Warrior

5

It was safe to say that while my family moved with excitement, getting ready for Saturday's brunch, I was nowhere near their level of excitement. Amma worked with the staff night and day, trying to figure out how she was going to decorate the place as well as what food should be served. Babuji helped along and my little sister was going crazy with the shopping, swiping my credit card like it was an Olympic sport.

Oh, and she got her Cartier love bracelet, giving her a total of four now. 

"Di, don't give me that look. You own 6 gold ones and 4 white ones, as well as 2 of the rose gold," she frowned.

I only arched my brow at her.

"Granted you deserved it and paid with your own money but still!"

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to my laptop. My family may want to act like lunatics, but I prefer to keep my mind focused on work. Babuji is too busy helping Amma anyways, so someone has to keep the Gupta empire running.

"Are you seriously still working," Payal frowned.

I glanced at her then returned my attention to my laptop.

"Have you even looked him up yet? Tomorrow is Saturday!"

Is it?

I glanced at the top right corner of my MacBook.

Huh, what do you know, it is.

"Di, look at his picture already!"

Yeah right, I have no interest! I've been avoiding her thrusting her phone, tablet, or laptop in my face just fine this week, so what makes her think I'd look up this Raizada guy myself?

Our family doesn't really associate with their family, which to me is no shocker. Their family is much more big money, not to mention one of the first families to first arrive and start up this town. While my great grandfather had started up our family, their's was one more generation ahead, meaning this Raziada guy's great great grandfather. If I'm not mistaken, along with him were 5 other families that started up settlements out here, starting up the town.

"...are you even listening to me?"

I blinked once, snapping out of my trance, but continued to focus on my laptop. "Nope."

I could feel her scowling at me, but I didn't care.

"Look him up! Ugh, why are you so stubborn! The guy is literally coming tomorrow, at least know who you're supposed to be looking at!"

I rolled my eyes and looked at her. "If you haven't been able to tell yet, baby sis - I'm not interested!"

"Why not-?"

She quickly stopped herself, realizing her own words, and looked down. I could see the grief and guilt spread across her face, so I reached out to her.

"Payal-"

But she pulled away.

"That guy was a lousy jerk," she huffed, still not looking up. "You can't let him ruin your chances at something good."

I didn't say anything, watching her.

"I know that we don't know Arnav Singh Raizada, just like we didn't know Shyam. But I want to be optimistic like Amma. Unlike his family, the Raizada's are well known, and never once have we heard anything bad about Arnav, not even a peep! And when it comes to people like us, you know that's rare."

True, she has a point.

"I know you can be a negative Nancy and say that it doesn't mean anything but... but I have hope, Di. And I'm not going to let it get ruined."

I looked her up and down for a moment; it was very clear that my emotional, optimistic, romance-loving baby sis would be ready to burst into tears any moment. "Alright, how many times have you googled him?"

She looked up at me and I smirked at her teasingly, and just like I knew, a small smile spread across her face.

"Only a few times," she said, rolling her eyes. 

"Only a few?" 

What a liar!

"Okay! Maybe more than a few...."

Bingo!

"Di, he's so hot! Like seriously, their family is just sexy, like all of them look sexy, it's wild! I mean I looked at pictures of his parents and they look like they barely age! And neither look plastic whatsoever! How crazy is that?!"

Uh, too crazy actually. What aunty in this community hasn't done botox or fillers? Besides Amma because we refuse to let her, no one. But if what Payal is saying is true then wow! There's actually another one.

"Just look him up once, Di. Please? For me? Plus you'll know which one to check out and see if a kick in the face is necessary," she sang.

I couldn't help my grin, resting my chin on my fingers. "If I promise that I will, will you finally stop bugging me?"

"Throw in some Louboutins?"

"Absolutely not, you just got a 6000 dollar bracelet," I scowled.

She shrugged. "Can't blame me for trying, but fine, deal!"

"Alright, now leave me alone squirt!"

"You better look him up," she hollered as she left. "I'll check your browsing history, don't you dare open an incognito window!"

This girl I swear....

Well, a promise is a promise, and I'll always be a sucker for baby sis.

Turning my attention away from the spreadsheet I was looking at, I opened a new browser window and typed in Arnav Singh Raizada. My finger hovered over the return button on my keyboard, and finally, after sucking it up since it's not a big deal whatsoever, I pressed it. Immediately, the page loaded, the first result is a link to AR Group of Industries. But my attention quickly went to the right side of the screen, which showed several images.

Whoa.

I clicked on the images tab and numerous pictures popped up, all of the same man. Most of them were solo pictures, some showing him with his family. I recognized one person immediately, so I clicked on it to enlarge it. It was a photo of Arnav with his mother, Shalini. Both were linked arm-in-arm, Shalini Singh Raizada placing her free hand over her son's arm as she looked up at her son with complete adoration, while Arnav looked rather serious, looking off elsewhere. My sister's curiosity had spread onto me, so I clicked on the link provided with the image - since I had no interest in browsing further down than the first few images that were displayed - and went onto some gossip site. Basically the article spoke about how Arnav had gotten irritated at how the paparazzi were being too rough, getting a little too close to him and his mother. He had his security back them up and clear a path for his mother, the photo capturing the moment then, showing how much love she had for her son.

So why is she trying to get him killed?

I still stand where I stand, I don't care. If she saw me at the Das' then she had to have seen me make that aunty melt to the ground in shame, as well as call out all of the others. Granted, Shalini Singh Raizada has no daughter, fine, but still - after seeing me behave the way that I did, no one at that party would ever consider me marrying their son.

So why did she?

~

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