Chuck & The Girl From 4B

Chapter 54: Abby's Secrets Part 1

Raj Varma's POV
"How much can you raise?"

RJ scratched his head. "$200k."

"Karan?"

"$575k." He answered.

We frowned at him. Karan is a party animal. He blows money on stupid things. But he has the best paying job. I'm not surprised he has this much but at the same time I'm also surprised because he is a party animal.

"Are you joking?" I asked him.

"No. I'm richer than RJ."

"And all this time we have been struggling-"

"No offense pappa but you never asked for my help. You only wanted golden boy to save you. Pardon me if I stood on the sidelines watching you burn." He continued texting on his phone.

I'll address this matter later.

"Nisha and I can raise $250k." My son in law informed me.

"That puts us slightly over a million." I noted.

"Not enough to cover a wedding... not the kind they will be expecting pappa. This family is connected. Did you see the kind of guests they had and it was just a proposal? It was just a handful of their friends and family." Raj addressed the very concerns that are bothering me.

"Pappa, let Bruce and Chuck pay for the wedding." Karan advised me.

"You know that is not what I believe in!"

"There's also an illegal dowry system." Karan whispered. "Do you believe in that too? What will you give the father in law of a king? Screw tradition pappa! Just share the wedding costs if your pride will be hurt! But we cannot empty our bank accounts to pay for a wedding that the in laws can afford without a dent in their pockets!"

I hate to admit it but Karan is right. What do I give the father in law of a king?

The three of them are having a conversation. Chuck is sitting between them. He asked that I meet them to discuss some wedding details.

"Let's go."

We joined the family. Dani immediately excused herself.

"Good afternoon Bruce, Chuck."

"Good afternoon Mr Varma." Chuck stood up to greet mr. "Thanks for joining us. We wanted to talk about the wedding. Gayatri and I are to pick the date but for sure it will happen in three months."

He insists on making it happen fast.

"We need to agree on the budget." Without a budget I'll sell the clothes off my back.

"Weddings of this caliber don't have budgets Raj. We spare no expense." His father informed him. "I hear you want to pay for the wedding. How much are you willing to bring to the table?" Five million if I add to what my boys are offering.  "Better yet, let's talk privately."

We moved away from our children. "Bruce-"

"I know. I took some time to understand your culture. That is why I personally came to India to ask you to allow Chuck to marry your daughter. I know it's the bride's family who pay for the wedding. It's been like that for a long time. I totally respect that. I do. Say I allow you to pay for the wedding Raj, how much are you willing to put on the table?"

"Five million."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "What would you be left with?" I sighed. "I respect you for what you want to do. I think tradition is important. But you have to ask yourself, is it practical? What you saw on the beach is only a glimpse of the kind of guests I'll have at the wedding. I'm not saying this to brag or anything but it's just to let you know that if you are paying for this wedding, it has to be a billionaire status wedding. Can you do this? If you can, I'll back off and let you take care of it."