Arnav Singh Raizada. The name signified power and strength and luckily the man the name was meant for personified them both with attitude and ease. It was common knowledge to those who knew him, as well as anyone could, and those who had merely heard of him, that he was a ruthless man with no compassion whatsoever. Looking at him made even the bravest of men worried. It wasn't just his physical form, though it was nothing to be ashamed of, nearly 6' 1'' in height, broad shoulders developed playing every sport he could come across, aristocratic features thanks to his royal ancestors and confidence to carry his expensive Armani suits with style, that made him a force to reckon, rather it was his honey colored eyes that shocked the onlooker. A color meant for romance and smiles became his weapon of destruction. When he stared someone down, it wasn't embarrassing for the person to pray for their escape. Once upon a time, two people had almost succeeded in breaking down that imposing personality and make way for his smiles to light up the room. But, not anymore. He had always believed that people couldn't be trusted and those two people who had managed to get close enough to think otherwise, also wound up proving him wrong.
Kushi Kumari Gupta. The name signified a joyous and vivacious spirit that seemed like it couldn't be broken. Unfortunately, while true to her name the earlier part of her life, now the name seemed ironic. Gone from the long haired, doe eyed angel she was referred to, she became the sophisticated power hungry restaurateur. She had dreamed of fairy tales and knights in shining armors. She had believed that there would be smiles and laughter throughout her life with her loved ones and a very special man who made all the good great and the bad better. There was supposed to dancing, parties, playful naughtiness and the feeling of contentment by the time she reached her present age of 26. But, it wasn't meant to be. The one man who made her feel like he was the only one she could see spending the rest of her life with betrayed her in the worst way possible and stripped away any happiness that was meant to be for her.
Anjali Singh Raizada. She would have been the ideal royal princess if the world still believed in the existence of royalty. The beautiful, serene, beautiful and charming Anjali Singh Raizada was the apple of everyone's eyes. Though older than all her siblings, being the only woman made her the center of their universe. What Anjali wanted, they made sure she had it even before she could voice her thoughts. She knew she was very lucky to have the family she did and made sure to ensure their happiness was met with all that she had. At the corner of her mind, she had always thought her disability of being unable to walk was why she was so doted upon, so she worked twice at hard to hide her pain and be the Anjali di that could always be depended on. She thought she had everything in the world to only realize she was living in an illusion that eventually became the reason for her unwanted success.
Niyant Kohli Kapoor. As a child he was a nobody left on the road by his abandoned mother to make it or break it on his own because he was becoming a hassle in her ability to get her drug fix. As a 7 year old, he became one of the many children on the street left to their own devices and had two paths of life: suck it up and save up on menial jobs or die. Watching his younger sister pass away as a new born was enough of a life's shock for a 7 year old to realize the preciousness of life and make the choice of life he intend to succeed in. Twenty three years later, becoming part of the elite CBI branch made him exactly what he wanted to be, untraceable yet powerful.
Chapter 1:
Arnav stormed through the hallway of Raizada group of industries in his habitual state of anger etched on his face.
"Why aren't the Mehta files closed?" he yelled at his secretary Lavanya Kashyap as he furiously walked in between the cubicles of his employees.
"Mr. Mehta said he was going to call and add an addendum to the required quote and advised that we hold off on completing it. Given the extra time, I went ahead and talked to Sameer about doing another photoshoot for the Mehta group for the new daily wear shoot that you wanted me to do before." Among all his employees, she was the only one who knew what to do with his anger and direct it to another location. Not to say she wasn't scared of ASR, as he was known by everyone except…, she was getting sidetracked. Not to say she wasn't scared of ASR, but, she had worked with him long enough to know that his temper was the reason for his success and doing exactly what he asked for usually cut her some slack. It was funny, she thought, she had once assumed that since she understood how to evade his anger, she could be his soulmate. What she had soon learned from the one woman who should have been his soulmate was that it wasn't about doing everything he said and evading his wrath that would make his better half, but, rather the ability to give him back as good as he gave if the situation demanded it. She was happy with Aman, her fianc and once a personal assistant to ASR. But, he was now promoted to become the general manager of the Mumbai branch, thanks to her taking back her position as a full time secretary for ASR after the whole trying to live-in situation with Arnav.
"Lavanya" ASR barked, bringing her back to the present.
"I'm sorry ASR, I was just…" before she could even finish, he sarcastically said, "Just because you did one thing correctly by booking Sameer again, I do not pay you for woolgathering during business hours".
She knew better than to argue and tried to act contrite and ashamed, even though all she could do was internally compare the ASR of four years ago and the ASR now. She so wished her friend would come back but after everything that happened, she knew it was an impossibility. She had always tried to find out exactly what happened, but, it seemed each party involved became closed off and tight lipped, determined that their version and conclusion was the way the actuality happened. She wasn't sure if something was off, but, at present, she wasn't in a possession to try to figure out the personal life of heaven and hell of Arnav Singh Raizada and her vanished best friend.
"Cancel all my appointments for today afternoon, I have a meeting at 2:30 pm at the DM lounge that I need to take and call…" Arnav continued ignoring the spaced out Lavanya.
"But, ASR, today is the last day we have for a meeting with the TDK fashion group for the Choli collection, the team was hoping to go through the final presentation with you" Lavanya said looking up from her HP tablet.
"Wait for me to finish before saying anything. I know today is the last day, which is why I was going to tell you to call Aman to take charge of this meeting and see if you can get Akash to come in as well, though I believe he is flying to London later. Send me the final presentation by 4:00 PM. I'll go through the slides and respond back by 5:30 PM. Make sure everyone stays back at work till I respond back, I don't want any mistakes tomorrow. Understood?"
"Of course. I'll take care of it." Shooting him a beaming smile, that he realized she never had for him when they were together, Lavanya went to call Aman. They both worked at different buildings due to their jobs and so couldn't meet as often. Now that the wedding was coming close, it was much harder to meet with both of their families thinking it was better they didn't meet till after the wedding. So, ASR just gifted her the best present possible, although, he would probably tell her that he wasn't paying her to see her fianc at work, she thought smiling, given her happiness at the present situation.
Arnav saw Lavanya smiling while taking to Aman to feel a familiar pain tugging his heart. No, not because he had never seen Lavanya smile like that for him, but, because she used to smile like that for him when they met. He could feel her thousand watt smile even when they were on the phone.
"Arnav, you are coming to see me, aren't you?" she had said with her best "get Arnav to do what you want" voice he had gotten so used to.
"It's 3:30 AM and you just woke me up" he had responded grumpily.
"Arrey, yeh kya baat hui. We are getting married and di says that all couples feel like they always make excuses to see each other. I definitely seem to, why aren't you?" and he could hear her pouting.
"Because I always feel like you are with me?" Arnav had responded cheekily.
"Funny. Don't try to use my lines to get out this, Arnav Singh Raizada. I want to see you and that's it. I heard there is going to be a shooting star off the cliffs of Paradise Peak and I really want to see it" she said back to her bubbly self.
Already awake and with no heart to deny her of her choice, he responded, "Fine, only if you do one thing for me"
"Of course! Whatever you want" she had responded quickly with the anticipation of seeing the shooting stars and thanking them for the happiness that was her life right now.
"You sure?" he asked her smiling.
"Of course" she said, rethinking her statement of anything. But, then again, it was her Arnav, he would never ask her something she wouldn't feel comfortable giving.
"Fine, I'll be there in 15 minutes. I'm holding you to your promise" he had said cheekily, failing to realize that one wish would bring down his whole world.
His phone rang jolting him from his thoughts.
"Arnav Singh Raizada" he said, the cold and calculative man back again.
Udne Ki Aasha
Jaane Anjaane Hum Mile
Fan Fictions
