13. Conditions Apply

"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.

Aryaman remained fixed in his place wondering what just happened so suddenly. One moment they were happily going to a ball just the way Maitri wanted and in the next both were going in two opposite directions.

He stood at the bridge for a few minutes before sitting in his car and driving to the penthouse. Once inside, he called his mother.

"Hi Aryuu" Kaira greeted him cheerfully.

"Is papa, Avi and Aaru nearby mum?" He was pacing back and forth in the living room.

"Yeah, I'll call them. Everything okay na?" She asked concerned. Kaira shifted the voice call to a video call and called the rest of the family members.

"Hi big brother" Aarchi greeted Aryaman as Aviraj pulled her hair and sat infront of her, distracting her attention.

"I'll slap you bad one day bhaiyu" She hit his back and stood behind him.

"I want to discuss something with you regarding Maitri" Aryaman said placing the phone in a phone holder and sitting on the sofa. Everyone tensed and sat with their back upright with full concentration to what Aryaman had to say. Aryaman explained everything to them and waited for their reaction.

"Its not her fault even, she had told me about this in the first meeting that she wants to stay in U.S.A but it slipped from my mind" Aryaman said frustrated at how he could forget such an important detail.

"Hmm, what have you thought about it?" Rishav asked holding Kaira's hand in his.

"I don't know. I like her presence but am not sure whether I'll continue liking it till the end or whether she's worth taking the risk of shifting here" Aryaman pulled his hair in frustration, hoping a miracle happens and he won't have to choose anything anywhere, so he doesn't have to hurt anyone's sentiments.

"Let us talk to Akshit and his wife, if we find a mutual ground well and good but incase, she's firm on her decision, what have you thought to do?" Rishav said looking at Kaira as if waiting for her reaction to know whether he said the right thing or not.

"I don't know papa, am confused myself" Aryaman looked at them tiredly.

"How about you go talk to her and find out what you want till then we talk to her parents?" Kaira suggested understanding the turmoil in Aryaman's heart.

"Hmm" Saying that he cut the call and ringed Raj for Maitri's address who quickly shared it. He drove to her house and knocked on her door. He knocked continuously at the lack of response from the other side of the door.

"Coming baba coming, you'll break my door" He heard her respond and stopped knocking.

She opened the door wearing cute little shorts and an oversized t-shirt. She held the door in one hand while the other hand held a lit cigarette and a stream of smoke coming out of her lips in form of a cloud. Aryaman looked at her hand and her mouth with wide eyes and an open mouth without blinking.

Seeing him there, the smoke got stuck in her throat causing her to cough loudly breaking his trance. She moved out of the way, allowing him inside the house as she tried to stop the cough and failed miserably. He quickly rushed inside and looked for the kitchen.

He got her a glass of water and asked her to drink it, discarding the cigarette in the ash tray. She sat waiting for him to scold her or anything, but he simply sat there waiting for her to stop her coughing spree. Once her coughs subsided, she looked at him questioningly.

"You don't look like someone who smokes" He said placing his one leg over the other.

"Only when nervous or stressed which is twice or thrice in one year" She felt the sudden need to explain to him that she was only smoked in serious times.

"Drinking?" He asked with a stoic look.

"Nope, didn't like the taste. When I can drink good, sweet things like Limca, Mirinda, Coca cola why should I drink the bitter liquid, uggh, that taste still haunts me" She shivered reminiscing the taste of alcohol on her tongue. Aryaman was confused about what reaction to give. Shocked that the girl for whom he had started developing feelings hid an important detail of her life or laugh at her reasons for leaving it.

"Hmm" He nodded his head and looked around, feeling impressed that his sutli bomb was an actual sutli bomb who managed her house extremely well.

"Its not huge like yours but its home to me" She said looking around her sitting room with a huge, proud smile on her lips.

"Its just too..." Aryaman said standing up, taking the glass to the kitchen.

"Don't complete it. I know it" She stood up from her place and took the glass to the kitchen not wanting her guest to do work in her home.

"This was the owner's daughter's apartment who was a Queen Bitch who loved pink. I know I could get the pain re-done but why should I waste money on such things. This pink is not alot pink, its reasonable." She shrugged her shoulders and kept the glass at its place and removed a tray from the kitchen cabinets and opened the crisps packets she had bought in the Cinderella outfit and poured them in a bowl.

"You'll have tea or coffee?... Wait coffee I know" She placed the tray infront of him and turned to get him a drink.

"No wait...I..Uhh..I actually came here to talk to you" Aryaman stood up and held her wrist, trying to stop her from moving away from him. She turned around with a sad smile knowing the mentality of a boy's family, the girl can shift countries for the man but if the roles are reversed then its a problem.

"You're here to say that my decision isn't worthy? That am behaving irrationally about this?" She asked taking a step towards him glaring at him.

"No, am here to talk to you to make a decision on whether me shifting here is worth every trouble as long as I'll have you" He pulled her closer to himself, seeing the insecurities dancing in her eyes, leaving her vulnerable to the vultures in the world. He felt the urge to protect her from the eagles waiting to make their move on her.

"Huh?" She looked at him confused.

"Yeah. Do you want to go for a walk?" He asked wanting to talk to her freely.

"Sure" She understood what he tried doing and let it be. She knew that talking about their marriage in her home would feel more intimate than what was necessary for THE TALK. She motioned him to walk ahead as she closed the door behind her.

Maitri and Aryaman were walking randomly on the sidewalk not knowing how to start a conversation. Aryaman felt irritated with the awkwardness in the air and decided to speak first.

"Are you willing to leave New York to Boston?" Aryaman asked wanting to know the actual reason for her stubbornness.

"Yeah as long as you are also going to shift there" She said looking at him.

"I don't get the problem well. You can change states but you don't want to change countries. What's the worse that can happen? We get married, I'll change, you'll change, we'll fight over it until one day I ask you to leave my house but you'll still have your father's house" He asked being frustrated and not catching the real motive of her decision.

"Let's look at it my way now. We get married, I'll change, you'll change, we'll fight over it until one day one of us asks the other one to leave the house. You have your penthouse here and I have my house here, we don't need to move to our parents' house. Sometimes the fear runs deep in veins such that no sweet words can erase it. I've seen the way my father's family has treated mumma. She's the most educated in the family but everyone treated her as if she's still in kindergarten. Her only fault was that she heard her mother's words and followed everything dad asked her to do. Till date, dad is served tea on the sofa and the cup remains on the coffee table until mum takes it to the kitchen. Am not saying dad was bad but he wasn't good either. He never felt like my dad until his mother died. Till the age of 13 I lived my life with a single parent because dad was never dad, he was rather my grandmother's son only. He couldn't be a good husband or a good father but he was the best son. The fear of what happened to mumma would happen to me too is so strong that I don't think I can back away from by stubbornness. I don't wish for you to separate from your family. Whatever decision you make, I'll accept it happily" She held his hands and tilted her head up to look at him. He looked down and saw her fear clearly and felt it too.

He was about to talk when his and Maitri's phone rang indicating it was their parents on group call. Maitri cut hers and asked Aryaman to pick up the video call.

"Aah great that both of you are together" Akshit said glaring at Maitri who simply smiled widely at him as her nature of annoying her father until he'd just give up on her. Aryaman and Maitri sat on a bench with him holding the phone so both of them could be seen.

"So we all talked and came to a conclusion but before we say anything about it, what do you two want? Aryu, are you willing to shift to New York and Maitri do you have any other conditions that we should be aware of?" Rishav asked sincerely.

"Yes"

"No" Aryaman turned his head in Maitri's direction while she did the same in his direction and replied to Rishav's question. A small satisfactory smile formed on their faces as they looked at each other with admiration and respect.

"Cool then. Since both of you have made your decision you should be aware of a condition before Aryaman shifts to U.S.A." The couple looked at the screen confused. Out of anxiousness, Aryaman started bobbing his right leg which was noticed by Maitri. She slid her hand on his knee and squeezed it showing him that she was there and whatever it was, it can't be that bad.

"There are simple conditions for both of you. You can take time and tell us whether you accept or reject it" Kaira said trying to hide her smile as she looked at the kids who listened to them with pale faces.

"First condition: Aryaman will have to step out of the CEO position. He can either start from the position Maitri is on or work elsewhere. We don't mind you working for someone else. We're cool with it" Rishav dropped the nuclear bomb on Aryaman who stood up shocked and angry at his father.

"But dad" He was to argue with him when Rishav looked at Aryaman with a smirk.

"Worried about how you'll provide shelter and food to your family? That's the first promise given to your wife in the pheras. Your wife and your family is your duty. Being served on a silver platter will not teach you the difficulties in providing the neccesities to her. Am not punishing you son for choosing to shift the country I simply want to push the two of you together. The thrill, the excitement and the support you'll experience with each other in difficult times will never be experienced if I give you the same position even in New York. The journey of being a stranger to a soulmate is the most beautiful journey, I don't wish you to be money-minded when you shift there that you forget the woman for whom you decided to shift countries for. Jo maza uski sukhi roti me milega woh Ranawat Enterprise ka CEO bane me kaha. (The fun in her plain roti isn't in being the CEO of Ranawat Enterprise)" Rishav's reasoning somehow convinced Aryaman as he understood that his transition to New York would make him completely immersed in his office and wouldn't be able to give time to Maitri.

"But uncle...please don't mind me saying this but it feels like you are punishing him for choosing me. I don't want to cause fights in your family" She said knowing that she'd make an enemy in her in-laws before even being married and that...was never a good sign.

"Your decision is weird but guess what, I am a firm believer of PARIVARTAN HI JEEVAN KA NIYAM HAI. (Change is the nature of life). Its not a punishment but rather an experiment on our son. We want to see how long he can thrive and how much can he love you?" Kaira said laughing at her silly allegations though reading her thoughts very clearly. Initially she didn't want Aryaman to shift to U.S.A but then she realized that he too had a life of his, she can't keep him tied to her stole for the rest of his life. She had seen enough life where the sons get married and have a wife but they aren't ready to leave the son's life and hence create problem in the life on the couple. She had come to the conclusion that she'd never be such mom who would break apart her son's married life. Maitri wasn't convinced but Aryaman stopped her, telling her he was comfortable with the condition.

"Second condition: This one is for Maitri. You will have to live the way Aryaman will live. You cannot impose your wishes on him. You are an equal partner in his good and bad. If you are prospering and he is clapping, when it is his time to prosper, you should clap too. We had brought you the proposal of a king, its time you think of him as the king of your heart. It will be both of you in or both of you out" Her mother said smilingly knowing that Maitri would accept it and true to it, she accepted it.

"Third and the last condition: You will have to marry in a court and remain married for 5 years. In these 5 years, if Aryaman cheats or he's the one to ask for a separation, he will lose his CEO position for forever and if Maitri does the same, she'll lose all her contacts to her home and everything that's named in her name in inheritance. Think before you accept this one" Rishav and Akshit said together sending the couple in thoughts. The parents cut the call and let the kids discuss it amongst themselves.

"You can manage my crazy self for 5 years?" Maitri asked standing up and pacing back and forth in tension.

"You'll manage my boring self?" He looked at her equally tensed.

"Let's do one thing, we set down ground rules.

1) We will never go to sleep without sorting out our fight" Maitri sat down beside him and said crossing her legs on the bench.

"2) No matter whose fault it is, we will keep turns on apologizing. One time I'll apologize the next time you will do" Aryaman turned his body on her side and said.

"3) 3 days I'll cook, 3 days you'll cook and on Sundays we'll order takeouts or go out for dinner and lunch" She said refusing to back down.

"Mere paas paise nahi hai itne ke har Sunday tujhe bahar le jau. (I don't have that much money that I take you out every Sunday)" He argued with her.

"Good point. We will toss coin on Sundays on who'll cook"

"Agreed."

"Aap mujhe 5 saal tak jhel loge na? (You'll bear with me for 5 years?" She asked a little scared. He pulled her close and wrapped his arm around her waist though keeping some distance in between.

"We will be each other's friends before we be each other's lovers" He pulled her hand upto his lips and kissed it.

"I think I can do that, you?" She said smiling widely that he respected her choices.

"I can too. Lets tell our parents" They ringed the parents and told them about their decision.

"Ohh wonderful. Go to the office and ask for Kevin, he's got the marriage ceritficates ready, you can get married today. We've checked the horoscopes and everything, its good. Go get married kids, you have our blessings" Rishav and Akshit sounded the happiest amongst the chaos behind them. Aryaman and Maitri looked at each other shocked and wondered whether it was tooo soon for them to be married or they heard it wrong.