PROLOGUE
Ishika's 🐰🐇POV:
I cannot believe these girls. What is wrong with them? This is beyond madness. In the fifteen years of our friendship, I have never witnessed them go this overboard. Since they are all I have in the small circle of friends I have. Thus, I have to listen to every bit of insanity they threw at me.
Now don't get me wrong. I do talk with people and am very sociable, but opening up is another story.
"Nahi main nahi aa sakti (No, I'm not coming.)" I told my girl gang, We are sitting in a cafe in Jodhpur. This is where we tend to hang out the most, but we have a variety of other places to go.
"Par kyu? Aisi party pata nhi phir kab hogi, chal na! (But Why? No one knows when such a party will happen again. Come please!)" asked Aanika, one of my three best friends, Mehak Gupta, Saanvi Agrawal, and Aanika Ahuja.
Mehak is very pretty, but she is an angry bird. No one knows when or why she will get angry, kinda bipolar. Saanvi Agrawal, If anyone asks me to describe her in 3 words, I would say flirt, daring, and carefree.
Last but not least, Aanika Ahuja, she is the mother of the group, but most of the time she is the one going all crazy, making stupid plans, and making us follow them. In this little group of ours, you can say I'm the bridge that connects them somehow.
You might be wondering what is going on here. Well, these 3 idiots are trying to convince me to gate crush a party where Aanika is an event manager.
Aanika's business is thriving. It's a royal party at the Palace of Jodhpur, where the royal family lives. She is very lucky to land such a job, this is a very big break for her. I think success has gone to her head, which is making her do bizarre things like causing trouble at her own party.
"What is this party for anyway?" I asked.
"Janvi Singh Rathore ki birthday party hai. Rana Sa urf Hukum ki one and only sibling. (It's Janvi Singh Rathore's birthday bash, Rana Sa, aka Hukum's one and only sibling.)" Aanika replied.
"Just because this party is at Rathore Palace doesn't mean everybody wants to be there." I said, Mehak rolled her eyes, Aanika sighed, and Saanvi, being Saanvi, was not at all interested in the discussion and was bluntly checking out the guy sitting at the table next to ours.
"Kaisi baatein kar rahi hai, tujhe chalna hi padega, Mehak. Kuch bolna isse, Saanvi, SAANVI!!! Tera phir shuru ho gaya, isse samjhane ki bajeh tu... (Why are you talking like this? You have to come. Mehak, tell her something, Saanvi, SAANVI!!! Here she goes again, instead of making her understand, you...)"
"Haan Haan thik hai, look how it's done, Ishu tu chal rahi hai, and that's final. (Yeah, Yeah alright, look how it's done, Ishu, you are coming, and that's final.)" Saanvi said, cutting off Aanika in the middle of her ranting.
I shook my head.
"Tu aise karegi toh hum mein se koi nahi jayega, even Aanika ab tu decide karle. (If you are gonna behave like this, then no one is gonna go, even Aanika, now you decide.)" Mehak glared at me.
"Tum logo ka dimaag toh thik hai na? ek toh invitation nahi hai, aur upar se tumhe pata toh hai ki mere dadaji aur Suryapratap Singh Rathore ka chatees ka ankda hai, Baba Sa ko pata chala ki mein waha gai thi toh jaan le lenge. (Have all of you gone insane? First of all, we do not have invitations, and on top of that, you all know that my grandfather and Suryapratap Singh Rathore loathe each other, if dad finds out that I have been there, I am dead meat.)" I said.
Yup, it's true my grandpa and Mr. Suryapratap Singh Rathore are at odds with each other, everyone knows about it, the whole Jodhpur, I think. It was very humiliating for Mr. Rathore, so none talks about it in the city in respect of the royal family.
It was a classic tale of love and hate. My grandma was the sole reason behind it. She is no more, but the conflict remains.
She was the fiancé of Suryapratap, but she loved my grandpa very much so they ran away together. On the day of the engagement day, no less, it happened such a long time ago, but no matter how many times I hear the story from my grandpa, it never gets boring.
It's a beautiful love story, but because of it, anyone in our family is not allowed to go anywhere near the Rathores, and I, being the sweet angel of my Dadu (grandpa), respect his wishes with all of my heart.
"Oh please, Anant Uncle, vo aur teri jaan lenge impossible pata hai na, vo tujh par jaan chhidakate hai.... (Anant uncle, he will hurt you, impossible. Do you know that he will sacrifice his life for you...)" Saanvi said, Well, that was out of character for her to butt in.
"Arre, maana ki main unaki laadali hu, par, (Hey, I know I am his darling at heart, but.) I cannot ignore his words because of it. Guys, you have never seen his anger. Trust me, you never wanna face that." I said faking a shiver, cutting Saanvi in between. Mehak was being quiet, which is new, except for the ultimatum she gave me minutes ago.
"You are not going to listen na, ja rahi hu main (You are not going to listen right, I am leaving.)" Here she goes.
"Tum log samjh kyu nhi rahe ho, waha nhi jaa sakti main, bhalehi party of the century kyu na ho rahi ho. (Why are you guys not understanding? I can't go, even if the Party of the Century is happening.)" I stopped Mehak holding her hand.
"Yaar mene suna hai Hukum Mrityunjay Singh Rathore bhi hoga waha haye vo kitna handsome hai, the most eligible bachelor, bus wo mil jaye meri life set ho jaye. (Guys, I have heard that Hukum Mrityunjay Singh Rathore will also be there, he is so handsome, he is the most eligible bachelor, if only I get him, my life will be set.)" said Saanvi, drooling over him. Honestly I have never seen him may be in the news or magazines, but pictures were always blurry and I was not interested enough to go out of my way to stalk him.
"Haan dekh lena tu usee, bus pass mat jana uske. (Yes, take a look at him, just don't go near him.)" Aanika whispered.
"kyu (why) ? and why are you whispering?" I asked her.
"Maine suna hai uske jaasoos har jagha hai. (I heard he has spies everywhere.) If he got to know that I was badmouthing him, god knows what will happen." She replied to me.
"You're so scared of him, and yet you want us to crash his party." I shook my head and said.
"Isse chhod ye toh vese hi fattu hai, tu ye bata koi aur solid reason hai tere pass. (Leave her be, she is a scaredy-cat anyway. Tell me, do you have any other solid reason?)" Mehak asked me. I looked at her with puppy eyes.
"Ye drama nhi chalega. (This drama will not work.)" Hearing her, I sighed.
"Now enough, tu aa rahi hai!? (Now enough, you are coming!?)" more of a statement than a question that is coming from Aanika.
"Okay fine, but I'll be out of there before 11:30, and please no drama, mere ghar mein pata nhi chalna chahiye. (Okay fine, but I'll be out of there before 11:30, and please no drama, I don't want my family to know about this.)" All 3 idiots nodded furiously. I also nodded.
"Pata hai aadhe se jyada jodhpur waha hoga, ho sakta hai hamare soulmate hamein waha mil jaye. (You know that more than half of Jodhpur will be there, maybe we will meet our soulmates there)" said Aanika.
"Madam, aap bhul rahi hai, aapka ek boyfriend hai. (Madam, you are forgetting you already have a boyfriend)" Saanvi accused Aanika.
"I broke up with him." Aanika announced.
"What???" We were all shocked.
"But it was such a beautiful relationship." I said.
"He cheated." she told us.
"That Bastard." I yelped.
"Fatherfucker." Mehak bawled.
"Son of a bastard." Saanvi snarled.
"So, when are we getting rid of him?" I spoke in a very serious tone.
"Don't scare us, Ishika." Said Aanika.
"Aur hai kaha vo haraamkhor kutta? (And where is that bastard dog?)" I said.
"Germany" Aanika said.
"Bhaag gaya, aur tujhe pata kese chala iss bare mein. (Ran away, and how did you find out about it?)" said Saanvi.
"Jaane do yar. (Leave it, guys)" Aanika said.
"Ese kese jane de, usne hum se panga liya hai. (How can we let him go like this? He has messed with us) we need to pay him back in spades." said Mehak.
"Agreed" Saanvi and I said at the same time.
"We will definitely devise a plan on our next Saturday meet." I said.
"Fine, I'll tell you then, what happened." said Aanika, we all nodded in unison.
*Pika pee Pika pee Pika Pika Pikachu* Here goes my Pikachu ringing. I checked my cell to find my Mumma calling, and I picked it up.
"Hello... Haan... (yes...) Okay, I'll be there."
"Guys, Mumma called, I need to leave it's already 8:30." I started to pick up all my stuff.
"Haan (yes), I also need to leave now. My father asked to come early. I forgot all about it. Let's go together. I'll drop you." Mehak said.
"Okay" I said. We both left first, leaving the two bickering about yet again something that Saanvi did.
Authors 🐿🕊POV:
On the 60th floor of Rathore corp. main office, Mrityunjay's assistant, Shreya, was working late as usual, was on call with her boyfriend. "When'll you be free, honey? I am waiting outside your office building for half an hour now." He complained. This is an everyday occurrence in their lives since Shreya is a hard-working employee who always tries to match the hours that her boss works.
"Yes, I'll be out in 5 minutes. I have to fix this mistake the new intern made, she messed up all the files."
"Can't you fix it tomorrow?"
"No, it needs to be done today. Otherwise, tomorrow's work load will be twice than it was today."
"I think you work too hard."
"No, I'm working way less than my boss does, you know he sometimes even sleeps in his office, isn't that crazy. He is in the office, I'm cutting the call off before he hears, okay?"
"Please come out fast."
"yesss! I'll be there in 5 minutes."
Mrityunjay's 🐯🐅POV:
It's been 13 years since I stepped into the world of crime, and I am not at all close to my goal, ever since I escaped the hell hole I was thrown in to satisfy my sadistic father's desires I had wanted one thing and one thing only, peace, mental peace so that I can be normal as well like other people like my brother and sisters but it is too much to ask for, I have become a monster everyone fears.
Hell, I fear myself since even I don't know what is wrong with me and what I'll do next if let loose.
"What do you want?" I asked Kartik on the conference call on which I, Kartik Kashyap, Agastya Singh Rajput, and Vidyut Malhotra were, discussing our business. It is kind of a secret society club of ours where everything that is bad occurs, discussed, or rebelled against in the underworld.
Sometimes it feels like a lot to deal with but since I've decided to control the crime and illegal activities taking place right under our noses on my land, I have to pluck out the source before it takes root and spreads like a wildfire.
"The deal in Germany is bad; we can't take it; these people are trying to screw us over." He informed us. He was on a mission to find out what was actually going on in the Germany branch of the company and the mafia boss there.
It was on short notice, but he left ASAP to investigate. The thing is, on the surface, all the companies in the state are owned by different people, but more than half of them are mine. I am the king monarch of the empire that I have built and grown after my father's retirement. No one knows, as they should.
"I knew it; it was so bluntly obvious with everything they were doing." said Vidyut.
"Well, why don't we give them a little surprise this time. Let's change the gun supply with the faulty ones; we needed to dump them somewhere, why not in the trash can" Agastya was furious; he is very hot tempered.
"Do that, and Kartik, since you are already there, cut off the negotiation with them and wrap up the business there before returning." I told him.
"Be back before Saturday, you have to attend the party that your girlfriend is organizing." Vidyut teased Kartik.
"She broke up with me and blocked me from every social media that is in existence, not replying to my texts or calls." He sighed.
"What did you do? Last time I checked, you both were in your lala land and didn't had a care for the world" Agastya asked.
"Nothing, she thinks I am cheating on her."
"Are you?" I asked.
"NO!! Of course not. Fuck this!" He is clearly out of his mind right now; otherwise, he would not have shouted.
"Are you done?" I asked very calmly.
"Sorry" He apologized, he must be rolling his eyes.
"That's it for today." I said cutting off the call.
Sometimes it feels like I am dead, but who cares, not even I myself. I heard a knock on the door of the office, must be the PA.
"Enter." she entered.
"Sir, your schedule for tomorrow is here, and the meeting with the Russians is about in 5 minutes; the video conference is ready." She is talented and perfect for the job. No non-sense working attitude I like the most in the people. She possesses it.
"Done for the day, you can go now." I said.
"Thank you, sir." She left.
>>
*Knock Knock*
"What?" I looked up.
"Bhai Ham kab jaa rahe hai Haveli (Brother, when are we leaving for palace?)" Vivan asked me. Entering the office. He is my paternal uncle's kid and works as an intern here. He is very promising and knows everything that goes on here, not everyone in the family is aware about it.
"You go first." I told him.
"Par bhai Sath chalte hai na. (Let's go together.)" he asked in a light mood.
I just looked at him.
"Ha ha, main chala jaunga (Ha ha, I will go myself.)" He said, laughing nervously and walking backwards.
I got back to my work again.