****
It was late when he arrived home. The lights in the house were turned off. He was glad that Grandmother Gangaa was not home to question his whereabouts.
The day went well. Even the date was more than he expected. Karan found her, quite lovely for the first time. But he was glad that they did not like each other. A girlfriend or a wife relationship was a pain in the neck and he did not want to go through it.
The next morning, he did not wake up early because it was a public holiday. A servant informed him that Grandmother Gangaa wanted to see him downstairs.
Karan knew that there was going to be another fresh problem in the family. The thing he wasn't sure of was who she was going to blame this time.
Standing up from the bed, he went to the bathroom and took a quick shower. The day was going to be fun. Koran will ask how the dinner went yesterday.
He wore a red shirt and black shorts. Since he was going to stay at home and work, there was no need to dress in suits.
He got downstairs and kissed his mother.
"Sweetheart, you looked beautiful in this green sari. Please don't take it off."
She laughed and hugged him. Sawarasti looked at him before asking "Why are you so happy this morning?"
"Your beautiful face is enough reason for me to be happy, mother" He frees her from the hug. "Where is Alia?"
"She went to the gym" Aunt jigyasa answered. She was knitting a sari with her bare hands. Before he was born, she was a fashion designer. After the disappearance of her husband, she stopped making designs for outsiders. The fashion store was also closed for good.
Karan wished there was a way, he could make his aunt forget everything that happened years ago.
"Forget about Alia" Grandmother Gangaa said with her legs crossed. She had a rosary in her hand. "Where were you last night?"
"Please don't start, Grandmother. It is too early for such talks" He sat beside his aunt and watched how she knits. When he thought the conversation with the old woman had ended, she started it again.
"You came back very late at night" She looked away, avoiding his gaze.
He was about to reply to her when footsteps Interrupted him. It was obvious that it was came from heels.
Quickly, he looked behind to see who was so dressed up early in the morning.
A lady in her late twenties strode down the stairs. She wore a red dress that reminded him of last night. But Priyanka was more beautiful than her.
Her white heels were the reason behind the noises. Her lips curled into a smile when their eyes met.
Karan looked away to avoid her hot gaze. But who was this Stranger?
"We have a guest in the house and nobody told me about it?"
His tone was low but Grandmother Gangaa responded in a loud voice "we came this morning together, Karan. I was about to tell you but you didn't even me the chance to.
"Fine Grandmother, fine" He did not look back again.
"Good morning" The lady greeted while standing in front of Grandmother. Everyone answered except him.
"Well, it's good that everyone is present..." She noticed that his brothers were not in the room "except for the boys. Only the Lord knows what they are doing right now."
After observing Karan's awkward looks, she introduces the girl before he changes his mind and leaves the room "my son, meet Aarti. She is my friend's daughter. Do you remember her mother that came for the color festival last year?"
He nodded. Grandmother Gaaga smiled at him and continued "I didn't know her daughter had grown up like this? Do you remember that she was so little when we visited Goa, years back?
Everyone was confused. No one needs to tell but Aarti looked older than Karan, facially. She was older than him in numbers too.
"I don't think she is younger than us, Grandmother" Koran said.
"Please go straight to the point. I don't get it. What's up with all these introductions and history digging?" Karan was angry. He stood up to go when his mother stopped him.
"Grandmother will tell you why she was brought to Delhi, please sit down" She pleaded. Of course, he was not going to refuse her request. Sawarasti affects him.
"Fine" he turned and faced them. Grandmother was not comfortable. She ruffled her hair, as she spoke. This made him wonder what she was up to.
"Well, I have decided to wed the both of you."
A cold shiver ran through his spine as he listened to her last sentence. Karan did not want it to sound surprising but it did. His grandmother has been pestering him to get married for a long time. This was one of the ways to make her dreams come true.
But he did not want to marry.
Karan has never dreamt of married life before. If he decides to marry Aarti, he will be punishing her, which was not want he wanted to do.
She can never be happy with him.
"What did you say, my son?" Aunt Jigyasa asked, with a smile. She was done with the knitting. The yellow Sari turned out to be very beautiful. "I will present it to your wife, someday."
Everyone laughed except him and Koran.
Koran knew that his brother was going to explode at any time.
"I don't want to marry Aarti, Grandmother" Karan told them. They were shocked. He expected them to get used to hearing that but they didn't. "Don't you all get it? I will never marry!"
He was so angry that he didn't know when his hand formed into a fist and knocked down the vase on the floor. His knuckles were bleeding.
Sawarasti started crying. She couldn't stand seeing her son, become violent again, and quickly ran to the kitchen to get a first aid box while Koran helped his brother to sit close to Aunt jigyasa.
When their mother came back, she dressed his wound and gave him a painkiller.
Aarti was still in shock. Staring at the blood that was on the floor, she wasn't sure if he was going to marry her.
Grandmother did not expect him to behave that way. It seemed his habit of knocking things down has not stopped "I'm sorry that I pushed it this time."
"I'm sorry too," Karan said, looking at the vase on the floor. The servants came to clean the mess he had created. Again, he has lost his sense when he did not want to.
Rage was already part of him, he couldn't run away from it.
"I have forgiven you but you are going to marry Aarti and that's my final decision" Grandmother did not want to see his face again. For many years, she kept quiet, so that he could do whatever he wanted but it was not helping. He was getting worse every day.
"But grand…"
"No, buts this time, my dear Karan" She cut him off. "if only you had a girlfriend, then this wouldn't have been like this but you don't have any intentions of ha…"
"I have a girlfriend" Karan Interrupted her this time. He wasn't sure of what he blurted. There was no girlfriend, maybe a lie will save him from the hell called marriage.
She laughed and looked around. The others were quiet. They were surprised but did not want to interfere in their argument "I know you more than anyone, Mr. Karan Singh. You don't have a girlfriend. Since when have you started keeping girlfriends? I hope she isn't one of the concubines that you meet from the club?"
"N-no, Grandmother" His heart beats faster than usual. Turning towards the door, he noticed Salem was standing there. From his facial expressions, he stood there long enough to listen to their conversation from the beginning. "Even Salem knows."
"W-what?" Salem was confused. When Karan winked at him, he had no choice but to join in the lie "Yes, Grandmother. He has a girlfriend."
"Really?" Aunt Jigyasa asked, her son. "Tell us, what is her name?"
He felt like running mad. Salem wished that the Lord would have made him a DUMB man for twenty minutes. His hands were sweaty. He did not want to get caught and ruin his cousin's plan.
When the question was asked for the second time, he answered "Priyanka."
A=N~~~Hello cuties, thank you for reading this book. I hope you continue?
This Author is shameless, so she is asking you to give out all your power stones to this book. Thank you.