01

His Promise


*Alarm rings* I groan and turn off the alarm. Rays of the morning sun are hitting my face. I open my eyes and find the love of my life Shiva Goenka sleeping peacefully while hugging me. I slowly try to come out of his grip. But he pulls me to him and kisses on my forehead.

"Good morning sunshine, let's sleep for some more time" he says in his husky morning voice. "Good morning to you too babe, okay let's sleep for some more time" I give in to him.

How lucky am I to have a boyfriend like him. We are dating each other since our college days and now we are living together. Oh, I forgot to tell you guys my name, it's Tanvi Prakash. Shiva has his own family business which he inherited when it was in a huge debt and today it is one of the top five companies in India. I got placed in my campus placement and have been working in that company, but I have applied for assistant director position in Shiva's company without his knowledge. He has been urging me to join his company, but I wanted to get in there purely on my merit.

My parents live in another city, they know about us. My dad Prakash is a retired government employee, and my mom Vinutha is a homemaker. I have a younger sister Isha who is studying. Shiva is the only child to his parents, and they are living in the same city as us. Shiva's parents also know about us and his dad doesn't have a problem with it, but his mom thinks I am after his money, sounds cliche right.

My phone starts vibrating, I look at it and see that my mom is calling. I free myself from Shiva and walk to the balcony to pick the call.

"Good morning mom", I wish her.

"Good morning chinnu, Did I wake you up?" she asks me. Chinnu is my nickname fellas.

"No ma, I was awake. Had your breakfast?" I tell her as I yawn.

"Yes chinnu, I had a dream about you this morning".

"What was it about ma?"

"It was about your marriage. you were dolled up in a red saree, walking down the aisle, looking just like an angel. How much I wish for it to come true" she sighs. Here she goes again about my marriage. My mom wants me to get married by the end of this year, because all of my cousins are doing the same, it's not like I don't want to get married, but Shiva hasn't popped the question to me yet. I don't want to force him into anything.

"Ma, we have been over this, I will get married when I feel it's right, please don't keep asking me the same thing."

"Chinnu, you are already 27 and turning 28 next month, you are not getting any younger. Anyways I called you, to tell that your cousin Divya is pregnant."

"What?? she got married 3 months ago?"

"Yea, so?"

"Nothing ma, just that it is surprising."

"Chinnu if you were married to Shiva when you started to live in with him, then by now you too would have been a mom."

"Here we go, you are again talking about my marriage" I sigh.

"Ok Chinnu, talk to you later, I have some work in kitchen. Bye ma."

"Bye ma, take care and tell papa and Chutki that I miss them", Chutki is my sister's nickname.

I cut the call and move to kitchen to prepare breakfast. 

After a while

"I smell something delicious, what is it?" shiva asks me while hugging me from behind. I turn towards him.

"I am preparing white sauce pasta with grilled cheese sandwich and its almost done."

" Sounds yummy babe, do you have any plans for today?"

" No, why?"

"Mom called us for lunch, I wanted to check if you are okay with it before I confirm her."

"Of course, what is this lunch about?"

One thing about Shiva's parents is that they don't call us for dinner or lunch without any reason. It feels so weird to me, coming from a family where all of us have at least one meal together in a day. So, I have convinced myself that maybe this is how things are in a rich household.

"I did ask her, but she said that it is a surprise" he said while shrugging his shoulders.

"Hmm, okay then after breakfast we can go for some grocery shopping and then we will leave for your parent's place."

"Sure sweetie. How about some cardio before shopping? " He winked at me.

"Naughty boy, you are insatiable Shiva" I tease him.

"Only for you babe" he kisses me.

After breakfast, Shiva and I went to grocery shopping. No, we didn't do any naughty business before going to shopping although he urged me to. We are getting ready to go to his parent's home for lunch. I chose a pink floral sundress. I curled my hairs at the end to give it a wavy look.  

"I don't understand why we need to do the grocery shopping ourselves when we have people to get them for us?" Shiva asks me.

"That is because, I like hanging out with you, but you are always busy, so this grocery shopping is a reason for us to hang out together. Something like a mini date."

"I'm sorry that I am not able to give you time Tanu. I wish I could give you more time Tanu." 

"I understand that Shiva, so I came up with these mini date ideas." 

I have the interview for assistant director's position in Goenka Infrastructure tomorrow. If I am able to obtain job in that interview, then I'll surprise him with the news. I smile to myself thinking about it.

"Why are you smiling like that?" he eyes me skeptically.

"I have an interview in a big company tomorrow, I hope I get the job" I say and start to do my makeup.

"Really? You can always come and work with me as assistant vice president. You know that right?" 

"Shiva, I want to climb the corporate ladder with my merit, not just because I'm dating the CEO."

"But Tanu, you deserve that position. If not for your office politics, then you would have been a senior director by now.  what is mine is also yours, so you have right for that position in my company" 

I can't argue with him on the office politics part, because that is one of the main reasons for me to quit my current job, there is a lot of gender politics in the company and I don't see myself growing professionally or personally in that company, so I am quitting it. 

Goenka Infrastructure is one of the best options I have right now, although I have given interviews in two other companies, but here in Goenka's there are a lot of employee benefits. You might ask why I would need them when I am dating the CEO himself but, I am an independent woman, and I want to earn my own living and support my parents.

"Well, that right is only applicable if you marry me in the future. But what if you grow tired of me and ditch me one day? " I pause for a second and look at him.

He seems to be taken back by my words, he comes near the dresser and takes my hand, "Tanu, I am serious about us, about this relationship. And I want to marry you in the future. This is my promise to you. Please don't say such words again, it hurts a lot to hear them from you". 

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