Author's pov:

Shekar took Arjun and Maya to his cabin first and showed them around. And then they moved towards Vani's cabin. Shekar went and shouted, "Boo," in Vani's ears, who was engrossed in her work.

Vani got startled and was ready to give an earful to the person. She raised her head and saw her husband folding his hands with a smirk on his face. She slapped him on the chest while he pulled her closer, making her fall on his chest. He kissed her cheeks and then her forehead. Both of them stayed like that for some time, forgetting their surroundings.

"Hello, oldies, please put an end to your romance here. If you forgot, you have an audience here," Arjun said, breaking their moments.

Vani immediately freed herself from Shekar's hold, embarrassed, while Maya giggled, looking at her mother-in-law's face.

"Hey! Whom did you call an oldie? You are an oldie, not me", Shekar said, pointing at Arjun. "Instead of spending time with your fiance, you tagged along with us. Wait! I have a doubt: are you even interested in girls? Because I never saw you spending time with Diya. My poor kid-I don't know how she is going to bear this unromantic fellow. Say it to me now only. I'll talk with Diya. Poor girl. Otherwise, she will raise her hopes on you. I'll even talk to Jai and Janu and convince them not to throw you out of the house." Shekar said, without taking a break.

Arjun looked at him in shock, and opened his mouth like a fish while Maya and Vani giggled, looking at Arjun's face.

"Oh my God! Anna, just look at your face," Maya said, controlling her laughter.

"What the hell, Mavayya?" Arjun shouted, coming out of shock, and continued, "For your information, I'm straight. If you forgot, I even got tagged as a charecterless man and a molester."

Everyone went silent, listening to it. Avi turned Arjun with force and gave him a hard slap on the cheek, making the others look at him in shock.

Avi came to Vani's cabin for some work but stood near the door, listening to their banter and getting lost in his wife's beauty. But when he listened to Arjun say that word, he couldn't stop himself from slapping him.

"Dare you utter that word again? I won't hesitate to cut you into pieces, understand?" Avi yelled at him.

Arjun nodded his head meekly. Avi left the cabin, banging the door harshly.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Anna? Come out of that phase. She is nothing but a nightmare in your life. I know, Anna, it's not easy to forget your first love, but you are doing nothing but crushing Diya Vadina's hopes. Please, Anna, give yourself a chance. I can't see you like this," Maya said, hugging Arjun.

That's it. Arjun broke down in his sister's arms. It's been three years since that dreadful incident happened in his life, but he still couldn't forget it.

Arjun composed himself and told Maya to go to Avi. Maya nodded her head in understanding and ran to Avi's cabin before he could do something stupid in his anger. Avi gets angry rarely, but once he gets angry, nobody can control him except Veeru and Maya.

********************

"Arjun, come here," Vani said, looking at Arjun, who was standing in the same place.

Arjun slowly moved towards her and placed his head on her lap. Shekar also sat beside her and caressed his head. He felt guilty for talking like that now.

"What is this, Ajju? How many more years will you suffer like this? It's been three years, Ajju. It has been three years since that incident happened, and you are still stuck on that same incident. I know it's not easy to forget her or the accusation she made against you. See, she happily moved on with her life without any guiltiness, whereas you are still suffering and blaming yourself for no fault of your own. Tell me, till when? Until when you'll blame yourself for what happened in yours and Maya's lives," Vani told him while caressing his hair.

"But everything happened because of me, right? My entire family had to bow down in front of someone for no fault of theirs. And my pumpkin is still bearing that pain. Why? Isn't because of my blind love towards her? I thought she would be the light of my life, but she snatched that and threw me into a pit of darkness," Arjun said, closing his eyes in pain.

"Loving someone is not a crime, Ajju. You loved her with all your heart, but she just used you for her selfish motives. And, yes, we did feel bad. Not for bowing our heads in front of someone without any mistake of ours because of you, but for the pain you went through. For our carelessness and for not doing a check on her before accepting your relationship, We thought she was from a good family, and, to be precise, we accepted her because of Kishore. He is a good man with values. So, we accepted your relationship when Adi told us about you guys. But we should have inquired about her as an individual," said Shekar.

"Still, I believed her so blindly," said Arjun.

"Still, I believed her so blindly," said Arjun.

"Yes, you believed her blindly, but love is not blind, Ajju, and it's so pure. But when we fall in love with someone, sometimes we trust that person so blindly that we don't see anything beyond them. And some use that weakness. You can't lose your belief in love just because you were betrayed once by loving her. Life is not only about love; there is something beyond that. But you are still stuck there, and you are not grabbing the opportunities life has thrown at you. Answer me one thing, Arjun, and I want a genuine answer. Are you happy with your engagement to Diya? If you are not happy, just tell us. Don't drag her into something when you can't give her happiness, and also don't do this marriage for us." Vani took a pause and continued, "She is building her hopes on you, Arjun. She sees her future in you. I don't want her to have heartbreak in the future or her life to be messed up. And do tell us if you don't want to have this marriage. And yeah, remember this: we can't bring a better girl for you than her. Think wisely; the decision is in your hands," Vani said, trying to make her nephew understand.

With that, Vani and Shekar stood up and left the cabin, not before saying, "Don't lose her, Arjun."

Arjun was lost in his thoughts while listening to them.

*******************

In Avinav's cabin:

Sensing her presence, he composed himself and asked her, "Is he okay?"

She smiled at his question, turned him around, and asked, "He will be. But, what about you?"

"I will be okay until you are with me," Avi said, looking into her eyes.

Maya's heart was overwhelmed listening to his words.

"Why did you shout at him like that, Avi?" Maya asked him.

"Because he deserves it." He said this with anger dripping from his voice. "How dare he use such cheap words for him? Do you know how many times Arpita warned him when he was in a relationship with her? But then he just turned deaf ears to her."

She held his hand and said, "Avi, please calm down. Sometimes we can't change things, Avi. If it was written in our destiny, it was bound to happen one day or another. Sometimes we think everything will be alright if we plan things correctly from our perspective, but can we change things that were already written by destiny?" She then chuckled and said, "If we could, then many things wouldn't have happened in my life without my will."

Sensing the sadness in her voice, he hugged her tightly. He was definitely angry at both of them for hiding their pain from him. But their tears always melt him and make him feel helpless. He knew that he was unaware of many things that happened in her life, but he couldn't be angry at her for more than a minute. After all, she is his life.

He kissed her head lovingly, hugged her, and caressed her hair. He felt his shirt becoming wet. He broke the hug and saw her crying. He got panicky seeing her like that. Her cries became louder, and she was shivering.

He made her look at him and said, "Shh, bunny, calm down. Why are you crying like this? Everything will be alright, hmm."

She didn't understand why she was crying. Was she crying because of her brother's pain or because of the pain she was going through? Why couldn't life be easy? She doesn't understand how to share her pain with him. Moreover, she was scared of his anger. He will definitely not leave the people behind. What will he do when he learns that her parents were one of the reasons for that?

He is the calmest person out of all of them. But when he gets angry, no one can control him. Especially when someone tries to harm his loved ones. He spared Chytra that day just because she was a girl. Otherwise, that person would have faced hell for giving pain to Arjun.

Avi looked at her face. He could see a lot of emotions in her eyes. Mostly pain and fear. The first thing he loves about her are those big, doe-shaped, chocolate-brown eyes of hers. And he loves them most when they twinkle with joy. But now they looked so hollow to him. She saw him looking deeply into her eyes.

She quickly changed her composure, not wanting to make him sadder, and asked him, "How do I look in this saree?"

He came out of his trance and said, "Huh? What?"

"I asked you, how do I look in this saree?" She asked, pouting at him.

He decreased the gap between them and placed his hand on her bare waist, making her shiver. He smirked, seeing his effect on her. He nuzzled his face against her neck and inhaled the smell of her hair. He dropped a kiss on her nape and sucked her skin over there, making her breath hitch. She clutched his coat tightly in her small fist. He dropped the feathery kisses down her neck, making her go weak on her knees. He looked at her face to notice any discomfort. Her eyes were shut, and a small smile was playing on her lips.

"You look adorable and sexy," he said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear while she blushed and listened to him. "And I just want to gobble you up," he said, biting her cheeks.

He then took her lips in a soulful kiss. Soon, she too responded to the kiss and tried her best to match his pace. Their tongues fought for dominance. He picked her up and placed her on the table without breaking the kiss. He was caressing her waist while her hands made their way to his hair. Soon, he broke the kiss, feeling her out of breath, and joined his forehead with hers. Both could hear their raging breaths. She kissed him on the forehead and hugged him tightly.

Stay safe and keep smiling ❤