I glance at Avni who seems pretty engrossed, looking at her so absent makes me marvel at what she is thinking. I look back at the road as I speed down the highway. We spend almost two hours in Arjun's office, it's almost 5 in the evening now.

I have noticed her enough to tell that she has most of the conversations in her head.

While I like that she focuses on herself it worries me a little if she has some trouble going on. It is good to keep your things to yourself but sometimes you need to let things out.

I know I have no right to ask her but as a human, I do feel a little concerned. I remind myself to not lead on because she wouldn't like me being all concerned.

Not every woman is looking forward to a man taking care of her. She will definitely be angry at me if I go on questioning her if everything is alright. She is not looking for me to look after her, she has different plans and I am happy I can help her with something.

I know for fact girls are complicated and it's hard to predict them. Avni is someone with whom you shouldn't dare to mess around and I know better than to stick my nose in her business.

I frown as I slow down and I look at her. "I have no idea where I am going," I say.

She turns to look at me and I focus on the road. "What?"

"I have no idea where I am taking us." I shrug. "And you don't seem to mind."

"Uh, right." She says. "I didn't notice. Where were you taking us?"

"I was just driving." I shake my head. "Guess, long drive?"

"Definitely not." She says snappily.

"It seems like one." I laugh. "I know it's not romantic."

"It's not about romance." She says slowly. "Long drives are not my thing."

I glance at her. "What is your thing?"

She doesn't say anything for a moment and I wonder if it was a wrong question.

"You don't need to know that." She says slowly. "I mean why would you want to know? Doesn't make sense."

"Right." I nod as I take a left and park in a corner.

"Do you have something to do?" I ask as I turn to look at her.

"Uh." She starts to think. "I think I am free until I join tomorrow."

"Okay." I nod slowly trying to comprehend if it's a good idea to ask her if we can go out somewhere.

She frowns as I keep looking at her and I look away shrugging my thoughts off. I figure she wouldn't like that idea and it wouldn't be applicable to ask. We aren't really falling in love and getting wedded for real or something.

"Do you want me to drop you off somewhere?" I ask. "Your home?"

"Are you busy?" She asks.

"I would like to know the reason first." I smile.

She rolls her eyes. "I think we should go out somewhere."

"Really?" I ask and I frown realizing it sounded more like excitement than surprise.

"Yeah." She laughs. "Not because I have started liking you or want to spend time with you or something. Just to make our families believe this marriage is real."

"Oh, why do I think you are using families name to spend time with me?" I tease her as I raise my eyebrows.

"You are so irritating." She rolls her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself too much."

I laugh as I look at her annoyed expression. "I think we should be friends."

"We?" She frowns. "Like me and you?"

"Yeah." I look at her amused. "Me and you. Neil and Avni."

"No." She shakes her head. "I don't need a friend."

"What are we going to stay as if not friends?" I look on curiously. "We know Husband and Wife are going to be a fake thing so we should be something right?"

"That's not necessary." She shakes her head. "We can just be Avni and Neil."

I look at her for a moment attempting to recognize why she doesn't want us to be friends. She looks away from me and gets occupied with her phone.

I sigh as I start the car. "Are beaches your thing?"

"They are." She says. "You just take me anywhere couples go." She sighs after a moment.

"Why?"

"I just want a picture with you." She shrugs.

I glance at her and I am about to pass a funny comment when she raises her index finger.

"Before." She pauses. "Before you go on flattering yourself it's just to make my siblings believe I'm really doing this. Lee almost thinks I am going to run away from this and Aaron mentioned he doesn't think I will get married."

"So you just want to prove them?" I ask as I look straight ahead. She obviously isn't looking forward to spending time with me.

Is that a good or bad thing?

"Of course. My siblings can be a real big problem you don't know." She shakes her head. "I will post our photo on Instagram just to make them less suspicious."

"Sounds good," I say as I drive us to the beach.

☄☄☄

"Don't do that," Avni shouts as I splash the water on her.

"Come on, it's fun." I laugh as I pull her into the water.

"It's cold." She laughs. "I have always come alone. Didn't know having someone together would be fun."

I look at her and I smile. "You realize that you just kind of praised me, right?"

"Yeah. That was a mistake." She rolls her eyes but she is smiling.

"Some mistakes are good," I say as I look at the beach.

"Sometimes you don't even know whether you are doing a mistake or not. It still seems right even if you are doing wrong." She says slowly and I turn to look at her.

Her voice sounded distant and she keeps looking at the beach looking a bit lost. She turns to look at me when I keep looking at her.

"Forget I said that." She shakes her head sighing.

"I can do that," I say knowing well I can't. Why does it bother me she is always so lost in her thoughts?

"I think we should take the picture." She reaches out to pull her phone from her purse.

I step in closer to her and she stands in front of me as she raises her phone. I lean down closer as I wrap my arm around her waist.

She reaches out to keep her hand behind my neck and I breathe in her scent as I press a kiss on her cheek then the ten-second timer snaps.

I feel her body tense against mine and I look down at her before I force myself to pull away. She looks up at me before she looks into her phone.

"It is good." She says with a smile. "I think we are good at pretending."

I look down at the screen. She is right though anyone who sees it would believe we are the new lovey-dovey couple.

"Can I know your Instagram ID?" She asks and I nod.

She posts the picture and tags me in it. "My family is going to freak out." She smiles smugly.

"Is that necessary?" I ask.

"It is." She nods. "At least when you have a brother like Aaron."

"Oh," I say with a frown not really getting her point.

"He is a little observant and doesn't buy lies easily." She says after a moment. "He can be a little too much at times."

"I am sure that's just his protective side for you," I say.

"Whatever." She says as she walks past me and grabs her heels.

That's not whatever!

I look at her curiously as I follow her outside to my car.

"Drop me home." She says when we get in the car. "I'll instruct you the way."

"I have been to your home once." I point out.

"Oh, right." She nods. "And I didn't notice you."

"Yeah." I nod as I start the car.

The reason she didn't notice me was because she was going through a breakup. It makes me wonder if all the times she is silent she keep thinking about her ex-boyfriend?

I drop her off at her home and drive back to my apartment. I sit down and look through the business plans we have had recently.

Later I go through my Instagram particularly to see the picture of us. I am not an active user of Instagram as of now but I was when I was studying in college.

There are a few comments who I assume are her college friends. Some comment heart emojis, some say beautiful while others say perfect pair and all. All of them are good comments and I search for her sibling's comments.

There is none from Aaron and Alice but I find one from Leo.

Is this real? OMG! When do we hear Good News? 😉

I want to believe the good news he meant is marriage but the wink doesn't help. I am not sure how I feel about his comment. I look at our picture and I zoom in on Avni's face when my phone suddenly starts ringing.

"Hey," I answer Arjun's call.

"You didn't see the message." He says.

"Uh, sorry," I say. I did see his notification but I let it slide thinking I'll check it later on.

"So, what's the plan?" He asks.

"For what?" I frown.

"You still didn't see the message." He says amused. "Neil, contract marriage is illegal in India. So, what are your plans?"