Bonded by Fate *Completed*

51. Another beginning

“Not everyone is trustworthy”.

“What are you doing here?” Guddan asked,her hands slipping away from Viraj’s collar as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and looked questioningly at the person standing at the entrance of the house.

He strolled in, his hands buried in the pockets of his trousers, “Your excitement is overflowing, Guddan!”

Despite herself, Guddan cracked a smile, “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Karan?”

Karan chuckled, “Glad to see you too, pal!”

Guddan only rolled her eyes as he approached her and threw an arm over her shoulders, “So what’s going on?” He gestured his gaze flickering b/w the 3 people.

“Don’t concern yourself”, Guddan snubbed him lightly, pulling away from him, her eyes fixing on Viraj.

“Unfortunately, Can’t do that!” Karan sing song’d hopping his way over to Viraj and patting him on the shoulders, “You see as I said Not everyone is trustworthy, Mr. Jindal for example was not the kind of person I’d put my faith in after the sh*t he pulled with you but then his proclamation today successfully managed to alleviate my worries away, and it’s all thanks to this kid here!” With that Karan ruffled Viraj’s hairs as he tried to swat his fingers away.

“What are you talking about?” Akshat cut in between.

“What I’m saying is whatever this kid here did, was on my orders actually, starting from dissing you for your age , striking on your insecurities and proposing Guddan, it was aaaal me!” Karan grinned only to yelp later when Guddan stepped on his toe and glared his way, “Explain”.

Karan scoffed, mumbling incoherently but cleared his throat when Guddan’s menacing gaze met his.

“Back to being serious, as happy I was to see Guddan happy with you, I could not trust you with her again. She is an adult and all, but she is my precious friend and I’d been there when she had broken apart, a result of your insecurities and so I needed to have something, anything that would solidify my belief in you again, Mr. Jindal”

“Aaaand that’s where Viraj comes in. Apparently he had decided to give up on Guddan but was just as sceptical about Akshat. So, I offered him a deal. It was a win-win situation you know, if Mr. Jindal passed the test than he will be assured that Guddan will be happy and in the worst case scenario, if Akshat would have failed and buckled from his insecurities once again, Viraj would probably get that one chance that he had been wanting”.

Guddan seemingly relaxed, a breath of relief escaping her. Viraj had never betrayed her. She was very thankful to be able to keep her faith intact.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to viraj and smiled, “I apologise for misunderstanding you”

He smiled back, “No offence taken. As you’ve heard, my intentions weren’t all that noble so yeah…” He shrugged as Guddan nodded and then walked over to Karan who was smirking.

“You don’t have to say Thank you” He grinned as he fingered his locks, “I mean..I know I’m just that awesome but if you’re that desperate, you can maybe kneel…….OOOOWWWWW!!

His bragging died midway, as Guddan pulled him down by twisting his ears while Akshat shook his head and Viraj only chuckled.

“Sh*t….what.owww…..oww…” He struggled trying to save his ears.

“My life is not a picture for you to direct, you know. Obviously you had fun at the expense of this drama!” Guddan spoke.

“Yea, well….” Karan had started to grin again when his poor ear was twisted more, “owww…owiiie…Sorry, Sorry, I swear I’ll never do this again…my ear is going to be ripped apart, mercy, mercy!” He shouted as Guddan cocked an eyebrow at him as he pleaded with a puppy dog look.

Sighing she pulled back, as he whimpered mockingly and caressed his now reddening pinna.

“Bhalai ka toh zamana hi nhi hai!” He pouted but as Guddan squinted her eyes at him, he deflected from his words, “So Akshat..”

Akshat faced the man, a puzzled look on his face.

“I’ve explained why we did what we did but what’s your reason. I mean, yeah you wanted to expose Viraj and all but wasn’t that like tooooo much of drama”. Karan shrugged as Akshat looked at Guddan, who now was looking back just as interested, and smiled.

“I did it for her. Guddan had been hurt by my actions but we never talked it out. The instant she stepped into the house, she started playing the big mature closed off woman, playing it cool. But she was hurting. She may have cried it out, the pain must’ve lessened but the anger, not so much. And then, yesterday I skipped certain necessary steps-

He trailed, his gaze darkening slightly and getting fixed on Guddan’s lips who flushed almost instantly.

It was only when Karan snickered, did Akshat get his focus back, “-so as I was saying, her anger needed an outlet. To let go of the past, you have to face it. She needed a closure, and even though this may never make up for it, these finger marks on my cheek might make up for a bit of the pain she had to go through because of me”.

Guddan felt her sight blur. Tears again! She’s such a crybaby!

“I’m sorry for slapping you” she whispered, her fingers fiddling among themselves. Taking a step closer, Akshat pulled her fingers apart and interlacing them with his own, rested his head against hers, “And I’m sorry for being a prick, I hope you will forgive me…someday”

“Someday” Guddan repeated, her eyes closing in relief at the familiar scent of his washing over her. So calming.

Slowly Akshat pulled back and went on his knees, his palms still clasped with hers, “So how about we start afresh, get to understand each other once again? We love each other a lot but let’s work on our trust issues and once they are sorted, would you give me the honor of marrying you again?”

Karan dramatically gasped earning a smack to the back of his head by Viraj, who smiled seeing Guddan’s eyes brightening as she nodded at the man kneeling in front of her.

“I can do that”, As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Akshat smiled softly and pressed a kiss against her knuckles.

“Yessssssssssss!!”

And suddenly the hall came abuzz with life as bahus, sons and dadi and Ayesha came almost running. Guddan could only chuckle as dadi, Lakshmi, saru, Durga and Ayesha took her in a bear hug while Akshat found himself patting his son’s back in assurance, his eyes conveying his heartfelt thanks to Karan and Viraj.

Their eyes met across the room.

This time, they bond not by accident, not by chance.

They are bonded by fate, but this time they bond by faith.

~The End~

Sooo, I hope you all will like it😁