Bhumi's POV:

Aryamann is still glaring at me.

"Why would you do such a thing, Bhumi?" Daksh bhaiyya asked in frustration, and I hung my head low in shame.

I know. I am on the wrong side here. I shouldn't have let my anger take over my sanity.

"I was angry at Aryamann. He called me illiterate because I haven't gone to college yet," I said quietly.

"Why haven't you gone to college yet, Bhumi?" Gaurav asked softly.

"I just took a year break after my schooling, so that I could save up for college. What's wrong with that? Not everyone is born with a silver spoon in their mouth," I said, and they looked at me stunned.

Why? I don't know why they are so stunned?

"Did you just say a one-year break?" Aryamann asked, bewildered, and I looked at him in confusion.

"Yes?" I said, almost as if questioning myself.

"How old are you, Bhumi?" Daksh bhaiyya asked.

"I am eighteen. I will be turning nineteen in a few months," I said, and Aryamann sucked in a sharp breath.

What is wrong with him?

"You are eighteen. Only eighteen?" He asked, and I nodded.

"Damn it!!" He cursed, running a hand through his hair.

"What is wrong with my age?" I asked, frowning at their behaviour.

"Do you know how old I am, Bhumi? I am twenty-nine. I am ten years older than you," he said in frustration.

"So?" I was still confused as to what the issue is.

"God! I feel like a paedophile," he said, and I looked at him in horror.

"What the hell? For you to be a paedophile, I have to be a child. I am not a child. I am above eighteen, Aryamann. I am an adult. I am old enough to know right and wrong. You don't have to make a big deal out of this. And if you haven't realised it yet, I am way more mature for my age. Life has taught me well," I said, challenging him to retort.

They all seemed to calm down a bit.

"But still, Aryamann, you shouldn't have called her illiterate, no matter what," Daksh bhaiyya chided his younger brother.

"I didn't. I just- I was. Arghh! She just kept on praising Jai, and I just lost it," he said without thinking and stopped abruptly as if he said something he shouldn't have.

"I was just telling the truth. Whatever he did is praiseworthy. You are his friend, and you should be proud of him too," I said, and he gritted his teeth.

I saw Daksh bhaiyya and Gaurav looking at Aryamann with a smirk.

"Yes, Aryamann. You should be proud of your friend Jai, for whatever she said he did," Gaurav said with a smirk.

"Shut up, Gaurav," Aryamann hissed.

What is wrong with him? They are friends, right? Then why doesn't he like J? He is such a sweetheart. How can anybody not like him?

*****

A WEEK LATER

THE NIGHT BEFORE THE COURT WEDDING

Third person's pov!

*****

Bhumi was standing on the roof top of her apartment complex. She came out to have some fresh air.

This was her last day as a bachelorette and she was feeling suffocated. Because she wasn't marrying the love of her life.

She was getting into a contract marriage and she will have to leave a year later.

The thought was making her go crazy.

She was an in and out romantic. Her idols were her parents. The way her parents had loved each other, she had dreamed of that one in a million kind of love for her too.

But she wasn't lucky on that score.

As she stood there lost in thought, she felt a presence behind her. Turning, she saw Jai, his eyes filled with an intensity she had never seen before. He approached her slowly, his footsteps echoing in the silence of the evening.

"Bhumi," he began, his voice low and tender. "There is something I need to tell you."

Bhumi turned to face him fully, her heart racing in anticipation. There was something different about him tonight, something in the way he looked at her that made her breath catch in her throat.

"I know we have been friends," Jai continued, his eyes never leaving hers. "But lately, I have come to realise that you mean more to me than just a friend. You are the one person who truly understands me, who sees me for who I am. And I can't imagine my life without you in it."

Bhumi felt her pulse quicken at his words.

"Bhumi," Jai said, taking her hands in his. "I love you. More than anything in this world.

Tears welled up in Bhumi's eyes as she looked into Jai's caring gaze. How had she been so blind to his love for her all these days? Guilt gnawed at her heart as she realised the depth of his feelings for her, feelings she had never once considered reciprocating.

"I am sorry, Jai," Bhumi whispered, her voice barely audible. "I am sorry for never realising... for never seeing..."

Jai's expression softened, and he gently wiped away her tears with his thumb.

"It's okay, Bhumi. You don't have to apologise. I know you love Aryamann and you are getting married to him tomorrow. But I just wanted to get this off my chest. I don't want to lay awake in the coming nights, wondering over what ifs. Now I feel relieved." Jai said softly and Bhumi didn't know what to say.

"I really wish I had met you before Aryamann did. If I had, I would have never let you go." Jai said and Bhumi felt her heart beating fastly.

Someone who loves her with all his heart.

Why couldn't he come to her life before she signed it away to Aryamann!

"I am sorry, Jai." Bhumi said softly.

"Don't apologise, Bhumi. I will be happy if you are happy." Jai said and Bhumi smiled through her tears.

"I will take your leave then. Wish you all the best, Bhumi." Jai said and walked away from her.

As he stepped out through the terrace door, he saw Aryamann standing there leaning against the wall. His eyes red with anger.

"Jai.." Aryamann growled in anger.

"Don't raise your voice, Aryamann. You are lucky to have her in your life. You better keep her happy. If you somehow mess this up, then I will come for her, Aryamann. There will be nothing that can stop me then." With that not so subtle warning, Jai walked out, leaving a furious Aryamann back.

Aryamann briskly walked towards Bhumi and found her sitting on the floor, burying her face in between her knees. He sat next to her.

*****

Bhumi's pov!

"Now you trust what I said about Jai that day?" Aryamann's taunting voice reached my ears and I looked up startled at the voice to see Aryamann looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face, his jaws set taut.

"How much did you hear?" I asked.

"Pretty much everything," he said coldly.

"Hmm.."

"So what have you decided?" He asked. Although his question seemed casual, I could feel that he was nervous and worried.

Worried about what? That I will run behind J now that he is offering me everything I have dreamed of? A world full of unconditional love?

I wish I could.

"There is nothing to worry about. I know what I am doing. I have a commitment towards you and I will keep it up." I said quietly.

"On his way out, he just issued a warning. If I mess up, he will come back for you it seems" he said sarcastically, and I couldn't help the smile that formed on my lips.

"He did?" I asked with a soft chuckle.

"If he thinks somehow he can..-"

"Aryamann, don't. You have no idea how good a friend he is to me and to you," I said.

"You are mine, Bhumi. You know that," he said through his clenched teeth, and I gave him a weak smile.

"I know very well. I have signed my life away to you, Aryamann. You have no idea how it is to knowingly step into a married life which you know will never be your true happiness. Especially when someone else promised you the whole world mere hours before that marriage." I said with a sad chuckle.

Now Aryamann looked truly angry.

"Don't get carried away with Jai's romantic words," he hissed out.

"I don't," I sighed, "otherwise, I would be running after him now, Aryamann" I said matter of factly.

Aryamann's eyes were burning, and for a second I got worried that he would be the one running after Jai to punch the hell out of him.

"Don't worry about it, Aryamann. You won't have to search for a new bride at the last moment. And moreover Jai deserves someone better. Someone better than a girl like me who agreed to marry someone for money. Forgive me, I just let myself enjoy his love for a moment. It was like finding an oasis in a desert for someone who doesn't have anybody to love." I said without thinking.

"What are you talking about?? You talk as if you have no one," he said clenching his jaws, that sobered me up.

What were you thinking, Bhumi? Blurting out your feelings to Aryamann like that. He knows nothing about your past, Bhumi. And it's better that way.

You don't need anyone's pity!

"Nothing," I said, and with that, I got up and walked away.

A/N

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SF❤️