“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up.”

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Rani’s POV:

"di. wait." Khushi called me.

"yeah . do you want something? " i asked.

" yes. why did you get my di into this? "

" you will know soon.but tell me why you left from there?"

"then what do you expect me to do. I can't tell her. if I stayed there, I would have spoken. but I made you a promise , so I just stood up. i can't see her like that." she said sadly.

" don't worry, i will make her eat. ok. now come on. we'll go shopping." i said.

" really." she gets excited. then she asked " di is also coming right? for i used to go only with her."

" nope. today is different. things changed choti." I gave her my mischievous smile.

" whatever you say mam" Khushi said.

"what did you say?" i asked pinching her arm.

"since you are commanding me, i said mam.” and she left.

Khushi’s POV:

Rani di asked me to drive the car. I said no. she asked me whether i don't know to drive . I said " “ I know. but di took my license and asked me not to drive till she say so."

she thought for a minute  and took me to our office.

Rani " you wait in driver's seat. i will come soon."

so , i sat in driver's seat waiting for her to return in our office parking lot.

there ,i saw Mohit (sales & marketing  head) calling someone and seeing him tensed, i figured out something was wrong.

So, I decided to listen his conversation.

 all he said was " sir. it will be done. like previous tender , i will make this one also slip away . " . then he revealed the quoted amount and that he will send the manager now to submit the tender.

 I don't know who was on other side , so I controlled my anger. I don't what other guy said.

Mohit " ok. we will meet in hotel Taj at 7 pm. if you want to be CEO, then I need my money today." and ended the call.

I took his photo with my mobile and messaged Maya the venue to record what mohit does and whom he meets and give it to me. I asked her to take someone with her incase she gets caught.

soon the manager came out  and i called him to show me the tender.

i read the tender once and quoted a new amount , I reduced it further so that it won't go from us as well as we can get profits.

Rahul will be very proud of me if he sees my work. his teaching does help. The manager sealed it again and went to submit. I asked him not to tell anyone about this.

I  wondered what was taking so much time for Rani di to come down.

finally she came. I can see my di looking at me from second floor through her room window. great.

i don't know what Rani di  told her back there . She showed me my license and also exclaimed ” Priya allowed you to drive again.  so ,come on let's go.”

wow! my di agreed .

“ oh, then wait, let me thank her and come” I said. But she gave me a stern look.

So , I started the engine and drove.

Priya’s POV:

I watched from the window till Khushi drove away from there.

I don't know what i've done that she doesn't even want to talk to me . I would have happily given her license if she asked.

she promised me that she will not drive till i say . but she drove with Rani  here and send her to get license. The nerve of that girl.

Just Minutes before,

Rani came and said that they are going to shopping and will return home in evening. when Rani said that Khushi drove the car here, I  didn't beleive. but i saw her sitting in driver's seat. She doesn't keep her word.

Now I clearly understand how she would felt whenever I refused to speak with her.

  aisa maine kya kiya ( like what i ve done)that she started to distance herself from me now.  

but it hurts a lot. now i knew how Khushi would've felt when i asked her not to speak. I can't do any work . I simply lost focus. I cancelled all the meetings for the day.

I left for home and decided to speak with her when she return at any cost.

I am restless. I don't know that i will be affected this much by Khushi’s ignorance , this much. I can’t believe how I even wished for her to hate me.

I would have died if she did so.

Rani's POV:

we went to Pheonix market city. Khushi shopped for all . i took her mainly to select an engagement ring  as Vikram asked me. he wanted to make sure that the ring he gonna make her wear has to be of her choice.

while shopping, she didn't allow me to pay for anything. after we are done with shopping, i took her to jewelley shop. she look amused.

i said i came here to buy a ring for vijay.  while i am buying that, she came with a beautiful set of diamond necklace for Priya. she said  " i always thought of gifting di these. but since she used to accompany me, i never got a chance to buy and surprise her. now i can" joyously.

" and i also bought you these" saying this, she showed up another necklace. she made me wear that despite my resistance.

i could see Vicky behind us signalling to ask her about ring. so , i casually asked.

" choti, which do you think out of these rings is nice?"

" di. that's for engagement . that too groom needs to buy. so why ask me?" she replied.

" just like that. now tell me."

"ok fine. i like that one in red heart shaped box. it's really nice and also looks simple. and if you are done, shall we leave?"

"yeah sure" i replied and left the place seeing Vicky buying it.

all the time, there is one thing missing. she hasn't been smiling and just doing what i asked her.

while on our way back to her house, in the car

i asked " so what all you bought?"

" a lot actually . i bought 4 designer sarees and 2 salwars for my di though she didn't wear salwars now. then for meenamma , two designer sarees, casuals tshirts for karan uncle. then bought myself some dresses. and those jewels ."

" then for whom you bought these?" i asked showing her the costly men's rolex watch .

" di how do you find that?"

" well . it doesn't matter now. tell me."

" it's for that guy. "

" who?" i asked.

" the guy who follows me. he saved Maya's life by showing what kind of person Aman is. so to thank him and ask him not to follow me anywhere. "

i am speechless. seriously!

how much I want to tell, he's your future husband .

the rest of the ride was silent with listening to some radio fm songs.

KHUSHI’S POV:

while entering the house, i noticed di is busy on some call . so , trying to avoid awkward situation , i silently walked to my room and kept the things there .

then Ajay bhaiya called from london and asked about his parents.

i don't even know they returned. when i asked about what was the matter, he told me about his sudden marriage. and how his mother disowned him.  I scold him for doing that so secretly. but just because he got married, she can't disown him.  meenamma, you need to understand.

then i spoke with Anjali bhabhi too. she seems to be nice. i wonder why di didn't tell me about this.

then i called Maya to check whether everything goes well and asked her to leave if in case anything goes wrong. maya is a gizmo freak. she was obsessed with latest techno devices.

i wish everything goes fine.then i went to freshen up and came down to have dinner.

i could see Rani di  talking about something with my di.

Throughout the dinner, nobody said anything. however, I felt uneasy  as my di gave me a glance every now and then.

then i came back to my room, trying to figure out what Ran di is doing. my di came over and locked the door.

you are finished. that's what my heart said.

my di " Khushi, I need to speak with you."

i walked past her to reach the door. my phone buzzed with 2 new messages. one from maya" everything's fine and done. will sent it to your mail" to which i replied "thanks".

second one from Rani di." don't come out of your room. face her. but till i say, don't speak."

great. now what i've gotten myself into.

" i am speaking with you. can you hear me" my di shouted.

I turned my back on her side. this made her furious.

" you can't do this to me. now turn towards me " she yelled and since i didn't oblige, she grabbed my left hand and turned me around.

what followed next , well two slaps. I could already see red spots in my cheeks. that's 49 in total now.

even then , I  managed to keep mum and didn't say anything.

all of the sudden, she breaks down.

" why are you making me do this. i promised vijay i won't but i couldn't . I am sorry. please forgive me. Khushi , i don't why you are like this . but it hurts me a lot. I couldn't do anything. it's killing me to see you ignoring me. "

i ignored her. oh no. she took my silence wrong way.

" now you even started to not care for my words too. " she continued. I am about to say no,but she showed her hand" let me finish. when i saw you in driving seat and Rani told me you drove , i couldn't beleive , my Khushi did that. i know i have been harsh on you . all that time you have been nice . so why? when i am regretting and wants to be nice with you , you are doing this."

" I can bear anything but not this. today i realised how you would've felt when i did that with you. i agree what all i did was wrong with you and i am sorry . ok. i am sorry. i apologise for  my actions. but speak with me , please" she pleaded  down on her knees.

I couldn't beleive my eyes. all these years , i not even once saw her like this . i do know she loves me but never thought i had this much effect on her. my di looked so lost and deperate . now i understood what Rani di is trying to do. I went down to my di and hugged her.

a voice came from outside" now you can speak with her"

it's Rani di.

" I am sorry di . for bringing you to this situation. i never do anything or go against your words. " and I told her all that happened and Rani's weird condition.

then i showed her the things i bought and we patched up and happy. we had a peaceful sleep together after a long time.

PRIYA’S POV:

i can't beleive Rani did this all. she made me realise it the hard way. but i am happy.

i woke up midnight to have some water and came out.

while passing through Rani room, i saw her crying with her parent's photo. i felt bad and how selfish i am.

then it all came back to my mind. meenakshi aunty's decision. i was literaly lost with Khushi's  problem and i forgot that i need to tell her about my decision in one day.

but I've already decided. i can't see Rani  like this. she acts happy while we are around. i want her to be happy always..

I will inform meenakshi aunty tomorrow.

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