Though he despised the idea with his very being, Rk found himself at amitav sinha's luxurious bungalow the very next day . mohan was surprised that RK still didn't show any enthusiasm towards this proposal even after seeing swetha's pic. He had just taken a millisecond glance at it and simply discarded it on the table. He was clearly disinterested.
Now he was unwillingly placed as a showpiece infront of the sinha household. His laadli behen and bhaabi had taken extra care to highlight his looks which added up to his displeasure. As if they were decking up a newlywed bride. Amitav appreciatively looked at the young man in his late twenties , very elegantly seated opposite to him. He was an epitome of male beauty with a well toned body , chiseled muscles visible through the tight linen fabric of a t shirt he wore, soft and silky dark hair you'd mistake for layers of smooth chocolate, dark brown orbs that could make any girl feel the depth of the ocean and a gorgeous visage any man would die to own. He was blessed with looks and skills both. And moreover he was the sole heir to the vast kundra empire , the reason amitav had neglected on giving a second thought before proceeding with his only daughter's proposal for Rishab.
Rk was very much unaware of this man's thought process. Throughout the whole affair he had his eyes cast down as he pretended to be oblivious to the surrounding and cheerful chattering of the female species of both families. For a fleeting second had he just glanced at the girl clad in a green sleeveless, backless knee length frock , seated between her parents and had promptly turned his attention back to his shoes. He had just recently bought them. They did go well with the black jeans, red t shirt and a brown leather jacket over it , with a grey scarf wrapped around his neck. Radha couldn't bring herself to like the girl much. She had expected her to appear in a traditional outfit considering the occasion but seeing her clad in a very much revealing western clothes infront of so many elders, and the way she kept eyeing her son in a not so acceptable way she began to doubt her husband's preference. "so what do you have to say about swetha Radha?" mohan asked her expectantly. "my opinion solely depends upon Rishab's approval" she played the card smartly. She didn't feel it accurate to show her disapproval directly and insult her husband. She couldn't give him false hopes either so this was a safe play. Rishab's face had dissatisfaction imprinted on it. She knew her son wouldn't conclude into a wrong decision.
"who wouldn't approve of swetha. Rishu is still on his shy mode to open up about it" mohan commented feigning a chuckle earning a death glare from rk which quietened him. "can you permit me to have a talk with your daughter , uncle?" rk asked amitav who watched him amazed. "sure Rishab. Why do you ask? And you can call her swetha. Soon you'd be a married couple anyway" amitav replied smugly. "I'm sorry to say this uncle but I'm unable to assure you on the last part" rk politely replied wiping out their smiles. "could we go somewhere else, for privacy?" Rk asked swetha. Swetha who looked bewildered , sobering up nodded and led him to her bedroom. Rk looked around the highly furnished room which screamed luxury with every bit. Scratching his forehead, He turned to swetha who kept looking at him expectantly. "this is your bedroom?" he asked. "yes..." she slyly drawled advancing towards him. "from the walls to the small flower on that vase, is set up according to my taste" she said. Seeing her moving towards him, he took a step back. "your garden would've provided a better atmosphere to talk" he said . "my room is better than any place on this earth. And did you just say you want to talk? What for you mentioned privacy?" she asked confused and a bit irritated. "to have a talk with you ofcourse" he replied confused at her confusion. "just talk?" she again probed. "yes. Just to talk" he clarified understanding her intention. "I just wanted to have this conversation with you to make it clear to you that I'm not willing to take this proposal any further. I'm sure you'll be able to find an apt suitor for you excluding me as I feel neither I'll suit you nor you, me. I hope you understand" he said in a polite manner. "what? You're not interested in marrying me?" she asked taken aback. She had been gloating all this while at her impending wedding to the mighty glorious female fantasy Rishab kundra. And now everything seemed to fall apart. Not that she loved him or anything but him rejecting her was simply not acceptable to her. "may I know why?" she asked recovering, tying her hands to her chest. "because I'm not interested obviously. I don't see my future with you" he replied nonchalant. "why is that so? What is that you find unappealing with me?" she found herself losing her cool. "you're an educated, good looking young girl hailing from a rich an prestigious family, I get that but those doesn't come under the criteria of what I expect from my wife.", "you find me good looking . everything starts from there. I believe soon you'll find me worthy enough to share your life. So there's no need of calling off the marriage" she said with a glint of hope. "you look good to my eyes but I'll only marry the one who looks good to my heart. Let me tell you this, I don't live according to my stature or luxury. I live according to my likes. My heart and mind goes in perfect sync. Neither rules over the other which has always helped me in up taking right decisions all this while making me a religious follower of my instincts. And my instincts claims that its better if we part as good friends than drowning into a failure of a marriage. So I believe this is better for both of us. I don't know what is your view on marriage but for me, marriage is a way to discover more of life every day , with someone who'd show me depths to discover . someone who's as refreshing as a zephyr."she looked at him amazed hearing his words. "But we aren't the ones suiting each other. For example You find this room of yours the most pleasing one but from the time I entered in here , all I can think of is how much time more would it take to walk out from here. It's very suffocating...." He was cut off by swetha " soulmate shipper huh? You believe in all those finding partners with the exact likes of yours?" she probed in a sarcastic drawl. " you got me wrong . there can be world of difference between me and my girl but there'll always be a link connecting us which is absent between you and me." "why don't we start talking, keep in touch and get to know each other better and then come to a conclusion? We don't need to rush anything" she tried her last straw. "I guess no. I may sound mean but sorry to say this but I wouldn't like that. I don't feel a want in me to get to know you any better. I know I would never harbor such feelings for you within me so it's a waste of try"
"And whatever you do or say isn't going to change my mind" he finished stopping her from wording further. "I'll take your leave" ignoring the furious glares she threw at him, rk was about to walk out when her words stopped him.
"is there someone else?" , "if there was, instead of this proposal discussion, I would've arrived here with my wedding invitation. But I hope to find someone soon"
"I can't believe that you rejected the proposal without giving it a second thought" mohan said agitated at his son's conduct.
" I had clearly warned you of this. It's not my fault you ignored it" rk replied calmly.
"for how long rishu? For how long are you willing to remain this way? You've lived your life by your rules till now. But what from now? How long will you live deprived of a companion?" mohan asked his son helplessly.
"why are you forcing him? I know my son will find a perfect match for himself. Just give him sometime"
Rk smiled at his mother thankfully. Only she seemed understanding and reliable in this family. "Rishu I can't let this go on for long. Either you find a girl for yourself else I would be forced to take certain decisions concerning your marriage which you won't be approving of"
"bhai and finding a girl. Are you kidding dad? Is there even a girl whose charms would affect MR. perfect in any sense?" Trishna said walking towards them holding her phone to her ears. Her favorite pastime during the day , to keep her already busy husband with work busy on his phone too. And night time she'll put him busy on skype.
"dad it was your decision to marry her off to sanjay. Poor guy, he had run away to America within two months of their marriage unable to take anymore torture from her. and now see the after effect, day and night she keeps eating off his head even after him being in the farther end of the globe. Haven't you learnt your lesson? Isn't one arranged marriage enough for you, handling all the phone bills and data costs? Do you want to double the dose and push me into the same traumatic situation of sanjay?" he asked his dad in a mock pleading.
Sanjay and manav were mohan's foster brother's progenies whom mohan took in after their parents passed away. He considered them his own just like his other two kids, Rishab and Trishna. Noticing the growing fondness between sanjay and Trishna he decided to get them married leaving rk to be the Uno unmarried member of the family. Manav was already married to mallika, and had two kids. Now they were all a family.
"oye hello. My marriage was love cum arranged and I'm not torturing my husband in anyways. He had to take a sudden unplanned trip for business purpose and he'll be back here within few months ."
"why do I feel that's not the case? If that was just it then why didn't he take you along? Get this clear now my dear sister, he wanted to escape very badly, got a chance which he didn't have any reason to give up for so took it. I don't even think that he'll be back any sooner." Rk scorned "You enjoy your life there sanjay , let her keep ranting here " rk shouted into the phone making sanjay who was holding his laughter for sometime now, break into a heavy one. "see I told ya, returning back here soon is no where in his agenda right now" rk said tapping on his sister's forehead.
Hearing a deep sigh from the other end Trishna started barking into the phone. "is that true? You promised you'd return after four months didn't you? If you're not coming here then I'm coming there you get me" Trishna walked off to eat the leftover peace of mind of her poor husband.
" I often wonder how talented woman are, In whichever nook or corner of the world the husband might be, how much far ever land they might be in, this specimen find one way or the other to irritate them despite the distance between them. Poor us, we men" rk sympathized.
"rishu...." Rk looked up hearing the admonishing tone to find his bhabi shaking her head at him. "you were the only one left out to comment on this. Now tell me what is your opinion bhabi?" rk asked cheekily grinning at mallika, throwing in his next taunt. Everyone seemed to fall his prey for the day excluding his mom.
"why would my wife's say matter to you? Its not like you'd marry the very next moment she'd ask you to" his brother piped in taking a seat beside mohan.
" I hereby dispossess any right you could have to have a say in this matter" Rk declared making the woman audience's mouth drop open.
"may I know why?" manav asked least affected.
"because I wasn't the one who threw in intolerable tantrums to get married to my lover at the age of 24. You did. You can't deny the fact that even you are responsible for my current state" rk said mock glaring at his brother having manav too glare back. Silent glaring prevailed while mallika stood still flushed at rk's comment.
Irritated with the way rk was trying to eradicate the seriousness of the topic mohan decided to give the ultimatum. He cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention. "I'm very not playing around rishu. My decision is final. You're getting married. Either you find the girl or else I'll do it myself. Next april , we'll be opening our new branch in paris. I want my bahu beside you by then. You have a yearlong to go about it" he got up and walked off leaving Rk in a helpless dilemma.
Madhu kept staring at the laptop screen munching on the lays chips, with a headphone clogging her ears as she sat engrossed in the movie. Her dad was out of town and she had hopped into in her aunt roma's house for the day. She heard the room door shut with a slight bang and lifted her head up to see a very disturbed swetha making herself comfortable in the couch opposite to hers. "hi" Madhu blurted out reeling from her sudden unannounced entry. "hi." "what are you doing here? Wait a minute, how did you know I was here?" Madhu quizzed again. "where else you'd wander off to leaving you house under lock and key but gates open?" she jeered. "I want something done by you" swetha said without beating around. "shoot" Madhu replied in her most precise way. She didn't like conversing with swetha. They are from the same collage and had common friends but they both weren't that close. "I want you to stalk someone for me and find out whether he has a girlfriend" swetha said as if it was the most common thing people her age did. "what?" Madhu asked removing her head phone. "can you repeat that again?" she highly doubted whether she heard right. "I want you to stalk a guy and find out whether he is in relationship with someone. I know about you stalking rihu's boyfriend and that he turned out to be a shameless Casanova" , "but that was different. I saw him with a girl in the café nearby and followed them on an instinct. I don't marvel at it like a profession nor I intend to do so. And I had heard that you're marriage was going to be fixed with one of the kundra boys. And still your behind someone else?" Madhu was shocked with the intention of swetha's. on top of that she couldn't hide the disgust she felt of her acquaintance at the moment . swetha was not a saint but she wasn't this low minded either. Or that was what she thought. "its him only. Rishab kundra. I want you to keep tabs on him"swetha replied getting irritated. She hated asking for something more than once. she never had to do that. she always had everything at her beck and call. But now she knew she had no other choice. "instead of knocking on my doors you must've approached a detective agency. They even have a sector managing these types of character investigations and proposals of the ones getting married. They would've got you the complete record of your fiancé ", "I wanted you to stalk him as he rejected this proposal. He is more interested in love marriage. Though he denied any kind of affairs I really suspect him having one and I want you to find that for me" swetha explained earning an are- you –for- real look from Madhu. "get going swetha sinha. I have better things to do" Madhu replied placing the headphone back in its previous location. Swetha took a piece of paper and after jotting down something on it kept it on the table beside madhu's laptop. "here is his phone number. You can do this along with all those better things of yours. And you will be doing it madhubala mallik".saying so swetha walked off as Madhu continued with the movie thoroughly unaffected.
"Have you finished with the participants list? and what about the stage décor?" roma asked Madhu passing her a cup of coffee as she took a seat beside Madhu. They had finished dinner half an hour before and Madhu made herself busy with the inter collage competition preparations. She was the assistant arts club secretary of her collage and they had their competitions coming up in two weeks time. "I have to discuss all that with vinu tomorrow. She is the one organizing the deck ups. Oh fish I forgot. I have to call the costume lender for the drama outfits. I need to order the required number of gears. Rihu said that he had a tiff with Arjun on this matter. I Should also apologize to him for that. roma, could you please get me his number, its kept on the laptop table. Rihu had it written down for me." , "sure sweety"
After dinner Rk was ranting out his frustration to his friends in fb when a sudden call broke his aggressive typing. "hello" he answered the call confused. "hello sir. this is me, the arts club assistant secretary of lemir college. Actually we need the outfits for 20 characters only. We also need the back up. I know Arjun said we need more than 35 and argued with you on the material of cloth but he was just confused. That's why.", "hello miss.." rk was confused as to what was going on and tried to interrupt but madhu kept going on talking without taking a break to breathe nor let him speak. " He was supposed to manage the lighting and sounds but was suddenly burdened with this as our secretary was absent today. I apologize for that and promise the best behavior from our side now onwards. We just have two weeks and only you have all the materials on stock. You're the only person we can rely on, pls don't leave us stranded. Please do send the costumes by tomorrow for our principal's conformation...", Rk understood the matter and realizing that she was not going to stop her flow of words unless he himself puts a stop, took a deep breath and said "sorry. Wrong number". He hung up the call and shaking his head tossed it on his bed and turned his attention back to his friends.
Next chapter: zephyr
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