In the next hour, everyone assembled in the living room. Almost every relative is here. There is a blame game going on. My mom blamed me for rushing for this marriage, Sharanya for ruining my life. Some of my relatives are blaming her character. Both sets of relatives had their arguments. They are blaming each other. Her family is just listening silently. My family is too depressed to even reprimand them.

Kavya is holding my mom and is looking at me with pity. I looked around the room. Almost everyone has that look on their faces. Seeing this, my anger increased ten-fold. I hate being the topic of gossip. They will talk about this for about five years. I want to smash something. Just then Siddharth entered the room. He is still closing his eyes and standing near the stairs. Why is this guy will always be in front of my eyes whenever I want to hit someone?

Srikanth went towards him and pulled him to the side. After five minutes, Ananya came into the room. She is walking groggily and went to stand beside Sid and Srikanth. She nudged him and Srikanth gave her the papers. She and Sid both looked at the papers and they looked at each other and then looked at me simultaneously. They are wide awake now. Karthik was right. They both do move in perfect synchronization.

I was looking at the papers in her hand and thinking about what to do now. No matter what I think, I cannot think of a solution to evade the consequences. I looked at my dad and Sharanya's dad. They too are in deep thought. I know they are thinking about the contract too.

One of the relatives, I don't know which side started lecturing about this generation of kids and their behaviors. She is indirectly pointing out that Sharanya was having an affair with another guy and eloped with him and that she was not raised properly. I was about to reply to her. Ananya beat me to it.

"Maami, I know Sharanya is at fault for what happened today. But that doesn't give you the right to talk about her character or her upbringing. There is no need to blame anyone except the circumstances."

She then turned to my dad and said, "Uncle, what happened has already happened. We need to think about what we have to do next. There is no point sitting here and blaming each other."

"Yes, Pinky beta. You are right. Papa, Lakshmi, Indira, Kiran, Come inside. We need to discuss something." He asked Amit dadu, my mom, and her parents.

"Srikanth, Golu, you too come inside", he headed to the office.

Once we all entered, he closed the door and turned towards Srikanth.

"Beta, do you have a copy of the contract in the office?"

"I have a soft copy in the system", Srikanth replied.

"Get me a printout immediately. There might be a loophole."

I wondered what my dad is up to. I studied the contract before. There are no loopholes in that contract.

Once he studied the contract, he told us, "When making the contract, I wanted to protect Arjun's identity in the hospital in case the M&A contract fell into the hands of media. So his name is addressed as Mr. Kashyap. Since his name is not mentioned, Sharanya's first name was also not mentioned. They referred her to Ms. Prasad. So the marriage has to be between a Kashyap and a Prasad. I don't have another son..."

"But, I have another daughter", Kiran Uncle completed my dad's sentence.

I immediately took the contract from my dad and studied it. He is correct. The contract didn't have my name or Sharanya's name. Just Mr. Kashyap and Ms. Prasad.

"No. there is no way I am marrying Ananya just for the sake of contract."

"Arjun, it is the only way. You know it. You know the stakes involved. Think about it." My dad told me.

I know that it is the only way. Otherwise, I know what will happen.

"Arjun, come with me. Lakshmi, you too" Amit dadu asked me and my mom.

We went into the garden from the office room.

"Listen Arjun, Sharanya told in her letter that she will come back to marry you in four months. I don't want to spoil three lives. Sharanya and Ananya are like my own granddaughters. I prefer losing money and reputation to spoiling my children's life. It will take us at least five years to get back to our feet. But that is okay as long as you three are happy. You may be angry with Sharanya, but you love her. So don't make these decisions just for the sake of business", Dadu told me.

"Yes, Arjun. Papa is right. When Sharanya comes back and you go back to her after marrying Ananya, there is no point in this marriage. We will be destroying her life too. I don't want that to happen. I say this on behalf of Sharanya's parents too; they would like to see their children happy rather than them fighting over a guy. They will prefer to go bankrupt instead of destroying their children's lives. So if you are making this decision to marry Ananya for the sake of our families, make sure that you won't go back to Sharanya when she comes back."

"I agree that marrying Ananya is the only way. But marriage is not a joke. Once you marry her, you need to be with her for your entire life. I will never allow you to leave her for Sharanya. You might be angry with Sharanya now, but you loved her. So make sure you won't play with both the girls' feelings. They both are like my daughters", my mom told me.

"Stay here. Take your time. Think about it. Don't make decisions when you are angry. I will let them give some time to you. Come, Lakshmi, let him think", Dadu and mom left me leaving there in the garden.

I sat there thinking about all the possibilities with a clear mind. I know that staying married to Ananya is not going to be easy especially if she hates me. I know that when Sharanya finds about this, she will rain hell on both Ananya and me, more her than me. But, there is no choice.

I went inside and told them, "Mom, Ananya and I will get married. There is no other choice."

"Are you sure Arjun? If you want more time you can take it. We have two days to submit the marriage certificate", my mom argued.

"Yes, mom. I thought of every possibility. There is no point in having a relationship with Sharanya now. She doesn't trust me. She would have told me if she had trust in me or if she had loved me. She knows two days before that she got an offer. She could have told me or anybody. She didn't trust me. Now I can't trust her. She didn't care about our families. She will always be my friend. But even if I don't marry Ananya now, I am not going to start a relation with her again. She made her choice. Now she has to live with that. No offense aunty"

"If I am not going to back to Sharanya, we might as well get this situation under control. I know Ananya and I will have trouble adjusting to this. But we will try for our families", I told my decision to everybody.

"I agree with your reason, Arjun. But, this marriage will only happen if Ananya agrees too", Amit dadu told everyone.

"I will bring her", Indira aunty went to break the news to her.

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