Ved walked back to his cabin with a lazy smile, which vanished the second he saw his brothers waiting for him there.

"I have a client meeting now. I guess, see you at home." Ved said, turning on his heels, all set to walk out of the office to escape from his brothers' third degree.

"Home? So you are not coming with us to the temple this evening?" Mayur asked, folding his arms across his chest.

Ved stared at him in horror.

"You are not serious??" Ved asked in disbelief.

"Of course I am. First time, bhabhi invited me somewhere. How can I not go." Mayur said cheekily.

Bhabhi, He liked the sound of that.

Karan choked on air seeing his brother's cheek turn slightly red.

"Are you? Are you blushing, Ved??" Karan couldn't believe his eyes. The Ved Khuranna is blushing?

"What?? No!! Of course No!" Ved denied vehemently.

"You totally are.." Mayur said scrutinising him more.

"Now tell us all about your Geet." Karan demanded.

Ved sighed realising he couldn't hide it from his brothers anymore.

He proceeded to tell them how he met her through an almost accident. How he dropped her home. And how he met her again at the temple. How they became friends. And how he fell in love with her more and more with each passing second.

Ved had a dreamy look on his face while talking about Geet.

"Love? But I thought you didn't believe in love and marriage." Mayur said in disbelief.

"When did I say I don't believe in love and marriage." Ved asked coolly.

"Ever since I remember, you have been saying the same thing again and again, Ved." Karan supported Mayur.

"Well. That was then. This is now." Ved defended himself with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

"Acha?Just like that?" Mayur asked in disbelief.

"Ishq pe hoga yakeen...
ishq ho jaane ke baad." Ved said with a dreamy smile.

Mayur and Karan gaped at him.

"He is saying poetry now," Karan said, sharing a look with Mayur.

"Wait a second. I have heard this somewhere," Mayur said, thinking hard.

Ved tensed at that and cursed himself.

How could he forget the fact that Mayur has the habit of watching daily soaps with Aunt Daya ever since he was a kid.

Does he watch Geet's favourite serial too??

Geet had kept reciting this poetry, the hero of her fav show says, because she just loved it.

And he, who could very well relate to the words too, liked it. And it somehow stuck.

"Yes. It's what the hero says in an ITV show. How do you know this Ved?" Mayur asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Leave all that! You tell me what really happened in the cafeteria. What did Tanya tell Geet? She was so scared. It's time to deal with Tanya." Ved said gritting his teeth remembering Geet's tear struck face.

Mayur explained what really happened.

"What are you going to do now? Are you going to fire her?" Karan asked curiously. Ved is a very bad enemy. If you get on his bad side, your life is ruined. There is no second chances in his dictionary.

"Fire her? Of course not. That will be very easy on her. I have other plans. First I need to talk to the HR head." Ved said and dialled the phone to the HR dept.

"Hello. HR Dept, Khuranna Industries." The receptionist answered from the other side.

"It's VK. Ask Svetlana to meet me right now." Ved said and hung up the phone.

Svetlana ,the HR head was in his cabin within five minutes.

"Good afternoon," she greeted the three Khuranna brothers, wondering why she was called upon urgently.

"Take a seat Svetlana. We would like to talk with you regarding some issues," Karan said and Svetlana obliged.

"What is it Sir??" Svetlana asked a bit anxiously.

"It's about Tanya Kapoor," Ved said and Svetlana stiffened.

"Sir, I am really sorry. But I was just doing my job. I had got three complaints about her bullying the juniors. I had to warn her on behalf of the employees Sir." Svetlana said in a rush.

She remembered warning Tanya against bullying ,who in turn just laughed and threatened to get her fired, if she interfered in her matters anymore.

Svetlana knows Tanya holds a higher post in Khurana Industries and she is very good at her job, which makes her almost indispensable.

Ved smirked at the new found information.

Great!! Just great.

"Three employees you said? I would like to see their complaints, Svetlana." Ved said and Karan and Mayur looked at their brother wondering what his plan was.

"But Sir, the complaints are supposed to be confidential. That's the rule of the company." Svetlana said, fearing for the jobs of those three too.

"Do as I said, Svetlana." VK ordered harshly.

"Yes Sir."

"And keep this a secret." VK demanded again.

"Sure, Sir."

"You can leave now."

Svetlana walked out of his cabin cursing Tanya with all the colourful words she know.

Once Svetlana left ,Ved dialled Mr Roy, their legal advisor's number and asked him to get a contract ready.

"What are you planning?" Karan said in exasperation. He doesn't like to be left out of the loop.

"Wait and watch," Ved said with an evil smirk on his face.

****

EVENING - FIVE PM

Ved wrapped up the work for his day and took his laptop bag ready to leave. As he was about to walk out, the door opened and Mayur barged in.

"I am ready." Mayur said and Ved groaned in annoyance.

"Just go home, Mayur." Ved pleaded.

He didn't want anyone to ruin his alone time with Geet.

"Not happening," Mayur said and at the same time Karan walked in/

"Are you not done yet?" Karan asked ,simultaneously dialling his wife's number.

"Hello Naina. Can you come to..-" Ved snatched his phone away and disconnected the call.

"Karan? Were you going to ask bhabhi to come to the temple?" Ved asked in exasperation.

"Yes. She would also want to meet Geet." Karan said.

"Oh please give me a break," Ved threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

"What is wrong with you?" Karan asked in confusion.

"Nothing is wrong. I don't want everyone at home to know and pressure me into anything. Geet doesn't know my feelings yet. And I don't know if she feels the same. I don't want to overwhelm her by letting the whole family rain down on her." Ved said with an exasperated sigh.

"Okay," Karan said, though not liking the fact that he had to hide it from his wife.

"Please give me some time," Ved pleaded and the brothers could only nod.

Little did he know, Geet's favourite deity had other plans ready for them.

***

The brothers reached the temple premises and Ved looked for Geet at the spot where she usually waits for him. But he didn't find her there today.

"Where did this girl go now?" He asked himself, dialling her number.

She picked up the phone on the fourth ring.

"Yes, Ved ji." She was panting heavily on the other side and Ved got worried instantly.

"Geet? Are you okay? Where are you? Are you hurt? Why do you sound so breathless?" He asked anxiously.

"Uffo Ved ji. I am alright. I am breathless because I have been running. Come to the playground behind the temple." Geet said and hung up without waiting for his response.

He stared at the phone and muttered an 'unbelievable'.

"She is at the playground behind the temple." Ved said and started walking and his brothers followed immediately.

"There is a playground here?" Mayur asked, surprised at that. They all have been here many times, as this is the temple their grandmother and Daya visits often. But they have never noticed a playground here.

"Yeah. There is a shortcut from beside the pond. Or else we will have to drive all the way around to reach the ground." Ved said, now knowing all the nook and corner of the temple.

"How do you know the shortcuts here?" Karan asked curiously.

"Err... Geet loves to wander around here and there." He said awkwardly.

Soon they found Geet on the ground, playing cricket with the kids.

More precisely fighting with the kids.

"That was not an Out. The ball didn't touch the bat. Then how can I be out?" Geet argued and her team members supported her while the opposite team argued.

Soon Ved and his brothers stood by her side.

"Let's do one thing. We will start a new game. Now that we have three more players." Geet declared and the brothers looked at her in horror.

"What?" They asked in unison.

"Ved ji in my team." Geet declared happily.

"We want the muscle man bhaiyya," the opposing team demanded and dragged Mayur with him.

"Bade bhaiyya, will you join our team?" Geet asked cutely.

"Uh. I don't actually want to play.." Karan said.

"Bade bhaiyya, please." Geet pleaded with puppy eyes and Karan felt himself melt.

"Okay! One game." Karan agreed.

***

Inside the temple

The Khuranna ladies offered their prayers and was about to leave, when Naina noticed Karan's car.

"This is Karan's car. Why is he here?" Naina asked, earning the attention of other ladies.

"Call him and see," Ambika said and Naina dialled his number which went unanswered the first time.

The second time she called, she heard the voice of a little girl on the other side.

"Hello, Karan?" She spoke, confused.

"Who is Karan?"

"My husband. This is his phone." Naina said, still confused at who could have attended her husband's phone.

"Oh, that blue eyed uncle?" The little girl asked curiously.

"Yes, an you give the phone to him." Naina asked.

"No. He is batting now. He can't talk." The girl said, shocking Naina.

"Batting?"

"Yes"

"Where is this place?" Naina asked curiously and suspiciously.

"Playground behind Shiv temple." The young girl gave the exact location.

"Okay thank you," a confused Naina said and hung up the call.

"Naina? What happened?" Daya asked.

"I don't know, Mummy ji. She said Karan is batting and is on the ground behind the temple." A confused Naina, let the other ladies also know what the young girl told her.

"That's strange. Let's go and see." Daya said and the three ladies reached the ground only to witness a young girl hugging their rude and arrogant Ved, and jumping up and down in joy.

"Oh my god!"

A/n

Here goes the next shot!!

Please do vote and comment!

This story is completed and available in stck.me platform. You can find my linktree link in my about section...

Love,
SF