"Oh my God!! I am so sorry," Shivaay turned around in embarrassment after walking in on his brother's romantic episode.

Omkara mentally groaned as Gauri pushed him away, cutting him off her alluring scent and comforting warmth.

"I... I will come later," the elder brother muttered making a move to leave when Gauri stopped him.

"No bade bhaiyya. I have some work downstairs. I have to go," she said and more or less ran out of the room, not caring to look at Omkara who wanted to decipher her reaction.

Was she shy?

Or did she regret him?

"I just thought of checking on you. You have been cooped up for so long, but I never thought..." Shivaay left the sentence hanging, as he walked towards his brother and Omkara just nodded in response.

"Ummm... are things good now?" he asked again doubtfully when the latter remained silent.

"Well, if I go by what I saw then things are definitely improving," he said giving him a snide smirk and was rewarded with a glare.

"When did you start talking like Rudy? I am fine and you should leave it at that."

"Oh!! Things are getting personal now?"

"Shivaay!!"

His brother held up is hands in mock surrender.

"Fine, don't go uhh... what does she call you?... ahh,.. Right... Don't go all Nandi on me," he said laughing.

"I am done. You stay here and have fun, I am leaving," Omkara said and took a step away from his irritating brother who broke the charm of a beautiful moment and then thought joking would be a nice way to apologize.

He was prepared to follow his drug downstairs when his younger brother made his appearance.

"Why is he fuming? Did Karan come up?" Rudra asked Shivaay, referring to his other brother's unhappy face.

"Oh God not again. He is in the mansion? Whoever called him back?" Omkara groaned aloud.

"I don't know... From the way he furiously left the house that day, I thought he would never return. I was almost convinced that he came for Gauri but..." Rudra wondered aloud.

"Like seriously? Why will..." Omkara started to growl.

"I called him," Shivaay interrupted his brothers and they raised their eyebrows.

"You? For What?"

"Did you forget? Anika is getting engaged to him tomorrow"

"What?? When was this decided? We did not plan anything to counter..." Rudra said in panic when he saw Omkara glaring at him, gesturing him to stop.

"I meant that we have not planned anything. Engagement needs be well arranged, right Bhaiyya?" Rudy modified his statement making Shivaay smile at him.

"Everything is in order Rudy. I always plan my steps meticulously."

Omkara and Rudra helplessly looked at each other.

"Where is he waiting Rudy? Downstairs?"

"Huh?"

"Karan... where is he?"

"Umm... he must have gone to meet bhabhi"

"Which Bhabhi?" Omkara asked at once.

Rudra rolled his eyes this time, as he said, "I am calling only Anika as bhabhi these days O. The other bhabhi asked me not to call her that... you very well know the reason."

"Okay, let us go down. I have a few announcements to make" said Shivaay ignoring Omkara's unending glare for Rudra.

"Shivaay please. Think about this once again. This is not at all necessary. Why would you want to marry your own wife to some dumb head."

"He isn't dumb Om; in fact, he is way smarter and romantic than I expected."

"Means?"

"I just asked him if he was okay with the engagement happening in the mansion of Anika's ex-husband. He said he is okay with anything if he gets his love in the end."

The brothers made a disgusted face as they chorused, "His love?"

"Shivaay, did you not feel like chopping his head off when you heard him take Bhabhi's name? Why do you behave like you are not affected at all. I don't believe this at all, so kindly stop your bluff."

"Why can't you believe Om? If I can believe that my brothers can be happy with their sister in law introducing her new fiancé to me, If I can believe that you two plan to gel up with that man, you can also believe that I am friends with him."

Omkara and Rudra could only look at each other in guilt. They knew his brother must be hurt when they supported their sister in law and not him. But as they listened to him speak to them, they noted betrayal and accusation. 

Why did he sound more hurt than before? He knew they were bound by a promise right?...  the brother wondered when the elder one got their attention again.

"Come, we have a major showdown today in the mansion" Shivaay said and ushered the other two out of the room.

**********************************************************************************

Jhanvi sigh Oberoi's watchful eyes never left her daughter in law from the time she rushed into the kitchen bumping into a house help and knocking off a glass of juice on the floor.

She specifically waited for her there, so that when she came down, she could assess if there was any change of heart. She was sure that once Gauri looked at the picture her son had been trying to draw since the last few days, she will know how much she meant to Omkara.

In the three days he had been at his task, her son had been restless, telling her how he yearned to see her smile again. He must have drawn a dozen of her smiles which she thought looked marvelous to her eyes. But every time, he would just shake his head in disappointment finding fault in each of it.

He would say some did not have the shine of her eyes and some others lacked the luster of her skin tone. One doesn't have her nose straight and the other had longer lashes.

She shook her head with a smile remembering how he would talk of her every feature that was etched in his mind in such detail that she doubted if her daughter in law herself knew her face so well.

Her son was an idiot to not realize that his heart fell for the woman whose one smile meant so much to him. As to when it happened, she did not have any idea and she was sure if she forced him further, he would back off fearing the worst of consequences.

Omkara had always been her calm and composed child who stopped expecting good from life when his father disappointed him. He had always been subtle both with his emotions and actions.

Maybe a gentle nudge instead of a hard push will work... she thought.

"Are you sure you are alright Gauri?" asked Jhanvi making Gauri look at her and give her a hesitant smile.

"I am fine maa ji. Why do you ask?" she asked sounding detached.

Her son did not make things worse, did he?

"No, you seem disturbed... more like shaken... did Om do anything wrong? You went to see him...," she spoke with dread but stopped in shock when she noted the blush rise in the younger one's cheeks.

Good God!! Was she thinking too positive? Agreed, the color was faint but it did show when she took her son's name.

Jhanvi grinned mentally appreciating whatever her artist son did to bring that effect on his wife but outwardly she maintained her silence.

"Uh.. no maa ji. He is fine now. Bade bhaiyya also came to talk to him so, I am sure he will come down shortly."

Jhanvi stopped herself from screaming in frustration.

Here, she was trying to get her son and daughter in law alone for one calm moment and someone or the other will always be right behind to shatter her illusions.

"Hey Gauri" a deep voice sounded from close quarters.

The two women turned around to see a smiling Karan walking towards them.

"Namaste Karan ji. How are you doing?" Gauri asked formally when Jhanvi nodded at the man acknowledging his presence.

"Uhh... Hi aunty" he greeted and she gave him a formal nod.

"You are our guest Vikram, why are you inside the kitchen?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to Gauri for a bit," he said and Jhanvi knitted her eyebrows.

"Whatever for?" she asked making Gauri raise her eyebrows.

Why is the mother-son duo having a problem to converse smoothly with the sweet guy?

Karan chuckled before turning to Gauri and said, "Why is it that you have so many body guards my girl? Do I look like a kidnaper?"

Gauri widened her eyes and turned to her mother in law who continued to stare at the man, not finding mirth in the joke.

"You are here for a job aren't you?" Jhanvi asked, leaving the pretense of not knowing things.

"I think you are misunderstanding aunty. I came here to help. It is not my job to change people's life decisions. I am here because of someone's insistence."

"Right. I appreciate the sweet gesture but it is my responsibility to look over who gets in touch with my daughter in law."

"Oh, you can be assured that I mean no harm to her."

"Good to know," she uttered and turned to her bahu.

"Gauri, come to my room after talking to him. I have something important to tell you," the mother hen said and Gauri nodded in response.

Jhanvi then left the place, not before passing a smile to her son's wife and a glare to her son's opponent.

At the present state of their marriage life, Jhanvi did not want her daughter in law to have second thoughts. She lost her husband in one such weak moment and she cursed herself forever for introducing Svetlana, who was her friend to Tej.

As the situations turned bitter, the man shifted away so much that she couldn't pin-point the time when Svetlana had him in her clutches.

Such incidents in life left her worrisome and she knew it influenced her son as well. She should soon think of a way to get her children away from distraction and she very well knew whom to approach.

**********************************************************************************************

"One thing is for sure Gauri. You are the only sane person in this mansion. The rest are a bunch of apes" Karan said with a pleasing smile.

Gauri looked at him confused and asked, "What is apes?"

"Uhh.. ape means monkey"

"What?" she shouted scandalized.

"I mean they are all primitive, dumb. No one talks things out and.."

"No Karan ji. You cannot call my family like that."

"Should I take my statement back? Remember how you introduced yourself to me? Ms. Gauri Sharma," he said with a smirk and she stood stunned at his statement.

"Yeah... remember? This is not your family Ms. Sharma"

"I...actually..."

"So, you are an Oberoi?" he asked with a smile and she looked away, not having an answer.

"That is so heart breaking. I genuinely was interested in you Ms. Hazel eyes. We would have had a good time together on that date."

"Date..."

"It is not a dry fruit. It is a meet between a man and a woman who are romantically interested in each other. Like a meet before marriage... you got my point?"

Gauri could only gape at him as he chuckled.

"Karan ji, I never would have gone for that date with you"

"Yes, I understand it now. You like Omkara."

"No but I..."

"Liar," he smiled again and she sighed.

"Okay, I will give you some love advice to get your dumb husband on the love track but before that I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Can I get some popcorn?"

Gauri gave him a confused look when he frowned and looked into his phone.

"Popcorn Gauri.. see it looks like..." he tried to explain showing her a picture.

"I know what is popcorn Karan ji."

"Then why do you look so confused?"

"Why do you want it now?"

"Oh that," he said with a grin.

"Shivaay is about to show me a drama for the help I did for him."

"Is everything alright?" she asked in worry.

"Things weren't fine till now. They will be absolutely gorgeous from now, that you have me to help."

"Karan ji, please tell me.."

"I don't want to spoil your suspense Gauri but I will tell you that your lead was right. Your Pinky maa ji messed up really bad. It took me a day to assemble the shattered pieces of the puzzle."

"She was the reason behind the divorce?" Gauri asked in shock.

"Yes and much more."

"What are you doing now then? Where is Anika bhaujai?"

"According to your bade bhaiyya, I am supposed to play my part in the drama and once the plot is set, your Pinky maa ji will spill the truth herself. Basically..."

He didn't get the chance to complete when they heard Shivaay calling for his family's attention.

"It is time," Karan exclaimed.

Gauri rolled her eyes at the excitement when the man took her hand and happily dragged her to the hall where the plan was to be implemented.

*****************************************************************************************

Hope you all are doing good.

Take care and stay safe.

See you all... until later... yours Soujanya.

*************************************************************************