New FF- Unexpected Love-Part 25 Pg 86- 11/12/2015 - Page 29

Kalpana and Vihaan were both in a state of serious emotional turmoil. Kalpana and Vihaan still talked about work, but the camaraderie that existed previously was totally missing. There was a serious constraint among them. Yesterday while discussing work, when they had both moved to pick up the same pen and their hands touched, both of them pulled back so quickly as if their hands had been scalded.

Kalpi was very worried about the serious feeling of attraction she was feeling towards Vihaan. She was drawn towards him more than she had been drawn to any guy in her entire life. She had had crushes on guys previously, but never had she felt this disturbed by such passionate feelings before. When she rushed away from the terrace, away from Vihaan, her whole heart had been pulling her back into Vihaan's arms. Walking away from Vihaan was the most difficult thing she had ever had to do. But she knew that any relationship she every pursued with Vihaan would only end with unbearable heartbreak for her. She thought a thousand times about giving her resignation and leaving his employ, but her heart would not allow her to take the final step. She thought, "I hope I am not in love. I can't have fallen in love so soon. Every other girl in India thinks she is in love with Vihaan. Maybe it is the same with me. It is just a crush and I should not make the mistake of assuming it to be a love. It will be over soon, I will go away from here and forget all about him".

Vihaan was in similar state with thoughts of Kalpana make appearances in his mind at regular intervals. The short and sweet kiss that he shared with her seemed like one of the most significant events in his life. She was becoming more and more important in his life and she did not reciprocate his feelings at all. His feelings for her were making him angry with her. He felt that he had tried his best to give this relationship a try, but she had blocked it at every turn.

"If she does not care, I will not put any more effort. She can continue to be my employee, but nothing more," he thought.

He decided that the reason she was occupying so much of his mind, must be because he had not dated anyone for almost a year. His one serious relationship had ended when he left college and he had casually dated off and on. But none of them had made even a dent in his heart and he had broken off with them. He then made a decision to start dating again. He had received many invitations from lots of lovely woman, but he had not taken up on any of them.

Once he made the decision, he did not waste any time and asked out Trisha who herself was a rising actress. She had given him many hints about her interest whenever they had met, but he had not shown any interest previously.

"Kalpana, I am going out tonight. I have a hot date. If you have anything to discuss urgently, tell me now", Vihaan barked on the phone.

Hearing the words hot date, made Kalpi's heart instantly heavy. "No, there is nothing urgent" Kalpi said trying hard to control the trembling in her voice but not succeeding completely. She cut the call without allowing him to say anything more.

"I can't let him affect me so much. It is his life, if he wants to go on a date, let him", she thought, but it was easier to think than to implement and do.

As soon the phone got disconnected Vihaan started hating himself for behaving in such a juvenile manner. He had no reason to call her and inform her about the date, but he had done it. He knew that it had nothing to do with asking her about work, but everything to do it with letting her know that she did not affect him.

Vihaan went to pick Trisha at her place. She was dressed in a very provocative gown with a deep V neck and an almost bare back, but Vihaan did not even notice it. He complimented her on her looks perfunctorily, without actually seeing her and if anyone had asked him about her appearance later that night he would have been unable to describe her at all.

She kept talking and Vihaan answered her in monosyllables without actually listening much. At the last moment he decided to make a detour and take her home, saying that he wanted to get something from home.

As soon as they entered the house, the first person they encountered was Kalpi who was sitting on one of the couches seemingly engrossed in a book, but Kalpi had had the book open with her for half an hour but had not turned a single page. All she had done during that time was imagine Vihaan on his date.

Seeing Vihaan enter the room with Trisha startled Kalpi and the book dropped from her lap. She picked up the book and got up, not knowing what to do.

"Trisha is so gorgeous, and she is any day a better fit for Vihaan than me. They make a beautiful couple." she thought with pain in her heart.

At the same moment, Vihaan who had not even noticed Trisha's dress had taken in Kalpana's appearance completely. Even in the simple cotton salwar suit with very little make up on, she attracted him immediately. He shook his head, in an attempt to shake away his wayward thoughts.

Vihaan introduced them and left to go to his room.

There was an awkwardness among them, then Kalpi decided to break the silence and said, "You look very beautiful. You make a beautiful couple." It was as if saying it aloud would make it more real and she would get over her feeling for Vihaan.

Trisha who was very vain and self-centered loved praise and adulation. She immediately warmed to Kalpana and said, "I am so glad that you feel this way. I am crazy about him and when he asked me out, it was the happiest day of my life. I wish this works out."

Kalpana said, "I am sure it will". But in her heart she actually unconsciously prayed that it would not work.

Vihaan and Trisha were at the restaurant. Within half an hour he realized that this date was a very bad idea. They had nothing in common and she did not interest him at all. It was not all her fault, as he himself had not been able to put any effort into it. All he could think of was Kalpana, looking all beautiful and unhappy at home. Trisha who was a Miss Universe two years back, was lovely but her looks did not register at all in his mind. Every time Trisha said something, his mind would take him back to all the great conversations he had with Kalpana.

All through the date she gave him signals that she was ready to take the relationship to the next level, but Vihaan chose to deliberately ignore them. He did not want to take it to next level with her, but wanted to kiss Kalpana's sweet lips again and again.

As soon as the dinner was over, Vihaan dropped Trisha to her house and made excuses of work refusing her offer to join her in her house.

After leaving her, Vihaan drove around aimlessly for hours cursing himself for allowing a chit of a girl like Kalpana to cause so much chaos in his life.

After Vihaan and Trisha left, Kalpi became more restless than ever. She could not sit still nor concentrate on anything. She went to swimming pool and started swimming. She swam for more than an hour till she was too tired to swim any more. She did not feel like eating, but somehow managed a few bites. She went to bed hoping the tiredness would help her sleep fast. But God's were not so generous and she lay wide awake with her ears straining to hear the sound of his car.

As soon as she heard the car, she looked at the watch and saw it was 2.00 am and suddenly she felt warm tears falling down her cheeks. She hugged her pillow and cried herself to sleep not willing to acknowledge that she was too deep into him.

Next day morning both of them were sitting on the breakfast table bleary eyed with lack of sleep. Vihaan and Kalpi both were having their food desultorily not talking to each other, but stealing glances at each other when the other was not looking. Kalpi had finished her breakfast and was sipping her cup of coffee and going through the newspaper, when her eyes fell on a snippet which talked about the Vihaan's and Trisha's dinner date and speculated about their relationship. She could not take it anymore, she picked up the paper and left the table without saying anything, leaving a surprised Vihaan behind.

Vihaan had been invited to the success party of his last movie which had turned to be the biggest blockbuster of all time. He was too unhappy and upset to attend the party, but it was something he could not avoid. He had decided to take Trisha with him, because he had felt very guilty about how he had treated her during the date.

At the last moment he had a brainwave and he decided to take Kalpana with him. He did not know why, but he wanted her to be there for the celebration of his success.

"You are coming for a party with me tonight, Kalpana", Vihaan said.

"I don't want to come to any party", Kalpana said.

"I did not ask you whether you wanted to come. I said you are coming. I am sure you know that I have to attend the success party of my movie today and you are coming with me." Vihaan insisted.

"But why do you want to me to come?" Kalpana asked.

"Don't ask too many questions? Just come", Vihaan said.

Kalpi could not do anything but agree.

Kalpi searched and discarded several of her dresses before she decided on one dress. It was a beautiful baby pink anarkali suit with silver thread work. The dress fitted her perfectly and looked lovely on her. She made up her face with a small amount of make-up just highlighting her eyes which she considered her best feature. She gave a final look in the mirror, but suddenly the face of Trisha popped into her mind and she decided it was not even worth it and looked away.

As she descended the steps looking like a vision, Vihaan could not take his eyes away from her. It took all his acting skills to keep the look of intense admiration creeping up on his face.

Kalpana who had no such acting skills in her repertoire, could not help the admiration show up on her face when she saw the unbelievably handsome look of Vihaan in a tuxedo. But she wisely kept her mouth shut.

As soon as they entered the party Vihaan was surrounded by a throng of admirers and Kalpi who was generally reticent moved away from him.

She stood in the background watching him charm the whole room. Vihaan was then approached by Trisha and he soon started flirting with her. Kalpi believed that Vihaan had totally forgotten about her presence, but did not know that Vihaan was completely aware of her. Trisha felt that all her Christmases had arrived early seeing Vihaan behave so attentively towards her. During the last date she had been majorly disappointed. Every gesture he made towards Trisha was aimed at getting a reaction from Kalpana and it was getting the desired result even though Vihaan did not know it. Seeing Vihaan with Trisha was like a knife in her heart.

After about an hour of seeing Vihaan flirt and dance with every girl in his orbit, Kalpi could not take it anymore. She decided she would leave from there and she made a move to leave.

As she walked towards the door, she banged into someone and she said, "Sorry" and looked up. She was surprised to see that she had banged into Anurag who was hotshot young director. She knew Anurag very well, as he had been signed by the Entertainment division of Malhotra industries to direct a movie for them.

"Hi, Kalpana, don't tell me you are leaving. I hate these parties, at least give me company for some time and then we can both leave. I promise, it won't be for long." Anurag said.

Anurag went and made small talk with some people and then joined Kalpana. Soon they were deep in conversation about movies, and Kalpi started feeling a little better. They had a very good friendly relationships and enjoyed each other's company. She enjoyed her chats with Anurag as his passion for movies always led to very educative and interesting chats with him. She soon forgot to keep tabs on Vihaan and it made her feel a heart-whole.

But Vihaan had not forgotten to look out for Kalpana and when he was not able to see her he got agitated. He left his dance partner and went out looking for her.

When he saw Kalpana in the corner of the room deep in conversation with Anurag, his temper rose to unmanageable levels.

He went to over to them and said with a softly angry voice, "Hello Kalpana, Anurag. You'll seem to be having a lot of fun."

Anurag who did not read the undertone of jealousy in Vihaan's voice said quite naturally, "Ya, Kalpana and I always enjoy each other's company. She is super intelligent and always comes up with great ideas. I never know how time flies when I am in her company. She is an amazing asset to your company."

Vihaan whose anger was already rising, felt it burst through the roof and he said, "Sorry, but I need to take away this asset away from you now. I need to dance at least one dance with her, since I was the one who brought her here."

"Sure, Vihaan", Anurag said.

Vihaan did not even wait to hear these words but made a grab at her and pulled her towards the dance floor.

He held her arm so tightly that Kalpi literally winced. She could feel palpable anger run through him, but did not know the cause. The only thought in her mind was that she was going to dance with him. She knew she was a fool a thousand times over for happily accepting this crumb he was offering, but her heart still was looking forward to it.

As soon as he held her in his arms, he felt his anger abating. The soft romantic song playing and the dimly lit dance floor made both of them forget their surroundings. Vihaan held her close to him and they danced as if one. It was the most perfect moment of the whole day for both of them and both were enraptured by the perfection of it.