"When we're together, I feel like I'm home."

- Set It Up

~ A A R O H I ~

Breakfast inside the Oberoi mansion had always felt less like a meal and more like a political summit disguised with silver cutlery.

Especially today.

The massive dining table stretched across the room beneath crystal chandeliers while sunlight filtered softly through tall windows, illuminating untouched fruit platters, tea sets, newspapers, and enough food to feed a small village.

And somehow..everyone was pretending perfectly.

Sneha sat near the center beside Aditya with a split lip and a purple eye.

While Dadiji fussed over her constantly.

"Eat properly," Dadi insisted softly while placing more fruit onto Sneha's plate despite her protests. "You're eating for two now."

"Dadi..." Sneha laughed weakly. "I promise I'm not starving."

"Nonsense. Pregnancy means everyone feeds you aggressively. Family tradition."

Adheera nodded dramatically. She looked quite dishelved.

"She's right. Resistance is futile." Badi maa added.

That earned soft laughter around the table.

Even Dadaji looked lighter today.

Pushkar Oberoi sat beside Sneha asking calm questions about her health while Vivek uncle / bade papa

looked visibly relieved simply seeing his elder son home again.

Aradhna aunty /badi maa especially looked emotional all morning.

Every few minutes her eyes drifted back toward Aditya unconsciously like she still couldn't fully believe he was sitting here safely after all these months.

And honestly?

I understood.

This family loved deeply despite all its flaws.

Sometimes too deeply. But , underneath all that warmth, something else existed too.

Because across the table...,

Vishal uncle and Swarna aunty remained strangely detached.

(Advik's parents)

Not openly rude. Careful. Almost tense.

Especially whenever Sneha or Aditya became the center of conversation.

And maybe nobody else noticed it properly.

But I did.

Because ever since last night,

the atmosphere around them felt wrong.

Like there was another conversation happening silently underneath every normal one.

Beside me, Advik sat unusually quiet too.

He was very much hungover, the first thing the morning.

As he told me about yesterday night. The Oberoi Siblings summit.

His One hand lazily stirred coffee while the other rested against his chair casually, expression unreadable beneath morning exhaustion.

But every few seconds...

his eyes flicked toward me instinctively.

Adesh suddenly leaned back dramatically in his chair.

"So technically," he announced proudly, "this family has survived enough romantic disasters to qualify for its own Netflix series."

Dadiji sighed instantly. "Please don't encourage chaos during breakfast."

"Too late," Adheera replied immediately. "Our family tree already looks criminal."

Aditya groaned softly into his coffee.

Meanwhile Adesh continued fearlessly, "First bhai elopes internationally.."

"Adesh," Vivek uncle warned.

"...then Advik bhai accidentally marries the abandoned bride.."

"ACCiDENTALLY?" Advik repeated flatly beside me.

Adheera burst out laughing instantly.

Adesh pointed dramatically toward him. "And now somehow everything in this house is romantic...I am too single for this emotional damage..."

I choked on my juice immediately.

Across the table Sneha smiled faintly. Even Aditya looked entertained for the first time all morning.

Meanwhile Advik looked deeply offended. "Excuse me. I am a dignified individual."

"You danced with bhabhi through rain like Shah Rukh Khan," Adheera deadpanned.

"There is no privacy in this house" Advik grumbled, "I am relocating to Paris forever"

"You guys were too romantic."

"Adesh" Vishal uncle growled "Don't encourage such topics this early in the morning"

Agreed.

"Poor me" Adesh added helplessly.

Dadiji looked delighted now. "Oh? Show me. The pictures"

"Bhai you didn't upload anything on Instagram" Adheera turned to Advik.

"I uploaded" he took another bite "You guys are blocked"

The way Adheera looked at him with pure violence in her eyes. Truly masterpiece.

Aditya grinned while Adesh quickly pulled out his phone.

"No worries" Adesh said after an minute "I am stalking Yash and Chaya Agnihotri. They uploaded many "

"No," I replied immediately.

"Yes," Adheera answered at the exact same time. As they passed the phone throughout the table.

Advik sighed beside me. "This family violates privacy laws "

Laughter spread softly across the table again.

And for one small second...everything almost felt normal.

Until someone accidentally mentioned weddings again.

Should not have mattered,

But the air shifted immediately afterward.

My stomach tightened unconsciously.

Because no matter how much time passed,

the word still carried memories.

Mandap lights. Whispers. Humiliation.

Abandonment.

My fingers curled instinctively against my lap beneath the tablecloth.

And immediately , Advik noticed.

Of course he did.

Without looking toward me directly, his hand moved quietly beneath the table before finding mine.

Warm fingers sliding carefully between my own.

Steady. Certain.

My breath caught slightly.

No one else noticed.

Conversation continued normally above us while silverware clinked softly against plates.

But beneath the table...

his thumb brushed once against my knuckles.

Grounding me instantly.

I glanced sideways at him unconsciously.

He still looked completely calm externally. Still listening to Adesh argue about something dramatically.

But then quietly..

without turning toward me, he squeezed my hand once.

'I'm here.'

The message settled somewhere deep inside my chest painfully.

Because nobody had ever done that before.

Across the table, Aditya noticed.

I saw it happen.

His gaze flicked briefly downward. Saw our joined hands beneath the tablecloth.

Then slowly..he just nodded once.

Just a quiet understanding.

Like he finally realized..

whatever existed between Advik and me now...was no longer an obligation.

Meanwhile Swarna aunty looked toward us too briefly.

And strangely..

her expression tightened for one second.

Tiny reaction. Almost invisible.

But beside her, Vishal uncle's jaw hardened subtly too.

That same strange tension from last night.

Like something about me being close to Advik unsettled them more than it should.

My heartbeat slowed slightly.

Because suddenly, I remembered Advik's expression in the study that day. A few days before we left for France.

The way he'd looked at his father

The questions. The suspicion. The Inheritance. The Company.

And I realised something,

Like somewhere inside this family,

a truth existed nobody was speaking aloud yet.

~ A U T H O R ' S P O V ~

At night, The Oberoi mansion looked peaceful from outside.

Elegant marble walls. Moonlight filtered through the curtains. Perfectly trimmed gardens swaying beneath the night breeze.

A beautiful family home.

At least,that was the illusion.

Because inside those walls, generations of ambition had turned love into strategy long ago.

And upstairs..inside Vishal and Swarna Oberoi's bedroom another silent war had already begun.

The door shut sharply behind them.

Swarna removed her heavy bangles irritably before placing them onto the dresser harder than necessary.

"This is exactly what I feared," she snapped quietly. "The moment Aditya walked back into this house, everyone forgot everything."

Vishal stood near the balcony silently loosening the cuffs of his shirt, expression unreadable beneath the dim lighting.

Outside, rain clouds gathered slowly across Mumbai's skyline.

"He is their eldest grandson," Vishal replied calmly. "Of course they're emotional."

"Emotional?" Swarna turned toward him sharply. "That boy humiliated this family publicly."

Her voice lowered further now.

"He abandoned his wedding. Ran away. Destroyed years of reputation."

"And yet," she said bitterly, "the second he returns with a pregnant wife everyone acts like nothing happened."

Vishal stayed silent. Which irritated her more. "Say something."

He finally looked toward her then.

And there it was again, that strange tension behind his eyes ever since Advik and Aarohi returned from Paris.

Controlled. But present.

"Aditya coming back changes things," Swarna continued quietly. "You know it does."

No response.

"The elders loved him once. Your dad practically raised him to lead Oberoi Group."

Still nothing.

"And now suddenly he's back with a child on the way." Her voice sharpened. "What if they reconsider the inheritance?"

That made Vishal's expression harden instantly. "No."

The single word came too fast.

"Vishal..."

"He gave up that right the day he left."

"But families forgive," she argued. "Especially this family."

Silence stretched heavily between them.

Because unfortunately, she wasn't wrong.

Pushkar Oberoi valued blood over pride. Relationships over ego.

If Aditya returned sincerely enough...

there was a possibility.

Swarna folded her arms tightly now.

"And what about Advik?"

Something unreadable crossed Vishal's face immediately at his son's name.

"He doesn't even want the company," she muttered. "You keep forcing him toward something he clearly hates."

"He doesn't hate it."

"He avoids it constantly."

"Because he's scared."

That surprised her slightly.

"He pretends freedom matters more," Vishal continued lower now. "Travelling. Adventures. Escaping responsibility." His jaw tightened faintly. "But Advik was born for leadership."

Swarna scoffed softly. "The boy can barely attend three board meetings without threatening to fire the entire board."

A faint almost invisible smile touched Vishal's mouth briefly.

"He is the sharpest among them," Vishal said quietly. "The smartest. The strongest."

His voice carried something deeper now. Something strangely personal.

"He sees things before others do. Learns faster. Negotiates better. People follow him instinctively even when he behaves irresponsibly."

Swarna watched him carefully now.

Because this wasn't ordinary parental pride anymore.

"He has your stubbornness," she sighed.

"No," Vishal corrected calmly. "He has my mind."

Then,

"And he will inherit everything."

The certainty in his tone unsettled even her.

"What if he refuses?"

"He won't."

"He already is refusing everything."

Vishal looked toward the rain outside again.

And for one second, something colder entered his expression. "Doesn't mean he will abandon it. He is impulsive, not an Idiot. He is Reckless, But not irresponsible"

Swarna frowned slightly. "What does that mean?"

No answer.

Because now even she felt it too, that strange undercurrent beneath all his recent behavior regarding Advik and Aarohi.

Like Vishal Oberoi wasn't merely protecting inheritance anymore.

He was protecting something else.

Something older.

Then suddenly Swarna spoke again, quieter this time.

"And Aarohi?"

That finally made him tense visibly.

"She's getting too close to him," Swarna continued carefully. "You saw them today."

Vishal's jaw hardened.

"Advik changes around her."

"He listens to her." Swarna said.

"He's becoming attached." Vishal added.

That word lingered sharply in the air.

Attached.

Emotionally vulnerable. Human.

The exact opposite of what Vishal had spent years shaping Advik to avoid.

Finally, Vishal spoke again.

"That marriage was necessary."

Swarna narrowed her eyes instantly.

"There it is again."

He looked toward her sharply. "What?"

"That tone."

"You keep saying things like that lately." Her voice lowered. "Necessary. Important. Perfect." She stepped closer slowly. "What are you not telling me?"

Vishal looked genuinely irritated.

"There are matters," he said coldly, "better left buried."

That word again. Buried.

even she understood something terrible.

Whatever secret Vishal Oberoi was hiding...

it did not begin with Aditya.

It began much earlier.

Aarohi stood directly at the center of it.

"So what shall we do now..?" Swarna asked "Aditya will soon join The company. And Advik will go back to his usual ways"

Vishal's jaw tightened a little. But then immediately he looked at Swarna .

"He won't " He scoffed, "Do you think I got him married to Aarohi without any reason?"

"Ohh" Swarna looked at her husband. "I know you always have backup".

"Exactly" Vishal pointed out "Aarohi grounds him. Stabilises him. She can make him stay at the company"

"You think She will agree that easily?"

"Swarna" he looked at her "Girls like Aarohi never disapprove. They only endure."

"Only she can make him stay then..?"

"Yes" he nodded "I will personally arrange it all. "

"And if Advik finds out you're using her to control him?"

Vishal's jaw tightened faintly.

"He won't."

"But if he does?"

For the first time that night, something uncertain flickered behind Vishal Oberoi's eyes.

"He can hate me later."

The rain continued pouring outside.

And somewhere else inside the mansion completely unaware,

Advik Oberoi was probably asleep with Aarohi curled safely beside him.

Unaware that while he had accidentally fallen in love...

someone else had already turned that

love into strategy.

___

____

😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

You really thought this was just a slow-burn arranged marriage story?

Wrong.

Because love was never the only thing being built inside the Oberoi mansion.

Secrets were too.

And now, we enter the second half of the story.

Where every relationship has history. Every parent has lied. And every act of love comes with a cost.

Stay tuned.