My Prince Charming

Prologue

Arnav Singh Raizada... Young, dashing, handsome, rich, successful, etc... etc... etc... were just few of the many adjectives that had been permanently attached to his name. He was considered to be the most eligible bachelor in town. He had girls swooning at the very sight of him. Right from his PA to the Models that worked for AR Designs to the most successful female clients that he worked with considered him to be drool-worthy. Just his presence in any room got him all the female attention. 

But Arnav Singh Raizada was as indifferent a man as you could hope to find on the face of the earth. In a very polite & gentlemanly fashion he kept all his female admirers at bay. He was charming enough to not offend anyone either. Yet it was getting difficult by the day. He was 29 years old & mothers of single daughters were starting to get extremely impatient. Going at a private party had started to become a pain lately. And then there was Lavanya too...

He sat in his large office looking intently at his laptop screen working on an upcoming project. When his desk phone rang, “Yes?” He answered.

“Good Morning Sir, Anjali Ma’am is on the line.” His PA Natasha spoke in extra sweet voice.

“Put her through...” was the curt reply she got.

“Chote?” Anjali’s voice chimed.

“Yeesh Di! Not when I’m in office. I hope you didn’t ask to speak with ‘Chote’ to my PA.” said a very annoyed Arnav.

“But you are my Chote and I am your Di.” She said simply, “and I know better than to call you by your pet name while speaking to your PA.”

“Yeah alright Di. You wanted to speak about something?” He asked relieved.

“Yes, I called to remind you that you have to go to meet the Gupta's today.” She said excitedly.

“I know Di.” He scowled.

“Don’t you use that tone with me.” She said sternly, “Payal is a wonderful girl. Beautiful, educated, cultured and from our society. And I like her too. Besides this marriage will strengthen the business relations between the Raizada's & the Gupta's.”

“I know Di.” He scowled again. He had met Payal a few times and she was a nice girl but she was too meek & submissive, Arnav had thought. But he hardly cared. Marriage was certainly not on his list of priorities. He was marrying only for Anjali’s sake. As long as Di was happy he didn’t care who he married but marrying Payal would definitely be beneficial to business.  So he promised Anjali that he would visit the Gupta's after work & confirm the proposal.

He had barely hung up when the phone rang again. Arnav sighed & answered.

“Sir a certain Miss Gupta would like to meet you.” Said a very confused sounding Natasha.

“Miss Gupta? You mean she is here?” Arnav was surprised & confused too.

“Yes Sir and she insists on seeing you.” Natasha said, “If you want I can tell her to leave.”

“No. Send her in.” He replied.

Natasha gave a strange look to the girl standing before her & wondered why ASR had agreed to meet her. She directed her to his cabin.

He heard a soft knock on his cabin door & sighed. After all this was his future wife that was standing outside the door, he had to be a bit more courteous. He got up himself & opened the door.

What he saw completely stumped him. Standing in front of him was not Payal but a girl who didn’t look a day older than 16. She was wearing a knee length designer dress, sea green in colour with strappy high heels, had a leather bag dangling at her elbow. She wore several bracelets on her wrists & had long earrings hanging. Her long dark black hair elegantly swayed by her hips. Arnav just stared at her momentarily stunned & unsure.

She had an apologetic expression on her face. “I’m sorry Mr. Raizada but I thought you wouldn’t meet me if I gave my first name to your PA.”

He looked at her with raised eyebrows.

She shuffled her feet nervously, “What I mean is you wouldn’t have met me if you knew that I wasn’t Payal Jiji.”

Realisation hit him, “You are Payal’s sister?” He asked.

“Yes.” She said, “Can I come in? I need to talk to you about something very important.” Her tone suddenly businesslike.

“Umm... Sure come in.” He ushered her to the sofa totally bewildered about what was going on.

They sat opposite each other. She suddenly spoke up, “Mr. Raizada, please don’t marry my sister.”

“What?” Whatever he was expecting it wasn’t this.

“Please, please don’t marry her.” She pleaded.

Arnav was at a total loss of words. He recovered a little after a moment, “Who exactly... are you?”

“Oh! I’m so sorry. I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Khushi... Miss Khushi Gupta. Payal Jiji’s younger sister.” She said holding out her hand.

He took her tiny hand in his & shook it. “I have never seen you before.” He said casually.

“Yes, Dad says that I’m too young to attend social parties & events.” She said frowning.

“And you don’t want me to get married to your sister?” he verified.

“Yes, I mean, I don’t mean to offend you but you can’t marry Jiji.” She said.

“May I know, why?” He asked a bit amused as if talking to a five year old.

“Oh well...” She looked as if she was hoping he wouldn’t ask that question. She sighed & continued. “Well, Jiji doesn’t love you.” She answered sheepishly.

Arnav suppressed a smile... she was too innocent. “Look little one...”

“I AM NOT LITTLE ONE.” She had stood up suddenly her eyes blazing.

He pressed his lips to stop himself from laughing, “How old are you? 16?” He asked smirking at her.

“I’m 18.” She said proudly holding herself up.

“Really?” He asked giving her a disbelieving look.

“Yes. Just celebrated my 18^th birthday last week.” She replied holding her chin high.

Hmm... age seemed to be a touchy topic. “I’m sorry Khushi. But what I was trying to say is, it doesn’t really matter that your Jiji doesn’t love me. This is not exactly about love. There are lots of things involved that you may not understand.” He tried to explain patiently.

“I know it is about business, right?” She said looking disgusted by the idea. “It’s pathetic.”

“I agree.” He said amused again.

“But Jiji can’t marry you. She loves someone else.” She almost pleaded.

“Oh” was all Arnav could manage, unsure how he felt about his future wife loving someone else.

Khushi saw the expression on his face & felt bad for him. “I’m sorry about that, you know personally I would have preferred you.” She said trying to cheer him up.

“Really? Thank you.” He said trying to suppress a smile again.

“Yeah, I think you are very good looking” She went on, “and very nice too, as you didn’t get angry about me lying about my name.”

Arnav almost blushed at her innocent remarks on his looks & nature. He arrived back to the matter at hand. “If Payal loves someone else then why doesn’t she tell your father about it?” he asked her.

“Oh the guy is not in India at the moment, he is in London for studies & he asked Jiji to not tell anyone anything until he comes back, which is three months later.” Khushi said with a heart-broken expression. “Besides Jiji will never go against Dad’s decision, she has agreed to marry you for him, so I came to speak to you.”

Arnav was really appreciative of the courage she had shown. If anyone got wind of what she was doing, he was sure she would be grounded for life.

“Payal and I seem to be sailing in the same boat.” Arnav sighed.

“What? You love someone else too?” She asked brightening up.

“No, no, not that...” he was surprised she had jumped on this conclusion. “I meant, I’m doing this for my family too and can’t back out.” He explained.

“Oh no...” She sighed looking helpless, “but the three of you will be miserable for the rest of your lives. It will be so embarrassing staying in the same house.”

Arnav was once again confused, “What are you trying to say? What do you mean three of us?”

“Oh, three of you. You, Jiji and Akashji.” She replied.

“Akash? What has Akash got to do with it?” He asked bewildered again.

“Your brother Akashji and Jiji are in love with each other.” She answered. 

He stared at her for a whole minute before he replied, “That surely changes everything. I can definitely not marry the girl my brother is in love with.”

“I knew you would think that way.” She said hopefully, “I knew you are very nice.”

“Thank you but that doesn’t really solve the problem.” He knew Di would go berserk & accuse him of having plotted this with Akash so that he didn’t have to get married.

“What shall we do then?” She asked looking worried.

“Look Khushi if Akash & Payal like each other I will not marry Payal but the situation is very delicate. There is a lot at stake & there has to be a foolproof way out of this. Let me think about it before I visit your house this evening.”  Arnav tried to make her understand.

She nodded thoughtfully, “Yes, you are right. I’ll leave now & I’m sure you will come up with something. I think you are very smart.”

He opened the door for her suppressing his grin as he let her out. He shook his head smiling as he came back to sit on his chair.

He then called up his brother Akash who was completing his MBA in London. Akash confirmed that Payal & he have known each other for a long time now & they loved each other.

Arnav ended the call & sat thinking. What should he do at a time like this? He could not refuse for the marriage. There could be heavy losses on the business front. While if he agreed, it would be an extremely awkward situation in the family.

As he sat thinking an idea struck him, it was a totally crazy one & would involve telling a lot of lies. But his business needed it & his family too would get what they wanted. But how would it affect his whole life? And was it fair...?