Arranged marriage was an age-old story that Khushi, the youngest of the infamous Gupta family, who revolutionized and dominated the trading market for generations, knew well.
For it was the only thing she heard growing up.
But that neither prepared...
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- July 2012 -
"What are you doing?! It's the first day of class!"
Arnav ignored his best friend Ryan, continuing to play away on his cell phone, hidden tactfully underneath the desk far from the prying eyes of their professor. It was indeed the first day of college. While most students were busy trying to take notes, no doubt wanting to ace the course in the hopes of an "ambitious" and "bright" future as his father would put it, Arnav was nonchalantly playing Temple Run, having challenged Dev, his first cousin, just two days ago.
"Since you seem to be planning on stealing my notes yet again," Ryan hissed in a low voice. "Can you at least turn down the stupid volume?"
"The sound effects are what makes it fun," Arnav murmured.
"It won't be fun when we'll get kicked out of class. Turn it down man!"
Arnav sighed and obliged. Pissing off his best friend wasn't really on the top of his to-do list that morning, especially since he had a disastrous argument with his father just the night before. The topic, of course, wasn't new. In fact, anyone who knew Arnav even a little bit, would have guessed what the source of discontent was. And anyone who understood his father even a little bit would have known who had won the argument. Which was why Arnav found himself once again in a classroom, listening to another old professor drone on and on about business management, while his mind wandered aimlessly and his heart tried to handle the loss of his plans, plans that included taking a year off to travel the world.
Life was unfair. No, life as the only son of Shankar Singh Raizada was unfair.
Arnav knew it was silly to hope. It was clear since the age of thirteen, when he was shipped off to boarding school –an effort from his father to teach him discipline– that pursuing his interests would be impossible. Of course, it was another thing that he was still unsure what those interests actually were. Unlike most people his age, Arnav had no idea what he wanted to do with himself. Any sort of talent he had that wasn't deemed helpful for his "destiny" as his father's successor was squashed quite early in his childhood. And nobody even seemed guilty about it.
Unfortunately, all that did was suffocate him some more. Why couldn't they understand that they could only take a horse to the water, not make him drink it?
Of course, life wasn't always so bleak. Having grown up as the youngest member of his family, Arnav was the pampered one. Happiness was abundant and stress, if there was any, was kept far from him. Even Lavanya, who was prickly about being the middle child and hence, felt ignored in many ways, indulged him. While it was quite blissful, for there were many perks involved, Arnav quickly grew to resent it.
Because always being in the spotlight meant that his life was an open book. Whether it was failing a math test –which happened quite a lot– or getting hurt during a match of his beloved football, nothing escaped their eyes. And the consequences for each of those actions, were always fourfold.
