#tanishka deshpande

[khwxbeeda]

The Almost Wedding: Ch. II

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Krushna had passed the limit of “fashionably late” a long time ago, and the limits of giving a fuck an even longer time ago.

The news of Tanishka agreeing to marry Chaitanya had been making the media rounds for the last two months without any signs of becoming old news— the eldest child of a film mogul and the younger brother of a famous Indian-European actress was the match of the year for the young generation of India, and the public had been going crazy over the two of them being seen holding hands and going on dates.

Three weeks ago, Krushna had been sent an invitation for an event being held to introduce Chaitanya Kulkarni to Arjun and Tanishka’s extended family with a postscript from Arjun that said he had to come whether he wanted to or not. Krushna had replied with an affirmation of his attendance, curious to get to know the man that had managed to meet the high standards of his best friend’s older sister.

He was regretting that right now.

Why did the event have to be on the day before Christmas, and why did it have to be in the evening? The celebrations were in full swing all throughout the city, and the traffic of Pune had been horrific. He had spent half an hour being stuck in the same place on the way to the venue, simply because the traffic had refused to bloody move forward. It was the insipid icing on the unpalatable cake that was the entirety of today. He was tired and drained and had nowhere near enough energy to deal with more than three people right now, but here he was, stepping out of his car after an hour of suffering through traffic and nodding in thanks to the valet for opening the door.

He took a deep breath in and released it as his chauffeur drove away and out of sight, and lifted his chin to rake a gaze over the expansive, beautiful building.

The Ritz Carlton, Pune.

He remembered first coming here for a formal event with his sister and mother three weeks after it had been opened to the public, sitting awkwardly wearing a suit he did not feel comfortable in, listening to Rukmini and Aai talk with various business associates that had smiled at him condescendingly while asking him how his school was going. The second time he had come here, it was a few months ago with his friends from Milan to celebrate his own twenty-fourth birthday, and that had been one of the best experiences ever.

Now here he was for the third time, celebrating the betrothal of a woman he did not particularly like. Curse his curiosity— Arjun had talked about the Kulkarni siblings and their out-of-this-world beauty so often that Krushna was now very interested in meeting Chandan Kulkarni.

His phone chimed, and Krushna blinked out of his reverie, letting out another exhausted sigh. He unlocked it, and opened IM. Inadvertently, a soft snort climbed up his throat at the text.

Satan and his Gucci Gang

desi regina george

wheres the hot piece of ass 7:37 P.M.

Aharya Jadhav— Arjun’s cousin of the same age, a lawyer, a fashionista, and one of the most chaotic people Krushna knew, second only to Arjun himself. Two people began typing, one of them Arjun, but he raised his eyebrows at the other one. He had been reliably informed that Sarthaki would not be attending the event, having used her broken leg as an excuse to escape the torture. No doubt the annoying little shit was lying on her bed with a bag of chips and a pizza, having fun commenting about them having to suck up to Arjun’s family.

He began walking as his idiots continued to type, through the doors into the luxurious lobby and towards the lifts without bothering to talk to the staff members or check the Events notice board. He already knew where to go.

scared of apples

idfk man he should have been here like two hours ago 7:37 P.M.

bakwaas dictionary

are you seriously calling krush a hot piece of ass?? 7:38 P.M.

Krushna bit his lip to hide his smirk and stepped into the lift, hand rising to press the button for the eighteenth floor without even having to look at it. His thumb flew across the screen of his Samsung, firing off a reply that he knew would piss Sarthaki off.

aal izz well

i mean… arent i 7:39 P.M.

scared of apples

i mean… isnt he 7:39 P.M.

desi regina george

i mean… isnt he 7:39 P.M.

bakwaas dictionary

stfu and go back to your lame party losers 7:40 P.M.

Krushna stifled a laugh as the doors of the lift slid open on the eighteenth floor, right into the entrance for the rooftop bar. He arranged his face into a polite, charming smile and tucked his phone into the pocket of his trousers, checking his reflection in the mirror on the far wall for a second. Makeup was in place, hair was pulled back into a purposely messy half up half down style, and the piercings in his ears gleamed brightly, perfectly matched to the silver brocade of his black kurta.

Good enough.

He straightened his back and stepped out onto the balcony.

Arjun and Aharya descended on him like a flock of vultures amidst the blinding flashes of the paparazzi’s cameras, wrapping themselves around each of his arms and giving him identical sweet smiles that immediately sent alarm bells ringing through his head. He groaned under his breath as they dragged him towards the bar.

“Fuck, please tell me you two chuckleheads didn’t murder someone,” he murmured under his breath, “I do not have the energy to help you hide a body tonight.”

Arjun let out a strained chuckle.

“Nahi,” he gritted out between clenched teeth, a stiff smile stretched over his glossy lips. He looked good, with contour and highlighter accentuating his bone structure and wearing a royal blue silk kurta with matching trousers. The bi flag bead bracelet Krushna had gotten for him when he had first come out was in place as it always was, and it rattled ominously when Arjun dug his fingers almost painfully into Krushna’s biceps. “But I’m extremely fucking close to snapping Tanu Tai’s pretty little neck.”

There was a Marathi phrase for the situation that Tanishka and Arjun were in. Chhattis cha aakda. It literally meant “the number thirty-six”, and implied that three and six would always be at odds with each other due to being complete opposites. Arjun and Tanishka were not entirely different— they were both good looking, frighteningly smart and shared a number of little quirks— but they were always at each other’s throats about literally everything, and it was a 24/7 source of entertainment for their friend group.

“What did she do now?” Krushna asked, leaning back on the bar and turning to give Aharya a chaste kiss on the cheek. She looked beautiful, dressed in a pearly white saree with silver zari and matching blouse, a sterling silver choker around her slender throat and hair piled into a stylish bun with a silver and pearl hairpin. Her makeup was flawless, with glimmering silvery white eyeshadow, white highlighter and soft pink lip gloss. “And Aharya jaan, you look fabulous as always.”

“Thank you, my love. Tanu Tai is showing off her arm candy,” she replied with a roll of her eyes, accepting the glass of champagne that Arjun handed her and leaning back against the bar. “Chaitanya— that’s the husband to be— is pretty and smart, and Arjun has dealt with enough of her bragging about it.”

Arjun scoffed, extending a black glittery cocktail towards Krushna, who took it gratefully. After the day he had just gone through, drink and gossip was the perfect pick me up. He took a sip and hummed in surprised approval at the explosion of blueberry on his tongue.

“And like, I get it okay,” Arjun said, raising his own glass of some violently pink concoction to his lips, “the man is ridiculously pretty and he’s studying physics because he actually bloody likes it, the weirdo.” The last two words are said with affection, and Krushna suddenly remembered that Arjun had spent a lot of time with this mysterious to-be-fiancé of Tanishka’s since the beginning of September. “He deserves to be shown off a little. But god damn can you shut up for like three seconds?”

Aharya stifled her snicker behind her glass, and Krushna grinned.

“He’s approved by both of you?” he said with exaggerated shock, placing a hand to his chin. “This is a tremendous occasion, I simply must meet this mystery man now.”

Arjun and Aharya rolled their eyes as one, already used to his theatrics. “He’s out of Tai’s league, honestly,” Arjun muttered. “I don’t know what he saw in her that he agreed to a marriage, but we all know he’s way out of her league.”

Krushna raised an eyebrow, an amused smirk curling up the edges of his lips. Arjun saying something was out of Tanishka’s league was routine, and so was Krushna and Aharya taking turns to pour gasoline on the dumpster fire that was Arjun and Tanishka’s relationship. “Well, then,” he drawled, “someone, introduce me to this man— what did you say his name was?”

“Chaitanya,” Aharya supplied, dark brown eyes glittering with the same amusement that Krushna was sure he himself was showing. “Chaitanya Kulkarni. I think you might have met his older sister somewhere at your modelling gigs— Charita Kulkarni, that actress who’s based in France.”

He nodded, taking a sip of his cocktail. “Yeah, I worked on that campaign for UNICEF with her two years ago. Excellent woman, and very intelligent. I had no idea she had a sibling.”

“She has three,” Arjun said. “Two brothers and a sister. And all of them are bloody fit. Seriously, it’s actually frustrating. Shame the oldest is married, or I’d have hit on him.”

Krushna and Aharya burst out laughing, attracting the attention of nearby tables before they remembered where they were and toned down the noise.

“You won’t believe the number of times this dude has gone on and on about Chandan, I swear,” Aharya snickered, and Krushna laughed harder, patting her on the shoulder.

“Oh, darling,” he gasped, “I’ve literally been dealing with it every day since the day Tanishka met that fiancé of hers. The first thing he did was call me and whine about how it’s ‘such a shame that Chandan is happily married’ and how he would ‘climb him like a tree if given the chance’, never mind that the man is almost forty.”

Arjun glared at him, and the fact that there was definitely a blush creeping up his neck under all his makeup had Krushna burying his face in Aharya’s shoulder to stop himself from cackling louder.

“I do not whine,” the shorter man grumbled, looking like he was seconds away from stomping his foot. “I do not!”

Krushna could not stop laughing. He leaned against Aharya with an arm wrapped around her waist for support, both of them giggling uncontrollably, stomachs starting to ache with how hard they were trying not to laugh too loud. Arjun groaned through gritted teeth, and folded his arms across his chest and glared at them, leather shoes tapping on the floor.

“Look, do you wanna meet Chaitanya or not?” he asked impatiently.

Krushna sucked in a deep breath and nodded, forcing himself to stop laughing. He elbowed Aharya in the stomach and gave her a look that said shut up, and turned to Arjun with the most demure expression he could manage, making him snort derisively.

“Alright,” he muttered, grabbing his drink to throw the last of it back and setting the empty glass down on the bar. “Come on, Tai has dragged him along for her rounds. Find her, and we find him.”

— — —

Chaitanya stuck his free hand in his pockets and exhaled through his nose, making sure the smile on his face did not look as done-with-this-shit as he felt. Tanishka had her hand tucked into his left elbow, and was smiling charmingly at one of the many old ladies that he had been introduced to and promptly forgotten the names of.

Gods, this was too many people in too little time. He wanted to leave.

He had nothing against Tanishka and her family, of course— they were wonderful people for the most part, except for that one aunt who had asked outright if he was planning to live off of his family’s wealth since the M.Sc in Physics was obviously not of any use— but he really did not have the social capabilities to be dealing with such a large crowd. He had run out of things to say twenty minutes ago, and was simply smiling and nodding along to whatever Tanishka was talking about, not bothering to pay attention to anything.

Chandan, the traitor, was ensconced with a socialite at one of the tables at the corner, deep in conversation about something or the other. Charuta was in Delhi, having left two months ago for her work, and Charita was… nowhere to be seen. Chaitanya furrowed his brows and cast a glance all over the place.

Where’s Ritu Tai?

He scanned the entire place, but no. There was not a single hint of the eye-catching hot pink cocktail dress his sister was wearing. He frowned harder and tapped Tanishka’s arm so she would loosen her grip, and turned around, only to catch Arjun’s eye.

The boy in question grinned and waved, beckoning Chaitanya to join him. Chaitanya shrugged and tilted his head towards Tanishka, who had an iron grip on his elbow and was still talking to the lady. Arjun’s eye roll was visible even from across the pool, and Chaitanya suppressed a grin. He liked Arjun— the boy was hilarious, openly bisexual and an absolute riot. He was what Chaitanya supposed he would have been if he had not been such a bloody introvert.

A few seconds later, Arjun came to a stop right next to him just in time for a couple flashes of blinding white light to go off, reminding him of the presence of the paparazzi. The other boy was accompanied by two people— a pretty woman whose name he could not remember, and the most beautiful man Chaitanya had ever seen in his life.

His eyes were a startlingly bright grey, almost silver in the lights of the restaurant, made even brighter by the silvery smokey eye makeup and diamond sharp winged liner. He was almost a head taller than Chaitanya, with long black hair pulled back into a half up half down style that accentuated his sharp, contoured cheekbones, and full lips covered in transparent glitter gloss. The black kurta with gold brocade that he wore only served to show off his broad shoulders and thick biceps, and his ears were covered in piercings— two standard lobe piercings, a helix on the left ear, and an industrial on the right— gold to match the rest of his outfit.

Krushna Mahajan.

Chaitanya recognised him, from a couple of photos his sister had shown him from that one UNICEF camp again she had done a few years ago, and from a few posts on Instagram that he had seen on his FYP. He was a model and owned his own fashion brand based here in Pune, if Chaitanya remembered correctly.

“Good evening, Tanishka,” the man greeted with a deep, honey-smooth voice, full lips pulling into a smile that was just so on the wrong side of polite that was completely at odds with his pleasant tone, taking in Tanishka’s outfit with the classic Up and Down. “I see you’ve cleaned up nicely.”

There was a ‘for once’ implied at the end of the sentence. Chaitanya raised a brow and looked at Arjun, who winked and silently gestured with his eyes for him to keep watching. He suppressed a smile and acquiesced.

“Krushna,” Tanishka greeted with a ramrod straight back, much less polite. “I don’t remember sending you an invite.”

Chaitanya turned to her, blinking slowly in shock. That was the bluntest he had seen her speak today; she had even been polite to that one aunt Arjun had told him she had loathed since she was a child. Had she suddenly forgotten all her manners? Granted, the man had probably snuck into the party without an invite, but that was no reason to be unpleasant in full view of the guests and cameras. The old lady she had been playing nice with a few moments ago was less than three feet away, for fuck’s sake!

“Actually, Tanu Tai,” Arjun interjected, the promise of chaos written all over his too sharp, too smug smile, “I sent him an invite because you forgot to. After all, he’s practically family, isn’t he?”

Behind him, the beautiful woman smirked and raised her champagne glass to her lips, narrow-eyed gaze focused predatorily on Tanishka. Chaitanya was starting to think that this was an ambush, and that he just had the unfortunate luck of being caught in the crossfire.

Beside him, Tanishka clenched her jaw, plum-painted lips pursing dispassionately. She looked beautiful today, with a deep purple co-ord kurta and palazzo set that matched the tie Chaitanya was wearing, but that prettiness sharpened into something terrifying the moment she glared at Krushna. He decided it was best if he interfered, and hastily stuck a hand out towards Krushna with a small, polite smile.

“Good evening,” he greeted in the most amiable tone he could muster, “it’s nice to meet you. I’m Chaitanya Kulkarni. Tanishka’s boyfriend.”

Krushna’s intense silver stare fixed itself onto him, and the slow, charming grin that curled up his full, glossy lips was positively swoon-worthy. “Oh, they weren’t lying,” he murmured under his breath as he took the offered hand and shook it firmly. “You really are ridiculously beautiful. Hello, Gorgeous. I'm Krushna Mahajan.”

A red hot flush bloomed across Chaitanya’s cheeks, and he squashed down the urge to squirm, ducking his head and letting out an honest to God giggle. He was pretty sure he resembled a tomato, and silently cursed his pale complexion for flushing so easily. “Ah, um,” he stammered, an awkward smile curling up his lips, “not— not really. I’m just⁠― I’m just wearing a bit of makeup.”

Krushna chuckled, smooth and deep and unfairly attractive. “Makeup is not the only thing that makes someone beautiful,” he replied, gazing intently into Chaitanya’s eyes.

The sound of a throat being cleared broke the moment, and he realised Krushna still had a firm grip on his hand. He pulled away with another awkward laugh and turned towards Tanishka, who had her eyes narrowed at Krushna. Her fingernails dug into Chaitanya’s elbow till it was bordering on painful, and he winced, shifting a little so the pressure lessened.

“Ah, my apologies,” Krushna said, his voice very apologetic but the way he narrowed his eyes back at her very much not. “Congratulations on the betrothal, Chaitanya. Tanishka, I’m very happy for you.”

Arjun made an aborted sort of sound, hiding it by turning away, and Chaitanya blinked at him in confusion. Tanishka’s glare focused on her little brother, and the man in question raised his hands with a shrug and a badly hidden shit-eating grin. Chaitanya felt like he was missing about several hundred extremely important details, and he looked at Krushna with a raised eyebrow. The man simply shrugged back, and he felt himself unconsciously tracking the movement of the broad line of his shoulders before turning away and catching the eye of the woman in pearly white.

She winked at him. Chaitanya pursed his lips, feeling his flush return full force, and he blinked, trying to look anywhere except Krushna or the woman.

“Come, Chaitanya,” Tanishka gritted out, adjusting her clothes and tugging on his elbow, almost making him lose his footing. “We have other guests to meet. Arjun and Aharya can keep Krushna entertained.”

With that, he got dragged away before any of them could reply, throwing one last apologetic look back at the three friends.

“Tanishka,” he began, but the woman did not even bother to look at him, and continued to pull him towards whatever part of the restaurant she had her mind on. He sighed and ripped his arm from her grip as gently as he could, exceedingly aware of the cameras on the edges of the room that were eager to click away at any perceived unrest or drama, and gently grabbed her shoulders to turn her around. “Tanishka. Tanishka, wait.”

She glared at him, and he bent down to press a soft kiss to her forehead, and cheered internally when she leaned into the touch instead of pulling away like he was half afraid she would.

“What happened back there?” he murmured, and she shook her head minutely, the look on her face telling him to drop it. He ignored it. He wanted answers. “I’ve never seen you be that rude to anyone— hell, you were nice to that bitch who spilled her coffee on you the other day.”

Tanishka’s lips twisted up, features scrunching up into a poisonous look aimed over his shoulder, and he had an inkling that it was aimed at Krushna. “It’s nothing,” she said curtly. “Don’t concern yourself with it.”

Chaitanya sighed and dragged her closer for a hug, clenching his jaw when he saw a flash go off from the corner of his eyes. He turned them around so the cameras could not get a glimpse of Tanishka’s face, and leaned down to place another kiss on her forehead. “I just wanna know if there’s something I can do to help,” he said softly, running a soothing hand up and down her back.

Tanishka shook her head.

“No,” she whispered, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, Chaitanya was alarmed to see them swimming with mushed tears. He pressed her closer to himself, casting a panicked eye around for Charita. Bloody woman kept disappearing right as he needed her the most.

“Krushna and Arjun go way back,” Tanishka said after taking a second to control herself, words coming out haltingly like she was trying not to choke on her tears. “And they’ve made it their mission to ruin anything and everything for me. They hate me, and they make it known. It’s been like that since I was fifteen.”

Chaitanya stared at her, not knowing how to respond to that. Sure, Arjun had an unusual love for pushing Tanishka’s buttons, and guessing from what he saw right now Krushna was probably not her biggest fan, but that could not possibly mean they hated her. Hell, he and Charita still heckled the eldest two siblings to their limits, but that did not mean they did not love each other.

“I’m sure that—” he began, but Tanishka glared at him and shook her head.

“Let’s not talk about this,” she said, and before he could stop her, she extracted herself from his hug and walked away, the soft jingle of her paayal lost to the sounds of the party. Chaitanya stared after her for a couple seconds, unsure of how to react to this situation.

He exhaled, and ran a hand through his hair.

Maybe it was best that he focused on looking for Charita, rather than whatever sibling rivalry was going on between Tanishka and Arjun, and Krushna.

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Tag list: @kanha-sakhi @musaafir-hun-yaaron @orgasming-caterpillar @natures-marvel @yehsahihai @h0bg0blin-meat @mad-who-ra @girlatreus @krisnosura (lmk if you want to be added/removed)

[khwxbeeda]

The Almost Wedding (Ch.I)

Arjun was this close to murdering someone.

More specifically, he was close to grabbing his dear darling sister by her perfectly styled hair and sticking her neck onto a guillotine. At least then she would shut up and stop bothering him.

"Arjun I swear," Tanishka said for maybe the millionth time in the last two hours, "you had better be on your best behaviour, I won't have you- I don't know- flirting with anyone or something even stupider—"

"Aga majhi bai, I got it," he finally snapped, smacking his palms together in a sarcastic namaskar, making her click her jaw shut. "I'll be quiet the entire time. And Tai, why would I flirt with some random boy? He's probably homophobic, anyway."

Her hazel eyes narrowed in a glare, and he returned it with a flat look before turning around to look in the mirror, running his hands through his hair to separate the wavy black strands and checking his subtle eye makeup again. It looked good— just a little gold glitter on the lid and a smudge of kajal on the lower lash line, bringing out the soft golden specks in his eyes. His lip gloss was transparent, but it was enough to make his Cupid’s bow pop.

Tanishka, finally realising she was being ignored, huffed and strode away. Arjun snickered as the sound of her paayal grew fainter and fainter, then went back to applying concealer. College was a harrowing experience, especially for post graduate medical students, and Arjun was not getting enough sleep. At least the concealer helped hide the designer under-eye bags.

"ARJUN!"

He jerked in surprise, and glared at the open door of his room, cursing under his breath. He almost messed up his makeup, dammit!

"EK MINUTE ALO," he yelled back, twisting his concealer tube shut and throwing it onto the dresser, then slipped out into the hallway.

He rushed down the set of staircases three steps at a time, tugging at his collar and adjusting his jeans so the multi-coloured rhinestones on the back pockets arranged in the bi flag were visible.

He had chosen the basic white shirt and baggy jeans on purpose, because while the rest of the family was wearing traditional clothing, he did not have a single kurta to his name and he had been too busy with his studies to go out and buy one. He often thought he had made a mistake by saying he wanted to become a doctor. He really should have followed Krushna into the modelling industry. At least then he would not have to bust his brain— just his body, and he would have had his best friend with him instead of halfway across the world.

He jumped the last seven steps, and was immediately met with a resounding smack upside the head.

"Aai ga," he whined, rubbing his hand over the back of his head and scowling playfully at his snickering aunt as she walked past, the pallu of her baby pink saree swinging left to right. "Chinu Maushi, don't you get tired of being annoying?"

She tossed her hair over her shoulder and winked. "Nahi. Ata chal, get a move on, they'll be here soon."

Ah. Right. His sister’s suitor.

The Kulkarni family had agreed to a rendezvous to decide if their youngest was compatible with Tanishka, and Arjun’s mother had been going crazy setting the house to rights and getting the servants to clean out every single room of the mansion. Even the unused ones. Arjun had made the mistake of asking if the guests were to be hosted in the second basement, and had gotten a chappal thrown at his head for his troubles.

"Yeah, yeah, coming," he muttered, sticking his hands into his pockets and following her out into the kitchen, where his mother was already directing the servants to prepare food and drinks for the Ganpati festival, which was in less than a week, and for the guests that were set to come in about five minutes.

“Hi, Aai,” he said, leaning down to press a kiss to his mother’s temple, and grinned when he received the weird combination of a harried glare and a soft pat to his cheek.

Lavanya Deshpande was one of the most influential actresses in Bollywood, and at the ripe age of fifty-seven, was the richest producer of the Hindi film industry. Despite being married off at the young age of nineteen into a family that did not treat her well and popping out her first baby at twenty, she had risen to national fame and become a household name by the time she was twenty-six, having acted in over a hundred films and produced several blockbusters through the course of her career. She had divorced her husband at twenty-eight and taken her two kids away, changed her surname back to her maiden name, and proceeded to take the international film industry by storm in a short five years.

“Hi, babdi,” she replied, and promptly shoved something into his mouth. “How does it taste?”

Arjun chewed on the thing for two slow seconds, then brightened when he realised it was a gulaab jamun. He nodded enthusiastically and snapped off two quick finger guns.

“Kadak,” he said through the mouthful of the mithai, and she smacked him upside the head. He yelped, but she smacked him again, the look on her face halfway between fond and exasperated. “Swallow your morsel before you speak, murkha!”

Arjun whined in outrage, but one sharp look from her and he subsided, muttering complaints under his breath and rubbing his head. The kitchen— a large white tiled room with two island counters and a whole baking station that was actually used for making festival faraal and mithai rather than cakes and pastries— had been overtaken by the two workers who were cooking up a storm for the festival, and Arjun sniffed appreciatively at a container filled with saffron milk, only to be pushed away by Aai.

“Nahi, Arjunie,” she said sternly. “This is for the guests, you can have as much as you’d like afterwards.”

Before he could reply, the bell rang.

His mother rose to her feet and glided out of the room, the skirts of her baby blue Anarkali flaring out behind her, and a minute later Arjun heard the front door open and the muffled sounds of greetings from the receiving hall. He exchanged a grimace with Chinu Maushi, and exhaled through his nose. She poked him in the back to make him straighten his posture to appear at least halfway polite, and beckoned him to follow her to the living room.

He took a stand next to one of the sofas and stuck his tongue out at Tanishka, just as Aai walked in with the guests.

Four people— siblings, because the parents had passed away. They walked in behind his mother, who had her socialite smile pasted on her beautiful face, and Arjun's breath caught.

All of them were utterly, absolutely gorgeous.

The two women and two men were wearing well fitted casual ethnic clothes, with the older man and woman dressed in identical royal purple kurta and trouser sets with delicate silver embroidery at the collar, and the younger two dressed in white with purple embroidery. They had matching arched eyebrows, smooth skin, oddly perfect noses, and pink lips that were pulled up into polite smiles that made their dark eyes crinkle at the edges, giving the impression that they were actually paying attention to whatever Arjun's mother was saying.

Bappa knew Arjun was not paying attention.

No, he was distracted by the visitors' sheer beauty as they pressed their hands together into a namaskar and bowed their heads. If Tanishka was marrying into this, he was envious, because those were some magnificent genetics. Yes, he grew up around big name actors and actresses walking in and out of his house on a daily basis, but that just made it easier for him to recognise real beauty when he saw it.

"—and of course, my son, Arjun." He snapped back into focus and sent his most charming smile towards them.

"Everyone," his mother said, "these are the Kulkarni siblings. Chandan, the oldest—" the criminally handsome man waved— "Charuta, Charita, and Chaitanya, the youngest."

A chorus of greetings echoed around the room, and they all sat down as the house workers placed trays piled with food and drinks on the teapoy in the middle of the set of sofas.

“So, Chaitanya,” Lavanya began, a large, genuine smile curving up her red-painted lips, “how are you, my child?”

Chaitanya gave her wide smile, and Arjun was pretty sure he felt butterflies in his stomach. The boy was pretty, with almond shaped deep brown eyes, pouty rosebud lips and a pointy chin that would have made him look delicate if not for the sharp cut of his jaw and the intelligent curve of his eyebrows. "Mi masta, Madame, what about you?"

The older actress’s smile widened. "Oh, no need to call me Madame, my dear. Lavanya is fine, and I’m doing good as well.” She extended her hand out towards the food. “Please, do eat your fill, and now, shall we begin with the ‘interrogation’?”

She winked at the last word, and the siblings let out identical amiable laughs. Charuta reached forward and picked a banana chip off one of the plates and popped it into her mouth, pretty glossy lips twisting into a pout as she crunched the thing between her teeth. Arjun forcefully dragged his eyes away from the visual and focused on Chandan, who had begun speaking.

"How are we to do this, then?"

He had a curious accent— somewhere between Indian and French, Arjun realised a second later. He exchanged a look with Chinu Maushi, who smirked at him like she knew exactly what was going through his mind. He turned away without giving her the honour of a reply, but he could feel his cheeks heat up. Thank the Gods for his dark complexion that made it difficult for his blush to be visible, or she would never let him live it down.

"How about you ask first?" Lavanya suggested. "Tanishka asks the next question. Both of you have to answer all the questions posed."

Chandan raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at Chaitanya, who somehow managed to make his shrug look elegant. Arjun honestly had no idea whether to be jealous of or attracted to the man. Both men.

"I don't mind if you don’t," he answered, in the same hot accent as his older brother, and Tanishka nodded.

"I don't mind either. Ask away."

"What are you doing, currently?" he asked, tongue curling deliciously over his R's. Arjun had to forcefully drag his eyes away from that pretty mouth. Chinu Maushi gave him a significant look behind his mother's back that said he needed to stop, and he exhaled with a shake of his head— drop it. Thankfully, she did, but not before she gave him another look. Arjun rolled his eyes went back to the Q&A.

"I'm working as a freelance influencer and content creator as of now," Tanishka replied. “I won’t be signing onto Aai’s company, but hopefully in a few years I���ll take up a contract with a reputable agency as an actress. What about you?”

Charuta and Chandan exchanged discreet looks above Chaitanya's head, who was hilariously short compared to his older siblings. Even Charita was a couple inches taller than him. Arjun had no ground to stand on, however; he was the same height. He had no doubt that if Krushna met Chaitanya, he would tease him for his height the same way he did to Arjun.

Gods, he could not wait to tell Krushna about this.

"I'm in the last year of my Master’s degree,” Chaitanya said, leaning forward to wrap slender fingers covered in silver rings around a glass of chilled panha. Arjun’s eyes tracked the movement, only half focused on the rest of the words he spoke. He glimpsed a small tattoo on the inner side of the wrist, but the sleeves of the kurta shifted before he could get a proper look. “My subject is Physics.”

Oh, pretty and smart.

And so the interrogation proceeded, with Tanishka and Chaitanya taking turns in asking questions and answering them. By the end of the hour, half the plates and glasses had been wiped clean, and Arjun knew the general details and history of the Kulkarni family.

Chaitanya was twenty-five years old, and the youngest of the siblings. Chandan was thirty-nine and married with a seven year old daughter, and Charuta was not aiming to marry at all. She was thirty-five, had passed the UPSC exams on her first try after her LLB, and was working as a diplomat in Delhi at the Italian Embassy in India. Charita was a famous actress who mostly filmed in England and France, and had married her husband two years ago at the age of twenty-seven. Chaitanya was currently teaching maths and physics to school students when he was not working on his thesis for his Masters.

Their parents— Nayantara and Dhruv— had passed away in a car accident sixteen years ago, and Chandan had taken the younger two siblings to Paris to live with their maternal grandmother, while Charuta attended National Law University in Mumbai. The three siblings had stayed in Paris for ten years until Chaitanya completed his high school, and then moved to Pune for his Bachelors degree at Fergusson College.

“And what will you do after your Masters?” Tanishka asked him, leaning forward in her seat with a manicured finger subtly twirling with a strand of her hair. Arjun had seen her use that trick before, and he smirked when he noticed Chaitanya’s eyes follow the slide of the edge of the short square nail through the black curl before flicking back to her face.

“Ah, I’m hoping to continue on to a Ph.D,” he said, and picked up his glass of panha to take a sip. “What about you? Are you planning on getting another degree or—”

“On, no,” Tanishka replied, shaking her head so her curls bounced just enough to attract attention. “I have a masters, and that’s enough for me. Frankly, I’ve had enough of being yelled at by professors.” She chuckled faintly as if letting the others in on a joke, and Arjun stifled a snicker when Chaitanya echoed the sound, eyes never leaving his sister’s pretty face.

“Shall we talk alone?” He asked her, and Tanishka smiled her most charming smile, but there was a gleam in her eyes that Arjun recognised— the one that made an appearance when she had gotten what she wanted. “Why not? I know a cafe ten minutes from here that has excellent French press, if you’d like.”

Chaitanya glanced at Charuta for permission, grinning boyishly when she nodded. When he turned back to offer his hand to Tanishka, his grin was a little shy. It was endearing, and Arjun exchanged a look with his mother, who looked like she had won three Oscars in one go. He stifled another laugh.

Tanishka winked at Lavanya as she slipped out of the living room with her hand in Chaitanya’s, Arjun politely excused himself by citing his studies as a reason and slipped back up the stairs and into his room. He shut the door behind him and threw himself onto the bed, pushing aside the mass of textbooks, and unlocked his phone to hit the speed dial for his best friend.

“Haye tauba,” he breathed the minute Krushna picked up the phone, “they’re all so damn hot.”

The laugh that Krushna let out felt like it was setting off the butterfly effect.

———————

Taglist: @orgasming-caterpillar @h0bg0blin-meat @musaafir-hun-yaaron @mrunmione @girlatreus @shanti-ashant-hai @yehsahihai (lmk if you wanna be added/removed)