Chapter 11

Past..

"We think you should get married Varun."

Varun looked at his parents in shock. He knew this conversation would take place sooner or later but he didn't think it would happen this soon. He was hoping to be prepared to convince his parents that marriage is something that was not in cards for him.

"Mom-" he trailed off when his mother put up her hand.

"Just hear me out first. I know you have aversion to relationships and you have good reasons to be, but how long will you stay alone. I worry for you, my son. Maybe not now but you will need someone to share your life with eventually. You can't spend your life alone.

His mother is a force to be reckoned with when she sets her mind on something and this is going to be no exception. It is going to be hard to convince her that he is better alone. It was no use seeking help from his dad because she would have convinced him already and once his mother makes up her mind about something, especially when it comes to him she will not change her mind.

"So unless you have someone in mind we would like to make a suggestion."

Varun couldn't believe it. Not only did his parents want him to get married but they want to arrange a marriage for him. "Arranged marriage? I thought you said that Nidhi and I could choose our own life partner when the time is right."

He was hoping to stall his mother but reply left him stumped. "We did, but if we left it up to you to choose a girl we would never get a daughter-in-law, let alone grandchildren."

Varun frowned at his mother, "So you want me to marry some stranger just so you could have grandchildren?"

His mother leaned forward and took his hand in hers, "First of all this is not about us, it is about you and the fact that we don't want to see you alone for rest of your life because of your misconceptions about relationships and marriage. And another thing we are not suggesting marriage to a complete stranger, you know and like this girl very much."

His parents were both looking at him expectantly, "Who are you talking about mom?"

"Niyati," they both said with excitement.

Varun was too stunned to reply. Is his attraction to Niyati so obvious that his parents noticed and decided to arrange his marriage to her? He shook his head mentally, no, they couldn't have guessed, but what made them think that Niyati would make him a good life partner?

When he didn't say anything his parents both looked at him in concern. He father sat next to him and patted him on the shoulder, "You do like Niyati, don't you son?"

He took a deep breath then turned towards his father, "Yes dad, I do like her but marriage? And how does she feel about this?"

"You leave that up to us. Just tell us how you feel then we will approach her and her grandmother." His mom replied with excitement. He knew his mother loves Niyati and it would make her very happy if he agreed to this proposal. So, in the end, he gave his consent but with reservations.

Present..

Varun got off the phone and swirled his chair around to face the windows in his office. He had spent the morning contacting his old colleagues to see if he could get any information on the investigations on the vandalisms taking place at Niyati's downtown hotel for past few months.

He was hoping that they had any solid leads on the suspects but he was disappointed to find out all the incidents had been random and the guest had registered under false identifications. The Investigation has led to a dead end. He was hoping to have good news for Niyati when he went over to her place tonight but he was doomed to fail.

He thought back to the two conversations he overheard between Niyati and his sister and wondered if he would be able to make any head away with Niyati, good news or no good news. He had a feeling that between him and her parents, they had pretty much destroyed her faith in herself and dealt a big blow to her self-esteem.

There is no going back now but he wished that he had made an effort to get to know her when they were engaged instead of running away from her constantly. The truth was his feelings for her had terrified him, most especially after she helped him deal with the toughest time in his life.

Would things have turned out different between them if his partner hadn't been shot to death unexpectedly in a shootout?

He doubted things would have turned out differently between them. He would have still broken off the engagement but the break up would have been different than it had been. And he wouldn't have ended up married to another woman and divorced within the six months of marriage.

Varun turned back when his cell phone rang. He picked up the phone immediately when he saw Niyati's name across the screen, "Hey, I was about to call you."

"Can you and Shane come to my office now?"

He frowned when he heard trembling in her tone, "Is everything okay?"

"I can't tell you over the phone, just get here as soon as possible please."

He picked up his car keys and stood up, "Shane is not here but I am on my way. I will be there in twenty minutes." He ended the call and rushed out of the office as quickly as possible. He wondered what happened to make her sound nervous.

Niyati paced the length of her office as she waited for Varun to arrive. She had a feeling that her business and family problems are just a tip of an iceberg. She jumped when the door to her office opened suddenly. She was relieved to see Varun walk into her office. He rushed towards her, "What's wrong?"

She tried to calm her racing heart and pointed to the note lying on her desk.

YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE

Varun frowned at the single line typed on a blank piece of paper, exactly as the first note. "When did you receive this?"

"I don't know," Niyati answered absently.

Varun did a double take then frowned when he saw that she was not paying attention to him at all. He decided to question on the note later and turned her towards him gently.

"Niyati?"

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him questioningly. Just before she blanked her expression he saw a hint of real fear in her eyes and that worried him.

"I am fine," She stepped away from him. "I don't know when I received this note. It was with my morning mail."

"Have you seen anyone lurking around your house or hotel that you don't know? Maybe you noticed someone following you." Varun checked the envelope the note came in for any clues but it was blank except for Niyati's name in bold letters on the front.

"Truthfully, I haven't been paying attention." She waited for him to start lecturing her but to her surprise, he stayed quiet.

"Okay, I am going to take this note to our lab to see if we can get any fingerprints from it. We didn't get anything from the previous note but still, I want to try. I will come back to either drive you home or to follow you home."

She frowned at that but sighed. She really had no choice and this note has her more rattled than the previous one.