Getting ready to meet Kavan's affluent family is a huge affair. She has to dress up so that she's 'presentable' despite the fact that Kavan's mother has met her before and she wasn't exactly dressed up at that time. Kavan schooled her on the people she will be meeting. His mother, Raneedi, his father, Dayada, his uncles - Darian and Darun, and his grandfather, the patriarch of the family - Bhavesh.
His uncles, though married, were childless and both of them are divorced. His grandmother had passed away about 20 years ago so Kavan barely remembers her. Kavan's father is the eldest in the family, Darun is the second son and Darian the youngest. Despite having three sons, Kavan was the only grandchild in the family and the patriarch isn't happy about it.
"It is quite odd though…if your uncles wanted the money so much, why didn't they have children at all?" Sabrina asked Kavan. He shrugged and even though they are alone in their hotel room, he lowered his voice.
"I have a feeling that they are both gay but they still found someone to marry to gain my grandfather's trust and approval," he said.
"Oh, the poor wives…." She can't imagine being married to someone who has no interest at all in you. Oh wait, she can. She was forced to marry someone when they have absolutely no interest for each other. So, this sort of thing happens in the human realm too.
"I think they didn't even consummate their marriages," Kavan added.
"Well, if the wives were like me, I am sure they didn't mind," she replied meaningfully. She did have a lot of fun outside and Dashen couldn't be bothered about it at all, as long as she's discreet about it.
Kavan raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying you sleep around a lot?"
"Well…that was before I met you…we did say we will not ask each other about our past relationships," she pointed out.
"You asked me about Reesha," he retorted.
"Well, she's also the woman your family wants you to marry and I saw the way you looked at her!" she responded.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't feel anything for her anymore? Honestly, it was puppy love," he said, exasperated.
"I can't help it when you don't even realise what a fake she is," she huffed.
Kavan rolled his eyes at her.
"C'mon. You can't be seriously jealous…We are literally meeting my family to tell them that we are getting married!" he exclaimed.
There was a short silence. Kind, gentle and mild Kavan looks annoyed. He wasn't in a raging mad mood but to make him annoyed meant that she has pushed him too much. Maybe she did go a tiny bit overboard jealous. Still, she can't let go of her suspicions over Reesha. That woman is up to something. That is for sure.
"Okay, okay, let's call a truce?" she suggested. She went over to hug him but to her surprise, he turned away and walk over to the balcony. He exhaled loudly and rubbed his temples.
"Look, I've known Reesha since we were children and yes, at one point, I had a crush on her and we did date when we were teenagers but like I told you, it amounted to nothing," he said.
He reminded her that it was the married woman that he thought he was truly in love with which led to him being beaten almost to his death. He turned back to face her, his expression is sincere.
"If you don't trust me now, how can we even get married?" he asked her.
"Well, it's not you that I don't trust, Kavan, I don't trust Reesha at all!" she replied.
He rubbed his temples again and took a deep breath.
"Yes, I am with you, I want to marry you, I love you, Sabrina so no matter what she does, it won't matter isn't it? Do you think so little of me that I would easily fall for whatever schemes you think she is cooking up?"
Now that he said it this way, she supposed she did make it sound like he would easily fall for Reesha's tricks. Surely he is not a fool to 'accidentally' marry Reesha. That wouldn't make sense at all.
"Okay, okay, let's forget about that toxic fake woman, I won't mention her again," she gave in. She didn't want to antagonise him any further. Besides, they are going over to meet his family and ask his family's blessing for them to get married. She shouldn't even have started this whole conversation about Reesha.
Kavan came over to her and enveloped her in a hug. He exhaled and kissed the top of her head.
"Sabrina, I do love you, I want to spend the rest of our lives together, so let's just get past our family so that we can get on with our lives, okay?" he murmured. She lifted her face and kissed him gently.
"Yes, Kavan, I want us to spend all of eternity together too," she said. She will have to tell him about the immortality part one day. But not yet. One thing at a time.
****
The arrived at the Chokshi family home at around 5pm, the pre-dinner time for the family to 'mingle' and chat first. Since he is bringing Sabrina, Kavan warned her that it will be an interrogation session. He has prepped her with the questions that he thinks they will likely ask. It will be about her family background, her education, her upbringing, her job, her believes and whether she likes children.
"A word of warning, they might come across as a tiny bit racist," he said, just as they got out of their ride and headed into the huge opulent mansion.
Sabrina nodded. She is not surprised. She has met humans with the tendency to judge another fellow human due to their different skin colour, culture and religious believes. The dragon shapeshifters do not judge shapeshifters from other clans and other species. Every shapeshifter is different for a reason and they each have a role to play in the whole scheme of things. Granted, her particular council of elders are sexist against female shapeshifters. So maybe discrimination and prejudices do exist among all species, it only take different forms.
"Well, it is a bit too late for me to take on a different human form now right?" she said. Kavan gave her a look of surprise.
"You can take a different human form?" he asked.
"Yes, it can be done but not easily. It involves a lot of power and usually, we just stick to the form we chose from the first time we come to the human realm, it's easier and lesser chances of accidentally resembling an actual living mortal," she said.
"You mean, you can pick any face you want?" he asked but before she can explain further, his mother flung open the door.
"There you are, right on time," she gushed at Kavan. She gave Sabrina a curt nod. "Well, hello, come on in," she said coldly to her.
Sabrina braced herself for an interrogation. It didn't look like it will be easy but if she can get past 12 old foggy dragons at the council of elders, surely she can get past Kavan's very mortal, very human family?
Kavan held her hand and squeezed it. They walked in together, as if preparing to face a battle.