Ibtida

CHAPTER 3: THE DEAL

"MEERA", it was her mother who was furious on seeing her daughter in the arms of a stranger, Meera's head was shielding Daniel's face due to which she couldn't comprehend the strangers face.

Meera moved back out of his arms and turned towards her mother and at the same time Daniel turned towards K and D, commanding D to go away with the explosives and glaring K for his carelessness making him gulp in fear.

Meera was sure that her mother would kill both of them here and after seeing her mother charging at her she went behind Daniel and made him face her mother and said, "Amma he did it, he is a pervert, I was shouting for help but this guy has some nerves to harass a married women, kill him first", she always used the married women card whenever her mother used to scold her for her mistakes, this always makes her mother emotional because as per the society Meera was an abandoned wife whose husband didn't even saw her once as their marriage was a deal. Next thing her mother said was a shocker and also a eye opener,

"Beta, Oh, it's great to see you", there were tears in her eyes and she was giving a warm smile to him, "Everyone will be so happy to see you here, it's a great news, I will call everybody", she said being excited.

"Sure Mrs. Chauhan, I request Mr. Chauhan's presence specially", He said with a mischievous smile. Through his peripheral sight he could see shocked face of Meera which she was not even trying to hide, she was very open about her feelings to everyone.

Then Meera's mother turned towards Meera and checked her from head to toe. She said, "Weren't you feverish in the morning, you just look fine now, go upstairs and change into something decent, your husband is here for the first time"

"What, why, who the HELL is he that I have to change for him, he is just another business mate of Baba", she said in utter disgust.

Daniel was not happy with her reply, neither was her mother happy, she flinched at her daughter's tone but composed herself quickly and said to Meera in a angry tone, "Just go to your room and change Meera", still glaring at her.

"Wow amma, now you are angry at me, weren't you pitying me from last two years because of this man and now you are talking to him as if he is the King"
"MEERA"

"Fine I am going to change but I will not come out of my room until he is gone", she said while pointing towards Daniel. After saying that she ran away inside the house towards stairs before bumping into a table and hissing while running.

"This is all because of you", she said in a low tone but Daniel heard it from outside.

"Forgive her beta, she got her temper from her father, she will surely come around later, come inside, the living room is on the first floor, you and companion can rest there for a while, I will call everyone and get you something to drink", she said walking him to the living room, the insides were mostly off white, grey and silver in colour giving it a cold look, the white sofas were at the left corner of the hall and there was a double door on his left, which he guessed was the kitchen. He sat on the sofa and K was standing near the edge of sofa. Daniel was feeling anxious so he decided to go through his mails for time being but concentration was nowhere near him.

Daniel was disheartened by Meera's behaviour when she get to know his identity, two years ago Daniel desperately wanted the possession of the land on which he was going to built an extention of his hotel. On investigating he got to know that the land was owned by four people and all of them belonged to Chauhan family, Daniel knew that the Chauhans' were into illegal business too and he could not just snatch the land from them by force so he decided to negotiate with Mukesh Chauhan and his younger brother Manish because the property was owned by their two daughters and a son, also the forth partner was Mukesh's cousin's son Kabir Chauhan. Mukesh let Daniel use the whole area and assured him that Kabir will not retaliate only if Daniel marries his daughter Meera. Daniel never questioned  Mukesh and signed the documents without even thinking that someone's life will be ruined due to this decision, at that time he thought that maybe Mukesh wanted to make an alliance with Derek or his daughter is defective or something but on seeing her today, he cursed himself for not taking her with him immediately after marriage. She was cute and daring at the same time, she was a kind of a girl who can be furious all the time, her face showed each and every emotion she had inside her which makes her look intimidating with an aura of a lioness. It was not the face which intrigued him but the personality and intimidating aura which she enunciated. She was perfect as a wife for him, her commanding, fearless nature regardless of the person she is dealing with, makes her look too hot. She can oppress and turn him on at the same time. Daniel was smiling with himself while remembering her features, he was completely drowned in her beauty.

K was feeling surreal, it was like he is in a different universe where his boss is married to a very sassy girl, where his boss smiles and even laughs very oftenly, he was gawking at Daniel because he was smiling with himself. The person who doesn't even laughs when his younger brother cracks jokes was now laughing with himself at nothing.

When Daniel was sitting on the sofa a girl emerged from the stairs, she was wearing a grey top with jeans, she went direct to the kitchen without glancing at the two men. After few seconds she came out of kitchen and looked directly at Daniel who had an expressionless cold face.

"Hello Mr.Derek, how are you?, I am Riya, your sister-in-law", she said with an awkward tone, walking towards him and then advancing her right hand.

"You know me?", Said Daniel and shook her hand.

"Of course I know you, you are kinda family", she was very courteous and disciplined unlike Meera, "I guess chachi called us because of you, I was already on my way back, so I am early, others will be here soon".

Riya was now sitting on the sofa fidgeting with her fingers and there was an awkward silence in the room.

"You met Meera di, right?", Riya decided to break the silence.

"Yes and it was quite amusing", he said with a small smile.

"She must be little freaked out right now, I think I should check up on her once, may I?", Gesturing to leave.

"Yeah, by all means, do tell her that I have something important to discuss with her whenever she finds it fit".

Mrs. Chauhan entered the hall from the kitchen door with food tray in her hands and whispered something to Riya on her way back.

"Have some beta", she said while placing four plates on table.

"So, to what do we owe this pleasure", she asked trying not to sound rude.

"Oh! Actually Mrs. Chauhan, I was here to meet your husband, you know, some buisness matters but now that I have met Meera, I want to take her with me", there was hint of impoliteness in his words.

"Very well but why now, why are you suddenly interested in taking her"

"Because I wasn't interested before I met her, she was a mere deal for me till now", he was very clear about his intentions. He noticed that Mrs. Chauhan was like a typical Indian mother who resists all the tantrums thrown by her son-in-law, she just wanted the tag of 'abandoned wife' snatched from her daughter.

"I just want Meera to be happy, life was very difficult for her since the marriage", her sadness was expressed in her voice, "People looked at her as if she is an alien, gossiped on her back and some even called her a widow, I thought this will supress her but it made her even more rebellious. She doesn't think before talking so don't take her words by heart", she gave him a warm smile.

I will break every finger pointed toward her. She belongs to me now and people have to go through me first.
I should have taken what's mine from the start
I am such a douche bag, ugh

After few minutes Riya came down from the stairs and walked to him and said, "Di wants to see you, you can talk to her on her balcony".

Daniel maintained a cold face and started to follow Riya and once he was out of everyone's sight, behind Riya, a smile broke on his face and he raised a fist in air triumphantly.

"This is her room", and Riya left him in front of a brown wooden door.

He was nervous but composed his posture and knocked on the door.

"Come in", a voice came from inside.