My Ruination

Chapter 27.

~Maahira~

A sheen of sweat dribbled down to my cleavage, between my breasts as my grip on the wine glass tightened, my knuckles almost turning white from the force. My father organized a dinner at our mansion but decided to host it in the garden rather than the fully air-conditioned hallroom, inside the mansion which explains the sweat. The June heat wasn't scorching with light rain showers here and there but the humidity was horrendous. The garden was cleaned and trimmed, with exotic and colourful flower beds making it look very dreamesque, like we were attending a dinner in the South of Italy.

The guest list was filtered and curated very accordingly to close relatives and business partners my brother was going to maintain familial relationships with when he took over. But when you invite the entire family which includes their sons, daughter-in-laws or daughters and their husbands, it's bound to get a little dingy. Atleast it's not brimming with media and annoying kids that run around the garden, tripping people.

"...He rented out a whole square right infront of the Eiffel tower and proposed in the evening. It was so dreamy with the candles and roses. He went all out for me." Charlotte wiggled her fingers to let everyone around us see the sparkling diamond on her finger. Maisie and Elnara giggled out loud and said they were also proposed in the exactly similar way. I took a sip of my white wine to keep from scoffing at them. Were they truly not aware of the fact that all of their husbands hired the same company who plans these and booked the same package? Nothing out of the box, nothing original.

They were Antara's friends afterall, and she was standing by my side, shaking her head gleefully and looking delighted at this information. Maisie suddenly looked over at me, as if just noticing my presence and said, "Maahira, what's your proposal story? You have on your finger, infact, one of most expensive rings in this world afterall." She said and Antara stiffened beside me. "Oh, he just simply barged into my house, threatened to kill my family and forced me to get married to him. So romantic." I gave them my most charming smile but they do not smile back, looking at each other stressfully.

Even when kept out of business world, they know about Zaeden's reputation so it doesn't exactly sound like a jest. "I am kidding. It was very simple." I laughed as they released their breaths and laughed, swallowing my lie. I drowned my wine in another go and excused myself to get another glass. This was my second glass, even though, wine wasn't my alcohol of choice and the dinner hadn't even started yet but if I had to get through this with a smile, I needed to be borderline tipsy.

The sheer lime-green saree with almost backless blouse was a good idea but the 3D flowers pasted on them that were touching my skin was starting to get a little irritating. I was about to pick a strawberry lemonade for a change but someone called my name from behind and turned around to find Jameson and Cooper grinning ear-to-ear with open arms, waiting for a hug. I hugged Jameson first, wrapping my arm his neck as he patted my back and doing the same for Cooper.

"Oh my God, it's been so long since the last time I saw you guys." I said. They were my brother's childhood bestfriends. My brother had latched onto me like a bodyguard so ultimately, they did too. They belonged to rich families like us but instead of stepping into their roles, decided to take a little tour of the world because the "girls and tea in London were too bland." Rudra met them whenever they were in town but our schedules hardly ever matched.

"I know, right. You were not even reaching my knees and now, look at you all grown-up." Cooper said, teasing him as I gave a playful shove to his shoulder. "Yes, it's been about 2 years last we saw you. Not to worry, we will be bumping into each other over tea everyday now as Daddy dearest is deciding to step down right after your father." Jameson said. His father was the owner of the biggest real estate and development company in all of UK.