Warrior - Chapter Nineteen

After staying in the park for a little while longer, we walked back to our cars. Was my hand still in his? No, and only time will tell if we'll ever get there. However, what I will say is that there's a possibility I might start to see him as a friend soon, rather than later.

When we reach our cars and are about to leave, Arnav remembers something. He opens the door to his car and reaches over to grab something, before coming back to me.

"This is for you," he smiles softly.

In his hand is a white box, tied up with string. 

"What's this," I ask as I take the box.

"Check it once you leave."

I look at him in confusion, but he only smiles and starts retreating.

"You'll understand. I can't wait to see you tomorrow."

"Umm... okay."

He smiles even more and gets in his car and I get in mine. I watch his car come to life in my rearview mirror, and he slowly pulls up besides me and stops.

"I'm really glad you came to meet me."

The corner of my lips crook up on its own. "Yeah... me too."

He smiles at me once more. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

With another smile, Arnav pulls away, the shiny, jet black beauty getting smaller and smaller as it went away. I let out a sigh and look at the box Arnav gave me. Curious, I removed the string and opened it up, and inside were a dozen mini cannolis.

I'll get them for you the next time I see you

I can't help but to scoff lightly, a small smile taking over my face.

"Hope," I murmured to myself.

Closing the box and placing it on the driver's seat, I head on home. I take the box of cannolis with me inside, and as soon as I get in, Payal nearly tackles me, almost making me drop the box out of my hands.

"Payal-!"

"What happened? What did he say? You were gone for a while! What happened?"

I shrug the chihuahua off of me and make my way to the kitchen. Payal follows along, as well as her questions, but I ignore her and them. In the kitchen, I find Gomez and a few of the chefs.

"Hey Gomez, is Monica in," I asked.

"No madam, she's done with her shift."

"When will she be in tomorrow?"

"Early in the morning."

Meaning seven.... "When she comes in, can you tell her to prepare a dozen of her chocolate cupcakes with the chocolate buttercream?"

I can hear Payal gasp with excitement and I can tell without even looking that her eyes are ready to pop out.

"Of course," Gomez smiled.

"Thanks Gomez. Please make sure that no one eats them," and I head back to the main hall to go upstairs.

Payal followed after me, of course. "What's the cupcakes for?"

"Don't worry about it squirt."

"It's for Arnav, isn't it?"

I reach the top of the steps and look back at Payal, my eyebrows scrunched.

"I'm totally right," and she's grinning like an idiot.

I place my hand at my hip, tilting my head at her.

What the fuck! How'd she know?

Payal rolled her eyes with a scoff. "Oh come on Di! You go to meet Arnav and come back with what looks like a pastry box that you get from a bakery, and then you ask Gomez to have Monica make her cupcakes? That, too, a dozen? It's not a no-brainer you know," she frowned. "Question is, what did he give you by a dozen?"

She goes to open the box, but I smack her hand away.

"Hey!"

"That's what you get," and I head towards my room.

"That's not fair Di," she whined, following along with me. "And you still haven't said what you guys spoke about."

I reach my door but Payal quickly covers it with her body.

"Move out of the way, squirt, "I roll my eyes.

"First tell me what happened! I've been dying here trying to figure out why he called you."

Again, I roll my eyes at her exaggeration.

"Tell me! Please! Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please-!"

"Would you stop! You're fucking 21, not 11," I scowled.

"So what?"

I roll my eyes with a groan. "We just talked, now can I go into my room."

"What did you talk about?"

"Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Nothing that concerns you," and I try to reach my doorknob around her.

"What does that mean," she asked, moving her body so that I can't reach it.

"Exactly what I said. Now move it squirt."

"Tell me one detail, come on Di!"

It's not like I can tell her the main reason to our conversation.

"Well," she pushed on.

"We spoke about his tattoo, okay? Now move."

In her state of confusion, I take advantage and reach my doorknob, and head inside.

"Wait, his tattoo," she asked, standing in place. "Which one? He's got so many!"

"The one on his left hand," I say as I place the box of cannolis down on my nightstand.

"Oh... why?"

I go back to the door and take hold of it. "Sorry baby sis, it's personal."

She arched her brow at me and placed her hands at her hips. "Is it really or are you just saying that to get me to leave?"

I roll my eyes. "It's Arnav's personal business."

"Oh.... Okay then," she shrugged, and she walked away.

What-! That's what gets her to leave me alone? Seriously? 

"Unbelievable," I mutter to myself, and I close the door and lock it.

Sitting down on the bed, I pick up the box of mini cannolis and open it. I can't help the small smile on my face, and I pick one up.

Let's see if you're as good as the critics claim.

I take a bite, which ends up being about half of the cannoli and oh! My! FUCK!

"Well I'll be damned...."

They're good. They're actually really good. I mean I've had cannolis before and some people mess up the shell, it becoming a tad too salty. Other people just mess up the filling and it ends up being so sweet - I mean it feels like I'm straight up eating sugar. Bu these cannolis?

I pick up my phone and shoot Arnav a text.

K: These are so fucking good!

Arnav responds within seconds

A: LOL I knew you'd love them

K: Thanks for the treats!

A: Anytime! Now about those cupcakes....

I should've known, I scoff lightly.

K: What about em?

A: I have yet to taste and see how amazing Monica's cupcakes are

K: Hmm... I see....

A: ...and...?

I can't help but to laugh.

K: Time will tell

A: ☹️

K: 😂😉

A: 😃

A: Enjoy the cannolis!

K: Will do! Thanks!

I put my phone aside and put all of my attention on the deserts in my hands.

Yeah, I won't be eating dinner tonight.

*~*

It's Wednesday morning and the house is hectic! With the engagement happening at Arnav's house, Amma's been pretty much getting gifts together for everyone over at the Raizada household, as well as wrangling up any guests from our side to attend the function.

I'll bet you one thing - any of the people that come from our side are not coming for me, but simply because it involves the Raizada's.

Payal being the extra girl that she is, has us shower early so that we can get going to the beauty parlor. Honestly, I could've just done my makeup myself, but the extra girl just has to be so damn extra! Instead, she packed up our clothes and we get going. When we arrive, we get our hair and makeup done, then change into the clothes we'll be wearing tonight. Hours have passed and Amma calls to see how far along we are and this woman - this crazy woman! - tells us to come back to the house so that we can all go together... instead of the easier way which would be Payal and I would tag along and we could go there together.

But no.

It's obvious where Payal gets here extra-ness from.

We arrive home and wait out in the living room, waiting for our crazy mother to finish getting ready.

"Amma! What's taking so long," Payal hollered.

Amma yells back something unintelligible and we just sigh.

You'd think she's the one getting married.

Babuji comes walking in, shaking his head. "I knew I could've waited to get ready."

Another fifteen minutes or so pass by, when Amma finally comes down. The nerve of this woman, I swear - as she comes down, she yells at us for just sitting around and tells us to get up and go in the car cause we're running late.

I swear....

Harry pulls up with the Audi and we all get in. Mom is pretty much losing brain cells as we get closer to their place, rummaging through her phone.

"Garima, relax," Babuji tried to soothe.

"I can't," she exclaimed. "Do you think everyone's already there?"

"Wouldn't be surprised," Payal muttered.

Amma scowls at her but baby sis ignores her.

It's not long later until we finally arrive to Raizada Mansion.

"Holy fuck, we made it," Payal murmured.

A large gate with a fancy R opens up, revealing a massive mansion. And I mean ridiculously massive. There's a huge fountain in front of the mansion, all lit up with beautiful lights. As we come to the front of the house, I see there's valet staff taking care of all of the guests' cars.

"They're here," we hear someone shout.

As we all get out of the car, we spot Aryan and Shalini Singh Raizada come forward, along with some other elders, two of whom I recognize to be Arnav's aunts from the other day at the restaurant.

"Welcome! Welcome," Shalini beamed.

She and Amma exchange hugs while Babuji and Aryan shake hands. Payal and I greet them, and I bend down to seek their blessings, but I'm quickly stopped and pulled into a hug by Shalini.

"I'm so happy," she whispered to me.

Her smile as she pulls back makes it very evident that she is.

"Allow me to introduce you to the other members of our family," she smiled. "This is my brother in-law, Firouz, and his wife, Maira. And this is my younger brother in-law, Madhav, and his wife, Varsha."

I may sound biased, but out of the three brothers, Aryan looked the best. I mean he looked the least aged out of the three, and he's the eldest! Whatever that man is doing, he's doing it right! Firouz Singh Raizada is only a few inches shorter than Aryan, with shaggy hair. Madhav Singh Raizada is about the same height as Firouz, but the man had short hair instead.

As for the ladies, unlike Shalini Singh Raizada, Maira Singh Raizada was petite and plump, not to mention appears... more exaggerated than the rest, with bright clothes and popping makeup. Varsha Singh Raizada, on the other hand, was almost bone-like skinny, and she appeared a little, well, bland.

Shalini led us all in and we entered the massive foyer. A ginormous chandelier took up the high ceiling, making the white walls glisten. A table with a large white vase adorned numerous flowers of many colors, leading to two large curved staircases, which led upstairs. Paintings and statues decorated the area, and it all looked like a masterpiece.

Damn, those Raizada ancestors really did it right!

We followed after Shalini, going to the double doors beneath the staircase, and entered a vast ballroom. There were many guests already inside, and they all turned to us, watching us as we walked in.

Payal leaned in close to me. "By the looks of it, all of Amma's guests came."

Told you so.

Large windows make up the back of the ballroom, and I spot Arnav Singh Raizada, along with two other men. One I recognize to be his cousin NK, and based on the features of the other one, I think the other is Akash.

Arnav spots us coming towards them, and his eyes land on me. That small, polite smile of his appears, and I feel Payal lightly nudge me. When we reach him, Arnav greets us and he bends down to seek blessings from my parents, and like his folks, mine stop him and hug him instead. Shalini introduces the two boys next to him, and it turns out that I was right.

Everyone starts to mingle and gets to know each other, the elders with themselves, while we children stayed amongst ourselves.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Akash smiled.

"Same here," NK grinned.

"It's nice to meet you as well," I smiled back. "Although I did get a small snippet of you," I said to NK.

NK starts to chuckle. "Oh yeah, from the gym video."

Arnav scowls at him but Akash laughs.

"If it helps, I had no idea what was happening," Akash said. "One minute I'm just running on the treadmill, the next thing I see is everyone else is running."

I chuckle along with him, but I notice baby sis is slightly confused - I'll have to fill her in later.

"That may be the case with that incident," Arnav frowned, "but not with the phone calls."

Akash immediately starts laughing and slightly winces. "Oh right... that," he tried to laugh off.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot," I said. "How did that exactly happen," I smirked lightly, arching my brow.

"It was actually quite fun," NK chuckled. "Nanav has this bad habit of not always locking his phone, so after he couldn't reach you when he first called you, he placed his phone down and we swiped it."

"Oh my gosh!"

"Yeah! And then he started chasing us through the house! As we ran, I called you first but it didn't go through, but Nanav was about to reach me, so I tossed the phone over to Akash and then he tried. You didn't pick up, but Nanav was gaining on us, so the two of us split at the stairs. But just before we did, Akash tossed it back to me, and my fingers accidentally redialed your number," he chuckled.

"Is that so," I smirked.

"Totally," Akash grinned. "Since it turned out that Bhai wasn't lying, we gave back his phone, though we did pay the price," he frowned, remembering the results of their actions.

"I'll hit harder next time," Arnav smirked.

I chuckle, but I catch Payal's dagger eyes - oh yeah, baby sis is real mad for not knowing the details.

Eh, I'll fill her in when we get home.

Suddenly, Aryan gathers everyone's attention. He thanks everyone for coming and makes a small speech, and soon, it's time for the ring ceremony. When it comes to Arnav's ring, that at first ended up being Amma's responsibility, Amma bringing a jeweler to the house two nights ago. However, she did bother me and force me into choosing a ring between the two she had liked - both were horrendous. I ended up having no other choice and had to look through the rings. A zirconium ring had caught my eyes, reminding me of the dark Anubis tattoo on his left hand. The ring would perfectly compliment the tattoo, so in the end, I chose that even though Amma didn't exactly like it, preferring something brighter.

Oh well.

Amma holds the box open for me and I take the ring out from within, and turn to see Arnav holding a humongous diamond in his hand.

Holy shit fucking fuck!

I control myself from reacting, but I can hear the faint gasps that come throughout the room, even from Payal behind me. The ring is absolutely fucking gorgeous! And huge! A large emerald-cut diamond sits in the middle of a skinny band, embedded with tiny diamonds.

Holy son of a bitch!

Shoving the overwhelming feelings out of my head, I force my attention on the ceremony. Arnav places the massive diamond on my ring finger, and that lingering feeling on my left hand returns. Only this time, it's stronger, combined with the feeling of the ring that is now sitting on my finger. I look up at Arnav and he smiles at me softly, and then I place his ring on his ring finger. Just as I had hoped, the ring went perfectly well with his tattoo.

Everyone around us starts to clap, and then the photographer comes forward to take pictures. I notice the other cameraman behind him, recording everything that was going on as well, but as long as the man didn't record me eating, I don't care. Instead, I focus on the photographer and smile for each and every photo. First he takes a few of just Arnav and I alone, and then with the family. Then the guests slowly come one group at a time to congratulate us, and they take pictures with us as well. When we're finally done with that, dinner is served outside in their backyard, and once again, I am floored.

Their backyard wasn't just a backyard, it had a fucking zip code of its own! It's massive! There's a humongous pool, an outdoor dining area with a grill, a bar, and off in the distance was a basketball course with a gym beside it! Any spot that didn't have anything was luscious grass with trees, plants, and flowers here and there!

Holy shit!

Tables had been set up for the guests to sit at, while long tables were set up along the sides for people to get food. While they did, we mingled around, Arnav meeting some family friends of mine while I met some of his. 

We were just done talking to a relative of his and were about to get food, when my ears picked up certain words.

"I mean can you believe it? Did you see that rock he gave her? How does a divorcee end up getting so lucky," an aunty quietly exclaimed, though not quietly enough.

I can't help the light scoff, nor my smirk, and I see Arnav beside me, glancing down at me. But I don't focus on him. Instead, I make my way towards the aunty and her little posse.

"I mean it's ridiculous," she continued, her gang of idiots nodding and agreeing. "Did you hear about her last marriage? I mean she put her ex-husband in jail! Who knows what she'll do to poor Arnav! She ought to consider herself lucky before trying to do something stupid like that, I mean how can she be so lucky?"

I placed my hands behind my back and slightly leaned into her. "I guess luck favors me."

The aunty flinched and whipped around, the others realizing my presence as well. All of their eyes were wide like disks, staring at me in horror like I was Freddy fucking Krueger himself.

"It's very sweet to hear your concerns for my fiancé," and I give a fake smile. "But don't worry - so long as he doesn't turn out to be a snake nor try to rape me like my ex-husband, there's no worries."

Their eyes widen even more, looking ready to pop right out.

"Enjoy yourself ladies," and I pretend to turn to leave, then act as if I remember something, then turn back to them. "By the way, if I'm not mistaken, my mother was the one to invite you all, yes," I ask innocently, tapping my cheek with my left pointer finger, flashing the ring that's got them so wound up.

And like the greedy bitches they are, they nearly salivate at my ring.

Typical.

"Enjoy the view while it lasts, you fucking freeloaders," and I flash them another fake smile and wave at them with my left hand, and turn away.

Arnav is still where I left him, but I spot Amma and Babuji off to the right, Amma looking straight up terrified - she knows exactly what I did. And not so far behind them, I see my future mother in-law and father in-law, looking proud. I turn my attention back to Arnav and notice the small crook of his lips. I quickly glance at my mother, who's still looking terrified, and look back at Arnav. He doesn't say anything, but instead, he holds his fist up. I understand immediately, and I bump my fist with his, and his smile grows into a grin, and we head off to get something to eat.

As we walk away, I look back at Amma and see her sigh in relief while Babuji tries to comfort her.

She worries too much.