Story: Drawn Together (Updated Chapter 1)

Synopsis:

Radhika Mishra, a simple rich heiress, a girl with a big ambition and career path, desperately wants freedom from the protective clutches of her family, especially to escape from the dangerous violence and control of her father. The fierce feminism in her wants to make a difference, a difference in opinion of the dominance of men’s reign, that work is only for a man and looking beautiful and staying back at home is the only option for a woman, but years of docility learned and inbred since her childhood made her less self confident and restricted her thoughts to only her thoughts.

Arjun Raquel Mehra, a multimillionaire tycoon with sharp edge business skills and harsh demeanor lead him to the title of ‘Cold Hearted Prince’. It doesn’t bother him. He needed the fear, animosity,hate and shivers he raked in the malestream advertising field as a reliable sourced fuel to kill his adversaries confidence.

He desperately wants his dead father’s dream land property from her. She doesn’t need another male to dominate her life and take over the control of her freedom.

Together a pact is made. Married to each other in society, but single in every sense of word personally. Read Arjun’s fierce nature blend with that of Radhika’s determined will to survive independently.

Will Radhika come out of her shell and break thr strong ice barrier around Arjun’s heart? Or will her hesitancy in speech and manner continue to course their ordinary married life into a mundane two year contract.

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Chapter-1

Family functions were a volatile mix of extreme torture, boring and boderlined to mental wreckage. Extreme torture was due the constant looks she manages to get. Condescending. Disapproval. The shake of heads in sad judgement of her pathetic situation. The disdain filled glances said all. This girl is still unmarried? Sure looks past the age of child bearing. Girls should marry by the time they reach twenty. She heard whispers that stiffened her spine and reddened her neck and Cheeks.

Radhika would rather sit on a porcupine than being subjected to such humiliation. She didn’t know why she did try and spend the whole afternoon and evening to select a perfect dress and make herself get into a routine. The usual drill. Work vigorously on the very frizzy curly black hair for hours to make the tresses look straight, shiny and soft. Make up, not too much but a light understated.

Radhika sighed exasperated. This all, it wasn’t her. It was her inner awkwardness and the mortified self conscious mind that wanted her outer look to be at least presentable in the society. She wasn’t really tall or beautiful. She merely stood at 5’4 height, and with her thin frame she doesn’t make a mark or create a buzz or toss heads while she enters into a room or walk past a group. Her brown eyes, heart shaped face and pale skin were average. Her presence mostly gets shadowed by the other much pretty, long legged, beautiful, ornery and rich society girls.

Radhika was a perfect wallflower and she was indisputably content that her back stayed attached to that much stronger wall than rely on her blubbering, stuttering, non existent self confidence and not so elegant but clumsy attitude.

And she only obliged to string around in these gatherings, as the Mishra’s are a part of a big family and great friend of the vacous society. Of course, family is very important according to her father. She would never go against his word. She was afraid of his authority and forbidding tone. One angry look and she would run scuttling away from the room in fear.

She sighed heavily as she stared at her iPhone. Somebody, please, call me and get my harangued mind out of the quagmire I seem to be slowly and painfuly getting sucked into, her mind screamed. She looked around.

Ladies give it a rest. I’m twenty four not fifty, but what does it matter right? As according to ya all I’m already on the dusty shelf in the competitive marraige market. She plastered a frosty smile on her lips. The old ladies smiled back with just as equal filled iciness in their eyes and body language.

All she ever wanted was to have a job and be independent and free from all the family restraining strings that had pinned her down. She was caged. She was chained by bounds of emotional blackmail. She wanted to break free from all that. She wanted to feel how it feels to work hard and earn money for her own self.

Her father wouldn’t care. He didn’t care if she had dreams and aspirations. She was just a daughter who should be soon get rid off and made settled in life with husband and children. He wouldn’t allow her to do a job, because it’s men in the family who should work but not the women, they should just dress up and look good and stay back home. Like a show case mannequin. A decorative piece of furniture. At one point she tried to muster up the courage to talk to him about her ambition and career path, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t even make eye contact with him before she became a blubbering mess. And now, he is just plain annoyed at the number of times she was getting rejected by some good marraige proposals that he had brought along with his influential connections.

She played with the shiny golden bangles which totally matched with the golden light pink and shimmery gold colour embroidered Punjabi dress she had on.

It was an engagement party of someone of something, of her father’s business associates or sorts. The function was taking place in a huge hall which was booked and rented especially for the event. Yeah, no expenses spared. Everyone was mingling about over food and conversations, and she was the only one left alone with nothing to do but stare at the kid who was picking up globs of food in his little fist from the plate and giggling joyously. She didn’t really understand what had amused him so much. He was dangerously close to tripping on his little feet with the plate slipping from his tight hold of the hand.

Radhika slid down from the chair and lifted the kid in her arms.

“You’re a good looking guy in a suit.” She cooed and kissed his cheek.

He stared at her in bewildered curiosity. The kid would break heart when he grows up.

“You know, buddy, word of advice, don’t grow up typically arrogant and reject girls like me when you get ready for marraige.” The kid blinked as if trying to understand who this crazy lady was.

“But, I don’t think you would follow it and do just about the same of what I just advised you against.” She smiled at him.

He only stared back with that adorable expression over his face. After a while he started to squirm in her arms and she had to drop him on the floor. She feared that he would smear the curried hand on her face as he seemed to be annoyed with her weird talking.

She sighed and stared at his cute tottering, disappearing figure in the crowd. She wondered where his mother was. She looked around again.

Strange, there was a abrupt silence in the hl as people stopped chattering and the humming sounds of conversations trailed off. All the gazes went to the large entrance of the hallway. It might be a industry big wig or a politician that caught the attention of everyone around. This was really common in the wedding recptions and big events as it was arranged by either the groom side or the bride side to invite movie actors or anyone with big name. If ample money can be spared and you need to show off the connections then she did assume one shouldn’t miss the opportunity to let the world know that you’re there and are very much rich. Much with the media coverage and page3 photographs in the magazines and newspapers in all the coming months will ensure your power and wealth display and also compels the world to straighten up in their seats, take notice and see and sigh in admiration. That, such should be a wedding or an engagement party.

Well, Radhika was peaking too from the corner chair. Who might be ‘it’?

Oh, alright, her forehead cleared.

It was Arjun Raquel Mehra, The business head and CEO of leading ARM advertising company in India and overseas. Rumours has it thay he was the most cruel and cut throat businessman. With not even a little flinch and twitch in the conscience, he buys a dying company and liquidates the assets one by one brutally giving none whatsoever a second chance for it to redeem itself in the market. ‘The Black Prince Tycoon’. That’s what he was called. Cold. Heartless. Calculating. He looked like one, in the numerous business magazine cover pages she had seen often in her father’s office library at home. He was much younger than compared to the older millionaire counterparties of men, say in his late twenties or so, but still managed to rake shivers down the spine of his adverseries.

She has seen him around in such social gatherings like this one. My god, his only presence might have cost the engagement party a whopping million, she guessed. Yep, he charged money large money to attend functions and marraige invites or so she has read in tabloids. Her father absolutely hated the guy. He was young, much more successful and rich, so obviously, he was the nightmare of every manipulative shark mind of the business world.

He was not really that handsome. What she meant was, he was not soft, charming or smooth or even posh looking.

He was more like rough, tall, broad shoulders, athletic body, defined toned arms and legs, hard planed face, harsh angles like a sculpted cut of marble and square jaw with little to no emotion going over the dark expression that seems to be the only mask he wears. Totally poker faced . It was kind of intimidating how one can wipe out all kinds of emotions. Showing less of oneself. She could feel undercurrents of deeprooted iciness around his demeanor when he shows up in the formal suits he wears. Like every where, she had seen him in only grey. He really did fit the title of the brooding prince just as perfectly.

She shuddered. He sure resembled his father in character. Stone cold through and through.

Her eyes darted towards the greeting people. She can see he unsettled the enviroent. Almost everything changed. In matter of minutes he molded them into puppets as they seem to be eating out from the back of his palm. She hasn’t seen a man more powerful. He had them in control without even speaking or letting out the charm that most men do to attract attention. It was like a vampire compelling. It disturbed the very air. She didn’t have to be near him or anywhere around the premises of his presence to conclude all this about him. She can see it from a distance.

Credit to: kfar