“And?” Raashi prompted him.
“He’s given me a list of girls to choose from and you’re at the top of the list.”
Raashi gasped. “What? Me? Wait, wait, go back and start from the beginning.”
“Well, I’m thirty-one and showing no signs of getting married, so my father has given me an ultimatum. Either I get married in six months to a girl of my choice or from the list he’s given me or he drops me as the managing director of Fortuna and changes his will to disinherit me.”
“Are you serious?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Rithwik said with a sigh.
“But can he do that, I mean, really?”
“Of course, he can. He’s the major shareholder in the company. He can do what he wants.”
“OK, I get that, but why me? He doesn’t know me,”
Raashi had never met Varun Bali, Rithwik’s father. Rithwik’s family was intensely private. Although she’d met his parents a few times, she couldn’t say she knew them well. They lived in Delhi and hence their interaction had been limited over the years. She had always assumed that he shared a good relationship with his father. But now listening to Rithwik she wasn’t so sure.
Rithwik peered into his glass again before he spoke up.
“That’s the million dollar question isn’t it? He knows we are friends. But my father always has a reason for everything and you being on the top of his list does seem strange.”
Raashi frowned as Rithwik continued, “Anyway, I will have to figure out how serious he is about this marriage ultimatum.”
They remained silent for a while until Rithwik asked, “Would it be so bad? You and me, I mean. We could make marriage work.”
“Very funny, Rithwik.”
Rithwik continued to eye her seriously and she shook her head, raising her hands in front of her.
“We are so not having this conversation and this is not a marriage proposal, is it?” Raashi said in alarm.
She stared at him, her eyes wide; unable to believe they were even having this conversation.
“Why? I mean think about it. We would be ideal for each other. We’re friends and we understand each other, plus we care for one another. Unless, you have someone else in your life,” he raised his eyebrows in question.
“Obviously, I don’t have anyone else in my life.”
“What about Sameer Sehgal?”
Raashi bit her lip. “What about him?”
“Somehow I get the feeling, there is something going on between you and him,” Rithwik stated frankly.
“Meaning?”
“A few months back, Sameer Sehgal made an obvious play for you and I thought you were falling for him and then suddenly he disappeared from your life. Now he is back again. I see the way he looks at you. What’s really going on, Raashi?”
Raashi wasn’t surprised with the question. Rithwik had been present at both Sheena and Keya’s weddings and on both those occasions Sameer had been all around her.
How was she to answer him now? She didn’t want to lie to him, but then again she couldn’t tell him everything.
Thinking for a few seconds, she said, “The equation between Sameer and me was very complicated back then. But whatever was between us wasn’t meant to be. I guess we wanted different things. And the only reason he is back in my life is because of a piece of land I own. He has set his eyes on it and wants it at any cost and I refuse to sell it. So, well, I foresee us being locked in battle over it in the near future.”
Rithwik looked thoughtful for a moment as he watched her intently. To Raashi it was clear that he didn’t entirely believe her. But mercifully he didn’t press her for details.
Instead, he said, “Okay, now that that’s cleared, what about us?”
