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Previous Story : Abandoned Series 1 : Fallen (posted on 22- Apr - 2023)

Belated birthday wishes to rikarabharnal_life

Started writing this as a Drabble but it is a short story.

5 years old Gauri excitedly opens her eyes and realizing that it was morning, she excitedly jumps out of her bed and runs to the bathroom to freshen up.

Gauri excitedly runs out of her room as she couldn't wait to play with her new friends.

The Oberois had come to their place for vacation. Oberoi Dadi was best friends with her Dadi. It was their Dadi's 60th birthday and she had come back to their village and they were staying at her place as their Dadis spent time with each other after decades.

"How come you are awake so early?" Vasundhara asks shocked seeing Gauri running towards them.

Gauri stops and looks around disappointed. "Where are Rudy and Om?"

"They are still sleeping." Jhanvi informs her.

Gauri's face falls hearing that.

Seeing her sadly pouting, Jhanvi lovingly tells her. "Don't worry, sweetie. Om will wake up in sometime. Rudy will take time."

"How long is sometime?" Gauri asks as she walked to them.

As if in answer, they hear the bedroom door open and Gauri excitedly turns back and sees Omkara walking out.

"Om, you are awake!" Gauri excitedly says as she ran to him and hugged him.

Omkara looks down at Gauri, she hardly reached his chest. At 9 years, he was a tall boy and at 5, Gauri a short girl.

"Where is Rudy?" Gauri asks him.

"He is sleeping."

"Hmmm let's go play." Gauri tells him.

"Before that, both of you go and have your milk." Vasundhara tells them.

"Come, Om." Gauri takes his hand and leads him to the kitchen.

"And after they leave, you wake up like this for school too, Gauri." Vasundhara calls out to her.

Without replying, Gauri runs off to the kitchen as she dragged Omkara with her.

Vasundhara and Jhanvi smiles. Then hearing giggles they both turn and look at their mothers-in-law as they whispered and giggled. Vasundhara and Jhanvi chuckle seeing how two different generations were so excited to be with their friends.

**********

That evening, Kalyani and Saraswati watched as their grandchildren played with each other.

"They remind me of us." Kalyani says.

"I know. We were so inseparable as them." Saraswati says happily smiling as her granddaughter played with her best friend's grandson.

Chuckling, Kalyani says, "Remember how we planned to get our children married?"

Saraswati smiles. "Yes. Who would have thought that we both would end up with only 1 son each."

Kalyani chuckles as she watched the kids. Then she turns to her friend and sees that her friend had also turned to look at her. Instantly they realized that they both were thinking of the same thing.

They laugh happily. "But I have two grandsons. How are we going to choose which one?" Kalyani asks her.

Saraswati turns to look at the kids. Gauri and Rudra were playing with each other while Omkara was sitting a little away from them and drawing.

"Those two are inseparable." Saraswati point out.

"True." Kalyani agrees as she realized that Omkara was as usual lost in his world, and drawing.

**********

"What are you saying? They are just babies." Harsh says in shock.

"Yeah, how can we decide now that they should get married after some 20 years?" Tej asks shocked.

"Rudy is just 6 years old." Jhanvi tells them.

"Look at them, they have been together since we reached." Kalyani points out.

"But Ma, they are just friends." Tej reminds her.

"When I was younger than her, my marriage was fixed with your father."

"Even mine." Sarwasti chips in.

"But..." Harsh starts.

"Growing up, knowing that there is someone just for you. The bond that you form with that person. You won't understand. We can't explain it in words." Kalyani says feeling nostalgic.

Sarwasti sighs remembering her beautiful memories with her husband.

Harsh and Tej look at each other helplessly.

**********

"YES!" Gauri shouts excitedly.

"So, will Gauri come with me when we go home?" Rudra asks excitedly.

"Not now." Kalyani tells him.

"Why?" Rudra asks frowning.

"Gauri will come when she grows up. After you both get married." Saraswati tells him.

"Let's get married now." Rudra declares excitedly.

"Not now. After you two grow up."

"I'm tall already!" Rudra says as he puffed up his chest.

"Not tall enough." Harsh tells him shaking his head.

"How tall should I have to be?" Rudra asks frowning.

"As tall as Om?" Gauri asks curiously.

"Taller than him."

Rudra's eyes widen in shock. "Do I have to be as tall as Dad?"

"Yes." Tej tells him.

"You've to drink lots of milk and eat vegetables, Rudy." Gauri advices him.

"I don't like them." Rudra moans sadly as he walked off.

**********

Gauri sneaks out of her bedroom, as she hid her mother's saree inside her top and then hiding from everyone, she runs out of her house.

"Got it." Gauri says excitedly as she ran to Rudra.

"O, Gauri and I am going to get married. You come and be the pundit." Rudra calls out to Omkara.

Omkara looks up at them then he looks back to the book he was reading.

"Come, Om." Gauri calls out to him.

"I'm reading, Gauri." Omkara tells her. "You guys play."

Gauri's face fall.

"He won't come." Rudra tells her as he ignored his brother and turned his attention back to Gauri.

"Okay." Gauri sadly takes the saree and asks Rudra. "How do I wear this?"

Rudra takes the saree and opens it up and he starts wrapping it around Gauri.

"I can't walk." Gauri tells him when he finished wrapping it tightly around Gauri and put the end over her shoulder.

Rudra looks at her as Gauri struggled to walk. "You jump then."

Gauri nods.

"Is that a chameleon?" Omkara asks curiously as he stared at it.

"Where?" Rudra asks as he turned excitedly.

"It's green in color." Omkara points out.

"You know, Gauri? Chameleon changes color and its tongue is so long. As long as a train." Rudra excitedly tells her.

"Not that long." Omkara replies as he rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his book.

"I am going to catch it and take it with me when I go." Rudra excitedly declares and runs after the chameleon.

"Rudy, I have to keep the saree back before Ma finds it missing." Gauri tells him worriedly.

"I'll get the chameleon and come."

"Ma will scold me, Rudy." Gauri worriedly tells him.

"1 minute. I am coming." Rudra tells her as he ran off.

**********

19 years later

Gauri was feeling left out.

Gauri sighs realizing she was being silly. But the FOMO was too much.

She walks into her bedroom and locks the door. As she walked to her bed, she checks the time and realizes that it was 11:45.

She takes her mobile and dials Rudra's number.

"Hey Sweetheart." Rudra answers the call.

She could hear loud music and people talking.

"Hey Rudy." Gauri says smiling. "How is it going there?"

"Great." Rudra replies. "Gauri, is it anything important? Can I call you back?"

"No, it's okay. I just wanted to remind you not to forget to wish Omkara at 12." Gauri tells him.

"For God sake, Gauri. I'm at his fricking birthday party. I'm not going to forget."

"You will, Rudy." Gauri teases him. Tomorrow was Omkara's birthday and Rudra and Omkara's best friend Shivaay was throwing a birthday party for Omkara.

"Sharp at 12, someone is bound to shout out "Happy Birthday Omkara" it will be mighty impossible to forget to wish him."Rudra tells her cheekily.

Gauri chuckles. "I wish I was there."

"I told you to come."

"I know... We've this wedding otherwise I would have come." Gauri says sadly. She always loved staying at the Oberoi's. "Anyway, you carry on."

"Okay, I'll call you back." Rudra tells her.

"If it is after half an hour, then don't, I would have slept by then."

"No, I'll call before that." Rudra promises her.

"Okay." Gauri says knowing too well that his ADHD would kick in and he will be too distracted to call her back. "Bye."

Gauri sighs and keeps her mobile on the side table. She grabs a book and starts to read it so, she could stay awake till 12 and then call Omkara and wish him.

Unable to read, she closes the book. She so badly wanted to go for the party. They all would be having fun. Gauri sadly sighs. Sometimes she just hated how far she is from the Oberois.

Hearing her mobile ring, surprised, she turns and grabs her phone.

**********

Few months later

"Hey Rudy!" Gauri answers the call.

"I want to meet you, Gauri." Rudra softly tells her.

"Give me a minute, I'll come on video call now."

"No, Gauri. I want to meet you." Rudra insists nervously.

"Why? What happened?" Gauri asks confused.

"Please, Gauri. I want to meet you. It's important." Rudra insists.

"Okay... will you be coming here?" Gauri asks confused and feeling worried.

"Yes. But please don't tell your parents that I am coming."

"What happened, Rudy?" Gauri asks him frowning.

"I'll tell you when I meet you." Rudra worriedly tells her.

"No, tell me now." Gauri insists worriedly.

"I'll, Gauri."

"Now, Rudy. I'm getting worried."

"I've to do this face to face, Gauri." Rudra guiltily says.

Gauri's heart skips a beat hearing that. She worriedly asks, "Did you cheat on me, Rudy?"

Rudra was silent for a few seconds then he whispers. "No... maybe... I don't know."

"What are you saying, Rudy?" Gauri asks, her eyes filling up, her heart breaking.

"Please Gauri, I'll be there soon."

"Just tell me now, Rudy. I can't take the tension."

Rudra was silent for a long while.

"Rudy!" Gauri shouts losing her patience in her panic.

"I'm in love, Gauri." Rudra tells her guiltily.

Her eyes fill up and she felt faint. She grabs the chair and sits down. "Who?"

"Gauri, I'll come there..."

"Who, Rudy?" Gauri asks angrily.

"Bhavya."

"Shivaay's sister?"

"You know her?" Rudra asks shocked.

"Om has mentioned her." Gauri replies. "You love her?"

"I met her at O's birthday party. I don't know what happened to me. I tried fighting these feelings. But I can't control them, Gauri."

Gauri closes her eyes as tears fell down. "She loves you?"

"I never told her, Gauri. I'll not cheat you like that." Rudra heatedly says.

"What if she doesn't love you, Rudy?" Gauri asks him.

"But I love her, right?" Rudra softly says.

Gauri nods hearing that as she silently cried.

"When I told Om, he said if I can't be loyal to you emotionally then I should stay away from you, Gauri."

Gauri gulps hearing that.

"Please, Gauri... I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen." Rudra says.

From his voice, Gauri could make out that he was also crying.

"I'm coming there, Gauri."

"Don't come." Gauri tells him, she couldn't face him. She couldn't be near him.

"But, Gauri..."

"I'm freeing you from this engagement, Rudy. You are free to move on in life." Gauri tells him.

"You are my best friend, Gauri." Rudra tells her as he cried.

"I don't want to see you, Rudy."

"We have to tell your family, Gauri." Rudra hurriedly tells her.

"I'll tell them."

"I've to be there, Gauri."

"No, Rudy. I don't want you here. Please let me be. Don't come here."

**********

Few minutes later, Gauri was still in her room as she fought her tears. She still hadn't told her family about it. She just didn't know how to tell them. She still couldn't believe that Rudy and she were not meant to be.

Ever since, she was a small kid, she had thought Rudy was the one for her but now...

Gauri wipes her tears, not wanting to cry. She felt so lonely. She had no one to share her pain with.

Hearing a knock at the door, she wipes her tears and plastering a smile on her face, she opens the door.

Gauri stops in shock seeing the man at the door.

Her smile falters then, the tears started flowing, she starts shaking as the sobs escaped her. She couldn't control her tears and her sobs.

Omkara steps into her room and hugs her. Gauri hugs him and she breaks into loud sobs.

"How could he fall in love with someone else?" Gauri asks him.

Omkara hugs her securely in his arms as he let her cry her heart out. "Everything is going to be fine. You're going to be fine." Omkara promises her.

"Why did you come?" Gauri asks him as she looked at him.

"Today morning, Rudy came to me and told me that he is in love and he didn't know what to do. I told him that the first thing he has to do is tell you. And I came here, because I knew you would need me." Omkara tells her.

Gauri nods and hugs him as she rested her head on his chest. "I do." Gauri confesses as she cried. Rudy and everyone told her that Omkara was this arrogant and ruthless businessman, but she could never believe it, because for her, he has always been her dearest friend.

"Gauri, you might feel that, this is the end. That you have no path in front of you, but trust me, you are strong and you will move ahead. Time heals every wound and please trust me, you are going to find someone who is going to be just yours. He is going to love you the way, you deserve to be loved. He will leave the whole world behind but not you. He is going to keep you above everyone else. You deserve that and you will find him, Gauri." Omkara tells her.

"When did you become fanciful and romantic?" Gauri asks Omkara shocked and unable to stop her smile.

"Made you smile." Omkara tells her smiling gently at her.

"I cannot love anyone else."

"You'll, Gauri. You thought, Rudy is the one you'll marry one day. Slowly, when you accept that, you two were not meant to be, you'll be able to love again."

"I've loved him all my life." Gauri tells him sadly as her eyes filled with fresh tears.

"Of course, Gauri. He is your best friend, you love him and you'll always love him." Omkara tells her. "And he'll always love you too, Gauri."

"Not the way I want him to love me." Gauri says sadly.

"Did you love him the way you wanted him to love you?" Omkara asks her gently.

"You don't think I loved him?" Gauri asks him in shock.

"I always wondered. You both were so young when everyone decided that you two would get married. And if the marriage was not fixed then, would you two have remained just friends or fell in love. I was always concerned." Omkara confesses.

"Rudy proved you right." Gauri points out as her eyes filled up.

"It's all going to be fine." Omkara promises her.

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?"

Hearing her father's shout, Gauri steps back in shock and looks at Omkara. "You didn't come alone?"

"Dadi is with me. We came to inform your family too, Gauri." Omkara tells her.

Hearing him, Gauri worriedly holds his hand. "This will break their heart."

**********

"After all these years, how can you just come and say that Rudra loves someone else?" Vasundhara asks angrily.

Kalyani regretfully says, "Please trust me, none of us wanted this to happen, specially Rudra. But these things, we can't control, right?"

"He knew he was engaged to my daughter. So, he should have controlled himself!" Harsh furiously says.

Kalyani regretfully and guiltily looks down.

"Where is he now? Why didn't he come?" Vasundhara asks angrily.

"He wanted to meet Gauri first. He doesn't know that Om and I had come here." Kalyani informs them.

"He will stay away from my daughter." Harsh furiously says then turning to his silent mother he asks furiously. "I told you they were babies. That we shouldn't do this but you were so adamant. Don't you have anything to say now?"

Sarwasti turns to her best friend and asks with tear stained eyes. "How could you let this happen to my grandchild?"

"I don't know how it happened." Kalyani says as she cried. "I'm so sorry."

"What am I going to tell my child?" Vasundhara asks as she started crying.

"Rudy told me, Ma. I freed him from this relation." Gauri informs her family.

They turn to the sound and finds her standing with Omkara.

"I'm so sorry, Gauri." Vasundhara says as she hurried to her and hugged her.

Gauri hugs her as she fought her tears. "I'm fine, Ma. I'll be fine." Gauri tells her to console her parents.

"Gauri beta, I am so sorry." Kalyani says as she walked to her.

"It's not your fault." Gauri tells her as she stepped back. "It is not Rudy's fault too. I know, he would have never dreamt of hurting me."

"He would never, Gauri." Omkara vouches for his brother. "If I hadn't told him then he would have married you and spent his whole life trying to keep you happy and suffered in silence. And that is not right. Neither to you nor to him."

Gauri nods.

"What is going to happen to Gauri now?" Saraswati asks as she cried.

Vasundhara turns to look at her, as she realized what she was thinking.

"I'll be fine." Gauri tells them as she slightly unconsciously leaned on Omkara.

Omkara quickly wraps his hand around her shoulder and holds her close.

"Gauri's happiness is our responsibility. I promise you, I'll find the best husband for Gauri." Omkara promises.

"I don't want to get married." Gauri whispers.

"Best husband?" Vasundhara asks him angrily. "Everybody knows that Gauri was engaged to Rudra. Everybody knows that Gauri used to spend her vacation at your house. And you and your brother always came here for vacation. Now, when people find out that her engagement broke, can you even imagine what they are going to say about our daughter?"

"When I said the best husband, it also meant someone who would trust Gauri and know her well that he would not believe a word that people say about her." Omkara angrily replies. "Why would you want a man for Gauri who can be easily be influenced by people's words?"

"Please stop this. I don't want to get married." Gauri pleads as she cried.

Omkara hugs her securely in his arms. "Gauri, I told you. It would all seem impossible now but trust me, time heals all wounds. You will be happy soon. I promise you that. I'll not rest till I get you all the happiness in the world."

Kalyani who was watching all this says, "My Om will marry Gauri."

Omkara and Gauri turns to look at her in shock.

"What?" Omkara asks in shock.

"All the way here, you were worried how Gauri will be. And you kept saying that we've to give back Gauri all her happiness." Kalyani reminds him.

"Yes, dadi... but..."

"There is no one I trust in this world, more than you, Om. I know you will keep Gauri happy." Kalyani tells him.

"Gauri hasn't even got out of that relation yet, Dadi." Omkara reminds her in shock.

"No one knows them as much as you, Om." Saraswati says.

"What are you both saying?" Gauri asks in shocked outrage.

"Gauri, I think this is best for your future." Vasundhara tells her gently.

"My daughter is not a burden on me!" Harsh says furiously. "Once I let others decide her life, this time I won't let it happen."

"But what are we going to say when everyone asks about Gauri's marriage? It will ruin her life." Vasundhara tells him worriedly.

"If Gauri would have me then I will marry her." Omkara declares.

"What?" Gauri turns to him in shock. "What are you saying, Om? There is more in life than marriage."

"But you need a companion to go through life, Gauri." Kalyani gently advices her.

Gauri shakes her head in negative and tells him. "You don't have to sacrifice your life to save mine. You don't have to make up for what your brother did."

"You are my friend, Gauri. I'm not sacrificing my life. Everybody wants a friend in their life partner. And in my life, there is no friend that is more dear to me than you." Omkara tells her.

Gauri's eyes fill up hearing that.

"You take as much time as you want, Gauri. There is no pressure. You can decide if and when you want to marry me. If you decide against marrying me then it is also fine."

Gauri helplessly looks at him unable to think.

"I want you to be happy. Your family to be happy. And as long as you are happy they will be happy. So, you take your time and decide." Omkara tells her.

Kalyani gently keeps her hand on her cheek. "Omkara will keep you happy, Gauri. He knows everything about you and you about him. This is the right decision."

"Don't force her." Harsh warns her.

Gauri looks at her father and she could see that even though he was standing up for her, he was distraught. She looks at her mother and sees her crying and her grandmother looked shattered.

She realized for her family's happiness, this was a choice she had to make. "I'll marry Om."

**********

"You are okay with this, right?" Omkara asks Gauri.

Gauri nods as her eyes filled up. Within an hour, her marriage with Rudra had broken and her marriage was fixed with Omkara.

Omkara holds her shoulders and reassures her. "We'll make this work, Gauri."

Gauri worriedly looks at him and asks him, "What if we never fall in love with each other?"

Omkara reassuringly smiles at her. "We already love each other in one way. So, there will always be love between us."

Gauri nods feeling a little relieved and she hugs him.

Omkara hugs her.

"You're fine, right?" Omkara asks her as he walked with her back to her house.

Gauri nods.

"Call me if you want to talk."

"I know." Gauri smiles, every time, she wanted to talk about something that was worrying her then she would always call Omkara. Even though she shared her problems with Rudy, he could never hold on to a single conversation because of his ADHD and he would be distracted halfway through the conversation. And she had always even complained to Omkara about Rudra because he always listened to her whenever Rudra pissed her off.

Omkara smiles. "Chopper is waiting, we've to go."

Gauri nods and hugs him tight.

They walk into the house and sees their families waiting for them.

"I spoke to Tej and Jhanvi." Kalyani informs him.

Omkara nods.

"They are so happy and relieved that you two have decided to get married."

"Gauri has always been a daughter to them." Omkara replies nodding.

Gauri couldn't help wonder whether Rudra knows about this development, but she couldn't ask. She couldn't take his name at present.

As if reading her mind, Omkara asks, "What about Rudy?"

"He is not home and is not answering the calls." Kalyani worriedly informs him.

Omkara looks at Gauri and sees that even she was worried. "I'll try calling him."

Gauri nods.

Omkara takes his mobile and dials Rudra's number. It rings for a while then finally he answers the call.

"Rudy..." Omkara says as he walked out.

Gauri watches him walk away when Omkara holds her hand and continues walking. Realizing, Gauri goes with him.

"Stop crying, Rudy." Omkara tells him in a consoling way. Seeing Gauri looking at him in concern, Omkara quickly puts the call on speaker.

"... I didn't want to hurt Gauri. Gauri is so hurt because of me. I didn't want to hurt her. I don't know how all this happened. Why I fell in love?"

"Listen, Rudy. Calm down." Omkara tells him. "What you did is the right thing. Gauri will not be happy with you when you are in love with someone else."

"She is not happy now also!" Rudra angrily cries.

Gauri's eyes fill up hearing that. She looks at Omkara and sees him watching her.

"Gauri will be happy, Rudy." Omkara vows.

"She was so hurt. She was crying." Rudra tells him as he broke down.

"Gauri and I am going to get married." Omkara informs him.

"What?" Rudra stops in shock.

"We realize this is for the best." Omkara tells him.

"Gauri agreed?" Rudra asks still reeling from shock.

"You think I would let anyone force or manipulate her?" Omkara asks offended.

Rudra was silent for a few seconds then he requests Omkara, "Please keep her happy, O. She is a very nice girl. She deserves the best. And it kills me that I couldn't be that for her."

Omkara looks at Gauri and sees that she was crying, "She knows that, Rudy."

"She doesn't want to talk to me or see me. And she is right. I don't deserve her friendship now."

"Give her time." Omkara tells him.

"Hmmm."

**********

Gauri was in her room, lost in thoughts. Her thoughts kept jumping from Rudra to Omkara.

She had thought that Rudra was the one for her. All her life, she had believed that it was going to be Rudra who was going to be with her all her life.

When she woke up in the morning, she had woken up with that belief and now, she is going to marry Omkara.

She was not sure whether the decision she made was right or wrong. She trusted Omkara with her life. And she did trust Rudy also. Gauri felt her eyes fill up.

There was this fear in her heart that she was too scared to voice out. The fear that just like how Rudy fell in love with someone else, what if Om also falls in love with someone else?

But Om has always been vey strong like that. When he makes up his mind about something then come heaven or hell, he'll stick by it.

Maybe this time, it was really for forever.

**********

"Are you okay, Gauri?" Harsh asks her the next morning.

Gauri nods. "I'm fine, Papa."

Harsh lovingly keeps his hand on her cheek. "I'm sorry, beta."

Gauri keeps her hand over his. "I'll be happy with Om. You don't worry."

Harsh nods. "You are sure, right?"

Gauri nods.

Worriedly, Harsh says, "He is not like Rudra, Gauri."

Gauri curiously looks at him. "What do you mean?"

"Tej has told me that, Omkara is very short tempered and in office he is too strict..."

Gauri smiles and reassures him. "Not with me, Papa."

"Gauri..."

"How much ever I irritate him, he has never lost his temper with me. He will glare and ignore me and walk off but never ever has he raised his voice at me."

"Marriage would be different. He'll be your husband not just your friend."

"And that would make him more concerned and conscious about my happiness and comfort." Gauri confidently tells him.

"It was Jhanvi." Vasundhara comes to them in concern.

"What happened?" Harsh asks worriedly.

"She was saying that before people find out that Rudra's and Gauri's marriage broke, we should get Omkara and Gauri engaged. There would be too many gossips, so before that itself we should announce their engagement." Vasundhara tells him.

Gauri's heart slams against her chest hearing that.

"She was saying, we should have the wedding also soon." Vasundhara tells them.

"Soon?" Gauri asks shocked. Was she ready for a quick wedding? Could she live with Om in the same house as Rudra?

"Engaged to one brother and marrying the other brother. Too many gossips." Harsh worriedly agrees but he turns to Gauri and tells her reassuringly. "You don't worry about that, Gauri. Whatever you decide we'll do that."

Gauri was about to tell him that she didn't want to get married soon, when she gets a message from Omkara. She quickly checks the message.

Mom just told me what she told your mother. Whenever we get married these gossips would be there. We can't do anything about it. But I feel, if we get married soon then it is better, once we start our new life together, it will be easy for you and everyone around us to move on. Anyway, we decided to get married, when we do it, does it really matter?

Then she gets another opinion.

It is just my thought. If you don't agree then let me know, I'll tell everyone that I'm not ready to get married soon. I'll handle it.

Gauri sighs reading that.

"Anyway, I am going to marry Om. When doesn't really matter. If you all feel earlier the better, then I am okay with it." Gauri tells her parents.

**********

Since the Oberoi family had requested them, Gauri and her family had gone to Mumbai to meet them and finalize an engagement and wedding date.

Gauri nervously looked around the house as she sat with Omkara. It felt strange to be here. She has come here numerous times. But for the first time, she felt uncomfortable there.

"You okay?" Omkara asks her.

Gauri nods.

"What happened?" Omkara asks her as he held her hand.

"It feels so different to be here today." Gauri confesses.

Omkara nods. "You were my brother's fiancé before, and now you are mine. I can understand."

Gauri nervously nods.

"The relation might have changed, Gauri. The people here are the same and they still love you like before." Omkara reassures her.

Hearing that, Gauri felt a little relief and she smiles.

Hearing someone walk in, Gauri curiously looks up and sees Rudra. Gauri nervously gulps seeing him and he was looking at her guiltily. Gauri quickly looks away.

"There is going to be too many gossips, so I was wondering whether we should get Rudra and Bhavya engaged along with Omkara and Gauri." Tej hesitantly says.

"I still haven't spoken to Bhavya." Rudra quickly says as he looked at Gauri.

"You should." Tej advices him.

"No." Omkara says.

"What?" Tej asks him confused.

"Four of us won't get engaged together." Omkara tells him.

"People are going to wonder..." Jhanvi starts.

"If people find out that Rudra loves someone else then people are going to say many things about Gauri. They will say that I am marrying her to save face or because I pity her. I won't have anyone think lowly about Gauri." Omkara declares.

"It's the truth, Om." Gauri softly whispers.

"I'm not marrying you to make up for anything. I'm marrying you because I believe that we can be happy together." Omkara insists.

Hearing him, Gauri simply nods.

Turning to their family, Omkara tells them. "Rudy and Gauri never had an engagement. So, it was not confirmed to many people that Gauri and Rudy were getting married. Yeah, many know the truth... but since there wasn't anything official, we can simply deny or say that, it was something everyone had assumed but Gauri and I ended up falling in love and that is the reason we are marrying."

Their family though was not sure, how convincing that story was going to be, but still agreed to stick to that story.

Gauri looks at her parents and sees them smiling at Omkara feeling so overwhelmed. She sighs in relief realizing that her parents finally accepted that Omkara was going to be the perfect husband for her.

**********

"I want to take you somewhere." Omkara tells Gauri after everything was finalized.

"Where?" Gauri asks curiously.

"Some place." Omkara tells her lightly smiling.

Seeing him smile, Gauri smiles. "Okay. I'll just tell Ma and come. When will we be back?"

"Depends. 2-4 hours maybe."

"Where are we going?" Gauri asks shocked.

"You go, tell her and come." Omkara replies smiling.

Gauri smiles and walks to her mother, as she was walking to her mother, she notices Rudra coming from the opposite side. He stops seeing her, Gauri quickly looks away and walks off without talking to him.

**********

"Who stays here?" Gauri asks curiously as she walked out the lift with Omkara.

"No one that I know." Omkara replies.

"Then why are we here?" Gauri asks fed up.

Omkara cheekily grins and walks to a man standing in front of a flat

"Good evening sir."

Omkara nods.

Gauri frowns and asks him in a whisper. "Are you going to lose your teeth if you wished him back?"

Grinning ear to ear, he asks her back. "Who told you my teeth are real?"

Gauri gapes at him in shock then she scowls at him. "Your teeth are real but you are mannerless."

"I am what I am." Omkara cheekily grin. "Keys?" He asks the man.

"It's open, sir." The man replies then looking at Gauri, he says, "good evening, madam."

"Good evening. You are?" Gauri politely smiles at him.

"Patil. My assistant." Omkara answers her.

Gauri ignores Omkara and smiles at Patil. "Hello Patil, I'm Gauri."

"He knows. Why do you think he was waiting here?" Omkara asks rolling his eyes.

"Oh you were waiting. Thank you for waiting for us, Patil." Gauri tells him.

Omkara shakes his head. "Patil wait here. Gauri, come." Omkara tells Gauri as he opened the door for her.

Gauri brightly smiles at him and stands firm. "Did you forget something, Om?"

Omkara stops surprised. Gauri pointedly looks at Patil.

Omkara takes a deep breath then he turns to Patil and says with fake politeness, "good evening, Patil."

"Good evening, Sir." Patil replies in shock as he gaped at Omkara.

"Now, can we go in?" Omkara asks Gauri.

"He was waiting for us, Om." Gauri reminds him.

"That's his job!" Omkara tells her exasperated.

"That doesn't mean you don't show manners." Gauri tells him shaking her head as she tied her hands at her chest stubbornly.

"Thank you, Patil." Omkara says.

"You don't have to thank me, sir." Patil tells him reeling in shock.

"Heard?" Omkara asks Gauri exasperated. "Anything else?"

"Lose the attitude. Don't like it." Gauri tells him.

Omkara takes in a sharp breath and losing his patience, he walks forward and before Gauri could guess his intent, he had bend down, and grabbing her, he throws her over his shoulder and walks into the flat.

"What are you doing, Om?" Gauri asks in shock and freaking out.

Ignoring her struggle, Omkara walks into the flat. "You are driving me crazy."

"You should treat people more nicely." Gauri frowns at him.

Omkara gently puts her down, but he holds her close to him. "Stop irritating me. I know, you are doing this because I didn't tell you why I brought you here."

Gauri looks away and softly admits. "And I didn't like the way, you spoke to Patil, be nice to people, Om."

"I'm like this, Gauri." Omkara shrugs.

"Usually, when I irritate you, you leave." Gauri says feeling nervous. Her heart hadn't calmed down from the moment he had picked her up.

"That was before." Omkara says as he gently caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers. "Now, you're going to be my wife. I'm not going to leave you behind."

Gauri felt her heart burst out hearing that. She looks at Omkara nervously, because for the first time, her heart felt something for him that was not friendship.

"Why are we here?" Gauri asks as she looked away and she nervously steps back.

"Like it?" Omkara asks.

"I don't like being treated like a cave woman." Gauri tells him, still reeling from the shock. As the words left her, Gauri knew, somewhere there, there was a lie.

"What?" Omkara asks confused then realizing he says, "Not that. The flat."

"Flat?" Gauri asks confused as she turned around to look and stops seeing the beautiful room. "This?" Gauri turns to Omkara in confusion.

Omkara gently smiles at her. "I know, it is not going to be easy for you to stay in the same house as Rudy. So, I thought we would live separately after marriage."

"What?" Gauri asks shocked. She did have the same concern about staying with Rudra in the same house but leave the family? "You would stay away from your family for me?"

"You are also my family, Gauri. Always has been and always will be." Omkara tells her.

"I just need sometime to be okay with Rudy." Gauri confesses.

"I know." Omkara tells her reassuringly. "And when I told my family, Rudy offered to move out but I prefer this."

Gauri nods.

"This way, away from everyone, we will be able to accept each other faster in this new relationship."

"I hope so." Gauri says smiling, feeling happy to be with Omkara.

"I'll show you the flat." Omkara tells her.

**********

"It's beautiful." Gauri tells him happily.

"There are two other options." Omkara tells her. "I felt you would like this the most. That is why I brought you here first. If you want, we can go check it out too."

"Which one you liked the best?" Gauri asks him.

"I liked all three." Omkara tells her as he took his phone and started scrolling through it.

"These are the photo of other two place."

Gauri looks through the photos. "I liked this flat the best. you're right." Gauri tells him smiling as she handed him the phone back.

Omkara smugly smiles.

"So, I'll finalize this?" Omkara asks her.

"Yes, but I want to change the wall colors."

"There is two months for the wedding. You've time till then to renovate the place the way you like it." Omkara tells her.

**********

Gauri was busy on video call when her mobile rings. Realizing it was Omkara, she answers the call.

"Om, I'm busy now. I'll call you back."

"I've been away for a week and I just got back today. And you've no time for me?" Omkara complains.

"I'm talking to Patil now. I'll call you later." Gauri tells him in a dismissing tone.

"Patil?" Omkara asks outraged. "You do realize that you talk to him more than you talk to me."

"Yeah?" Gauri asks cheekily. "Never really thought of it. Bye!"

Grinning she looks at Patil. "What is happening with the wallpapers?"

"It will done today." Patil informs her. "The shelves also reached. We'll start fixing them tomorrow. They have sent me some suggestions for blinds and curtains. I've forwarded them."

"Let me check." Gauri says as she took the iPad and started checking the photos.

"Madam, it is sir." Patil informs her noticing his phone ringing.

"Okay... And how many times, Patil? call me Gauri." Gauri tells him as she swiped the photos.

"Sir will fire me." Patil tells her shaking his head.

Gauri rolls her eyes hearing that. She just couldn't understand why people feared Omkara so much, he was all show.

"Good afternoon, sir.... What?" Patil shouts in shock. "But sir... hello? Hello?"

"What happened?" Gauri asks as she looked up at him.

"Sir just fired me." Patil says in shock and his eyes filling up.

"He did?" Gauri asks surprised then she picks up her phone and dials Omkara.

"Yeah?" Omkara asks smugly.

"Did you fire Patil?" Gauri asks him in shock.

"Yeah!"

Gauri breaks out into a big smile. "Thanks, Om. I hated sharing him with you. He used to always run off to do your work first. Thanks a lot. Now, he is all mine. You are the best. Okay, bye. Very busy." Gauri says and hangs up.

"Let's get back to work." Gauri happily tells Patil.

Patil gapes at her in shock. "But Sir..."

"He can't do without you. You'll be fine." Gauri brushes it off.

Patil grins and says. "They say that ants can bring an elephant to its knee. I'm seeing that now."

Gauri blushes hearing that.

Patil grins, he was seeing it everyday but it still amazed him, how this petite girl could bring the mighty Omkara Singh Oberoi in line so easily.

**********

"Tomorrow after engagement, I'll be going to the apartment to see the progress. Patil has been sending me all the photos and everything. But I just want to see. You're free in the evening, right?" Gauri asks Omkara as they walked together.

"Yeah. You've done a wonderful job. It looks amazing." Omkara tells her.

Gauri smiles. "Should we let our parents see the place. It is not done yet. Or should we let them see it only after we move in?"

"After we move in."

"When will we move in?" Gauri asks curiously.

"Immediately after marriage." Omkara replies surprised.

"Same day?" Gauri asks him.

"Yeah. Patil said it would be ready at least a week before the wedding."

"Yeah, it will be."

"If you need more people or anything, just go on and hire them." Omkara tells her.

Gauri nods. They continued to walk both lost in thoughts.

Gauri holds Omkara's hand and says, "You know, it was a good decision to not delay the wedding."

Omkara smiles hearing that.

"The wedding shopping and the flat interior works, I've been super busy. It helped keep my mind off things and focus on us." Gauri tells him smiling.

Omkara smiles hearing that.

"It doesn't hurt now." Gauri tells him.

Omkara stops and smiles hearing her. Gauri happily hugs him and Omkara hugs her.

**********

Omkara and Gauri smile at each other as they slipped the ring into each other's finger. Everyone claps seeing that. Then they were busy taking photos with the guests and family.

"Congratulations." Rudra says as he stopped next to Gauri.

Gauri turns to him and then she gently nods her head.

Realizing that Gauri was still not ready to talk to him or forgive him, Rudra moves towards Omkara and hugs him. Omkara hugs him back.

"Take care of her." Rudra tells him.

"I'll." Omkara smiles at him.

**********

"Sir, there are a few media people outside." Patil informs Omkara in a whisper as they were walking out.

Omkara nods. He had expected that. Last two years he had been tagged as one of the top ten most eligible bachelor of India. So the news of his engagement was going to grab their attention.

He holds Gauri's hand and pulls her closer to him.

"What happened?" Gauri asks curiously.

"There is media here. Stay close to me. If they ask you anything, if you feel like answering them then you answer. If you don't want to, simply ignore them, I'll handle it." Omkara tells her.

"That would be rude." Gauri tells him shocked.

Omkara looks up for help.

Omkara holding Gauri's hand tightly starts walking fast. Seeing the media, he ignores them and continues to walk.

The media quickly comes towards them and extending their mic starts asking question.

For a second Gauri panics as she has never been in the center of attention such as this.

Omkara immediately puts his hand over her shoulder and pulls her closer to his chest.

Hearing the question, Omkara answers a few of them. He was about to leave from there when one of them asks.

"Is it true that Gauri was engaged to be married to your brother and when your brother broke off the engagement, you had to marry her?"

Gauri's heart stops a beat, not because of the question but she could feel Omkara tighten his hold on her, his body stiffening up. She turns to him and he looked calm but his eyes were lavas.

Then chuckling he turns to Gauri and asks her, "Is it true Gauri that you were engaged to Rudy?" Then before she could answer he turns to the man that asked him the question. "Since Gauri was closer to age to Rudy, everyone in our family thought that Gauri and Rudy will get married one day. But call it destiny or my luck that Gauri and I fell in love. Thanks for your time. Our family is waiting for us."

Then he holding Gauri securely, he just walked off, ignoring the other questions.

The moment they were away from the media people, Omkara turns to Gauri and asks her in concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Are you okay?" Gauri asks him.

"I should have been more careful." Omkara says agitatedly.

"It's not your fault, and you handled it well." Gauri tells him as she lovingly kept her hand on his cheek.

Omkara nods and turning to Patil, Omkara tells him. "I want to know who."

Patil nods and he turns and runs to the journalist who had asked the question.

**********

Omkara after changing his clothes from the function, he was waiting for Gauri to come as they were going to see their flat.

"Sir..." Patil comes to him.

"Who spoke to the media?" Omkara asks him angrily.

"Rudra sir's friend, Chubby."

Omkara furiously takes a breath as he looked around and sees Rudra with his friends, standing outside.

Furiously, he walks towards them. Just as he was walking, Gauri comes down after changing. Seeing Omkara going out, she follows him as she knew he was waiting for her.

Omkara furiously pull Chubby out of the group and punches his nose

"What are you doing, O?" Rudra asks him in shock.

"Om!" Gauri shouts as she ran to him. She stops in shock seeing Chubby holding his nose and he was bleeding.

"Oh my God, Chubby, you are bleeding." Gauri says in worry as she tried to go to him.

Omkara holds her hand and pulls her back.

"What is wrong with you, O?" Rudra asks as he grabbed the cloth someone had extended and kept it on Chubby's nose. "Have you gone crazy?"

"Didn't I warn you all not to speak to the media?" Omkara asks Rudra's friends.

"They didn't!" Rudra tells him. "Even I told them not to."

"He did!" Omkara furiously says.

"What?" Rudra says in shock then turning to Chubby, he asks. "You spoke to the media?"

"I didn't know he was media. I was drunk... I'm sorry." Chubby says. "When I saw the clip only I realized he was a journalist.

"You were told not to speak of Gauri to anyone." Omkara furiously reminds him.

"It's okay, Om. Let it go." Gauri says worriedly seeing Omkara's fury.

Seeing Gauri so worried and pulling on his hand, Omkara tells Rudra. "Control your friends, Rudy. One more time they humiliate my wife, I'll kill them."

**********

"I don't want to go to the flat." Gauri says softly as they got in the car.

"Why?" Omkara asks her as he turned to her.

"I don't want to go when you are in this mood."

"I'm sorry, Gauri. I... I should have been more careful. I shouldn't have let them ask questions." Omkara regretfully tells her.

"It doesn't matter what they ask. My past doesn't matter. Only our future matters." Gauri tells him.

Omkara nods as he moved towards her and hugs her.

Gauri snuggles to his chest. Omkara hugs her tighter then noticing the driver awkwardly sitting in the driving seat. He says in exasperation. "Get out!"

Gauri sits up and sees the driver getting out of the car. "Why do you've to be so rude?" Gauri asks him shocked.

"Now that is your problem? Not him sitting there?" Omkara asks exasperated.

"What was he supposed to do?"

"Oh my God! Then why don't we invite him for our suhaag raat too?"

Gauri's eyes widen in shock hearing that then she turns completely pink understanding what he just said. She quickly looks away.

"Erm... I didn't mean... you know." Omkara awkwardly says.

"Shut up." Gauri tells him then she leans to the window and knocks on it.

The driver quickly looks at her, and Gauri gestures him to get inside.

"We're going to see the flat?" Omkara asks her.

"Yes."

"But earlier you said..."

"Now, you're not angry. I didn't want to go to our home when you were in a bad mood."

Omkara smiles hearing her call their flat, home.

**********

Very soon, it was their wedding day. And they had a grand wedding. It was nothing short of a fairytale wedding.

And, Gauri and Omkara officially had their grahapravash to their new apartment.

As they did all the post wedding rituals, Omkara and Gauri happily smiled at each other.

"I'm so happy for you, Gauri." Rudra tells her seeing her happily smiling.

Gauri nods, she still was not comfortable with him.

Rudra smiles at her and starts to walk off.

"Did you tell Bhavya?" Gauri asks him.

"Er... no."

"You should."

"I was waiting for your marriage. I'll tell her. I think even she loves me." Rudra tells her gently smiling.

Gauri nods with a smile, she was happy for him.

Gauri turns to look for Omkara and sees him talking to her parents. She smiles seeing him. Lately whenever she looked at him or spoke to him, she couldn't help the smile that came on her face.

Seeing that, Rudra smiles and walks off.

Gauri walks to Omkara, seeing her joining him, Omkara smiles and holds her hand. She happily interlocks her fingers with his.

Harsh and Vasundhara smiles happily seeing Gauri happy.

"How is our home?" Gauri asks them excitedly.

"Beautiful." Vasundhara says happily.

"It's all Gauri." Omkara tells them proudly.

"And Patil." Gauri adds then cheekily she adds, "And Om's money."

Omkara chuckles hearing that. "Our money."

Grinning, Gauri asks him, "With the way I spent it on the flat, did you feel I considered it otherwise?"

Omkara laughs out loud hearing that.

**********

Gauri and Omkara walk into their bedroom. Gauri stops nervously seeing the bedroom decorated for suhag raat.

Nervously, Omkara locks the door. Omkara walks to her and gently keeps his hand on either of her shoulders from behind and asks softly. "You did this?"

Gauri shakes her head in negative nervously. "Did you?"

"Would I be asking you if I did it, you idiot?"

Gauri chuckles. "Then who?" Gauri turns to him.

"Patil?" Omkara says. "He had the keys to this place. Maybe Mom told him to do this as they were not allowed here till today."

Gauri nods as she took a deep breath.

Seeing her nervous, Omkara leans down and gently kisses her cheek.

Gauri gasps in shock at the unexpected and romantic kiss.

Omkara leans back and looks at her, Gauri blushes and looks down.

Omkara chuckles and kisses her forehead.

Gauri shyly hugs him. Omkara hugs her happily.

"Enough for today, I guess." Omkara jokes making Gauri laugh happily.

**********

"What am I going to do there?" Gauri asks Omkara as she sat on their bed. "You are going to be busy."

"I'll always have time for you, biwi." Omkara tells her.

"Are you worried about me staying here alone? I'll go to your house."

"No... it's not that."

"I'm not that uncomfortable with Rudy now." Gauri tells him.

"Arrey its not that. I want my wife with me."

Gauri smiles hearing that. "Will I be a disturbance?"

"Of course not."

Gauri smiles. "It can be a mini honeymoon." Gauri excitedly says.

Grinning flirty, Omkara asks her, "Why, Gauri? Are you hinting at something?"

"Shut up!" Gauri says blushing.

Omkara chuckles. "Go and pack your bag."

Gauri gets off the bed and walks to the dressing room. As she started packing, she couldn't help think about what Om said. She couldn't control her blush. Lately, she has been thinking about all that.

"What are you thinking?" Omkara asks her as he hugged her from behind.

Gauri blushes and says, "About going for shopping."

Omkara groans hearing that making her chuckle.

**********

Gauri watched as Omkara spoke to the associate. He was a completely different man when he was with others. With her, he was a softie and with others, he was a terror.

Omkara looks up at her and mouths to her, "Okay?"

Gauri nods as she smiled at him. He was so conscious about her that he kept checking on her every few minutes.

He always wraps up the work early and then they would go out and spent time with each other. Either sight seeing or shopping or just simply roaming around. Then they would have dinner and go back to their room.

Together they had an amazing time.

**********

Gauri had gone to visit her in-laws after they got back.

"Hi, Gauri." Rudra says noticing her.

"You didn't go for work?" Gauri asks him.

"Work from home."

Gauri nods.

"How is your job hunt going?"

"I got a call back." Gauri tells him happily.

"That's great." Rudra smiles.

Gauri didn't know what else to talk to him about.

"She said yes." Rudra informs her.

Gauri smiles hearing that. "Congratulations."

"Thanks. I'm happy for you two." Rudra tells her.

Gauri smiles.

"I saw the photos you sent Mom from your trip. You two... I'm so happy." Rudra says. "I'm so happy that you both love each other."

Gauri couldn't hold her smile hearing that.

Gauri knew she was in love.

And the way, she felt for Omkara, she realized that this was the first time, she has truly experienced love in her life.

Because what she felt for Rudy was something different. Truth be told, she felt for Rudy the same way as she did before. And now, she realized that Omkara was right. She thought she was in love, because all her life, she was told that she would marry Rudra, so she thought that friendship was love.

But with Omkara, it was different, what she feels for him now was not what she felt for him before. It was more intense and deep.

And she wanted to see Omkara. Right away!

"I've to go home." Gauri tells Rudra.

**********

Seeing Gauri so happy, Omkara smiles at her.

"You look happy." Omkara tells her smiling.

"I'm happy." Gauri tells him as she hugged him.

"How come?" Omkara asks happily.

"I realized something." Gauri tells him happily.

"What?" Omkara asks smiling happily.

"You were right, I was never in love with Rudy." Gauri tells him, feeling herself blushing.

"I'm always right. You never accept it!" Omkara smugly says.

Then and there, Gauri decided that this asshole didn't deserve a love confession from her!

"Get lost!" Gauri says and walks off.

**********

Gauri and Omkara were lying on two ends of the bed. Feeling him turning to her side, Gauri turns and looks at him.

Omkara grins as he kept his hand under his chin and watched her, "So, you didn't tell me how you realized that you never loved Rudy."

"Because I am smart."

"Took you long enough." He teases her.

Gauri scowls at him.

Chuckling, Omkara moves towards her.

"You are so happy." Gauri points out.

"I'm."

"Why?"

Omkara shrugs then he leans towards her, and gently rubs his nose with hers. Then he moves up and kisses her forehead and cheeks.

He was about to move back, when Gauri holds him by his collar and pulls him close to her. Then she kisses his cheek then the other.

Then she nervously looks at his lips. She nervously looks at him.

Omkara watches her as he realized what she wanted. He lovingly kisses her forehead then grinning he covers her eyes with his hand. "Go to sleep."

Gauri blushes, realizing that he was still not ready for that intimacy. She didn't feel bad, whatever happens between them, she wants it to happen when they both were ready.

Gauri blushes and hugs him. He hugs her as he made her lie on his chest.

**********

Next morning, hearing sound from the kitchen, Gauri goes to check. She sees Omkara in the kitchen with a big box as he took the knives and dumped it into the box.

"What are you doing?" Gauri asks confused.

"Good morning! Removing all dangerous weapons." Omkara says.

"Why?"

"For safety."

"What?" Gauri asks confused.

"Hmmm what else?" Omkara asks as he turned to look. "Scissors." He picks it up. "Any other weapon here?"

Gauri curiously walks to the box he was holding, and stops in shock seeing all kinds of tools, including the stapler.

"What happened to you?" Gauri asks him confused.

"I'll tell you." Omkara says as he looked around. "Do you see anything?"

"Rolling pin."

"Oh yeah! Thanks." Omkara picks it up and puts it in the box. Then noticing the potato peeler he picks it up and puts it in the box. Then for safety he picked up all the butter knives and forks and puts it in the box.

"You better put everything back where it belongs." Gauri tells him.

Omkara grins hearing that. "I think that's it."

Omkara walks to the cupboard and he puts the box in and closes the door and locks it and puts the key in his pocket.

"What are you doing, Om? Should I get a doctor? A psychiatrist?" Gauri asks.

"It's confession time." Omkara happily declares.

"What confession?" Gauri asks confused, frowning at him for being so freaking happy about some confession.

Smiling happily and feeling relieved, Omkara says, "I love you."

Gauri couldn't hold her smile hearing him.

Omkara smiles seeing her joy. "Last night, it was not because I wasn't ready, it was because I didn't want us to make love before I told you."

"You could have just told me last night itself, idiot!" Gauri tells him, happily smiling.

"I didn't have time to hide all the weapons."

"Weapons? For what?" Gauri asks feeling so confused.

"I love you, Gauri." Omkara tells her, then he says a little sadly. "Have been in love with you since we were kids."

"What?" Gauri asks in shock, her smile dropping. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Because you thought you were in love with Rudy."

"I'm sorry, Om." Gauri says as she started to walk to him.

Omkara picks out a piece of paper from his pocket and hands it to her.

"What is this?" Gauri asks curiously seeing the battered up paper.

"The very first drawing I made of you."

Gauri opens it and stops seeing her face. It was not a perfect replica. There were a lot of mistakes in the drawing. But from her face, she knew it was from childhood and Omkara wasn't an expert artist then like he is today. She sees all the scratches and holes on the paper.

"What are these holes?"

"I poked them with my compass." Omkara shrugs.

"You used to poke my face?" Gauri asks sadly.

"No." Omkara says shaking his head. "I poked the drawing."

"Why?"

"Sometimes I get jealous seeing you with Rudy. So, I used to vent out on the drawing."

Gauri nods.

"Because if I hadn't been busy making that drawing then maybe Dadi might not have thought that Rudy was the one for you." Omkara tells her.

"You loved me since then?" Gauri asks him in shock.

"Since the moment I met you."

Gauri helplessly looks at him.

"I want to tell you everything." Omkara tells her.

Gauri nods wanting to hear.

**********

"O, Gauri and I am going to get married. You come and be the pundit."

Omkara wanted to scream in fury hearing that. He looks up at them then seeing Gauri and Rudy standing together, he looks back to his book.

"Come, Om."

"I'm reading, Gauri." Omkara tells her. "You guys play."

His dog will get them married!

"He won't come."

"Okay... How do I wear this?"

Omkara tried to shut out their voices.

"I can't walk."

Omkara looks up and sees Gauri standing there unable to move as the saree was wrapped around her so tightly.

"You jump then."

Stupid idiot!

Realizing that they were going to get married, Omkara couldn't have that. He had to do something. He looks around and sees a chameleon.

"Is that a chameleon?"

"Where?" Rudra asks as he turned excitedly.

"It's green in color." Omkara points out.

"You know, Gauri? Chameleon changes color and its tongue is so long. As long as a train." Rudra excitedly tells her.

"Not that long." Omkara replies as he rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his book, praying hard that Rudra runs behind that chameleon.

"I am going to catch it and take it with me when I go."

Thank you, God.

"Rudy, I have to keep the saree back before Ma finds it missing."

"I'll get the chameleon and come."

"Ma will scold me, Rudy." Gauri worriedly tells him.

"1 minute. I am coming." Rudra tells her as he ran off.

Omkara looks at Rudra running behind the chameleon, he looks at Gauri and sees her worriedly watching Rudra, and in between turning and looking towards her house.

He gets up and walks to her. "I'll help you, Gauri."

"Ma will scold me."

"We won't tell her, we'll keep it back now itself." Omkara tells her as he started removing the saree. "Now, you won't be able to get married." Omkara tells her wanting to dance in joy.

"I'll marry Rudy when I grow up."

Omkara doesn't say anything and he looks at her and she looks up at him. His heart breaks.

Why couldn't Gauri be his? He wanted Gauri.

Sadly wondering, at 9, was he too old for Gauri. Rudy was so lucky. Why couldn't he be the younger brother?

Omkara folds the saree neatly for Gauri.

"We'll go keep this inside."

"What about Rudy?" Gauri asks as she looked at Rudra running around.

"Squirrel!" Rudra shouts as he ran behind it.

"He is always like this." Omkara tells her. "He has ADHD."

"What is that?" Gauri asks confused.

"He gets distracted easily. Can't focus."

"Oh."

"Let's go."

Gauri nods. "Rudy, we are going inside to keep the saree." Gauri calls out to him.

"Okay! I'll catch the squirrel and come." Rudra calls back.

Gauri and Omkara walk together.

Omkara looks at Gauri, and his heart breaks at the thought of going away from her.

"Will you come to Mumbai, Gauri? There is so many places to visit there. We'll take you everywhere." Omkara promises her.

Gauri looks at him worriedly and asks, "What if Rudy gets distracted and forgets me and leaves me behind?"

"I'll remember you. I won't forget you."

Gauri smiles hearing that. "Then I will come."

Omkara smiles and he takes her hand in his and holds it. Gauri happily holds his hand and hopping, she goes with him.

**********

"You purposely stopped that sham wedding we had?" Gauri asks amazed.

Grinning Omkara nods. "I don't even know whether Rudy has ADHD. I just said that simply."

"What?" Gauri asks shocked. "I thought he did."

"Maybe... I don't know. We never got him diagnosed. I heard it on a serial that Mom was watching." Omkara shrugs.

Gauri's eyes widen in shock. "Why you never said anything?"

"Would it have mattered if I did? It would have made you uncomfortable and put distance between us."

Gauri nods realizing that was true.

"Remember, Rudy and Shivaay gave me a birthday party?" Omkara asks her.

"Yeah."

Nervously, he says "For the first in my life, I saw Rudy focused. His attention hadn't wavered for even a second."

Gauri looks at him confused.

"He was staring at Bhavya." Omkara confesses.

"What?" Gauri whispers in shock.

"I thought, maybe this was a chance. And I decided to try my luck."

"What do you mean?" Gauri asks frowning at him.

**********

Omkara sighs as he looked around. Then he frowns noticing Rudra, staring at something. He curiously follows his gaze and sees that he was watching Bhavya.

Omkara stops in shock as he looked back at Rudra. He had never seen Rudra look at anyone like that. Not even Gauri.

Omkara watched, Rudra watch Bhavya. As he watched them, he felt it was an opportunity that he couldn't let slip away.

"Shivaay..." Omkara calls him.

Shivaay turns to him curiously. "Yeah?"

"Introduce Bhavya to Rudy." Omkara tells him.

"What?" Shivaay curiously looks at them. "Why is he staring at my sister?"

"Introduce them."

"What? Isn't his wedding fixed with your family friend?" Shivaay asks.

"It's not fixed. Everybody thinks they will get married. They are best friends." Omkara lies.

"Hmmm."

"Introduce them. I've never seen my brother like that with anyone."

Shivaay nods.

Hearing his mobile ring, Rudra answers the call.

"Hey sweetheart!"

Omkara sighs as he looked away realizing it was Gauri.

The moment Rudra hangs up the phone, he tells Shivaay. "Go introduce them."

Shivaay walks off towards them. Omkara didn't wait. He takes his mobile and walks out.

He dials Gauri.

"Hey!" Gauri answers the call happily. "How come you are calling? Isn't it your birthday party?"

He always wanted her to wish him first.

"So, boring. What's up?"

"I wish I could have come." Gauri says sadly.

"It would have been nice if you had come."

"Tomorrow is the wedding. Otherwise I would have come."

"Hmm."

"So, how is the party?"

"Boring."

Gauri chuckles. "You never like anything."

I like you.

"I find parties boring." Omkara tells her.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Gauri excitedly shouts.

"Thanks. It's 12?" Omkara asks happily.

"Yes. I was actually waiting to call you when you called."

"Where is Omkara?"

He hears someone shouting from inside. He was about to walk from there so they don't see him.

"Oh they are calling you. You go." Gauri tells him.

**********

Gauri frowns hearing that. "You introduced Bhavya to Rudy, so that Rudy would fall for her?"

"Kinda yeah." Omkara nods.

Gauri furiously scowls at him.

"And... I kept bringing them together." Omkara says.

"What do you mean?"

"You know... purposely leave my stuff at Shivaay's place and sending Rudy to pick it up when I was sure Bhavya was home. Like that." Omkara ends with a half shrug.

"You pushed them together." Gauri asks getting angry.

Omkara nods. "Rudy was too strong and loyal to you, it took a while for him to finally accept that he loves Bhavya."

"And what else did you do?" Gauri asks frowning. "The day, Rudy told me about Bhavya, you came to my house."

Omkara nods.

Gauri scowls in shock and accuses him. "You came to fix our wedding."

Omkara nods.

"Dadi said you kept telling her that my happiness was your responsibility and you've to find a guy for me." Gauri says in shock.

"Yeah... and the humiliation that you would go through because of the broken engagement." Omkara adds.

"You manipulated her." Then in shock, she says, "You manipulated me by saying that if I am not happy then my family won't be happy. You manipulated all of us."

Cheekily grinning, he says, "I almost had an heart attack, when your father said that he was not going to force you to marry me."

"Was it you, who made Mom think that we should have the wedding soon?"

Omkara smiles in reply.

"And you made me agree." Gauri says in shock.

Smiling happily, he nods.

Gauri furiously glares at him. "You forgot one weapon."

"What?" Omkara asks worriedly as he looked around.

"My chappal." Gauri says furiously.

**********

"Baby, you love me now." Omkara shouts out as he ran into their bedroom.

"I'm going to kill you, you asshole." Gauri screams as she ran behind him with her slippers.

Gauri hits him with her slipper. Omkara tries to dodge and he stumbles and falls on the bed. Gauri gets on top of him and hits him, threatening to kill him.

Omkara holds her hands, grabs her slipper and throws it away and rolls her over, and gets on top of her.

"You're a dog!"

"I love you."

"You're bloody asshole!"

"I love you."

"Poor Rudy, he has been living in guilt." Gauri tells him in shock.

"Technically, I just pushed him towards Bhavya. It was he, who went and fell in love with her."

"You psycho!"

"You love me." Omkara reminds her.

"You got my heart broken." Gauri reminds him furiously.

"All my life, I've lived with a broken heart, Gauri." Omkara gently tells her.

Hearing him, Gauri's heart goes out to him. Unable to control herself, she keeps her hand on his cheek.

Omkara seeing that, leans down and takes her lips in his. Gauri kisses him back.

"Did you move out to keep me away from Rudy?" Gauri asks him.

Omkara shakes his head. "Whatever I did, I did to get you. From the moment you agreed to marry me, everything I did, I did for you."

"No more lies." Gauri tells him.

"I promise."

Gauri kisses his cheek.

"You forgive me?"

"How can I not? You are the most perfect husband."

Omkara smiles hearing that.

"Horrible human being. But the best husband."

Omkara chuckles hearing that. He leans down and takes her lips in him.

**********

Gauri looks at Omkara and sees him sleeping. She smiles and turns around the leans up to grab her mobile. Feeling her moving away from him, he tightens his hold on her.

Gauri opens her WhatsApp and looks for Rudy. She messages him. "Hi."

She felt Omkara move and curiously turns to look and sees him lying on her shoulders with his eyes closed.

"Are you awake?" Gauri asks him feeling suspicious.

He continues to sleep.

She frowns at him then she hears a beep and turns to check her message.

"Hi... long time."

Gauri smiles, realizing how happy Rudy was that she had messaged him. "Felt like talking to you."

"I miss you, Gauri."

"I miss you too."

Omkara growls softly.

Gauri turns to him and sees him sleeping. Exasperated, she tells him, "Either you openly read my messages or stop reacting to them!"

Omkara continues to sleep.

"I'm realizing what a big fraud you are!" Gauri declares.

Omkara continues to sleep.

Hearing a beep, she turns to look at her phone.

"I'm so happy you messaged me. There are so many things I want to talk to you. I want to hear from you. I never thought we could stay away from each other for so long without talking to each other. You are my best friend, Gauri. The one I could share everything with."

Gauri felt Omkara's facial muscle move. Gauri turns to look at him and sees him sleeping.

Ignoring him, she messages him. "I know. Even I am thinking how this happened. How I stayed away from you for so long."

Omkara growls.

"Seriously?" Gauri asks in exasperation. Then she turns and types into the phone. "How is it going with Bhavya?"

"Amazing. Don't tell O. I just left from her place. Shivaay is out of town. ;)"

"He is reading the messages!"

"Why is he reading the messages? Ask him to get lost."

Gauri chuckles and Omkara growls.

"You were so good for so long." Gauri tells Omkara. "Your jealousy and possessiveness is coming out." She teases him.

Omkara hugs her tighter.

"Psycho!" Gauri mutters.

"How is it going with O? You love him, right? Yesterday, you didn't say anything."

"No."

Omkara leans up in shock.

Smugly grinning, Gauri tells him. "Caught you!"

Grinning, Omkara falls back on her.

"I told you, you can read. Then why this acting? Specially when I knew you were reading?" Gauri asks him.

"He is your best friend." Omkara says as he hugged her.

"Don't tell me, you're plotting to be my best friend next."

Omkara chuckles. "I think all my life, I was jealous and heart broken, I don't know... "

Gauri smiles and kisses his lips. "I love you, Om."

"I love you too."

Gauri smiles and messages Rudra. "I love him. He is my first and last love."

Omkara smiles reading that. Then he turns to her and kisses her passionately. "Ask him to get lost."

Grinning, Gauri messages him. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye. Hi to Bhavya."

Omkara starts kissing her as he pulled her close to him.

"You promised no more lies." Gauri reminds him as he kissed her neck.

"I promise."

Gauri groans. "You are forever going to lie to me!"

Omkara grins. "No."

"Was that a lie?" Gauri asks confused.

Omkara laughs.

"Psycho!"

"But only yours. Always have been. And always will be." Omkara vows.

*** The End ***

I don't know how many liked the ending. I just couldn't come up with anything else.

Many had asked me to write a second part to Mangetar, I feel if I write their life after marriage then it would be more or less like this story only.

To all malayalis, I don't know which movie it is, but there is a diagloue Jagathy says "Ethra nannakan nokkiyallum, ullile fraudukal purathu chadi varum (how much ever I try to be good, the fraud in me, keeps coming out.). I kept remembering that dialogue as I wrote this Omkara LMAO.

P.S: going to be busy for two weeks. So, won't be posting anything new and might not be able to reply to pms.

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- Lazy