AAD Chapter 3: Deals Made, Deals Broken

People this story is 16+ so kids please don't read it. I have decided to update because I don’t know when I’m going to get another time in this holiday because I have a lot of exam prep and coursework to get through. As promised this chapter is longer and hopefully it doesn’t sound like it’s dragging. As always the italics are thought and the bold bits are memories. Enjoy :)

Chapter 3: Deals Made, Deals Broken

Gupta Haveli

Shashi Gupta was a man with very few regrets in life. He didn’t regret it when his parents told him to stay at home and work so his siblings could get a good education and good jobs. He didn’t regret it when he had to remarry a woman a month after his wife had died so his daughter could have a mother. He certainly didn’t regret taking in Khushi when her parents died. What he did regret was not being good at maths.

Shashi sighed and began with the numbers again. They wouldn’t have been in debt in the first place had he been a better business man who could handle the numbers properly. But alas he was just an uneducated halwai who couldn’t even put his daughters through college no matter how much he wanted to. The wedding had taken a lot out of them and money was incredibly short.

Not that he told his daughters about that. Khushi would die of guilt and Payal would go into depression. He hated to see any of his daughters upset. He continued to stare at the papers and only one solution came to mind. He’d have to sell his beloved ancestral home. It was that or sell all his wife’s, sister’s and daughters jewellery. And he couldn’t bear to do that. His daughters were in the prime of their youth and would be getting married off any day. How could they do that with no jewellery? Even if he did manage to sell both his wife’s and sister’s jewellery, it still wouldn’t cover everything.

He made a decision. He would sell his house to someone who would let them stay if they paid rent. It was a fairly reasonable thing to ask for. Plus the house was huge. He wouldn’t mind other tenants in it too as long as the landlord didn’t kick them out. He didn’t really want to sell his home but times were tough and he knew what he had to do.

Raizada Mansion

After Arnav had finished reading Khushi’s file, he had made a few phone calls and headed home. As soon as he walked through the door he headed towards his sister’s room. He barged in without knocking.

“It’s rude to come into people’s rooms without knocking, Chote. Besides, you don’t know what I was doing.” Said his sister.

“Jijaji is out of town so I can safely deduce you were doing nothing in your room.”

“Well…” she said suggestively.

He rolled his eyes. “Di, I’m going out of town for a few days.”

“What? We just got back.”

“I know but some important business has come up in Lucknow and I’m needed.”

“Chote, if it’s about our uncle, leave him alone. He doesn’t deserve our attention.”

Arnav clenched his fists. “He deserves to die a slow and painful death and so does Dadi.”

“Chote!”

He ignored her outburst. “Rest assured that I’m not going after that scum. I promise. I just need to close this business deal. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“Ok, just be careful.”

“Di, I’m not a child. I don’t need to be careful.”

Anjili brushed his comment aside and got up from the bed to pull his cheeks and mess his hair up. She then walked away leaving a shocked Arnav behind. He was dragged out of his stupor by the ringing of his phone.

“Sir?”

“What do you want Aman? You’re meant to be taking the day off.”

“I know sir but-”

“Next time I’m not going to give you any holidays. No matter how much you beg for them.”

“Sir, some interesting developments have occurred.”

Arnav smirked. “Have they?”

“Yes sir. I think you need to come to Lucknow as soon as possible.”

He already knew Aman had sorted everything out. “When’s my flight?”

“In 2 hours sir.”

“Private jet?”

“Of course.”

“Sheesh Mahal?”

“Yes sir.”

“Aman, you’ve just earned another raise from me.”

There was a shocked silence. “Thank you sir.”

“No problem Aman.”

He hung up and began packing.

Gupta Haveli

Shashi Gupta ran into the Haveli with a box of sweets in his hand. He began feeding sweets to everyone in the Haveli. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy.

“Has Shashi babuwa gone crazy?” asked Buaji whilst holding her head.

“No no Jiji. I haven’t gone crazy, yet.” Replied Shashi.

“Then why are you stuffing sweets down everyone’s throats?” asked Garima.

“Who cares, its sweets!” shrieked Khushi as she began stuffing more sweets in to her mouth. Garima smacked Khushi around the head to make her stop eating but it just made her choke on the sweets.

“I have found the solution to all our problems.”

“You’ve found another groom for Payaliya?” asked Buaji.

Everyone took a sharp intake of breath and held it. They all turned to look at Payal who was munching on her sweets. Khushi and Garima were about to engulf her into a hug when Payal spoke, “Well have you Babuji?”

“Umm no. But I have managed to find a buyer who wants this Haveli for triple its price!”

There was another shocked silence. “Babuji, you’re selling our home?” asked Payal.

“I have to Payal.”

“But why?” asked Khushi.

Shashi sighed. “I didn’t want to tell you guys this but we are in a lot of debt.”

Khushi and Payal gasped and looked at Garima and Buaji, who looked away in guilt.

“You all knew and you didn’t tell us!” demanded Payal.

“What would’ve you done?” asked Shashi.

“We could’ve gotten jobs.” Said Khushi.

“No!” yelled Garima.

“What your mother means is that we were hoping that we’d get you and Payal married by now and so our burden would be lessened. But it seems like it’s harder to find good grooms now a days.”

Payals face fell and she left from there with Khushi chasing after her.

Shashi sighed and looked at Garima and Buaji. “Everything is going to be fine now. I promise.”

But little did he know this was only the beginning of all his problems.

Khushi had finally caught up to Payal who was furiously wiping tears from her face. Khushi grabbed her shoulder gently and led her to their room. Once inside, Khushi made Payal sit down on the bed, then she got up to lock the door. She came back to the bed and Payal clung on to her and sobbed her heart out. Initially, Khushi winced because Payal was pressing on her bruises but she ignored the pain and concentrated on comforting her sister.

“This is all my fault.” Hiccupped Payal.

“How is this your fault?”

“Abishek and I could’ve been married by now if I didn’t argue about the dowry so much. Then I wouldn’t be so much of a burden to Babuji. You even went to try to convince him. He’s selling the family house Khushi. How could he do that?”

A cold shiver went through Khushi as she remembered what had happened when she had gone to talk to Abishek.

He bit her lips and pushed his tongue into her mouth. Her taste was addictive; he couldn’t get enough of her. He brought himself closer to her to make sure there wasn’t any gap between them. His hands began to caress her soft milky thighs travelling higher to her hips, waists and her breasts.

Khushi felt like throwing up again and made a mental note to take yet another shower. She rubbed her sister’s back in comfort. She felt like it was all her fault that they’d had to go through this.

If only I hadn’t gotten onto that God forsaken ramp. If only I had found Abishekji and talked to him. Then maybe Jiji would be married and we wouldn’t have this problem. But no. You have the worst luck in history, Khushi Kumari Gupta. You had to get on that ramp and you had to fall into that rakshas’s arms. And he just had to punish you! And what did you do? You just lay there and when he was done, you ran away! You didn’t even think about your family. Well who thinks about family after something as traumatic as that? Besides if it wasn’t for that Laad Govner, then the situation would be different. That’s right Khushi, don’t blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault. It was his.

Khushi’s eyes began to fill with tears. “It’s going to be ok Jiji. Devi Maya knows what she’s doing and so does Babuji. We’re going to be fine.”

Both sisters held each other and cried over their bad fortune.

Lucknow

As soon as Arnav Singh Raizada landed in Lucknow, he requested for his luggage to be sent to the Sheesh Mahal. He then received the papers he wanted and set out for his destination.

Aman truly is brilliant

When he reached his destination, he was approached by a man and a woman in their mid 40s to early 50s. The man welcomed him warmly into his house and began giving him a tour. They then got down to business.

Sheesh Mahal

He had just got back from the elderly man’s house and was relaxing in his room when his phone rang. He sighed when he saw the number.

“Yes Di?”

“How come you didn’t call me as soon as you landed to tell me you were safe?”

“Because we crash landed. Then the car I was taking to the Sheesh exploded. Then I got mugged. And now I’m dead. So you see Di, I’m not safe at all. In fact, I’m dead.”

Anjili sighed. “A simple ‘I’m fine Di’ would’ve sufficed. Why did you have to go all sarcastic on me?”

“Di, you’re smothering me. No wonder Jijaji is always out of town.” He joked.

“You! I just…I can’t…Fine! I’m never going to ask how you are ever again. Happy?”

“Very.” He grinned.

Anjili slammed the phone down causing Arnav to chuckle. He was about to get himself a drink when his phone rang again.

“I’m sorry Di-”

“Umm sir, it’s me.” Said Aman.

“What do you want Aman?!” snapped Arnav out of embarrassment.

“Sir I just wanted to inform you that Lavanya is on her way to Lucknow.”

“But I didn’t send for her. Why weren’t you on this?!”

“You gave me the day off sir.”

Arnav sighed. “Why is she coming over?”

“To fulfil your contract sir. It’s been a week and you haven’t had any girls. So as per your contact, she has to fly out to wherever you are to meet your needs.”

Arnav had totally forgotten about the contact, what with his fashion show and punishing his uncle. And Khushi, whispered a small part of his brain but he ignored it.

“Tell her it’s not needed. I was planning to terminate our contract soon. Tell her that it doesn’t mean that this will impact our professional relationship. Tell her she can still keep her job.”

“Sir, she’s already on her way.”

“Well do something about it! What do I pay you for Aman?!”

With that he hung up the phone, poured himself a drink and settled into his armchair. There was a sharp knock on the door. He groaned.

Can’t a guy ever get some alone time? Well you know what they say Arnav, there’s no rest for the wicked.

And he certainly was wicked when he wanted to be. He got up and prepared to shout at whoever was behind that door. When he opened it, he faltered. It was Lavanya. She was wearing a pair of red 6 inch stilettos and a beige trench coat.

He gulped and said hoarsely, “What are you doing here Lavanya?”

“Can I come in?” she said seductively.

He stepped aside and she strutted into his room.  He closed the door and locked it.

“Isn’t it a little warm to be wearing a coat?” He asked as he settled into his armchair.

“That’s precisely what I was thinking.”

With that she took her coat off. All she was wearing underneath was a barely there red lace lingerie. She walked over to Arnav and straddled him, making sure to grind his already hardening erection. She began kissing his neck.

“I don’t think we should be doing this Lavanya.” He said in a strained voice.

Continuing on with her activities she asked, “Why not?”

“Because I was thinking about cancelling our contact.”

“Which one?”

“This one.”

“Well that’s too bad.” She stopped kissing him and looked him in the eyes. “Ok, so you’ve cancelled the contract. Break up sex?”

He didn’t reply. Instead he grabbed her and threw her on the bed. He then proceeded to rip off the poor excuse for underwear of her body and stripped himself.

Gupta Haveli

The family was running around getting the house ready, although Khushi couldn’t understand why. She wanted to sabotage any attempts to sell the house but she knew they must be really desperate to sell it so she kept quiet and did what she was asked to do. Her father was downstairs with the person who wanted to buy the Haveli and all she wanted to do was kick him out of the house. Her family must have known she was planning to do that so they had lured her to her room and locked her in. She was trying every way to break out of her room but it seemed very fruitful until she had a brilliant idea.

Khushi Kumari Gupta, you’re a genius.

Shashi Gupta led the man into his living room.

“My wife’s coming in with the tea.”

“That’s alright, I just need your signature on these papers then I’ll be on my way.”

Shashi signed the papers and shook the man’s hands. Just as the man was about to walk away Shashi stopped him.

“Wait.” The man turned and sat down again. “I have one request.”

“I’m listening.”

“Can my family and I stay in this house?” The man frowned and Shashi hastily added, “We’ll be paying rent and my family doesn’t mind other tenants living here either.”

“Mr Gupta, we should’ve discussed this before you signed the contract.”

Shashi cursed himself for not thinking about this before. He got distracted by the great offer the man had proposed. “Please Mr Raizada there must be something you can do.”

Arnav smirked.

Meanwhile, Khushi had blackmailed her sister into letting her out of the room by telling her that she needed to go to the bathroom and that she was starving. As soon as she was let out, she ran. Payal was going to chase after her when her mother stopped her.

“Let her go Payal. The deal is done, there is nothing she can do about it now.”

She stopped outside the living room and started eavesdropping in on her father and the man’s conversation.

“There is something else I want in exchange of letting your family continue to live here.”

“But we don’t have any-”

“I don’t need material possessions. As you can tell I have enough money to buy whatever I want.”

Khushi held her breath. She couldn’t understand what the man could possible want from them. And another thing kept bugging her, where had she heard that voice before.

“Then what do you want?” asked Shashi.

“I want your daughter.”

Shashi was shocked but he recovered quickly. He couldn’t believe that such a good proposal came to his daughter. Especially after her first marriage broke. He was about to say yes when Khushi fell into the room. When Khushi saw who her father had sold the house to, she froze.

Note: I don’t know why I was trying to keep Arnav’s and Shashi identity a secret throughout this chapter. I wasn’t trying to put in a twist and I knew you guys would figure it out. My brain is a strange place. And now I’m rambling because I’m tired. I apologise for making you guys waste your time reading this.