Mumbai International Airport, at the arrivals terminal.
A beautiful girl who looks like a modern-day fairy with long hairs and beautiful face came out of the gate and moved toward the luggage pick up making many heads turn toward her. She is wearing a half sleeved, knee-length floral patterned cotton frock which fits perfectly on her body and her matching heels are mid-size making her height around 5'11". Her disposition and body language are full of pride and arrogance which looks so natural to her.
She has the qualities to support those claims. She is a management post graduate of outstanding record from a top management college of the country. Arushi is known as a perfect example of beauty with brains. Her friends and families everyone is proud of her making her even prouder.
Arushi has just arrived from her London visit. Her fiancee's family has asked her about her aspirations and knowing that she has an interest in IT, they could not be happier because her fiancee's family owns an IT consultancy company. They arranged her for a two-month vocational training of IT management with one of their partner firms in London. Her training has just finished last week and she is back to India today.
She just collected her luggage and her phone rang. She saw the name on the phone screen 'Richa' and smiled before picking up the call and said "Hello!"
Her friend's voice came from another side "Hey beautiful! I was following your flight schedule. I called you just after 30 minutes after your flight landed. Tell me, I am first to catch you, right?"
Arushi laughed and dragged her luggage toward a nearby sitting bench and sat on it and then said on phone "Yes, yes. You are the first to call after I came back."
"Hehe. I have something to tell you. Do you have time now or should I call you after you reach hotel?" Her friend Richa laughed and said from the other side.
Arushi suddenly felt interested and asked "I have enough time. It is only 4 PM now. So, I can call a taxi after some time but you tell me juicy details first. Haha."
"Did you know that Akash got married?" Her friend asked from the other side.
Arushi exclaimed "Really? How did I not know? How could you hide such a thing from me?" Her face is filled with disbelief and surprise.
That outstanding boy who is the reason for her greatest shame suddenly got married. She thought he will not be married so soon. Arushi is a proud girl and she thinks that being rejected by Akash is a stain on her life. She wished that it would be great if no one knew about that but her friends knew. She told her friends on the same day when she got rejected because she was angry and annoyed and needed to vent it out. She even wished that she did not propose to him. It was her mistake to propose to such a backward thinker.
Her friend's voice came from the other side "Right? Even I got surprised when I saw the news. I got to know this from my friend Ritu who is a distant relative of Kripa. Kripa is one of close friend's of Akash and he also attended the marriage."
Arushi could not understand why she suddenly felt angry again on Akash and felt like she got a new enemy in the girl she did not even know. She calmed herself and then asked "Why did that friend Ritu of yours decide to tell you about the marriage of some friend of her distant relative? Doesn't it feel so coincidental?"
"Too coincidental, right? Ritu went to visit the family of Kripa and there he showed them the marriage video of Akash. He wanted to show how marriage happens in a village. Ritu was telling me how interesting the customs are. That is all. But who knew it was the marriage of Akash. Hehe." Her friend Rich laughed and said.
"So, marriage happened in a village. Is the girl from some village?" Arushi contemplated for a few seconds and then asked curiously.
Richa said "Yes. I also found her photo when I searched on the net. They organized a reception a few weeks back and it was on some newspapers. His marriage was decided by his grandparents and was in some village in MP."
Suddenly Arushi felt a bit better thinking that he did not get a girl of higher status and education than her. But suddenly she felt frustrated and annoyed again thinking that a girl from the village won over her and that too without even trying. The stain of her life blackened even more due to a peasant girl.
"Hey! Are you there?" Her friend's voice came from the other side.
Arushi came out of her thoughts and said "Yes, I am here. Some other call is coming." Her mood is spoiled and she lied.
Her friend said "It must be senior Aditya. He asked me when you were coming and I told him. He said he will pick you up."
Arushi felt like a headache coming. Her fiancee Aditya sticks to her like a glue and it feels like an overdose of love to her sometime. He even visited London two times in the last two months to meet her. He lives in Mumbai and visits her in Pune on every weekend. He sends her gifts and flowers more than once every week. Her family and friends always say how lucky she is to have found such a loving fiancee.
Of course, she likes him and likes to listen to it when others praise him. But sometimes she wishes to have some space for herself when she is still unmarried. She did not tell him her flight schedule because she wished to stay in Mumbai for the night and then return to Pune the next day. They are already meeting in Pune next weekend but who knew her best friend betrayed her.
She suddenly felt more frustrated. She can not convince her family and friends that she does not want to be taken care of in such a way. She sighed and said "Yes. It is him calling. I will call you later." And then she cut the call. She put back the phone in purse and stood up and started dragging her luggage toward the exit. Bags are not too heavy and have rollers attached to them, so it is not difficult for her to handle them.
When she exited from the gate, she is praying that he will not spot her and she could catch a cab without being noticed. She walked fast her head lowered toward the taxi stand. But her prayers are not answered and she knew it when she heard him calling "Arushi! This way. I am here."
She stopped. There is no use trying to sneak away now. She raised her head and saw him waving at her from few meters away from her right. She smiled at him and started walking toward him.
Aditya is one year senior from Arushi. He is known as a smart and handsome guy of a rich family. He passed his management post-graduate studies from the same college where Arushi studied. He was in the second year when Arushi joined the college and he heard from his friends about her beauty and smartness. He was attracted to her the moment he saw her for the first time. He participated in events and went to the library many times just to have a talk with her and finally, his efforts paid off. She accepted the engagement when his family visited hers for matchmaking.
Later he came to know that he is not the first love of Arushi. Arushi liked some guy Akash who studied in the same class and Arushi even proposed to him. But he feels happy that guy rejected Arushi because his study was his priority. Aditya felt infatuated with many girls before but Arushi is his first love. Even if she was the girlfriend of someone, he might have tried to break them apart.
But still, Aditya did not like the fact that his girl got rejected before. This rejection was a chance for him but also an insult. How could he be the second person his fiancee have liked? It felt like he got his girl as a charity from another guy. Unknowingly he has placed Akash as his enemy.
He heard from her friends that Akash got married to some village girl. He thought that it served him right to be the husband of a peasant for rejecting his girl.
Aditya looked at the beautiful girl smiling at him and felt proud of himself. Aditya looked toward the girl who is his fiancee and most beautiful girl in his life and felt infatuated by her smile. He smiled back at her and walked with long strides and reached her and took the luggage from her hand. Arushi looked at him smiling and walked beside him toward the car.
Unknowingly Akash and Varsha both have received unsolicited rivalry due to the reasons anyone would find hard to believe.