Arranged ⁕‖ A Shreyas Iyer Fan Fic‖⁕

⁘Chapter 5⁘

Tara

He thought he won just because he caught me off guard once.

Ha, how amusing. I built my own company from scratch in a world that's dominated by males, I can handle an arrogant partner. Shreyas was a good friend of mine at a point, there is no enmity between us, we're simply not that good of friends anymore because we aren't in touch. My thoughts were being consumed by what he might try next, and I'll be honest, it was fun. I hadn't met an opponent who was willing to outsmart me in a while, Jayant was the closest I got to one of those. You could get rid of him by just stroking his ego slightly.

"Alright, I'll bite." My boyfriend, Ajay, sighed. "What the hell is going with those marriage rumors?"

Ajay was a tall, lean, and most definitely good-looking guy. His father used to work as a secretary to the late Mr.Chopra, when overworking and stress practically killed his old man, the Chopra's adopted him out of guilt. His warm brown eyes staring into mine with nothing but affection.

"Thank you for not breaking up with me right off the bat," I started, earning a ghost of a smile from him. "I need this to happen, Jay. My company is fluctuating, If this works out, I'm set for life."

"I've already told you, I can help you-" He started, I wasn't about to go into this argument. We had it too many times, I didn't want his help. This is my company, I find it extremely important that I don't get any royal favors from the Chopra's adopted son. This was my mess and I was going to fix it. He sighed, "I know, but marriage?"

"I was only suggesting dating but that ass took advantage of the situation we were in." I instantly leapt to my own defense, he ran a hand through his hair looking at me in the eye. "Jay, I promise you, just give me a few years."

"Tara, that's a lot to ask of a person who's calm about his girlfriend accepting someone else's proposal." Ajay frowned, I knew what he was saying was sensible, but a part of me didn't want to accept it. "Ajay, you've dated others for publicity before too."

"Yeah, I admit it, I have, but that's dating." Ajay flinched slightly, it was a sore topic. "But marriage is something else, Tara. It's a whole seperate topic."

"Not really, just like in fake dating, both parties agree that there are no emotions involved in this, and set the terms for the agreement." I threw my hands in the air, I didn't see a problem here. It wasn't like I was planning to stay married to Shreyas.

"Tara, first off, sab business nahi heh!" Ajay sighed, massaging his temple. "There are other things in life!"

"Well, some of us can only focus on our career's because life isn't handed to us in a silver platter, Mr.Ajay Kumar Chopra." My voice began rising along with his, this was turning into argument. "Silver Platter? What the hell?" Ajay hissed, his hands slamming down onto the glass table as he rose to his full height. Guilt pricked at me, I knew what'd I done was wrong. "You of all people should know I wasn't fed in a silver spoon, Tara." He glared, his calm neutral expression long gone.

"Marry whoever the fuck you want," He grunted, grabbing his phone and slamming the door behind him as he left. I let out a groan, and leaned back in the wooden chair. Damn it, I want to apologize but I can't give in that easily.

My phone buzzed, reminding me that I was meeting Shreyas to discuss the terms of our marriage. The place he picked out was most likely a product of karma, it was the restaurant my ex owned. Well, I guess this is life's way of telling me to stop being a bitch.

Half an hour later, I was sitting down with Shreyas Iyer at a resteraunt with flashes of camera going off outside our glass dining booth. For some reason, it was huge more than enough for five people. It was just me and him in the gigantic seating, and the amount of press outside was astounding. "Well, Tara, what are your terms?" He started diplomatically.

"One, there will be no emotions involved in this arrangement." Ajay's words came back, haunting me as I started. "Two, we'll behave as friends away from the public view and as far as everyone else except you and me, we're in love."

"Alright my turn," He flashed me his signature lopsided grin, "Three, You dispel rumors about me since you have connections in the press. Four, I take care of getting you investors."

"Talking about investors, you told me you had a plan." I raised an eyebrow, "And that plan hasn't reached my eardrums yet."

"Sorry, we're late." A new voice enjoined the conversation. I glanced behind me and spotted around fifteen men walking in, most of whom I recognized. The Mens Indian Cricket Team, I saw Shreyas grin at me through the corner of my eye. Well played, Mr.Iyer

But I wasn't about to lose, I slipped my hand into his and shifted closer to him. His eyes widened in surprise at the sudden intimacy and I smiled at the others, "Hi, I'm Tara."

Sucker.

***

Goal: Four Comments and Five Votes

Tara and Shreyas are just competing at who's better at embarrassing the other by now-