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The above song is 'Sukoon Mila' from the movie 'Mary Kom'

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~~~~~~~

So, Abhimanyu and Priyanka celebrated their first Karva Chauth and Diwali together

Wasn't it amazing to see Kabir accept Priyanka as his little sister?

~~~~~~~

Abhimanyu, Priyanka and Aakansha had gone back home during the winter break.

Payal was overjoyed to see her older siblings after a long time.

She spent most of her time with Abhimanyu and Priyanka telling them all about her school.

While telling her Dada and Bhabhi about how some of the students teased her for being an orphan, Payal innocently asks, "Is it my fault that my parents are dead?"

Abhimanyu is stunned into silence while Priyanka sternly replies, "Payal, don't you ever blame yourself for your parent's death. Those kids who tease you have no idea what it is like to grow up without their parents. Don't pay attention to a word they say. You just keep studying well and make all of us proud."

Abhimanyu, who had finally regained his voice, adds, "Payal if those kids trouble you too much then you can tell Maa or Papa and let them handle it. Don't ever keep all these feelings inside. If you want, you can tell me or Priyanka also and we'll do our best to help you."

Payal asks, "What if I don't make you all proud?"

Abhimanyu smiles and replies, "We all love you Payal and we'll always be proud of you, silly girl. Nothing you can say or do will make us any less proud of you."

He sits down and hugs his little sister by pulling her close to him.

(This is another digital portrait made by me. Any guesses on who are in this drawing?)

Priyanka also joins in the hug which ends with a giggling Payal in their arms.

They all spend the rest of the day playing together.

~~~~~~~

Later in their room, Abhimanyu remembers how sternly Priyanka had told Payal to not blame herself and ignore the other kids who teased her.

Abhimanyu asks, "Priyanka if you don't mind, can I ask you something?"

Priyanka replies, "You know that you can ask me about anything Abhimanyu."

Abhimanyu takes a deep breath and asks, "Did you also get teased by your classmates like Payal?"

Priyanka takes in a sharp breath, so Abhimanyu adds, "It's okay if you don't want to-"

Priyanka cuts him off and replies, "Yes. They used to constantly tease me but at first, I never told anyone because I didn't want to be a burden. One day when it all became too much, I broke down crying in front of Chacha and Samar Kaka. They both hugged me tightly and told me to ignore those fools and work hard to make them proud. Chacha also reprimanded me for not telling him sooner similar to what you did with Payal earlier today. Since then, I just remembered those words and stopped trying to make friends. If anyone ever came up to me to talk about something I was polite to them, but I never went out of my way to make any friends."

Abhimanyu asks, "Is this why you didn't have any friends before our marriage?"

Priyanka nods and replies, "Nobody in my class made an effort and neither did I. Ishika Di doesn't know the details but she knew that I avoided the students from my class. She had heard some people gossip about me being extremely poor because everyone knew that I worked in the library so she might have assumed that was the reason why I avoided the other kids. Only Chacha and Samar Kaka know the exact details about why I avoided my classmates."

Abhimanyu says, "You worked in the library because your Chachi made you feel like a burden on the family."

Priyanka nods and Abhimanyu continues, "Priyanka, I don't know why your Chachi chose to ignore the gem of a person like you but please don't feel like that now. I promise you that you are not a burden on anyone in this house. I know that you still hesitate to use the cards that I leave at home for you because you feel that you will end up becoming a burden on me."

He cups his wife's face with his hand and says, "I love you, Priyanka. With all my heart. I promise that you will never be a burden to me. I like to treat you like my queen."

Priyanka lets out a laugh and replies, "I love you too, Abhimanyu. Thank you for being the best husband in the world."

Abhimanyu then pulls his wife close to him and kisses her forehead while Priyanka closes her eyes.

They adjust themselves on the bed and snuggle together before falling asleep.

(This is another one of my digital artworks)

~~~~~~~

The next day during breakfast, the Singh family was making plans for the next trip around Holi.

Rekha reminded her children that since it was Priyanka's first Holi after marriage, she had to celebrate it in her Mayaka.

Abhimanyu asked his mother if he could join her and thankfully for him, she agreed. Everyone started teasing saying that Abhimanyu couldn't even live a few days without his wife.

The teasing made Priyanka smile and blush while Abhimanyu simply smiled.

It was true that Abhimanyu didn't like being without his wife but that was not the real reason why he wanted to go to his Sasuraal.

The real reason why he wanted to go with his wife was that he didn't like the idea of leaving his wife alone in that house to deal with her Chachi.

Priyanka also mentioned that Ishika's wedding was a few days after Holi so she would be staying there for some time.

Her husband said that they both will stay for Ishika's wedding and then return.

When Rekha asked about how Aakansha would live alone in Delhi, Abhimanyu said that he'll ask Kabir to take care for his sister for a week or two until all the wedding functions are completed.

~~~~~~~

The family enjoy their time together for almost a week before Abhimanyu announced that they need to get back because the college would be commencing classes in the following few days.

Rekha once again sends them off with the teary goodbye with Payal also in tears.

Seeing tears in his baby sister's eyes, Abhimanyu's eyes also get teary and he gets down to hug her.

He reassures little Payal that her big brother is only a phone call away and that she can call him whenever she needs him.

After Abhimanyu, Priyanka also hugs Payal and has a similar conversation.

They fly back to Delhi in Abhimanyu's private plane and once again Kabir comes to pick them up at the airport.

They all get back to their normal routine.

The only change was that Abhimanyu and Priyanka had started talking to Payal every night before going to bed.

They were both worried that Payal might be getting teased and bullied again and the little girl might keep it to herself in fear of becoming a burden.

~~~~~~~

One afternoon after classes were over, Priyanka was working in the library on her project assignment with her partner Shivani.

Priyanka saw the amount of work that was left to do and decided to inform her husband that she might be late.

She sent him a text and Abhimanyu immediately replied saying that it was not an issue and if she wanted, he would come to pick her up himself.

She was about to say something else when her husband added that he would be making dinner for them that day.

Priyanka couldn't help but smile at how well her husband knew her and did everything he could to make her life easier.

Shivani notices her partner smiling at her phone and asks, "Hey Priyanka, can I ask you something?"

Priyanka looks up at Shivani and replies, "Yeah sure"

Shivani asks, "How come you don't really talk much about your husband?"

Priyanka replies, "Well it never really comes up in a conversation. At the start of the year, the girls in our class didn't want to talk to me because I was married so I also avoided talking about him. It was not like our classmates actually talked to me for reasons other than academic because I scored good marks."

Shivani says, "I'm really sorry for avoiding you before. It was just that I wanted to make some friends in college because I never had many friends growing up. It was pretty stupid of me to blindly follow those rich entitled girls. It's not your fault that you had to get married early."

Priyanka smiles and replies, "I understand. I never really had any friends growing up because I lost my parents when I was younger. My in laws have adopted a little girl recently and she told me that she was getting teased by her classmates for the same reason. I don't understand why everyone has to be so cruel by judging others for events completely outside of their control."

Shivani says, "I promise that I will not act like those stuck-up girls ever again. Just because they have more money than us, they think that they can rule this college and walk around like queens."

Priyanka comments, "Well, money can't buy manners and human values."

Shivani nods and says, "Priyanka I have noticed that you come to college in a car. Whose car is it? It looked pretty expensive."

Priyanka blushes and replies, "My husband insists on dropping me and my sister in law every morning. He drops us at the college gate and then drives himself to work. My husband is rich, so all his cars are pretty expensive."

Shivani asks, "Who is your husband?"

Priyanka replies, "I'll tell you his name but promise me that you will not tell anyone. I don't want any special treatment because of my husband."

Shivani nods and says, "I promise I won't tell anyone"

Priyanka takes a deep breath and replies, "My husband's name is Abhimanyu Singh."

Shivani looks shocked and says, "You mean the 'Abhimanyu Singh' who is the CEO of Singh Industries."

Priyanka nods and replies, "Yes. We got married a few months before our classes started here. I also know that he is a trustee in this college which is why I specifically asked him not to disclose our relation to any of the teachers here. I want to be treated like a normal student."

Shivani says, "It's a good thing that you have kept it hidden. All those prissy girls who have ignored you from the start because you were married would have been hovering around you pretending to be your best friend if they knew this. Everyone wants to get close to him because he's the most famous businessman around here. His name holds a lot of value, so people prefer not to get on his bad side."

Priyanka replies, "I know that he has a bit of a temper because of which people are afraid of him in the office but I didn't know he was so influential. Anyways, around our first anniversary Abhimanyu is planning to hold a public reception because he knows that our marriage will become public at some point and he wants to try and control the flow of information regarding his private life. I'm just glad that I will know who all are really my friends, before everything becomes public."

Shivani says, "Thank you so much for trusting me after everything."

Priyanka nods smiling and replies, "You're my first friend Shivani and I believe that every relation needs a certain amount of trust. If we don't trust each other then we're not really friends."

Shivani nods in agreement and soon the girls get back to working on their project.

~~~~~~~

That night after dinner, Priyanka and Abhimanyu are sitting together in bed, talking about random things and enjoying each other's company.

Priyanka keeps thinking about how she should tell her husband that she had told Shivani about their marriage.

She was worried that her husband might get angry because she was the one who didn't want people in her college to know about him and now, she had gone ahead and told someone about him herself.

Abhimanyu notices that his wife was lost in her thoughts and asks, "What are you thinking about Priyanka?"

Priyanka sits up and replies, "I want to tell you something but promise me you won't get mad. I don't like to see you angry so please promise me first"

Abhimanyu sits attentively and says, "Priyanka, I promise you that I will not get angry now please tell me what happened."

Priyanka asks, "You remember my partner for the project, Shivani?"

Abhimanyu nods so Priyanka continues, "We've actually gotten quite close and become friends."

Abhimanyu says, "That's great. Why would I be mad to hear that you have made a friend? I'm really happy to hear that you finally have a friend now."

Priyanka replies, "I actually told her about you today."

Abhimanyu looks confused so Priyanka explains, "Shivani and I were talking about a few personal things like why she avoided me first and then she asked me why I didn't talk much about my husband. I made her promise not to tell anyone and she did. I told her your name and that you are my husband, but no one knows because I wanted to be treated like a normal student in college."

Abhimanyu smiles and says, "Priyanka, Shivani is your friend, so you know her better than I do. If you trust her then I do too. I'm not going to be angry about something like this especially when I desperately want the world to know about my wonderful wife. I'm just glad that you finally have a friend who you can count on in your class."

Priyanka asks, "How can you blindly trust anyone that I trust?"

Abhimanyu cups his wife's face and replies, "I trust you, wifey. If you believe that someone is trustworthy then I trust your judgement."

Priyanka's eyes well up on seeing how much her husband trusted her.

Abhimanyu kisses his wife's forehead and says, "Now please stop worrying and go to sleep. You have classes in the morning."

Priyanka lies down with her husband like she did every night.

Suddenly, she asks, "You have already done a complete background check on Shivani, haven't you?"

Abhimanyu chuckles and replies, "Guilty as charged. I should have known you would figure it out, wifey. I promise it was only to check if she had an ulterior motive behind being so friendly with you suddenly. You had mentioned that she used to ignore you before like the other girls, so I wanted to make sure that if she was getting close to you it was because she really wanted to. I swear it was only for your safety."

Priyanka says, "I understand your concern, hubby and I really appreciate it."

Abhimanyu simply pulled his wife close before they both fall asleep.

~~~~~~~

Abhimanyu suggested to call Shivani over to their house so that they could be properly introduced so Priyanka invites Shivani for tea after classes one day.

Priyanka formally introduced Shivani and Abhimanyu to one another.

Shivani had only known about her friend's husband based on the newspaper articles she read so she was surprised to see that Abhimanyu was not the kind of person the newspapers portrayed him as.

The man she saw in front of her was not a ruthless devil of the business world but a devoted and loving husband.

Shivani could clearly see the love Priyanka and Abhimanyu had for each other.

Priyanka also introduced her friend to Aakansha and Kabir who joined them later.

Shivani got along wonderfully with Priyanka's little family which made her friend really happy.

~~~~~~~

Isn't it amazing when a loved one tells you that they trust you?

Every relationship requires a certain amount of trust, but hearing your partner say that they trust you, is truly a very special feeling.

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