The sea at Goa never sleeps.
At dawn it whispers, at noon it roars, and by nightfall it swallows secrets whole.
Prisha stood at the edge of the sea, her reflection broken by the rippling water. The city around her was waking—fishermen calling out, the scent of roasted poi bread drifting from roadside stalls, and faint church bells rolling in the wind. Yet she felt none of it. Her gaze was fixed on the currents, as if the river itself was speaking to her. Suddenly her eyes snapped open as she finds herself cozy in her bed realising it was her another dream. She gets up from bed taking her dupatta exiting her room, her attention caught by fresh flowers, scents and decorations around the house. As she moves towards the main hall, a strong voice shouts her name.
"Oh no, badi maa." ~prisha whispers. Turning towards an elder woman, prisha stands fixed. This woman is Yashika Mahajan, the head of the house and Mahajans Business Empire. She stands there in her yellow saree, eyes fixed on prisha "Where were you huh? Sleeping till 10? How careless, prisha! My sons are coming back from London today, there's a whole lot of work and you were still in bed"...
Prisha's eyes widen. God! She has completely forgotten that the sons of the mahajans are heading back home after almost 20 years. She fumbles "I'm... I'm.. I'm sorry badi maa.. It just skipped my mind.. I'll make sure there's no other problem in their welcome".
Suddenly a hand pats prisha's shoulder, a relief, it's someone who becomes her light in darkness. She turns around and hugs him whispering under his arm "Papa... "
It's Dev Mahajan, husband of Yashika. He's been prisha's pillar since her birth. He is not his biological father but for her, he's no less than that. He's the one who brought her to this family when she was abandoned by her own.
He pats her back "My girl, don't worry. You can do it all. You're my strong daughter right? "
Prisha smiles and moves away. Now what. She will be busy with all her household chores and specially assigned duties by yashika, other times she's an interior designer too. That's her real job.
This side, where Mahajans were all ready to welcome their sons, there was someone else who was excited to meet one of them much more than their own family.
The Aroras. Prem and Pooja Arora, the business companions of Mahajans were already packing their bags for heading to Mahajans. But for what?
Their daughter, Deepti gets up from her bed, moving around, brushing her teeth, wearing her dress, doing makeup but all she's actually doing is staring at pictures of someone all over in her room. She's going to meet the love of her life finally it's Advik Mahajan, the elder son of Mahajans. She wears her sultry little red skirt, curls her hair, puts mascara and gets into her car.
"Dad..mom...let's go"~she says.
Meanwhile, on the airport, the two handsome hunks reach their homeland back, with their bags loaded in their rolls Royce, Advik sits in his formal suit confidently, his biceps outlining through the fabric of his suit, his sharp gaze staring at his phone on a little girl's picture, he utters softly "I'm coming, prisha. I can't wait to see you how beautiful you have grown up".
Besides him is seated his younger brother, Aman. A quite contrast to him, he's in his usual trousers, a loose jacket, messy hair, his mind reeling with a name " deepti ". His heart aches to meet his long distance girlfriend deepti.
But maybe destiny has other plans!
One of the plans of destiny is much evil than you can think. Far away from cities and towns of goa is a secluded village named Arambol. People live there, they work, they earn, kids play but within a boundary because crossing limits causes something inevitable. Arambol is said to be haunted, it's forests are prohibited from entering after a certain boundary because what villagers believe is a monster lying within the darkness of forests and he hunts and kills if someone enters his territory.
The evening falls and the boys finally arrive Mahajan mansion, they're welcomed with great celebration. From parents to cousins and kids, everyone dances. In the background, prisha arranges drinks and prepares dinner with other staff in the kitchen.
Along with them arrives the cars of aroras, pooja and yashika hug each other. Prem and Dev shakes hand and greet one another. As everyone settled down in Hall, advik suddenly asks his dad "Dad... Where's that girl... I mean prisha... We were kids last time I saw her, she must be here right? "
Dev nods smilingly, he knows that his son was very fond of prisha in childhood and now when they have grown up, they never actually saw or met each other. Before he calls prisha out, yashika interrupts intentionally
"Advik beta, we have more important things to do right. See here. These are aroras, more like a family to us than just business partners"
Advik looks towards them giving a forced smile.
Yashika continues "Pooja is my very old friend and today we wanted to change our friendship and partnership to something more better by arranging your wedding with their daughter, deepti".
Advik paid no attention to what her mom yapped, his eyes were fixed on someone. Prisha came out of the kitchen, a tray of drinks and snacks in her hands that she served on the table. Advik couldn't help but admire how a girl can be so simple yet so attractive. The way her pink suit shined in the light, the soft jingling of her bangles, her soft smile, the way her hair swayed behind her back, her light voice, the charisma caught him completely off guard and he was just looking at her and smiling like an idiot.
But others mistook his smile as something else, they thought advik said yes to the wedding. This brief misconception turned a silent admiration moment into a sudden chaos when both the families started hugging and congratulating and exchanging sweets. Deepti was sitting at a corner, smiling, her dream coming true but advik was clueless. Tired from a long journey, he went to his room, his mind still caught with prisha's presence.