Chapter 3: Association

During the party, the chief minister had arrived and he was now chatting with Raghuveer, that's when Raghuveer called Miral.

"Yeah, dad?" Miral muttered as soon as she reached there.

"Look, who's here," Raghuveer spoke enthusiastically.

Miral looked at the Chief Minister and his family and warmly greeted them.

"You do have a lovely daughter, Raghuveer," the chief minister appreciated.

"Yes. And I am proud of her," Raghuveer proudly boasted.

"Well, the entire party is proud of her. The way she handled the election promotions. It's commendable. She is like a pillar to our party," the chief minister responded while patting Miral's head.

"I love power, uncle. And I would do anything to remain in power. I just want to rule," Miral confidently responded.

"And you will, for sure. You have it in you," he responded.

The confidence and the trust the chief minister showed at Miral, made her feel happy. She knew that the people at her party appreciates her a lot and that's all she wanted.

"Okay! Miral, this is Manik," Raghuveer spoke, introducing Miral to the chief minister's son.

"Hello," the guy responded with a sweet smile.

Miral looked at him. He looked like an average guy but did have an attractive charm on his face. Miral smiled, looking at him.

"Hello," she responded and opting in for a handshake.

"Okay. So now, you two kids have a chatter. We have some political affairs to discuss," Raghuveer muttered, trying to push them aside.

"Sure," Miral replied and looked at Manik, "come with me."

After that, both Miral and Manik left from there.

After chatting for a while in the crowded party, both of them made their way toward the terrace. Miral comfortably sat over the water tank and looked towards the sky.

"You love stargazing?" Manik asked.

"Yeah. I do. Stars inspire me so much. Like they're countless, but they rule their own worlds," she responded with a smile.

"You're obsessed with ruling,"  Manik chuckled.

"I am," she responded.

"Miral. Can I ask you something?" Manik spoke, after following silence for a minute.

"Yeah," she looked at him.

"Do you know why our dads introduced us to each other?" He questioned.

Miral nodded.

"I do. They want us to get to know each other so that we can figure out if we're compatible or not so that they can pitch for our wedding," she confessed.

"So? What do you think about this?" He curiously asked.

"Well, before answering that, I must tell you. I am not a virgin," Miral sighed.

Manik rolled his eyes and glared at her.

"Oh come on! It's the twenty-first century, and who cares?" He shrugged out.

Miral mildly smiled.

"But what do you think about this wedding? This association?" He questioned.

"Well, if I marry you, the political relations between my dad and your dad would strengthen and it would benefit our party. We will have personal relations with you and it would be a win and win," she spoke nonchalantly.

"So are you okay with it?" He questioned.

Miral looked at him and smiled.

"Should I say the truth?" She smiled.

Manik nodded.

"Well, marrying you would be my best shot at gaining power. I will be the daughter-in-law of the chief minister and what else could be a better opportunity to gain a political position?" She muttered.

Hearing her answer, Manik did show a hint of disappointment.

"But to be honest, I don't want that. I don't want any kind of association or deal to marry someone. I don't want to marry someone for the sake of power, or to reap several other benefits, even though there might be no harm in it," she explained herself.

"I want to marry someone because I want to spend the entire life with that person, I would want to marry that person because I would feel comfortable and confident around him. I would feel that yes, that person matters to me. After all, my entire life would depend on the companionship of that person," she spoke while looking at the stars.

"So, you do believe in the concept of love?" Manik asked, sitting beside her.

"Nah. Love is a beautiful lie people tell themselves to hide their insecurities," she chuckled.

"Why would you say that?" He sounded surprised.

"Because that's true. We say that we love someone, but that's not true. Look at the people dating and saying so easily that they love someone. Once they break up, and then, a year later they love someone else. So, what's that? That's just a lie. We don't want to be left alone, that's why, they seek a companion, someone we feel attached to, someone we feel like we can trust and who would help us share our messed-up emotional baggage and all. And when we find the person, we claim that longing as love. We're so scared to be left alone, that we say, that we're in love so we need that person," Miral confessed.

"Girl, you do have some seriously logical reasoning," Manik teased.

"Well, I didn't even say the most logical one," she smirked.

"And what's that?"

"With our raging hormones and the feeling of lust, we do want someone with whom we can satisfy our physical needs, and it's always better to fuck a person you feel attached to and trust rather than fucking a stranger every night, so yeah, you love that person," Miral somewhat shouted.

Her statements made Manik laugh and they both started laughing under the gaze of the stars.

"Do you want a beer?" Miral questioned.

"Do you have it?" He questioned.

"I can't function without it," she winked.

"Sure," he smiled.

She got down from the water tank and rushed to a room that was on the terrace and brought two bottles of beer with her.

She offered a bottle to Manik and both of them started drinking.

"I do have a minibar in that room over the corner, as I spent most of my nights under the sky, and I would like the company of this drink," she spoke.

"You're something different," he responded with a smile.

On the other hand, Aditya was waiting for more information about Miral. While waiting, he was constantly looking at the pictures of Miral that were sent to him previously. He couldn't move his eyes away from her and he didn't even mind that.

That's when his phone pinged yet again. Several other photos and one text that had some information about Miral.

Aditya clicked on the pictures and smirked.

"Typical Chandravanshi girl. Trying to lure the chief minister's son, so that she can marry her and rule more. She is a cunning bitch," he muttered to himself.

As Aditya went through those pictures, he didn't know why, but he felt a bit uncomfortable. He didn't like a guy with Miral and he had no reason to feel that certain way too.

"So, marriage is in the cards for Miral Chandravanshi. That's a really good move," he muttered.

After going through the pictures, he prepared himself to read the text message.

"Few personal life information about Miral Chandravanshi-

Not a virgin.

Currently having a friends-with-benefits relationship with Raghuveer Chandravanshi's PA and her best friend Naveen

Dated two guys in the past but it ended miserably.

Drinks a lot. She needs a pint of beer to think clearly.

Hangs out with guys rather than being with girls"

"I knew you would be that typical modern-day girl with a loose character, Miral Chandravanshi. After knowing this information, I wouldn't even like to spit on you, but..." He sighed after reading the text.

And then, another text popped in.

"On the professional work front,

She does handle every political decision taken by her father and holds a strong stand in the party too. But apart from that, Miral Chandravanshi coordinates a drug racket on her own and there are a few other sources of black income too."

Aditya quickly replied to that text.

"Not enough information, need more to know asap. Also, gather some proofs too."

"Okay!"

The reply came.

"I have to be very careful while setting up this game. She is a cunning fox and a little mistake would fuck me up completely," Aditya spoke to himself.

He then dialled a number and waited for the person to pick up.

"Hello! I have a mission for you," Aditya spoke as soon as the other person picked up the call.

"What mission?" The person asked.

"Rather a very important one. And you have to be careful because if something goes wrong, we're screwed," he responded.

"What's the mission? I am not pulling off some stupid stuff," the person replied in a frustrated tone.

"Do you hate the Chandravanshi's?" Aditya asked.

"More than anything in this entire world," the person growled.

"Fine! Then I have a perfect plan that would shake the lives of the Chandravanshi family. If done correctly, they're going to have nightmares and their days would pass on crying and whining about their misery," Aditya groaned.