42. You Promised

Divya and Maitri slept with Juhi while the boys took the girls room and they kept twisting and turning in sleep. Aryaman sat upright unable to sleep without Maitri beside him. He walked to the living room and ended up sleeping on the sofa.

MORNING

"Maan" Maitri entered her room to see Aryaman was getting ready for the day. A worker had come and brought the clothes for them. Manav and Divya were outside haing breakfast with Juhi and Maitri came to check on Aryaman.

"There you are" He kissed her lips and brought her infront of him and passed her the towel so she could dry his hair. She made him sit on the stool and started drying his hair as he pulled her t-shirt up and kissed her navel.

"Maan...ishh" She stopped him and his naughty thoughts with a stern look and he pouted sadly.

"Fine do" He kissed his nose and let him do what he wanted. Once his hair was dry she removed his shirt and asked him to wear it as she set the towel to dry. Aryaman passed her his tie and waited for her to help him.

"Maitrii, what if I cheat?" Aryaman asked her holding her hand. It had been bugging him since yesterday after he got to know of Akshit's actions he wanted to know how Maitri would have reacted to such because he didn't want Maitri to ever be in the position Juhi was.

Maitri looked up at him for a second before she pulled him towards her and pulled his collars up.

"If the woman you are cheating with on me doesn't know you are married then I'll let her go and try to compensate for her time with money but if she knew that you are married and yet did it then I'll ruin her so badly that she'll not recognize herself" She said placing the tie around his collar and tying it.

"What about me?" Aryaman asked.

"Girls don't need to find men Maan. If you have 2 girls flocking around, you then I'll have 10 men around me. There are many who've told me that I look pretty, stunning, beautiful but do you know who I've looked for, my husband. I can control who I see but I can't control who you see, who you look for" Maitri looked up at him for a moment before she focused on to the tie again.

"I'll leave you immediately because I don't want to live with someone who doesn't love me and I'll stop loving you in that moment itself. I live with you because you have made me your priority, the second I turn into an option I'll close the chapter for forever" She tied the tie and looked at him with teary eyes.

"Don't ever make me an option either Maitri. I've become so dependent on your love that if you'll cheat I'll kill the person but still cling on to you for support forgetting my self-respect" Aryaman hugged her tightly showing her his insecurities.

"Aryaman Ranawat, you are the one and the only man I trust in my life. You have shown me that I can be loved and can love too, why will I ever leave someone who gave me wings to fly?" She hugged him back, hiding her face in his chest.

"I love you" Aryaman said closing his eyes.

"I love you more than you love me" She said breaking the hug and pulling him to her level for a kiss. She poured out her heart into it.

Maitri and Aryaman remained at Juhi's place for a week until they were sure that Divya and Juhi would figure out a way. Kaira and Rishav had stopped by and expressed their concern with Juhi and were proud of her for taking a huge step like that. None of them bothered contacting Akshit and neither did he. In the darkness of the nights Juhi found herself looking into the mirror finding the woman she used to be before she became a wife, a mother.

"You should apply at Ranawat Enterprise for a C.A post ma" Aryaman ran behind Juhi persuading her to apply for a job so at least she'd not think of negative things.

"Aryaman I've forgotten everything baba" Juhi moved in the kitchen effortlessly as he followed her like a lost puppy.

"Arey give it a try no. We either way need an accountant, if there's something wrong, we are there to correct it ma, please, for me?" Aryaman knelt down in front of her and made puppy eyes at her.

"If that's how you persuade Maitri than you are doing a pretty good job at it" Juhi melted at his face and agreed to join the Ranawat Enterprises. Rishav had posted Akshit to another branch away from them. He wanted to fire Akshit but knew he couldn't since there wasn't any good professional reason to fire him. They had let Juhi know of the decision and then persuaded her to join the team.

"It always works ma. She melts like ice cream at this handsome face" Aryaman smirked as Juhi hit his shoulder with a chopper board playfully.

"Tomorrow sharp at 9:30, don't forget" Aryaman said hurriedly and left the house for Ranawat Palace where his wife waited for him.

DINNER TIME

Aryaman entered the dining room to see Maitri sitting in tension. He walked to her and looked at her questioningly.

"We need to leave for The States as soon as possible. The owner of the area I want has requested to meet me in person. I tried to tell him to meet online but he's bent on meeting in person. Maan if we don't leave soon I'll lose that spot" She looked at Aryaman with hope. He simply hummed and sat down to have dinner. Everyone else in the room weren't pleased with his reaction and waited for the couple to solve it on their own.

"Maan... did you listen anything I said?" Maitri asked worriedly.

"I did and I am hungry Maitri, let me eat" Aryaman pushed her chair back and asked her to sit. Maitri nodded her head and pecked on food as Aryaman had dinner. Kaira and Rishav looked at each other and then at the couple.

"When is the owner asking you to meet?" Aviraj questioned unable to handle the tension in the dining room.

"In one month or else he'll sell it to someone else" Maitri said hurriedly to Aviraj explaining him of her situation. Aryaman pushed his plate away in anger and banged the spoon on the plate and stood up angrily. Maitri looked at him nervously. Her heartbeat quickened realizing why he was behaving in such a manner. She left her dinner and ran behind him.

"Maan... Maan" She washed her hands and ran after him to the room where he paced angrily.

"Maan" She slowly called him.

"What Maitri?" He roared at her making her flinch and take a step back.

"Why are you behaving like this?" She gulped down her fear and asked him.

"Why do you think? Its being more than 6 months and has anyone here restricted you from doing anything? Why are you hell bent on going to The States? What is it there that my family here isn't providing you with?" Aryaman held her by her shoulders angrily and said angrily.

"You are hurting me Maan" She stopped herself from crying and whispered. Kaira and everyone ran to their room hearing Aryaman shout at Maitri.

"Why can't you build your career here? With everyone? My family isn't like the others, they give us space and privacy, support you then why can't we settle here" He threw a glassware on the floor as Maitri stared at him with tears in her eyes. She stood there as a statue and watched him mess the room. Aryaman didn't notice the horror reflecting in her eyes in his anger and kept saying things, shouting in anger.

"Aapne vaada kiya tha" She whispered so softly that only she could hear. She kept repeating it to herself until Aryaman heard her.

"I did but circumstances change Maitri. I thought you'd leave your silly stubbornness after seeing we aren't like your father"

"HE'S NOT MY FATHER!" Maitri looked up from the floor and screamed at Aryaman.

"Aapne vaada kiya tha" She didn't let the dam of tears break and repeated loudly to him.

"Vaada, Vaada...Vaada. Look around yourself Maitri, we all love you so much and you want to leave all this behind for your single dream? You want to leave mum and dad who treat you like Aarchi, you want to leave Aviraj who shows you off infront of the world with pride and arrogance. You want to leave Aarchi who loves me probably even more than me. You want to leave all of them behind so you can open your own office in a different country" Aryaman held her by her shoulder tightly until his fingerprints imprinted on her skin.

"Y...Yo...You...You..pr..pro...promised" She pushed him away from her and started packing her bags, taking her necessary things as Aryaman looked at her angrily.

"I will not come to pacify you if you leave this house" He sat on the bed and said seeing her hurriedly pack everything. She stopped packing and looked at him.

"You lied to me" She continued packing her bags and walked out of the room to see the whole family standing outside looking at her worriedly.

"Don't leave bhabhi, please" Aarchi tried pulling Maitri's bags away from her but Maitri didn't let them go.

"Please let me go. I'll say things I don't mean to him" She looked up at Rishav and Kaira with tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Where will you go? Your mum's house?" Kaira asked knowing that at times you need solidity to hold yourself from doing things you'll regret later.

"Hotel" Maitri wiped her tears and said.

"Take my driver he'll drop you at a good place. Stay there as much as you want and use anything you want" Kaira looked at Rishav and signaled him to ask a driver to drop Maitri at Kaira's old apartment which she hadn't let anyone sell it even after all these years of marriage. Maitri nodded her head and walked out of the palace with a heavy heart and turned around to see Aryaman who looked at her from the balcony with anger.

She looked at Aryaman pleadingly, but he turned away his face from her breaking her heart. Maitri sat in the car and let the driver drive her. Rishav knew that it was time to talk to his son about what and why he took such a decision that broke Maitri's trust and love.