Arhi ff: Tangent Worlds. Ch,2: Brothers and Sisters.

    Hey there all you lovely people, here is the second chapter of 'Tangent Worlds'. But first of all two fair warnings, firstly, this is not a TYPICAL Arhi romance, but a little mature reading, and by mature I mean the story-line and not just '18+ scenes'. A little clarification here, I said not a 'TYPICAL' romance, and this in no way means that the romance quotient would be absent. And secondly, I have not proof-read the whole thing yet, will do it later, as m super tired right now. But well, hope you'll enjoy this.

                          TANGENT WORLDS

               Ch-2: Brothers and Sisters

“Jijiiii”

Khushi woke up with a jerk. Her hands crushed her ears, in a desperate attempt to block that voice, her Jiji’s helpless cries for help. Helplessness gnawed at Khushi, and she was glad for the Numbness that seemed to understand her so well, enveloping her in her calm embrace, lulling her spirit to a deep hypnotic sleep and Khushi followed her, charmed and spell-bound by that serene lullaby as she ushered her to the dark palace of her master, Despair.  

Khushi felt her way to the kitchen, not bothering to turn on the lights… light or dark… how did it matter now, she had nothing to fear now and nothing more to lose…

She gulped some water down her dry throat and was about to return back to her room when the phone rang. She picked it up, and glanced at the wall-clock, it was quarter past eleven, who would call their home so late at night?

                       *************************

Arnav Singh Raizada entered the premises of the Oberai Hotel and made his way towards the restaurant area. Standing at the main entry, he scanned the space, his gaze halting at his table, or to put it a little more diplomatically, his preferred table, right in the middle of the hall. And there he was, the man whose stars have brought him to this exquisite restaurant, way beyond even his wildest dreams, in front of one of the richest business tycoons in the country, Arnav Singh Raizada. Now how lucky of unlucky his stars are, only time would tell. Arnav checked his limited edition, Louis Moinet ‘Meteoris’ watch, it was one minute to quarter past eleven. The man was right on time and punctuality impressed the man who understood the worth of time exclusively in monetary terms. Arnav straightened his Armani three piece and strode towards his reserved spot. His personality beckoning a unique mixture of sophistication and rawness, his stance breathe confidence, a bit over in fact.

“Arnav Singh Raizada.” He stretched out his hand towards the man, who got up and took his hand in a short but firm shake.

‘Self-confidence. Good’ Arnav noted to himself, while taking his seat.

“Good to meet you Mr. Raizada. Myself…” But he was cut in between, as Arnav signaled the waiter.

“Dalmore 1974 Single Highland Malt Scotch Whiskey, for me and…” Arnav trailed off looking towards his appointee for the evening.

“I would have a Glenmorangie Single Malt Scotch. Thanks.”

The waiter wondered why Mr. Raizada’s company preferred, something so ordinary, while the man himself ordered a drink worth $1,250. When the waiter had retreated, he turned towards ASR and smiled as he said,

“Well I prefer limiting myself to the known, when in a respectable, formal company. It reduces the chance of making a fool of oneself.”

Now though the Raizada lacked humility himself, he did admire it others. For more often than not it boosted his ego.

“So, I hope you understand how very important this deal is for me. She is a Raizada after all.” Arnav was not a man to waste time in pleasantries and so came straight to the point.

“Yes Mr. Raizada, I am well aware of that and I feel honored that you considered me for this, even if as a mere probable option.”

The waiter came just then with their orders and the men halted in their discussion as the waiter poured their drinks for them.

“And I believe you are aware of her condition.” Arnav started as soon as the waiter had left.

“Condition?” the man sounded genuinely confused.

“Yes, well I hope you do know that she is barely twenty and still an undergraduate student. So her studies remain her priority.” Arnav had no second thoughts about it.

“Ofcourse Mr. Raizada, I completely agree with you. I mean, I myself hail from the Academic environment and so very well understand its importance.”

“I am glad we agree. Now for the money matters, what do you expect of this arrangement? And please be very clear about it as ‘SELF-LESS SAINTLY CONSCIENCEs’ is not something I believe in.” Arnav looked the man in his eye, as if to get a glimpse of his psyche, he sure seemed to have an interesting one.

“Well I guess we agree on that too Mr. Raizada.” and saying that he raised his glass as if to cosign his adherence to his host’s philosophy about life.

“I am sure you would have heard of this great guy, Hobbes, he said something about man being a ‘social animal’. What text was that?” Lines on his forehead collected into a frown as he concentrated.

“Oh right, ‘Leviathan’. And since then a lot of discussion has followed claiming that man is first and foremost a ‘selfish animal’. And in fact if you think about it, Hobbes’ entire theory was based on this very premise.”

He paused and looked at his host, who had a look on his face that clearly said, he knew more than just counting money.

“But I won’t bore you Mr.Raizada with all this. Well, you see the thing here is that I too come from a well-to-do family, well maybe not the filthy rich kinds, but we are decent enough. And I am sure you must have run a thorough background check on me, so you’d know that.” Stopping here he smiled at Arnav, who himself was sporting a devilish smirk on his handsome face.

“So, money is important but I don’t lust after it. As long as I am able to buy my favorite 125$ scotch once in a while then life is good. But I won’t deny being attracted to the glamour that surrounds the name Raizada and being associated to it would definitely work in my favor, not overtly perhaps, but no less significantly.”  

The guest took a sip of scotch from his glass, swirled the drink around his tongue, relishing its smoothness and then swallowed it down.

Impressing Arnav Singh Raizada was no less than a challenge, but he was impressed by his guest’s cunning, a very moderate and more believable presentation of self-respect, sprinkled with subtle hints of flattery. Arnav appreciated cunning, because it boosted his ego, for it never went undetected. ‘He is good.’ Arnav thought to himself and then continued,

“Finally, I hope you don’t have any issues with the last clause, because if you do, then there is no point in having this discussion.”

“Well, ofcourse Mr. Raizada, I am on board with this as well. After all she has a home and all I can offer her is an empty house. And no one understands the worth of home better than one who doesn’t have one. I am a selfish man Mr. Raizada, I long for what I don’t have.”

Arnav caught a faint hint of some suppressed pain on his face before it was replaced with a very charming smile.

Arnav gave a small nod and then stood up stretching his hand towards his guest who took it for a short shake.

“It was good meeting you Mr. Shyam Manohar Jha. I’ll call you with my decision in a few days time.”

“The pleasure is mine Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada. Let me escort you to the gate.”

And the gentle-men left, reaching the parking in perfect silence.

As Arnav drove away in his car, Shyam took out his mobile and dialed a number.

“Hey.” the voice on the other side all but whispered.

“I think we did it Princess.” Shyam said in an indulging tone.

“Well, then shouldn’t you be calling me Queen now and not Princess.” he heard the super excited chirpy voice.

“Of course, Rani Sahiba!” he said while giving an indulging smile.

Shayam didn’t observe the white SUV facing his back or the man sitting inside and smirking in full glory.

‘Did they really think I didn’t know?’

And thinking that, smirking to himself, he drove away.

Well, didn’t I say that he loved Cunning, because she never failed her master, Arnav Singh Raizada.

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Toodles,

Srija.