to believe that we're actually giving this marriage a try." He spoke and spoke and spoke. Giving me no chance to even ask anything. I tried to comprehend all of what he had said in the past one minute he was speaking for. It took me more time to comprehend than it took for him to say it.

"Huh? What the hell do you mean you led her to believe that? Go tell her that it isn't true, why are you telling me about this." I said in a nonchalant tone.

"Well, the thing is, what if lead all of them, not just Maa Sa to believe that we're giving this marriage a chance and have overcome our differences. This way, they wouldn't nag us constantly." He said. Wait, this makes sense.

"Why, though? Is this because you're a pathological liar?" I replied, with a taunt with years worth pain present in it. I also rolled my eyes.

"Firstly, no, I'm not any kind of a liar. If it's anyone, it's you. But this is so that we could live in peace. But this isn't something you'd get and that's fine, I understand some things are hard for you to understand, Sweetheart." He had a sly smile on his face when he spoke. HE CALLED ME A LIAR AND SWEETHEART!? I am neither.

"Okay whatever, but dare to call me sweetheart again and see the consequences you face, douchebag," I glared at him. "And to confirm, are you suggesting that we pull off an act of being a happy couple, not just in front of the media, but also our families. And, what will we tell them about when we made this decision?" I countered.

"Pulling off an act in front of them would not be so hard, believe me," He let out a chuckle. "Oh, and about when that happened, we'll tell them that we discussed that day at Qalaa." He smiled sarcastically and patted himself on the back. He's so annoying.

"But, douchebag, if you don't remember, there were other people, Kabir and Vaidehi to be specific that day with us. What will we tell them?" I questioned him. This wasn't a foolproof but rather fools only plan.

"The truth. Just the two of them and our siblings will know the truth." He said before he dialed someone from his phone. And by the way he talked to the person I concluded that it was Kabir.

Kabir came in and sat down with us five minutes later. The douchebag explained the whole situation to Kabir. Kabir looked at me with a weird look, judging me for he thought the idea was mine.

"Don't look at me like that, it's all him." I scoffed and pointed towards the douchebag.

"Doesn't matter, but I have to tell you, if your truth is revealed to your parents later in the future somehow, the consequences will be bad." Kabir said and I nodded.

"I'm still up for this, it's worth a try." He commented and both of them looked towards me. Don't do that, that's too much pressure.

"Okay, I'm fine with this as long as I don't get into problems because of it." I said, finally giving into his idea and accepting defeat.

"But, for right now, I'm out of here." I said, stood up and walked from both of them and went towards Meera. She looked sleepy. Me too, Meera. I also want to go back to bed and pretend like the last four to five days were a dream.

We went home a little later and I was finally able to get out of these heavy clothes and get into my pajamas. I sat down on my bed with my laptop to work on the notes and presentations for the upcoming chapters.

I tried working on them for about half an hour but my head started aching a little so I put my laptop away and made preparations to sleep.

But, as soon as I laid down, today started playing in my head. How I was now officially engaged to the so-called Prince of Udaipur, how it was probably going to all different social media tomorrow, how much this will affect my life, and whatnot.

I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. All I could think about was his idea of how we'd pretend that we're actually together in front of our families too. And if I that was not what was going on in my head I was thinking about how he called me by my name after such a long time and how I should be feeling about that. The last thing that came to my mind before my brain finally gave up and made me fall asleep was him calling me sweetheart sarcastically.

~

I woke up around eight. I wore a simple blue Kurti, white pants, silver jhumkis, and a tiny Bindi. I was combing my hair when I saw the ring that lay on my dressing table. I sighed as the realization of the past night came back to me. I took it and placed it on the ring finger of my left hand and looked at it for a minute before going downstairs.

It wasn't everyday when I got ready like this but today I had to go out and get some cute-looking packing items for the Diwali favors. I love shopping for gifts for birthdays, festivals, and weddings. I was going with Chachi because my mother wouldn't let me get what I wanted to get, ever.

I went towards the dining table, and kissed my mother on the cheeks while she was passing a cup of tea to my father. Then, I went and sat next to Papa and gave him a wide smile. I served myself a Paratha and put a lot of ghee on it after pouring myself a cup of tea.

"I can't believe that the kid who used to run around the house, screaming that she never wanted to get married is engaged now." Chachu, who was sitting exactly in front of me, spoke with a proud smile on his face.

"Oh, come on, Chachu, I never did that." I scoffed and everyone else chuckled.

All of them believed that I was strictly against the idea of marriage as a child and I used to heavily oppose it. I don't think that's true.

"Chachi, we'll leave after all of you are done with your laughing and I'm done with this finger-licking tasty Paratha." I declared as Chachi nodded to what I said and I finished the Paratha.

"Nahi bacche, hum log seriously bahut khush hai. Aur mai toh kuch zyada hi khush hu kyuki tum dono ne apna jhagda sort kar liya. Kal Mandakini ji ne hume bataya." My father said and patted my head. But on the other hand, I nearly choked on my tea.

(No child, we're seriously very happy. And I am even more happy because you both sortee out your dispute. Yesterday, Mandakini ji told us.)

"Yes dad, we're happy too," I gave all them the fakest smile possible and immediately changed the topic. "Where's Kabir?"

"Oh, he went to his office early. He had some extra work he had to get done before he represented that client today." Chachi replied and my mother looked at her. Some kind of realization took its place on her face and she changed the topic. I found it weird, but then again, what wasn't weird about the last whole week.

Later on, Chachi and I went to buy the packages for the Diwali favors. We came back home just before lunch and had lunch with everyone. After lunch, I went to my room to get started on the notes again.

But before I could even finish the first page, my phone pinged and I checked my WhatsApp. It was him. It was some image of the invitation to a Diwali pooja and party at their estate, and it had my name on it for some reason. Not where the invitee's name is supposed to be but rather where the inviting family's or the host's name is supposed to be. There was a message below it too.

I asked them to not do this, but all of them thought that it was the best. So, it will be better if you come and try to act like you're part of the host's family.

Okay, whatever. Can I wear something I like or do you have your opinions on that too?

I replied in the saltiest way possible for him to realize what was wrong in that message. He probably understood after my reply. He better have.

I didn't expect any reply from him after this, and not to my surprise he didn't reply. I went back to finishing my notes. I completed the notes for the next chapter I was going to finish which was three pages more.

Then, I went downstairs to ask my mom about this whole Diwali thing. She wasn't in the living room. So, I went to look in the outside seating area. I found her and Chachi sitting on the swing and separating peas from the peapods.

"Maa?" I called her as she hummed and looked towards me. I pulled out my phone and then the invitation card thing he sent.

"What is this?" I enquired.

"Oh, I assumed that your name was going to be there." She explained but I still didn't get it. Yeah, that's maybe because she still hasn't told me what it is.

"I actually was going to tell you about this in the morning, but I forgot because I think I got caught up with some work. So, every year Advait's family have this pooja on the day of Diwali and later on there in the evening, there is a fancy party-like thing going on. And now that you're a part of the family, your name is obviously there. And, one more thing, you'll have to wear a Saree or a Poshakh, a good one." She explained. I nodded. I guess I have to get fine with people mentioning him all the time.

"But, I don't have a saree or a poshakh for that kind of an event." I put my concern forward. It was true, Diwali was after five days and I had no outfits.

"I do, what do you think your mother is there for?" She said while winking at me and chuckling.

After my mother was done with the peas, she took me and Chachi to her room to show me the Saree she was talking about. It was a beautiful Saree and luckily I had a matching blouse.

~

The next five days passed in a blip, because we were either making preparations for a pooja at our place or performing the pooja or going to someone else's place for the pooja or get-together.

I climbed the step that led to the main entry of the Royals' private residence. I looked around me, behind me was my whole family and around me were beautiful white-coloured walls. And in front of me, a beautifully decorated door opened to reveal my future mother-in-law with a wide smile on her face.

I walked further closer to her and bent down to her feet and touched them to seek her blessings. I was about to touch her feet when she held my shoulders and raised me to her level.

"Humare ghar mein betiyan bado ke paon nahi chhunti, Laado." She gave me the warmest smile and hugged me.

(Girls don't touch elders' feet in our house, dear.)

But, a few seconds later, she broke the hug herself. She then walked towards everyone who was behind me, my whole family. She then walked back towards me and now had a different look in her eyes.

"There's one thing you can do though, Laado." She said and then looked at my mother, aunt, and Vaidehi who had a similar look on their faces. While, my father, uncle, and Kabir were just straight up confused.

"Go to the second room from the left on the first floor, you'll know." She instructed and I nodded. I was extremely confused. Where is she sending me? Not in that idiot's room, please.

I was on my way to the stairs, it took me long enough to find them as I hadn't been here in the longest time. Last time I was here, I came here to give Pranay and Yashvi's wedding invitation, but I just went straight to the living room.

Once I found the stairs, I also found Priyanka, his cousin, with some other girls who I assumed were either her friends or some other relatives.

"Happy Diwali, Bhabhi Sa." Priyanka wished and walked towards me. I gave her a smile.

"Happy Diwali, Priyanka. Now, won't you introduce me to your friends over here?" I said and tried to get out of encountering my so-called fiancé.

"Okay, come," She held my wrist and took me to where all the girls were standing. "So that's Mridula and Heer, they're also our cousins. This is Revati and that's Shruti, they are my best friends." The girls waved at me.

"Nice to meet all of you, I'm Inayat." I introduced myself and gave all of them a smile. They reciprocated it.

"So, Bhabhi Sa, where were you headed to? To Bhai Sa's room?" Priyanka asked out of curiosity and all of the girls giggled a little.

"I hope not." I chuckled and gave them a wink, making them giggle even more.

"You're quite funny, Bhabhi Sa, but now go. He might be waiting for you and believe me you don't want to keep him waiting." Priyanka said, walking me back to the stairs as I was laughing at her doing so.

I started walking upstairs and looked back to find that she wasn't standing there anymore. I let out a sigh of relief knowing that now I didn't have to pretend to like him for a little while now. I reached upstairs and then took a minute to check out how my face looked in my phone's front camera. Usually, that wasn't what I cared about but, today I was in front of too many cameras.

I walked up to the room and knocked on its door. No part of the door looked familiar to me. But, that changed as my sight went towards the person who opened the door. That person was way too familiar. I could remember everything like it was just yesterday.

But as soon as my mind went off of all the negative stuff, all I could see was a stunning man in a beautiful Kurta who was standing right in front me with his arms crossed around his chest and the smell of the most amazing smell of wood coming from him. A gold chain adorned his neck and the most beautiful and soft looking hair adorned his head. I wondered how it would feel to stroke my fingers through that hair. What are you doing, Ina? You're supposed to hate him. Don't be so weak. How can you think like this!?

I blinked and looked away to break the trance of all these stupid feelings and thoughts. I couldn't bear their weight, not when I'm supposed to be in front of so many people. My eyes went to his clothes. The mild-blue complemented his physique very well. The golden embroidery on the Koti was very well designed too. I was awestruck, so much so that my eyes didn't even meet his eyes for a second before he spoke.

"What are you doing here?" He asked and leaned onto the door. Ugh, why is he doing that? Don't you dare do that. Remember Ina, he broke your heart.

"Yahan kho bhi jaun toh mai, kya kasoor hai mera?"