She hadn't even finished that thought when she heard the clip-clop of stiletto heels that heralded the arrival of Sania Mehta, the self-proclaimed Queen Bee of the entire college. And of course, the queen bee never went anywhere without her worker bees, or in this case, her posse... a bunch of wannabes that hung around Sania, inflating her ego in hopes of gaining favors from her and her fashion mogul father.
"Well, well well... if it isn't the biggest losers of our college. How the heck did they let people like you graduate from here I'll never know. In fact tum jaise logon ko is college mein aane hi kaise diya?"
Gauri sighed at the umpteenth repeat of the same taunts... this woman and her sheeple simply weren't capable of something called creativity.
"Sania... Aaj ke din to apna kaam dekho. Move on... do saal ho gaye hain. Abhi tak tum ne mujhe chidhaaya nahin to aaj kya kar logi? Theek hai... last try maar lo. I'll try to care about it today for your sake... okay?"
The cruel smirk on Sania's face deepened as she looked at Gauri and Smrithi from head to toe. Both Gauri and Smrithi had gotten admission into NIFD through an exam and received full scholarship. Gauri had wanted to make it all the way on her own and had refused to take help from anyone in her family even through the admission process. After repeated coaxing, explaining and a whole bunch of arguments, the Oberois had finally understood that Gauri Omkara Singh Oberoi was even more stubborn than her Nandi of a husband, could undercut her bade bhaiyya in deal making and throw tantrums worthy of Rudy. So they left her alone in her pursuit of greatness, helping when and where they were allowed to by the new tyrant of the house.
Smrithi had literally bumped into Gauri on the first day of college, at orientation and they'd instantly hit it off. Now, after two years of competing with each other and being each other's confidence, they'd decided to start small and work their way up. Smrithi and Gauri were planning to start a boutique that would cater to women of all social strata, helping give the necessary confidence and swag to women from all ages, all kinds of families and social groups.
And Sania Mehta was the only daughter of Vikram Mehta, the owner of House of Bouton, an elite fashion house headquartered in Mumbai with branches all over Asia. With money and privilege, came arrogance and a sense of superiority over the other common folk' as she saw them. While Sania reigned supreme over the social scene of the college, a bunch of scholarship students including Gauri and Smrithi were going to receive top awards at the graduation ceremony.
"I tell you... jab se ye scholarship dene ka stupid idea start kiya hai na is college mein, our standards have come tumbling down. They let in any riff-raff without even doing a background check. I mean... what are poor people going to do with a degree in Fashion? It's not like they're gonna end up becoming a sensation overnight. You need money and power for all of that..."
Sania sneered at them and rolled her eyes at the poor upstarts. Gauri and Smrithi just shook their heads and tried to side step the scantily clad bunch posing before them, only to be stopped by Sania's minion
"She's not done with you yet... Sania ne tum logon ko jaane ki permission di hai? Chup chaap khade raho"
"What the heck! When will you guys quit?" Smrithi was losing her patience.
Gauri would've backed her up but that was when her phone started ringing, with the display flashing 'Bade Bhaiyya'
"Haan bade bhaiyya... aap log pohonch gaye?"
"Humein pata tha ki aap yahaan aa rahe hain... yahaan par usi ki baat ho rahi thi"
"Waise hum aap sab se abhi bhi gussa hain... you'll just have to make it up to me later"
"Sure bhaiyya. Hum aap sab se milte hain. Bye..."
As she cut the call, her phone was yanked from her grip, thrown to the ground and crushed under a pair of red stilettos...
"No one ignores me when I am talking! If you do... this is what happens. You understand that?... And how does a beggar like you score an iPhone 7? Anyways, I don't care..."
By now, Gauri's usually even temper had reached boiling point. That phone had been given to her by Rudy Bhaiyya just a couple of weeks back. Soumya and Rudy had bought it for her on their trip to the US the previous month. Even being about four inches shorter than Sania, Gauri walked right up to her, got in her face and in a voice that was as even as it was menacing, she said
"You shouldn't have done that. You're gonna pay"
For a second, the other girl looked scared at the fury in Gauri's eyes before she gathered herself together and pushed Gauri back.
"Who the hell do you think you think you are! How dare you threaten me, you cheap nobody!"
Just as she was about to slap Gauri, one of Sania's servile idiots came up to her and whispered in her ear. For a second Sania looked truly shocked before she visibly calmed down and her eyes glinted with a queer sort of happiness.
"What! They're here? I should go and receive them... after all, the Oberois are our close family friends and Shivaay agreed to come only because I asked him personally."
"Wow Sania! You know the Oberois? Have you spoken to SSO?"
"Of course! They're all our family friends. My dad works with Shivaay on business deals almost every month. I've been around Shivu, Omki and Rudy for ages!"
Gauri was silenced with astonishment as she stood there, listening to Sania spin tales about how close she was with the entire Oberoi family. To her knowledge, Vikram Mehta was a distant business acquaintance of her bade bhaiyya's, and Sania had never even set foot inside Oberoi Mansion in her life.
"Shivaay is very sweet... he's very good looking but you know, he's just not my type. And Rudra is always such a brat. He's also younger than I am... Anyways, Omki is my best friend in the entire family. In fact, we're kinda more than friends at this point"
Sania pretended to blush, while implying to her so-called friends and her group of followers, which was rapidly growing the moment someone heard that she was talking about her relationship with the Oberois, that she and Omkara were a lot closer than she had any right to imply. Gauri's already out of control temper just shot into the stratosphere after listening to the tales that Sania was spinning.
As Sania spun tale after tale of her friendships and more with the Oberois, she silently prayed that Shivaay Singh Oberoi remembered that she was Vikram Mehta's daughter. The couple of times she'd met him at parties and such, he never seemed to pay attention to or remember her later. His wife was another tale entirely... how a man such as Shivaay could get married to such a cheap, common person Sania had never been able to understand.
The other two brothers she'd not even been introduced to. She'd only seen Rudra flitting around from person to person in parties and Omkara and his wife were usually absent from social events. Most of Sania's knowledge of the Oberois came from magazines, websites and some obsessive stalking of their social media. Though she had heard from a lot of people that Omkara's wife was a beauty and a delightful girl, Sania had never seen her and only felt jealous of a nameless, faceless person till now.
Of course, she agreed with popular opinion that while Shivaay was hot and Rudra cute, Omkara was another thing altogether. The artist vibe, the don't care attitude and the utter disinterest in society was like catnip to women. And Sania wasn't any different. She'd always known that if she met Omkara once, she would be able to charm him.
And it looked like she might get her opportunity today. In front of the entire college, Sania would make the most prized Oberoi brother fall for her. As they all turned to look at the entire entourage of cars coming to a halt some distance away from them, Sania gathered her courage and started to walk toward them.
Sania's friends hurried behind her and for the first time since coming to know about the Oberois coming to her college that day, Gauri Kumari Sharma pulled her friend Smrithi along as she tagged behind the group. Just as the doors opened and the Oberois were about to step out, Gauri turned to Smrithi and squeezed her hand slightly
"Smrithi... I am so so sorry. I had my reasons for doing what I did. Please don't hate me when you find out... okay?"
"Wh-What are you saying Gauri? Why would I hate you?! And what do you think I'm going to find out?"
"I just... I need to say sorry for all this before it happens. I am really very sorry... You are my best friend here and I trust you. This was not entirely in my hands. You'll understand very soon what I'm talking about. Just... please try to forgive me. Okay?"
Unable to comprehend what her friend was talking about, Smrithi looked at Gauri and saw the raw emotion glinting in her eyes. Gauri truly was worried about her reaction to whatever it was she thought Smrithi was about to know... so Smrithi just nodded and squeezed Gauri fingers back, assuring her that whatever it was, they could deal with it. With a watery smile, Gauri took a deep breath and turned to face the cars, Sania and her group of wannabes.
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