Chapter27

The next morning Vihaan Malhotra stopped by Shravan's penthouse so that Drishti could collect her study materials before dropping her at college.
"Honey! Shall I come by at evening to pick you up?" Vihaan asked stopping in the university parking lot.
"Paa. I'm going back to the Shravan's penthouse, remember?" Drishti asked and Vihaan frowned
"Do you really have to??" Vihaan asked and Drishti rolled her eyes.
"Yes Paa. I do. We have to take a decision right? We were going to talk after the trip to the temple. But then things happened and it got dragged." Drishti said
"Okay. We will be staying back at Bangalore until you two make a decision. And I don't want you to stay with him before you decide things" Vihaan said
"I stayed at his place for three days! Nothing happened to me Paa"
"Okay! I understand. You are a grown girl now. But you are still my little girl. I don't particularly like you staying at his place" Vihaan grumbled
"God!! This coming from the man who-" Vihaan cut her off with his palm raised indicating her to stop.
"Don't go there" Vihaan warned and Drishti laughed
"You are a hypocrite Paa"
"Maybe I'm. But then I'm a father" Vihaan defended himself
"Fine Paa. I know you love me and you are worried about me. And it is completely justifiable because I have a penchant for landing in trouble wherever I go. Let me work things out okay. I don't want you or Siddhu to always come solve my problems." Drishti said
"Okay. You guys talk. Don't forget to call us tonight and tell us your decision. We will be at the Agnihotri's place for dinner" Vihaan said
"Okay Paa. Love you" Drishti gave a loud kiss on her father's cheek and scrambled out of the car.
****
Mithran sauntered into Shravan's cabin ,close to noon ,to see Shravan working furiously on his laptop.
"What are you doing?" Mithran asked
"Making a new presentation. Pointing out the pros of having a resort in D love. Primary one being the better economy and employment opportunity for the residents of the island" Shravan said
"Ah! Couldn't convince your father in law yesterday?" Mithran teased and Shravan rolled his eyes
"No point in convincing Vihaan Malhotra. Drishti is the one who needs the convincing. The island is hers" Shravan said as he leaned back in his chair
"Which ,by default becomes yours ,doesn't it?" Mithran asked
"No! It doesn't. I don't want it to be either" Shravan said and Mithran shrugged
"So what are you going to do?"
"I will try to get her on board. Hell! She can be a share holder in the project ,if she wants to. She will definitely see the profit in it" Shravan said
"Maybe you should introduce the topic as a pillow talk ,you know what I mean?" Mithran said with a wink earning a glare in return
"I'm not going to use any cheap tactics. When I talk business ,it will be purely business" Shravan said
"Fine. Your wish. Just remember, pillow talk doesn't only works with men. It can do magic with women too" Mithran said earning a stink eye from Shravan
"Don't you have any work to do?" Mithran asked
"I had been working till now. Got a call from Pierre. So thought I would just stretch my legs"
"Why did Pierre call you? Another race?" Shravan asked
"Yes. Sunday evening. Wanna join me?"
"No thanks. I prefer my calm life"
"You mean boring?" Mithran asked
"My life is not boring" Shravan said
"On second thoughts, the last week in your life has been nothing less than a rollercoaster"
"Is there anything else that you want Mithran? I would like to get back to the presentation" Shravan said and Mithran laughed
Isha walked into the cabin at that moment
"What's funny guys?"
"Nothing darling! Let's go for lunch?" Mithran asked
"No Thank you"
Shravan raised an eyebrow at the flippant
response from Isha.
Did Mithran propose already? He wondered
"Shravan! Can you give me Drishti's phone number?" Isha asked
"Why?"
"I wanted to apologise. I heard half a conversation and misunderstood her. I don't want to be on the wrong side of your wife." Isha said
"Okay" Shravan said and gave her Drishti's number.
"Okay. I'm leaving for lunch. Anyone joining me?" Mithran asked and when the other two nodded a no ,he left.
"What's up with him?" Isha asked and Shravan maintained his silence, not wanting to get in between them
"He is acting so out of character. I mean ,all of a sudden he starts flirting with me" Isha said in exasperation.
"Maybe he likes you" Shravan said vaguely
Isha snorted.
"Come on Shravan. Does it actually look like he likes me." Isha asked and Shravan had to agree to that.
Mithran might want to marry Isha ,but he doesn't particularly look attracted to Isha.
"Anyways ,tell me what's happening with the deal? Any progress" Isha asked and
Shravan conveyed the same things he told Mithran
"I told you right. The island seems to hold a special place in their life."
"I understand. I'm not planning to destroy the entire island. A new resort will definitely benefit the people there" Shravan said
"Yeah. Try convincing your wife" Isha said
***
"Man!! That xxx blasted my ears of. It's not as if I bunked a whole semester. It was just three days" Drishti complained ,as she sat next to Siddhu in the university cafeteria
She had been called to the HOD office and
the witchy lady had screamed her lungs out at Drishti. She also threatened to not let her sit for exams.
"Same with me D." Siddhu said ,as he had also gotten the warning from his HOD
"What is your attendance percentage?" Drishti asked
"42%"
"42?? How in the hell did you get 42%. I got only 40. How is that possible??" Drishti accused
"Maybe a calculation error" Siddhu defended, not wanting to get on Drishti's bad side
Drishti narrowed her eyes at him
suspiciously
"Mom said your parents will be coming over for dinner tonight" Siddhu swiftly changed the topic
"Yeah. They told me"
"It was mom"
"What??"
"It was mom who informed your parents about your marriage"
"Oh dear! I totally forgot to ask who told them. Why would aunty do that. I told her that I would inform them when they return"
"I asked her the same. She gave me the usual rant 'you wouldn't understand now.
You will understand only when you become a parent. If she was my daughter, I would have definitely wanted to know ,blah blah blah' " Siddhu said with a shrug
"When you think from their point of view, they seem right. Why do parents always expect us to see from their view point. They don't do vice versa" Siddhu added
"It doesn't matter anymore. Everything went fine. So no worries" Drishti waved the matter off.
"Will you be coming over for dinner?" Siddhu asked
Drishti's phone pinged indicating an incoming message
'Can we go out for dinner tonight?' — SM
'Sure' — D
'Be ready by 8.' — SM
'Don't make me wait' — D
Drishti looked up to see Siddhu waiting for her response.
"No Siddhu. Going out for dinner with Shravan"
"Ah! A date?" Siddhu teased
"Yeah. You could call it a date. We are going to have the talk" Drishti said airquoting the last two words