"Zindagi mein sirf do cheezon se darr laga hai— sach aur jhoot"

~ Meher ~

Mumbai, India

I was about to change my life with a decision. It was sudden and I had no time to come to terms with it as I was still contemplating over what I said on the phone a while ago.

Let's get married.

It was shocking how the words easily flew out of my mouth, and how I did not waste any minute to come up with that decision. Life was becoming complicated and Sahil's death had become a mystery.

I had never really considered taking up Kabir's offer to get married to him. But circumstances have brought me here. Kabir would jump over the chance to get married as I was his ticket to the CEO's seat. I did not have big expectations from this marriage.

All I was seeking was justice.

Sahil evidently died because of my mistake. I pushed him out of the car while we were getting out before the car could blast. Aryan told me, the cause of his death was trauma on his head. He had no particular injuries.

His words had gotten me panicked. It took a long time for Aryan to make me understand that it wasn't my fault. I tried to save lives and did my best till the end.

But the guilt gnawed at me. What could I have done if I hadn't pushed him out of that car?

I would have died as well.

But someone had to be blamed. There was someone who pushed us to that point. Someone who wanted Sahil to be dead and achieved their goal.

Aryan was still seated beside me as he texted someone back and forth and it wasn't a rocket science to understand who that person would be.

Aryan wasn't expecting our call to go in that way. He was clearly more suspicious than he ever was, it was difficult to comprehend what he was actually thinking.

But Aryan was way more secretive than anyone here. He had something up his sleeve and he didn't trust me enough with that information. There are some lines that you never cross even when you are friends. We spoke about life, but when it came to sharing secrets, we all had someone to go to.

Even though you might be best of friends, you still cannot share some things.

And we had that understanding that I didn't bother to ask him.

And I trusted him with my life.

He sat there silently, watching me contemplate over my decision but I noticed his onyx eyes moving up and down in quick motion as if he was trying to figure out the situation.

"You would rather die than marry Bhai," he pointedly looked at me. "What the hell was that?"

He knew me too well. I looked down at my fingers, to my empty thumb, tracing the print of my ring which I loved wearing. Sadly that ring got lost in that accident. I ran circles around that thumb like I always did when I was nervous.

"It is what it is," I did not bother to go for an explanation. The more I thought about it, the more I was regretting that decision of mine.

I saw the veins on Aryan's muscles pop as he clenched his fists. I had an idea of what he was thinking. On one side there was his brother and on the other side was his best friend.

And he knew that we were putting ourselves in a mess that none of us wanted.

But sacrifices had to be made when you wanted answers.

"I am not going to draw up the contract if you're not going to tell me anything," Aryan was riled up. And I knew that convincing him wasn't easy.

"I am not begging you Aryan, I am telling you," He looked at me in disdain and I wasn't backing down.

But he didn't say anything, he just nodded.

And then, the door burst open and there was the devil in disguise.

Kabir was panting, as if he had run till here. His white polo shirt which was iron crisp this morning was now wet in sweat, the creases were visible all over.

Seeing Kabir by the door, Aryan left us to talk.

Kabir took long strides and in no second he was there sitting on the chair beside my bed, staring me down with a stoned expression.

"What. Was. That?" He slowly gritted his words as if he wasn't the one who had proposed this arrangement. I looked at him in surprise as that wasn't the response I was expecting from him.

"You wanted this right?" I emphasised as to make him remember that it was his idea. Kabir looked at me as if he was in disbelief and I wasn't expecting that kind of reaction.

"I wanted this, but not like this. I wanted an arrangement not out of compulsion but out of mutual benefit." He sighed and looked at me in pity.

"I don't want your pity, Raizada. You want the position, I want my answers. The answers that only you can give to me. And I think that's what mutual benefit is." I clarified my side but judging by his expressions, he wasn't satisfied.

I did not want to believe it, but he looked extremely unhappy. "What happened Kabir, caught in your own web?" He blinked his eyes as he heard the words and I noticed his jaw twitch at the taunt.

"You're too confident, aren't you?" He looked at me unsurprised, while I feigned my nonchalance at his question.

I knew he was going to agree. The offer was too tempting to let go. And as far as I knew Kabir, he was going to take it, he never liked to lose something.

The time was ticking and I was waiting for Kabir to answer. I looked around my dull looking hospital room, noticing flowers that were dumped on one corner of the table by the entrance. One of them was roses, I scrunched my nose at the sight of it, I hated them.

And then my eyes travelled to Kabir. His fingers continuously played with his watch as he thought over and over again.

There wasn't really an option, pity, truly.

"Okay," I looked at him, his eyes were too determined. "Let's do it."

I smirked. "So it's a deal then," I put my hand forward for a handshake and while he takes my hand, I squeeze it tight. "But remember, any foul play, I am coming for that position for yours," I felt my hand squeeze under his hold as he clenched his jaw, seemingly not happy with my words.

We release each other's hands almost immediately, I rub my palm at the mild throb of his steel grip. "I'll tell Aryan to draft up the contract. He's here anyways, let's call him in and set up our conditions."

Kabir got up and walked out of the room to call Aryan. In less than ten seconds, the brothers walked back into the room, mirroring similar expressions.

Aryan looks at me in disbelief, again. "I can't believe you're up for this," he takes the empty chair and turns to his brother, "and you too."

Kabir shrugged and I acted as if I did not hear that. I heard Aryan sigh as he took out his phone.

"I am recording this for evidence purposes, if things go in the wrong direction, this may work for or against you," there was a light ding that came from his phone, which indicated that the recording had begun.

"You go first," Aryan told me.

I looked at Kabir for a moment and breathed, praying to the god for one last time before getting into this mess.

Here goes nothing.

"I want him to give me answers to the cases related to Sahil," Aryan tsked as he switched off the recording. "Meher you have to specify the name of the person. Be very specific with the words you choose," Saying that he switched the recording on again and I started to form the words in my head.

"I want Kabir Raizada to provide me with evidence and answers to the cases associated with Sahil Vashisth who was working with him on a secret case. I want to know every teeny tiny detail of what was discussed, what has progressed and who is involved or he thinks might be involved," I finished, a relieved smile crept on my lips as Aryan gave me a thumbs up.

"Bhai your turn," he turned his phone towards Kabir, who cleared his throat as he started to speak.

"I want Meher Mathur to be married to me for n number of years so as to help me become the CEO of the AV Group. She has to become the perfect wife in front of the world so as to not raise any suspicions about our relationship," he said.

"And," I said after he finished, "this relationship is completely exclusive, I should not find Kabir Raizada in the tabloids for scandalous affairs."

Kabir snorted at my words and I couldn't help but give a stink eye. People have issues, he might have them too.

Aryan coughed trying to bring our attention back to him. "Is that all?"

"Yes, I believe this is it," I looked at Kabir who nodded along with me.

"Okay," Aryan got up, putting his phone back inside the pocket of his pants. He gave me one last look as if trying to tell me that I could still back out but I was determined.

No backing out now.

Aryan left the two of us again, this time for good. Kabir took the seat beside me and sat there in silence, and I stared at the TV that was still playing.

My heart was in pain today. I lost a friend, the last string that was holding me close to Abhimanyu and I was going to marry someone, who was not Abhimanyu. From the corner of my eye, I saw Kabir being relatively silent as well.

Maybe he was thinking about Radhika too. When I was on a call with Divi Aunty once, a few months after Radhika's death, she had told me crying that he may never move on again. She cried that she would never see him get married or live a happy life.

But today, things have changed from now on. We had to lie to our own people and I wasn't really ready for it. For years I never showed any romantic feelings for someone and now suddenly having feelings for a certain Raizada may generate a spark of interest for the women.

Mom, well I wondered what her reaction would be. I wouldn't dare to think that she would be happy although I lowkey think that she might get too excited.

But the fact was, Kabir and I had barely interacted in front of our family. We were careful enough to hide our nasty exchange to ourselves and the twins more or less had an inkling of our mutual hatred but they weren't quite sure about it.

But still, we had to make it believable, especially Kabir as his story was present in front of the family, they knew he wasn't ready to move on.

And I had my father to convince.

And with that, the door opened again and my Dad entered, followed by Akash Uncle and Arya.

Kabir gave Dad his space and the latter gently held me, pulling me to him. I teared as I felt the embrace of my father, I was finally safe again. No matter what, Dad was always there to save me. He was my safe haven.

I heard sniffs which made me break out of his embrace and look up at him only to see him tearing up and crying while Akash Uncle and Arya were pacifying him from the side.

"You're my only child, I cannot afford to lose you," I had seen a lot of things, even death but I had never seen my father cry. At that moment my heart wrenched in pain, I felt bad for giving him so much pain.

I took decisions on my own, and never really consulted with anyone for that matter. And Dad being Dad, just accepted it with a smile.

When I went to the US that night without telling anyone, even then he did not say anything. All he told me was that he trusted me.

Can I hurt my father with the lie which I was meticulously planning with Kabir to tell everyone?

There, my mind was dwindling again. I can't do this. I had to stick to the plan.

Dad's rough hands caressed my face lovingly. "What are you thinking?" I put up a smile and shook my head.

The next who came up was Akash Uncle. Just like Dad, he hugged me and my eyes went over to Kabir. The moment he saw me looking at him, he clenched his jaw and looked away, making me turn my head to look up at Uncle.

Arya pushed her Dad away and stood where he was previously standing. Holding me by my shoulders, she started non stop gibberish, half crying and half wailing.

She was my best friend, my soulmate in every sense. And I was going to lie to her too.

"Where are the moms?" I asked as I wanted to divert my thoughts.

"They are not well, bachcha," Dad said and my heart dropped at the news. The more news I got the sadder I was feeling. We always did something and it was our family who bore the repercussions of our actions.

And the thought of that was getting me guilt ridden.

My heart, my mind and my soul weren't aligning together as I took this decision. From this deal, all I would gain is his answers but I would lose a lot more.

Honour.

Life.

Family.

And Friendship.

Will this arrangement turn out to be fruitful?

Honestly, I have no answer to that question.

That was destiny to see and me to find out.

But even in that chaos that my mind had entangled itself into, I was sure of one thing.

I was not backing down, even if that meant risking everything.

And people, that's where I end the chapter. This chapter was written quite a while back but I was quite lazy to post it. Meher is constantly having second thoughts about this deal. Do you think they can make it through this?

Life Update: College started and it's already shitty. Two extremely bad professors and a day full of classes get me dead tired.

What about you guys? How has life been? Give me gossip.

Do VOTE and COMMENT on the chapter. Drop a heart, letting me know that you enjoyed reading it.

With Love,

Akii.