The marriage was long over and she cried her heart out when it was time for her to leave her mother,  sitting in the car too she was weeping.

Omkara sat looking out of the window ignoring his wife. For he was calculating all the steps now he have to follow after the marriage.Not that he never wanted this wedding, doomed he'd be if someone finds out how he manipulated his family to get married to Gauri. He didn't want to appear as he was caring . So he made his heart stone and looked out of the window , her silent sobs pricking his heart.

Reaching Oberoi mansion,they performed another set of rituals. Settling Gauri in Omkara's room , Priyanka walked out and also informed her brother to join Gauri. Omkara was skeptical,he would need to keep the facade and try to be stern on her like expected. The moment Omkara stepped into the room,he was welcomed by an empty room.

Gauri didn't want to be scolded by her boss now who is also her husband so she decided to freshen up even if she's not said that she could use his room freely. Gauri after her bath when walked into the bedroom saw Omkara changed and sitting with his laptop.

“ Sir ?”

Omkara knew she was in the room, heck , even he was looking at the bathroom cum dressing room's door till he heard the knob's unlocking sound. He just nodded as if a cue for her continue. “ Do you need any help ?”

She questioned and he wandered what but then he was holding the laptop so he assumed she might have thought of him as he's busy working. 

“ No , you can go to sleep." Seeing her silently standing,  he glanced at her , she was lost in thoughts.

“ Gauri ?”  “ Yes sir .”  “ Go to sleep .”
“ huh ?”  “ Gauri , use the bed , you can sleep at that end .” 

With that he returned to whatever he was doing or more accurately just moving the cursor everywhere on the screen. 

After she had comfortably settled down , he placed the laptop on the table next to him and settled at the farthest corner fearing she'd hear the  drumming of his heart .

Sleep was far away from Omkara and Gauri, both lost in thoughts slept in the wee hours. Switching off the blarring sound of the alarm,Omkara turned to his other side to see it empty.  Gauri woke up earlier than him , thought he and got up from the bed. 

Later in the morning,when after freshening up , he joined his family for the breakfast,without catching anyone's sight he looked around for his wife , not finding her , calming his breath and a curious heart , asked he “ Why's the breakfast late ,it's past 9 am ?”   “ We all had,  you are late to wake up ”  Priyanka teasingly whispered whilst glancing at her father who laughed loudly seeing his daughter's expression. 

“ I had a meeting yesternight,  so slept late ”  said he unwaveringly and resumed to scroll through his phone ignoring his father and sister.

Tej Singh Oberoi snorted and muttered
“ Should have guessed.”

Gauri placed a cup of coffee and served him breakfast and Omkara without glancing at her had the food as his usual self scrolling through the phone.

After the breakfast, Omkara dropped Gauri at her home and left for his office. And in the evening , he had picked her up from her place.

The next morning,  when they were having breakfast,  Omkara talked to her and it was the second time after the wedding he had spoken to her and it was to ask her when she was joining office. 

Scowling at him , Janvi chided him and told him to take few days off. Giving his mother a negative nod he picked up his laptop bag and left for the office.

The whole day Gauri kept thinking about her life , she had greater hopes in marriage and he just shattered it with doing what was expected of him.

In the evening, after dinner Omkara had asked her to join office early as well as made her work with him for few hours. The next morning,Gauri joined the office just how he asked her to. Now beaming, Omkara could stare at his wife as much as he wanted.

Almost a month to the marriage, Omkara and Gauri had conversed professionally and their personal lives were ignored. She had never started a conversation with him , even if he asked something she'd reply with a nod or in monosyllables. 

The patience in Omkara was draining but he held onto ut because he knew he was head over heels in love with Gauri but she wasn't. 

On a certain day,Omkara and she had to attend a business party ,an exciting Omkara talked to whosoever he met but Gauri kept to herself.Omkara had made her meet everyone in the party and she could feel the happiness oozing out of him whenever he introduced her as his wife and also she had seen him smiling genuinely. 

Glancing at Omkara occasionally whilst standing with the wives of others , Gauri's eyes roamed around the party hall and suddenly stilled at certain someone who was happily chitchatting with someone. 

She forgot to breath for a second but resumed to her usual unexpressive self when Mrs Kapoor threw a lame joke and the rest laughed,she too faked a smile.

Omkara stood next to her the next moment as if he felt her uneasiness a while ago.

“ Can I steal my wife for a second please?”  asked he rather funnily and the gang broke into laughter before agreeing. 

“ Come I need to introduce you to someone?” 

“ Hello Omkara Singh Oberoi.”  Said the man whom Gauri was trying to ignore.  Shaking the hand of that old man , Omkara turned to Gauri and wound a hand around her shoulder,  her breath hitched the next second,  she swiftly glanced at him.

Securing a hand over her shoulder,  Omkara turned to the man and said “ Hello Mr Sharma. This is my wife  Gauri and Gauri this is Mr Maheshwar Sharma.  A business partner.”

Gauri never knew her father was anyway connected to Oberoi's , she unwillingly forced a smile and uttered
“ Hello Sir .”

The old man squinted his gaze between Omkara and Gauri , nonetheless replying to Gauri's greet , they parted their ways. Suddenly Gauri felt avoided and ignored by her own father.

Omkara felt her sudden change in mood but remained quiet not wanting to raise unnecessary questions.

Gauri watched her father,  happily introducing his wife and children to others and it hurt her badly , losing her appetite she stood aside Omkara. 

Following days , Gauri was depressed and silent , it did hurt him bad but he didn't do anything to jeopardize anything by showing affection.

Others couldn't even pinpoint or understand her turmoil since she was quiet and silent since the wedding and they assumed her to be introvert. 

Days passed with Gauri being aloof and Omkara faking his uninterest in the wedding.

Signing off