"Saath hai magar, kya hai hum?"

~ Author ~

Mumbai, India

When Meher hugged him out of the blue, he was taken aback. He didn't know how to respond to such a sudden show of affection. He looked at the twins, the latter too was teary eyed. Everything was so confusing and he had no answer to it.

His eyes met his brother's, who signalled him to hug her back and pat her. Though he was not willing, looking at her cry so badly made his human side warm up to her. He placed an arm around her back and awkwardly patted her.

Meher tightened the hug and kept on mumbling thank you, he had no idea he was thanked for. In the entirety of his life, he had never seen her cry like that, so ugly, so gut wrenching.

What could he, her arch nemesis, have done for her to be thanked so profusely?

As her sobs turned into sniffs, she slowly loosened her hold around him. He took this as a chance to break away from her, letting his sister take the charge and pull his fiancé away from him. He walked out of the room, slightly shaken from the recent events, he drew in a breath to calm himself down.

"Bhai, are you okay?" Aryan had followed him to the middle of the hallway. A mere glance at his brother and Kabir knew that he too looked emotionally drained. What had happened in that room?

"What was that?" He asked him.

Aryan patted his shoulder, "It was long overdue."

"Why did she thank me?"

A small smile grazed his lips. "You gave her something that she desperately wanted for so long— a path to closure. You don't understand the gravity of your little action."

Kabir pondered over his words. The only thing he gave to her was the key which he had kept safely as per Sahil's instructions. That was his payment for the agreement they had.

"Is it because of the key which I gave her last night?" Aryan gave him a nod.

"I did whatever Sahil had asked me to do, she should thank him," he shrugged. To this, Aryan chuckled, his brain doing all the permutations and combinations. Truly, God does wonders. He hugged his brother and whispered, "Still, you were the medium to her closure, to her happiness. Even if you don't wish for it, destiny is making a way for you." He broke the hug and patted his shoulders again, and went past him, whistling on his way.

Aryan's words left him unsettled.

What in the world was happening?

* * *

After Meher had freshened up and changed into a fresh pair of clothes, she walked down the staircase to the hall, where the ladies, twins and Kabir were already seated, along with the priest.

Ah, the priest, she recalled. He was here today to check their kundalis.

She walked past Kabir and got herself seated between the twins, avoiding the gaze of familiar onyx eyes. Today, she had really given in to her emotions. She willingly hugged Kabir and the latter instead of pushing her away.

Why did he do that?

The entire time the priest spoke, Meher chose to talk to the twins discreetly. Kabir too, avoided her gaze and intently focused on the priest as if the latter's words were like an important business announcement.

Divya handed the kundalis to the priest and this got Meher's attention. She curiously watched the man count something over his fingers and make calculations.

As the time passed both Kabir and Meher grew curious about what had been in their birth charts, what could possibly be written for them?

"Hmm," the priest closed the kundalis and kept it on the side and removed his glasses. The couple sat up straight as they leaned a little closer to hear what he was about to say.

"Two very strong personalities, I must say," Meher couldn't figure out if he was disappointed or being appreciative. "They are very competitive, driven and high spirited, which all means that both of them have a lot of ego." The twins started incessantly coughing, which made everyone except for the two laugh.

"They have similar personalities," the priest continued, "which also means they have to work out things with each other. But on the other hand, a total of twenty nine gunas have matched out thirty six— in normal words, it's a perfect match!" It was at the same time that their heads whipped towards each other in shock, still trying to wrap their heads around what the priest had just said.

"I thought he listed all the bad stuff," Arya mumbled, scratching her head.

Aryan chuckled which was imitated by his sister, making Meher want to claw their tongues out.

"A match made in heaven," Arya announced in a sing-song voice.

"Huh," Meher snorted. "It's a match made in China. A hundred percent fake," she muttered under her breath.

The ladies looked pleasantly pleased as their hearts were put to ease. But Kabir and Meher were far from happy. It may take them a while to recover from the shock.

"Panditji, what is the auspicious date for the wedding?" Shikha asked after a while.

The priest opened some sheets and started checking again and then he folded the pages, it seemed like he had come to a conclusion.

"The best date is three weeks from now," he spoke, fixing the glasses that were perched up on his nose. "After that Shravan will begin and then even after that until November, there are no good dates."

Shikha and Divya hummed, thinking hard. "Let's ask Kabir and Meher, what do you think?" It was finally when they locked their gazes for a longer period of time. Meher raised her eyebrow, asking him his opinion silently. Kabir, with his fingers discreetly indicated one, which meant they should go with the first option. Meher nodded, agreeing with him. The sooner, the better.

"We should go with three weeks," she answered, "Right, Kabir?"

"Yeah," he nodded, giving an affirmed smile.

Divya clapped her hand in excitement. "So three from now, Kabir will get married to Meher," Kabir and Meher sink into their seats, feeling the weight of the situation on their chests.

* * *

"Kabir Sir is asking, what you would like to have for lunch," Aanchal asked Meher over the call, making the latter sigh.

"Anything with rice would suffice," she politely answered and then hung up on her.

Tanay and Amrita look at her in glee. "Lunch date?" Meher put on a smile. "Yes, then we'll go out somewhere,"

"You're on a half day?" Tanay asked in surprise.

Meher nodded. "It's Friday anyway. We have a bunch of work due to wedding preparations."

"Enjoy, drink lots of water," Amrita hugged her.

Meher picked a file from her desk and handed it to her. "This is the interview. I have proofread it, you also do it before it is submitted to Rysa."

"When did you have so much time?" Amrita looked at her in awe. Meher chuckled, shrugging nonchalantly. "And," she continues, "I am telling you both unofficially, the wedding is in three weeks and you two are invited. The cards will obviously be sent to you but I wanted to tell you both first. Actually, I don't have that many friends except Aryan and Arya, so I would be really glad if you two could make it to all the functions." She looked away in nervousness, her finger going in circles around her engagement ring.

Out of nowhere, she was suffocated in a bear hug as Tanay and Amrita squealed in glee.

Tanay and Amrita were good to her, they felt like friends to her.

A while later, her heels make their way to Kabir's office. Unlike the media house, the main headquarters always seemed very serious to Meher.

Meher acknowledged people on her way who stood up briefly to greet her.

While she was just about to reach the door, a loud crash interrupted her. Her heart started beating louder than usual and she rushed to the side cabin to check what had happened.

"What is happe— ah," Her eyes fell on a distressed Aanchal, who was teary eyed. Gossip in the office was always a way to know things about your superiors. Whether your boss is a jerk or is secretly gay, you will know everything via the gossip.

Meher loved gossip. In fact, she had joined the company forum with an anonymous ID to see what people spoke. It was fun to read what these pages had to say about them.

So, by far she had known a few things—

Aryan had a girl in his office last Wednesday.

Arya is secretly into WWE as one day she was caught watching a match due to which she forgot to attend a meeting.

Meher didn't know her best friend was into violence.

Apparently, Akash Raizada has started having white hair. Traces of color were found by one of the employees.

Last but not least, Kabir Raizada's notorious secretary Aanchal is by far the queen of clumsiness. She must have broken around more stuff worth more than her monthly check. Though a klutz, she's one of the best in her work. Not only that, she's the only one in the office who knows Kabir inside out, from what he eats to when he sleeps, from personal to professional, every single thing.

A shadow falls in front of Aanchal as she looks up and notices Meher, who stands there with her hands folded across her chest, looking at her in amazement.

"G–Good afternoon, Ma'am," she stuttered as she looked around the mess in panic.

"Afternoon, Aanchal, right?" Aanchal nodded and then looked to her left, to her dismay, the glass separating her and Kabir's cabin was now transparent, her boss was looking at her in red, and she had a sudden urge to run away.

Meher followed her line of vision and saw Kabir in anger, her eyes following what he was looking at.

She looked down to see what Aanchal had broken.

Uh oh.

It was a familiar looking Chinese vase. It was one of the most prized possessions of Kabir Raizada. Meher recalled the time when she had accidentally touched it— for the first time after she had started living with the Raizadas, she had seen Kabir actually burst at her.

On speaking with Divya later, she came to know that he had a soft spot for China Vases, and did not have any idea why it was that way.

Kabir shut the transparent glass into a misty one, she couldn't see him anymore.

"What do I do?" A meek voice got her attention, as Aanchal spoke to her, teary eyed, showing her phone. Kabir had texted her to come to his office.

Immediately.

Meher shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Will he listen to you, no he won't," Aanchal answered the question herself but her words piqued Meher's interest.

"Why wouldn't he listen to me?" Aanchal looked at her wide-eyed, realising what she had just blurted.

"I am sorry Ma'am, that wasn't my intention," she apologised, hitting her head, chastising herself.

"It's okay," Meher nodded, stepping closer, "But tell me why wouldn't he listen to me?"

She watched Aanchal falter as the latter took a step back, almost falling.

"Aanchal, I am asking you something," Although Meher spoke softly, it was very persistent which made Aanchal give in to her.

"Kabir Sir isn't very fond of you," Aanchal closed her eyes and spoke in one breath, not wanting to look at Meher.

"Fair," Meher dropped the topic and took a step back. "Come let's go to Kabir's office."

The walk to his cabin was short and Meher and Aanchal entered his office. Kabir was already pacing angrily in his cabin and his temper flared when he saw Aanchal.

In two strides he was in front of her. Aanchal was visibly trembling making Meher pity her. Kabir in his anger can be very scary.

"You. Are. Fired," he seethed. Meher almost flinched at his cruelty but when she looked at his secretary, her face morphed into confusion.

"Okay," Aanchal mumbled and made her way out of the cabin, not saying anything further.

She folded her arms and kept on looking at the door and him, trying to understand his words.

"Is she fired or not?" She asked as she couldn't hold in her curiosity.

"Huh?"

"Aanchal, fired or not?" She asked again. Kabir groaned in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That's none of your business."

"That's fair but I believe it's my business to know why she's aware of our contract marriage," this made Kabir come out of the grief over the loss of his vase. "She's my most trusted person, besides Maan. She poses no threat." He stated not wanting to ask how she had figured that out, but Meher had caught onto something else.

Most trusted person.

Kabir didn't take his family's name. This made her sadder and even more guilty. And his aloofness was partly due to her.

Let's not think about this again, Meher reminded herself, as she remembered the purpose of doing all this shebang.

"Remind me again to not touch your vase," she mumbled to herself. "Aren't we having lunch, Kabir?"

Kabir blinked for a second before he realised where he was. "Right," he cleared his throat and led her to the couch, where they both made themselves comfortable. Meher helped Kabir take the food out from the polythene bags and then served it generously over their plates.

Meher held the plate closer and took a good smell of her biryani. She closed her eyes, feeling the scent and wondering how it tasted in her mouth.

With one bite after the other, she enjoyed the taste of biryani, giving her supreme pleasure.

"The entire purpose of this lunch was to have a conversation," Meher paused midway, as the last spoon of her food was about to go in her mouth. Kabir was giving her a dead stare. She gulped the food she had in her mouth and resumed to pay her attention to the plate.

"Food is important, plus we were supposed to have lunch not chat," she shrugged, finally her last bite. She delicately kept the plate back on the table, picked up the tissue and wiped the sides of her napkin like a lady.

Kabir closed his eyes to calm his nerves. This wasn't going anywhere. He ran a hand through his hair and then got up. "Let's go," he pulled her up. Meher freed her wrist from his hold and walked in front of him, leaving him behind.

When they hit the national highway, on a little outskirts of Mumbai, Meher got more curious. "Where are we going?"

Kabir said nothing. He kept on tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as he made a turn on the highway and soon, they entered a narrow road. It was kachcha road, the car bobbled a few times which made Meher hold on to her dear life. Was he going to kill her?

The car screeched to a halt and she lurched forward but before she could hit her head, Kabir's hand sprang in reflex and held her by her shoulder. She shivered at the sudden jerk and smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks," Kabir waved a hand of dismissal, opened his side of the door and got out. Meher followed him and walked alongside him after he locked the car.

Meher took in the view of the surroundings. It felt as if they were walking in the middle of nowhere. And then she stopped as she noticed him stop and look above. She followed his gaze as she noticed the sign board.

Nina's Rose Garden

A rose garden? She wondered as she stepped into the garden along with him and noticed all types of roses, big or small, all kinds— kinds that she didn't know existed.

But Meher did not like the location at all.

She despised roses.

Something about roses did not always sit well with her, especially the red ones. How easy was it to give it to someone and then quickly wilt away, as if it never meant with you to stay? It has many layers, what was it so big and valuable about a rose that it was always considered as the symbol of love, friendships and trust?

"This was Radhika's favourite place, this is where everything started, where we started," he said, referring to him and Radhika. Both of them took a seat on a nearby bench. Kabir admired the roses, a little smile had crept on his face and when Meher noticed it, she was astounded. She had never seen him like that, smiling, although a little, so peacefully.

"This place was a little different back then," he continued. "It didn't look so plain. When this area was under redevelopment, I had to pay shit loads of money to save this place," Now, the plainness of this place made more sense. "I wanted to keep our memories alive."

"It's beautiful," Meher murmured, even though she didn't mean the garden, she meant the depth of his words, his emotions. It was indeed very beautiful.

"We came for the first time back in school before you shifted," he continued to go on, relaxing on the chair. Meher kicked off her heels and crossed her legs as she admired the sky, it was grey, not sunny.

Monsoon was near.

"We liked each other but hadn't confessed. I plucked a rose from the garden and gave it to her. Although we got scolded for tampering with the roses, it was worth it," Kabir reminisced the day fondly, it was in October some ten years ago. Time flew very fast.

"I liked her, you know, Radhika," Meher recalled the lively vivacious girl, who was completely opposite to Kabir yet the two gelled so well together.

"She likes you too, always trying to make us both friends. She hated our mutual dislike for each other," which made Meher laugh as she remembered one instance when she was home from college when Radhika had called her and Kabir to a cafe and left the two of them alone.

To her disappointment, the two of them ordered what they wanted, ate their food and left after paying their bills individually.

On separate tables.

"She tried until her last day to patch things up," his gaze met hers and the smile that he had adorned for this entire time had slipped away.

"It didn't happen, it just got worse," she completed what he had left unsaid.

"Kabir,"

"Hmm?"

"It's not because I didn't feel anything for her that made me leave that night," she said, wanting to clear the air. "It was because it hurt me so much to see you in pain over losing her that made me leave. I understood what you felt at that moment— helpless, shattered and losing hope, I felt everything. It pained me to the point that I couldn't breathe, I couldn't stay there anymore. Even if we don't like each other, even if we are at each other's throats whenever we have a conversation, it doesn't mean that I would ever wish something like that for you. I have been through the pain and the moment I saw you, I knew I had to go."

Kabir nodded, he finally understood where she came from. He understood blaming her for the pain he was suffering due to her death wasn't due to Meher. She had her reasons to leave. Maybe, if he was in her place, he would have left the place.

"Yesterday," Meher cleared her throat to wade through the awkwardness that was slowly lingering between the two. "It was wrong of me to hug you like that. I got very emotional. I am sorry."

"Don't be," Kabir sighed. "If you don't mind telling me, what was it?"

"Memory, a beautiful one yet the only one I have of my brief relationship and a gift that I never received until yesterday," The wind blew all of a sudden and all the leaves started rustling. Even before the rain arrived, the scent of the rain indicated its arrival.

"What are we, Kabir?" Meher asked, her gaze locked with his, it made her wonder if he was thinking the same thing.

"I have no idea," he whispered, looking at the sky which was getting darker with each passing second.

They weren't friends.

Nor were they lovers.

They were acquainted with each other but not enough.

"But," he paused, thinking over his next choice of words carefully. "We can start with something, something new, something very fresh, where we can just be roommates, feeling each other's presence, talking to each other when we need to or just be by yourself when you wish to be alone."

Meher chuckled as she was a little surprised by the suggestion. It was a good idea. "Okay, but what about our hate, the dislike we have for each other?" She wagged her finger pointing at the two of them.

Kabir smirked. "It won't go away. It's fun to challenge you, fight with you because that's what makes us Meher and Kabir— the ultimate arch nemesis."

Laughter bubbled up her throat as she gave him a thumbs up. Soon it escaped her lips as she kept on laughing, which was later joined by Kabir who just snorted watching her laugh like a madman.

Everything that Kabir had said was true. They wouldn't be themselves with each other if they wouldn't challenge each other.

Though the flames separating the two had lessened, but it was those flames that kept them going and maybe just maybe one day they would burn in those flames, for each other.

And that day wasn't that far.

A little procrastination but I made it! Yayy! Meher and Kabir progressing a little, wanting to bond, that's a start, right? How do you find this development? Let me know in the comments.

A little observation, you guys hate Kabir a lot like A LOT. It's funny to see because even Meher is not doodh ki dhuli but yet there's nothing but only good words for her (that's good only). Kabir and Meher have been fighting for years now, and they both give back to each other equally. What is it about Meher that you guys gravitate to so much and what is it about Kabir you don't like? Please do answer this, I seriously want to know.

I hope you guys hate Kabir a lot less and love him a little more every day. The man is a great guy, just cannot say the right things at the right time :)

My birthday is coming up this Monday, yayy! I will turn 21 this year, I already feel so old. I hope to complete the next chapter soon so I can do a birthday update.

Do VOTE, SHARE and COMMENT. Comment a heart if you enjoyed reading this chapter.

With Love,

Akii.