The Three-Way Love!(#Wattys2015, #YourStoryIndia)

Chapter 3: The Lunch

We walked through the corridor and reached near the dining room which had a similar arched door. He opened the door and the first person I saw there was my dad.
Without wasting a moment I ran towards my dad and hugged him tightly, like baby bear hugs papa bear. "Hello, my sweet darling. How are you? We missed you" Dad greeted me. It was so good to see him. He was always travelling due for business.
I buried my face in his arms. You feel so safe when your parents hug you and hold you as if they would never let go. He moved away because my mum was waiting to greet me.
My mum just wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly. "Darling, how was your journey? Arrived fine?" What she actually wanted to know was if I liked Raj or no. I needed to specify it to her loud and clear 'I AM NOT INTERESTED IN DATING OR MARRIAGE'.
I let go of her and told her with a fake smile plastered on my face so that Dad and Mr. & Mrs. Singhania wouldn't notice "Mum, you and me need to talk. Alone." She gave me a slight grin because she knew what I wanted to tell her.
"Let's have lunch first, my darling. We can talk later." Later? She was so casual about it. For god sake, it was about my life! Before I could say anything she went and sat next to Dad on the 12 seat dining table.
Dad started introducing the people in whose home I was going to stay. "Sweety, this is Mr. and Mrs. Singhania. They were our family friends till now but now we are also partners in business." I smiled at them and greeted them. "Hello uncle. Hello aunty."
Mr. Singhania said with a smile and a husky voice "Welcome, my child. Consider this as your home only. You can stay here till you want."My mouth opened and closed like a fish. I didn't know what to say about me living at their place. I needed to speak to my mother immediately. He offered me to take a seat.
I was still standing behind my parents seats. I noticed Rohan sitting opposite to my parents. Raj was no where to be seen. The two options for me were to either sit beside mom which I didn't want to because right now I was furious at her so I went across and sat tacitly beside Rohan.
He gave me a small cute smile. The moment I sat beside him, Raj came inside the room saying "I am so sorry to be late Dad. I had to take a call" and took a place next to me. I noticed Mrs.Singhania gave a weird reaction looking at Raj. I had read in some magazine that Raj was Mr.Singhania's son from his first marriage. Raj and Rohan were step brothers. From Mrs.Singhania's reaction, I got a feeling that she didn't like him.
Sitting in between these both brothers, I felt damn weird. But I needed to get used to being with them.
Everyone started eating and our parents got into a conversation which I had no clue about. Business talks are usually boring and it sounds like some sort of unknown language. Being least bothered about their conversation, I concentrated on the food right in front of me. I had the eating capacity of a bear but around people I ate like a skinflint person.
Rohan elbowed me on my upper arm and said softly so that others wouldn't hear "Will you come out with me tonight? I could introduce you to some of my college friends."
My hand stopped in between the plate and my mouth. I was on a pause mode for a minute.
I stammered for a second thinking about our awkward run in and now his offer and replied "Sure... I would love to come, if your friends don't mind."
"My friends would be delighted to meet you. And once college starts you will be seeing them often."
Would his friends like me? That's a question that everyone faces when you meet a new set of people.
"Be ready by eight. We will leave then." he said.
I rolled my eyes through my specks and nodded. By the way, without my specks I was a half blind person.
On my other side, Raj was bust juggling texting and eating together.
Lunch continued to be full of business talks on one side and architecture talks on our side. After lunch I excused myself to talk with mum and I dragged her out of the dinner room with me.
There are times when you NEED to have a conversation with mum.
"Mum, why the hell did you do all this?" I said throwing my hands up in the air.
"What did I do, beta?"(Indian parents address you with such kindness when required and you understand something's definitely up. Otherwise, when you do something wrong you become the villan)
"It's because of you that I have to stay here with these people whom I barely know."('These people' also includes two handsome guys but that's off the topic)
"Just till your penthouse isn't ready. And these people are amicable, you living with them will help you. And I want you to try to get to know them better."
"You sent the town's most famous playboy to fetch me. And I feel you set up the paparazzi thing too, did you?"I folded my arms across my chest waiting for her to reply.
"About that.... I did set those people up....and they say anything about Raj.... He is a good boy..."she paused for a second as she was looking out for words and continued "I just want you to get to know him better... and if you are with him it will be better for you."(Sometimes parents ask you to do things that seem totally crazy and senseless to you but they instigate you to do it.)
I knew talking mum out of the situation was like banging my head on a stone wall so all I did was listen to mum like Gandhi and waiting for her talk to end. To ensure that they think that you are listening, you must occasionally nod your head and say 'yes' a few times in between.
After that complex parenting talk, I just went to my assigned room and fell flat on the face, burying my face into the pillow and had a peaceful sleep.
I got up, and noticed the bed was so different than my bed, I needed to hammer it in my brain that I wasn't in my home. I checked my phone to see the time. It was about 7:30. I had been into baby seep for five hours. I quickly put on a slim fit jeans and a black sleeveless top.
I wasn't like most girls who took hours to dress up. Combed my hair quickly, put on contact lenses and walked out of my room. I needed to empty all my bags and set up my things. Just thinking about the amount of effort it would take, I sighed.
I found myself standing in the corridor with tons of doors. It seemed like a maze. I had no clue which one was Rohan's room. So I thought to myself, let me find the correct room this time. I walked ahead of my room and reached near the staircase. There was one door exactly in front of the staircase.
Could this be Rohan's room? What if it wasn't his room? I waited for a while and finally knocked at the door. If my lucky guess I would be true I would do a little mind high five to myself.
But it never happened with me. Raj opened the door and waited there for me to reply. But I was totally distracted by his beautiful body. He was shirtless with messed up Andrew Garfield type hair and light coloured jeans hanging from his waistline. He looked irrestiable . He carried himself with so much poise.
I tried talking but words weren't coming out of my mouth. No wonder girls loved him and wanted him. Anyone would love to touch that amazing body of his. Your hormones give you such sinful thoughts most of the time.
Since I didn't responed he came closer to me. He was saying something but I didn't catch any word. The closeness made me even more dumb. He was barely inches away from me.
A lump formed down my throat and after great amount of effort all I could say was. "Sorry! I was searching for Rohan's room." He might be feeling weird with me gawking at him.
He said in a sweet voice "His room is two doors away from my room on this side" and pointed towards my right. He continued "Are you going out with him? You look pretty by the way." He complimented me. I found my cheeks turning red. I felt there were no bones in my body, even standing seemed pretty hard for a moment.
Before I could respond to him, I felt a hand on my shoulder and knowing who it would be, I turned and said "Hey Rohan." It was so awkward, one brother in front of me and one behind me.
"Hey...ready to go?"he said.
I nodded.
He offered me his hand, and without thinking for a moment I took it. Before we could leave, Raj said "Come back soon both of you. Her parents are here tonight. So she might be having a curfew of coming back home." For a moment I felt, he was behaving like my daddy.
"Sure bro!" Rohan said and we left the home.
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