Viren tapped his foot waiting in his father's office. He was urgently called in from Bora Bora where he was enjoying with Natasha. He remembered how Natasha pouted when he informed her that they had to leave immediately. His lips curved in a smile remembering the events that led after that pout.
"Viren!" His father called out coming inside the office with his boots clicking. Stress lines were on his forehead. He knew it was going to be bad news after looking at his father's face.
"Dad! What's wrong? Why was I called in?" He asked him.
"Everything!" His father said exasperatedly, "Everything went wrong!" His father slumped on the office cushion chair rubbing his face tiredly.
Viren frowned, he had never seen his father so stressed. "Dad..." He called him. "We're going broke son."
"What?" Viren stumbled back. "H-how?" He asked. How can they go broke? They had billions and billions of money.
"I tried to invest in the telecommunications industry and it went in huge losses." The elder Raizaada sighed.
"What? Why would you do that? We have our roots here in the Hotel Industry, why would you invest in telecommunications? Why dad?" He lashed out. For a minute he felt guilty but kept all the guilt aside and focused on the problems.
"Well, Mr. Sharma did it and he hit the lottery with that." His father answered.
Viren ran a hand through his hair. His father was a greedy man. And look where greed brought him? On the brink of going bankrupt.
"Now, what do we do?" He sighed.
"This is where I need you Viren.." His father continued, "There is this girl. Aghanya. Aghanya Jha, the sole heiress of Jha Empire."
Viren's attention peeked, where was his father going with this? "So?" He urged his father to continue.
"So... your mother and I, we've asked her hand for marriage to you."
His father said it so quickly. It took Viren half a minute to even register what he had said. Once the truth in his words seeped in, he stood from the chair abruptly.
"You did what! You fixed my marriage without even asking for my permission? No Dad! I like Natasha! No!" His voice rose with very word.
"Viren! Calm down! We have no other option." His father tried to calm him down.
"No dad. I don't even know who this Aghanya is and you expect me to marry her?" He stated.
"Viren. You have to do this. Or say goodbye to your Bora Bora trips and your extravaganza lifestyle." He reasoned with his son.
"Dad..." He sat down sighing.
"Look here son, her parents are ready to invest in our business if you marry their daughter."
"Why are they ready to sell their daughter if they're rich as hell? She already must have a line of suitors." He voiced his doubts.
"She doesn't."
He quirked his eyebrow at his father's statement. How did she not?
"Let's just say she's not quite appealing to the eyes." His father muttered.
"Are you shitting me right now? I've got to marry an ugly hag now? What the fuck dad?" He snapped.
His father took a whiff of breath in listening to his language. "Son please... I myself don't want to do this."
"If she is ug-" He stopped short at his father's expression," not pretty as you say then she must know it. And if she knows wouldn't she know her parents are just selling her off?"
"Yeah about that... you have to win her over so she agrees."
"What the f-" He stopped again. He left the room agitated. How was he supposed to do that? Why was he even in this mess.
***
He entered his apartment which faced the Arabian Sea. He pushed apart the curtains and took in the view. The traffic was buzzing on the road. People, mainly couples were sitting on the slab of Marine Drive. The scenery calmed him to a level but he was still disturbed.
He walked in and grabbed his laptop and slumped on the couch. Opening google he searched her name.
Aghanya Jha.
The search results showed nothing. Just that her father, Rahul Jha was a tycoon in the construction business and her mother Radhika Jha was a socialite. He surfed their pictures. Well, her mother was quite beautiful but her father looked like a potato. So their daughter looked like her father?
He imagined a female version of Rahul Jha. Fat, dark, has a mole on her chin. Her shook his head at the image. It was scarring. He closed his laptop and slumped deeper on the couch.
What was he going to do?
***
It was Sunday evening and Viren was on the terrace of Raizada hotel. His father had organised a party so he could get to know Aghanya. She hadn't arrived yet. So he talked to other guests.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. He knew who it was. It was Natasha. She was calling and texting him non stop since three days. How was he even supposed to break the news to her? That he was to be married by next month.
He conversed with other guests meanwhile. Just then his dad tapped his shoulder.
"There she is..." He pointed out.
Viren looked at the direction his finger was pointing. He quickly identified Mr. and Mrs. Jha, behind them stood a meek girl. She had black hair and had a dusky complexion. She wasn't slim per se but she wasn't fat too. She was dusky skinned. She was wearing a blue kurta with Brown bottoms and a yellow shawl. He almost spat out his drink when he saw her attire.
She stood out like a sore thumb. She had absolutely no fashion sense. Her hair was in a plait falling limply on her shoulder. She had no accessories on, not even earrings.
Now he saw why she had no suitors. She wasn't ugly per se but she wasn't strikingly beautiful for a billionaire's daughter. She was simple and plain.
He shook his head. Winning her over should be easy. Girls did like him and he knew girls like her, they'd fall for anyone who would give them a little attention mistaking it for affection.
He smirked. This was going to be so easy or so he thought.
