Hola everyone!

First of all, I want to apologize for the inconvenience caused a while ago. I had accidentally clicked on publish while writing the update...hehe.

As a compensation for the missed out Sunday update, here's a long one and let me tell you, this is the longest one so far.

Hope you like this one.

Happy reading :)

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"Ji... Toh aap aa jaana 10:30 ke around... Bye."

As he ended the call, she glanced beside her to see him get busied typing something in his phone, his fingers tapping the screen rapidly while those of other hand caressing and tapping his chin implying his focus on it.

After departing from their, no, his house, they were currently stuck in a traffic jam on the busy roads of Mumbai, the loud honks and the buzzing of the engine resonating around. They both were sitting at the backside while Mohan behind the wheel. Naina sat keeping as maximum as possible a distance between them, almost sticking to the door to her side since this was their very first time together sitting in his car. After today, god knows how many firsts were waiting for them.

She had been silent throughout the ride, gazing outside the window most of the time and momentarily glancing at him as he spoke on the call. She had heard him asking Aarav to arrange for a small press-conference as he had an announcement to make and she knew what it's going to be.

He had just ended the call with Mr. Bhadoria, asking him to come with their marriage certificate which had gotten delayed due to some strike of the lawyers. They had planned to convince people that they were really together in a relationship, married to be exact. She sighed as she looked down the bangles adorning her hands, glittering due to the sunlight peeking from the glass window.

She was feeling a bit pressurized since today, she was going to be introduced as Mrs. Naina Maheshwari to the world. Naina Maheshwari, something strange stirred inside her as she mentally pronounced the name. The name didn't feel like her own. It seemed to be someone else's, yet it gave her jitters. The name itself conveyed the irony of their alliance. 

Yesterday, she was 'Naina Agarwal' for everyone outside, a simple, reserved, independent girl who was satisfied with her own company. And after today, everyone would see her in a different light as the wife of one of the richest businessmen in Mumbai. She had never expected herself to become a part of this rich and vibrant life. She had been to a couple of business parties from her company's side where she had observed the people present there, especially the ladies. Their swanky personality reflecting their stature had made her feel inferior in front of them, and now when she was going to be one of them, she could feel the anxiousness growing inside her.

She glanced sideways towards him and found him looking outside, deep in thought. The sunlight radiating around him from the windowpane was a sight to behold that made him look drool-worthy. And not to forget about his perfectly chiseled dark-shadowed jawline which made him look hotter than ever by his side profile. Wait a minute! Was that a tattoo on the left side of his neck? How come she never noticed it? She couldn't interpret what it was but it definitely made him desirable. His adam's apple bobbed as he gulped which could make any girl lose her senses. Wow! For the first time, she felt some weird sensations overtaking her body, especially around her lower belly. No wonder Mr. Maheshwari was a heartthrob to the female population.

Her musings abruptly came at a halt when a loud honk from a truck standing beside their car hollered. 'What the hell Naina! Yeh kya kar rahi thi... Kuchh bhi sochti hai...' She was flabbergasted when it dawned upon her what actually she was thinking.

But it wasn't her fault, was it? This was the very first time she was sitting this close to him, well in her opinion it was close, and therefore this was the first time she was practically checking him out. And about that tattoo, she thought he must have gotten it recently since she had never noticed it. 'Notice? Really?' To be in the middle of a stressful situation, it wasn't favorable for her to have these kinds of thoughts. With that, she tried to completely shut off her mind from them by closing her eyes.

Sameer's voice broke her trance, "Naina..." She opened her eyes instantly and glanced towards him, "Ji..." He sighed and slightly turned towards her, "Thanks." She frowned but understood why he said that "Koi baat nahi..."

He again turned and gazed out the window and said in a gentle voice, "Humein bohot savdhani se kaam lena padega. Koi galti nahi honi chahiye. Woh kuchh bhi puche, hume bas unhe kaise bhi karke yakeen dilana hai. Ek bhi chook hui, sab kharab ho jayega. I hope you understood?"

She hummed and turned towards her side  watching the trees and houses moving past the car as they rode. It won't be wrong to say that he didn't trust her, otherwise, he won't have given her a slight hint of warning by those words. And why would he even trust her? It wasn't his fault that he hardly knew anything about her. And she wasn't even planning to tell him anytime soon.

As she looked out watching the familiar building come into her vision, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a sec, 'Koi galti nahi honi chahiye Naina...'

Sameer too wasn't in a right state of mind. He couldn't fathom the upcoming challenges. It was going to be a big day for both of them. Though he had decided to announce his marriage, he was somewhere feeling uncertain of it. She was going to be introduced as his wife. The CEO Sameer Maheshwari's wife. His mind was revolving around people's responses when they would come to know about it. It was obvious that they would be having high expectations from his wife, not only in terms of her nature but also her personality, her appearance, the way she would interact, and technically everything.

He had a slight idea about how she might be feeling since it was evident in her restlessness throughout the whole ride, but he couldn't bring himself to console her. He just couldn't do it. He didn't even know about her background, what family she belonged to. As far as he had noticed, her lifestyle was decent. He knew that it wasn't a good thing to validate her like this but he couldn't take a chance when it came to the business world. People here would always keep their noses too high to heed those who weren't worthy enough to stand beside them. He didn't approve of this, yet he couldn't do anything but relent on it.

When she had descended down the stairs this morning, he couldn't point out, but something had definitely changed around in the air between them. He was actually seeing her dressed like a married woman, as his wife. Till now, he was trying to avoid this marriage but looking at her had pulled him back to the reality. He didn't have any problem in living with her though. As long as they won't interact, it would go smoothly. That's what he thought but everything doesn't happen according to our wishes and that is what he realized this morning. 'Waise achhi toh lag rahi thi', his mind spoke but he instantly diverted it before it could go further,
'Calm down Sameer...'

*****

The car halted at the entrance of the 'Maheshwari Industries'. Sameer came out first. She was about to open the door to her side when she found Sameer already standing there. He opened the door for her with a neutral expression. His gentlemanly gesture took her off guard. She wasn't used to all this and hence, chose to not display it.

The security guard was himself stunned to see them both coming out of the car together. And not only the guard but every single person stood rooted to the spot as they couldn't believe the sight in front of them. Their stares were making Naina conscious but she brushed it off and kept her pace matching with Sameer's.

Aarav came towards both of them and was shocked to see Naina in that attire. He stood in front of them, "G-good morning Sir." He turned to Naina, "Good m-morning ma'am..."  Sameer replied with a gentle 'Good morning' while Naina gave him a faint smile before replying the same.

His mind raced with numerous thoughts. He was 3-4 years younger than Sameer and yet was like a friend to him. They had hung out with each other a couple of times in nearby bars enjoying each other's company like two carefree friends. Sameer too followed the bro-code and gave him tips to woo girls which had definitely helped him to make a few fall for his charm. He couldn't register the fact that he didn't even tell him about such an important thing. But why? He made up his mind to talk about it later and guided them towards the conference.

While on their way Sameer politely asked, "Saare arrangements ho gaye hai na thik se? Sab log pohoch gaye na?" Aarav turned towards him and said, "Yes sir. Mr. Bhadoria is also here and waiting for you outside the room."

Sameer nodded while Naina just kept herself silent. They both reached outside the room and spotted Mr. Bhadoria who immediately came towards them. Sameer greeted him by shaking hands with him, "Thank you Mr. Bhadoria for taking out time for us."

Mr. Bhadoria replied, "Oh no no, it's completely fine." His gaze fell on Naina who was standing beside Sameer watching their exchange, "Oh, Hello Mrs. Maheshwari. How are you?"

Naina gave a small smile and softly replied, "I am good." This was the first time she was interacting with him after their marriage in the hospital. He seemed to be a good-natured person.

Mr. Bhadoria nodded with a smile and became serious the next moment. He turned towards Sameer and said, "Sameer, just remember one thing, jo bhi tum dono andar bologe ya karoge, it's going to be very significant. Try to be as confident as possible. Woh tumhe idhar udhar ghumayenge but you would have to stick to your point of view. Okay?"

They both nodded in affirmation. The whole scene resembled that of an external viva in the school. The teachers used to tell the same to their students and it was necessary.

They still had around 20 mins for the conference to begin, therefore they stood discussing more of it. Bhadoria instructed them some more by telling them the possible questions that the media could ask. His years of practice and experience in law was ascertained to be of great help. The company's manager came to tell both of them that it was time to go inside.

Sameer glanced towards Naina and nodded silently as a sign of 'it's time to do it'. She too gave a faint nod to him. They both entered together inside the room with Mr. Bhadoria behind them followed by Aarav and their manager.

The conference room had been arranged by a reputed event management company hired on the orders of Sameer. Since it was a  short scale conference, the arrangements done were simple and fair. A long table covered with a white cotton sheet was positioned along with the leather seated chairs near to the entrance of the room. Mini water bottles and tabletop mics were placed on it corresponding to each member's chair. The chairs for the journalists had been aligned neatly and at a considerable distance from each other. The technical department had taken care of all the basic electrical necessities for the conference. Another long table had been placed at the back of the room with small mineral water bottles arranged neatly in rows. A coffee maker along with mini paper cups had also been kept for the members of the conference.

All the journalists stood up from their places and the noisy chattering turned into hushed whispers the moment they saw both of them. The confusion was clearly written over their faces. Sameer stepped towards the second chair from the left and pulled it out for Naina while she kept herself steady and positive enough. He stood near the chair beside hers & waited for the manager and Mr. Bhadoria to get settled on their seats at the extremes. He then faced towards the press and requested, "Please take your seats."

All of them got settled in their places opening the notepads and turning their mics on. Since Sameer had already ordered to mention the reason for this emergency conference on the invitation to be sent, they knew it was to talk about the controversy stirring up in the market. 

He gave a sign towards the manager to speak before settling on his seat with a firm expression. The manager addressed, "Good morning. First of all, We would like to thank all of you for your presence here. Before we begin, there are some things to be made clear. Mr. Maheshwari here has an announcement to make. You would be allowed to ask questions only when he is done. Irrelevant remarks won't be acceptable. Therefore, please maintain decorum. Thank you." Sitting back, he signalled Sameer to proceed.

Sameer glanced once towards Naina and cleared his throat before speaking, "Good morning all of you. I know you all are aware of the rumours spreading around about us." He said motioning between him and her before continuing, "Well, we would like to clear the things. First of all, Whatever happened on the day of that meeting was purely coincidental and wasn't intended. Someone had tried to conspire against us and I would like to inform you that he has already been penalized for his deed."

He sighed and continued, "Coming to the main point, Aap log inhe toh jaante hi honge, right?" He said signaling towards her with a sarcastic smirk on his face "Of course jaante honge. Yeh whi hain jinhone mujhe fasaya mere paiso ke liye. Jinhone meri company barbaad karne ki koshish ki. Yahi keh rahe the na aap log inke baare mein." Naina's eyes shot up to him, 'Yeh kya bol rahe hai yeh?', but waited to let him complete anyways. 

"Well, Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Mrs Naina Maheshwari, my wife." He said the last line with a serious expression. He took her completely off guard by his open declaration. There was something in the way he addressed her as his wife which made her have pins and needles. A few gasps were heard and the murmurs continued to echo in the room until the manager said a bit loud, "Silence please!"

The room again became quite. Sameer continued, "I know aap log ispe easily believe nahi karenge but this is the truth. We both are officially married and for proof, we have Mr. Bhadoria, our lawyer with us who is carrying our marriage certificate to clear all of your doubts." He signaled Mr. Bhadoria to speak, "Yes it is true. Mr. and Mrs. Maheshwari got married a month back with the blessings of his grandfather."

Sameer's face dulled on reminiscing that dreadful day. Seeing his distress, Naina passed the water bottle towards him with a small nod. He took it and gulped half of it, feeling relieved.

While Mr. Bhadoria kept their attention towards him, Sameer slowly leaned towards Naina, away from the mic, and whispered near to her ear, "Jo bhi main ab bolunga, bas haan mein haan milana." This sudden proximity added more to her nervousness but she gave a tight-lipped smile and nodded noticing the curious gazes of the press.

Sameer turned to face them back and began speaking, "We hadn't planned this to be disclosed this way but you people didn't leave us with any other chance. You berated our relationship without even knowing the truth. Sach yeh hai ki hum dono ek dusre ko pasand karte the." He again glanced at Naina only to find her staring him. Her eyes would have bulged out on what he said if they won't be in front of so many people.    

To put in more to her amazement, he held her hand, his muscular fingers enveloping her slender ones, and continued, "We weren't ready to make it official in public and kept it all a secret. But, you know the unfavorable events which had occurred last month. My grandfather had only one wish, he just wanted to see his grandson married for last. He himself had blessed us both heartily. For his contentment, we took this decision and kept it a low-key affair as we both weren't in a state of dealing with all this. Hope you understand now."

After being done, his gaze went down to their adjoined hands. He didn't know why he did that or why he cooked up that story. The words were out of his mouth even before he could realize. It was obvious that he couldn't just tell them the actual thing. He had to fill them up with anything which would be convincing enough and this trumped-up story would suffice to do that, for sure. He hadn't completely lied, most of it was true omitting the lovers' part.

Naina saw him gazing at their hands and as if on sensing it, his eyes met with hers. She hadn't expected him to twist the whole thing in such a way. This was completely opposite to what they had agreed on and was becoming way too complicated. She was already tired of living in this pretentious world and now this lovers-gag didn't seem plausible to her. What was he thinking before he said that? But then there wasn't any other strategy.

Their endearing moment broke when they heard the manager's voice who was now asking the press to put forward their questions. On hearing his statement, many journalists had raised their hands waiting with their questions.

A reporter in her late twenties stood up and asked, "My question is for Mrs Maheshwari. Aap dono ki shaadi ka decision kafi jaldbaazi mein liya gaya tha. Isse aapko kuchh problem nahi hui? I mean it's quite a big decision."

A frown appeared on both of their faces. Naina knew she would have to answer accordingly. She took a deep breath before speaking, ignoring the fact that their hands were still in the same position, "Why would I have any problem? Hum dono ka mutual consent tha. Main Sameer ke har decision mein uske saath hu." Satisfied by her answer, the reporter sat back without questioning any further.

Sameer was observing her calm and confident conduct but deep down he knew she was nervous inside. He was mindful of her negotiation and communication skills which were really helping her to deal with the situation wisely.

More questions followed by, the majority of them related to their relationship, how it would interfere in their professional life, how it would affect the company's repute, the challenges they would face, etc. and each time, they both had answered acutely without raising any sort of suspicion.

One reporter had even commented on the vast difference between their status which somehow didn't sit well with Sameer. Nanu had raised him well to not differentiate between people on the basis of their status or dignity. He had promptly chided him in his own way which had made the reporter instantly apologize to both of them.

It was going well until a man in his late thirties put an unanticipated question, "Aap dono ki families ke kya reaction the jab aapne unhe iss decision ke baare mein bataya?"

Sameer's eyes snapped towards the reporter. His question and his sardonic smile rattled his cage. The past was meant to be left in the past. Naina sat clueless since she didn't know what or how to answer that. The ones whom she should call her family didn't even make an effort to know her whereabouts or if she even existed.

Before she could take her thoughts any further, she felt Sameer's hand slip away from hers suddenly. Her gaze went to his ireful face. He irritatingly said, "No personal questions, please."

From what she could decipher from his response to the question, she understood that he was sensitive to it. His troubled expressions were telling that there's something bad associated with it. Something must have triggered him but she couldn't decide exactly what.

"You know that it's not personal Mr. Maheshwari. After all, it had hit most of the headlines at that time." The reporter was clearly unswayed by Sameer's request and didn't budge from his question. Something was definitely going in his mind. Sameer knew these types of reporters who always came with a motive to make a mountain of a molehill. He was somehow controlling himself from lashing out.

But before he could say anything, he saw Naina's fingers being interlinked with his and heard her saying, "Humare liye humari family sirf Nanaji the. And one more thing, agar aap nahi samajhte hain ki apno ko khone ka dukh kya hota hai toh please apne comments apne paas hi rakha kijiye. We are already going through a lot."

The reporter opened his mouth to say something but Sameer cut him by saying, "That's all for today. Thank you so much." Saying this he held Naina's arm while getting up from their seats, much to her astonishment. Aarav helped them to make their way out of the room away from the hustle and bustle of the journalists and reporters. Coming out, Sameer thanked Mr. Bhadoria for taking his time out after which Mr Bhadoria took their leave.

Sameer was still disgruntled over what happened inside the room. Without saying anything, he left the place to go in his cabin. Naina stood perplexed over his behaviour, not being able to draw out anything. Aarav and the manager were still handling the journalists and reporters. Not knowing what to do, she too left for her cabin to relax. Finally, the press conference ended at a fair note, just as they wanted it to.

*****

The news spread like fire around the building. All the workers and employees were astounded to know that their boss has finally got his girl and on top of that, he was already married to her. Many of them were delighted by the news and found the couple charming. On the other hand, the female population was dealing with the heartbreak of losing their crush to a simple girl who was nowhere close to his status. They were despising his choice wondering what he actually saw in her when he could have easily gotten a much better partner than her.

Apart from all this, one more thing was earning people's attention, Naina's discreet and sharp-witted persona. Being just a financial accountant in such a reputed company, she had really impressed many.

Sameer paced with a furious expression on his face, filling up the room with greyish smoke as he blew it out. The reporter had unknowingly touched the most sensitive and hurtful topic to him, 'Family'. He absolutely loathed this word. It seemed like someone had scraped his most painful scars. The only family he believed to be his were Nanu, Munna and Pandit and now after they all were gone away from him, the hatred for this word had increased by many degrees. If only Naina won't have handled it wisely, the situation could have gone far worse and he was thankful to her for that.

'Usey toh kuchh pata bhi nahi hai. Tab bhi kaise sambhal liya usne sab kuchh? Kahin Nanu ne toh kuchh nahi bataya tha? Nahi nahi, itna toh main jaanta hun ki Nanu aisa kabhi nahi kar sakte. Kya sach mein...'

His trail of thoughts broke when Aarav entered his cabin and scrunched his nose due to the acrid smell of smoke.  Disappointment was clearly written on his face as he saw him smoking. Sameer saw him and asked gruffly raising his, "Kya?"

Aarav questioned raising an eyebrow, "Seriously? 'Kya?' Yeh mujhe puchhna chahiye. Yeh sab kya tha? Shaadi karli aur bataya bhi nahi! Woh bhi Naina se, jise aap kuchh din pehle office se nikaalne wale the!"

Sameer gave a tired look to him, "Not you now Aarav. Mera pehle hi bohot dimag kharab ho rakha hai, aur nahi please."

Aarav didn't push any further but said, "Achha thik hai. Par yeh toh bata dijiye ki aap dono kab se saath hain? Aur yeh shaadi?"

Sameer rolled his eyes and threw the cigarette-butt in the trashcan. He knew Aarav won't budge until he would gather all the information he wanted. He was like his younger brother and he can't keep things hidden from him for a very long time. So, he told the actual truth to him by narrating each and everything from the beginning. They both settled on the couch. Aarav listened to each and every word attentively with stunned expressions on his face. He couldn't wrap his mind around what Sameer told him.

A minute after Sameer was done, he cleared his throat, still dazed and said, "Woah!" A sudden realisation hit him and he said, "Iska matlab aapne jo aaj bola that you love each other, woh sab jhuth tha?!"

Sameer nodded silently. Aarav turned a bit serious, "Aap dono ne bol toh diya par kya aap inn sab ko handle kar paaoge? Aapki baatein sunke toh yahi lagta hai ki aap ek dusre ko jaante bhi nahi ho abhi."

Sameer sighed, he knew Aarav was right. They didn't know anything about her, neither did she. He leaned back on the couch and gazed at the ceiling, "I know. Par uss waqt mere dimaag mein kuchh nahi aya. Jo sahi laga, bol diya. We would have to deal with it, anyhow."

Aarav nodded understanding his distress and said after a moment, "Waise toh Naina ma'am kafi achhe nature ki hain. Mujhe nahi lagta aapko unke saath koi problem hogi. Sach bolu, aap dono kaafi achhe lag rahe the saath mein. You know 'Made for each other' types." He gave a playful wink after saying the last line and broke in funny giggles.

Sameer narrowed his eyes understanding the teasing behind those words. Aarav pretended to keep his expressions firm only to laugh again the next moment. Sameer too gave in and joined him, both of them laughing together.

Feeling light he said, "Chalo kaam pe lago ab. Aur ek badiya si black coffee bhijwa dena." Aarav smiled and nodded before leaving the room.

Naina was busy checking the monthly-accounts in her cabin but was finding it difficult to focus since her mind would momentarily divert towards the happenings of the morning. When she was on her way to the cabin, she noticed how the workers were behaving very differently with her. The number of wishes and greetings which she was receiving were heading near to infinite. Not being used to so much attention at a time, she didn't know how to react to it. She had politely thanked them without saying much. Some girls and ladies were staring her as if she had robbed something of them, but she ignored them to the fullest. The impact of their tall-tale was huge which could be seen through the change in the atmosphere not only inside but outside of their company too.

*****

By lunchtime, Sameer's cabin was filled up with elegant and delicately perfumed bouquets along with warm-hearted greetings from almost everywhere, wishing the couple a happy married life ahead. He was amused by the fact that they actually believed them. It was when his mind got relaxed did he think about he had held her hand while replying and to his amazement, she hadn't repulsed. Instead, she had played along with him. Maybe it wasn't going to be as hard as he was thinking it to be. If only he knew.

The peon came with lunch when Sameer was busy scrutinizing a file. He gestured him to place it on the coffee table without averting his eyes from the file. Before he could leave, Sameer called him as he thought of something, "Ek kaam karo, Naina ma'am ko bhi boldo yahin lunch karne ke liye."

He nodded and left. She was busy discussing some financial policies with two of her colleagues when the knock on the door interrupted. When he informed her that Sameer sir had asked for her to have lunch in his cabin with him only, she was surprised. The two female employees sitting in front of her found it sweet and gave a teasing smile to her, thinking that their Sameer sir couldn't stay away from her for even a few hours. Her face flushed out of instinct and she quickly wrapped up the ongoing discussion.

Before entering his cabin, she gave a slight knock on the door getting his "Come in" as reply. She found him sitting on the couch and it seemed like he was waiting for her only. The events of the morning were still afresh, her mind went towards how he had reacted when they were asked about their families. His disturbed expressions had implied that something had definitely happened in his past. She was inquisitive to know about it but withdrew from the idea of asking him knowing that it wasn't her place to do that.

On hearing the familiar clinking of bangles, his gaze instantly went to her standing form and said in a civil voice, "Aao, baitho."

She complied and sat on the other side of the couch. Sameer stood up briefly to pull down the blinds in order to have some privacy from the quizzical gazes of his workers. Sitting back, he noticed her looking towards the bouquets and cards kept at the other side of the room. Without saying anything he unpacked the lunch prepared by Ramdhari. He took one plate and handed it to her only to receive a questioning look, "Maine socha saath mein hi lunch kar lete hain jisse kisiko kuchh doubt na ho."

"Umm...mujhe bhookh nahi hai zyada. Aap kha lijiye.", she replied gently. She found it extremely awkward to sit and eat with him since they had never done it before. He again said in neutral voice, "Dikhane ke liye hi sahi, par thoda le lo."

She okayed and served herself with a small amount of rice alongwith some Besan Karhi in a separate bowl. For the next few minutes, only the soft clattering of the spoons and plates were heard as they silently ate their food. Her intuition said that he didn't call her just for having lunch. He definitely wanted to say something else and her doubt got cleared when he said, "I know tumhe bhi ajeeb laga hoga par mujhe kuchh samajh nahi aya uss time kya bolu jisse yeh log maan jaye."

She understood now what he was talking about, their false love-story. After being done with her food, she kept the plate on the table and said quietly looking down at her fingers, "Par yeh sab kab tak chalega...?"

Sameer sighed, "No idea. Humein chalana hi padega. We don't have any other choice."

She didn't know what to say or how to react to it. She just wondered, 'What had they gotten themselves into?'

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I was planning to give this update oncoming Sunday but didn't want you guys to wait any longer.

I am not sure when I would give the next one since these online classes aren't sparing me with much time. It would possibly be the next week. I'll try my best to not delay it much.

Coming to this part, I am really looking forward to your views on this one since it has consumed nearly all of my thinking power...hehe. But on a serious note, do vote guys. It really means a lot.

You may also suggest some scenes or moments which you want to see or include in this story. I will surely consider them ;)

Lots of Love, Sim❣