"Shekhar Uncle," Laskhya called out as the lunch came to its end.

Ragini's father looked at Lakshya, surprised, "Yes, son?"

Sanskaar was surprised as well, more because of the warm smile that Lakshya had plastered on his face. Seeing the wide-eyed stares around the table, he guessed Lakshya wasn't used to talking Shekhar Gadodia all that often.

"I was wondering if you would be okay with me taking Ragini out for coffee in the evening?" Lakshya asked tentatively. He raised his hands quickly seeing raised eyebrows, "We wont be alone. Sanskaar bhai will be there so that he can meet her."

Sanskaar glared at Lakshya. But it was in vain.

"Sanskaar?" Ragini's grandmother squealed, before focusing her sight on Sanskaar.

Sanskaar felt the heat of their attention on him. He tried to fiddle in his chair.

"Why do you need to go out for that?" Durgaprasad asked in his firm voice, "Hasn't he already met her?"

"He has, but considering that she is going to be part of this family, wouldn't it be good if she gets to know him?" Lakshya asked putting his best innocent face on, "After all, everyone else in the family has had a change to get to know her. Sanskaar hasn't." He was complaining about that just a while back," he added for good measure.

"What!" Sanskaar blurted before he could stop himself. He ground his teeth in annoyance. "I didn't say anything."

"Of course you did!" Lakshya said brightly, "Didn't he, Uttara?" he asked their sister.

Uttara nodded in agreement.

"Uttara!" Sanskaar glared at her.

"But that was because Lakshya Bhai didn't tell Sanskaar Bhai anything about Ragini, the way I have told her about Sanskaar Bhai," she added quickly seeing the look in Sanskaar's eyes.

"That is exactly what I am trying to remedy now by getting them to know each other," Lakshya added triumphantly.

"What is the need to go out for that? You can meet her here," Sujata told her son pointedly.

Sanskaar raised his hands in the air, in surrender, "I agree."

"But at home everyone will be poking their noses and interrupting," Lakshya complained.

"So what?" Sujata asked angrily, "Why is that a problem? And he can get to know her after marriage as well. It is not as though he is the one getting married and needs to know her."

"Sujju, you don't understand," Ram cut in with a teasing smile.

"What don't I understand?" Sujata glared at her husband.

"Sanskaar is only an excuse. It is really Lakshya who wants to spend time with Ragini. But he is worried that he wont get the permission if he is going alone. So he is tagging Sanskaar along," Ram turned to Lakshya, "Isn't that the case?"

Lakshya blushed and lowered his head shyly.

Sanskaar shook his head in annoyance. Oh the amount of drama Lakshya was doing! He clenched his fist under the table.

"See, I told you," Ram said triumphantly seeing Lakshya's reactions. "He did take those lessons from you last night, Bhai-sa."

Durgaprasad cleared his throat quickly to stop his brother from saying anything more. The last thing he wanted was for that to come out in front of the Gadodias. Or anyone for that matter.

"I guess we could allow them to go," Shekhar said tentatively looking at his parents for their opinion.

Ragini's grandmother didn't seem pleased about it, "Sending Ragini with two boys, before marriage...,"

"The wedding is just ten days away. Everyone in our society and city is aware of it. They know she will be the daughter-in-law of the family soon. There wont be any wagging tongues," Savita said quietly.

"It is your decision, Parvatiji. We will go with whatever you decide," Annapurna assured Ragini's grandmother.

Ragini's grandmother looked at Ragini one. She was sitting quietly with her head lowered. She was probably shy or blushing. Or may be both, Sanskaar guessed. Parvati Gadodia then looked at Lakshya kindly and at Sanskaar skeptically before nodding her head, "Fine."

Lakshya smiled brightly, "Thanks Dadiji."

"Look at the boy!" Ram joked.

Everyone smiled and let out a laugh seeing Lakshya's excitement. Everyone but Sanskaar. He was the only one who knew. Knew but couldn't reveal that this was nothing but a lie.

***

"Dont mess this up," Lakshya warned as they saw Ragini enter the coffeeshop that evening.

While Parvati Gadodia had agreed to letting Ragini go to the coffeeshop, she had insisted that their driver would drop her and pick her up exactly at 7:00PM.

Ragini shyly walked towards their table, after Lakshya waved a hand to let her know where they sat. Sanskaar was surprised to even see that Lakshya had gotten up from his chair and offered his chair to Ragini, until he realised that Lakshya was going that to come and sit next to him in the lounger.

"Thanks," Ragini said with a warm smile, not seeing through the truth behind Lakshya's gesture.

"Let's order," Lakshya said ignoring her words. He waved a waiter over to their table. "One latte for me. What will you have?" he asked Sanskaar.

Sanskaar raised his eyebrows at Lakshya before turning to Ragini, "Why don't you order first?"

"A latte will do," Ragini told the waiter kindly before the waiter turned back to Sanskaar.

"Double expresso for me, thanks," Sanskaar said before turning back to Lakshya.

"Why are you looking at me?" Lakshya shrugged his shoulders, "This is for the two of you to get to know each other."

Sanskaar hit Lakshya under the table for his flippant comment, but Lakshya just glared at him mouthing 'What?'. Sanskaar shook his head before turning to Ragini. She looked uncomfortable. She gave a nervous smile to Sanskaar who returned it.

He had no clue what he could talk to her about. It was different when he was actually talking to Uttara and Ragini was just around. But now stuck between his annoying brother and this uncomfortable stranger, he couldn't think of anything to talk about.

The silence stretched awkwardly for a long time. Lakshya finally had it. He shook his head and hit Sanskaar's shin under the table–hard.

Sanskaar yelped at looked at Lakshya with wide eyes. Lakshya gave a fake smile to Ragini who had looked at them hearing Sanskaar scream. Lakshya narrowed his eyes at Sanskaar. "This has got to be the most entertaining conversation I have heard," he said sarcastically.

"Glad we could be of service," Sanskaar shot back.

"You are here to talk to Ragini, not me," Lakshya said grinding his teeth.

Just then the waiter turned up with their orders. While he was serving, Lakshya took the opportunity to whisper to Sanskaar, "Don't waste time. Don't forget what is on line. I am not kidding around."

Sanskaar clenched his jaw but refrained from commenting. He took a deep breath and turned to Ragini, "So..."

Ragini looked at him expectantly trying to see what he wanted to say.

"So...," He wreaked his head to think of something to talk to her about. Anything. "What do you do?"

"Nothing," came her soft one-word answer.

"Nothing..." Sanskaar repeated tapping his fingers on the table. He glanced at Lakshya who was wagging his eyebrows asking him to go on. He closed his eyes for a second before turning back to Ragini, "Have you finished your studies?"

She nodded.

"What did you study?"

"Commerce."

Sanskaar nodded his head. He was going blank on the topics to ask, "What do you like to do? Your hobbies?"

"Umm–"

"You guys carry on. I need to make an urgent call," Lakshya said getting up.

Sanskaar and Ragini looked at him, but he walked out before they could say anything. They saw him step outside the cafe and get on a call. He gave them a thumbs-up from there before he looked away.

"So..."

Ragini raised her eyes in confusion.

"You were telling me about your hobbies."

Ragini nodded, "Music."

"Listening to it or do you play an instrument?"

"Both."

"What do you play?" Sanskaar asked, taking a sip of his expresso.

"Sitar," Ragini scrunched her nose seeing him drink his coffee.

"Is something wrong?" Sanskaar asked seeing his expression.

She shook her head.

"Its okay you can tell me."

"Is it bitter?" she asked tentatively.

"What this coffee?" Sanskaar asked looking at his cup.

She nodded.

"Its not bad. I am used to it by now. You can say I have developed a taste for it," Sanskaar explained. "Do you want to try it? It isn't all that bitter once you have a couple of sips."

She looked at the cup but shook her head.

"Why aren't you drinking your coffee?" Sanskaar asked seeing that she hadn't touched it, "You don't like latte?"

"It not that. I am waiting for Lakshyaji. Otherwise he wont have any company," she said softly.

Sanskaar looked out and saw Lakshya was still on phone. He sighed, " You don't know how long he will be on the phone," he said. He knew that the answer to that was probably not till the end of this coffee meeting, but he didn't want to hurt her with his brother's truth. "Your coffee will get cold. Drink it."

"Its okay."

"Fine. Lets all wait for Lakshya then," he said bluntly putting his cup aside. Lakshya was getting on his nerves.

"I am sorry," Ragini said

"Why are you sorry now?" Sanskaar asked her.

"You can have your coffee. I will join you," she said picking her cup, "Lakshyaji would have been here if he could."

There it was again. Apology for his brother.

"You know you need to stop apologising for Lakshya," Sanskaar said annoyed.

'But–"

"I get that you are getting married. But you need to understand that you cannot keep saying sorry for the things that he does," Sanskaar reasoned.

"He didn't mean–,"

"Ragini, he is my brother. I have grown up with him. He had some really good qualities, but he has his flaw too. You are getting married to him. You cannot keep on looking the other way and covering up for them," he said sincerely.

"Sanskaarji, show me one person who doesn't have flaws?" she asked with a gentle smile.

Sanskaar stared at her silently.

"No one is perfect. But it is up to us if we want to focus on their flaws or on their good qualities. I choose to focus on the good qualities," she explained.

Sanskaar was stumped. There was nothing he could have said to that. "You are something else, you know," he said after a long while relaxing into his chair.

Ragini smiled back at him warmly.

"So tell me about yourself..."

***

Sanskaar was back in his room after his dinner when his phone beeped. 'Meet me in my room.' the message said. It was from Lakshya.

Lakshya had disappeared from the coffeeshop midway through sending him a message with an excuse of an urgent business meeting. Ragini had suggested that may be she should go home in that case. Sanskaar hadn't stopped her, though he would never tell Lakshya that.

Lakshya and Sanskaar had never had a chance to talk after Sanskaar returned.

When Sanskaar walked into Lakshya's room, he saw him pacing. When he saw Sanskaar, he quickly asked, "How was it? Did you manage to make some headwind?"

"She is a really good person," Sanskaar said

Lakshya clicked his tongue, "That is not what I asked!" he spat, "Did you manage to convince her that this marriage is not good for her?"

"I tried to tell her about your flaws," Sanskaar said pointedly,

"And?"

"She doesn't care. She had put you next in line to god," Sanskaar said rolling his eyes.

"May be you didn't try hard enough," Lakshya shot at Sanskaar.

"Why don't you have a go at it then?" Sanskaar retorted.

"Keep you stupid remarks to yourself," Lakshya muttered through ground teeth.

"Why don't you suggest something smart then?" Sanskaar challenged

Lakshya glared at him. Sanskaar met his eyes squarely. Lakshya sighed annoyed.

"Look, lets be realistic here. She is not going to break the wedding. Stop this silliness for god sake," Sanskaar pleaded.

"God," Lakshya muttered.

"What?" Sanskaar asked confused.

"God. Thats it!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sanskaar threw his hands in the air frustrated with his brother.

Lakshya rolled his eyes, "She goes to temple like Maa. In fact, they go the same temple, same days and at the same time."

Sanskaar shrugged his shoulders, "So?"

"So, tomorrow is Tuesday. She will go to the temple," Lakshya explained, "You will meet her there."

"Me?"

"Yes! You meet her there and try to brainwash her again," Lakshya advised, "Thrown in some of your charm if needed."

"Have you–"

Lakshya's phone rang loudly before Sanskaar could get his words out. Lakshya picked up his phone. His face paled seeing the call. He picked it up quickly.

"Can I call you in a minute?" he almost pleaded with the person on the other side.

Sanskaar couldn't here what the person said, but it was clear from Lakshya's expression that that wasn't an option. Sanskaar made to leave the room, he didn't want to talk on this subject more, but Lakshya stoped him.

"Get to the temple tomorrow morning. I will keep Maa away," Lakshya said quickly, "Don't waste time. Don't think I am going to let this go," Lakshya warned.

Sanskaar made to reply back, but Lakshya rushed out into the balcony before Sanskaar could speak and closed the sound-proof doors. Sanskaar watched him talk animatedly with this person.

Who was this person and why did the call make Lakshya go pale suddenly? What was going on? Sanskaar wondered.

Thanks for all of your comments and votes. I appreciate each one of those. Please do keep them coming if you like this chapter. It lets me know that I am on right track with the story.