•The Party•

1K 61 1
                                    

"What are you looking at Mr. Gujral?" Dev asked as he saw the the old man looking at him with a smile.

"I am looking at you Mr. Dixit. You are exactly what i have heard about you from others." Said Mr. Gujral as many people in business are 'andar se kuch aur, baahar se kuch aur'.

"What should I take this as? A compliment?" Dev smiled.

"Definitely a compliment." The old man said and continued with their meeting.

"So should I take this meeting as a done deal?" Asked Dev as the meeting came to an end.

"Yes, yes. Definitely. But I would like if you have a meeting with my daughter Natasha." Gujral said making Dev look at him in confusion.

"She is a very huge fan of your work and how you handled your business. Also, she is one of the members of Board of Business Association." Gujral said as he knew that Dev wouldn't say no to meet any of the members of 'BBA' and that trick of his worked or so did he thought.

"Sure, Mr. Gujral. I am comfortable any time." Dev said.

"Are you coming to Mr. Sharma's party tomorrow evening?" The old man asked.

"Yes, I am." Replied Dev.

"So Natasha and I will be waiting for you there. And I hope your mother is coming too."

"She definitely is." Said Dev and with that Mr. Gujral left his cabin while the smile which was on Dev's face a few moments ago disappeared.

He knew what was going inside Gujral's mind and he very well knew how to handle people like him.

"Tina, cancel all my meetings for the day. I am going home." Dev told his assistant as he left his cabin.

"Sure sir." Tina replied and started doing what she was asked to.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Next day-

"Maa, tu mere saath uss party mein chal rahi hai bas! Mai naa nahi sunuga." Said Dev as Ishwari tried to make his son understand that she doesn't want to go.

"Dev, tu samajh kyu nahi raha? Mai kya karugi uss party mein jaa ke? Waise bhi tu waha bade bade logo se angrezi mein baat karega aur mujhe kuch samajh nahi aayega. Tu hi jaa!" Said Ishwari making faces.

"Aunty ji aap ki medicines ka time ho gaya hai." Said Sonakshi as she entered in the room. Dev looked at her and an idea struck him.

"Dr. Bose, shaam mein ready rahiyega. Ek party mein jaana hai." Dev said and Sonakshi looked at him baffled while Ishwari smiled widely.

"Agar nutrition jaayegi toh mai bhi chalugi." Ishwari said and Dev sighed mentally at how his plan worked.

"Mai kaise Mr. Dixit? Aap mujhe kyu-"

"Nutrition, tum humare saath chal rahi ho bas! Aur kapdo ki chinta mat karo, Neha ke kapde tumhe fit ho jaayege." Ishwari said. Seeing her happy, Sonakshi didn't have the heart to say 'no'. She sighed and agreed.

"Ab toh tu khush hai na?" Dev asked his mother.

"Haa!" Ishwari said and Dev left the room. Later, Ishwari took Sonakshi to Neha's room and made her select an outfit for the evening.

"Dr. Bose, yeh saree aap par acchi lagegi." Neha said as she pulled out a black saree with a thin silver border decorated with glitters.

"Wow!" Sonakshi exclaimed as she admired the beauty of the saree.

"Toh tay hai, aap aaj shaam yahi saree pehnegi." Neha said and Ishwari agreed with her.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dev was sitting on the couch waiting for Sonakshi and Ishwari to come out.

"Dev, tu itni jaldi ready ho gaya?" Ishwari asked as she descended the stairs.

"Mai jaldi nahi, tu late ready hui hai." Dev said and Ishwari laughed.

"Sonakshi abhi tak nahi aayi?"

"Aunty ji, mai ready hu." Sonakshi said as she came out of Neha's room. Dev turned around and his breath definitely got stuck looking at her draped in a saree and her ears adorning silver jhumkas. Sonakshi's case was no different, she definitely did forgot to breath for a moment looking at the man standing in front of her.

Coincidentally, Dev had also chosen to wear a black suit which matched with Sonakshi's outfit.

"Waah. Kitni pyaari lag rahi ho tum iss saree mein." Ishwari said breaking Dev and Sonakshi's eye lock. Ishwari smudged the kohl from her eye and applied it on Sonakshi's neck preventing her from evil eyes.

"Chale?" Dev asked as the ladies nodded in agreement. The trio sat in the car with Ishwari sitting in front and Sonakshi sitting at the back.

Throughout the ride, Dev kept glancing from the rear-view mirror at the female sitting behind and the same went with Sonakshi.

Soon they arrived to their destination and Dev like a gentleman, which he is, opened the door for the ladies to step out.

"Thank you." Sonakshi muttered while he just gave her a smile but that smile did something to her heart, unknown to her what it actually did.

"Good evening, Mr. Dixit." Said one of the businessman who is Mr. Sharma- the host for the evening.

"Good evening to you too Mr. Sharma." Dev said as he shaked hands with the man.

"Mr. Gujral and his daughter are waiting for you." Mr. Sharma said while Dev nodded.

"I will just meet them." Dev said and moved towards the Gujrals.

"Dev, yeh Mr. Gujral aur unki beti tera wait kyu kar rahe hai?" Ishwari asked in a whisper.

"Mai tujhe baad mein batauga." Dev said as they reached near the Gujrals.

"Hello, Mr. Dixit." Greeted Mr. Gujral.

"Hello Mr. And Ms. Gujral!" Dev greeted as he shook hands with the father-daughter duo.

"Nice to finally meet you Dev." Said Natasha while Dev just gave her a smile in return. Soon they heard the host- Mr. Sharma announcing something.

"Good evening my fellow businessmen. Let's start the evening with a couple dance, what say?" The crowd cheered and one by one everyone started going to the stage.

Natasha smirked and it didn't went unnoticed by Dev. He instantly knew that the couple dance was Natasha's idea.

"Mr. Dixit, you are young. Why don't you go and have a dance?" Mr. Gujral said hoping for Dev to ask Natasha for dance but what he did next stunned everyone.

He went beside Sonakshi and held her hand taking her to the dance stage. Ishwari instantly knew what he did and most importantly, why he did and decided to play along with the game her son had started.

Endless Love- DEVAKSHI Where stories live. Discover now