Warrior - Chapter Ten

 Ivy's plan, while genius, just didn't end up happening. It wasn't long until someone spotted Arnav Singh Raizada at the bar and started chatting him up. Pretty soon, he was no longer at the bar, walking and talking to fellow associates. The whole night pretty much went that way for him, giving us no chance at all.

At the end of the night, Ivy headed off on home and I went to get my shawl. Once I did, I texted the driver, Harry, to tell him to bring the car forward, then went to head outside. However the sound of thunder crackled in the air and I immediately stopped.

Spring may be great, but the spring rain won't be ruining my look.

As I wait, I browse through my phone, checking for any emails I received.

"Yeah Dev, bring the car around."

I may have only heard the voice for very little before, but I recognized it immediately. Glancing up to my right, I see Arnav Singh Raizada coming up to my side, on his phone. He looks up from his phone and catches sight of all the people coming back inside to wait, in fear of the rain. He blows out some air and as he's about to do something on his phone, he notices me.

"Hi," he smiles softly, politely.

Too bad Ivy's not here. "Hi."

"How are you, Khushi?"

For whatever reason - again! - I'm shocked. I mean the dude actually remembered my name.

How many chicks do you wanna bet fawn on him on a daily? And that he flirts with?

"I'm good. How are you, Arnav?"

Yeah, I called him by his name. In other scenarios, I would've addressed him as Mr. Raizada, but given that he and his family came to my house with a rishta? No, not happening.

"I'm good as well. Did you enjoy yourself tonight?"

"Yeah, things went rather well. I noticed you were pretty popular."

Am I letting him know I kept eyes on him? Yes. But was it for strictly business reasons? Absolutely.

"Yeah, I was," he chuckles lightly. "I don't usually go to events like these, to be honest."

Well I already knew that.

"I limit myself and only go to certain events; that way I don't have to deal with too many people crowding up on me."

Oh? I arch my brow at him.

Arnav chuckles in return. "Like you noticed, I was pretty popular, in the terms you put it. And... it tends to be the case almost everywhere I go," and he pinches his lips together.

Interesting.

"By limiting the number of events I decide to attend in the year, I also manage to not have to deal with so many people, as well as paparazzi."

"The life of a celebrity," I smirk, making him laugh once more.

"Yeah, you could say that. But to tell you the truth, I'm not so much of a people person."

Huh?

Before I can question him, my phone rings. Harry's calling me, so most likely he's outside.

Well, that's it for me.

"My car's here," I let him know.

I know my manners and know how to be polite... except around bitchass aunties.

"It was nice seeing you," Arnav smiles softly.

"You too," I hear myself saying, but something was off about it.

Huh?

I don't let my mind wander and I head on out. I didn't even realize it had started raining, but Harry spots me immediately and comes forth with an umbrella. He helps me to the car, then goes around to the driver's seat, setting the umbrella aside. I brush my shawl off, some droplets having managed to make its way on it. As Harry goes to pull forward, I glance out the window and spot Arnav Singh Raizada. He simply stands there with his hands in his pockets, surrounded by five security members, all of them with their hands behind their backs.

Whoa.

As the car pulls away, it feels as if Arnav's eyes are following along as I watch him from the car, his head turning as we leave, until I can't see him anymore. I turn back around in my seat, my brows furrowed as my eyes dart from left to right.

"What the fuck was that?"

*~*

On Monday morning, Ivy feels bad that we didn't get to talk to Arnav Singh Raizada. Well, by we, I mean her. Not that she knows. She asks if I can somehow contact him, but I let Ivy know that I don't know him like that, which mostly was true. She purses her lips and shrugs, but she's optimistic we can find other ways to get things running.

The day goes by, everything going just fine, when suddenly Ivy comes bursting through the door.

"Whoa, where's the fire," I frown.

"HiLites Today, check it now!"

I recognized the gossip column she mentioned, then searched it up online. As I go onto their site, I'm stunned.

There's a picture of me standing by Arnav Singh Raizada, talking.

"Mystery Lady with Raizada Baby," I squeal, reading the ridiculous name of the article.

Without a thought, I click on it to read what fucking garbage this trash ass site had to say. I browse through the article, discovering that some idiot had snuck into the event and secretly took pictures, since no paparazzi were allowed at the event. Apparently many pictures were acquired throughout the night, but none were more interesting than spotting Arnav Singh Raizada speaking to a woman - aka me.

"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me," I huff, tossing my arms up as I lean back in my chair.

"You spoke to him," Ivy beamed.

"It was just small talk, nothing else."

"Oh." 

I'm sure she was hoping for some business talk.

"Can I sue them? What the fuck is this shit?!"

"Well, it's all guessing and questioning. No one has actually said that you are with him."

"Damn straight I'm not," I muttered.

Ivy pinched her lips together and shrugged. "Thought you should know."

"Thanks Ivy."

"Anytime," she smiles, and she heads back to work.

Fucking gossip columns and their shitty lies just for clicks! See, this is why I like blogs, where more factual things are discussed and not just pairing up random people together!

Suddenly my phone begins to ring and I see it's Payal calling. Picking it up, I take the call. "Squirt, now is not the time-"

"You saw him?!"

Aw fuck! Fuck, fucking hell, shit fucking fuck-!

"Don't tell mom," I quickly say.

"I probably won't even have to! Not unless she's seen it for herself or someone got to her first."

I groan in frustration, running my hand up the side of my face, burying my fingers in my hair.

"Why didn't you tell me? What happened? It looked like you guys were talking? Did he hit on you? Did-?"

"Don't you have a midterm today?"

I hear her scoff through the phone. "For your information, I just finished it and was heading to the library to peacefully study for my two midterms on Thursday."

"Only three midterms?"

"The other two classes were proj- don't change the subject!"

"There's nothing to talk about, focus on your studies," and I hang up on her.

An exasperated sigh leaves my lips as I place my phone down.

"Please, Amma, please don't find out in any way!"

*~*

On the way home, I picked up Payal since she needed a ride. She looked all excited as she entered the car, but as soon as she saw my face, she dimmed down. When we were about five minutes away from home, she spoke.

"Think mom knows?"

"Let's hope not."

Harry pulled up to the front of the house and we got out. Payal rang the bell, which was very quickly opened by Gomez, and as we stepped in, we came face to face with Amma, holding her tablet up.

Ah fuck!

"You saw him at the gala," she asks.

Fuck my life!

She puts the tablet down on the table sitting in the middle of the foyer. "Well why didn't you say anything?!"

"Because of exactly this," and I headed into the living room.

Both Amma and Payal follow after me, however, much to my annoyance.

"Did he say anything," she asked as I sat down on the sofa. "Did he say why they haven't called? Did-?"

"Amma, please!"

"But this is important!"

I groan with annoyance as Gomez comes in with water, which I gratefully take and gulp it down.

"In the picture it looked like you two were talking? What did he say? Are they interested? Are-"

"Amma, I mean it, stop."

Her eyes slightly widen as I stand up, my expression rather stern. Even Payal catches the drift of things and steps forward.

"Di-"

"Why should I stop," Amma interrupts. "Is it wrong that I've been so concerned, wanting the best for you?"

Here we go again....

"They're good people. They are, I can feel it in my heart, I-"

"I'm not doing this," I nearly whisper, and I walk around her to leave the room.

"Khushi, come back here," Amma calls out from behind me, following after me.

She manages to reach me just as I get to the stairs, grabbing my hand. At that moment, Babuji comes in with a donut in his hands - it's his cheat day.

"What's going on," he frowns.

"Khushi, please, let's talk about this calmly," Amma practically begs.

I pull my hand away from her. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Khushi-"

"I went to a business event, he happened to be there, we exchanged a formal conversation, done. That's it, that's all it'll ever be."

"But-"

"That's it! I'm not interested in any of the other bullcrap!"

"Khushi!"

I ignore her scold. "But you know what's interesting? In all of this, did you ever even ask me if I was interested? If I wanted this?"

Her eyes slightly widen as her lips part.

"The only thought going through my mind were these bitches were psycho and wanted to get killed!"

"Khushi-!"

"I mean seriously, after the wonderful performance I gave at the Das' it made no sense to me why anyone in their sane minds could even think of making a rishta with someone like me! And yet they did! So naturally I was curious to see who the morons were, and once we discovered it was the Raizada's, it made me curious why they were so desperate for their death and you know what the craziest part of it all is," I asked hysterically, the thought only coming to my mind now.

Amma only pinched her lips together.

"That woman, Shalini Singh Raizada, who I don't even know, was proud of me. She was proud of the way I stood up for myself - proud to hear that I, a victim of attempted rape, stand up for myself each and every time, while this bullshit society tries to tear me down. She was proud of me but you? You?"

"Khushi, please-"

"Every time you would get upset with me. Despite the fact that you also understand why I do it, you would get upset with me, to then what? Just get mad at yourself? Like why do you do that bullshit? Why can't you, my mother, support me and defend me when your so called friends try to insult your daughter? Instead, you tell me to shush and not them?"

"I-"

"It blows my mind," I exclaim, holding my hands up. "You try to shush me, and meanwhile a woman I don't even know was proud of me!"

Amma looked down, tears in her eyes. 

Babuji came forward, wrapping his arm around her. "Khushi-"

"Babuji, please, don't you start as well. I get it, you love mom, but you enable her too much."

Amma sniffled. "I-"

"And you wanna know what the other crazy part is? I never gave my consent, I just went with your flow, but did either of you think to ask me? Did either of you think to ask, like hey, we should ask how Khushi feels about this? No, neither of you did. And yet that Shalini Singh Raizada? She doesn't know me and yet she understood. She was the one that said that the whole idea of marriage can't be something that's easy for me, that none of it could be easy for me, not after what I went through. Despite the fact that she admired me and wishes for me to marry her son, she said that it was all my choice. That I should be the one to decide whether or not to go forward on this, even though she deeply desired for me to marry her son."

All three of them looked at me in shock.

"She wants you to marry Arnav," Amma gaped.

A scoff escapes my lips. "Damn. Some priorities," and I turn to head upstairs.

"Khushi-"

"Just leave me alone! Clearly no one cares about what I think or what I want, you just do as will, fuck my consent! Amazing how those around me just love to do that! My family just goes ahead and invites a boy and his family over, my ex-husband goes ahead and tries to fuck me!"

"Khushi!"

Amma looks pretty much livid as her tears stream down her cheeks.

"Just stop," I breathe out, suddenly feeling so drained.

Without another word, I head on upstairs and go to my room, locking the door. I don't even bother turning on the lights, and set my bag down on the floor as I remove my heels. I crash down onto my bed and grab my pillow, holding onto it, and faded into sleep.