'There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.' Julius Caesar( Act-IV, Scene-III). 
   
                 Avi loved this quote from the time when he played the part of Brutus in the high school drama. The dialogues were pretty difficult but his teacher, who explained the underlying meaning of each and every word in the dialogues, made it easy and fun for the students and he loved it. This complex phrase meant that the key to success in life lies in knowing that a tide, or simply the motivation of men, and it is up to a man to recognize, and seize the opportunity.

And Avi had made it as his  motto, that's how he and Arjun had made it so far. Their hard work and an eye to grab all the opportunity that worked for them. It wasn't easy for them, they failed and struggled but that never stopped them to get what they wanted.

        Varun's proposal was the same for Avi, till Vihani Reddy entered the picture. They had a lot of discussion and meetings how to make an action on their plans.
With unlimited access to internet, android phones, market has become a battle field for them. They always needed fresh ideas to keep up with the rest of the online food companies.

        When Varun, who has became a good friend over the years, was in the verge of money loss due to the organic farming, and asked for a help, it was Arjun who suggested about the addition of an organic menu to their meal options. There will be an option for the customer to get whatever they ordered, prepared by organic products.

It will be a bit more costly than the normal meal. But according to their analysing and marketing team, people are more conscious about their health and that's going to be work on their favour. 

They will also offer detox cleanses and detox diets with freshly prepared salads, soups, juices, and more. And Curry tree is going to use organic products in  their first two real shops in Hyderabad and Bangalore as the availability and need increases. They will use the same theme in their next two shops they are launching soon in Chennai and Kochi.

         In return, curry tree will be the main partner of the project, since  they are going to invest the money with Varun in organic farming and in market. They were taking a challenge but they were confident that they  could make it work. That was the plan..till Vihani decided to spill the beans to him.

  It's funny, how his perfect business plan turned into something more personal that he was getting married to her in few days.

Avi slugged drown the bitter drink in his hand as he felt a nervousness surrounding him. He had sealed the deal with her dad in the morning and he was back in his home. Avi had asked her for two days and he had kept his word.

The business deal has gone better than the wedding proposal.
Mr. Krishna Reddy is such a brilliant and cunning business man, Avi was sure he can't make him agree with the marriage proposal to his daughter, just with a news article despite how cleverly it was written or how viral it has become.

So he had almost tricked him to agree with the marriage proposal.
Avi hoped that Vihani won't get to know about how he made this happen, for now at least. Because he was sure that Vihani won't be pleased with his ways anyway.

Varun almost bought their story and he really didn't want to use his sister, as his dad has initially planned. And he didn't know about her pregnancy either.

For Varun, even though he was somewhat convinced, he seemed to chose to believe Avi  with his sister. Avi didn't know what to feel about it.
They were deceiving him with all lies and using his trust on Avi for their benefits. The whole thing was weighing heavily in Avi's mind. Someday he have to deal with it, all the lies and secrets but for now it worked fine.

         Avi wasn't sure he was making rational decisions anymore. Arjun had said the same, when he had to explain about the news article and the sudden marriage. It was all over the media, and before it gets out of their hand, they need to get married soon.
That's how they decided to have a court marriage in few days, as soon as they could make the arrangements, they would do the legal formalities for the marriage and they will host a party for the business world and media later that day.

That way it was more private, practical minus the drama of all the ceremonies and media attention. It's not like all those ceremonies held any meaning for them anyway. It was just a marriage on paper, marriage of convenience.

Avi felt the tinge of bitterness of that phrase in his heart. It was just business, nothing else.

He poured one more drink for himself. For the first time in his life, he felt good for not having a real family.

Except for Aashi , his younger sister and his friend Arjun , there wasn't anyone to raise a question about the marriage.

Aashi wasn't convinced about all the news, but she is not going to make it to the wedding with a  baby due in few days. Aashi is going to kill him once she comes back but for now, her tantrums could wait.

             Avi leaned into his  recliner chair , staring at the pitch black sky from his balcony, he couldn't stop himself from thinking of Vihani.

'How did it go with Bhai?' she had asked. Her voice quivering. He had called her once he came back home.
She was worried about her brother only. She was okay with whatever her dad think or the world think about her on that matter. Avi had consoled her saying, her brother is pretty convinced about the proposal and he didn't tell anything about her pregnancy to him. Varun was on his way to their farm house and she seemed apprehensive about lying to her brother.
    
And here he was lying to himself that Vihani didn't mean anything to him . This was all about business as she had believed but Avi was struggling to convince himself about his motives.
His nervous heart beats and bitter drink in hand was suggesting the same, that deep down in his heart, Vihani mattered to him.

No matter what he tried to believe,
he  was anticipating the moment she will enter into his life.

Little did he know that mischievous girl from a new year Eve, was about to become his wife and he wasn't sure what kind journey he was getting himself into.

              ~~~~~~~~~~•••~~~~~~~~
    
             Vihani was waiting for her brother to come home. The confrontation and the lies she surrounded herself with, were literally breaking her inside. She had never lied to him, they shared a bond that lies can't break but now the weight of lies shaded the bond.

Vihani hated how she was going to repeat all the lies that Avinesh had told to her brother.
And she was scared that he might be able to see through her.

Why am I stuck with this kind of fate where I have to lie and deceive my own brother?
The wave of dizziness shook her as she suddenly got up from the chair when she saw Varun's car in the driveway.
She clutched on her chair until it passed and steadied herself as Varun stepped out of the car and walked towards her who was waiting for him outside.
       
        Varun stood right Infront of her and they looked at each other for a long moment and then she ran into his arms and cried.
There wasn't anything to tell anymore, he understood her like every time and she was relieved that she doesn't have to recite a cooked up story.
She cried for her lies and secrets, for not having her mom around, for sharing a sour relationship with her dad, for her twisted fate, for her unborn baby. She cried till nothing left in her not even tears.

'I am sorry Bhai, for everything...' her voice was muffled and strained from all the crying. She swallowed hard to get those words out, an apology she wanted to tell for all the lies and secrets she hid.

'I am sorry too Vinny, for not foresee what dad could do. I would never use you as my insurance , ever!! But you would have done that for me. I am sorry, for not caring you  enough that you chose to keep your relationship with Avi from me. I am not blaming you Vinny. I know him well and I am happy that you will be happy with him..' his eyes were wet with tears as she squeezed his hands gently.

She dried her cheeks with the heels of her hand and tried to smile.
'We are going to be alright Bhai, we both are crying like our old days. You always cried along with me. You need to stop doing that. You are all grown up and it's not funny to see you crying anymore' she smiled wistfully.

'Who was crying here. Only you,  like always!! You need to check your eyes.' Varun patted her hand as he blinked his eyes and they both laughed.

'Let us go home Vinny. You are getting married in a few days, I am still not sure why both of you want a court marriage. Dad is better now. We could actually go with the traditional wedding ceremony' he sounded confused and doubtful about whole the rush and Vinny bit her lip instinctively.

' Dad is still getting better Bhai and we both doesn't want the media attention and lots of noisy relatives. Let us go with this plan and it will be quick ' she said hoping that she sounded believable.

Varun nodded in response.
'Oh... someone is dying to get married I see' he smiled wickedly and she rolled her eyes in response.

'Seriously Bhai..' she shook her head in disapproval and Varun laughed a bit more.

' Don't get on your defensive mode. I don't want to deal with a crappy ninja'

Vihani couldn't resist herself from punching him on the shoulder and he laughed hard.

'See... you are a crappy ninja'

'Yeah... whatever!!' she said through gritted teeth.

For a few minutes it felt like everything was normal in her life and she smiled herself thanking God for blessing her with flecks of happiness in the middle of her misery.
And she wanted to keep their happy moments like coins in her old piggy bank, that she could save in her heart and cherish forever.