Chapter 1

The.Wanderer

@The.Wanderer

Bella Kapoor was sitting in her cabin, frowning over her laptop. She is trying to do her work but is unable to do anything. She is distracted and rightly so. In the evening she was supposed to meet a boy for her marriage alliance. She couldn't even imagine marrying someone let alone a complete stranger. But she had to at least meet him as it was her Amma and Aapa's wish. And for her, that was enough. Ever since her parent's death, she and her older brother had been living with them. She barely had any memories of her biological parents. Vyankatesh and Gayatri Iyer had been her parents for as long as she could remember. 

She had refused to meet anyone for a long time now. Each time her Amma would bring an eligible bachelor's photo and each time she would refuse to meet him. This had been going on for quite some time now but this time no amount of refusing, throwing tantrums helped her. Amma was adamant that she at least meet this guy. So she had finally agreed to meet him on the condition that he will meet at a time was suitable for her. But now she was regretting her decision already. There was so much work that was pending. She was not a workaholic per se. She always had plenty of time for her family and her family that included her Amma, Appa, Sumi ma, Kuhu, Rehan and Mahir.

If anyone other than these people demanded her time, she would quickly get irritated. Like that day. She had work to do, a very important meeting was coming up in the next week and she was still not fully prepared. This particular client was known to be very stubborn and difficult to please. After months of pursuing him, he had finally agreed to this meeting. If things went smoothly, their companies would benefit tremendously from this deal. But for that, she had to be prepared and just then all she could do was worry about the evening. 

Just then there was a knock on her cabin's door. A handsome young man was standing at her door. His generally smiling face was looking worried. "May I come in, Bella? Mahir asked. She nodded, her eyes already back at her laptop screen.

"Are you not ready yet? What are you doing? You will be late and then Amma Appa will get upset," Mahir asked her. 

"Please not you too. I don't know why is anybody able to understand simple English? I don't want to get married. I have told them multiple times. But will they understand? No! They keep on going on about how this is the right age to get married. This is not the age to get married. It is the age to build up my career. After marriage, there will be no career. Only keeping the husband and the inlaws happy..." Bella had been bottling this up within her since morning. One tiny push from Mahir had her ranting like never before. 

Bella was pacing around the room in an agitated manner. With each new round, she was having a sip of water. Mahir smiled very faintly seeing her this mad. "Bella. Sweet but impatient Bella" he thought as he watched her sip water for the tenth time. "She never did have any patience. Whenever she is agitated she will drink tons of water. It was her habit and one sign that she was fast running out of patience." She was still rambling.

Mahir and Bella had been best friends since Bella and Rehan had come to stay with Mr and Mrs Iyer. Bella was all of fours years old then. Mahir was four years and three months old. Being three months older than her he had taken on the responsibility of caring for and looking after Bella. Memories of a four-year-old Bella playing on a swing in their garden brought a huge smile on his face.

Just then Bella looked at him.

"Are you even listening to what I am saying?..." she began but then noticed that he was smiling. "What are you laughing at? You think this is funny, do you? Don't worry it will be your turn soon. I heard Sumi ma and Amma speaking the other day. Even Sumi ma is looking a suitable girl for you. The day she finds a girl for you, you will be pacing the room and I will be smiling at you," she told him smugly. She finally sat down on her chair again.

"Bella...Bella... Bella... That day has already come," Mahir informed her. 

"What do you mean?" she asked, a pit of dread suddenly forming in her stomach. 

"I mean that Sumi ma has already found a suitable girl for me. I am supposed to meet her at the same that you are supposed to meet that boy," Mahir sighed. 

"What?" Bella asked stunned.

"Yes, this is all Amma and Sumi ma's plan. They want both of us to meet the respective boy and girl at the same time because they don't want us to cook up some plan to avoid this meeting" Mahir replied. 

Bella nodded her head. That made sense. They both had staged too many rescue operations to be trusted to free when one of them was meeting their prospective partner. 

"So now what?" Bella asked glumly. "I was hoping you will rescue me from that boy, but you will be busy with that girl. So that means that neither can I rescue you nor can you rescue me. We are doomed," 

"Bella, you are so dramatic. No we are not doomed. I have a plan. But you will have to listen to me without flipping out. Got it?" Mahir warned her. He was well aware of Bella's tantrums and they did not have time for one. 

"I am all ears. At this point, I am ready to do anything. Short of threatening that guy to reject me, there is nothing that I can do. I mean yes  I can reject him but then I will have to come with a reason as to why am I rejecting him and that reason has to be a valid one otherwise Amma will see through it..." Bella began ranting once again. 

"Oh god, Bella! You talk so much when you are worried. Relax. I have a foolproof plan. Just do as I say," Mahir promised her.