Meera's POV:

"Princess, why are you hiding? Come here!" He said to me.

Tears were continuously streaming from my eyes. I was sitting on the ground while hugging my knees.

"Princess! Come here right now! Otherwise!" He ordered and warned sternly.

Due to the fear, I sobbed a little louder.

Suddenly the door burst open and the devil himself entered.

Yes! Devil! The devil of my life!

There was silence for a few seconds before he suddenly came in front of me.

"Told you! You can't hide from me!" He said while gripping my hand tightly.

Harshly he dragged me out.

"Didn't I warn you?" He said innocently.

I was shaking in fear. Sweat and tears were all over my face.

He laughed like an evil person enjoying my current state.

I couldn't believe that he was doing all this to me.

He wasn't like this! Or did I fail to judge him?

I was terrified by his presence. Until now I hadn't uttered a single word.

He stopped laughing. Looking at me, he marched in my direction taking long steps.

I started shifting back just to create some distance.

He looked very angry.

He grabbed my hair and pulled it harshly. I winced due to the pain in my scalp.

Then he slapped me.

"Stop your sobs! Little bitch!" He said, grabbing me by my jaw. He leaned in.

"NO!" I shouted and woke up from my nightmare.

I looked around to ensure myself that I was safe. I was breathing heavily. I rubbed my face. It was covered with all my sweat and tears.

I had again started getting these nightmares from the past few days.

A month has passed since I returned from Rajasthan.

Yes! It had been a month since I was back to my normal life.

But nothing was normal anymore. I mean though I had thought that I would forget about Arjun but I was wrong.

My brain was not at all able to forget Arjun.

I sighed and got up from my bed to freshen up.

After about 30 minutes, I was ready in my casual clothes.

While I was brushing my hair, my eyes fell on my hand making me remember that lady's words.

Flashback:

I was waiting at the Rajasthan airport for my flight call with Puji and Arjun. But now he had gone to bring a cup of coffee.

I didn't want him to come but his one glare was enough to shut me up.

Though I was returning without letting him know about it, to my shock he was already waiting for us while leaning against his car. That's how I ended up with him at the airport.

A lady came and sat beside me. She politely smiled at me which I reciprocated. She kept looking at me. That's when her gaze fell on my hand and she noticed the ring and the mehndi.

"Hey, dear!" She said.

To which I replied with a Hi.

"Are you engaged or married?" She asked.

Before I could answer, Puji suddenly said, "Engaged!"

"After looking at your mehndi color, I must say your husband will love you a lot and will also be very passionate about you!" The woman chirped while giggling.

To my luck, even Arjun came there as the words escaped her mouth.

Unintentionally, I looked at Arjun and saw him already looking at me.

Puji laughed out loud as I became red as a tomato at the comment.

I again looked at Arjun and saw him smirking at me.

Argh!

End Of Flashback.

I was pulled back to reality by my phone's ringing.

I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was an unknown number. It was nothing new for me as I would always get calls from unknown numbers as they were from my patients.

I was about to pick up but the call ended.

I furrowed my brows but let it go.

.

.

.

.

When I reached the hospital, I straight away went to my cabin and started my day as always.

.

.

.

Later in the evening, I was very tired and just wanted to go home as fast as I could.

Today I had 15 patients and 2 deliveries to attend to. They went well but all my energy was drained.

I walked out of the hospital and looked at my watch. It was 6:30 pm.

I didn't call Sahil and Siya today as I didn't want to disturb them during their honeymoon.

Yes! They were on their lovely honeymoon trip to Italy.

I like that place but I love Paris.

From the time I was young I used to think that I would go on my honeymoon with the love of my life and the place I had decided on was Paris for the first one and Italy for the second.

Yes! I would go on honeymoon twice!

But now? I don't think I will even go for one.

Not that I think Arjun would take me but I am not interested in going anywhere with him and I am not going to tell this to him in my entire life.

I sighed and walked towards my car.

I didn't know why but I was feeling weird! Like someone was watching me but then again who would it be?

After every 10 seconds, I was turning to see but was met with a busy road.

As I was about to open the front door of my car when someone kept his hand on my hand stopping my action.

Electricity ran through me. I froze in my place. Someone was standing just behind me. His breath was falling on my neck.

I knew this cologne but he couldn't be here!

How could he be here? He was in Rajasthan!

I was scared! Why is he here?

I gulped but didn't dare to look behind.

The person leaned into my ear and I could feel it.

"Come with me wifey!" He said huskily.

Wifey!

I didn't say anything nor did I move from my place.

"Come!" He again said but this time it seemed like he was ordering me.

As always with my head hung low, I turned.

For a second I collected my courage and looked up to him just to find him looking at me intently.

I immediately lowered my head and for some unknown reason, my face heated up.

I followed him to his car and like a gentleman which he is not, he opened the car door for me.

Without thanking him, I just took the seat. He walked to the driver's seat, settled himself on it, and started driving.

The whole drive was silent.

His face was calm. Whenever he was calm I was scared to death. His calm was very scary even more than his anger.

The whole ride was very silent as nobody spoke a single word. I was looking at my lap playing with my fingers and thinking of every possible reason behind his presence while on the other hand, he was busy driving with his eyes on the road.

This was the longest ride of my life!

After about 30-35 minutes, I was standing at the entrance of my house. The sounds of some people giggling and talking could be heard.

I noticed 4 cars were standing at the front of my house. My neighbors were creepily staring at my house.

4 cars?

Yeah! It's the great Arjun Rajvanshi!

I quickly went in and saw Arjun's mother, grandfather, and uncle sitting on the sofa while talking to my parents.

What were they doing here? That was the first question that came to my mind when I saw them.

They were still to notice my presence as they were busy talking. I hesitated a little but moved towards them to greet everyone. That was when Mumma noticed me.

She came to me and patted my head as always while telling me to go and freshen up as my in-laws were here.

I went to my room and decided to take a relaxing shower. I stripped my clothes and jumped in the shower.

While showering, I was just thinking of the possible reason for their sudden arrival.

All of a sudden a thought occurred in my mind which I was trying hard to avoid.

I remembered Arjun's words when we were in Rajasthan.

'You will be! Soon! Very soon!' He had said this while referring to me about being his wife very soon.

And today he had called me wifey.

And we are engaged.

His family was sitting downstairs along with my family.

Which means they are here for-

Before I could connect all the dots, I was snapped back by the voice of Mumma calling me.

"Meera! Wear the dress that I have kept on your bed!" She said. I replied with a yes.

I walked out of the washroom and saw a black dress placed on my bed. I quickly changed into it.

It was a black colored Anarkali suit with a bit of Zari work. I paired it with my golden heels and left my hair open.

I didn't want to do any makeup so I just applied lipstick and a little moisturizer on my face. I was ready to go downstairs and face all of them.

Taking small baby steps I went downstairs. All the way I was thinking how I would deal with all of them.

The sound of my heels caught everyone's attention.

All the eyes moved to me and I became the center of their attention.

My would-be mother-in-law approached me. I kept my gaze low as I didn't want anyone to make eye contact with me.

"Meera! How are you?" She asked with a genuine smile.

"Fine." I muttered slowly, still keeping my gaze low.

I could sense someone's gaze on me the whole time but not for once did I lift my face.

I took a seat on the nearby sofa and they all started asking me about my day, and my health.

Though I was quite comfortable around the others, because of a particular someone I was starting to get a bit uncomfortable.

After a few minutes, Mumma took me to the kitchen to help her prepare the dining table for dinner. I went along with my mother.

Till now I hadn't said anything to anyone nor I had asked anything.

Though I have a rough sketch in my mind about the reason that they all are here based on their discussion, I didn't wish to think about it or hear this from anyone and break my heart.

I was silent but Mumma was very excited and kept continuously blabbering about how good these people were, how good Arjun was, and how lucky I was!

But I didn't think so!

After 15 minutes, I was done arranging the table. I went to inform everyone that the dinner was ready. All the people nodded at me and came to the table taking a seat.

I took my regular seat and to my surprise, someone whom I didn't want came and sat beside me.

I didn't say anything and just kept my gaze on my plate.

Once everyone was settled, I got up to serve everyone.

I was busy serving everyone while lost in my la la land but was soon welcomed back to reality by Dadaji's voice.

"Meera, I want to ask you something!" He said, looking at me.

I nodded at him, encouraging him to continue.

"I have talked with your family and I don't think that they have any problem with it." He said while looking at Papa and Bhai who had a very sweet smile on their face.

"As long as you don't have any." Bhai added.

Dadaji continued, "I think it's high time for you both to get married as you both have been engaged for a month now."

He paused while on the other hand, I took a deep breath knowing where this discussion was heading.

"We have fixed your marriage date." He said dropping the bomb on my head.

I stopped whatever I was doing and looked at everything in shock.

"I know that it is quite early but I can't do anything as you know that we believe in horoscopes and as per your and Arjun's horoscope the best date for your marriage is after a month." He continued dropping another bomb on me.

I started coughing but soon a glass full of water was connected to my mouth. I gulped a few sips of it and muttered a sorry.

I was shocked by the sudden announcement.

"Are you fine?" A deep voice asked beside me.

It was the voice of someone who was solely responsible for my current state. I wanted to say no I am not fine and that too it's because of you only but I decided to keep my mouth shut.

I just nodded at him.

"So, what do you say Beta?" Papa asked me.

As I didn't say anything, Arjun's Uncle said, "If it is not ok with you then we have another date too."

Hearing this a wave of relief washed over me.

"Yes! It's about 6-7 months from now." Arjun's mother said.

I took a deep breath after hearing this. I could sense Arjun's shoulder getting tense.

Why was he tense?

"Let's have dinner first. We'll talk after it" Dadaji said and everyone agreed.

I shrugged my shoulders and started to serve the dishes to everyone.

As I was about to put rice on Arjun's plate our eyes met and I was able to see something else in his eyes other than anger.

I quickly averted my eyes looking in the other direction and took a big spoon of rice to put on his plate but he covered his plate with his hand and muttered a 'No.'

I kept the rice bowl back.

I took my seat again but my mind was completely on Arjun and unknowingly I pouted at my thoughts.

What type of human is he? He said no to rice! Like for serious?

Hell! I can eat rice for a whole day!

I love to eat rice very much!

Men started talking about their business while the other ladies started talking about their lives.

On the other hand, I was still processing the information I had received. I hadn't said anything. Neither I had accepted the dates nor I had denied them.

I was slowly eating from my plate while thinking but someone whispered in my ear.

"I want to talk to you." Arjun's voice came to my ear along with his breath.

I shivered a little but quickly composed myself and looked at everyone and saw them busy with themselves. I sighed in relief.

Then I remembered that he had said something to me but I chose to ignore it.

"I said that I want to talk to you!" He whispered, yelled. This time gritting his teeth.

"I- I don-don't want t- to." I tried to sound confident but failed miserably.

"Well, I am not asking you! I am telling you." He again whispered near my ear.

Everyone was still not looking at us but I didn't want them to look at us talking ear to ear so I just nodded. Another reason was to not make him angry. I kept thinking about what he wanted to talk about.

After about 10 minutes everyone was done with eating.

Everyone got up and went to the sofa but Arjun was still sitting in his place as he was eating slowly while talking to someone over the phone.

As I was about to get up, Mumma told me to stay and accompany him till he completed his meal.

Urgh!

I sat on my spot again but now I was nervous as hell.

What did he want to talk about?

I was alone with Arjun!

I wanted to cry because I didn't want to be alone with him.

I felt scared!

He was silent and so was I.

He looked at me with his sharp gaze and kept looking. I gulped and started playing with the hem of my dupatta(scarf).

It felt like hours but after a few seconds, he tore his gaze away from me and back to his plate.

"We will get married in a month!" He announced with dominance like it was a normal thing to announce like this.

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at him with shock.

I was thinking about how to push this wedding away but here he was telling me this.

No way!

"No!" I said getting up from the table.

He looked at me and in one second I was standing and in the other second I was pinned to the nearby wall.

My back hit the wall as I was caged in Arjun's arms. He grabbed my arms tightly.

I was sure that this would leave bruises.

Why does this man always like to do this?

I started to wiggle but then he held my chin and forced me to look into his eyes. I timidly looked into his eyes.

His eyes were like a storm! They were so intense that I could get lost in them.

His grip on my arms was so tight that it was causing me so much pain that I couldn't hold back my tears.

A lone tear slipped from my eye. I could see his eyes soften a little bit and his grip also loosened a little bit.

But not that much that I could escape.

"You will say yes to the date which is after a month!" He declared with dominance looking directly into my eyes.

Another tear escaped my eyes.

"Do you get that?" He asked.

"No!" I whispered. Hearing this grip again tightened.

"Don't test my patience, Meera! Do as I say or the consequences will be faced by you" He said and then leaned in to whisper the last words "or by your brother."

I looked at him in disbelief. He moved back while wiping his hand.

"I'll be waiting for you!" He said and walked out.

I wanted to break down!

I wanted to cry!

I wanted to scream!

I wanted to yell!

I wanted to slap his face for ordering me!

I wanted to grab him by his collar and ask him what my fault was!

I wanted to ask him why it was me!

But I couldn't do anything.

I couldn't even cry at my misery.

The only thing that I could do was to follow his order.

And I knew I would be doing it!

After a few seconds, Mumma called me. I wiped my face with my hand and fixed my dress.

I didn't want to break down in front of everyone. Especially in front of him to boost his ego.

I moved towards the direction where everyone was waiting for me.

As I got near them I could hear Arjun's voice.

"I think it would be better if we get married next month because I have a new project coming up and after 3 months we will start working on it. It will take more than 8 months to complete it and between this time interval I'll be very busy." He said smoothly like it was one of his business presentations while looking at Papa for a response.

"If Meera is ok with it then we don't have any problem with this date." Papa said, looking at me.

I wanted to say no but Arjun's voice cut me off.

"I don't think she would have any problem. Umm, right, Meera?" He said the last part like a gentleman who was genuinely asking me about my opinion but I knew better.

I gulped as I was ready to cry my heart out. I just nodded at them.

"Words dear" It was a polite voice but I knew the demon who was the owner of this voice.

"I am ok with it." I tried my best to not stutter while putting on a fake smile.

"Great!" Dadaji said.

"We will get married next month!" Arjun whispered in my ear.

I could sense the sound of victory in his voice.

Now I had agreed to go to hell willingly!

To Be Continued...