*Flashback —
(Varun was upset, and everyone was trying to ask him what had happened.)
*Present —
Ashvi looked around.
"Okay, enough. Varun, stop crying. Maya isn't going to come back just because you're crying, right?"
Varun looked at her, and so did everyone else.
"What are you saying?" Harry called out. "You have literally done a PhD in consoling people, and now you're talking like Varun has no hope left. After hearing you, he's going to cry even more!"
He paused dramatically.
"who are you?! You're not our Ashvi!"
"Harry, shut up. Nobody is in the mood for your jokes right now," Yash said.
"Arrey, but Ashvi never used to say things like this. That's why I said it."
"Yeah, fine. But not everyone is the same all the time," Yash replied.
"You both are seriously crazy. What are you even talking about?" Ashvi said. "I'm saying this because instead of sitting here and crying, we should think of something.
So, Varun, tell me one thing. What exactly did Maya's father say to you?"
"He gave me one week to do something and make him trust that I can keep his daughter happy."
"What?!" Ashvi screamed. "Is he crazy? How is someone supposed to find a job in one week? That too in a city as big as Bangalore?"
"Ashvi…" Varun said softly. "He knows that I have a restaurant. That's what he's talking about. He wants me to open that restaurant within one week."
"What? Varun, you never told me that you had a restaurant!"
"Then there's no problem, right?" Ashvi said. "Just open your restaurant and everything will be fine."
Varun didn't reply.
Instead, Yash spoke.
"He can't open it. If he could, he would've done it a long time ago."
"Why?"
"His financial condition isn't that good right now."
Varun finally spoke.
"That restaurant belonged to my dad. But after he passed away, we had to shut it down because his treatment cost us a lot of money. Because of that, we couldn't continue the restaurant, and even now, we can't afford to reopen it."
He paused.
"And that's why Maya's dad gave me this condition. He said that if I don't reopen my restaurant, he'll get Maya married to someone else after one week."
"What? How can he just do that?" Ashvi asked. "What about Maya's happiness? What about her consent?"
Ashvi stayed quiet for a moment.
"Ahh… we'll think of something about this. Don't worry."
And then she went back to her seat.
ASHVI'S POV:
I had just said, "We'll think of something," but I had absolutely no idea what we could do either. And honestly, I had very little faith in these people's brains.
"Don't think too much"
Mansi noticed me. She always did.
I shook my head.
"I'm completely blank. I genuinely don't understand what we should do for them.
And you know what, Mansi? I feel even worse for Maya. I mean, her own father didn't give any value to her happiness or her consent. He didn't even ask her once what she wanted or what would make her happy. He just fixed her marriage like that."
"It happens. Things like this happen. What can we do?"
"And poor Varun… he has completely lost his mind in love. But you know what? He needs to start thinking with his brain a little. Only then can something actually work out, right? He's drowned himself way too much in the sadness of love."
"When you ever fall in true love, you'll get the answer to your own question," she said, giving me a teasing hint.
"Are you taunting me?"
"No. I'm predicting your future."
"What does that mean?"
"I'm just kidding, bro."
Just then, sir came in and started the lecture, but my mind remained stuck on the same thought.
What could we actually do?
Finally, the class ended, and as soon as it did, Varun left.
I felt really bad for him, but what could we do?
I was about to get up and leave when a hand appeared in front of me.
I looked up.
"I'll drop you home. Come with me."
I slowly looked towards Mansi.
She winked at me and walked away.
And I just stood there like—
What?
"Ahh, no. I'll go myself," I said, moving forward.
But once again, he appeared in front of me, this time standing directly in my way.
"I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. You've been getting kidnapped from random places lately, so come with me."
Before I could say anything or even react, he held my hand and started walking.
*In the car*
"Are you going to say something, or are you planning to keep this silence going?"
Ruhaan finally broke the silence.
"How long are you going to think about this? Whatever happens, we'll deal with it."
Ashvi gave him a disappointed look.
"Don't give me that look."
After a while, Ashvi asked, "Ruhaan, how much money would Varun need to reopen his restaurant?"
"There's a lot of work that needs to be done before he can open it. Even if he manages to reopen it, he'll need staff, a chef, resources… It's going to cost a lot of money."
"That's why you should forget about it."
But she paused and looked ahead.
A few moments later, they were driving along the road to Ashvi's house. Maya's house was on the same route.
And the moment Ashvi spotted Maya's house—
"Ruhaan, stop the car!"
She interrupted him immediately.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"I said stop the car," she repeated.
Ruhaan stopped the car and looked at her.
"What happened? Why did you ask me to stop?"
But Ashvi didn't answer.
Instead, she got out of the car.
"Ashvi, what are you doing?" Ruhaan asked as he got out too.
Ashvi started walking towards Maya's house.
Before she could get very far, Ruhaan picked her up from behind and carried her back towards the car.
"Ruhaan, what are you doing? Put me down!" she argued.
"What are you doing? Why were you going to her house?" he asked.
"I just want to talk to Maya once."
Ruhaan closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and started speaking.
"Ashvi, look, there's no point in talking to Maya. She didn't fix this marriage. Her father did. What's the point of talking to her?"
"Okay, but let me talk to her once, please. Just once."
"Ashvi, don't be so stubborn. Come on, let's leave. Things will only get more messed up."
"Then let them get messed up. I'm still going to talk to her, even if I have to talk to her father myself."
With that, she ran towards the house and immediately started ringing the doorbell.
Ruhaan simply stood there for a moment, taking a second to process how she had managed to get there so quickly and start ringing the bell before he could even stop her.
"Hey, Ashvi, stop it. Come on, let's go."
He walked over to her and grabbed her hand, trying to pull her back.
"I'm not going anywhere," Ashvi said irritably. "I'm going to talk to them."
And right in the middle of their argument, the front door opened.