Page 4 of Always? Forever.
"This is my office!" she yelled defiantly.
"Yours? This is my..." I began to protest, but my sentence was abruptly cut off as the door swung open once more, revealing my mother.
"Oh, good, you both are here," my mother chimed in.
Confusion had taken deep root in my mind by this point, and I could sense that Princess, as Ifondlycalled her, was equally befuddled. Why Princess? Well, she acted like royalty, sipping on a sugar-laden concoction that barely qualified as coffee. Although I would never admit I like it just as much, my ex-girlfriend hated that I had coffee and I got out of the habit of having normal coffee resulting in me developing a taste for black coffee. It surely does its work. I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep in ages.
"Hey, Mom," I greeted cautiously, fully aware that she was about to deliver some unexpected news. I stole a glance at Princess, who appeared oddly nervous for reasons I couldn't quite discern. It was as if I had seen her before, but the memory remained elusive. She was now sporting the glasses she had mentioned earlier, and I couldn't help but find her almost endearing in her current state.
My mother moved around her office, finally settling into her chair and gesturing for both of us to take seats in front of her. I sank into the chair, while the Princess, albeit reluctantly, followed suit.
"So, Samaira, I see you've got the books I wanted. Now, what I need you to do is review them and write a blog post under your name," Mom said, her smile concealing the unexpected news. The room fell into an eerie silence as Samaira processed the request.
"You want me," she pointed to herself in disbelief, "Samaira Bhatt, to review these books under my name?! Oh my god, thank you so much, ma'am! I won't let you down," she rambled, expressing her gratitude and determination to my mother.
"I know you won't, Samaira, and let me tell you this personally, you are one of our top 5 candidates" my mother replied, her smile brightening the room. My attention was so captivated by Samaira's reaction that I almost missed my mother calling my name.
"Kartik?"
I snapped out of my thoughts. "Yes, Mom?"
"Have you considered your grandmother's condition? Should I start looking for potential matches for you, given that you seem incapable of doing so yourself?" she said, her tone laced with a hint of exasperation.
I rolled my eyes at her tone. It wasn't a matter of incapability; I simply wasn't ready to settle down so earlyin life when I was still finding my way in the world. However, I knew better than to argue with my traditional Indian mother. And the fact that mother was choosing to discuss this in front of Samaira was horrible.
"I have no choice but to consider it, Mom. I thought you, of all people, would understand me, which is why I came to you," I replied, shaking my head. It stung me to realize that even my own family couldn't see the issue with this arrangement. “And can you not do it in front of other people?” I sounded annoyed, but at that moment I didn’t care.
Mom turned towards her, while she looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Her eyes were widened as much as they could and she looked like she would be anywhere but here. I didn’t blame her, hell I didn’t want to be here.
My mother looked embarrassed, I sighed as I put my hands in my pockets and I touched the necklace that Samaira had dropped at the bookstore. Instead of giving it back there, I decided to hold on to it having a feeling we will be seeing each other again soon and I didn’t want mom to have questions.
“I’ll…I’ll come in later, thank you”, her voice barely above a whisper as she dashed out of mom’s office.
My mom let out a sigh, her voice softening as she spoke, "Look, beta, your grandmother never intended for you to be pressured like this, but there is a right time for everything, and if you miss it, you might never get it back."
Exhaustion washed over me in waves. All I wanted at that moment was to escape to a bar with Aarush, get drunk, flirt with some girls, and briefly forget about the weight of my responsibilities.
"Mom, I can't handle this right now," I replied, my voice filled with frustration. "It's too much pressure. If that's all you had to say, then I have plans I can't cancel." I got up and headed toward the door.
As I reached for the handle, my mom's words stopped me in my tracks. "Kartik, it's not that we don't understand you; it's something we haven't told you, but now I think I should."
I turned to face her as she rose from her chair, her expression serious. She continued, "Your grandmother is under pressure from the board of directors to step down and appoint you, but only if you're well-settled. Otherwise, they'll hand over the company to your brother, and I know you don’t want that to happen. You know how much this company means to her. She and your grandfather built it from scratch. But the board members are old-school; they want someone they consider responsible."
I tried to process the weight of what she just revealed. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I ran my hands over my face, feeling utterly drained. It seemed I had no real choice, did I?
"Fine, I'll find myself a wife," I reluctantly conceded, the words tasting bitter in my mouth. I had wanted to fall in love first, but that option seemed distant. Now, I had to find someone who could play the role of a perfect trophywife, enough to convince the board members. Falling in love could come later, I hoped.
My mom smiled kindly at me and said, "You're a good son and an even better grandson."
I hugged her tightly,and then left her office. I texted Aarush, arranging to meet at McGee’s Pub downtown, where I hoped to briefly escape the weight of my responsibilities.
Chapter 4
Samaira
Oh My God! I can’t believe it! I got a chance to review some of the books I was waiting to read and publish them under my name! That is so exciting. I quickly text Aria, Amaya, Piyu, Bhavya, & Jiya about this. As expected I get a lot of emojis and congrats from them. I quickly text them back and get to work. Kartik aka as I am going to call him Sugarcup, is actually my boss’s son! I somehow doubt it considering Adhira is so sweet and he is a jerk. Ugh, why even think about him I should just get back to work. A step closer to my dream!
Although I wish I did this under my name, not just as the author but have my own publishing house, that would just have been the cherry on the top. One day though, one day.
