Hello everyone... Engagement Trilogy consists of 3 individual stories with the common theme of engagement in it. Hope you all will like this series.

Gauri wiped her tears as she looked out the car window as trees and buildings fled past her, seeing but not taking it in. She was still mourning her parents. They had passed away a year ago in a car accident and she was left with her uncle, Khuranna. Her uncle was nice though he didn't know how to behave with her having seen her only a hand full of times before her parents passed away. So she was lonely, and then another blow came when her uncle was called away for a project in the US for a year and he had to leave immediately. He couldn't take her with him and she couldn't go anywhere else. That was when Tej Singh Oberoi had unexpectedly called up telling them that his son was of marriageable age now and he was coming with his family to see Gauri. On further talking Khuranna found out that Tej and Shakti had promised that their children would get married once they grow up when they were of marriageable age. Gauri was shocked to realize that all these years when her father had talked about his best friend's son who had gone abroad years ago with his family would come one day to marry her was not just a joke. When Khuranna had informed Tej about Shakti's death and that Khuranna had to leave the country in two days and he had no idea what to do with Gauri, Tej had instantly asked him to send Gauri home as his family has permanently shifted to India saying whether Gauri came to her house before or after marriage was not going to make any difference. And here she was on her way to her supposed sasural to marry a man she had never met but was engaged to since she was born.

Gauri feels a hand on her hair as if someone was caressing her and she turns to look at Jhanvi Aunty who was smiling at her lovingly. Gauri smiles back at her, seeing her had brought back memories of her mother and it was making her homesick. Jhanvi Aunty had come to pick her up from the airport.

Seeing the tears on her face Jhanvi asks worried, "Why are crying, Gauri? Are you missing your chachu?"

Gauri shakes her head in no.

"Then?"

"Seeing you reminded me of mama." Gauri sadly tells her.

Jhanvi smiles at her "I am also your mother, right? You can call me Mom just like Rudra."

"Rudra?" Gauri asks confused.

"Rudra is my younger son. Your fiance." Jhanvi explains.

"Oh! You have an elder son too?" Gauri asks conversationally feeling comfortable with Jhanvi.

"Yes, Omkara."Jhanvi says happily, seeing the pride and joy in her, Gauri understood Omkara was his mother's favorite son.

"Who all are there at home?" Gauri asks.

"Just Tej, Omkara, Rudra and me." Jhanvi tells her, then adds "Now you, also. I always wanted a daughter, being in a male dominated family can drive you crazy at times." Jhanvi says laughing.

Gauri smiles seeing her laugh, "What about Omkara's wife?" Gauri asks.

Suddenly Jhanvi's smile drop and she says sadly, "My Om is not married."

Gauri being Gauri couldn't help but ask, "Why? He is elder to Rudra right?"

Jhanvi sighs sadly.

"If you don't want to tell me it is fine." Gauri says quickly seeing her sad.

"No. You are family, Gauri. My Om had an accident when he was small and he has a..." Jhanvi stops as she tries to control her tears and Gauri patiently waited, "a limp. And he feels that he will be a burden on his wife and has refused to marry."

A limp? With that built up she was thinking impotency. What does a limp has to do with marriage? Gauri wondered but wisely decided to keep her opinion to herself.

"We are home." Jhanvi tells her as she composed herself and smiled. Gauri looks at the palatial house and decided that the Oberoi-s were definitely into over indulgence seeing the huge house where just four of them lived, the number of cars and the huge garden.

Jhanvi and Gauri walks into the house where Tej and Rudra were waiting to welcome her home. Tej happily hugs her and welcomes her home while Rudra politely smiles at her and quickly leaves after the introductions are made. Jhanvi shows Gauri to her room. After settling down, Gauri joins Jhanvi and and Dandi in the kitchen as they cooked. Once all the cooking was done, Jhanvi goes to take her afternoon nap asking Gauri also to rest. Being alone at home as all the men have gone to office, Gauri wanders around the house trying to get acquainted with all the turns and ways in the house.

After wandering around the house for a while Gauri decides to go out for fresh air and goes to the garden. She was sitting in the garden when she heard a manly voice say her name, "Gauri Kumari."

Gauri turns back and finds a young handsome man standing behind her with a gentle smile on his face. Seeing the cane in his hand, Gauri knew instantly that this was Omkara. With a face like that who bothers about a stupid limp? Gauri wonders.

"I am Omkara Singh Oberoi." Omkara tells her.

"I guessed." Gauri says.

"How?" Omkara asks in a chilling tone as he evenly looked in her eyes, challenging her to tell him about his limp.

Seeing his look Gauri realized he was challenging her. "I met everyone else. Only you were left." Gauri replies and he nods his head. And Gauri being Gauri couldn't help but open her big mouth and say "And you have a cane, sir."

Omkara looks at her in shock; no one had ever dared to talk to him about his handicap. If they saw the cane they ignored it and here this mere girl was looking him in the eye and reminding him that he has a cane! He wondered why he was not angry but impressed with this girl and her audacity.

"That also helped in guessing your identity." Gauri adds looking him in the eye.

He liked her. Omkara breaks out into a smile and says, "Welcome home, Gauri Kumari."

"Gauri." Gauri corrects him.

"What's wrong in Gauri Kumari?" Omkara asks.

"Kumari!!! That outdated name should have been outlawed centuries ago." Gauri mutters.

Omkara bursts out laughing and once he calms down he says "Kumari, it is then." Omkara says with a naughty glint in his eyes.

"I don't like that name, sir." Gauri tells him.

"I like it. And please don't call me sir; you can call me Omkara or Om."

"Oh please don't think I was calling you sir out of respect. I was being sarcastic and defiant." Gauri says.

"Good thing you told me, otherwise I would have never realized it." Omkara tells her laughing again.

She frowns at him not liking that he was making fun of her.

Omkara suddenly stops laughing as he looked towards his side and Gauri follows his eyes to see what brought the change in him and finds Rudra curiously looking at them as he walked towards them.

"You are laughing?" Rudra asks confused.

"Why he doesn't laugh?" Gauri asks before Omkara could answer.

"Of course. He does. Everyone laughs." Rudra says looking at her wondering if she was stupid.

"The way you asked, I just assumed that..." Gauri shrugs.

And Omkara finishes for her, "because I have a limp that I am a sad soul."

Rudra looks at Omkara in shock, first time he was joking about his limp.

"You are not marrying because of the limp. You are obviously making a big deal out of it, so I thought..." Gauri shrugs again.

Rudra watches them in shock, first his brother was talking about his limp so openly and here she was talking about it with him and still managed to stay alive.

Omkara watches her, having received sympathetic looks from girls for a long time, Gauri's reaction was a pleasant change. Seeing Rudra gaping at them both, Omkara shrugs.

"So why were you surprised he was laughing?" Gauri asking not even aware of the shock she had caused to both the brothers.

"He is very reserved with strangers. So, I was shocked." Rudra explains.

"Oh!" Gauri says.

"Not everything is about the limp." Omkara says and adds just for fun, "Kumari."

Seeing her furious expression Omkara limps away chuckling.

Gauri angrily says with hands on hips, "He is rude!"

"We just met and you have the nerve to criticize my brother to me?" Rudra asks offended.

Gauri looks at him in shock and hears Omkara call out without looking at them "She does have the nerve!"

"I was just talking out loud to myself." Gauri says embarrassed then turns to glare at Omkara's retreating form.

"You talk out loud to yourself?" Rudra asks shocked.

"I am not surprised!" Omkara calls out laughing loudly.

Gauri angrily stomps her foot on the ground while Rudra strangely looks at his fiance wondering what had his parents got him into.

Later at night, they were having dinner while Tej and Jhanvi talked to Gauri trying to get to know her better. Then Tej goes on to tell her childhood stories of Shakti and him making her laugh happily.

"Can you pass me the water, Kumari?" Omkara asks her earning a pissed off look from her for calling her Kumari as she passed the water.

Rudra looks at them confused and turns to Omkara whispers to him, "How did you manage to piss her off by just asking for water?"

Omkara just chuckles in reply while Gauri fumed at them knowing they were talking about her.

After they had dinner, Gauri helps Jhanvi clean up while Tej and Omkara went to their rooms respectively while Rudra sat in the living room reading a magazine. After all the work was done, Gauri starts to go to her room when a thought struck her, whether her room was on the left side or the one on the right side. Seeing her standing confused Rudra walks to her.

"Any problem, Gauri?"

"Rudra, I can't seem to remember whether my room was on the left or right side. I am just getting used to the house." Gauri tells him ashamed fearing he would think her stupid yet again.

"It happens. I used to always end up at the kitchen when I tried to get to the gym when we moved in first." Rudra tells her chuckling.

Gauri smiles relaxing she was not the only one.

"The one on the right is your room." Rudra tells her as he walked away.

"Thank you." she calls out to him as she hurries to her room.

Gauri walks into her room and looks around strangely. The room was looking much different from afternoon. Then a thought struck her, Rudra was facing her when he told her right, that means his right and her left. She had come to the wrong room. Shaking her head she starts to walk back to her room when she hears a door opening and turns to look. Omkara comes out of the bathroom only in his towel. He was not using his cane and his limp was more pronounced but she was not looking at his limp, she was looking at his bare chest. She gapes at her first real life naked chest apart from her father's.

"Gauri?" Omkara says her name shocked.

Recovering she shrieks. "I thought this is my room." Gauri says as she looked down in embarrassment. And that is when she saw his left leg, it was scarred to the core and it didn't have even half the muscle his right leg had.

"What are you staring at?" Omkara asks seeing her gaping at his leg. He hated people seeing his leg, even his parents or brother hasn't seen his leg since he was a small boy.

"When you are standing there naked, I can't look at you now. Can I SIR?" Gauri asks hands on hips as she continued to look down, his scars already forgotten only that he was in towel in front of her registering in her mind.

"You could leave!" Omkara reminds her.

"Oh yes. I can. I should." Gauri says remembering that was the right thing to do and runs out.

Gauri went to bed happily realizing finally she was letting her parents go. She was holding on to her parents till now was because she was all alone and she had missed being with family. Now with Oberoi-s it felt family again, what she hadn't felt with her chachu. Mom & Dad were nice, Rudra was still a stranger and he didn't seem to like her much, and she didn't know him well to like him or dislike him, but they had their whole life together to get to know each other and like each other. With Rudra she felt comfortable. Hell she felt more comfortable with Omkara, she was slowly becoming her old self. Thinking about Omkara she thought of his bare chest and started blushing then panicked worrying why she was thinking of Omkara instead of his brother. She was supposed to think of Rudra, not his brother and his bare chest!

Gauri woke up late due to her previous day travel and her new surroundings. She quickly gets ready and hurries downstairs to see everyone seated for breakfast.

"Come, Gauri. We were just about to start." Jhanvi tells her with a smile.

"Sorry, I slept off." Gauri says embarrassed.

"You would have been tired from your travel that is why I didn't wake you up." Jhanvi tells her.

Gauri sits on her seat uncomfortably as she was sitting opposite to Omkara. Looking at him, the only thing in front of her eyes was his sexy bare chest. She gulps and closes her eyes tightly to get the image out of her head. She opens her eyes to see Omkara curiously looking at her. Seeing him looking at her, her cheeks turn pink in embarrassment and she quickly looks down.

After they are done with breakfast, Gauri helps clean up.

"Gauri, can you give this coffee to Om?" Jhanvi asks as she hands her a cup.

Since she didn't want to be rude, Gauri smiles and takes it.

Omkara was standing alone when Gauri goes to him with the tray. "Your coffee." Gauri says as she avoided eye contact with him.

"Thanks. Is there a problem?" Omkara asks.

"Sorry for last night." Gauri says embarrassed.

"What happened last night? Did something happen last night?" Omkara feigns ignorance.

Gauri looks at him in shock and sees him smiling sweetly at him. He wanted to pretend that didn't happen. Gauri realizes she smiles.

Seeing her smile, Omkara finishes his coffee and hands the mug to her. "See you in the evening, Kumari." Omkara says as he walked away, she was so relieved that she decided to forgive him for calling her Kumari this time.

She was happy he wanted to forget that she saw him almost naked. Now all she had to do was get the image of his bare chest out of her mind. She watches him walk away and realized to her amazement that Omkara Singh Oberoi had a very sexy limp. She wondered why girls were not flocking him.

"Are you checking out my brother?" Rudra asks as he looked at her in shock.

"WHAT? NO!" Gauri says embarrassed as she quickly averts her eyes from Omkara. "Why would I check out your brother?" Gauri asks embarrassed.

"Yeah! You should be checking me out instead." he tells her.

Gauri gapes at him in shock and he chuckles "I was just kidding, Gauri. Relax. I am off to office, see you in the evening." Rudra says as he patted her on her arms.

Few days later one evening Gauri was watching TV in the hall when she hears the front door open and she quickly gets up to see who it was. Omkara walks in as he checked his mobile absentmindedly. He hits his leg on the table and starts to fall down as he gasped in pain.

"OMKARA!" Gauri calls out as she quickly holds him. "Are you alright? Is your leg fine?" Gauri asks as she steadies him.

Omkara angrily makes her release him and says "I am not an invalid! You don't have to take care of me!"

Tej and Rudra who were following Omkara stops silently as they took in the scene before them.

Jhanvi had also come out running hearing Gauri's shout. Tej was about to interfere when he caught Gauri's furious look as she matched Om's stare with an equally murderous stare.

"People without a limp can hit their leg, fall down and hurt their leg!" Gauri angrily tells him.

Omkara looks at her in shock realizing that he had over reacted, his insecurities regarding his leg making him paranoid.

Tej and Jhanvi watches them in shock as Gauri openly talked about Omkara's limp. No one dared to do that, especially to his face. Jhanvi was hurrying to Gauri to protect her.

"Sorry." Omkara mutters to Gauri as he walked away shocking his parents.

"He gets into my nerves!" Gauri says as she angrily watched him walk away.

Jhanvi gasps hearing her new bahu insulting her son.

"Don't take offense Mom, she is just talking out loudly to herself." Omkara calls out to her.

Next day was a holiday, and everyone was chilling at home. "Can I go to the temple, Mom?" Gauri asks Jhanvi.

"Sure, dear. I'll come with you." Jhanvi says smiling at her.

"Mom, I'll take Gauri to the temple." Rudra tells Jhanvi.

Jhanvi starts smiling slyly. "Okay."

"Go get ready, Gauri." Rudra tells her.

Gauri nods and hurries to her room. She realized that it was a good idea to go to the temple with Rudra, they were going to get married and they haven't even talked to each other properly, she has fought with Omkara much more.

Gauri gets ready and hurries down to find Omkara waiting for her. "You ready?"

"Yes. Where is Rudra?" Gauri asks as she looked around for him.

"Someone called him and he had to leave urgently. So he asked me to take you to the temple." Omkara tells her.

"Oh okay. Mom was saying she wanted to go to the temple. I will just check with her whether she is coming with us." Gauri tells him.

"Rudra asked her to make him fried rice and she has gone to cook for him." Omkara tells her.

"Oh! Okay then let's go." Gauri says as she walked with him.

Omkara parks the car and Gauri quickly gets out. Gauri waits for Omkara to get out of the car. As she watched him slowly getting out of the car she wanted to offer him her help but knew he was too proud to accept her help. He flinches as he put a little too much pressure on his leg and Gauri's heart bleeds seeing pain on his face. She wondered why his pain was causing her pain.

Omkara reaches her and they slowly walk towards the temple. Seeing the steps Gauri holds Omkara's hand as she took her first step.

Omkara quickly jerks her hand off and says irritated, "I don't need help climbing stairs."

Gauri furiously turns to him and asks "Why do you have to make everything about yourself? Can't you see that I am holding a thaali in one hand, I am wearing heels and the steps are so narrow that I could be scared that I might trip?"

Omkara once again realize that he had jumped to conclusion, "Here." he says as he held out his hand for her.

"It is a good thing he is not getting married. No girl in her right mind would tolerate his tantrums for more than five minutes!" Gauri mutters.

Omkara laughs hearing her talking out loud to herself once again. Hearing him chuckle Gauri turns to look at him and he was smiling at her happily as his eye crinkled on the sides. He looked like the happiest man in the world then. Gauri's heart falls to the pit of her stomach as realization dawns on her that she liked her fiance's brother a little more than she should like. Omkara watches her as she looked at him in shock then she interlocks her fingers with his holding tightly.

[https://gaana.com/lyrics/mohabbat-ho-na-jaye-dekha-jo-tumko]

Dekha Jo Tumko, Yeh Dil Ko Kya Hua Hai

Meri Dhadkanon Pe Yeh Chhaaya Kya Nasha Hai, Haan

Omkara looks at her as his heart started slamming against his chest.

Dekha Jo Tumko, Yeh Dil Ko Kya Hua Hai

Meri Dhadkanon Pe Yeh Chhaaya Kya Nasha Hai, Haan

Gauri looks away not able to hold his stare for long, she felt her cheeks heating up realizing she had started blushing.

Mohabbat Ho Na Jaaye, Deewana Kho Na Jaaye

Sambhaaloon Kaise Isko, Mujhe Tu Bataa, Haan

Mohabbat Ho Na Jaaye, Deewana Kho Na Jaaye

Sambhaaloon Kaise Isko, Mujhe Tu Bataa

They slowly walked up the steps to the temple and pray.

Dekha Jo Tumko, Yeh Dil Ko Kya Hua Hai

Meri Dhadkanon Pe Yeh Chhaaya Kya Nasha Hai, Haan

After praying they start walking down the steps. When Gauri was about to get into the car she sees a vendor selling cotton candy.

"Cotton candy!!!" she shouts out excitedly as she ran to the vendor after keeping her thali in the car.

Seeing her excitement Omkara starts smiling as he limped behind her.

Bheegi Bheegi Alkon Se, Chori Chori Palkon Se

Kyoon Mera Sapna Churaaye

Jhunki Jhunki Ankhiyon Se, Dheere Dheere Batiyon Se

Kyoon Mujhe Apna Banaaye

Gauri excitedly takes the cotton candy from the vendor and starts eating it. Seeing the vendor waiting she turns to Omkara and frowns, "Pay him. I didn't bring money. Will pay you back when I get home."

Omkara shakes his head at her order as he paid the vendor. Though happy that she was calling his house, home.

Gauri starts eating the cotton candy and sees him watching her; she offers him her cotton candy. Omkara notices a speck stuck on her nose and pinches it off her nose. Shows it to her when she starts frowning then casually eats it making her blush slightly.

Meri Nazron Pe Chhaaye, Khushboo Ke Jaise Aaye

Mera Tan Mann Mahekaaye

Saanson Mein Yeh Pal Pal Jaane Kaise Halchal

Kuch Bhi Samajh Mein Na Aaye

Sharaarat Ho Na Jaaye, Mohabbat Ho Na Jaaye

Sambhaaloon Kaise Isko, Mujhe Tu Bataa

Sharaarat Ho Na Jaaye, Mohabbat Ho Na Jaaye

Sambhaaloon Kaise Isko, Mujhe Tu Bataa

After finishing her cotton candy, Gauri notices a man selling bubbles and she hurries excitedly towards him. She was happy today, after a long time she was truly and she wanted to celebrate that. She takes the bubbles and starts blowing while Omkara paid for the bubbles. Gauri sees a few boys watching her blowing bubbles. She calls them towards her and starts blowing the bubbles as they excitedly jumped around bursting them.

Meri Hai Yeh Mushkil, Ab To Yeh Mera Dil

Bas Mein Huzoor Nahin Hai

Itna Bataa De Mujhe Kaise Samjhaaoon

Tujhe Mera Yeh Kasoor Nahin Hai

A boy in his excitement to burst the bubble pushes her and she falls on to Omkara and he holds her. They get lost in each other's eyes as their hearts started beating fast. A boy shakes Gauri breaking her out of her trance asking her to blow more bubbles. Gauri and Omkara quickly moves apart, and Gauri blows the bubbles while Omkara moves away.

Chaahe Hum Chaahe Bhi To Pehre Lagaaye Bhi To

Kaise Din Raat Ko Roke

Aag Bina Yeh Jale, Zor Na Koi Chale

Kaise Jazbaat Ko Roke

Yun Chaahat Ho Na Jaaye, Mohabbat Ho Na Jaaye

Sambhaaloon Kaise Isko, Mujhe Tu Bataa, Haan

Yun Chaahat Ho Na Jaaye, Mohabbat Ho Na Jaaye

Sambhaaloon Kaise Isko, Mujhe Tu Bataa

Omkara watches Gauri mesmerized as she blew the bubbles into the air stealing glances at him. Once she was done, she waves the kids bye and spots a chunari shop and hurries there. Omkara quietly follows her. Gauri tries on different chunaris and models for Omkara for opinion and he vetoes everything.

Dekha Jo Tumko, Yeh Dil Ko Kya Hua Hai

Meri Dhadkanon Pe Yeh Chhaaya Kya Nasha Hai, Haan

Mohabbat Ho Na Jaaye, Deewana Kho Na Jaaye

Sambhaaloon Kaise Isko, Mujhe Tu Bataa

Mohabbat Ho Na Jaaye, Deewana Kho Na Jaaye

Sambhaaloon Kaise Isko, Mujhe Tu Bataa

Finally he takes a beautiful red chunari and puts it over her head. "Beautiful." Omkara says looking at her.

Gauri blushes when he says that, and he seeing her blush quickly recovers and says, "I meant that chunari is beautiful."

Gauri decides to buy that and they start to home.

Gauri and Omkara walks in, and Gauri turns to Omkara, "Cotton candy and bubbles were 20 each and the chunnari is 250. So total 290. I will go get it." Gauri says.

"Leave it. Don't bother." Omkara tells her as he waved it off.

"That is not right." Gauri says.

"Consider it my gift." Omkara says shrugging.

"Why didn't you say that earlier?" Gauri asks frowning. "I would have got more expensive stuff."

Omkara looks at her in shock and she starts laughing, "I was just joking. Thank you, Omkara."

Omkara watches her running off happily and hears her saying "Hey Rudra" to Rudra without stopping as she ran up the stairs.

"Mom, I need to go to Pune for a week." Omkara tells Jhanvi.

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Morning? But we had asked the punditji to come tomorrow to fix the engagement date." Jhanvi says frowning.

Omkara's heart skips a beat hearing that then quickly recovering he says, "I don't have to be there for that right? I will be here for the engagement."

"Okay." Jhanvi sighs having no other option.

Next day morning, Gauri wakes up hearing someone knock on her door. She quickly gets up and opens the door to find Omkara there.

"Good morning." Omkara says smiling at her.

"Good morning. Are you going to office?" Gauri asks smiling seeing him all ready.

"I am going to Pune for a week. So I thought I will say bye before I leave."

"For a week?" Gauri asks as her smile drops.

"Yes." Omkara says.

Gauri becomes sad. She was so used to having him around and fighting with him.

Seeing her sad expression he started feeling bad. He didn't want to remember her sad face when he was in Pune, so he says "I will see you on Sunday, Kumari."

Seeing her furious look he happily leaves.

Gauri was sitting sadly in her room when Jhanvi calls out to her. She plasters a smile on her face and hurries down to find Jhanvi, Tej and Rudra sitting with a pundit.

"Come, Gauri. The pundit is going to look for a good muhurat for the engagement." Jhanvi tells her as she calls out to her stretching her hands to her.

Gauri panics as she walks towards Jhanvi and sits next to her gripping her hands. They were going to fix the engagement? Gauri panics as she thought of Omkara.

"There is a good Muhurat on the Monday and another next month." Pundit tells her calculating.

"Next month what date?" Jhanvi asks.

"Mom, it is best to have the engagement this Monday." Rudra tells them while Gauri looks at him in panic. She had to talk to Omkara.

"But there isn't much time." Jhanvi says panicking.

"Gauri is staying here. It is better to have the engagement announced before people start talking." Rudra explains.

"Yes that is right." Tej says.

"Okay." Jhanvi says smiling.

"So fast?" Gauri asks worried.

"I know, we don't have much time to prepare." Jhanvi says thinking that is why Gauri was panicking.

"Don't worry, Gauri. We all are here. We will split up and do everything." Rudra consoles her.

"Omkara?" Gauri says panicking.

"He will be back on Sunday before the engagement." Rudra tells her.

Gauri sunk into depression as everyone rushed her through the preparations. As days passed by she realized that she was in love with Omkara and she couldn't marry Rudra. She was missing her parents; if they were there she could have told them about it. But how can she tell Rudra's parents that she was in love with their other son? And she didn't even know whether Omkara loved her or not. Omkara had called home many times but not even once he had asked to talk to her. She had to talk to him before the engagement and she impatiently waited for him to come home.

Gauri and Jhanvi walks into the house on Sunday evening after collecting the engagement dress. She looks around for Omkara wondering whether he was home. Jhanvi quickly goes to her room to freshen up when Gauri spots Dandi.

"Dandi bhaiyya, did Omkara reach?"

"Yes. He is in his room with Rudra." Dandi answers her.

Gauri hurries to Omkara's room and doesn't bother knocking. She opens the door and rushes in to find Rudra and Omkara in a heated argument. She didn't know what they were arguing about and didn't care. Seeing her they both stop and turn to look at her. Her heart broke seeing his irritated expression. He didn't seem happy to see her, just irritated.

"Omkara..."

"Don't you know to knock?" Omkara angrily asks her.

She felt as if he had slapped her. "I need to talk to you." Gauri tells him desperately.

"Not now." Omkara angrily tells her as he turned to ignore her.

"Please Omkara. This is important."

"Maybe for you, not for me." Omkara arrogantly tells her.

Gauri looks at him heartbroken as tears filled her eyes. "Please Omkara. I just need a moment."

"Leave, Gauri." Omkara says.

For the first time in her life she hated that someone was calling her Gauri instead of Kumari.

"You should talk to her." Rudra tells his brother.

"Stay out of this." Omkara orders him.

"You talk to him, Gauri. I will leave." Rudra tells her.

Gauri looks at Omkara sadly, she wanted to spend her whole life with him and he couldn't spare even a moment for her. Seeing Rudra about to leave, she stops him "It's okay. Whatever I had to tell him, it doesn't matter anymore. I will leave." Gauri says as she walked out heartbroken.

"Gauri, wait!" Rudra calls out to her while she ignores him and hurries to her room.

Gauri had cried her heart out the previous night to sleep. She was glad no one had coming looking for her, maybe they would have thought she had slept early. After coming to the Oberoi's house for the first time she was feeling homesick and she starts crying again. She hears a knock on the door and she hurries to open wiping her face hoping it would be Omkara but it was Jhanvi.

"Gauri, are you crying my child?" Jhanvi asks worried.

Gauri hugs her and starts crying.

"What happened?"

"I want to see Mama and Papa." Gauri cries as she hugged Jhanvi.

Jhanvi quickly takes Gauri inside to give them privacy and says, "I can understand Gauri. It's your engagement and you would be missing them. But Tej and I are here in their place right?"

When Gauri continues to cry Jhanvi tells her, "Today you are going to fulfill your parents' biggest dream and how would they feel if you cry during that?"

Gauri looks at her in shock and remembers how her father used to always go on and on about his best friend's son and her wedding. She realizes that to fulfill her parents wish she has to marry Rudra. She wipes her tears and says determined "I will start getting ready."

"You take your shower and come down for breakfast. By then the beautician will be here." Jhanvi tells her.

Hours later, Gauri was ready for the engagement and she waited with her heart in her mouth for Jhanvi to come and take her to the hall down for the engagement. It was a small affair with some close relatives and friends. Jhanvi takes Gauri down to the hall and Rudra was waiting for her in the center. He smiles at her seeing her and her eyes started searching for Omkara. Tej introduces her to everyone and calls her to the center stage all the while her eyes searching for Omkara.

Jhanvi hands her a ring to her and she continues to look for Omkara and finally he comes into view as he came up behind Rudra and directly opposite to her. She continued to look at him and he kept looking at her, his face inscrutable. Gauri feels Rudra taking hold of her hand and finally looks at him. He looked handsome in his sherwani and that is when it struck her and she quickly snatches her hand from his hand when he was about to slip on the ring on to her finger.

Rudra looks at her with a confused expression, "Is there any problem?"

"I am sorry." Gauri says sadly, "I can't marry you."

Rudra ties his hands on his chest and asks her "May I ask why?"

"Gauri, what happened?" Jhanvi asks her at the same time as she and Tej hurried to her.

"I can't marry him." Gauri tells Jhanvi crying.

"Why?" Rudra insists.

"I am in love with your brother." Gauri tells him as she looked at Omkara.

Omkara's expression didn't change, he kept staring at her but she realized that he was breathing faster now and he was gripping his walking stick. He was trying to act as if it didn't matter to him but it did.

"Omkara?" Rudra asks raising an eye brow.

"Yes. I love him. Today I am getting engaged to you but all I did was looking for him. I didn't look at you even once. I wouldn't have looked at you if you hadn't held my hand. How can I marry you when my heart beats for your brother? I don't know if he wants to marry me or not but I want to marry only him. I love him and honestly speaking, I never tried to fight my feelings for him. I love being in love with him." Gauri tells Rudra.

"I don't want to marry you." Omkara tells her and Gauri closes her eyes in pain.

"Omkara? You love Omkara?" Rudra asks laughing cruelly.

"It doesn't matter now, does it?" Gauri asks sadly.

"It matters. I want to know why you would choose him over me!" Rudra insists as he held her hand stopping her from going away.

"Rudra.."

"No, mom. I need to hear. Have you seen my brother really?" Rudra asks her.

Gauri smiles, "I know. He is arrogant, he has temper problems, and he throws too many tantrums. No sane girl would want to marry him but I never said I am sane." Seeing people staring at her Gauri gently says, "Please let me go. I am sorry I insulted you in front of all these people. It was not my intention. I thought I could marry you but I realize that would never happen because even if I marry you I would only love Omkara."

"Omkara?" Tej calls his son's name wanting to know his opinion once again hoping he would change his mind.

"I am never going to marry. And especially her." Omkara replies stubbornly.

Gauri turns to go when Rudra angrily tells her "He is a bloody limp, Gauri! And you think he is better than me? LIMP!!"

"RUDRA!!!" Tej & Jhanvi shouts out angrily while Omkara remained unaffected.

"So what if he limps? What guarantee is there that I will have both my legs till the day I die? And what does limp have anything to do with marriage?" Gauri furiously asks him.

Rudra smiles at her proudly and then whips around to his brother, "Answer her."

"I told you not to do this!" Omkara furiously tells him as he took a dangerous step towards him.

"Do what?" Gauri asks shocked.

Rudra turns to her and smiles, "Did you really think that I was blind that I didn't see all the sparks between you and my brother? Since the day you came here I knew that you were perfect for one another. I thought the engagement would scare him and make him admit to his love but he is so bloody stubborn. Yesterday I tried talking to him but he has this twisted idea in his head that he would be a burden on you."

"He loves me?" Gauri asks Rudra shocked.

"Obviously." Rudra says rolling his eyes.

"I don't." Omkara replies at the same time.

Gauri walks to Omkara and sees sweat had broken out on his forehead.

"Do you love me?" Gauri asks him.

"No." Omkara says not looking at her.

"Why are you not looking at me?"

Omkara looks at her. "I don't want to marry you."

"Om, she loves you." Jhanvi tells him crying hoping at lease he would agree to marry.

"Who asked about marriage? I was asking about love." Gauri tells him sweetly.

"Stop it, Gauri." Omkara says and she could see his facade was breaking and he was panicking.

"I love you." Gauri tells him.

"I have a limp." Omkara tells her helplessly.

Gauri looks at him amazed. "You wouldn't talk about your limp if you didn't love me."

"I will not marry you." Omkara tells her.

"Maybe I should have told you long back." Gauri tells him smiling with a happy tears.

"What?" Omkara asks frowning.

"That I find your limp so sexy." Gauri says smiling.

Omkara chuckles then shakes his head and says sadly, "It is one thing to find it sexy from a far and another thing to live with it."

"If we should be worried about something then it should be about your hardheadedness and nothing else."

"Just shut up and put the ring on her, Om!" Tej orders him.

Gauri starts smiling realizing his family were all for their marriage. Only she had to convince her mule headed Omkara.

Gauri stares at Omkara and calls out to Tej without taking her eyes off Omkara, "Dad, how important is your promise to you?"

"My promise is my life." Tej replies wondering why she was asking that.

"Hmmm interesting!." Gauri muses then she holds Omkara's face and pulls him down slamming her lips on his.

She hears people gasping while Rudra burst out laughing cheering her "Yaay Gauri!"

Before Omkara had time to react to her kiss, she leaves him. Then she gasps worried, "You kissed me in front of all these people?"

"What?" Omkara asks shocked and confused.

"You ruined me!" Gauri accuses him.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Then she smiles at him sweetly and asks Rudra while she looked Omkara in the eye, "Rudra, I am ruined. Will you marry me now?"

"No! You are damaged goods!" pat comes the reply.

"Dad, Rudra refused to marry me. Now how will you keep your promise to my father?"

"I promised my son will marry you. And Omkara will marry you!" Tej replies.

"He has defamed you and he will make it right!" Jhanvi says.

Gauri gives Omkara a challenging look and flicks an eye brow. Omkara watches her for a few minutes and a smile breaks out on his face, "You are crazy, Gauri."

"And you are stupid." Gauri replies.

"Think again, Gauri. I have a limp."

"And I have a temper!"

"And she talks to herself!" Rudra adds from behind.

"I kind of like that." Omkara tells Rudra then turning to Gauri he says "I will limp all my life."

"I wouldn't have you any other way. I love you and I love you with your limp more."

"Okay." Omkara says smiling.

"Okay what?"

"Let's get married." Omkara tells her.

Gauri smiles at him happily.

"I refused to marry you because I love you. I have loved you since the moment you dared to tell me about my limp. But I wanted you to have a happy life."

"All my happiness is with you." Gauri tells him as her eyes filled with tears.

"Let's do it the right way then."

"Right way?" Gauri asks confused.

"You thought you could blackmail me into marrying you with that ruination drama, right?" Gauri chuckles,

"I was desperate."

"If anyone is going to force me to marry you for ruining you then it would be for really ruining you and not for that sloppy excuse of a kiss."

"Huh?" Gauri looks at him confused and he slams his mouth on her giving her a proper kiss.

Seeing them kissing passionately Rudra advises Tej, "Dad, a long engagement will be your biggest mistake ever."

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- Lazy