Mischief

Arjun spoke slowly, taking care to pick each word carefully and bent down to address her.

"Minnie, listen. I can't back out of the engagement like this, especially not in front of Maenu. You already know that it will become a piece of national news and everybody will be scandalised by the thought that I forfeited this! Me, Arjun Chauhan, who had always claimed that I will be waiting for Manya Rahal for my entire life! They will be speculating about how it was made possible- perhaps guessing that I have been lured by some sudden possession by a powerful black magic, and having surrendered to the darkness, I am now in a drastic need of rescue! This will lead dad to take his shoes in his own hands, my mother's bag, anything your dad will be able to acquire, and a knife or a sword will be the weapon of choice for Maenu, to get rid of the ghost which they would assume has kept me captive in my own body because I don't want to get married to you!"

Manya was looking at him without even blinking, as she had lost track of what he was trying to say, and couldn't understand a thing.

She waited for him to stop, and spoke up as soon as he paused. "Are you done?"

She said in a cold,subtle yet scary tone, which managed to drive chills up Arjun's spine. He really didn't know how she had managed to amalgamate three emotions together, without even looking at her target and smashing everything at once. The person would be confused in deciphering which of the three was true- that she didn't care, cared enough to kill him or if she was just speaking normally, with no hard feelings associated.

He hesitated and replied, "Yes! Uh, well actually..." 

"Then let me know if you have any solution in your mind, apart from the black magic or God knows what. Actually, I had stopped listening carefully by then. If you do, then tell me now!"

Arjun looked at her, let out a deep breath and spoke, "Minnie, I have thought of something. But can you promise me that you won't really react without listening to the full statement and freaking out completely?"

"Okay okay, now spill!" She pushed him along, getting impatient.

"Let's run away!" 

"Run away?" Only Manya knew how she had managed to keep her volume low, instead of screaming out like she had wanted to.

*This was the last thing she wanted to hear, and it had forced her brain to go into panic by thinking about what crisis was going to happen next, that they would need to take this drastic step! Because in any case, shouldn't "run away and get married" be the last step to be considered? And why would they run away when the entire root of this issue was that their parents were literally so eager to get them married that they hadn't even waited a day?!*

She spoke again, having played the entire monologue in her head and still not reaching any conclusion.

"Why would we run away, do you want to marry me today? See, I understand that you have waited for a long time and have been through enough but that doesn't mean you should take decisions in such a hurry! Did I hurt you that badly with the heel, that you have gone into some kind of shock, or have injured your head recently, that you are not able to understand the main problem? The entire issue is that it is too early, in case you have missed the broadcast. And your solution is to quicken the process even further?! At least they are talking about the engagement and still giving me the time of three days, but if I run away with you, then I will lose that time also- how is that beneficial?"

Arjun looked at Manya, disbelief dripping from his face in copious amounts.

*He really couldn't bring himself to believe that she was the same girl who didn't take more than ten minutes to crack enciphered messages, could decode any code and had been one of the most talented fashion designers, apart from  coming along to become one of the world's most successful business women. How was she unable to decode this simple thing?! *

Reminding himself to be patient, he replied, "No, silly. Again, you have assumed my plan and interrupted me before I could lay out my entire plan. Of course I am not that stupid or as affected by the injuries yet. I am not running away to get married, but I am certain that I will be the one and only person in history to be recorded as the one who helped his own would-be fiance to escape their own engagement!"

A chuckle escaped his lips at the thought, and he continued, "Just imagine, what would come to someone's mind when they hear of it! And how baffled everyone would be to find that neither you or I were having an affair, and even loved each other. Ah, I am going to have so much fun explaining and basking in sympathy and attention from people when I tell them that it was because ma'am was not ready to get married-" 

He stopped when he felt Manya's glare on him, and zipped his lips.

"Are you out of your mind?" Manya shouted, squinting her eyes in disbelief. "Arjun, you are forcing me to reconsider our conversation from this afternoon. I thought I was speaking to a twenty-seven year old, not a thirteen year old boy! I am sure not even thirteen year olds come up with these prank ideas now-a-days."

Arjun took offence at this insult to his intellectual prowess and asked defensively, "Well, do you have any other ideas apart from this? If we don't run away, we won't be getting any other chance, trust me. This will be the best thing, so trust me and get on with it already! Just say yes quickly, we have a lot to plan for."

Before Manya could consider it or say anything, they heard Sia's voice in the background. Pausing their discussion mid-way, both of them turned towards the hallway, but Manya was unable to recognise the face that stared back.

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