Aditya Seal as Rahul Mehta

~

"Marry me."

Arjun stopped mid-way from eating and his eyes snapped up to her. He looked a mixture of shock and wanting to laugh. It was as if he couldn't decide how serious she was. Then, he put the burger back in the plate and looked back up at her.

"Give me one good reason."

Well, that wasn't an answer Sanam had expected. She had figured he would call her crazy, laugh, and then move on. But, she had been thinking of the idea since they pulled the card of pretending to be married at the front desk a week ago. 

Today was her last day at the conference and out of generosity for letting her stay in his suite, when he asked if she wanted to grab lunch before her flight in the evening, she hadn't denied. And now, sitting across from him the past ten minutes and her empty mind a devil's workshop, she didn't realize when she blurted out the words until she had. 

The fact that her mother had been on her back, nagging her ever since Neha had decided to get married.

She knew it would only be a matter of time.

Last night when her mother had raised the topic again, trying to get her to meet a guy, she had snapped in response to not start again and that she had to get going so she'd talk to her later. It had worked for today, but in the next coming months, who knew? She had to do something herself before her parents would take it upon themselves. She felt it better to be proactive than be miserable when her parents would eventually spring this on her.

"My parents are not going to stop pressing me till I am married. They don't want me to be a doctor. They say it makes me highly qualified and then they won't be able to find a guy for me. Utter rubbish. Who thinks like that in today's age? But anyway, what I want is a career. That's what I want to focus on; not a guy who is going to stop me, put limitations on how I can live my life, expect me to be a housewife and take care of the family. You don't seem like the type to put restrictions on your wife."

He nods, taking it all in. "So, I should marry you so you can get out of that situation? Aren't you exaggerating a little? I mean what parent would...?"

Aware of his line of thought, she interrupted him blatantly before he'd have the chance to verbalize his thought. "You don't know my parents, Arjun."

He kept a composed face, but he was certainly getting a vibe that her parents were a sore topic for her. He deemed it best to not challenge her on it even if he felt she was taking this out of proportion. "Why me?"

She bobbed her head to the side, relaxing a bit as they moved away from talking about her parents. "Come on, Arjun. No offense, but you yourself said it. You have flings, and those are not serious relationships. Plus, I've noticed this week. You're too much of a workaholic, just like I am. We'll just get my parents off my back, you keep doing what you do at your office; I'll be at the hospital and we'll break it off then after a while - tell our parents it wasn't working out, or whenever one of us find someone we actually like."

There was a temptation to point out exactly what he had said their first day in Manchester: he had flings. Past tense. He had long since moved on from that. And serious relationships? If only she knew his past, she wouldn't have so easily dismissed it. Inhaling to keep his thoughts in the present, he answered. "It's not going to be as easy as you make it sound."

She challenged, "Why not? We have our goals in life. Just because the society puts a social clock on marriage? That shouldn't be getting in the way of what I want."

"I agree, but, how do I explain? Alright, complication number one: my parents know what I think when it comes to marriage or even a serious relationship for that matter. They are not going to simply accept when I go up to them and tell them I am going to marry you. Marriage is not a joke, after all. Complication number two: your best friend is now married to my brother. She knows you. Don't you think she'll figure it out?"

"Even if she does, she won't snitch." Sanam trusted Neha not to rat her out, "As for your parents, I'm not saying let's get married tomorrow. We can do something like showing them we've been hanging out, showing interest in each other and eventually, they'll come to terms with it when a few months later, we tell our parents we want to get married."

"You've really thought this through, haven't you?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I'm serious about this. I don't want to be tied down in a marriage." The more she was explaining to him, the more determined her confidence was on wanting to go through with this proposal of hers.

He had to question her extreme opinions, "What girl does not want a family of her own? To fall in love?"

It took her a second to answer, but she did say it honestly – believing that if he were to do this, he needed to understand where she was coming from. She was desperate, after all, and better she trusts someone whose family she was slightly familiar with than a total stranger. 

"I'm not saying I don't ever want that. I just don't want that right now. I want my career first. I have worked too hard my whole life and getting into med school to give it up because of how narrow-minded some people in our culture are about allowing women to work after marriage. I refuse to let that happen to me. I refuse to let someone else have control over my life. I may be sounding extreme right now, but..."

He shrugged his shoulder, though his voice was confident, "Alright, let's do it." He'd heard more than he needed to in order to convince himself. Neither did she have a clue of his real reasons for agreeing to her bizarre idea.

It first came as a shock to her, even though they were still seated, discussing this. It seemed to be an imagination how easily he was coming to her aid and going along with her crazy scheme. She knew it was a stretch, but her hand was being forced. She warned by raising her index finger, "You can't back out of this after you've slept over it."

He gave her a cocky look, "What kind of a man do you think I am?"

She held her hands up in surrender, "Hey, can't blame me. I'm just covering my ass. I can't afford you rethinking, going all moral and leaving me hanging."

He spoke in a bored tone, "Yeah, yeah, your life depends on it. I get it. You have my word. Do you want me to give it to you in writing, sweetheart?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, "No need to be sassy."

He let out a sigh and picked out a napkin from the dispenser. Taking out a pen from his vest, he started writing on it. Once he pushed it in her direction, she saw what it was.

He had signed an informal agreement.

"You didn't need to do this." Her voice turned gentle. "I'm not that untrusting."

He smiled, not taking offense at her lack of trust in him. It wasn't as if they knew each other or were even friends. Right now, they were just two people associated through common friends who only knew of each other for a week. "Just say thank you."

She smiled back, because he was right. He was saving her from a life she always feared. He blinked away and resumed eating. She put her hand on his that was resting on the table. His eyes flickered to her at the action. "Thank you." She expressed it with utmost sincerity.

He winked back at her, and someone might say that he just ruined the moment, but it just made her smile more. That's who he was, and no matter, he was a man with integrity and honor. She might not know it yet, but he was one of the good ones despite being born into wealth. She had noticed that in the past few days she'd been in Manchester for the conference. That spoke more to her than his flirtations and arrogant nature that slipped out every now and then.

Just as she pulled her hand back, ignoring the flutter in her stomach, he spoke. "Oh wait, there's just one more thing." She raised her brows at him, asking him to continue. "If you are going to be my wife, you're going to have to make a teeny-tiny sacrifice."

"How tiny are we talking?" Her tone was dubious.

"The whole world will know you're my wife. You can't avoid going to high society events. It's kind of expected."

She rested her back against the chair, "Well, how often are they?"

"You'd be surprised."

She gulped, starting to rethink, "I... we have to go to all of them?"

He added, overwhelming her. "Not to add, all the business dinners, charities, celebrations for someone's birthday, anniversaries, mergers, holidays, religious..."

She put my hand up, "Okay, okay! Stop."

That was too much.

She looked at him confused when he started to grin. She took a second to catch up, and then glared at him. "Was it a joke?" He bit his lip to stop from bursting off laughing. His shoulders were shaking from trying not to laugh. "It was a joke! You idiot. It's not funny!"

That's when he did start laughing.

She muttered, internalizing her anger instead of expressing it in a tantrum, "Jerk."

He sobered down, "Sorry. The look on your face was hilarious."

"Whatever." Still, she couldn't help the small smile that was starting to spread over her lips. He did pull a good one on her.

"Okay, honestly, it probably won't be that many. Mom and dad try to get me to go to places with them, but I make some excuse or other. I only go to volunteer at the services at the temple every Saturday when I'm not traveling and stuff for work. It probably won't be that bad, but that is all the events they usually go to. At least 3 three days in a week, they'll be having dinner someplace else."

She was surprised to learn he not only went to temple, every Saturday, but also volunteered. She felt like she should be ashamed, but religion was not an important part of her life for decades now. Then, she groaned, "Apparently, being rich isn't easy. Why do you have to be rich?"

He gaped at her for blaming him of that. She knew, it was not his fault. Still.

~

Sanam was walking out of a lecture when she saw Arjun in the distance. Spotting her, he waved. She turned to her friends, "Give me a minute?" They were supposed to go to a café on campus and study for the exam they have on Friday, three days from today.

She started walking towards him. When he was in hearing distance, she called out asking, "Hey, what are you doing here?"

He mocked a conversation."Hi Arjun, what a surprise. It's nice to see you. Oh, hey Sanam. Thanks, you too. How are you doing?"

She rolled her eyes at his exaggeration, but it still made her smile, "Okay, my bad. Hi Arjun, how are you?"

"Awesome, well, not really... we got a problem. But anyway, what about you? Busy?"

"What problem?"

"Busy?" He repeated the question.

She glanced back at her friends who were waiting for her, "Um, sort of. We've got an exam to study for. What's the problem?"

"Rahul and Neha come back from their honeymoon this weekend."

"That's a problem because..?" She urged him on, failing to see the point.

"Because, after we made that deal two weeks ago, we haven't really been seen 'hanging out'. They'll figure it out since you'll be coming over for dinner on Friday."

"Crap, dinner. I totally forgot about that." She said, more for herself. She always tried to remember things when it came to friends and family no matter how stressed out she was over studies. Lately, it was just taking a toll on her.

"Sanam, are you coming?" One of her friends, Taylor, asked.

She turned towards them and sighed. She was about to tell them to go ahead without her so they could fix this when she felt his hand around her elbow. She turned to face him, "Go. We'll figure something out on Friday."

"I'm sorry." She expressed her guilt, "You're doing this for me, and I'm the one who doesn't have the time."

"Ah, chill out, doc. Life isn't easy. I don't live under a rock. I get it. See you on Friday." He eased her guilt a little by being carefree.

She took a second to let his words convince her. Then, she spoke with a brief smile. "Thanks, see you then."

He nodded and started to turn to leave when she reached out for his hand, all in the moment. He raised his brows. Just going with it, she went on her toes to reach his height and give him a hug with her arms around his neck. He stiffened not having expected the physical contact, but she didn't mind his reaction. She'd surprised both of them. She didn't easily give hugs, especially to guys, and she wasn't too open to receiving them either, from guys or girls. She liked her personal space.

"Seriously, thank you."

He answered the hug by barely putting his hand on her back. "Uh, sure?" His momentary lack of confidence made her smile for a strange reason. It could be that she caught him off balance when he was capable of closing multibillion dollar deals in a heartbeat.

When she reached her friends, she couldn't wipe that smile off her face.

"Who was that hot guy?"

Continuing to smile, she answered, "We'll see."

They made teasing noises, but she simply shook her head and walked towards the café.

This really should not be happening, because of the reason her brain knew but yet her heart wanted to deny. It already liked Arjun. She, on the other hand, was hoping it was just as a friend. Or maybe even just physical attraction.

That's the only way this is going to work. A piece of her mind nagged.

~

authors note;

I'm so bad at updating this on time... Now that my other two novels are being wrapped up, I can focus more on this! 

A lot of you may not agree with her impulsive or exaggerated decision but stay with me here. Once you start understanding Sanam's life, it'll come together :)

Isn't Arjun just a sweetheart? Anyone wary of his quick decision to agree? ;) I shall be back very soon with another update! Till then, vote, comment & share!