Omkara couldn't sleep while Rudra was fast asleep beside him. He couldn't stop thinking about Gauri. He decided to go out for a night walk. Perhaps it helped to clear his mind.

He glanced at his phone. He had a message from his sister, Priyanka. It read — Mom and I are okay. Don't worry about us.

Omkara let out a sigh and got off the bed. He wasn't even going to come for this wedding. He was planning to stay back. His mother's alcoholism had got worse in the past year. The family was trying to keep her off it. But her withdrawal symptoms were even worse. Omkara felt helpless, he wanted to help his mother out of the misery but no one knew better than him that in matter such as that, it was only self help that ultimately worked. 

In minutes, he was downstairs in the lawn. The night was cool not as hot as the daytime. He walked around trying to clear his head. He leaned on the parapet wall, looking down. The fort was beautifully maintained. Omkara loved old places, like forts, museums and palaces. There were so many stories that the walls housed.

He squinted his eyes as his eyes caught a figure on the steps of a little irl. On looking carefully he realized it wasn't a little girl but a tiny woman. His lips curled up. He stood motionless, admiring her. He didn't want to admit that he felt all warm and his heartbeat picked up pace when he saw her. He felt bad for her. She didn't deserve to be forsaken. She deserved all the love in the world. 

He quietly began making his way to her.

"Hey!" He greeted sitting beside her onto he narrow step.

Gauri's eyes widened a little. 

Omkara smiled noticing the last bit of ice cream cone in her hand. She quickly popped it into her mouth and looked away, wiping her hands on a tissue.

"Hey!" He repeated a little louder.

"I am not deaf," she mumbled, not sparing him as much as a proper glance.

"Hmm, got it. You're ignoring me. Fair enough, I guess."

Silence fell. Omkara looked down at the gardens visible from the top. After a long pause Omkara spoke up, "Isn't it weird... I mean after what... fifteen months? We meet like this. Until two days back I wasn't even going to come here for this wedding... until my brothers forced me to. Maybe it's all written in fate after all."

"I think people make choices and conveniently blame it on fate." Gauri muttered. Slowly turning to glance at him. "There's always a choice."

"So, you running into me on that Friday night was your choice?"

Gauri had no answer to that. She gazed at him tongue-tied while a winning smile formed on his face. 

"But I did choose to cut you off. That's on me." Omkara confessed. Somehow, oddly, he found it easy to confide in Gauri. It was a first with Gauri, and it scared him. 

"It is." Gauri sighed. "I should get going."

"Gauri, Daadi passed away two months after the operation."

Gauri who was about to get up, turned to him, stunned. He met her eyes. "I know that's a crappy reason... but it is what it is. I wasn't in a good headspace."

Gauri felt terrible in that moment. "I am sorry,"

"Yeah, I think we should call it a night." Omkara spoke, truth avoid her eyes, that had sympathy for him.

Gauir held his hand. "You can talk to me about it."

Omkara's eyes fixated on her small hand. Her glowing nail color. He couldn't do this to himself. Attachment to a person came with heartbreak no matter what. He couldn't bare to have his heart an dsould crushed again. "I thought we were strangers." He mumbled, forcing a short chuckle.

"Well, it's easier to confide in strangers."

Omkara finally looked up to meet her eyes. "Is that your experience speaking?"

Gauri smiled, then bit her over lip, before speaking, "Yeah. I met a stranger who was really nice to me, even though it was short lived."

Their gazes met. Omkara felt tiy again, that spark. The same electric spark he had felt a couple of times before. His gaze lowered to her lips. He inched his face closer to hers. It was so tempting — her aura, her vibe, and of course that pair of luscious lips. 

"Omkie," Gauri muttered with a nervous smile. Almost immediately, Omkara eased his face away from hers. What was he even thinking!

For a minute Gauri thought, he'd kiss her. But obviously it was stupid. But it had her heart race. The thought made her uncomfortable. Was he really going to kiss her? She would have probably known the answer to that if she hadn't freaked out. 

"I... we should go sleep. I mean.. head back to our ... respective rooms. I am sleepy. We'll talk tomorrow. Good Night!" With that Gauri got up and quickly went up the two steps, and towards the glass door.

Omkara exhaled heavily, turning ahead. What was wrong with him! He hated himself for being so weak. Just a little sympathy rom someone and he was willing to melt. Not someone, Gauri. His mind whispered. He looked away trying to ignore that voice in his head. 

* * *

Gauri lay on the comfortable cool bed nestled under soft sheets. She couldn't erase the look on his face. She had always liked Omkara very much, he was a nice man. But now she was confused. Those questions came rushing back. Why did he kiss her on the forehead before leaving? Was that like a friend or something more? Why did he sketch her eyes? Was she someone more special than a friend to him? Maybe she was just jumping the gun and reading way too much between the lines. 

She sighed and closed her eyes. She was over complicating things in a simple friendship and she should stop before she messed up things.

* * *

Gauri had decided to head to the in-house spa for a body massage and steam bath. She was on her way in while texting her father that she wasn't in her room but down at the spa when she collided with someone with a tough muscle.

She caught tight her phone and stepped back immediately. "Sorry," she mumbled, her gaze moving up to catch the man's face.

"Tarun!" She smiled recognizing him immediately.

"Hey, Gauri! Hi. I am so sorry, I wasn't looking." He said with a smile.

Gauris smiled, "I wasn't looking either. When did you come?"

Tarun smiled. Gauri had to admit that he was a charming man. She definitely had something for blue and grey eyes. He had grayish eyes, that contrasted well with his jet dark hair. "I reached here last night. The long flight, then the drive here had me extremely exhausted. So I decided to make pamper myself a little bit." He grinned, running his gaze over the place. "They have an amazing ambience!"

"Can't agree more." Gauri smiled.

He flashed his handsome smile, but his gaze moved over her shoulder. She heard someone call his name. She turned to find three men walking towards them. One of them had her full blown attention — Omkara. He was busy staring at his phone screen to notice her. When he didn't look up, his gaze stuck to her.

Gauri watched on as Tarun hugged the man who had greeted him. The other man's blue eyes met hers. He flashed her a formal smile.

"So good to see you Tarun!" The third man exclaimed, throwing his muscular arm around the Tarun. 

"Rudra, good to see you too, man!" Tarun remarked.

"Om, gosh, look at that hair."

Omkara smiled, hugging him back, "you're all set to give Rudra a competition huh?" He patted his arms.

"Competing with Ru is a distant dream," He chuckled.

Omkara's gaze drifted back to Gauri. Tarun caught that and looked at Gauri. "Oh Gauri, meet my cousins, Om, Shivaay and Rudra."

"Guys, this is my friend Gauri."

Gauri caught the gazes of the other two men drift to Omkara. In that moment, she knew that Omkara had told them about her. She wondered what exactly had he told them. 

"Nice to meet you, Gauri!" Omkara extended his hand for a shake.

"Likewise," Gauri mumbled. 

"When did you come?" Omkara spoke up, distracting Tarun. 

"Yesterday night. Ruhaani would kill me if I didn't reach by yesterday. Oh and guys, she was talking about wanting a performance from us for the Sangeet today evening. Please tell me you guys have something ready."

"We have Bhaiya on our team what else do we need. Don't worry we have come prepared. Team Oberoi is going to shine."

Tarun grinned. "Oh, oh, we have Team Groom spying on us, already." He glanced at Gauri with a teasing smile.

"Team Verma is no less!" Gauri smiled. "I will see you... all later." She muttered her gaze meeting Omkara's. 

"Bye!" Tarun chuckled, waving at her.

Once Shivaay was sure Gauri was out he turned to Tarun curiously. "How do you know her?"

"She's Rajeev Prakash Verma's daughter. Dad introduced me to her. You know the arranged marriage thing." 

Omkara's eyes widened a little bit. Tarun and Gauri, that was a shocker. Shivaay turned to glance at him, while Rudra exclaimed, "You're settling for an arranged marriage? Come on man, we are Oberois we have love stories!"

Tarun grinned. "Well, it's not like we're engaged or something. I have met her a couple of times... casually. She's nice, mom also likes her. Dad thinks it's a wonderful chance to collaborate with Vermas."

"So you're going to marry her?" Shivaay asked, momentarily glancing at Omkara who seemed to be lost in his thoughts."

"I don't know, yet. I mean, we haven't spoken about it. But our parents have. In fact Dad wants to finalize things here."

"Oh, so we are going to have another wedding in the family!" Rudra grinned, throwing his arm around Tarun with a smile. Shivaay rolled his eyes. Rudra didn't seem to catch Omkara's odd lost look. Shivaay gazed at Omkara carefully, wondering if it was just friendship what he had for Gauri.

Omkara found it hard to digest. It would be odd to look at Gauri like his cousin's wife. That mere picture brought bile to his mouth. Would Gauri say yes to this marriage proposal? Last time her dad fixed her wedding with a man she ran away. At least that's what she told him. But this time around, she seemed to like Tarun. There was no reason not to, Tarun was an eligible bachelor with the Oberoi name and everything else that a woman would want in a man.

He was glad when Tarun left for his room and they headed to the pool. He needed a distraction. 

"You okay?" Shivaay asked softly.

"Yeah!" He mumbled, not bothering to meet his eyes.

"Good, I think that it's almksta  done deal." Shivaay smirked.

Omkara looked up at him, "what?"

"Marriage deal." Shivaay shrugged. "Rajeev Verma is a powerful relator in East USA. And Sujeet uncle is looking to expand his business in the States. The marriage is definitely happening."

Omkara looked displeased. "What are you— Google of the business world?"

"Well, not really. But I obviously knew about this because, you remember, the girl Bade Papa wanted you to see about the time when you broke up with Riddhima?"

"Yeah," Omkara said confused.

"Well, she was Rajeev Prakash Verma, aka RPV's daughter. Turns out that's Gauri."

Omkara felt as though the world around him blurred out. His father wanted him to marry Gauri — and he rejected it. That was big! 

The day had started on a pretty heavy note. He had way too much information than he could digest. 

Looking forward to reading your thoughts!

Seems like Omkara and Gauri's lives are entangled in more than one ways.

Oh, and, there was a error in numbering the chapters so rectified that.

-Anami!♡