A Royal Ruckus
Chapter 1:
“Wow, that girl is hot. She looks Indian. Do you know her, Scindiya?”
Yash looked at his friend, with incredulity.
“You know I don’t know every Indian in the world right. Smithey?”
“Sorry, that was a bit stereotypical” Smithey apologized.
“A bit” he said sarcastically.
He looked up none the less to see who Smithey was referring to. And indeed she was very hot. She was wearing a sexy halter neck red silky romper and beige wedge heels that laced up to her knees. Her hair was in a high ponytail with large hoops adorning her ears.
He was shocked to realize that she indeed looked familiar. He had to squint and lean forward as the light in the club was very dim.
He shook his head. No, he thought, it couldn’t be her. Her parents would never allow her out of India, least of all in one of the most popular clubs in London, unchaperoned. He carried on enjoying his drink and chatting to his companions.
She looked a bit young, but his eyes seemed to seek her out involuntarily. She was on the dance floor most of the time and was looking even more enticing. He couldn’t remember when he last dated an Indian girl. He had been living in England most if his life. His family lived here for the children’s schooling and went home for the holidays. When Prateek was 13, it was decided that the family would move back to India and Yash, 16 at the time and Prateek would stay at boarding school. Pankaj bhai was at university in the USA and would go to Law school there as well. So they were a pretty metropolitan family for the most part.
He had since completed an MBA in Business Analytics and had joined his youngest Uncle, Aakash Scindiya Enterprises Europe. His current companions were the London Elite, even extending to Royalty. Most were lifelong friends that he made at school and University. After all in a club like this only elite would be allowed not the mention afford the exorbitant prices. But he like the exclusivity as well as the anonymity that he would never have in India being from the Scindiya family.
His traveled extensively between Europe and India but his life was pretty much his own, apart from his mom occasionally reminding him that he should settle down and who she had in mind. As liberal as his family was, arranged marriage was still very much a thing. Not that it bothered him that much or rather it was not part of his reality yet.
Eventually he felt compelled to go and meet this beauty as she made her way to the bar.
She just got the bar and was trying to get the bartender's attention.
“Tony.” She heard behind her and looked around. He continued taking to the bartender.
“Yash! Hi, long time no see. Been jet setting again. .” The bartender came to their side and they did a fist bump totally dismissing her.
“You know it.” He replied.
“How can I help?”
She was now seriously annoyed. These two were having a jolly old catch up session and ignoring her completely. She was opened her mouth for a solid rant when he spoke again.
“Please can you take this young ladies order and put it on my tab.”
The audacity she thought, giving him an him an angry glare.
“Excuse me, I can pay for myself.”
“Tony is waiting for your order?” he smiled infuriating her even more by disregarding her statement.
Nevertheless, she turned around and gave the order.
“And another regular for me, T-man.” He said.
She turned around fully and stared at him now.
“Hmm, I’ve heard so much about you, but I must say I underestimated you. The level of your arrogance far exceeds my expectations.”
Her voice was a bit raspy and as sexy as she was. She spoke fluent English with just a hint of an accent.
“So you know who I am?”
“Of course.”
“Well I don’t have the same pleasure. May I ask your name?”
“You may?”
There was silence, which amused him.
“Ok, I’ll bite. Dear Madam, pray tell, what is your name.”
“Aarti Singh” she said
“No way!?”
“What do you mean?” she said furiously.
“You can’t be. Aarti Singh, Abishek Singh’s daughter?”
“Yes.”
“No, it can’t be. How are you here, looking like this. Yourfamily is so, so …”
“So what?” she asked warningly.
“Well traditional for lack of better word.”
“Drinks are here” Tony interrupted.
She turned around and took the tray.
“You don’t know me or my family. So don’t make judgments. Now for being so rude and presumptuous, you can actually pay for the drinks.”
She walked off and he kept looking at her.
“Yash, is that your next conquest?”
He turned around.
“It might just be Tony. It might just be.”
“Well she walked off with your drink. Should I get you another?”
“No, I will go and get it. And send someone to my table to get their orders too, please?”
Tony gave him a thumbs up.
He made his way to her table as she was distributing the drinks.
“Excuse me?” He said.
She turned around.
“I am paying for this so can I at least have my own drink. I mean, if you don’t mind?”
She gave him his drink.
He didn’t take it.
“I see you love to dance. Could I perhaps have the next dance?”
“What?” she said, drink still in hand.
“Please?” he said taking the drink out of her hand and putting it back on the table.
She didn’t answer.
“Pretty please?”
She didn’t know what made her say yes. Probably the shock of him asking her to dance.
The next moment she was on the dance floor dancing with a man that she detested from afar for most of her life. The Scindya’s and Singh’s were arch enemies.
“So what brings you to England?”
“I’ve been going to school here since I was 16 and now I am at college. Not Ivy league like the great Yash Scindiya but the best school in the country for Interior Design.”
“Ok, why the need to defend your school, though? And I know your brother, Junior went to Oxford. He was 3rd year when I was first year.”
“I know your kind.”
“My kind? You are from the family that have direct links to the royalty and treat everyone else that are not from the same class as yours as outcasts. So pray tell, what my kind is?”
“Excuse you!? We are nothing like that.”
“No?”
“Absolutely not.” But she couldn’t meet his eyes. She knew that her family could be quite snobbish at the best of times. But she was not going to admit to him.
“Mmmmm, let me see. So my family is one of the wealthiest in India and even the world. We own business enterprises all over the world and are held in high esteem everywhere. My great-grandfather was a subsistence farmer. My grandfather started our business by the sweat of his brow and many, many loans by mortgaging the farm and buying the adjacent one. What started off as one of the first working guest farms that nearly collapsed multiple times is now not only a chain of high boutique hotels, not to mention our interests in the retail, finance and IT world. Your family inherited your businesses and wealth. What would your parents say if they saw us like this? I would certainly not be deemed worthy of being so close to Her Royal Highness, Princess Aarti.
She looked down.
“Rubbish! And I am not a princess.” she said but her voice was not as firm as would have like.
“Is it though, your ladyship? But never mind that. I still can’t understand that you are here and dressed like this. As far as I am aware, you girls are watched like hawks and only wear traditional wear.”
“Well, I am special and very persuasive. I managed to be convince bauji that I can be trusted and the best place for me to be is here. My siblings seem to think that because I am the youngest, I am spoilt and pretty much get my way.”
“You know, I can see that not many people are unaffected by you. You are very intriguing.”
She just looked up at him with a quizzical look.
“I would like get to the bottom of the intrigue.”
“That would be very difficult since we won’t be seeing each other again.” She said.
As if on que, the music ended and she started walking off the dance floor. He grabbed her hand.
“Oh but we will, we surely will.” He said as he let her hand gently slide out of his.
He was the one that walked away this time, leaving her to look at his receding frame with perplexity.
He smiled and thought to himself, that she was very wrong about that. He very much intended to see her again.
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