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“In our world, indiscipline is a problem.” Chaitanya Gadde sneered. “And you don’t seem to know how to even spell the word discipline.”
“Well then, I guess I’m your biggest problem,” Harsh returned coolly, holding his derisive gaze.
“Raashi-“
“Talk. To. Me.” Each word dropped like a boulder into the space between them.
Raashi’s heart lightened as she stared at the arrogant, cocky lines of the man she detested. No. The man she’d thought she detested. But clearly, she hadn’t known him at all. The man she was now getting to know, she certainly didn’t hate him. For the strangest reason, she was starting to feel safe with him.
“Oh, I’ll talk to you.” Her father seemed to physically grow in size as his outrage fueled him. “And by the time I’m done with you-“
“Careful.” Agastya was on his feet now. “That’s my brother you’re talking to.”
“Alludu Garu.” Chaitanya Gadde turned to face him, too angry to censor his words. “Maybe it’s time then for you to teach your brother some manners.”
“And maybe it’s time you learned some too,” Raashi said, stepping forward to take Harsh’s hand.
Her father stilled, his face in profile to her, the taut lines of it telling her how badly she’d overstepped. In private, her father might forgive her insolence. In front of his biggest enemy, or frenemy as it were, she’d tipped right over into unforgivable territory.
“How dare you? You would talk to your father like that?”
“Only if you talk to my fiancé like that.” She felt Harsh’s searing gaze on the side of her face, but she kept her eyes on her father. Her fiancé! Oh God. Why did she keep claiming this man like this? Did her tongue have no shame?
“Leave it Gadde Garu,” Harsh’s father spoke. “Clearly these two are beyond help. We should focus on managing the situation.”
Raashi tipped her chin up, holding her father’s gaze. “Yes Gadde Garu. Go manage the situation.”
For a moment, she thought he would hit her. Harsh shifted his weight in readiness between them, clearly seeing the same rage on her father’s face.
“This was me,” he told her father. “I was the one who pretended we were getting married in less than a month. You want to pin the blame on someone, pin it on me.”
Her father’s murderous gaze shifted to him. “You don’t deserve a daughter of mine. You are nothing without your father’s name and your brother’s reputation. Nothing.” He spat the last word at Harsh.
Harsh didn’t flinch from her father’s condemnation. She saw his resignation in every tense muscle. She saw the hurt that he masked with a stone-faced indifference. And she saw the rebellious firming of his jaw as he pulled his trademark smirk to the fore.
She saw him when no one else did.
“Now that you’ve pretended this nonsense, get ready to make it real.” Suryakanth Kodela hefted himself to his feet and lumbered over to where they stood.
Raashi was still watching Harsh so she saw the look on his face as he stared at his father. A look of a son who forever hoped for acceptance but knew from the beginning that it was a failed hope. A look of a son who knew he was doomed to disappointment, doomed to a lifetime of wishing to be loved but never feeling the soft warmth of its embrace.
“Why?” he asked finally, his voice a languid drawl that didn’t even hint at the banked emotions she felt in his tightly wound frame.
“Because our family does not do broken engagements. You’ve dated enough women over the years that I was okay with you discarding one more. But now that you’ve declared yourself engaged, you’re getting married. Whether the two of you like it or not.”
Shock raced through her body. Married? To Harsh? She may not hate him anymore but that didn’t mean she wanted to tie herself to him for the rest of her life. For if a broken engagement wasn’t an option, a broken marriage was definitely off the table.
“With all due respect,” Harsh said, sounding anything but respectful. “I don’t give a shit what you decide. Raashi and I will do what suits us.”
“With no respect due to you since you don’t deserve it,” Suryakanth Kodela told him, his voice getting very, very soft. “You will not ruin our family name. You will not ruin our public image. And most importantly, you will not ruin this girl’s life. Even if you are nothing but a ruined mess yourself. You will marry her.”
Raashi opened her mouth to respond but Harsh’s hand tightened on her own. She fell silent, for the first time in her life letting someone else take the lead. She trusted Harsh to handle the situation, as insolently as she would. He’d probably do it one better.
“No.” Harsh’s simple rejection of his father’s acidic denouncement of him had Raashi silently cheering. His father looked about to pop a blood vessel. Maybe insolence wasn’t always needed. Sometimes simple was more effective.
“You have to!” Kodela Sr roared.
“Why do I have to? What do I get?” Harsh asked. “If I marry her, are you going to finally be proud of me?”
