Dil Beparwah | ✔

thirty three

||CHAPTER 33||
《¤》

┊A R V I K A┊

"Your taste buds need a serious revamp," Sherriyar stated as he strolled over the mini bridge connecting the breakfast bistro. "How many of those have you popped over the week?"

I rolled the last capsule of the emptied strip between my thumb and fore-finger, "Call it my favorite dish."

Months of sleeplessness had taken a toll, it wasn't entirely my fault for using external sources to keep my eyes open—especially after last night. Not a wink of sleep, though the complaints could be saved for later.

However, Sherry didn't force himself to the jocularity, casting a miffed look my way instead. "The side effects of which we have to deal with. Did you know you're crankier in the afternoons than in the mornings now? And speaking of, why is Mia MIA?"

His three-year old word play had lost its  charm. "Because, contrary to what you portray me as, I am actually the good boss who thinks it would be a nice gesture to give her the day off."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa—let me get this straight," he flipped off his shades to hook them to his shirt, "She gets the entire day off for disrupting my sleep, whereas I—someone who was promised this would be a lovely vacation—am bombarded with work in the middle of the night to mend the loopholes of a contract. That's a great boss move. Hierarchy samjhaiye thhoda?"

Salty sea breeze blew my hair, and resting an elbow against the railing, I jut my chin at him. "You work for the company. Mia works for me." There were times my gratitude for her came with waves of discomfort, and this admission counted as one.

"There's a difference between the two?"

"Apparently." Behind glass walls, reflections of their amiability looked so genuine. Greetings had been loud, jovial, unnecessary—they knew what they were here for. "And it keeps widening each day."

Arnav sat opposite Arohi, neither looking frazzled enough to have second thoughts about the prospect. The reassuring glances that they exchanged every minute annoyed me. A week ago, she refused to acknowledge him in a room full of people. Now, she donned a yellow jumpsuit with a styled chignon and campaigned for cleaning of beaches with the same smile as that on What They Say's hoardings all over the country.

I did not hate Arohi, but it was the glaring indifference with which she refused to comment on the matter before the contract came into the picture that made me question her intentions. For god's sake, the hush-hush of the contract was only shy of 24 hours, but a photographer that clearly was not my brother, was already on standby for snapping the sweet couple's courting.

Second generation of Bandhan required many changes, and yet I couldn't quite bring myself to disobey our father's decisions.

Sherriyar placed the leather-bound folder in my waiting palm, not releasing it immediately. Raising a brow at me, his voice glazed over with a layer of genuine concern. "You do realize how this would impact the Board Meeting, right? Tell me you've thought about it."

I wasn't having sleepless nights for nothing. Right now, Samyak Deewan wasn't the only man I had to compete with, and while Arnav wasn't on the list of next-in-lines, the merger proposal was going to be a game changer. A marriage and a kid? The odds were going to kick me out. Nevertheless, I tugged the binder from him, beaming. "Are you scared for me, Sherry?"

"Nah, I just don't want Maanyata Yatis-Oberoi's efforts going to waste," was his parting response.

The butler opened the door to let me in. While the grand suite on the top deck was still an available option for the conversation, Dad figured that under the public eye, the Gupta-s would cave in easily.