The Bond of..? (Chapter 28) Part 2

YES! I am alive and healthy!!!!!!!!!!! I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry for the extreme late update? Why you may ask? Well, I have a test almost EVERY SINGLE day or an assingment due. It has been only a month and I already feel that I need a summer vacation like NOW. Yep, that’s how terrible it is. I am constantly studying till like almost midnight making it difficult to write updates. Well, anyways, I am going to end my rant like right here and go on with the story:
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Sana took in a short breath as she walked towards the door with her heart threatening to leap out of her chest, caging it cautiously. Her hands trembled a little as she signed the document with her mind filling with anxiety as an audible gasp left through her mouth as she saw her ‘gift’.

“What is this?” she breathed out lamely as she saw the portrait of her parents standing in front of her with Aarav leaning against it in the side. It was so tall, Sana had to cringe her head to see the complete figure.

“My gift,” Aarav retorted with a chuckle as Sana’s fingers rubbed against the smooth texture of the oil paints.

Her heart tugged her, causing her breath to hitch in her throat as happiness flooded throughout her senses. It was a very small, sweet gesture but it meant to the world to her. She did have pictures all over the house of them but this portrait was out of the world. The fact that Aarav actually got this for her gave birth to all kinds of fuzzy feelings in her body. He could have gotten her jewellery or something expensive, hell he could have just forgotten the entire present thing, but instead he opted for something so personal, something that truly close to her heart. Tears were swimming in her eyes, one blink could make them drop down but instead she closed her eyes, savoring the moment as her face lit into a glowing grin of pure joy.

“Thank you!” she genuinely thanked with a full proof smile on her lips while she saw him grin at her.

“Happy Birthday!” he mumbled as he grabbed her hand, gently leading to him, while his blue eyes presenting an ocean of emotions as he leaned in to give her a sweet, lingering kiss.

“You painted it, didn’t you?” she asked overwhelmed as she remembered the touch of the wet oil paints on her fingers. Being a painter herself, she knew that too many coats of oil paints took a while to dry and gave a thick feel to the fingers.

Aarav let out a hesitant laugh before blurting, “You would love that, wouldn’t you?”

“I know you did and I do. Very much,” she snorted, winking at him while Aarav gave her a bored look.

“I think your birthday has got you to go to your dreamland,” he snickered, shooting her persistent looks of denial but Sana determined in proving him as the painter.

“Just watch how you admit it,” she mumbled before yelling on top of her lungs, “Guys! Come look at my present!”

Within minutes, the entire Sen clan was racing down the stairs like wild animals released from zoo, a rush of excitement buzzing through the air. Sana felt Aarav stiffen as he saw the curious eyes rummaging the painting.

“OMG! Did Aarav get this?” Nisha di exclaimed thrilled as she touched the painting which was clearly exceeding her height.

“Wow, jiju, not bad,” Saanvi complimented with a high five.

“Okay, this is insanely good!” Sid mumbled as he shoved everyone to the side to have a better look.

“Great, now my present seems like an ant infront of this statue,” they heard Arhaan mumble as he walked over to Sana and wished her and giving her a hug.

“Where did you get this painted from?” Arhaan enquired quizzically, shooting Aarav a judgemental look.

“From an experienced painter,”Aarav snapped back, rubbing the bridge of his nose to keep his calm.

“Which company?” Sana further interrogated, seeing that all her cousins and Arhaan made the conversation so much more easier.

“Master Arts,” she heard Aarav blurt out in a gruffy tone.

“I have never heard of this one before,” Sana frowned with bewilderment.

“It is in Paris, maybe that’s why,” Aarav retorted back gravelly, his usual cold demeanor coming back.

“Paris huh?”Sana asked him with a smirk on her face and before Aarav could make a snarky comment, she heard Arhaan yell.

“Oh! Arpi Di is here.”

“She is?” Sana directed her question to Arhaan but kept her pleasant gaze on Aarav, giving him a knowing look and a smirk before heading for the gates.

“Happy Birthday Sana!!” and within seconds, Sana was engulfed into a warm hug by Arpi Di who was vibrating with joy.

“Day to you!” she heard Amay copy his mom, earning an aww from the crowd.

“Aww, thanks my child!” Sana cooed as she took Amay and ruffled his hair, earning a toothy grin from the little boy.

“And thank you to you too,” she thanked Arpi Di who was grinning at her widely.

“Here is your gift but you are only allowed to open it after the party,” she displayed a huge rectangular, wrapped present.

“Deal!”

“Happy Birthday Sana!” she heard Neeraj come and give her a warm hug which she returned cautiously after seeing the daggers Aarav was sending her way.

“Thank you,” she mumbled with Amay bouncing cheerfully in her arms.

“Oh Arpi Di, come and see what Aarav got for me,” Sana chirped as she dragged Arpi Di to Aarav and his painting which he refuses to take the credit for. Sana frowned at his denial, she would even lie to say that painting belonged to her but she didn’t understand why he wouldn’t take the credit.

“Oh wow.”

“How long did you spend painting this?” Arpi Di asked him horrified while Amay was busy exploring Sana’s hair.

“I did not paint this,” Aarav growled in a low, irritated voice with his patience at the lowest level possible. He didn’t understand why Sana put him through all this instead of just believing his words and taking the damn present. Was it that hard to take the presents and get on with the party?

“What? Then how come it is similar to your ocean curves?” Arpi Di questioned with a dull look on her face pointing to the background.

Sana smirked seeing Aarav’s face leech out color before he quickly masked it with his usual poker face and grumpily replied, “I got them to paint it in my style.”

“Them? Who’s that?” Arpi Di reasoned with perplexment evident on her face as to what Aarav was saying.

Sana grinned widely, her eyes dancing with rich pleasure, seeing the discomfort Aarav was going through, “Oh, you know, the usual-”

“Master Arts,” Sana cut Aarav off which made Arpi Di frown while staring at her brother.

“Master what? I never heard of that one before,” she countering raspily, raising her eyebrow and demanding for an explanation.

“Well, apparently it is in Paris,” Sana answered seeing how cat got Aarav’s tongue.

“Paris? But don’t you hate the painting boutiques there because they are too clingy?” Arpi Di scoffed with amusement as to what was wrong with her brother making Sana chuckle hastily.

She knew he painted it and with Arpi Di by her side, she was sure Aarav was going to spill any minute.

“Well, through some contacts, I found this one which did the work perfectly,”Aarav smoothly responded, throwing his hands in his pockets as he gave Sana the most blackest glare.

“Did you give them training?”Sana asked him as she saw the painting once more.

“What?”

“How come they painted exactly like you did? I didn’t see you travel to Paris any time soon.”

“Sana, they are professional painters. They just need to see the curve the they can pick it up.”

“I need the artist’s number.”

“Why?”

“I need to thank them for such an outstanding painting. I mean, they deserve more than that but I’ll send that later.”

“I can do that for you.”

“To make me look shy? Or even worse arrogant? No thanks, I can do that myself if you toss me the number.”

“He is on a break after painting all this, I’ll send you the number once he is back.”

“I’ll just send him a message.”

“Why don’t you quit all this for now and enjoy your day,” Aarav snapped brutally as he grabbed her shoulders, shaking her a little to knock some sense into her.

Amay clapped his hands with a thud at the movement to which Sana smirked as she leaned closer whispering,“I got my answer.”

A warm feeling of delight washed over her as she saw Aarav shake his head in denial while the smirk plastered on her face continue to grow. He avoided the question so much that it was beginning to be extremely clear that he was behind the painting.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“For me?” Sana bluntly questioned as she saw her cousins stand there grinning mysteriously around her. Sana cut her triple layered cake which was, as usual, in the shape of a popcorn box. After talking and chatting away the entire night, her last friends just walked out of the door when her cousins came to her to give her a wrapped box.

“Yes!” they all sang in chorus which made Sana mentally freak out.

She saw one of the staff walk through the room to grab the remaining cake while Sana called out, “Sophie, can you open this for me?”

“What are you doing?” Saanvi hissed at her with a horrified expression, signaling Sophie to leave the room.

“You are all grinning widely at me,” Sana pointed out the obvious making everyone groan at her observations.

“So? Is it a crime to grin on your sister’s birthday,” Sanay snickered sarcastically as he plopped next to her on the couch.

“If you wanted all the spotlight you should have just asked,” Sid mockingly retorted as he shoved the box in her hand.

“No, you idiot, there is something fishy here and I can smell it,” Sana declared with her nose held high.

“Must be the fish food for dinner,” Sia sarcastically commented while Sid literally put the box infront of her eyes.

“I know you all too well. I am not going to open this by myself,” Sana said with determination as she pushed the gift off her face, her eyes bulging when Sid tried to stick it to her face.

“Even if there is something, we don’t want somebody else to face the trouble, now do we?” Saman bro countered, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Why would you want to torture me?”

“Just open the gift Sana,” Nisha di ordered in a disgruntled tone as Sana cursed all them under her breath before wrapping open the gift.

“I don’t need it, I already got the popcorn gift card for this year, I don’t need anymore presents,”Sana tried to reason as she fished through the layers of the gift. Did they get her like a chocolate wrapped in so many different layers of gift wrap?

“This is something even better.”

“This is the last time I am going to open your gift.”

“Open it already.”

Sana muttered more profanities under her breath before staring at the paper before her while shrieking,“What is this?”

“A honeymoon package.”

“A what?”

“You guys never got to go on your honeymoon.”

“Thanks, I guess,” There were hardly any days left. Just a few more weeks and this entire relation will be broken for forever and her cousins wanted her to for a honeymoon? What joy!

“Maybe it you show a little more excitement, it might actually prove your non existent point,”

Sana let a tight smile flow through her lips as she glanced at the gift with a wild aching pass through her heart. Just three weeks and this is all going to come down crashing.

“Sana! Come see your present,” she heard Arpi Di exclaim from the other end of the room. Sana, placed the tickets in Saanvi’s hands, muttering her to keep them safe before making her way to the grinning Arpi Di.

“Yes? Where is it?” she asked with genuine excitement, silently hoping that they didn’t get anything associated with Aarav.

Arpi Di turned around with a brown rectangular board facing her as she said, “Here you go,”

“No WAY! No freaking WAY!” Sana yelped and gasped as the painting came in view. It was the same painting that Sana wanted in the gallery a few months ago but the artist refused to sell it.

“Do you like it?”

“This is the best present ever!” Sana jumped, screaming on top of her lungs as she ran a hand through the painting.

“Neeraj got it exclusively for you.”

“Really? Thank you so much!” Sana cooed as she gave Neeraj another hug.

“It was worth seeing your happiness,” he chuckled at her grinning widely at the painting.

“Oh you have no idea. Ever since I saw it, I was hell bent to get this painting in every way I could but none of my tricks worked as the artist wasn’t ready to sell the painting,”she ranted on as her eyes flew to the corner of the room to make sure it was the same painting. She saw the name Noah Jones printed there in that weird slant she saw the other day. Yep, it was the same.

“Aarav, come look!” she squealed as she saw Aarav walk into the room, typing away on his phone.

“Look what they got for me!” she screeched as she tossed the painting into his face.

“It can’t be,” he trailed out, visibly shocked at the painting. His brows furrowed as his eyes washed through the painting.

“That’s what I thought too. I mean, I have no idea how you got this but this is more than I could ask for,” Sana thanked Neeraj once again.

“Don’t worry dear. It wasn’t a lot,” Arpi Di brushed it off while Aarav was still examining the painting stiffly.

“How did you get the painting? We tried to convince them so much and even offered thrice the usual amount,”Aarav questioned, coming back out of his trance.

“I pulled a few strings and cracked the deal,” Neeraj replied in a stern voice, completely different from the one before.

“Do you know the artist?” Aarav searched frantically for answers.

“You have to tell me who is amazing person is, I need to talk to this guy,” Sana howled from behind as she gawked the painting.

“I personally don’t know him but a good friend of mine does, he convinced him to sell the painting to us.”

“Who’s this friend of yours?”

“Well whoever it was, send him thanks from me,” Sana came back at another random time.

“Why did you get her this painting?”

“Aarav?” Sana and Arpi Di said in unison at his bluntly rude behaviour.

“I mean like how did you know she wanted this painting?”

“Lucky guess and who can’t like something so stunning.”
“I completely agree,” Sana whispered as she placed a hand over Aarav’s arm, preventing him from his further questionnaire.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“You still think Neeraj cannot possibly buy this painting right?” Sana mumbled moving a little in Aarav’s arms.

“We couldn’t buy it and we offered thrice the usual amount, how can he?” she heard him mutter as he borrowed his head in her neck, gently moving her hair to the side with his nose.

Sana shivered as the winter breeze hit her bare arms as she continued to glance at the rising moon, trying hard to ignore Aarav’s breath on her neck. After they had come back from the Sen mansion with Sana’s paintings, Sana decided to finish the day with a pleasant sight but was surprised when Aarav joined her from behind.

“He must a good friend willing to help him out,” Sana countered as she felt Aarav’s hold on her waist tighten, prevent her from moving.

“You actually believe his story?”

“There is no reason why I can’t.”

“Well, there are many why I can.”

“Okay, stalker.”

“What?” Sana asked, suddenly self conscious as to the way Aarav was glancing at her with a darkened blue eyes, not of anger but something else she couldn’t pinpoint.

“That is what you called me the day we got married, remember?” he breathed out huskily in her ear to which she nodded.

“Yeah,” Sana trailed out, choking a little on the mention of the contract.

“Why were you there anyways?”

“I needed to the Sen mansion back, it was under Roy’s name till then due to some issues.”

“I see.”

“Aarav?”

“Yeah.”

“What happens if two people not meant to fall in love, fall in love?”

“They express it and live happily ever after?”

“Is it that easy?”

“It depends of the couple, if the both are open and are strongly aware of their feeling, then yes. If there are other strings attached to the bond then it might not be,”

“What if they have deadline?”

“If they cannot express it and they have a deadline, they will have to separate,” Aarav confirmed in a tight voice as he saw her nod her head stiffly before heading back inside with the expression of hurt evident on her face.

He knew what she was trying to tell him but he was too stubborn to accept it. He knew where the topic was going and he had to stop that before it got them to a dead end. He didn’t have the courage to face the truth and he knew he would suffer his entire life for his cowardice.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Are you sure about this?” Aarav asked for the millionth time, unable to digest the news presented to him.

“Yes, sir, you can try it out yourself,” his detective assured him.

“Let me get this straight, you are telling me that Neeraj is selling something but you don’t know what exactly that is?”he drawled out carefully.

“Yes sir, try it,” she insisted, placing her phone in his hands.

“Look, what can he possibly be selling that is earning him millions?” Aarav countered dubiously.

“If you call him, you can find that out, sir,” she let out a huge displeased sigh with his constant bickerings.

“Give me the phone,” he ordered steely as he dialled the familiar number.

“Hello,” he muttered with a fake, deep accent to his voice.

“Noah Jones speaking.”
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How was that? How was Aarav’s present and Neeraj’s? Do you think Sana has officially fallen for Aarav?! Why is Aarav avoiding her?

I miss you all sooooo much!! I have such terrible amount of workload that I can hardly reply to your comments and I know that it is going to get even harder. Uggh! Everyday, I crave for writing updates but trust me, when I say time does not permit, I MEAN IT! I am trying my best to end the story in a month max which is hardly impossible seeing my schedule, but maybe in 6/7 chapters? I wanted to show so much, it is hard to cramp everything but I am trying to not drag it too much.

After that, I will take a long break till my semester finishes and then I have a full proof plan for Saanvi’s story which will be way more different than this! i am super excited for that, what do you guys think?

Enough of me, how are all of you?! Did you all leave? Please come back! I miss talking to you! Do say hi and I PROMISE, I will surely reply! Waiting to hear from you!