Aryamann's POV:

I hurried up the stairs, cursing the estate agent who wasted my time for no particular reason. All my plans went south the second the estate agent took me to a place farther away from where I had thought.

And now I am late. I hadn't gotten a chance to meet Bhumi before going out. And what would she be thinking now? That I had walked out! No way in hell would I let her think that.

As I hurried towards the operation theatre, I found the hunched figure of Bhumi, and my heart ached.

"Bhumi," I called out softly.

The look she threw my way was icy.

"Bhumi, I am so sorry. I got caught up-"

"It doesn't matter. You could have just informed me that you have work to manage. I would have stayed here," Bhumi said in a cold tone.

Damn it! She was warming up to me and now we are back to square one.

"Listen. It is not what you think-"

"I really don't care, Aryamann. And you don't have to stay here either. You can leave to do whatever work that is important," she said icily.

"Damn it, Bhumi. I am not going anywhere," I snapped at her, and she simply shrugged, saying that it doesn't matter to her either way.

It was a long procedure and while we waited there outside the surgery room, I went down the memory lane once again..

PAST

Aryamann's POV:

"Do not worry, Lekha di. I will take care of this. Trust me, di," I heard Bhumi talking to her sister on the phone.

I have no idea who this sister is. Or any of her family for that matter.

It has been more than six months since we got married. We get along pretty well, other than the usual banter we engage ourselves in.

It is impossible not to have an argument a day when the other person involved is Bhumika Basu Mehrotra.

I tried to fight the smile forming on my lips. No one could ever accuse her of not being an everlasting source of challenge.

If I point towards the sky and say it looks blue, she would, given the right mood, argue that it was yellow and she would continue arguing until I agree to it or until she gets bored and abandons the conversation altogether.

And as for her family, it remains a mystery.

She keeps changing the subject whenever I ask anything about her family.

I could easily get a private investigator and gather information about her background, but I don't want to do that just for her to accuse me of breaching her privacy later on.

Everything has been going pretty well so far.

And I have tried my best to keep my hands to myself ever since that last kiss on our honeymoon.

Because I don't trust myself to stop, if I touch her again. Which has led me to thousands of cold showers during the last few months.

It is a miracle that I haven't yet caught a cold due to my cold showers during midnight.

"Bhumi," I called out, and she immediately hung up the phone and looked at me in horror, wondering how long I had been listening to her conversation.

What is she hiding from me?

Why doesn't she trust me?

"Aryamann," she breathed out, still in shock.

"Don't worry, whatever secret you were talking about, I didn't hear a word," I said, rolling my eyes, and she released a breath in relief, which simply increased my suspicion.

"There was no secret, ha ha, it was just Arohi on call," she said, taking her hands behind her as she does whenever she is lying.

Of course, to cross her fingers without me seeing, but I know that's what she is doing because I have seen her doing that before.

"Whatever you say, I am leaving for the office. See you soon," I said, smirking, and left for the office.

See you in an hour baby, I thought to myself.

Because for the next three months, Bhumi will be working in our company, as she has already proved herself an expert in coding.

We will need her services.

We are collaborating with Mittal Industries. One of the old powerful families in Mumbai. There had been no business or any news about this industry for over ten years, but they have resurfaced, and this is their first venture.

We are going to develop our first game along with the Mittal groups, and Bhumi is going to help me with this.

This would be a great opportunity for her.

You people might be wondering why I didn't tell her and take her with me now.

Ha ha, call me evil. But I want to see the pissed off Bhumi when she comes to know that she is fired from the cafe.

She would definitely come to my office with a gun or maybe a knife with the sole purpose of killing me.

A man can't miss his fun, now can he?

"Good morning, Aryamann," Gaurav said, walking towards me with Daksh next to him.

"Good morning, brothers," I said, and we three walked towards the conference room where Mr. Mittal was waiting for us.

As I opened the door of the conference room, I saw Mr. Mittal pacing the room, talking on his phone, more like shouting orders at someone.

"The hell you are trying. It has been five months, and you still have no idea where she is? I just don't know how you do this. I need to know where she is by the end of this week. No more excuses, do you get me?" He demanded in an authoritative tone, which I often use when I want things to go my way.

I let out a cough to make our presence known.

He hung up the phone and turned around and greeted us.

As we took the seats around the table, we started discussing the new project.

"Mr. Mittal, I heard that in your office there are some construction works still going on. So, we thought of arranging an office room for you in our office building. That would make it easier for us to work together too," I said.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Mehrotra. And please call me Ekansh," he said politely.

"Then you get to call me Aryamann," I said.

"Sure."

"And my wife is an expert in coding. So I thought she could also help us in this. She will be here soon," I said, already anticipating her arrival.

"Oh, you are married?? I didn't know that," he said, surprised.

"Really? How can you not know? The whole world knows. It is all over the tabloids. The real-life fairytale of the modern-day prince and his Cinderella," Gaurav said with a silly grin.

"Oh, I am really sorry. I have been busy lately with the relaunch of the company and some personal matters that I couldn't pay much attention to the tabloids and all. And it would be my pleasure to meet Cinderella who captured the dark prince," he said, winking at me.

And as if on cue, the door opened with a bang, and in walked a furious Bhumi spitting fire through her eyes, and I couldn't help but grin at that.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" She demanded.

"Calm down, baby," I said, smiling sweetly.

"Baby my foot. How dare you fire me from the cafe?" She asked furiously.

"I dared. Because I want you to work for me here for the next three months. In developing a new game," I said, and her ears perked up in interest.

"Game? You mean, you want me to help you with coding?" She asked excitedly, and I nodded, for which I got a high voltage smile in return, which hit me directly in my chest.

"Bhumi bear," I heard a husky whisper, and saw Bhumi freezing in her position hearing that. I turned around to see Ekansh looking at Bhumi as if he was presented with all the valuable things in the world at once.

I turned to look at Bhumi, who still has not turned towards Ekansh. She is shaking her head as if to clear her head.

"Bhumi bear," he called again, now standing up from the chair.

"No, no. If it isn't you, I would die," she whispered without turning around.

"It is me, Bhumi bear," he said, forcing her to turn around by holding her shoulders.

"Ansh," she whispered and looked at him with her heart in her eyes.

And that's when the dam broke and tears started rolling down her cheeks.

This is the first time I am seeing her in such a vulnerable state. She is always sunny and lively. And I have seen her in furious mode too. But this is the side of her I never got to see before.

An emotional Bhumi.

I looked stunned at the scene where Ekansh pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly as if his whole life depended on it, and she didn't even protest.

I turned to see Daksh and Gaurav mirroring my expressions.

I saw Ekansh placing an affectionate kiss on top of her head, and all hell broke loose.

It was like showing the raging bull a red rag.

How dare he?

How dare he kiss my wife?

I pulled her out of his embrace and looked at him furiously.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?? How dare you touch my wife?" I asked, raising my fists to punch him, but Bhumi quickly took hold of my hands, blocking the punch.

"Don't you dare, Aryamann," she said, protecting him, and I looked at her in disbelief. She is defending him.

"Wife?" Ekansh asked in confusion before I could even reply.

"Yes. My wife. Mrs. Bhumika Aryamann Mehrotra," I said, placing a possessive hand around her waist, and he frowned at that.

"You got married, Bhumi?" He asked Bhumi in shock.

She chuckled nervously not knowing what to say.

Why the hell is she nervous anyways?

Why couldn't she just tell him that 'yes, I am married and this is my husband?'

"It is a long story, Ansh. We will talk about this later okay," she said, and he nodded reluctantly.

We all took our seats, and I can't even do anything as we already signed the contract.

The excitement on Bhumi's face is irking me to no end.

"Wait a second, so now I can throw this ring away right?" She took the ring clasped around her neck.

Was that ring his gift?

A ring? What does that symbolise?

Why was she still having it with her?

She is married for heaven's sake!

For a year! My subconscious mind reminded me which I decided to ignore.

"You are wearing it on a chain, Bhumi bear?" He was surprised and emotional at that news.

"Oh genius, if you haven't noticed yet, I am not ten anymore. I grew up. Obviously, the ring is too small for me to wear it on my finger," she said, rolling her eyes playfully at him.

"I know that. I was asking why wear it. You could just keep it safe somewhere," he said softly.

"How can I? When this ring has been my strength for the past few years when you were not there with me. Whenever I touch it, I feel like you are with me," she whispered, looking at him as if he is a reincarnation of God himself.

"I missed you, Bhumi bear. You are my heart," he said, smiling at her, with a layer of tears in his eyes.

"And you are my heartbeat, Ansh," she said with a soft laugh.

"What the!" That left my mouth without my control.

"Oh never mind that, Aryamann. That is something we used to say since we were kids. It is a habit. But it is true. She is my heart," he said.

"If your emotional rebonding is over, can we talk about our new project," I said irritated at the way they behave.

Are they so dense? I, her husband, am sitting right in front of them, and they are calling each other heart and heartbeat.

What the ever-loving f*ck!

"Sure," Ekansh said seriously.

"Wait a second. You said game, right? Are we creating The Battle?" She shrieked in excitement, shocking me.

How the hell did she know the name of the game is The Battle?

"How do you know that's the game's name? No one knows other than the four of us," Gaurav asked.

"Oh em gee!! The Battle has been Ansh's dream since as long as I can remember. Finally, the day has come. Oh, I need my laptop," she said.

His dream, huh??

"It is in my cabin. I already bought yours when I came today, as I know you would need it," I said, and she grinned at me.

"I will go and get it. I have already developed the characters for the game. You guys can take a look at that," She said and ran out of the conference room.

So, that's what she was always doing on her laptop.

Working on his dream!

There was an awkward silence in the room which Gaurav decided to break.

"So Ansh?" He called.

"Shh," Ekansh silenced him, looking around and turned to look at Gaurav again.

"Ekansh," he corrected. Gaurav and I frowned.

"Don't ever call me Ansh. Especially when Bhumi is around," he said.

"Why?" I scowled at him.

"Because she is so damn possessive about it," he said, smiling as if remembering something.

"What would she do if she heard?" Daksh asked.

"If she can cut a girl's hair in front of the whole school when she was merely ten. She definitely won't hesitate to kill someone when she is eighteen," he said chuckling.

"Cut hair?" Gaurav asked in horror.

"There was this girl in our school who was crazy about me. And she called me Ansh once, and Bhumi heard it. And then all hell broke loose. She claims it is her sole right to call me Ansh. No one else can do that. I also like it that way," he said, shaking his head chuckling.

Why do I have the sudden urge to chop this guy into pieces and throw him into the sea?

A/N

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