RISHTAA: An Arranged Love (IPKKND AU) **ON HIATUS**

Chapter 2: Arnav

For the fifth time in four weeks, Arnav found himself sitting in the living room of some unlucky girl that Nani had found for him. She'd put out feelers as soon as he'd turned twenty-six, utilizing some hitherto-unknown network of women and gossips to unearth girl after girl after girl for him to meet.

She'd accepted and rejected photographs for him, claiming to only present him with the cream of the crop, and then pressed, cajoled and nagged until he'd agreed to meet a few. He'd rejected three of the girls he'd met – they were entirely wrong for him and one was clearly being forced into an advantageous marriage by her family – and the other had rejected him before he'd had the chance to voice his disapproval. She'd eloped the very next day with her boyfriend.

We're wasting our time.

No contract, no amount of red powder, and no necklace could tie a girl to him. It would only trap her, and if she decided later on that she wanted someone else, she'd be forced to cheat on him. Without marriage, she'd be free to leave him and pursue all of her options, and he wouldn't have to deal with an unfaithful spouse.

Like Mamma.

Arnav suspected that they were only here, in this cramped house in the back alleys of Laxmi Nagar, because Nani had a connection to it. Her old neighbours from Lucknow had suggested this family, where the father came from a line of sweet-makers and the elder daughter was engaged to a mediocre accountant. This girl was young – in her last year of college – but Nani had insisted on meeting her.

Di, overexcited with the idea of a sister-in-law from Lucknow, kept grinning and throwing him thumbs-up signals. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and glanced at Aakash, noting his cousin's bored and disinterested demeanor.

Arnav looked over at the girl's family. Her father was a kind and principled man who carried the conversation confidently; her mother a quiet woman with sharp eyes and a ready smile, and her Bua-ji was a formidable oddity with a loud laugh. Her sister was a prim figure in the corner, her diamond engagement ring twinkling on her finger as she smiled at Di and Nani.

Impatient to leave, Arnav looked towards the rest of the house, wondering where the girl was. The sooner she arrived, the quicker they could leave, and the earlier he could send over his rejection.