Chapter 7
Sameer’s people were hounding her. Raashi felt more irritable than she had felt in days.
They persistently called her at the office, they inundated her with emails and somehow they had managed to get hold of her personal cell number and now bothered her daily.
Sameer Sehgal was an egotistical, haughty beast. He thought he could sit in his lofty tower and let his people deal with her.
No way. Not happening. She wasn’t interested in any of his offers.
She had told him clearly at Janak’s birthday party that she wasn’t going to sell the land to him.
But did he listen? No! He just set his people after her.
God! The arrogance of that man was astounding.
She parked her car in front of her apartment building and walked towards the elevator, seething in anger.
Sameer was hankering after the property Janak had gifted her.
That was her property now and there was no way on earth she was going to sell it to him.
She had her own plans for the place and she would make her own dreams come true.
For once in her whole life, she had got something easily, without having to struggle for it and she was not going to let someone badger her to give it away, especially not Sameer Sehgal.
Running a restaurant business wasn’t easy.
It was tough work and it wasn’t all happy profits.
She had rents to manage and staff and inventories and a dozen other things that required money.
And finally now in the last five years all her investments were paying dividends.
She had enough savings in the bank to afford a decent life and a foreign education for her sister.
Luxuries, she had to indulge in sparingly, but she could handle that.
It was more important to save money for future investments and rainy days than on Gucci and Louis Vuitton.
Not that she didn’t enjoy the occasional Louis, of course she did, but she knew when to spend and when to save.
She’d worked very hard for her success. She had risen slowly and surely and made a name for herself. Sameer Sehgal had tons of land available to him and he could do what he wanted with any of those. He wasn’t getting hers.
She entered her house and laid out her clothes for the evening. It was a simple, knee length, aqua blue skater dress. She was meeting Rithwik tonight and there was no way she was going to let this land issue and Sameer Sehgal ruin her evening.
Rithwik was wonderful and special to her.
He cared for her deeply and she was well aware of that.
They had a comfort level that was borne out of years of friendship.
She hadn’t even realized that they had been spending so much time alone together until Keya had pointed it out.
It had just happened. With all their other friends busy in their lives they had drifted towards one another.
In the past, either Keya or she had gone as his ‘last minute’ dates whenever he had needed them.
It was usual for Keya, she, Rithwik and their other friend Aditya to catch up together often.
But now that Keya was married and Aditya out of the country, she caught up alone with Rithwik more often than before.
She enjoyed his company thoroughly. He was funny, naughty and an outrageous flirt.
He could always cheer her up and she was looking forward to spending time with him today.
They were going to a new Pan Asian restaurant she had been dying to try out.
It had received great reviews and the food was fantastic, she had heard.
Rithwik guided her to their designated table and Raashi let her eyes wander. The black and red de?cor was beautiful and the dragons painted on the walls were dazzling. It was a good decision to come here.
She sat quietly watching Rithwik talk about a new product his company had recently launched.
Normally, she listened to him with avid interest but today her thoughts were elsewhere.
It was all Sameer’s fault that she couldn’t get him out of her mind.
Every day she was harangued by his people and now that she had told them in no uncertain terms where she stood on the land issue, she wondered what he would do next.
One thing she was most certain of - Sameer Sehgal never gave up on what he wanted.
Raashi twirled her wine glass absently and realized that both of them had been silent for a while now.
She switched her attention back to Rithwik and found him staring into his whiskey glass, running a finger across the rim of his glass continuously.
She reached forward and grasped his hand, grabbing his attention.
He looked up at her and she asked, “What are you stressed about?”
“I’m fine, Raashi.”
“No, you’re not. You’re obviously worried about something. Talk to me.”
Raashi saw him think through something.
He then sighed and said, “He wants me to get married.”
She dropped his hand, stunned.
“Who? Your dad?”
He nodded. “In six months and...”
“And?” Raashi prompted him.
“He’s given me a list of girls to choose from and you’re at the top of the list.”
Raashi gasped. “What? Me? Wait, wait, go back and start from the beginning.”
“Well, I’m thirty-one and showing no signs of getting married, so my father has given me an ultimatum. Either I get married in six months to a girl of my choice or from the list he’s given me or he drops me as the managing director of Fortuna and changes his will to disinherit me.”
“Are you serious?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Rithwik said with a sigh.
“But can he do that, I mean, really?”
“Of course, he can. He’s the major shareholder in the company. He can do what he wants.”
“OK, I get that, but why me? He doesn’t know me,”
Raashi had never met Varun Bali, Rithwik’s father.
Rithwik’s family was intensely private. Although she’d met his parents a few times, she couldn’t say she knew them well.
They lived in Delhi and hence their interaction had been limited over the years.
She had always assumed that he shared a good relationship with his father.
But now listening to Rithwik she wasn’t so sure.
Rithwik peered into his glass again before he spoke up.
“That’s the million dollar question isn’t it? He knows we are friends. But my father always has a reason for everything and you being on the top of his list does seem strange.”
Raashi frowned as Rithwik continued, “Anyway, I will have to figure out how serious he is about this marriage ultimatum.”
They remained silent for a while until Rithwik asked, “Would it be so bad? You and me, I mean. We could make marriage work.”
“Very funny, Rithwik.”
Rithwik continued to eye her seriously and she shook her head, raising her hands in front of her.
“We are so not having this conversation and this is not a marriage proposal, is it?” Raashi said in alarm.
She stared at him, her eyes wide; unable to believe they were even having this conversation.
“Why? I mean think about it. We would be ideal for each other. We’re friends and we understand each other, plus we care for one another. Unless, you have someone else in your life,” he raised his eyebrows in question.
“Obviously, I don’t have anyone else in my life.”
“What about Sameer Sehgal?”
Raashi bit her lip. “What about him?”
“Somehow I get the feeling, there is something going on between you and him,” Rithwik stated frankly.
“Meaning?”
“A few months back, Sameer Sehgal made an obvious play for you and I thought you were falling for him and then suddenly he disappeared from your life. Now he is back again. I see the way he looks at you. What’s really going on, Raashi?”
Raashi wasn’t surprised with the question. Rithwik had been present at both Sheena and Keya’s weddings and on both those occasions Sameer had been all around her.
How was she to answer him now? She didn’t want to lie to him, but then again she couldn’t tell him everything.
Thinking for a few seconds, she said, “The equation between Sameer and me was very complicated back then. But whatever was between us wasn’t meant to be.
I guess we wanted different things. And the only reason he is back in my life is because of a piece of land I own.
He has set his eyes on it and wants it at any cost and I refuse to sell it.
So, well, I foresee us being locked in battle over it in the near future. ”
Rithwik looked thoughtful for a moment as he watched her intently. To Raashi it was clear that he didn’t entirely believe her. But mercifully he didn’t press her for details.
Instead, he said, “Okay, now that that’s cleared, what about us?”
“Us? You’re crazy to even suggest an us.”
Raashi was sure she looked as shocked as she felt.
“Can you at least give it a thought? If I have to choose a girl to marry from a list or any girl in six months then I’d rather it be you.”
Raashi didn’t know how to respond. Thankfully, he changed the subject and didn’t bring it up again. The rest of the evening passed by comfortably, without any further awkwardness.
Raashi unlocked the door to her house and was startled to see the pitch darkness inside.
As a rule she always left the curtains open so that she wasn’t fumbling in the dark when she entered her home.
She stumbled for the light-switch, but before she could reach it all the lights went on in the room and she heard a beloved voice scream, “Surprise!”
“Jiya! What in the world are you doing home?” Raashi squealed with delight at seeing her younger sister.
She rushed forward and enveloped her sister in a tight hug.
She stepped back to study her kid sister.
At twenty-one Jiya was sharp, witty and extremely impish.
She was full of life and a total riot. Her brown hair was cut short and framed her perfect oval face.
At the obvious appraisal happening, Jiya winked at her older sister.