Author's note: A new chapter is up early! Huge apologies for not replying to all the comments on the previous chapter, but I promise I have read each one of them and cherish all of them dearly. I will reply to all the comments under this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy reading it. Please keep some patience for the next chapter. It will be out next Tuesday or Wednesday(13th or 14th October), and I promise I'll make it longer as compensation.❤

Chapter is unedited

Dhara stomped her way to her room. First of all, she was being forced to go to Dharamsala for just one day to shop for things that she didn't care about and on top of that, she had to spend the entire afternoon and evening with the Monkeyface. She felt extremely guilty about feeding him chillies at the fair, but after what he had done, she thought it balanced out. At least 45% considering she had caused him physical pain.

"Why are you still not ready?" She demanded when he opened the door of her room.

"I am so sorry," He said, looking genuinely apologetic. "I just finished an important call with my team. I'll be ready in five minutes."

She frowned. Why was he being so civil with her? "Are you alright?"

"Yes, why?"

"Then why are you talking to me normally?"

He appeared amused as he leaned against the door frame. "Would you rather that I tease you, Mrs. Kohli?"

Strangely, yes. "Whatever!" She snapped and pushed past him into the room. "I need to get my jacket."

"Please, be my guest!"He smiled and picked up his clothes that were already laid out on the bed before quickly making his way to the bathroom.

"Be my guest!" She mocked, annoyed.

"There you are!"Dhara said when she finally found her purple jacket in the back of the closet.

Putting in on, she checked herself out in the mirror. Just as she was about to exit the room, her eyes fell on Akash's laptop with its lid open. But what caught her attention was the picture displayed on it. It was a picture of her grandparents. Her grandmother was slapping her forehead while her grandfather was holding the bottle of medication in his hand and pressing his lips together as if trying to control his laughter. Moments like these were rare, and the fact that Akash had managed to capture the couple's intimate moment like this made her smile. She looked towards the bathroom door and found it still closed, so she flipped through the next photograph in his gallery after promising herself that she would stop after the next one. The following picture was a black and white picture of her and Soumya laughing at something she was showing Soumya on her phone while Soumya applied oil to her hair. Feeling guilty about invading his privacy like this, she wanted to stop, but she wanted to see what else Akash's lense had captured.

"There is no need to feel guilty. They are your pictures, after all." She told herself as she began scrolling through the images one by one. The image of Manoj dancing in the kitchen made her chuckle. Picture after picture of the family filled the screen, and she wondered why she hadn't noticed him taking photos around the house. Some were bright and popped with colour while others were black and white. It seemed like each picture was telling her a story. A story that she hadn't thought much of till these images. Akash had managed to find beauty in the mundane.

"If you like it, I can send it to you," Akash said from behind her when she was looking at the image of herself watering her plants in the garden. He had clearly taken the picture from the windowsill because she could see that he used the money plant to frame his photograph. Bright coloured flowers and the greens of the leaves popped while her off white dress and bare feet gave a minimalistic vibe.

Embarrassed and annoyed that he had caught her admiring his work, she put the laptop down. "Why the hell are you taking our pictures without our permission?" She asked, instead.

His smile dropped, and he looked guarded. "I am sorry. I talked to your grandmother, and she said it's fine. I'll delete them."He reached for his laptop and picked it up.

"No, don't delete it." She said and shook her head. "Just don't take my pictures, and don't you dare sell any of the pictures online, or I'll kill you."

"What do you think of me, Dhara?" He asked, scowling. "I take privacy and permission very seriously. Now that you have explicitly told me not to take your pictures, I won't be doing that anymore. Don't worry." He promised.

That was the first time he had said her name, and she didn't like it as much as Mrs. Kohli, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of liking his nickname for her. Considering the most potent weapon in her arsenal was safe and sound, she laughed at the irony.

"Good." She nodded and began walking away. "Now, hurry up before my sister gets mad at me because she thinks I am the one being tardy."

"Dhara!" He called out and jogged to catch up to her.

That was the second time! "What?" She asked.

🌼🌺🌼

"Ready?" Someone asked just as Rudra turned on the automatic out of office response for his emails.

He looked up at Soumya, dressed in a pink turtleneck and faded blue jeans, and nodded. "I guess so," He said to Soumya, putting away his phone into the back of his pocket.

She beamed and tucked a strand of hair that was wet behind her ear. As she moved past him to get to the back of the jeep, he caught a whiff of the jasmine-scented perfume that trailed behind her. He watched as she climbed into the back and began organizing the empty backpacks that Dhara had haphazardly thrown earlier. Before he realized, he was already gawking at Soumya. Noticing the way her delicate fingers grasped the strap of the backpack. The way she moved her waist-long hair to hang limply over her shoulders when it got in the way of her task. The way her sharply pointed nose scrunched when she saw something she didn't like in one of the backpacks. The way that the light pink hue of her shirt matched the blush on her cheeks and nose caused by the chilly weather. Flustered and embarrassed by his out of character behaviour, he immediately looked away when she caught him staring at her.

Soumya cleared her throat when she came to stand beside him. He tried to politely smile at her hoping she didn't assume the worst of him. "Dhara told me what happened at the dining table yesterday." She began, twisting her fingers in front of her.

He looked at her, quizzically, "What happened?"

Her eyes shot up, and she studied him in confusion for a few seconds before awkwardly saying, "My Bua asked you to take a look at the pictures of the suitors..."

"Oh! Yeah.... It's alright." He said when she gave him an apologetic smile.

"Is Akash ready?" She asked, looking into the house behind him

"I think so," Rudra said as he rested his elbow on the bonnet of the jeep. "I believe he was finishing up some work because he was talking about it this morning."

"Did you see the photographs that Akash took at the fair?"

"No," He replied, feeling guilty about ruining her bubbling excitement, but to his surprise, she didn't seem to notice the change in his mood.

"You should. He has taken a few pictures of you too."

He frowned and looked at her in confusion. "My pictures? Akash has taken my pictures?"

If she found his bewilderment odd, she didn't mention it. "Yes, When you were trying your luck at the shooting range and a few others with your grandparents. He is really talented!"
"He is," Rudra whispered, still confused by the fact that Akash had taken pictures of him.

"You can sit in the front with Dhara if you like." Soumya offered after a few moments of silence.

"I think I'll just sit in the back."

Soumya smiled and shook her head. "I don't think she will have a problem with you sitting in the front now that she thinks you are cool."

He chuckled and scratched the arch of his eyebrows right above the rim of glasses. "Guess I should add that to my resume as an achievement, huh?"

Soumya giggled in response. "Anyone that knows her will agree. She doesn't even think I am cool enough."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah! She only tolerates me because I am her sister."

Rudra smiled at her joke and then turned towards his vehicle. "Your dad's jeep?"

She shook her head and sighed. "My mom's. She was the more adventurous one in the relationship after all."

"It's a nice jeep." He complimented.

"My Nanu gifted it to her on her 24th birthday." She said as she sat on the driver's seat and wrapped her fingers around the steering wheel. His attention again drew to her long delicate fingers curling and uncurling around the wheel. "My parents had a love marriage. They met and fell in school. Since they were both from different castes, the families opposed them. So, they ran away. My mom picked him up in this very jeep."

"Really?"

"Yes, it was a big deal around here." She smiled fondly and lay the back of her head against the headrest. "They got married in Delhi and didn't come back home for an entire year. My Dadaji and Dadi were a little upset initially but later accepted their relationship, but my mom's family... Not so much."

"They live here?"

"In Dharamsala. When my parents died, they came to the final rituals, but that was it. Dhara and I hardly know anything about them."

"Your parents seem like they were a power couple." He finally offered when she stopped talking, and her gaze turned sad.

"They were!" She grinned up proudly at him. "I have always wanted a relationship like theirs. Totally opposite yet such complementing personalities like Yin and Yang."

"So why is the daughter of such a romantic couple going for an arranged marriage?" He teased. At Least this time, she smiled at his joke. Maybe his delivery was getting better.

"Guess no one wants to marry me without any pressurization from their family." She replied with a small shrug.

"It might not be my place to ask, but your aunt mentioned a medical condition." He began and immediately regretted it when he saw how irked she appeared.

"Of course, she did," Soumya said through her gritted teeth. "Why wouldn't she?"

"I am sorry." He quickly said when he noticed how agitated she was getting. "I know it's personal, but I just wanted to extend a helping hand as a doctor and acquaintance. I didn't mean to upset you."

"I am infertile. I bet that's the word my Aunt used to describe me. Because I am nothing more than that." Soumya spat out bitterly. "I can't bear my husband a child, which is obviously a crime in this country, which is why aunt keeps shouting it out to everyone and anyone who is willing to listen."

He stood perplexed by how the tone of their interaction had changed in just a few minutes. Her entire body shook with restrained anger, and tears rolled down her cheeks as she jumped out of the vehicle. Out of instinct, he held her hand to stop her. "Soumya, I didn't-"

Before he could say something in his defence, Dhara's loud shriek along with Akash's cry, followed by a loud thud, echoed from inside the house.

Soumya and Rudra looked at each other, startled by the sounds for a quick second before they ran into the house.

"Akash!" Rudra yelled as he rushed towards his brother, who was lying at the bottom of the stairs with blood oozing out of his forehead.