The car doors opened in unison and a group of beautifully styled individuals got out looking like they were there straight from the pages of a fashion magazine. From the first car came Shivaay Singh Oberoi and a young woman, followed by a much older lady. From the second came Rudra Singh Oberoi, a chubby young woman with him, his mother Jhanvi Oberoi and finally, the artist himself, Omkara Singh Oberoi stepped out of a third car all alone, to the satisfaction and relief of one particular onlooker.
The entire group of students, faculty and family members watching the Oberois' entrance held their breath at the sight the family made. This was the first time in years that so many members of the Oberoi family had showed up at one event. And yet, nobody other than the Dean knew exactly why.
No one had dared to even approach any of the Oberois who were discreetly surrounded by their own security people. Gauri just stood behind Sania and her underlings, hoping for a bit more time before someone from the family found her. She needed to mentally prepare herself for the hoopla that would happen once her friends and college mates found out that she was part of the famous Oberoi business family.
But apparently, her Shankarji wasn't gonna listen to her today... because Gauri almost instantaneously felt it.
The first person to spot her was as usual, her husband... Gauri could literally feel his gaze caressing her lovingly and she started to feel a blush creep up her cheeks in response. Without even looking in his direction, Gauri knew that her Omkara's eyes were studying her. Her body's innate response to his presence was almost overwhelming at that moment and she had to force herself to not turn in his direction or she would probably just make her way to him, ruining all her hard work of two years. The dramatic reveal, which was probably what her drama-loving family wanted, would just have to wait for a bit more.
The second one from her family to spot her however, was Shivaay bhaiyya. His blue-green eyes meeting hers within a few seconds of getting off the car, even though Gauri was half hidden in the back of the crowd that was forming at the Oberois' entrance. He subtly gestured to Anika, whose face broke out in a wide grin at spotting Gauri herself. Since Gauri was stood behind and slightly to one side of Sania, the young woman fell into the misconception that Anika Oberoi was smiling at her for some reason. Deciding to not look a gift horse in the mouth, Sania plastered a wide smile on her face and gathering her courage, walked up to where the famous family stood.
"Hello Mr. Oberoi... I hope you remember me, I'm Sania Mehta. Thanks for taking the time to come to our graduation ceremony today"
Shivaay, who'd just gotten down from the car and spotted his little sister in the crowd, was sort of distracted when he was suddenly faced with a young woman in a short dress and sky high heels, who was speaking to him as if she knew him.
"Oh... Don't mention it... er... Ms. Mehta. Do I know you?"
"Oh... I'm Vikram Mehta's daughter. We've met at a couple of parties..."
"Oh... yes. How is Mr. Mehta? I'm sorry for not recognizing you. I was somehow under the impression that he only had a son... So... Who're you cheering on today?"
Sania's face went red at SSO's assumption that she was there for some family member. Did he think she wasn't bright enough for this? Or horror of horrors, did he think she was too old?
"Oh no! I am graduating from here myself... are you here as a chief guest at today's ceremony?"
The difference was near instantaneous. The Shivaay Singh Oberoi who'd sounded curt and quite intimidating, was suddenly looking like a proud and happy father figure. It took Sania a hot minute to wrap her head around this version of SSO that she'd never even known existed. There was a wide smile on the face that had never been seen smiling in public and his grey-green eyes sparkled with pride.
"Oh no... I'm here as a family member. My li'l sister is graduating today too! You might know her"
"Priyanka?! I didn't know Priyanka studied here..."
"Oh... not Prinku. She's in Germany at the moment. I was talking about my other little sister."
For a full thirty seconds, Sania gaped at Shivaay Singh Oberoi in shock. SSO's sister was studying at the same college as herself and she hadn't known. How things might've changed if only she'd known who was SSO's sister and forged a friendship with her! To think she'd let such a great opportunity slip out of her hands. No matter... she still had a day and now that she could figure out just who that girl was, Sania Mehta could still latch on to the Oberoi girl if necessary.
Before she could say anything further, Anika Oberoi whispered something in her husband's ear and upon getting an affirmative nod from him, started to move in her direction. Even as Sania made herself ready for what she expected was a hug from Mrs. Oberoi, Anika breezed past her to someone standing behind her in the crowd.
As Sania turned to see who it was that Shivaay Singh Oberoi's wife was walking towards, her curiosity turned to shock and dismay as Anika Oberoi pretty much swept Gauri Sharma up in a bear hug, the two of them squealing in some weird language of their own.
"Chutki! Tu pass ho gayi! Tujhe pata hai main kitni khush hoon aaj? Ekdum khidkitod khush! We're all so proud of you Chutki!"
"Anika bhaujaai... aap sab ne hum se ye plan chupaaya na? Humein bataa nahin sakte the kya? Kam se kam aap to humein kuch hint-wint de deti"
"Are Chutki... bataate to tum hum sab ko aaj yahaan aane deti kya? Apne bade bhaiyya se kuch to waada karvaa leti aur wo humein aane nahin dete. Isi liye maine aur tere Rudy bhaiyya ne milke ye khidkitod plan banaya tumhein surprise karne ke liye"
Gauri had the grace to look a bit guilty at that... Getting Shivaay to promise her that he wouldn't let the family come to her graduation, was exactly what she had planned as a contingency.
"Sorry bhaujaai... hum nahin chaahte the ki humari wajah se kuch bada media waalon ke saath drama ho"
"Hat pagli... parivaar waalon ke beech mein kuch drama hota hai kya? Are waise bhi... apni family to poori ki poori dramebaazon se bhari hui hai. Is mein ek aur chota sa drama ho jaata to kya hota?"
That was when Anika's excited gaze fell upon the pretty, simply dressed girl, standing with a shocked expression suffused over her face next to her little sister.
"Are! Ye tumhari dost Smrithi hai na? Itne dinon se aap ke hi baare mein sunte aa rahe hain hum sab. Ye kehti rehti hai... Smrithi aisi hai, waisi hai, usne ye kaha, wo kiya... It is so nice to finally meet you! Mujhe to already lagta hai ki main aap ko na, barson se jaanti hoon..."
Anika pulled a completely stunned Smrithi into another bear hug, while a helpless Gauri stood alongside, trying not to laugh at the Anika juggernaut completely running over a flat out turned to stone' bestie of hers. Her laugh died away as her eyes met Smrithi's over Anika's shoulder, the shock and awe in them turning into something else as she realized just who Gauri was.
While most of the crowd surrounding the impromptu family reunion found it completely unreal that the quiet, unassuming Gauri Sharma they'd all known for almost a couple of years now knew the Oberois in some way, Sania Mehta's shock was turning to anger.
"Shivaay, how does your wife know Sharma? Does she work for you guys or something?"
The dismissive tone she'd deliberately injected into her question, only served to irk Shivaay that much more. His resolve to keep the secret intact till later just took a huge blow at the direct insult to his little sister and the tadibaaz SSO took the concerned brother's place, all set to demolish this scantily clad witch in front of him. He opened his mouth to eviscerate her when he felt a familiar hand squeeze his shoulder.
Sania turned to Shivaay, not having heard anything from him in answer to her question, only to be shocked a second time in as many minutes to find his brother standing next to Shivaay Singh Oberoi. She'd been dreaming about Omkara Singh Oberoi for so long that having him in front of her threw Sania for a loop.
"Oh!... H-Hi... Ummm...Sorry... We haven't met. I am Sania Mehta. I'm Shivaay's friend and a huge fan of yours!"
In her excitement, Sania barely noticed Shivaay's angry and irritated expression at being called her friend and almost shoved an old lady out of the way to get closer to Omkara. The middle Oberoi brother's chocolate eyes seemed to be filled with fury and fire for a second, Sania was sure she was wrong about that... before they cleared and he surprisingly, smiled brightly at her.
Sania hadn't expected him to be so welcoming and felt the impact of that sexy smile all the way to her toes. If this man could affect her so much just with a single smile, she couldn't imagine what he could make her feel once they were in an actual relationship... Omkara Singh Oberoi was standing in front of her and actually smiling at her... Sania promptly lost herself in multiple daydreams of the billionaire artist and herself, ruling over society like a benevolent queen and her prince consort.
"It's nice to finally meet you Sania... I've heard a lot about you"
Omkara's words seemed to have a wealth of meaning behind them but Sania only cared that he was speaking with her at the moment. It was very important for her to make a good first impression with Omkara. It was also an amazing opportunity to show all these common folk that Sania Mehta was the queen around here and that whatever she'd said about her connection to the Oberois was true. For some reason, things seemed to be falling into her lap today and Sania definitely wasn't going to question so much good luck.
By this time, Shivaay had taken Dadi safely away from the lying Ms. Mehta who'd shoved Dadi aside in her haste to get close to Omkara, and walked up to join his wife in congratulating his newly minted little sister and her overwhelmed best friend. Rudy, Soumya and Jhanvi were also crowded around Gauri and Smrithi by then, making them the center of an Oberoi family sandwich.
Gauri was being squished between an over-excited Soumya and a cheering Rudy when she spotted Dadi coming her way and quickly extricated herself to take her blessings.
As Sania turned to watch her nemesis become the center of attention effortlessly, with herself pushed to the edges of the gawking crowd, she curiously didn't feel all that frustrated or angry as she expected to be. After all, she had the man she'd wanted for such a long time standing next to her and perhaps she might even have a chance at snagging him for herself, something that even that morning, she hadn't believed would ever happen. She stealthily put a proprietary looking hand on Omkara's arm, trying to snag his attention which seemed to have gotten stuck at the bunch of Oberois encircling Gauri Sharma for some godforsaken reason.
"Omkara... I asked this to Shivaay too. How do you guys know Gauri Sharma? I mean... what am I even saying, obviously she works for you or something. But your family is so... worked up about a servant! And so demonstrative like this in public! I mean... it's all nice and cute but isn't it a bit much?"
But Omkara, though he was stood next to her, seemed to have not heard a single word. He was staring at the group, staring at Gauri with an undefinable expression... his eyes stuck to her, following her everywhere as if he was a dying man and she was his salvation. Gauri too, stood in the middle of a clearly excited Oberoi family, but was caught by his eyes, her own locked with his dark chocolate orbs in a private moment that had them forgetting their surroundings, the people near them and even themselves for a long minute.
Obviously, Sania didn't understand why he was watching Gauri or what those emotions were that gleamed in his eyes, but it was irritating enough to her that even while standing next to her, the man she wanted above all, was focused on Gauri Sharma of all people.
Gauri on the other hand, felt his stare like a lover's caress... his eyes telegraphing all his emotions as clearly to her as if he was whispering them in her ears. Even stood in the middle of her family, Gauri could feel every single bit of her connection with him as if she was in his arms and he was holding her crushed to his chest, kissing the breath out of her. Unable to maintain eye contact with him as her blush rose once more, warming her chest, neck and face, turning her skin a flushed pink, Gauri shifted slightly, to force herself to pay attention to Rudy and Anika, who were making another one of their famously disastrous party plans, with Rudy promising to provide his infamous fruit punch.
As Gauri turned away, finally breaking their hypnotic stare, Omkara felt quite bereft for a moment before he returned to the present, finally feeling the claw-like hand that rested as if naturally, on his bicep. Unwilling to stop himself anymore and unable to see the point behind holding back the knowledge that Gauri was his and he was hers, Omkara knew he didn't want to waste another second trying to help Gauri in her frankly pointless crusade at making it on her own. She had gotten through two years of college without any help from anyone in the family including him... She wouldn't even let him help her on assignments.
The only thing she let him share with her was his art supplies. So, over the last couple of years, all the gifts he'd given her were top quality art supplies... though he made sure to never let her know just how much he'd spent on her gifts because he knew that if she came to know the frankly obscene amount of money he'd thrown at the store owner to make sure they delivered the Karl Lagerfeld box set for her birthday, she would probably insist on returning it that instant and most certainly give him a couple of nights on the damn recliner as a return gift. It was torturous for both of them when she chose to punish him that way because neither of them could sleep without the other and there was no way he could wantedly do that to her.
Now that she was graduating as the valedictorian of her class, letting people know she was an Oberoi, that she was his little chiraiyya, was all he wanted to do. He'd kept it in for two years now and only he knew how difficult it had been. Omkara Singh Oberoi wanted the world to know just how proud he was of Gauri and her accomplishments. He wanted every single man who'd ever seen her, to know that she was his wife... He wanted the entire universe to know that he was this brilliant woman's husband... and that she was his woman, his soulmate, his inspiration, his muse and his salvation. And it was high time he started on letting the world know that...
Without a second thought, he jerked himself away, leaving the queen bee of the college buzzing angrily at the artist who was walking away from her without even giving her an excuse, to join the rest of his family surrounding Gauri Sharma.
Arjun
