A tall building stood high up in the air, showing the power it held. The clouds had surrounded the whole sky and were pouring light rain. The rain was lightly hitting the glass building, creating a beautiful noise.
Armaan stepped out of the car, fixing his blazer and immediately an umbrella was held above his head, shielding him from the rain. With each step he took, the umbrella didn't leave his head.
As he stepped into the tall lavish building, everyone rose up after seeing him. They gulped as they saw the intimidating professional man. He was wearing a grey Armaani suit, that was showing off his well built body. His hair was neatly gelled back and he had a light beard, coating his professionalism. He had been featured in many magazines because of his good looks and big accomplishments. He was the CEO of Oberoi Corporations.
"Good morning sir." They were just praying their boss doesn't find a mistake or yell at anyone early in the morning. Everyone was scared of him. He carried that type of aura. Ignoring their greetings, as usual, Armaan went inside the private elevator and pressed the button, heading towards his floor. The top floor.
• • • • •
The elevator dinged and the doors opened for Armaan as it had reached the last floor. The 50th floor. He loved it as he could see everyone below him.
Seeing his boss exit the elevator, Amir, his PA, headed towards him. "Good morning sir." Armaan just nodded and walked inside his modern office. The CEO's office. He sat down in his chair and finally looked at Amir, gesturing him to tell him about his schedule.
"In an hour, you have a meeting with the Nanda's. Then at 1, you have an online conference for the deal with Mr. Khan and his brother. And straight after it, you have to sign the deal. You'll be free after and at 5 you have one last meeting with the American clients." Even though it sounded like a lot, for Armaan it was nothing. So he nodded his head again at his PA, telling him to leave. "Anything else sir?" Amir didn't want to make any mistake as he could lose his job immediately. No one did. They knew how their boss was. "Bring my black coffee. Fast." Quickly nodding his head, Amir dashed out the office to do what his boss had assigned him.
Armaan didn't waste any time and took out his laptop, and started working on it as Armaan hated stalling.
• • • • •
Armaan rubbed the stubble on his jaw and signed the last paper, after reading it throughly. Just as he finished, the door to his office burst open. Armaan looked up with irritation and anger, ready to yell at the intruder but he let out a sigh as he saw his two best friends.
"Wassup fucker." Armaan rolled his eyes, knowing he was going to get very irritated. "Could've greeted me back at least." Groaning, his friend slumped down on the chair in front of him while the other one slumped down on the chair next to it. "Is there anything special that you both are here for? If not, you may leave. The door is that way." Armaan knew as long as they were here, he wouldn't get any work finished and he didn't like the idea of that.
"Don't always have to be so rude. Like come on. At least be nice to your only friends." Armaan scoffed and started typing on his laptop. "Sameer, you're wise. You make this idiot shut up." Sameer looked at Armaan and at their annoying friend. "True. Rishab, shut up for once." Sameer's voice held mock for Armaan's words. Eyeing Sameer, Armaan looked back at his laptop. Rishab on the other hand started laughing for no reason. Both the friends ignored his laughing as they were used to him being annoying.
"So why are you here? It's already raining and now you annoying asses are here." Armaan was annoyed by the rain. He hated it. He had always despised it. He hated when the water droplets hit the window which annoyed him. As much as he didn't like the sun, he hated the rain even more. It always made him get a headache. Armaan never liked standing in the rain and was disgusted how some people love the rain.
"Maybe because it's lunch time and we wanted to spend it with our friend but our friend is a fucking workaholic." Rishab scoffed at Armaan. "You need to take a break man." Sameer agreed with Rishab as they both knew how big of a workaholic their friend was. "Say whatever. It's not like I'm going to listen to you." Armaan's eyes didn't shift off his laptop which made his friends groan even more.
Rishab gestured Sameer towards the laptop but Sameer was shaking his head, telling him not to do what he thought he was going to do. Rishab being Rishab, didn't listen and with a grin, shut Armaan's laptop. "What the fuck dude!?" Armaan was in the middle of typing something but as Rishab closed his laptop, Armaan became mad. "Let that laptop rest. You, talk with us. We're bored." Armaan's anger didn't last longer and he gave his attention to his annoying best friends as he had no choice.
As much as Armaan's friends were annoying, he still loved them. They were the next two most important people in his life, after his grandpa. They were with him since childhood. He had grown up with them and neither one of them had left his side. They had always supported Armaan and Armaan supported them. Even though they were way different then Armaan, in the end these three were like triplets. These three were inseparable. They were like the '3 idiots'.
Rishab and Armaan had been best friends since diaper days. Both their dad's were business partners and friends, which grew their bond even more. Rishab is a very cheerful and entertaining man. He is also a businessman but isn't like Armaan. He is carefree and does what he wishes to do. Rishab's father had died when he was just 10 and his mother couldn't handle the grief of losing her husband, so she also died a few months after. As Rishab had no siblings, he was left alone in this world but his uncle took him in. He didn't have a family except for Armaan's grandpa and Armaan, including Sameer. Even after bearing so much at such a young age, he was still full of life.
Sameer on the other hand was the more reserved guy. He was the calm and caring one of the group. Sameer made good decisions and advised the whole group as he himself was a well-known lawyer. Sameer had met Armaan and Rishab in 2nd grade as he was the new kid. His family had shifted to Delhi so he was new and shy. But when he met Armaan and Rishab, it felt as if he had known them since ages. Currently Sameer's parents live at their hometown, Jaipur. But he lives here due to his profession.
Coming back to now, all three of these best friends loved each other very much and had a bond which no one could ever break.
They all were emerged in their conversation, when the door again opened, revealing Vanraj Oberoi. "Sup cool dude!" Rishab said, getting up, followed by everyone else. Vanraj had earned the title of 'cool dude' by Rishab as he was truly very cool. Everyone else greeted him and took the blessings of the old man.
Soon they all settled down on the couch in the office. "Dadu, why did you come here? Is there anything important you want to talk about? You could've called me or I could've came home-" "Could you stop talking now. Rishab, tell this grumpy guy to not question me as I'm not going to answer any of his questions." Rishab grinned at Armaan, twitching his eyebrows. "At least tell me the reason why you're here." Armaan didn't want him to take to much stress on himself which could effect his health. Armaan was always worried about his health.
"Can't I come to my grandson's office just to see him?" Armaan brushed his fingers through his black hair, already wanting to know the reason. "Don't butter me and tell me!" He knew his grandpa way to well. He could tell his grandpa wanted or needed something. "Ok ok! Don't cut me off in between though. Listen to the whole thing." Armaan just nodded and thought it might be something important.
"I've found a girl for you to get married to! She-" "Da-" Vanraj raised his eyebrow at Armaan, daring him to cut him off. Armaan huffed as he knew he couldn't and slumped into the couch. "Wow! A girl! For Armaan!" Rishab was getting excited for no reason while Sameer wanted to hear Vanraj's whole sentence. "Thank you Sameer. For not being like these two idiots and paying attention to me."
"So as I was saying, I found a perfect match for you, Armaan. Do you remember the girl I was telling you about last week that I had met at the temple?" He slowly nodded his head while the other two men were confused. "Well, I asked your PA, secretively, to find out the bio data of the girl. I didn't know anything except her first name. And finally after a whole week, I know everything about her. She's very beautiful and on top of that, she has an amazing personality. Do you know the Grover's? Well, she's their only daughter. She's raised with the perfect manners and will be an amazing wife. I'm 101% sure she is the right one for you."
Armaan listened to his grandpa with wide eyes. His own PA was doing something with his grandpa, behind his back. "Ami-" "Don't yell at him. It wasn't that poor boy's fault. I had told him not to tell you. Because I knew if you knew anything about this, you wouldn't let me find anything about that girl." Now he couldn't even yell at his PA.
"So let me get this straight. You found some random girl and think I should marry her?" Vanraj innocently nodded his head and Armaan groaned. "Dadu, I've told you many times already. I'm not ready for marriage. Marriage is a big step which I am not ready for. So forget about this girl. I'm not marrying her or any other girl." Vanraj silently listened to him and then finally asked, "Armaan, are you straight or are you attracted to men-" "God! Dadu!" Rishab and Sameer burst into fits of laughter and high-fived each other. He glared at them two but they didn't stop laughing.
"So...?" "I'm very much straight!" Armaan retorted before his grandpa would come up with another sexuality. "Then why don't you want to get married!? You're 28 years old now. It's your age to get married. I want to see the face of my great-grandchildren before I die but over here, you aren't ready to marry anyone."
The word 'die' made Armaan look up at his grandpa with pain. Armaan never wanted to let go of his grandpa but he knew one day everyone needs leave. If he died, he'd have no one except his friends. Seeing Armaan's expressions, Vanraj knew he hit his weak point and felt bad. Even Rishab and Sameer could see the pain in his eyes. They all knew death was a topic Armaan hated.
"But-" "Think about it Armaan. Then tell me. And it's not like you're straight going to marry her. First you'll meet her and then if you end up liking her, we can take things to the next level." Vanraj got up and headed towards the door. "Take your time, but no longer then tomorrow." Vanraj left the office but had left Armaan in his thoughts.
"So, are you going to agree?" Rishab asked. "What do you think?" Armaan had a serious expression on his face. "I think you should agree. See her. If she turns out be hot, then say yes. And I've heard that Aarush Grover's daughter is quite hot. I had also done a project with her brother too and he seemed like he was from a good family." Rishab lazily lied down on the sofa while Armaan rolled his eyes at his childishness. But even Armaan had heard that Aarush Grover had a very good-looking daughter. He had heard about Aarush and Jai Grover before but never worked with them. So he had never seen his daughter either. They had kept their daughter hidden from the paparazzi.
"Shut up Rishab. Armaan, I think you should agree with dadu and see the girl. At least meet her once. If you end up liking her, then you can agree to marry her." Sameer's advise was always helpful for Armaan. But right now, he didn't care about any advise as he didn't want to meet any girl. "But I don't want to. You both know that I never want to get married. So why should I waste my time and see this girl?" Both the friends sighed and Rishab hit his head. "Ugh." Rishab mumbled to himself and took out his phone to scroll through it, as he knew his friend wasn't going to agree.
"Stop thinking about that same thing. What if you end up liking her? What if you want to marry her? You'll only find the answers to those questions, only if you meet her. It's a one time thing. Meet her. If you don't like her, forget about her. It's so simple. And it's not like you're in a relationship." Sameer patted Armaan's shoulder and got up, gesturing Rishab to also get up. They both left Armaan's office to give him some time to think.
Armaan was then left alone to think about it. Groaning, Armaan got up and sat down in his chair and started working to divert his mind but again, his grandpa's words rang in his ears. Especially the word 'die'.
• • • • •
"Aaj toh tum gaye Nandini!" Crossing her fingers, Nandini entered the mansion quietly. She noticed her father sitting on the couch but didn't notice her brother anywhere.
"First I'll go upstairs and change out of these wet clothes, then I'll come downstairs, acting like I've been home. I'm so smart na?" She had reached up to the stairs without her father noticing but a voice made her stop in her tracks, before she could climb the stairs. "Where do you think you're going?" "Shoot!" Slowly turning around, she sheepishly smiled at Jai. "I..I.." Jai had his arms crossed over his chest and was looking at Nandini, waiting for her to answer.
"Bhai! I was coming once papa called me but the traffic was so long and-" "And you had stopped in the middle of a road and started dancing around like a crazy women, in the rain? Right?" Nandini looked around, knowing she was now caught. "Nandini, why do you always do this? You know you'll get sick." Her father also teamed up with her brother which made her pout. "I've never gotten sick before. So I won't get sick now. I have your strong genes papa." Both of the men sighed and looked at each other. "Tell me that when you get sick. But for now, go change. Then we'll talk." Quickly nodding her head, Nandini ran up the stairs to change out of these wet clothes as she was now getting cold.
Nandini loved the rain. Whenever she saw it was going to rain or was raining, she'd become happy. She'd love dancing in it and playing around in the puddles. She knew it was childish but she didn't care. So once she saw rain, without thinking twice, she'd run in it to have the time of her life. But her brother and father hated that she did that because they didn't want her to get sick. So she'd always try to hide it from them but they knew her to well and would always find out. They'd always warn her to not go in the rain again but Nandini acted as if she never heard them and continued doing so as she enjoyed it. It calmed her soul.
• • • • •
Nandini had now changed into warm clothes and came downstairs. She saw her brother and father sitting in the living room, across from each other. Her brother was on his phone while her father was reading a book.
As they noticed her presence, they put there items away. "Sit Nandu." Confused, Nandini sat down on the same sofa as her brother. She saw him looking all stressed. So she looked over at her brother, asking him through gestures on what is happening but he just looked at his phone. Now she was getting way to curious. "Papa, tell me what you wanted to talk about. You called me to come back home as you need to tell me something important. So, what is it?"
He let out a huge sigh and took a deep breath before telling her. "Nandini, you're twenty-four now. So we need to start thinking about your marriage." Nandini's eyebrows twitched as they had never officially talked about her marriage before and all of a sudden they were. "Jhanvi is also your age and has been married for two months now." Nandini was very confused as this was very sudden to her and why would her dad call her just for this when they could've talked when she came home. "Papa, I don't understand what you mean. I know we should think about it but it's not like they're are a million proposals at the doorstep." Nandini shrugged her shoulders and picked up the decorative pillow, placing it on her lap.
"Nandu. The thing is that...someone has sent a proposal for you today." Nandini's eyes widened at the new information she had just received. Nandini had never had an official marriage conversation with her family and here, there is already a proposal for her. "What!? But how? Papa, I'm not ready yet. I agreed with you when you said thinking about it as I knew finding good proposals is a long process so I'd still have a few years before marriage. But this. This is just way to sudden." Getting married at twenty-four for Nandini was way to early. She still wanted a few years to herself before marrying someone, who she'd have to spend the rest of her life with.
"You're already twenty-four Nandu. You're going to turn twenty-five soon. So don't you think it's the perfect time for your marriage?" Nandini looked at her brother for help but her mouth hung open when he also supported their dad. "Papa is right, Nandu." "But bhai is older. He's thirty and he still isn't married. So why do I have to get married at twenty-four?" Nandini whined. "Nandini, it's different for boys and girls. I know we don't believe in this stuff but once a girl's age keeps going up, it gets harder to find good proposals for her. That's how the society works sadly."
"But-" "Nandini, is their anyone you like? I'll support your-" "No papa. I never saw anyone like that." It was true. Nandini never focused on her love life. She cared more about her friends and family. "Then what is wrong with this proposal? At least meet the guy once." "Yes Nandu. I've looked into his whole bio date myself. If I had found anything wrong about him, I would've declined this proposal without even telling you. But he's a good guy. He comes from a good family and is a well-known businessman. He'll be able to provide the same luxuries and life we can. He looks good too. I think he is perfect for you." Nandini listened to everything her bhai said. By listening to this, she knew he was a good guy. Or else her brother would've never told her about him.
"I don't care about luxuries. He just needs to be a good guy. Like you both. Someone who will keep me happy." Nandini had always wished for her life partner to have the same characteristics as her brother and father had. She knew both her brother and father were great men who would keep any women in their life happy. "I know he will. Think about it Nandu. It's just one meeting. And after that, you can tell us if you like him or not. There is no pressure. I just want you to meet him."
Nandini knew she one day had to get married. And by listening to the way her brother described him, she thought he'll not be that bad. And it's just a meeting. It's not like she's directly marrying him. And if she doesn't like him, she knows both her bhai and papa will support her. What's the harm in meeting him, right?
So, Nandini took a deep breath while both of the men quietly waited for her response. "Ok. I'll meet him." Both the mens lips changed into a smile. Aarush hugged Nandini and caressed her head. "Don't worry. We won't force you if you don't like him." Nandini smiled as they broke the hug. "Do you want to see his picture?" She just shook her head 'no' as she didn't want to see the picture but instead wanted to see him the day of the meeting.
Jai ruffled Nandini's hair which made her pout. Chuckling, he pulled her into a side-hug. "I'll go inform them so they can come the day after tomorrow to meet you." Aarush went to call them, leaving Jai and Nandini.
"Imagine if he rejects you because of your ugliness." Nandini glared at him and started chasing him around the house with a pillow, laughing. Nandini didn't know that, once she finds out who is the guy she is going to meet, this laughter of her's would die.
• • • • •
Armaan knocked on Vanraj's bedroom door and waited for him to tell him to come in. He was turning anxious as the moment passed.
He had just came back from a stressful day at work. Not because of the work load but because of what his grandpa had said to him. All day long Armaan had been thinking about it over and over again. And finally, he had came to a conclusion and was now going to tell his grandpa his answer.
"Come in." He opened the door and saw Vanraj reading the newspaper. Once Vanraj saw Armaan, he knew what he was here for. "So...have you decided it?" Armaan sighed and said, "I'll meet her." Hearing this, Vanraj's face lit up. He didn't expect Armaan to agree. "Are you serious? You'll meet her?" He silently nodded and was engulfed in a big hug. "I'm glad you chose to. I know you'll like her." Armaan gave a tight lipped nod and saw the excitement on his grandpa's face. It made him think he didn't do bad by agreeing.
"I'll go tell their family so we can set up a day for you both to meet. But first the girl needs to agree also. They haven't called-" Vanraj was interrupted by one of the worker's. "Bade sahab, there is a call for you." Vanraj took the phone out of his hand and put it to his ear, confused. Once he heard the the voice of the person, he had a huge smile on his face. "Armaan has also agreed. So should we set a date for them to meet?" Armaan, who was confused, realized who it was. It was the girl's family member and the girl had agreed.
Armaan zoned out and didn't listen to the conversation his grandpa was having with this person. None of this was bothering him. He wasn't blushing or was excited like other people would've been if they were going to meet a girl. He didn't care at all. He had decided to only meet this girl for the sake of his grandpa. During this meeting, he'll somehow convince the girl to reject him so it won't look like it was he who said 'no'. Then his grandpa would finally leave this topic of marriage and let Armaan live his peaceful bachelor life.
"Armaan." Armaan came out of his trance and looked at his grandpa, and saw the phone call had ended. "Great news. The girl has also agreed to meet you. So the day after tomorrow, we'll be going to their house after lunch to meet her. Make sure to clear your schedule." Armaan just nodded at his grandpa, who was smiling. "Also, do you want to see her picture? She is very beautiful." Armaan wasn't interested in the girl so seeing the picture was pointless. "No. I'll see her the day we meet her." His grandpa just nodded and Armaan left the room, after lying he had to attend a call.
Nothing was going on in Armaan's mind. He knew this was a one time thing. He'd meet her and she'd reject him, then goodbye. But, oh boy he was wrong.
________________________________________________________________________
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- Gurleen