12. Sacrifices

Maitri was watching Bridgerton on her phone while Raj cleaned up the mess Aryaman had caused in the board room.

"A little bit help would be awesome" Raj taunted her.

"Nah bro nah. Clean the shit you cause" She pulled her leg up on the chair, completely immersed in the episode.

"This is so unfair yaar. Why can't we have such balls anymore? Am living in the wrong generation" She exclaimed loudly placing her phone on the table with a bang. Raj who was arranging the papers looked at her and rolled his eyes knowing it was her everyday drama.

"Just imagine, wearing those long ball gowns, having your hair made up, a gentleman walking up to you and complimenting you. Having a chance to dance with hot men..."

"And getting married at 18 and popping kids like a marathon at 20. How wonderful that is?" Raj couldn't help but ruin the whole vibe for her, just the way he liked.

"I'll throw my shoe at you if you don't shut your trap and side with me" She looked at him angrily.

"Fine... We should have balls even in this generation. Men are no longer gentlemen. This generation sucks. We should seriously have ball dances. Do you think women actually wore corsets back then? It looks more like a death trap to me" Raj recited the lines she had taught him earlier like a pet parrot until a thought struck him and made him stop in his work and look at her.

"That's true. I know right, it really looks like a death trap but yet we should have ball dances" She complained like a child.

"What's going on guys?" Aryaman entered the room, loosening his tie and removing his blazer.

"Nothing, kid is complaining as always that there should be ball dances in this generation too. She thinks she's a Cinderella." Raj grumbled under his breathe but she heard it.

"Hey...am not a kid, am a fully grown adult and what's wrong in being Cinderella. Take it from me, you will become a pumpkin for Nitya when she asks you to be one because she's Cinderella" Maitri and Raj made faces at each other, annoying the other.

"Arya... let's walk out, these women will cook me raw with their ideologies of disney. At this point am starting to have doubts on Yukti. She says Nitya's watching the disney movies but I have a feeling its my wife watching it. Did I marry a child trapped in a body of an adult?" Raj asked Aryaman with a dramatic sigh.

"It is Yukti's eyes through which Nitya's watching the movie. Mother-daughter bond man" Raj and Aryaman looked at the tiny being infront of them sprouting non-sense that actually made sense but had no logic or a proper theory to back it up.

"Whatever" Raj rolled his eyes at her and again the battle of who makes the worst face begun between them.

"Guys stop. Raj take a day off and Maitri, we are going home and then I'll drop you your home. No arguments, nothing. Start moving. Now!" Aryaman held Maitri's hand and pulled her out with him so the 2 don't get into another arguement.

He made her sit in the car and sat on the driver seat.

"Want to drive?" He asked noticing the way she admired the car interior.

"Nope. Am passenger princess" She said with a smile and a shrug.

"What's that now?" Aryaman asked confused as he hit the road.

"Passenger princess is someone who just sits in the passenger seat and never drives ecample me" She said with a huge smile as if she won a lottery.

"You're crazy"

"Have been told that before too" She looked out of the window.

"You want to attend a ball dance?" He asked remembering her wish.

"Yes...I mean why not. But unfortunately for that we need to go to the past which isn't possible" She looked at him jokingly.

"Not when you are a king" He smirked before taking a U-turn and driving to the best clothing store.

"Wowwww, I don't have enough money to even rent a cloth from here" She stood outside the Royal Dresser building that obviously costed more than her yearly salary.

"Its a gift from me for helping me deal the crisis" He pulled her inside with him and walked to the receptionist who immediately recognized him and welcomed him.

"Hello sir" A sales woman came and greeted him and then greeted Maitri who was looking at the interiors like she was in a museum.

"What can I help you with?" She asked Maitri with a smile.

"A dress that would make her feel like a Cinderella" He interrupted them unknowingly and just felt the need to see Maitri like a Cinderella.

"Sure. Please" The saleswoman showed Maitri the way who excitedly followed her. After an hour or two of trying different outfits and being rejected by Aryaman, she finally found the one that she liked and wished that he'd like it too.

"Am taking this one" She twirled infront of him and made a puppy face so he accepts.

"I like it too. Please pack it and add it on my account" He asked them to pack it seeing that it fit her properly, not too loose and neither too fit, just perfect. In the mean time he too had picked his outfit for the day and given it to them to pack.

"Thank you so much" Maitri hugged him tightly for buying her the wonderful dress.

"Its not yet over" He said smirking at her shocked expression. He later dropped her to a beauty salon with her dress and asked the beauticians to ensure that she looked exactly like Cinderella. Her heart filled with warmth at his gestures that might have costed him more than her yearly salary which was quite enough for her to start thinking about buying a house in New York city.

NOON

Aryaman picked Maitri from the salon and was left awestruck seeing her.

"You look very pretty" He held out his arm for her, complimenting her. She thanked him and wrapped her right arm around his.

"You also look handsome" She checked him out from head to toe and said.

"Wait wait" Aryaman took a step closer to her and removed a little kohl from her eyes and placed it behind her ear, before kissing her forehead. Maitri blushed and looked at the ground with shyness.

"Let me take a picture of you" Aryaman suggested as he made her stand near his car and he removed his phone to take her pictures. Once he was satisfied he shared all of them with her and she shared them with her sister, Divya who instantly called her.

"Diiiii you look so cuteeee" Divya screamed as soon as Maitri chucked it and placed it on speaker.

"Thank you" Maitri replied placing the phone away from her ear. Aryaman and her chuckled at Divi's excitement.

"Who the prince charming for whom you are behaving like a Cinderella" Divi asked teasingly causing Maitri to blush and Aryaman to smirk.

"Di, promise me one thing, after you and jiju get married, you'll adopt me. Hayee I can't wait to come to USA" Divi was lost in her own world when her father pulled the phone from her hand.

"We have talked about this Maitri" Akshit's hard voice wiped the smile of Maitri's face. She quickly switched off the speaker and held the phone to her ear.

"And I don't agree with you papa" She whispered so Aryaman doesn't listen to her. He found the whole situation weird as to why she suddenly got serious.

"The dreams you are showing your sister will not be fulfilled" Akshit said that made Maitri gulp down her tears.

"Can you stop for a while?" She asked Aryaman who nodded his head and pulled the car to the side. As soon as it stopped, she stepped out and walked a good distance before replying back to Akshit.

"I will not return to India and that's final" She said determinedly.

"Aryaman will not leave his family and why should he leave his family. They are settled in India very well and he's the king, you can't expect him to shift because of you" Akshit said pinching his nose, trying to keep his calm with her.

"Is that my fault that he's a king? I had warned you the same day you brought this proposal. I had my terms very clear that I will not move out of USA after marriage. And what shit are you talking papa, if he is well settled there then am well settled here. I can't leave my well established career for someone I met a few days back" She argued with him about her point, knowing she was right in her place.

"You need to make adjustments Maitri. Life is not always fair. You'll never get a better proposal then this one. They aren't old fashioned, they'll let you work. You can set up your career in India too. Don't lose a good proposal because of your silly stubbornness" Akshit tried to explain to her but she didn't agree to his ideologies.

"No papa and my decision is final. I don't need anyone to fund my dreams. This is my life and I have 0 interest in becoming like mumma. What is the guarantee that his parents wouldn't turn out like yours? I cannot and will not bow down infront of those who are wrong. I don't want to be like mumma who had no place to go when you and your parents asked her to leave your house. Am better here atleast I can pay my bills unlike mumma who is more educated than you but still had no place to go because of you and your parents. I had told you to find me proposals of men who are in USA but no, you brought for a man in India and are now expecting me to leave my career behind. You know what dad, am not mumma, I am me. If tomorrow he asks me to leave his house and you refuse to take me in, I will still have a roof on my head here which I won't have there because of you. I will not sacrifice myself just because he's a king. I have my own mind and my own dreams and yes papa, be glad you have two daughters in today's world because guess what's the ratio of girls to boys is bad, boys aren't getting girls to get married with. If today I just present myself in a night dress even, atleast 10 boys would be in line asking for my hand. Till date I've done everything you said but now no more. If this proposal gets broken, then so be it" Saying that she cut the call and held onto the edge of the bridge tightly, calming her anger. Once she was calm she turned around and thought to clear this with Aryaman before either of them got themselves entangled in threads of love.

She found Aryaman already staring at her.

"You heard?" She cut straight to the point. He nodded his head and walked to her.

"I will not shift from USA. If you think that you also don't want to shift then we can break this alliance, not like we were anything official but yet. Am sorry for wasting your time but in my defense I thought my father would have talked to you and your family about my condition. I'll try and repay you for this dress and the expense of the salon but am not ready to sell my dreams" She said looking straight into his eyes.

"Why don't you want to return to India?"

"I have managed to create my own life here. I feel independent and free to my choices here. I don't want to be caged in responsibilities. Am not saying that I won't complete all the duties expected of me as the daughter-in-law but that doesn't mean I should leave my identity behind. Kaam karne me dikat nahi hai, aapna hi toh ghar hai magar if I keep doing things without any appreciation then bahu rani mein se naukrani bane main der nahi. I've seen my mother face the same fate and I refuse to be her" She said removing the bracelet she wore on her hand and returned it to him.

"Talk to your family about it before making any decision. Keep my things at the office, I'll pick it up from there and incase you need address to my house, ask Raj bhai, he has it" She held out her hand for a taxi which stopped seeing her.

"I'll return you the dress and the accessories and pay for the expense you did on me" She said before sitting in the car and driving off to her house.