"Now you have seen for yourselves how characterless this girl is." Alia taunted.

The people began murmuring and speaking ill about Shahana.

"These type of girls are a shame to our society." one of the ladies spoke.

"They set a bad example to the society." another lady said bitterly.

"She should be punished for this heinous act." someone shouted.

"Punishment will not help. She has no rights to stay alive." This statement was met with approval from others.

"Please be calm. There is something not right. Please don't leap to conclusions." Pragya pleaded.

"We are not leaping to conclusions. They are speaking the truth. I knew that this girl is cheap but never knew she is a slut too. " Alia tried to add fuel to the fire.

"Alia! Mind your words." Purab glared at her.

"Why should I? The proof is in front of everyone. Is there anything to defend her?" she pointed.

In the meanwhile, the guests were discussing ways to kill her. They wanted to burn Shahana alive in a public place.

"NO!" Dimpy screamed all of a sudden, drawing all the attention to herself. "Please don't kill her......She must have been trapped.......I consider her as my friend." she sobbed dramatically.

"I know how kind hearted you are but everyone is not pure like you." Alia said caressing her.

"Aunty.......There is another solution. Shahana can marry that guy. Everything will be fine then." 

"Are you mad?" Rhea exclaimed.

"I think she is correct." Abhi supported.

"But, we don't know anything about the guy." Prachi pointed.

"Saving Shahana's life is of utmost importance now. Let this marriage happen for now. They can opt for a divorce later." he whispered.

"But....." Prachi and Rhea tried to protest.

"Fine. We will get Shahana married to this guy." Pragya announced.

A wave of approval passed through the crowd.

Dimpy and Alia glanced at each other and gave a sly smile. After all, their plan had been successful. After Shahana married Bittu, Aryan would be only Dimpy's forever.

"Let's wake them up." Ranbir said and stepped inside. Prachi and the other family members accompanied them.

Alia was about to follow them, when a message popped up in her phone.

How long will I have to wait? When are your people going to render me unconscious?

It was from Bittu!

"If Bittu is sending me the message........then who is the guy with Shahana?" Alia's eyes widened. 

As she looked in the guy's direction, Ranbir turned him revealing his face. Another wave of shock passed through them and this time Alia and Dimpy were surprised too. It was Aryan, not Bittu!

"ARYAN!" all the family members chorused.

All the noise woke Arhana up. They sat up and began looking at everyone cluelessly. Others were gaping at them as if they were species from another planet.

"What happened? Why you are staring at me?" they asked Pranbir who were standing nearest to them.

Pranbir opened their mouth to say something but no words came out. Aryan and Shahana realized that that someone was beside him/her. They looked sideways only to find each other. They analyzed their surrounding to realize that they were in a room, specifically on a bed. 

Their eyes scanned the room and found Aryan's shirt and Shahana's dupatta heaped in a corner. They looked back at each other, fearing the worst. The marks on them seemed to be confirming the worst of their imagination, but their mind could not remember having done any such thing.

"Do you remember anything?" Purab asked gently, sensing their helplessness.

"No dad.......The last thing I remember is going to search for Ranbir. I don't remember anything after that." Aryan frowned, trying to recall what had happened and how he had landed in the room.

"The same goes for me.........I had come to clean my dress and I don't know what happened after that." 

"This is a common excuse given by sluts like you when are you caught in your act, isn't it?" one of the guests mocked.

"Don't you have any shame, girl? Don't you care the least about the reputation of your family?" the others too joined in to insult and hurl abuses at her.

 "SHUT UP! None of you has the right to question her character. She is not at fault." Aryan shouted at the top of his voice.

"Look, how he is defending her. I'm sure there is something going on between them."

"We should definitely get them married." 

"No! My son will not marry this girl!" Alia screamed as her plan was backfiring at her.

"Nothing will happen to the boy, but what will happen to the girl? Who will marry her in future? If this boy doesn't marry her, we will resort to our original plan of honor killing." the people threatened.

Their words made Shahana cower in fear. She knew that the threats were not be taken lightly. She knew of the events of lynching. Girls are the one who are blamed usually. Aryan, sensed her fear and knew that the situation was going out of control. It was impossible to reason with logic with these conservative people.

 "I'll marry her." he declared making the family members look at him in surprise. 

Alia took a step to interrupt him when Purab held her hand. "You have messed everything already. Don't utter a single word more." Purab said with fire burning in his eyes.

"How can we believe you? You may be saying these to fool us?" 

"Fine. Our marriage will take place tomorrow along with Ranbir and Prachi's and all of you are invited to present." he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Are you satisfied now? The function is over......See you tomorrow. Mitali bhabi, please escort them outside." Purab ordered.

The guests left one by one. Alia signaled Dimpy to leave too. She left reluctantly.

"I think both of you would like to go to your rooms. Ranbir and Prachi, please help them." Purab was in charge as everyone had not still recovered form the shock.

When they left, he turned towards others. "I guess we need to talk. Rhea, you can take rest too." 

Rhea nodded and went to her room, leaving the adults to discuss the issue at hand.