Neil stood at the window and looked out through the chiffon curtains. "It's madness down there."
Shruti frowned. "Are you sure we did the right thing by telling?"
"Yes," Arjun assured her, pulling her feet to his lap. "It will die down when the next storm hits."
"Jay Bhanushali got married and didn't tell," Arohi pointed out. "When it came out, people cared for a week and then moved on."
"He was married for months without telling anyone!" Shruti cried. "We've been married for four years!"
"Someone should write a book on you two," Arohi smirked. "Plus, we'd be major players because we've all done a lot to keep the secret."
Arjun rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Arohi."
"You do have to venture out shortly," Neil explained. "You perform in five hours."
"I'm aware," Arjun nodded. "It will be fine. I'll have my wife holding my hand the whole time."
Shruti smiled. "I look forward to it. I mean, not the hoopla we'll walk into, but just that we can finally do it together."
Arjun leaned over to kiss her. "I love you."
"Me, too," she breathed against his lips.
"Ugh, enough of that," Arohi grumbled. "You guys need to get moving. Arjun, you need to shower and Shruti, I need you to help me round everyone up. No one has seen Shivam in a while."
Shruti sighed and stood up. "I'll go find him, 'cause Shivam doesn't think like a normal person, but isn't this Yogita's job?"
"Can you just fire Yogita?", an angry Shanaya stormed into the room."I was thinking of firing her because of her incompetent nature towards her work," Arohi shrugged at her sister-in-law.
"What happened, what did she do?"
"She's pretty worthless and spends all her time eyeing my husband."
"Oh?" Shruti mused. "So you hate having a young idiot fawning all over your husband? Bappa, I wonder what that's like. Oh, no, I don't because your last assistant was way worse than my husband!"
Shanaya chuckled. "Waheguru ji, how could I forget Malishka."
"I have, but now you know how I feel," Arohi shrugged. She groaned. "Ugh, now I'm thinking about Anushka."
"She emailed me last week, asking for a reference," Arohi admitted. "She's trying to work for SANAM."
"Don't write it," Shruti shook her head. "They're all bachelors. She can't go in there and ruin lives."
"O Teri," Arohi smirked. "Arjun is a complicated guy, and Anushka studied psychology in college, so she was attracted to his broodiness."
"Please!" Shruti cried. "She threw herself at him a minute after meeting him. She'll do that with four rock stars in one band. Ew, remember when she dressed like Red Riding Hood for Halloween because she overheard Shivam saying Arjun was going to be a wolf?"
"And you guys didn't even dress up at all," Arohi remembered fondly. "So she looked like an idiot at that party at the Mariott while you two were all cuddled up with candy corn and The Shining."
Shruti smiled, remembering their night in. "Shivam sent me pictures all night of her standing in a corner, looking ridiculous and out of place."
"I'm going to write her letter," Arohi said, "because when it came to doing the job she was hired for, she was good. I will, however, warn them that she's a major fangirl, so they can make the decision."
The girls split up when they reached the bank of rooms designated to crew and band; Arohi went looking for Yogita, Shanaya took on finding her assistants while Shruti took on finding Shivam, Anmol, and Hardil.
She banged on Anmol's door first. "Anmol, open up or I'll get the concierge to do it for me and I have a feeling you don't want me walking in on whatever is going on in there!"
Just seconds later, the door swung open and Anmol appeared, pulling on a t-shirt. "What's up, Mrs. Punj?"
Shruti raised an eyebrow. "Local or Divya?"
"Hi, Shruti," Divya called out as she emerged from Anmol's bathroom.
"Hi, D," Shruti said to Shanaya's wardrobe assistant. "Does Hardil know about this little thing you two have going on? I'm not sure he'd approve."
"It's just fun," Anmol shrugged. "No more, no less."
Shruti saw right through Anmol, but she said nothing. It was pretty clear to everyone on tour that he had a real crush on Divya, despite his playboy ways, but everyone also knew Divya was hung up on Shivam, who wasn't giving her the time of day.
"You two need to get ready," Shruti explained. "We're leaving in forty minutes."
When she reached Hardil's room, he was already up and ready, talking to his parents over the phone. It was Shivam she worried about. He was her favorite brother-in-law, but he was a handful, and keeping him in check was difficult at times. Just as she went to knock on his door, a familiar voice rang out from inside.
"Shivam, this is ridiculous," the girl complained. "We don't work. We tried, you screwed up, and I left."
"Ananya?" Shruti whispered in shock. She knew it was bad to eavesdrop, but she couldn't help it.
"Shruti?"
She turned quickly to see her husband approaching down the hotel hallway and instantly shushed him before taking his hand and pulling him to her.
"Ananya is in there with him," she breathed, pressing her ear to the door. "Listen."
"I screwed up?" Shivam replied from inside the room. "By loving you and asking you to be with me, I screwed up?"
"Yes!" Ananya exclaimed. "We agreed in the beginning that it was just going to be a fun, no-strings-attached sort of thing when we happened to be in the same city for work. And then suddenly, you were around more and more, being kind of perfect, and that wasn't the deal."
"I can't believe you're saying this right now!" Shivam yelled. "I loved you and treated you like you deserve to be treated, and I'm the bad guy? That's rich, coming from you. You know, I don't know why you came here. Go, take your stupid photos, and get out of my life. That's what you want, isn't it?"
Before Shruti and Arjun could sneak away, the door swung open in a furry, and Ananya Brarr, a famous Indian supermodel, stood before them.
"Oh, great," she muttered, pushing past the married couple.
"Anu, wait!" Shruti called after her.
Shivam stuck his head out and looked at his brother. "Did you hear all that?"
"Yes," Arjun confirmed. "I had no idea you were in love with her, Shivam."
The younger Punj snorted. "Well, you can see why. She's not exactly open to the idea of it herself."
"She's scared," Arjun reasoned. "That's obvious. Ananya is used to traveling and working, which isn't exactly a well-settled lifestyle, and you were offering stability she wasn't ready for."
"How do you think I feel?" Shivam scoffed. "I'm not exactly Mr. Romance here; I leave that to you and the sappy songs you write for your wife." He lit up. "Your wife the entire world now knows about. Are you prepared for that?"
"No," Arjun denied, nodding down the hall at where Shruti and Ananya were talking, "but I've got her by my side, so we'll survive."
Shivam just rolled his eyes, shoved his brother away, and slammed his door.
"Thirty minutes!" Arjun called in before walking off in search of Neil.
True to schedule, thirty minutes later, the group stood in the lobby of the hotel, preparing to go out.
"Okay, this has to be done perfectly," Arohi announced. "Crew, along with Shanaya, Prince, and Shivam, you go first. Rishabh, Hardil, and Anmol will follow up with Yogita. Neil and I will lead Shruti and Arjun out, along with security. We have to move quickly because thanks to his big announcement, the media will be crazier than you can even imagine. Are you ready?" The group confirmed that they were, so she turned to Arjun and Shruti. "You two? This is about to change everything."
Arjun held Shruti's hand tightly on his own. "Let's do this."
"Crew, go!" Arohi said quickly, ushering people to the door.
Once it was just down to Arjun, Shruti, Arohi, and Neil, Arjun turned to his wife. "Are you sure you're ready for all this?"
"I am," she whispered. "I have you."
He leaned over to kiss her softly before Arohi cleared her throat. "All right, Arohi, let's go."
With a deep breath, Shruti gripped Arjun's s hand as the hotel doors opened and flashbulbs went off in her face. She was well shielded from the mob by security and Arjun, but the questions still came rapidly.
"Why did you hide your marriage?"
"Do you have some sort of deal struck?"
"What about Kritika Kamara?"
"Is Shruti pregnant?"
After what felt like hours, Shruti was helped into the waiting SUV and slid over to let Arjun climb in beside her; Arohi and Neil had already gotten in the far backseat.
"Bappa," Shruti breathed, trying to catch her breath. "That was intense."
"You okay?" Arjun asked.
She smiled. "I'm good. You're okay?"
He pulled her to him. "I am."
"Okay, be cutesy all you want now, but when we get to the arena, it's all work," Arohi told them.
"Hey, so what about Ananya being with Shivam today?" Shruti asked suddenly.
Neil chuckled. "They always did have a hard time staying away from each other."
"I don't know," Shruti shook her head. "If she's back now, almost a year later, it means something big. She wouldn't tell me much, but I invited her tonight, so we'll see."
"Should we be meddling?" Arjun wondered. "They're adults; they have to work things out themselves."
"It's Shivam and Ananya," Arohi reasoned without looking up from her phone. "He's an idiot and she's too judgmental of his lifestyle for them to do things themselves.
My question is: Why do we care about them being together?"
"Because he loves her!" Shruti cried. "And I think she loves him. She's just too afraid to admit it."
"I can't quite believe that Shivam has," Neil admitted. "He's never been one to be so open."
"Ananya broke his heart when she left," Shruti remembered. "It was ugly, and he still hasn't recovered fully."
"Did you know she was going to be in Kolkata?" Arjun wondered. That's the part I can't reconcile. What was she even doing here?"
"Work, I'm sure," Arohi shrugged. "This is, a Mecca for models."
"It's still weird," Shruti shook her head. "How'd she find him? Do you think they still talk?"
"Probably," Arjun replied. "They must, right?"
"A year later?" Arohi spoke, now becoming more invested. "I don't know. Shivam never mentions her."
"He doesn't," Shruti confirmed. "I'm with him more than anyone, so I'd know. He thinks about her, and he misses her, but I don't think they've spoken." She gasped. "Ganpati Bappa, Ananya misses him! She found him on purpose."
Arjun smirked at his wife's excitement. "Don't get too worked up, love. They were together for just a bit and she stormed out. That can't bode well."
"Doesn't matter," Shruti denied. "She came to him, so she must be serious. We have to help them. Shivam is your brother, you love him, and he wants to be with her. We're all happy, so he should be, too."
"No one is denying his happiness, Shruti," Neil assured her. "We just can't stick our noses where they don't belong."
"Oh, Neil," Arohi sighed as the SUV reached the arena. "It's like you don't know Shruti at all."
While Arjun went into his pre-show hibernation, Shruti helped the crew set up the stage. She immediately found Shivam and cornered him.
"Don't," he warned. "I don't want to hear it, Shruti."
"Nice try," she scoffed. "What the hell, Shivam?! How could you not tell me you've been talking to Ananya?"
"I haven't," he grumbled, tuning one of Rishabh's guitars. "I was at the hotel bar last night and she just showed up. We stayed up all night talking-fighting, really-and then you heard how it all ended today."
"But she found you, Shivam!" Shruti cried. "She couldn't have known what hotel we were at because we never stayed at the same place twice, so she had to dig around. That means something. You haven't contacted her in almost a year, so it's not like she came to tell you to leave her alone. She came because she loves you, Shivam!"
Shivam slammed the lid of a guitar case and turned to her. "Shruti, stop it. I mean it. Ananya broke my heart. I did something I swore I never would-fall in love-and it backfired. I'm not going down that road again."
Shruti opened her mouth to respond, but movement over Shivam's shoulder stopped her. She smiled. "I wouldn't give up just yet, Shivam." She winked at the person and backed away.
Shivam furrowed his brow; he never got rid of his sister-in-law that easily. He shrugged it off and spun to go back to his work but found himself face-to-face with Ananya herself.
"Hi," he greeted her softly.
"Um, I know the show starts in just a little while, but can you take a break?" she requested.
"Yes, he can!" Shruti called out as she stuck her head out from where she'd hidden behind the curtains. "Go, Shivam. Yash will finish up with guitars."
She beamed as Shivam and Ananya walked off together.
"You seem pretty pleased with yourself," Rishabh noticed when he found her moments later.
"Just putting my stellar matchmaking skills to good use," she reported smugly, patting his chest and walking off once more.
That night, towards the end of his set, Arjun put down his acoustic guitar and smiled at his wife as she stood in the wings while he sat at the piano that Shivam rolled out.
"So, I've made some news lately," he said into the microphone. "For four years, I've kept you all in the dark about the most important person in my life, and that wasn't fair to her. This song I'm about to play is one I wrote for her quite some time ago, but I haven't played it in a while, so I'm going tonight, and I'm going to dedicate it to Shruti, my lovely wife."
Shruti waited for the boos from the crowd, but she was stunned instead to hear cheers and applause.
Arjun winked at her before he began to sing.
Saans leti hoon to
Tera hi ehsaas hota hai
Ehsaas hota hai
Door hoke bhi har lamha
Tu mere paas hota hai
Mere paas hota hai
Tere bin ek din na ghuzre
Kaise baetenge na jaane yeh saal
Hai dil ka yeh haal
Tere naal jeena mainu tere naal
Marna mainu tere naal, tere naal
Tere naal jeena mainu tere naal
Marna mainu tere naal, tere naal
Aayi hoon jiske liye main
Duniya saari chhod ke
Ik pyar hi to hai
Baadalon ko aasmaan se
Jodti jo dor hai
Ik pyar hi to hai
Dhoop chhaon baarishon mein
Rab se ki jo sifarishon main khayaal
Hai tera hi khayaal
Tere naal jeena mainu tere naal
Marna mainu tere naal, tere naal
Tere naal jeena mainu tere naal
Marna mainu tere naal, tere naal
"Damn, he's good," Shanaya murmured as the song ended and Arjun took his final bow.
"He is," Shruti agreed as he walked off stage towards her.
"Was that okay?" he asked, a bit out of breath. He pulled Shruti into his arms.
"You're all sweaty," she complained, though she didn't mind. "And yes, it was fine. You haven't played that song in a while."
"I thought you might like it," he shrugged, accepting the bottle of water Arohi handed him. "Okay, I'll do two encore songs, and then we're out."
Shruti kissed him quickly and then pushed him back onstage. "Good luck!"
"You know, I worried about what you'd do with him making the marriage announcement," Shanaya admitted, "but you're practically glowing now."
"I just like being able to be a regular married couple now," Shruti explained. "I don't have to hide how I feel about him anymore."
Shanaya smiled. "I'm happy for you, Shruti. You both deserve the freedom that comes along with this."
"I think so, too," Shruti murmured, turning her attention back to the show. "We've certainly earned it."
"Girls everywhere will be rushing out to be wardrobe assistants for various musicians," Shanaya joked. "You're a real Cinderella story."
"No," Shruti denied. "I'm just a girl who fell in love with a boy way out of her league and lucked out in the end."