Chapter 1
A scowling prince
The moment arnav was born , his mother knew that he was special , different ,just like every other mother does for their child , an angel born with the most beautiful dark brown eyes. He did not cry like most children , neither did he laughed or smiled like most people except their child to do , rather he was born with a scowl on his face, as if he was perpetually angry even in the womb or probably the life before [ as interpreted by the five priest the couple consulted]. No matter how his face was always expressed in a frown , he was loved by the whole raizada family . being the eldest son of the eldest son of the royal family of Rajkot made him the headline of every newspaper not only in india but across the globe.raizada being one of the few royal families still being treated as huge royalties.
His first picture that made the headlines was him in her mother's arm barely three days old , out of hospital , his mother smiling at him , his father holding her mother in his half embrace smiling as bright as the sun , but the little prince still held his proprietary scowl . he made news everywhere he went be it his first day of school , a small visit to the president or his birthday parties but one thing that never changed was his scowl. If royal maids are to be believed he frowned while crying too , no one ever saw him even strench his lips just to create illusion of smile. He excelled in all his classes at school , every extra circular activity was his forte. It was as if he lack nothing in his life , good and loving family , his extraordinary talents but what become the biggest worry for Arman and Gayatri raizada, duke and duchess of Rajkot is their son never being able to smile.
The couple used every trick in the book to make their little prince smile , dare say he never did. Every funny toy , biggest comedians , jokers , cartoons , nothing worked , it caused all in the family to worry . they all thought seeing his little baby sister anjali smiling would finally break the curse but he still looked at her with the same scowling face . but it didn't mean that he was bad or always angry on others , no he was possibly the best child any parent could wish for, always polite , considerate , caring and everything that human is suppose to be , it was just his face , his lips that never involuntary stretched up to form the lightest of smile. It made him perceived as the proud , angry scowling prince which was never true, for god sakes he didn't in his lifetime even pulled a childish antics or become intolerable , he was always the good and the obedient child .
At the end doctors perceived it to be something wrong with his nerve response system or probably his brain is not able to comprehend the stimulus of smile or maybe some smiling hormone is lacking in him, since it not being a big life threatening thing doctor just suggested to just let him be. The couple finally accepted this one weirdest shortcoming that their son had, it didn't matter to them but what hurted them was the media accelerating the matter , calling their child bad things. Thus came the toughest education period for their son , to smile [ in real words to fake a smile ] , he of course easily did that , stretching up your lips was not that a hard job but then came , understanding the situation that requires smiling.
Mrs. sharma was the most beautiful and most smiling creature on this planet thus making her the perfect candidate to teach ten year old arnav , the toughest subject of his life "smile or laugh - different situation different smiles"
She taught him about different circumstances where he would be required to smile politely like meeting a guest , a VIP , than he taught about the moment when he would need to open his lips making sure his teeth shows and smile , than he was taught to laugh producing sounds like on jokes or a comedy movie. He learned it quickly but the execution was not as perfect as mrs sharma would have liked it . sometimes he got confused between different situation or situation about whom he wasn't taught , and getting clue from expression of people around him was of no help either because , in the same situation some would just smile, some would laugh and some just look plain so it become difficult for him.
But he learned and soon excelled in this too . no more he was called the scowling prince at least not in the newspapers but he still smiled less , always remained aloof because it was only few things he could fake . he was an introvert , barely confiding in anyone except his mother but even that one person was taken away from him when he was only sixteen . he became more aloof than ever , playing all the time never attracted him , he got busied into studies and learning business tactics few years later, his father drowning himself in sorrow after demise of his wife played the biggest role of turning him back to the scowling prince he was or he is .
it did not mean he did not smile , he did but only for the customary fake smiles , like the one he has now, as he accepted the hearty congratulation of many known and unknown guest at his wedding . he saw his grandmother come to him and his bride smilingly and giving them her blessing, she was the most happiest person right now since all this marriage fiasco was her doing , at last at age of 34 she had accomplished to get his grandson married ,and to her advantage it certainly was not the easy ride to this moment. He remained engrossed in business so fully till he was twentyfive that he barely came to india and when he decided to focus on businesses in india on instance of his father's ailing health , he never gave a hoot to the marriage thing why? No one knew.
He was quite a charming man and women would fall all over him for just one glance and many royal and rich girls were willing to be his wife but he scarcely gave them his time. He had girlfriends for sure , around six serious affairs , twelve or more one night stands and few flings that only he knows about, but marriage was something he never seemed himself getting in. all family members thought it was just a passing phase that once he cross thirty like all the other people he will wish to have a family , to have childrens like his sister or their cousins but even that came out as a false hope.
So when it become unbearable to see her grandson be a bachelor all his life , his grandmother decided to take matter in her own hands .she appointed peoples to find her a good grand daughter in law , she did find many good candidates but arnav managed to scare them off very nicely . so finally when she met khushi the daughter of ravi and sargun malhotra , rich businessmen of ireland , she used every trick in her book to make her marry arnav but she knows that her faking her illness was certainly not the reason her grandson was marrying khushi. He was much smarter , shrewd to have seen through all that facade . whether he admit or not she know that arnav has found something intriguing or trusting in khushi that he has decided to married her.
Khushi was a very traditional girl being brought up by very conservative parents , even after being born and brought up in a foreign land she had the every touch of indian cultured girl so much so that you even mistook her to be brought up here in india all along which would be nothing but a lie. She was lively in a sober kind of way , she was strong headed like arnav , very persuasive also, and had every possible quality that a good daughter in law should have, respecting elders, never had a boyfriend, hundred percent virgin , soft spoken, sophisticated . it was as if someone made her just for their family , like god put everything in her to make her a raizada .
Arnav looked at his bride who was genuinely smiling at the guest ,arnav's fake smile slided through his face as he looked at her . khushi looked at him just that moment and her smile turned wider and she kissed his cheek lovingly .what an irony a scowling prince was getting a smiling princess .
Arjun
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