24. Wedding Proposal

ONE MONTH LATER

"Maan" Maitri stood infront of him in his cabin with her hands on her waist.

"I said no" He ignored her and opened his laptop to work.

"Aap humare liye itna bhi nahi kar sakte? Akhir hum aapke hai kon? (You won't do this for me? Afterall who am I to you)" She sat on the chair opposite to him with a sad face, shaking her head that she fell for such a man who doesn't care for her wishes at all. Aryaman sighed loudly.

"Fine we will celebrate my birthday the way you want" He agreed to her. This immediately brightened her mood, and she stood up jumping in excitement.

"Don't expect me to melt because of your emotional drama every time" He warned her playfully.

"It works every time. Be ready by 6, I'll come to pick you" She winked at him and left the cabin.

"Sutli-bomb" He shook his head laughing at her antics.

FEW HOURS LATER

"Vickyy" Maitri opened the door and leaned onto the door with her. Aryaman who was working on a paper, threw his pen on the ground startled at the sudden intrusion.

"Please help na Vicky" She said in a drunk, slutty voice. Aryaman looked around in the room and then pointed at himself.

"Mera room kho gaya hai...aur kapde badal ne hai" She opened her collar button of her shirt. Aryaman looked at her wide eyed and immediately rushed to her side.

"I promise, tumare samne, bas do minute me kapde badlungi, chalega na VICKY" She threw herself on him. Aryaman tried to look at her without laughing.

"Aa aa, not Vicky, Nandu" He recited Abhishek Bachan's dialogue.

"Jackas Nandu" She wrung her hands around his neck while he stabilised her by holding her waist.

"Kitni garami hai na. Kapde kaat ne ko dod rahe hai. Jee kar raha hai, utar ke phek du...aah" She opened one more button of her shirt and Aryaman immediately stopped her.

"Ruk ja meri ma. This is my workplace, I can't come out infront of my employees as a pervert." He held her shirt and closed her buttons.

"Bore" She rolled her eyes at him and waited for him to finish buttoning up her shirt. Over the period of the month, Maitri had successfully annoyed, irritated and frustrated Aryaman with her antics and with time he adapted to it.

"Lets go janab, its your birthday" She entwined her arm in his and asked him if they could leave.

"Half an hour more, please"

"No Maan. Do it tomorrow or after dinner, I don't care. We need to go now! I have to get ready, you have to get ready, traffic jam. Uff there's so much to do and so little time. Pack your things and we are leaving" She looked at him angrily.

"Joke tha bhai joke" He pecked her cheek and collected his office bag.

She drove him to his penthouse.

"See you soon" She drove off as soon as he got off the car, not giving him a chance to say anything. He walked up to his penthouse. On his apartment door he found a sticky note.

Plucking it from the door he read.

"Stop scowling Akdu and open the door. Don't slouch and get ready super fast. Am waiting for you" He realised it was Maitri who left him the sticky note. He smiled to himself and held the sticky note in his hand and opened the door with the other hand.

"Woahhh" His whole apartment was covered in roses and fairy lights. A path was created for him using the rose petals. He was to take a step when his eyes fell on the vase which had another sticky note.

"Happy birthday love. Today you have one more wrinkle to hate.

You can laugh, its funny.

This is the spot where I told you about my ASR. My bad luck, instead of ASR I got ARR,not that am complaining much but facts remain the same" Aryaman laughed as he read the sticky note. He couldn't understand her obsession with ASR even after months.

He walked ahead and found another sticky note.

"A fool (flower) for my fool. On a serious note- You bloomed in my heart like a rose garden"

"Shiii that was extremely bad Mayu" He rubbed his nape trying to hide his blush.

On his way to his bedroom he found many sticky notes with cringe pickup lines. He saw a nicely wrapped gift on his bed, wrapped in blue gift wrap. He opened it excitedly and found another sticky note.

"What do you call Ironman without his suit- Stark Naked" Aryaman took in a deep breath and looked outside the window trying to not laugh at her stupid jokes. He opened the gift and found a navy-blue tuxedo, just the right size for him.

He quickly changed into that and opened his closet for the matching accessories. He got a matching Titan watch and his Gucci perfume. He combed his hair neatly and was to use the mirror when another sticky note caught his attention.

"I want to eat you up so bad especially when you look like you just gave Zeus a run for his life" Seeing the two badly drawly drawn heart emojis he couldn't help but feel shy at her efforts. He ran a hand through his hair when the bell rang. Excited that it would be Maitri he ran to open but found his bodyguard at the door.

"Maitri ma'am has told me to give you this" The bodyguard gave him another sticky note which asked him to follow the bodyguard. He did as he was asked and sat in the car. After 15 minutes in the car, the bodyguard asked him if he could tie a blindfold on his eyes as it was Maitri's order.

Aryaman knew she was planning something huge and he really didn't want anything huge for his birthday but seeing the way things were working out, he was more than excited to know more of the night.

"Take small steps straight sir" The bodyguard helped Aryaman get down the car.

"Tha ek ladka jiski behen uske liye har pal sirf ek hi gaana gaati thi "Laptop se inki tum kardo sagai, office ke phir toh banjaye jamai' (There was a boy whose sister sang only one song for him ' Get him married to the laptop so he'd become the son-in law of the office')" He took a step ahead hearing Maitri's voice. A huge smile formed on his lips.

"Jinke bhai ka sirf ek hi kaam tha 'Dhoondon mein dhoondu, Mere brother ki dulhan' (Who's brother had only one job- find a bride for his brother)" He smiled remembering the way Aviraj was behind him to get married for some reason, despite them being twins.

'"Ek aur bhai tha jise toh lag hi gaya tha ' Maa da ladla bigad gaya' Aab woh bichare bhi kya karte, akhir woh ladka bhi "Munda munde naal paunda yaariyan' (There was another brother too who almost felt that the boy was gay. Afterall who was tobe blamed since he roamed with only his guy friends)"

"Hey I don't like my friends like that" Aryaman complained with a smiling face remembering Saaransh who always teased him thinking he was gay as all the time Aryaman was with guys and refused to get married to a girl.

"Phir aayi ek sundar, susheel, jhalli sutlibomb. Jisne pehli mulaqat pe ladke ka pura biodata bhi nahi padha tha aur aadha ghanta wait karvaya tha (Then came a beautiful, cultured girl who on their first meet came without reading the complete biodata and made him wait for half an hour)" Aryaman smiled remembering how she came as a hurricane in his life. Wearing a pink skirt, who talked non-stop. He opened his blindfold and found himself in between a heart shape made out of roses. He looked around to find Maitri.

"When we met, I liked you on the first instance. After reaching home I realised that nomatter how much I wish for a prince charming, our social worlds are different and you'd never want someone like that as your wife." Her voice changed from playful to serious. He looked around to find her but couldn't find her.

"You came the same night to my home to prove me wrong but instead we came up with a different plan. How to escape marriage?" They both chuckled.

"Next time I saw you, we cancelled the plan and said yes to marriage. Kyun? Pata nai magar haan kardi" She said making him realize that there was no reason for either of them to say yes and yet they did.

"We met again on the flight. That one night we spent in the flight had been the longest we had talked in days. I saw a bit of you and you saw a bit of me. Everything about us was just so opposite. I like tea, you like coffee. I like late nights, you like early mornings. You love sports, I hate sports except the fact that both of us scared of being hurt in love. We hit off as friends first which by the end of the day turned into dating each other" He saw her walk towards him, dressed in elegant navy blue saree with golden borders.

"We went on our first date, which I wish I could change since it was so horrendous. No matter how many times I apologize about it, it still scares me that I could have lost you that night. Even after marriage, our dates shall be organized by you because we all know how bad I can get with dates" She took slow small steps towards him, raising his heartrate.

"The more we talked about each other's likes the more I realized how different we are from each other. Such that I asked about your favorite actresses, and you said two names I had never heard in my life. Hum there desi middle -class aur aap Raja sa. Simple bhindi masala se gobi ka ghevar in a Michelin star restaurant I realized we would never be on same level" Aryaman looked at her with a warning look. He forwarded his hand to her.

"Everytime I felt this difference in us, you've always reminded me that its about the togetherness that matters the most. In future too I'll still doubt myself but atleast I know you'd be there to prove me wrong" She took his hand and stepped into the heart outline.

"Never forget that you've promised to be by side no matter what happens" She held her index finger at him. He entwined his finger with it and kissed her forehead.

"Happy birthday Maan" She hugged him tightly wishing him a very happy birthday. He hugged her back tightly smiling at his fate for being so giftful to him.

"Don't panic but..." She broke the hug and went down on her one knee. Aryaman looked at her wide-eyed.

"The fuck!" He kept blabbering nonsense for a whole minute, walking here to there as she patiently waited for him to calm down.

"Maan!" She screamed his name when she had enough of his nervousness.

"I've not even asked and you are already nervous. You'll definitely run away from our wedding. Bhagoda dulha" She said making a face.

"I need time to process" He looked at him complainingly with a pout.

"Shaadi karni hai ya nahi karni?" She clicked her two fingers and asked him angrily.

"Ofcourse karni hai" He replied to her in a duh-tone.

"Am still on my knee Maan if you didn't notice with a ring in my hand. When you are done with your panic attack tell me so I make you wear the ring" She said annoyed at him.

"Shit sorry. Ohh god. What the fuck is happening? Is this real? Am I dreaming?" Aryaman again went into his panic mode. Maitri sat down on the floor comfortably knowing that he'd come to his senses soon as the panic finishes.

"Is this what you've taught your son dimwit?" Aryaman heard Ruhanika's voice and looked in her direction. Behind her he saw his whole family alongside her's with their friends too.

"Keep a girl waiting on her knees. Expected so much better from you Arya" Ruhanika said looking at him with disappointment. Maitri chuckled silently behind him.

"What is this behavior bro? When you see a beautiful girl on her knees for you, you don't go into panic mode but rather say her yes and kiss the hell out of her, what say Aarchi?" Saaransh said coming into light with Aarchi agreeing to him. Rishav and Rudraansh looked at Saaransh with hatred and pulled Aarchi in-between them.

"Muh kya dekh raha hai, say yes idiot" Kaira said shaking her head at her son.

"Shit. Fuck. Yeah" He quickly turned around to find Maitri sitting on the floor comfortably looking at the drama unfolding with curiosity, He bent down to her level and said yes laughing and kissing her cheeks profusely.

"I thought you'd take some more time to say yes" She looked at him complainingly.

"Just a little shocked and nervous over there. Thanks for not leaving or slapping me" He said joining their foreheads.

"Who leaves their sugar daddy?" She winked at him making him laugh. He looked deep into her eyes and asked for permission to kiss her. His cousins and siblings along with her sister realised what they were going to do and immediately intervened.

"Guys guys a little bit of control. Parents and everyone are there" Aviraj said holding Aryaman. Both Maitri and Aryaman realised that they had an audience and were extremely shy. She hid her face in his chest laughing at their stupidity while he held her close to his heart.

"Okay okay enough of PG-13. I need to wish my kid" Kaira said intervening between Aryaman and Aviraj.

"Happy birthday jaan" She kissed his forehead and hugged him.

"How are all of you here?" He asked surprised seeing his whole family present.

"Ask your to-be wife?" She pointed towards Maitri who looked down at her hands shyly.

"It was all her plan and she had been planning it for a month now" Rishav said hugging and wishing Aryaman.

"Got lucky in life bro" Aviraj and Aarchi also wished him.

"Indeed" He held her hand tightly. Soon everyone started mingling with each other and Maitri and Aarchi asked the waiters for the cake.