BEYOND THE CLOUDS (Completed)

Chapter 1

He was about the enter an engagement party, with happy faces.

All he will do is enter, congratulate his friends Captain Adhimaan Malhotra and his would be bride Asmita and get the fuck out of here. He thought to himself.

It was his 35th birthday today and Earlier in the day, he had been delivered one of the best news of his life but with a sword hanging dangerously on his head leaving him in no mood to celebrate.

Sidharth Shukla, the CEO of Jubilee Hotels was sitting in his car giving himself a pep talk but, his shoulders hung droopily and eyes blazed red, partly with defeat and partly with fury.

He felt guilty of carrying his foul mood inside, but he definitely couldn't duck out of this at the last minute.

Sidharth closed his eyes, filled his lungs with a huge heave of breath and let out a heavy, audible sigh announcing his readiness to move.

As if on cue, Rana, his driver cum body guard cum handyman, all in all, the most trusted one in his squad, turned around and handed him a bottle of perfume, and a wet tissue.

Sidharth wiped his face with the hope of rubbing off the unpleasant creases that had been placed there after a painful meeting with his parents and attorney and sprayed a luxurious amount of his favourite Valentino on himself, attempting to mask the reek of cigarettes that clung to him.

"Its show time" he announced in a gruff voice and swaggered out of his Porsche with the grace of a lion.

Taking long strides, from the parking to the lawn, his usually intense gaze avoided every eye that was trained to him from the moment he entered.

He went straight to the celebrating couple, basking in the glory of their love.

"Hey Captain, congratulations" Sidharth spoke in his rich voice, commanding the couples attention.

Adhimaan and his fiancé turned to him, smiling.

"So... Jubilee Shukla is here" his friend hugged him, making him smile at the name.

"My chuddy buddies are engaged to be married, ofcourse I had to be here" Sidharth's attention was turned to his pretty wife as she stood there looking at the two friends bonding.

Letting go of Adi, he took Asmita's hands in his and smiled charmingly at her.

"Congrats Asmi, m so happy for you" he cupped her cheek lovingly and genuinely felt the words he said.

Just like Sidharth, Adi and Asmi came from old money and had been his closest buddies since prep school.

The Shuklas and Malhotras were family friends and as residents of the swish Malabar hill, which was an upscale residential area in Mumbai, they also mingled in the same society circle.

So... Sidharth thought to himself... "Meeting the couple.. check.. congratulations given... check" he mentally ticked all the boxes

"Its time to head out now" Sidharth told himself and turned to the exit gate.

But before he could even take a step ahead, he was met with a crowd of people, hooting and cheering loudly like uncivilized hooligans.

"god you guys" Sidharth grinned, taken back by the surprise while brushing off the confetti that had landed all over him.

The people in question were none other than the rest of his gang, his childhood friends, Rishi, Megha, Indraneil, Abhishek and Sunaina, all of whom had now broken into a Happy Birthday Song.

"Happy Birthday Babyyyyy" a soft voice spoke from behind him, making him turn around.

"Ofcourse" his heart cried out painfully as he recognized the voice. He held his lips upward forcefully as his eyes met with Devanshi.