Chapter 1

It began when Sanvika changed her mind. It was the year 2016. Vivaan and Sanvika were in Cambridge. In Harvard University. Doing their Postgrad. They were 23.  One day she just decided that she did not want to be rich anymore. It probably stemmed from her trip to Greece during the summer holidays. She never thought to rebel against her family. She thought that all she can do was live how she is supposed to live according to her family’s wishes.

But one evening she walked into Vivaan’s dorm room. Vivaan was in the room with, Jaime, his girlfriend of that time. They were on the bed with Vivaan over Jaime with his shirt off. “Shit, Vicky… Knock before you enter.” Vivaan grabbed his shirt. Sanvika just ignored him and walked in. Jaime did not mind. She knew their relationship.

“Sorry. I needed to talk to you immediately.” Sanvika said.

“Okay…”  Vivaan puts his shirt back on.

“I have decided to drop out,” she said.

“Drop out of what?”

“Of the university.” She said.

Both Jaime and Vivaan looked so shocked. “You are kidding,”  Vivaan says.

“I am serious. And oh… I am sorry. I am not going to marry you either.”

That is how it started.

But our real story starts when Vivaan ended up in front of Sanvika’s café bar in Goa- three years later. Or maybe our story starts when Vivaan and Sanvika were betrothed to each other by their parents when they were only ten years old. Which they still complain that is similar to child marriage and hence a crime.

But they know their fate. They did not resist their fate. Until Sanvika finally did. But before that, they were ready to marry each other. Because that is how it was decided. They both were born as the younger children of two of the richest businesses in the country. Their engagement was a business deal. A deal that cannot be broken. If they break the consequences would be business partnerships splitting up and hundreds of employees ending jobless. That was what was taught to Vivaan and Sanvika since they were 10. And they knew this was their truth.

“Let’s do it this way,”  Vivaan said when they both were 15 years old. “We just need to get married right? Then we can. When it is time. But until then we can date whoever we want.,”

Sanvika listened to this with a blank expression. She knew that he came up with this new thing because he has developed a crush on one of the girls in their class. But she did not care. She was not in love with Vivaan either.

“Deal,” She said shaking his hand.

And they kept that deal. They did date a few people. Found momentary happiness. Kissed. Slept with various different people.

When Sanvika decided to quit Harvard, she was not dating anyone. Her last boyfriend was Fred from England. A violin player. He was an artist. Anyway, he is not important. She broke his heart and he cried on her steps. But she was bored… Bored of not having anything substantial.

The longest relationship she had beside her family was the friendship with Vivaan. They were always together. In school together. In college together. In Postgrad together. And they say this is because their families decided so. But well, they did not mind going to the same school as the other. Actually, they liked each other’s company. They are kind of really good friends.

So, it really came as a shock to Vivaan when Sanvika decided to not just quit Harvard, but also call off the wedding.

“I am going back to India,” Sanvi said in Hindi.

“What will you do there?”

“Can you two please talk in English?” Jaime asked.

“Babe, wait,” Vivan said to Jaime and turned to Sanvika. “What is your plan?”

Sanvika just shrugged. “I will figure out after going.”

“You know if you call off the wedding, the companies are going to split up and then there will be a financial crisis disaster, right?”

“If… If the company partnership split up. All this while we were made to believe that if we don’t get married financial crisis will happen. Because partnership will split. But why should the partnership split in the first place.”

“They won’t listen to us.”

“I don’t care. It’s not my responsibility to worry about that.”

“It is… hundreds of employees.”

“Shut up, Vivaan.”  When Sanvika gets angry, Vivaan is always scared. “I have had enough.” She said. “I never wanted to do a business major anyway.”

“But what are you going to do after quitting?”  Vivaan could not think of a single thing to do. They were always shaped up to inherit their companies and run them. That is their destiny. He did not think much beyond that.

“I will live by the sea,” Sanvika said. And that is what she did.