You and I Collide - RiKara fan fiction

Chapter 8

Hi,

As I said, the plot is thickening, I hope you're not getting bored. Since I'm doing short chapters, we still have a long way to go.

Have fun reading!

Chapter 8

Breaking walls - part one

Ragav Khanna was not an intimidating man by his physical appearance. He was of a medium built, with streaks of gray hair and a pair of cold gray eyes. It was the look in those eyes, and the hard planes of his face, which warned someone of the man's calculative nature. Something about his thin lipped smile was not right - it was too sweet - yet too artificial at the same time. As if the man was modeling for a toothpaste brand. The moment he was greeted with that smile, the man's greedy eyes boring into his own, and his hands grasping his in a hold of a coiling python, Omkara knew this man was one of the vipers in the pit - perhaps the slyest of them all.

Although he hardly associated himself with the world of his father and brother, Omkara was no stranger to the games these people played sheltered by the opulence of their lavish surrounding. He was not naive to the way that world operated, where every man was, nothing but a masked serpent bidding his time to strike. He had heard much about the man in front of him, both from Shivay and Mr. Oberoi. The inner circles called him vulture, for the man was prone to acquiring companies, stripping them to their assets and selling them off, only so that his own enterprise could grow in return. There were many tales associated with the name; most of them talked of how the man took what he wanted. Omkara could smirk at the ignorance of those who boasted of the man's luck. There was no luck associated with the man's fortune. The business Rivani hotels had been originally created by his late friend Gaurav Sharma. Ragav had been his right hand and his best friend then. He had lost his wife; the mother of his son in the same plane crash that had taken Gaurav's life. It was then Ragav Khanna had actively associated himself with the top flowing business, aiding Gaurav's widowed wife Avantika, whom he later got married  to. It was inside information. That Ragav knew exactly how to drive a company to its destruction and finally bring it down to his feet. His methods were not always honorable. Some said he had a hand in Avantika's death in the year after their marriage. She had died in an motor traffic accident, along with her oldest daughter. Gauri had been the sole survivor of that original family. He did not believe most of what he heard, but looking at the man now, basking in that greedy look of his gray eyes, Omkara did not doubt the man's reputation.

He tried to return that smile, although his facial muscles felt oddly stretched. The older man was kind of impressed with him as a result of their negotiations prior that week. For the sake of his brother and the deal which was now his responsibility Omkara wanted to maintain that impression. But even with that desperate need, he could not pretend to enjoy the celebrations he had been required to part take in. He was never a fan of parties, although they were as common as rains in the monsoon in his circles. The fake show of compassion and joy sickened him to such an extent that he had started bunking most of those elite gatherings his family had hosted. This was one place he did not wanted to be at, then a part of him pulled him to that very place. Ragav played no role in that attraction.

This was a birthday celebration, of a certain person he both detested and desired. That night Gauri Kumari Sharma turned twenty two.

He could not help his eyes from wandering over the crowd every now and then when the conversation ceased to a pause, seeking those espresso color eyes, among the shifting gazes. Then when his eyes finally sought her out, breath hitched in his throat.

Ri descended the stairs, a vision of elegance in silver. The blue highlights removed from her hair which were gathered  to a side, in curls of thick dark brown. Tiny studs of diamond glittered in her dainty earlobes, her eyes shimmering a notch brighter. She was dressed in a saree, the fabric emitting a subtle silver glow, hugging her willowy figure in an enticing manner. Her shoulders were left bare, flaunting the dark ink against her peach complexion, only adding to the charm that had already thickened the atmosphere with her arrival. She floated through the crowd with grace of a butterfly and reached Ragav, who snaked his arm around her waist, without even wasting a glance at her.