Chapter 4 Unexpected Proposal

• As soon as Mishka walked in through the mahogany door, Leo rises to his feet and sauntered over in her direction with a broad smile. “Mishka, my darling!!” He beamed with happiness.
• Mishka grinned, and as Leo came close to her, she bent down and touched his feet first and then hugged him.
• Leo embraced her with a surreal smile on his face and everyone was watching as if a father and a daughter has reunited after a long time. “How are you, my child, and how was your flight? I hope you reached here comfortably.” Leo asked.
• “I am good, Dadu. The flight was great, but I’m exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open.” Mishka answered with a tired expression.
• “I know, sweetheart. Let me introduce you to everyone here, then I’ll take you to your room.” Leo held her hand and introduced her to everyone. “This is Luke, my son, and Chris’s father. This is Jennifer. My daughter Berry and her husband Dan are here. Jake’s mom and dad. And that’s my youngest son, Rony and his wife Rose.” Mishka shook hands with everyone with a polite smile and Leo looked around the room only to find Christian and Daniel missing.
• “Oh yes, they went out to play basketball!” Leo called a servant and asked him to call Christian and Daniel inside. The next minute, Daniel stormed inside, holding his ears before Leo, and the latter narrowed his eyes.
• “What did you do this time, young man?” Leo asked, folding his arms across his chest.
• “He threw the ball at Mishka’s face. It was good Mishka caught the ball before it could hit her face badly.” Jake answered, scowling at Daniel.
• “Oh, my god. Are you alright, Mishka? Are you hurt anywhere?” Leo glances over at Mishka and asked in a concerned voice.
• “No Dadu, I’m absolutely fine. It was just an accident. He didn’t intend to throw the ball at me. He was just playing with him.” Her eyes moved to someone behind Leo.
• Leo turned, and his eyes landed on Christian standing at the door frame with hands in his pocket, watching all the drama. “Chris, come here. I want you to meet Mishka,” Leo called him in an enthusiastic voice, and Christian took long strides towards her with a poker face.
• “Mishka, this is Christian, my eldest grandson, and Chris, this is Mishka.” Leo introduced both of them, and they both shook hands with each other.
• Leo glanced at each face in the room and realised that only three people were genuinely happy, i.e. Rony, Rose, and Daniel. His eyes travelled back to Mishka and Christian, and he saw them still holding each other’s hands.
• He smiled, breaking their trance. “Mishka, come, let me show you your room. Take a rest because I want to discuss something really important later,” Leo said and Mishka nodded her head, retrieved her hand back, and followed Leo upstairs.
• ~ CHRISTIAN ~
• While I was watching them walking inside the mansion, someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned, and it was Pasha behind me with a smirk plastered on his face.
• Pasha was grandpa’s college friend and the most trustworthy person in his life. He is grandpa’s lawyer, advisor, private detective, and blah blah. He is basically grandpa’s everything except his wife. One can escape from grandpa’s scrutinising eyes but can’t escape Pasha. He is grandpa’s shadow, and he reports every minor detail to him.
• “What? Why are you smirking at me?” I raised an eyebrow.
• “Nothing. I can see she has cast her spell on you already.” He answered, grinning.
• I rolled my eyes. “Bullshit! It’s not like that. I am just surprised to see that Indian girls carry themselves so confidently. I thought Indian girls were shy, at least a few in my college were timid and conservative. But she is exactly the contrary to what I expected!”
• Pasha chuckled. “Don’t worry. She’s full of surprises and gradually she’ll change all your opinions. Just wait and watch.” I was about to retaliate when the house helper interrupted our conversation and said that Grandpa was calling us inside.
• Listening to this, Daniel ran inside and I followed him. I stood at the doorframe and witnessed Daniel holding his ears. He was standing before Grandpa, and Jake was complaining about him. But Mishka confirmed it was an accident not intentional, pointing in my way.
• Grandpa turned and asked me to come forward and meet her. I came forward and shook hands with her, and to be honest, I don’t know about her, but I felt some kind of spark inside me.
• She quickly removed her hand from my grip as grandpa interrupted in and walked upstairs to her room with grandpa. And as I was watching her walking upstairs, I heard Daniel’s voice from behind, “She is so hot, isn’t she?”
• I looked back at the mesmerised Daniel and saw him drooling over her with wide eyes. “No, she is not, and stop staring at her like that. Go back home and finish your homework. You have school tomorrow!” I said sternly.
• “If she doesn’t look hot to you, then why were you staring at her ever since she set foot in this house?” He glared at me.
• “Shut up. I was not staring at her.” I corrected him and stormed out to clear my head.
• ***
• In the evening,
• Christian was engrossed watching something on his phone while walking in the corridor when he bumped into someone. He looked up from his screen and it was Mishka. She was wearing a pair of black joggers with a grey t-shirt, the same as him.
• “I am so sorry. I didn’t see you coming!” She apologised.
• “It’s alright,” Christian said and turned to walk away.
• “Hey! Chris, could you please tell me where Dadu is?” She asked.
• “What is Dadu?” Chris asked, puzzled.
• “Oh, we in India refer to Grandpa as Dadu.” She answered with a smile.
• “Oh, Grandpa will probably be in his study. The third door on the second floor. You can go from there.” Christian pointed towards the staircase.
• “Thanks,” Mishka smiled and walked away.
• ***
• Leo was reading some important documents made by his lawyer, as per his request, when someone knocked on his door. He called the visitor in and started reading documents again. “Dadu?” Mishka peeked inside.
• “Oh, come inside. I was waiting for you,” Leo called her in and put all the documents aside.
• “You said you’ve something important to discuss.” She said, taking a chair across from him. “What is it, Dadu?”
• “Actually, I have had something on my mind since we met in India…” He paused and looked her in the eyes. “I don’t know how to say?”
• Mishka smiled. “Is something bothering you? You can talk to me!”
• “I want you to marry my grandson, Christian,” Leo stated and Mishka widened her eyes, dumbfounded.
• “You are kidding me, right?” She asked, arching her eyebrow, completely baffled by the proposal.