Everyday Siya was dragging Taani on a shopping spree, most of the time Divya would meet them there as well along with Yuvraj, so that they could coordinate their outfits according to the occasion. Divya and Siya left them to shop for some things while Taani looked for her outfits. Since their social standing was so strong they had to have a magnificent royal wedding and despite her hesitation to get married, Taani was excited to shop for different outfits. 'I am only getting married once, why not go all out for it?' She thought, as she looked at different outfits for her haldi. Yuvraj noticed Taani changing outfits after outfits rejecting everything, nothing was to her liking. 'Of course she would create a fuss about clothes like every other stuck up girl out there, why does she even pretend to be sweet and simple?' He thought as he looked at her with slight distaste.

"Iske baad saare lehenga thode mehenge hain." (𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒇𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚.) Said the salesman, after showing a few pieces. Yuvi glared at him and said. "Maine koi budget diya tumhe? Use pasand aana chahiye bas! Jo sabse mehanga ho wo bhi dikhao use!" (𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝑰 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒃𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒕? 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍! 𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍!) Salesman hurried out of there in a frenzy to get the required outfits.

"How's this one?" Taani excitedly asked as she showed him a yellow coloured saree. She kept showing him different clothes asking which one he liked, but it seemed to bother Yuvi as he didn't want to appear nice in front of her, so he just gave it a once over before disinterestedly saying he doesn't know. Taani got a little upset seeing that he was not interested in it at all, no matter how much she tried to include him, in fact he was even looking slightly pissed off by it so she decided not to ask him from now on.

'Khadoos Singhania!' She thought in her mind.

After some time Yuvi noticed that she was not bothering him anymore, asking the workers about their opinions instead and he didn't like that either. He was actually enjoying it when she was trying on different outfits for him. 'What the hell is wrong with you Yuvi? You don't like when she bothers you, and you don't like it when she doesn't either. Just make up your god damned mind!' He scolded himself in his mind. He then roamed around the shop for a while before picking up a yellow coloured net lehenga and showed it to her.

"What?" She pointedly asked him.

"This looks nice" He said trying to hand it to her but she didn't take it.

She rolled her eyes before saying "You wear it then, what's it to me?" She tried to appear nonchalant but actually loved the lehenga and wanted to buy it too. Yuvi frowned at her tone but then noticed how her eyes literally sparkled when she looked at the lehenga. He then got an idea.

"Oh so you don't like it then? It's alright, there was this lady who wanted this as well, I'll just go and give it to her, she would be so happy." He gave a slight smirk when she frowned up at him.

"Of course you care about making everyone happy but your wife!" With that she snatched the lehenga out of his hands and gave it to a salesman ordering him to pack it for her. He felt proud of himself that she chose the outfit he picked for her.

"Ab daant dikhana band karo aur shaadi ka joda khareedne mai help karo humari." (𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆.) She said walking out of there.

"Jo hukum rani sahiba!" (𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒂𝒚, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔.) He said following behind her. Taani tried not to smile at the way he kept giving these cute nicknames to her.

"I know a well known shop, I'm sure you will get your wedding dress over there." He picked up the shopping bags in one hand and held her hand with the other while they were crossing the road. Taani kept glancing at his grip on her hands, how his veins were showing and how it would look wrapped around her throat... 'What the f*ck Taani? Focus!' Her face burned red when she remembered the charity banquet and how he had done the exact same thing.

He glanced at her blushing face, when she was looking at his hand and smirked at her knowing she was thinking about the charity banquet. She bumped into him as he stopped near the car. "Oo mohtarma, apne khayalo se bahar aao aur road pe dhyan do!" (𝑶𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒂𝒎, 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒅!) He said flicking her on her forehead then turned around to keep the bags in the trunk. Taani stuck her tongue out at him and went ahead to sit in the passenger seat.

Divya called Yuvi and told him that she wasn't feeling too well and was going home. Yuvi offered to come along but she refused saying Siya will drop her and ordered him to drop Taani instead. It became clear to him what they both were trying to do.

"Maa ghar chali gayi hain unki tabiyat theek nahi hai, Siya maa unhe drop kar dengi. Wedding dress choose kar lo fir mai tumhe bhi ghar drop kar dunga." (𝑴𝒐𝒎 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝑺𝒊𝒚𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑 𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑪𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍.) Yuvi informed Taani and instead of figuring out that their mothers were trying to give them privacy, she started to worry about Divya.

"Sab theek to hai na? Achanak kya ho gaya unhe? Hume bhi chalna chahiye unke saath." (𝑰𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕? 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏? 𝑾𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.) She said getting worried about Divya, making Yuvi roll his eyes. 'Is she seriously so dumb?' but didn't bother saying anything to her.

"Bahu rani, sab theek hai, zada chinta karne ki zarurat nahi hai." (𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓-𝒊𝒏-𝒍𝒂𝒘, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈'𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕.) Taani's face flamed red at his taunt, she pursed her lips and didn't bother saying anything else to him the entire way. While Yuvi couldn't stop smiling and kept glancing at her.

They reached the shop and Taani looked at the dresses with half a mind as she was no longer interested in shopping. Suddenly the owner entered, who was actually a very pretty woman and apparently knew her soon to be husband quite well.

"Yuvi! My God! Where have you been? I haven't seen you since so long." She literally threw herself at him and gave a kiss on his cheek, totally ignoring Taani who was standing right beside him. Yuvi returned her hug which soured her mood even more.

'Hypocritical bastard!' She thought while glaring at him. She wanted to break her hands and his as well. Yuvi seemed to notice Taani's mood and smirked when she narrowed her eyes at him. He was enjoying this a bit too much.

"I'm good Tamanna, I'm actually here for wedding outfits." Stepping away from that bitch.

"Oh? Whose wedding? Her's?" She said, finally acknowledging Taani at last.

Taani just rolled her eyes at her cunningness. "Chalo dikha to sahi tumhe ki koi aur bhi hai saath mai..." (𝑨𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎...) She said looking at her with a sweet smile.

Yuvi cleared his throat before replying. "Yes hers...and mine." Tamanna's eyes widened comically and this time Taani was the one smirking at her expression.

"You're getting married? But didn't you break up with me because you said you weren't ready to get married yet?" Yuvi rolled his eyes knowing he only said that to get rid of her. Taani raised her eyebrows at that. 'So she's the ex, great!'

"Who is she anyways? She doesn't even look like she comes from a well off family. No offence to you sweetheart." Tamanna said as she looked at Taani with a fake smile.

"Quite bold of a measly boutique owner to say such things." Taani replied as she skimmed her finger lightly on a dress hanging nearby, appearing to be disgusted by the material which wasn't that good anyways. "No wonder this boutique has no customers at all, apparently the owner would do anything but sell clothes, which is the only thing she is actually supposed to do."

Yuvraj's eyes widened at Taani's words, he was just messing around with her, he couldn't believe she would react like this. Now he was feeling like he made a huge mistake bringing her here. Knowing Tamanna though, he shouldn't be too surprised.

"Listen you-" Tamanna started speaking but Taani grabbed hold of the pointed finger towards her and twisted it ruthlessly making Tamanna yelp in pain.

"No sweetheart, you listen to me and listen very well. Tanisha Mittal naam hai mera bhulna mat! And I don't take kindly to being disrespected. I would seriously refrain from doing it again if I were you and clinginess isn't a classy look, there's a way to meet people even if they're your fucking ex. So stay the f*ck away from him from now on." Taani was so furious she didn't even spare a single glance at Yuvi. She walked out of there and luckily saw an auto rickshaw not too far away. She could hear Yuvi running after her, calling her name but she ordered the rickshaw driver to drive instead.

Yuvi came out and saw her getting in an auto. "F*ck!" He shouted clutching his hair in frustration. This escalated way too quickly but he couldn't deny the fact that her possessiveness seriously turned him on. 'I wonder how fierce she would be in bed. No worries, it would be even more fun to tame her. Maybe marrying her won't be so boring after all.' He thought as he got in his car to trail the auto. He was so gone if his mother and grandma got to know about it.

He interjected the auto after sometime and demanded her to get down but she refused.

"You either get down right now or I drag you to the car kicking and screaming, the choice is yours." She looked at him in suspicion, as if wondering if he would really do it or not but as soon as he moved his hands forward to grab her. She shrieked moving to the other side of the auto. "Okay okay fine! God!"

"Madam ye bhaisahab aapko pareshan kar rahe hain kya?" (𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒂𝒎, 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖?)The auto rickshaw driver asked her, looking at Yuvi in disgust. Taani tried very hard not to laugh at Yuvi's furious expressions.

"Ye bhaisahab uske hone wale pati hain, aap zada chinta na karein." (𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕.)

"Pati hain to kya kuch bhi karenge?" (𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅?) Taani kept a hand on her mouth to stop herself from laughing but as soon as Yuvi turned to glare at her, she quickly told the driver that it was alright and she was fine. Yuvi paid the driver and walked behind Taani to make sure she doesn't pull anymore stunts like these.

Taani was smiling as she buckled herself but it soon disappeared as she saw Yuvi sitting beside her. "I'll take you to another boutique."

"What? Want to meet another ex of yours?" She replied sassily.

"Ok I deserve this one. I'm sorry about that. But you'll like this one for sure." Taani didn't bother replying and kept looking outside to avoid looking at him.

They reached the store and this time she actually loved the decor and the dresses. She met the designer as well who offered to make them a custom made outfit which would suit them both.

"I don't have time to customise a new design as well but you can choose from the designs I've already made. The cost would be slightly higher though, maybe around 20 lakhs." The designer said.

"Only use the finest of clothes. Don't worry about the cost, in fact add another 10% as a tip." Yuvi replied making Taani's eyes wide with shock. The designer seemed pleased by it and gave them the receipt. They were told to pick it up in two weeks.

"Yuvi it's too much!" Whispered Taani as they both walked outside.

"Don't worry about it sweetheart." His nickname for her instantly brought a huge smile on her face. Yuvi looked at her, relieved to see her smile once again. "Hume nahi pata tha aap itni jealous bhi hongi. Humne to suna tha aap bhi is shaadi se khush nahi thi." (𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒋𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔. 𝑰𝒏 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝑰'𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒈𝒆.)

"Jealous hone wali koi baat nahi hai isme, hume bas un jesi ladkiyan bilkul pasand nahi." (𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒋𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕. 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍.) She took a deep breath before continuing. "Aur dikkat hume is shaadi se nahi, shaadi karne se the thi. Par ye sab baatein ek taraf hain, hum kabhi bhi aapko kisi ke saath bhi share nahi karenge ye aap yaad rakhiye." (𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒈𝒆, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕.) Taani made a point to remind him of this while he could do nothing but gape at her. 'Kya cheez hai yaar ye ladki? Yahan mai ise shaadi ke baad sabak sikhane ki soch raha tha, aur ye to apni in adaaon se mujhe hi apne pyar mai fasa rahi hai.' (𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍? 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔, 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓.) He thought in his mind.

He didn't like the way she made him feel, he didn't want to get close to her or have any kind of feelings for her. In his desperation to look unbothered and uncaring towards her, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "Listen Taani, I just want to make one thing very clear to you. I have no feelings for you nor do I think I will ever have. I am only getting married because dadi quite literally forced me to do so. I had no plans of getting married. Of course I'll fulfill my responsibilities as a husband but don't expect anything beyond that from me. I would like us to be friends though, you're a fun person to be around."

Every word out of his mouth felt like a punch to Taani. What did she do to deserve such fate? She agreed to get married when it was the last thing she wanted to do and now her soon to be husband just made it clear to her that he will never have any feelings for her ever. She had decided to give this marriage an honest try and now it was crumbling before it had even begun. She knew it wouldn't be easy for either of them, but she had thought, given enough time they would start to feel something for each other. But he ruthlessly turned down any possibility of anything happening in the future as well. Who could possibly be more unfortunate than her?

She was a hopeless romantic who wanted to fall in love and experience that phase before getting married but sadly it seems all that will just remain wishful thinking now. Even when her heart was breaking, Taani still didn't give him a single expression of any discomfort or sadness, in fact she just looked at him and gave a humourless laugh. Yuvraj looked at her in suspicion, he had thought she would be upset by his revelation but she didn't even seem bothered by it. In all honesty, it bothered him a little bit but who was he to complain? Isn't this what he wanted?

"Can I expect loyalty from you?" His eyes widened at her sudden question. Taani forced herself to remain cheerful in front of him, wanting to appear like her heart wasn't breaking in two. She didn't want his sympathy. She didn't know what her future had in store for her, all she knew was that she couldn't back out of this marriage no matter what. His hesitation seemed to crush her spirits even more.

"Of course" He said after a while. He didn't even think about cheating on her. He would never do that to anyone.

"I won't expect anything else from you. I will fulfill my responsibilities as a daughter-in-law and your wife with all my heart until I can, just don't break me beyond repair that's all I ask of you." With that, avoiding any eye contact with him, she took the bags and walked out of there without a goodbye or even a look at him.

Taani was on the verge of a breakdown, she knew she couldn't talk to anyone right now and as soon as she entered her room she collapsed against the door, tears falling from her eyes. She took a deep breath which she had been holding since she walked out of his car and cried herself to sleep on the floor that night.

Hey guys, I hope you are loving the story so far. Please show your support by voting and commenting on it.✨

Shukriya❣️

-Your Taani