“Purely business,” he replied. Then he smiled. “Come on. Let’s go join everyone on the dance floor.”
“Ummm...Actually, I have to attend another party. Why don’t you come with me? It will be so much more fun. The who’s who of the city will be there,” Natasha coaxed him.
Sameer stared at her in outrage.
“Really? You expect me to leave my grandfather’s birthday party to attend one of your events?”
“Why not? You’ve shown your face here and the party started a long time back. It is well underway. It’s not like you will be missed,” she scoffed.
Natasha was something else. Her indifference to tonight’s important celebration drove him mad. She had always been difficult to please and wanted things her way. But this was just a bit too much. He was already on the edge tonight after meeting Raashi and Natasha’s behavior was annoying the hell out of him. Without thinking, he searched for Raashi and found her dancing with his grandfather, his hands in hers as she moved forward and backward with him. His grandfather was smiling in puredelight and Sameer couldn’t help but feel pleasure on seeing him happy.
He forced his attention back to Natasha. She was watching him, her lips pouted, her expression unhappy because he hadn’t yet agreed to her demand.
“So, shall we leave?” she prompted, before checking her watch. “I can’t wait much longer. Let’s go.”
Damn! She was pushy. What was he doing stuck here with her? He shouldn’t have invited her. She was too opinionated and bossy. She was the type who would destroy his peace of mind with her constant demands and difficult attitude. He had completely forgotten this side of her.
He should have been there on the floor, dancing and celebrating this important night with Raashi who loved his grandfather as much as he did. But then being with Raashi was not so simple either. That had its own set of complications. It meant that he might lose his heart to her. He would have to open himself to heartbreak again. Losing his peace of mind was way better than heartbreak any day. Hell, yeah! Been there. Done that. Faced the heartbreak and lived through it. And now he refused to have another serious relationship with anyone that might even remotely involve that stupidly emotional organ that his heart was. And he most definitely refused to be a sucker to a beautiful woman’s charms again. Particularly not this beautiful hazel eyed woman.
He let his anger go and addressed Natasha, “Stay for half an hour more and then I will drive you to wherever you want.”
Natasha smiled and twined her arm with his, appeased by his reply.
7
Sameer’s people were hounding her. Raashi felt more irritable than she had felt in days. They persistently called her at the office, they inundated her with emails and somehow they had managed to get hold of her personal cell number and now bothered her daily. Sameer Sehgal was an egotistical, haughty beast. He thought he could sit in his lofty tower and let his people deal with her. No way. Not happening. She wasn’t interested in any of his offers. She had told him clearly at Janak’s birthday party that she wasn’t going to sell the land to him. But did he listen? No! He just set his people after her. God! The arrogance of that man was astounding.
She parked her car in front of her apartment building and walked towards the elevator, seething in anger. Sameer was hankering after the property Janak had gifted her. That was her property now and there was no way on earth she was going to sell it to him. She had her own plans for the place and she would make her own dreams come true. For once in her whole life, she had got something easily, without having to struggle for it and she was not going to let someone badger her to give it away, especially not Sameer Sehgal.
Running a restaurant business wasn’t easy. It was tough work and it wasn’t all happy profits. She had rents to manage and staff and inventories and a dozen other things that required money. And finally now in the last five years all her investments were paying dividends. She had enough savings in the bank to afford a decent life and a foreign education for her sister. Luxuries, she had to indulge in sparingly, but she could handle that. It was more important to save money for future investments and rainy days than on Gucci and Louis Vuitton. Not that she didn’t enjoy the occasional Louis, of course she did, but she knew when to spend and when to save.
She’d worked very hard for her success. She had risen slowly and surely and made a name for herself. Sameer Sehgal had tons of land available to him and he could do what he wanted with any of those. He wasn’t getting hers.
She entered her house and laid out her clothes for the evening. It was a simple, knee length, aqua blue skater dress. She was meeting Rithwik tonight and there was no way she was going to let this land issue and Sameer Sehgal ruin her evening.
Rithwik was wonderful and special to her. He cared for her deeply and she was well aware of that. They had a comfort level that was borne out of years of friendship. She hadn’t even realized that they had been spending so much time alone together until Keya had pointed it out. It had just happened. With all their other friends busy in their lives they had drifted towards one another. In the past, either Keya or she had gone as his ‘last minute’ dates whenever he had needed them. It was usual for Keya, she, Rithwik and their other friend Aditya to catch up together often. But now that Keya was married and Aditya out of the country, she caught up alone with Rithwik more often than before. She enjoyed his company thoroughly. He was funny, naughty and an outrageous flirt. He could always cheer her up and she was looking forward to spending time withhim today. They were going to a new Pan Asian restaurant she had been dying to try out. It had received great reviews and the food was fantastic, she had heard.
Rithwik guidedher to their designated table and Raashi let her eyes wander. The black and red de´cor was beautiful and the dragons painted on the walls were dazzling. It was a good decision to come here.
She sat quietly watching Rithwik talk about a new product his company had recently launched. Normally, she listened to him with avid interest but today her thoughts were elsewhere. It was all Sameer’s fault that she couldn’t get him out of her mind. Every day she was harangued by his people and now that she had told them in no uncertain terms where she stood on the land issue, she wondered what he would do next. One thing she was most certain of - Sameer Sehgal never gave up on what he wanted.
Raashi twirled her wine glass absently and realized that both of them had been silent for a while now. She switched her attention back to Rithwik and found him staring into his whiskey glass, running a finger across the rim of his glass continuously. She reached forward and grasped his hand, grabbing his attention.
He looked up at her and she asked, “What are you stressed about?”
“I’m fine, Raashi.”
“No, you’re not. You’re obviously worried about something. Talk to me.”
Raashi saw him think through something.
He then sighed and said, “He wants me to get married.”
She dropped his hand, stunned.
“Who? Your dad?”
He nodded. “In six months and...”
