03. Family completed
The door slowly opened and a pair of long legs clad in black fitted trousers stepped out. The gorgeous pair of black boots was of limited edition. A slender hand with long beautiful fingers held the door open allowing a woman's body to emerge from inside.
The reporters who were previously eager to get an interview were awestruck by the view. They stood like statues with mics and cameras in hand staring at the woman who looked to be in her early twenties.
Towering before them at six feet, her shoulder-length shiny black hair was loosely side parted. The white long-sleeved Victorian blouse was neatly tucked in her black trousers and the cuffs were properly buttoned. One of her hands was shoved inside her pocket but the gleam of the white limited edition watch on her right wrist caught everyone's eyes. A snow-white trench coat was slung over her other hand. The pale colour of her clothes made her dark brown skin even more strikingly gorgeous. Her beautiful black eyes were slightly narrowed while staring at the people in front. Her chiselled jawline became prominent as she tilted her head to the side and addressed the reporters.
"What do you want?"
The reporters broke out of their stupor by hearing her velvety deep voice. They immediately sprung into action and bombarded her with questions.
The woman before them scowled a little and raised a finger "One question at a time."
Her cold authoritative voice rang out and the reporters instantly became demure.
"Um... Could you please confirm your identity? Are you... the fourth grand-daughter of Old Mistress Sen?"
"Yes, I am Arundhati Sen, the fourth granddaughter of Ruchira Sen you speak of." Came the answer.
The reporters trembled a little. The name Ruchira Sen in the business world was as important as the name of the President of the country. That name struck fear and awe in the hearts of everyone involved in the business industry. They remembered how she single-handedly made the Sen Corporation one of the best conglomerates in the country within a few years after assuming her post as the CEO. Those who had designs on Sen Corp were all struck down by her. Proving the countless negative comments about how the previous nameless company would go down quickly after achieving a short fame wrong she took it to new heights. Even after retirement, many people wanted to get advice on business from her. She was the mentor of the CEOs of many of the present top companies.
Hence everyone always addressed her with respect and called her Old Mistress Sen. Hearing someone calling that person by their name was an absolute shock to everybody. But the attitude and aura of the woman before them left them with no doubt that she was one of the contenders for the succession of the Sen Corporation. They had interviewed all the other grandchildren of Old Mistress Sen and they all had unique personalities but something about the fourth one was different. She had the exact same overbearing aura of the Old Mistress. Even though she was staring at them with indifference they could not help but be careful of their words. All of them asked her a couple of basic questions that they asked the others too.
Suddenly a short thin man holding a huge microphone that looked too heavy for him to carry asked a question "How do you feel about returning home after all these ears?"
"The way you'd feel seeing a crowd of fifty unknown people squatting at your gate and getting stopped and surrounded by them the moment you arrive because they're curious about your appearance after making a four hour fifty minutes long journey instead of going straight to your bed," Arundhati replied with a straight face.
The reporters became visibly embarrassed. They were doing a live and Arundhati called them out. What they did was indeed insensitive. To get a scoop first they flocked around her house and stopped her car from going inside when she just got back and was tired. She also exposed the fact that they were crowding before her house like stalkers. Well, it was sort of true that they were keeping every little update on her the past few days. But still, the non-physical slap hurt. To avoid any further embarrassment they hurriedly wrapped up their interview and ran away from there.
"Fooo. Good riddance." Arundhati rolled her eyes and strode toward the mansion.
Crossing the gate she entered the premises of the huge villa and looked around taking everything in with her eyes. There was no major change. It was the same as she saw before leaving the country. As she neared the main door the security guards bowed their heads and greeted her. She nodded and moved forward. The main door was already open as her chauffeur, Asha, had already informed everyone about her arrival.
Everyone was gathered in the living. The Old Mistress and Old Master were sitting on the sofa in the middle, her parents, aunts, uncles and cousins were either seated on the side or standing. First and foremost she went towards her grandparents and touched their feet.
"Long live my child." They placed their hand on her head.
After that, she did the same to the other elders and they also blessed her. Her cousins welcomed her and she too greeted them.
"Aru Didibhai, go and freshen up first. Also, get a few hours of rest. You had to deal with those people even before setting foot inside the house. We can talk while having tea in the evening. Right, dear?" Swapnodeep turned toward his wife.
Ruchira nodded.
"Then I'll take my leave." Arundhati went to her room.