"Aru! You little brat. How long are you gonna stay in your room? Come out now!"

"Bug off! I don't want to talk to you. I am angry."

I fisted my hands and knocked on Arman's door countless times. He was not letting anyone in his room. Not even mom. He didn't eat breakfast and now he was not coming down to eat lunch too. I knew he was doing it on purpose.

"Okay, fine. Cry all you want," I yelled and stomped my feet to pretend that I was leaving.

"I am not crying!" he shouted back and opened up his door.

I gave him a devilish smile and ran past him, into his room. He shook his head but didn't tell me to leave. He closed the door and sat down on his bed. He didn't look at me and kept playing with his baseball.

I sat down beside him and poked his stomach. He shrugged and I wrapped my arm over his shoulders. I sensed that he wasn't just angry but sad too.

"Aw. Don't cry, Aru. If you want I will take you with me after marriage. I am sure no on will object," I teased.

He gave me a death glare and I smiled cheekily. He punched me on the arm and I pinched his cheek.

"Why did you agree to marry? Are you in that much hurry to leave us?" he accused.

"Don't talk like that. I will have to do it anyway so why not now? Do you even know who my future husband is?" I boasted.

"I don't care if he is Yuvaan Raichand, Di. You don't know each other! And you still said yes? You can fool our parents, not me," he huffed.

I sighed and patted his back. "I know that, okay? But guess what? Dad said that he will give me some time to get to know Yuvaan and spend some time with him."

"But you are still getting married, right? What about me? You are going to leave your brother alone? How selfish!"

I hit him on the head and he pouted. How dare he say that? I hit him few more times and pulled him closer. I side-hugged him and told him that I was not getting forced into this. It was my own decision.

I explained to him that dad and mom were happy with this arrangement and my friends too. I was getting engaged to one of the most influential and powerful men in the world. There was nothing to be worried about.

"You will also get married one day or are you planning to live as a saint?" I mocked.

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes.

"Should I inform Neeya then? She could find a new guy you know. Someone who is willing to marry her."

His face turned red when I mentioned his girlfriend's name. He got annoyed when I kept teasing him about her and in the end, we ended up bickering and laughing at each other.

"Aru, I am growing old. Who will marry such a potato like me? Surprisingly, someone has showed interest and do you really want your sister to die single?" I complained.

"Stop being so melodramatic. I got it, okay? I just can't believe that you won't be with us anymore. Who will I fight with and ask for help?" he whined.

"My baby bro, come here." I hugged him and he told me that he loved me.

I kissed his forehead and took a good look at him. When did he grow up so much? But no matter how older he got, he would still be my little brother whom I loved the most in the whole universe.

"Come on. You didn't even eat breakfast. You must be hungry, right? I have made your favourite Aloo matar." I grabbed his hand and his face lighted up.

(Aloo matar👆)

Whenever he was sad or feeling down, I always made his favourite dishes. Eating food was his passion; other than photography. I laughed at him when he kept asking me what else I had made as we walked towards the dining room.

Dad had already eaten lunch and only mom was waiting for us. She smiled when she saw Arman and got up to serve him. He smiled and began munching on the food. I served mom and myself. We all chatted and mom informed me that she had prepared a date with Yuvaan for me and it was tomorrow.

Date?! I was going on a date?

She smirked when she saw me blush and Arman started taunting me about it. I had never been on a date. How was I supposed to act? I wouldn't stress though. I would just ask my friends about it.

I started imagining all the stuff and went to my room after the lunch was over. The marriage date wasn't decided yet, so I had plenty of time on my hands. I decided to do some research while chatting with Keerti and Upasana simultaneously.

They were more excited than me. I was sure that if somehow my parents were unable to marry me off, they would do it in their place. I went in my closet and picked out some dresses which I could wear for the date.

After a lot of contemplating, I settled on one dress and threw the rest back in the cupboard. All this while, thousands of thoughts were running in my mind.

I was going on the first date of my life. A date with Yuvaan Raichand. My future husband. My husband!

I felt heat creeping up my neck just at the mention of his name. What would happen when we would actually get engaged? Everything seemed so unreal. Like I was watching some kind of dream. A beautiful dream.

Yuvaan was a great man and was known for a lot of good deeds other than just his business ventures. He was a philanthropist and a social worker too. He was supporting a lot of NGOs; all over the world and had a lot of orphanages under his care.

He didn't like to advertise his charity work but media covered everything. I smiled to myself and wondered when did I get so lucky? Dad really loved me, didn't he? Or he wouldn't have found such a nice guy for me.

Who are you kidding, Reyna? Stop building useless dreams.

Getting married to a perfect man doesn't mean you are perfect too. Stop joking already. Any sane person wouldn't even look at you and you think Yuvaan Raichand will marry you just like that?

Did you even think why he agreed to this proposal? How did dad got in contact with him in the first place? Wasn't something off?

I moved my feet to go and ask dad about it but stopped myself. There would be no use to ask him. I would be just wasting my own time.

I had a date tomorrow. I would ask Yuvaan directly and find out myself. I relaxed and decided to continue with my job search. I would discuss all the things with him properly and I believed he would accept my decisions.

I opened up my laptop and started with my work. I was filling up a form for an interview when my phone rang up. It was an unknown number. I didn't want to pick it up but still I did.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hi, Reyna," the other person said.

I felt hair on my neck rise up as the sound of his voice hit my ears and travelled throughout my body.

"Yuvaan ji?" I asked and he replied in positive.

"How-how are you?" I facepalmed as I realised what I just said.

"I am fine, Reyna. Thanks for asking."

What was I supposed to say now? My mind was completely blank.

"I wanted to talk about tomorrow's date. Let's meet at 7 pm. Is that okay with you?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied and asked him where we were supposed to meet.

"Don't worry about that. I will send my driver to pick you up. Just be ready on time," he informed.

"Okay, Yuvaan ji. Thank you."

"Bye, Reyna," he said and hung up the call.

I didn't move for a minute. I just talked to him on the phone. Like what? I couldn't believe I talked to him without stuttering or saying something foolish.

I was improving, wasn't I? I felt so nice after hearing his voice. I wished I had recorded that call. Was I wasted already?

Get a hold of yourself, Reyna. It hasn't even been one day since you last met him.

But I couldn't help myself from thinking about him. Everything was new for me and I didn't know how to react. I felt like jumping around and dance to my favourite songs. So, that's what I did.

I opened up my favourite playlist on the laptop and plugged in the speakers. Soon, a high tempo song started playing and I danced like a maniac. Arman heard it and barged into my room.

Without asking me the reason behind my impromptu dancing session, he joined me and after watching our wonderful performance, anyone would have given us the 'weirdest dance duo' trophy.

We got tired after two hours of non-stop dance and decided to stop. Arman plopped down on my bed and within seconds, he fell asleep. I never got to understand how he did that. I covered him with a blanket and went inside the washroom to take a hot shower.

I decided to not sulk and be happy with my situation. I would take my friends' advice and just go with the flow. Sometimes, what we think is bad is not actually that bad. It is all a matter of perspective.

How did I manage to get myself fooled like that?

Thank you for reading 💜