The Marriage

1 - The Father

"Be rest assured, she won't say no to me", a middle aged man declared on the phone.  The young man standing by his side sighed in silence. He knew what his father, Hiralal Seth was up to. But, he was too tethered to his guilt to say anything.  He stepped back as Hiralal leaned on his massive leather chair. Slamming the phone on the table, he looked at the lanky yet tall Ayaan, "Anu must never know about this deal". Ayaan nodded, as he felt a hand slowly strangulating him. 

Ayu and Anu or Ayaan Seth and Ananya Seth, were the successors of Seth Group of Industries. What had started as a small diamonds and gems business, was now worth millions.  Hiralal was not only the King of Diamonds, under his leadership, SGI shone in the real-estate business as well as the fashion industry.  He was however blinded by the money and fame that came along. He was ruthless and could butcher even his loved ones to climb another step towards being in the list of richest businessmen in the country. 

Ayaan gulped before sitting down across his father. "Papa, don't you think, Anu deserves to...". His words trialed off at the sight of his father's raised palm. "Mmmhh", Hira grunted in disgust. "She won't say no. You'll make sure that she doesn't say no". That was Ayaan's cue to leave. He reeled his way out, fishing for his phone in his pocket. "Hello! Anu?".

As Delhi was getting engulfed in a blanket of winter smog, Ananya drove towards the SGI office. She had finally got an appointment to meet her father. She pranced towards Hiralal's cabin, revising her pitch. Ananya had successfully popularised Seth Gems among the GenZ and the Millennials. She had introduced "SeGe", an app where people could buy jewellery designed by themselves.    

Hiralal gestured her to begin her presentation. Ananya glided through her idea of incorporating bridal collection in "SeGe". A gleam of hope flashed across her face as she ended her presentation. "Hmm", Hiralal nodded in agreement. "I like the concept", he continued. "How about you be SeGe's first bride, you can save a lot in marketing". Ananya, who was curveting towards her father, halted mid-way with a jerk, "I am sorry, What?". 

Mr. Seth strolled towards his table and picked up an envelope. "You remember Mrs. Bhavna Mehta? She was there at last week's party". Ananya stared at her father. "Well she wants you to marry her son, and I said yes". He smirked as he tried to hand her a picture of the groom. "It's good for our business".  Ananya gathered herself, picked up her things and walked out of his office. Not a word spoken.

He smiled thinking, "Ayaan did well". Looking at the Mehta Group of Companies folder, he chuckled to himself.  This deal was going to reap benefits only for SGI. MGC was too big a business to profit from this. He poured himself a glass of whiskey and sat pondering, "They settled for almost nothing, all they wanted was Ananya to marry their son, what a nominal demand for such a big deal".  

It was around 2 at night, Mahesh, Hiralal's  loyal help, brought him up to his bedroom. Mrs. Neelam Seth left the bed  in abhorrence as he reeked of alcohol. "Neelu", he mumbled, "Our Anu is getting married to Jitendra Mehta's son, SGI is going to be huge". Neelam's soul left her body as she sat on the floor. "What have you done, Hira!" She howled. " He is a drug addict!".