Kriyansh SS: The Only Rose | CH 5 PG 12 |

"Yeah, bro. Got it. I will be there on time... hopefully." Kriya adds a second late as she walks down the aisle of the passenger train looking down at the seat numbers. "Good. Hey! What? You, Kriya Whitmore, better not be late for the party tonight!" Elliot exclaims as he stops walking and glares down at the phone as if she can see him. Then shaking his head, he adds, "Listen, I'm warning you. If you don't get here in time, you will be in grave trouble, my lil friend."

"I mean, what if the train gets there late? It is not my fault then," she adds defensively finally stopping as she finds her seat. "Hey, one second. Hold on! I need to put my carry-on bag in the overhead racks," Elliot tells him as she puts her phone down on the table and picks her bag up and puts it in the overhead rack. "Ask somebody for help if the bag is too heavy," Elliot suggests a little too late. Though he was very aware of her "I-don't-need-help-EVER!" attitude, he couldn't help suggesting. After putting her backpack by the window seat, she took her seat right beside it. She smiles big at the thought of finally going back home after seven years.

"Oh yeah, so what were you saying about getting help? I didn't quite hear that right," Kriya replied back cheekily as she puts the phone back by her ear. "ARghhh! I miss my little Kriya sometimes," Elliot sighs heavily frowning, "The little girl who would let her older brother take care of her, always." Just then his gaze turns to the old picture hanging in the living room. It is a picture of four best friends who were brought together by unexpected circumstances: his Dad's death. Soon a big smile replaces his frown as he reminisces those old fun days. "Elliot? You there?" Kriya asks when she didn't hear anything from him for a long time. She pulls the phone away to check if the call got disconnected.

"Ye...ah...," Elliot stammers as he tries to pull himself together, "Yeah, I'm here. I was just thinking about past time. Reyansh, Kate, You and me," he sighs heavily as he turn his back to the picture and looks out the window at the pouring rain of Seattle. On the other hand, Kriya, who was just about to hang up on him and call him back, stops in mid-action. She tries fruitlessly to calm her erotic breathing and heartbeat while keeping quiet so Elliot doesn't notice the sudden change in her demeanor.

"We were such a nice bunch together. I really hoped that he would come," Elliot wistfully expresses his disappointment. "I don't even know if he got my invite or not. Hell, I don't even know where he is right now at the present time. Last time I talked to him, he was in Mexico for some show," Elliot's words choked in emotion. Kriya pulls the phone away and quietly clears her throat. Finally finding her voice, she speaks, "I am sure he got your invite as it was an evite so he could have gotten regardless of his current location." She tries to show him logic. Logically he should get the evite no matter where his location is. Though she seems pretty uncomfortable with this sudden not-so-new topic, she couldn't see her brother upset.

"ELLIOT!!!" a girl shrieks from behind Elliot. Elliot jumps at the sudden voice and instantly turns around to find his very angry fiance, Kate, with her hands on her hips glaring him down. "You go, bro," Kriya snickers, "I will be there in exactly 4 hours" she adds looking down at her watch. "Okay, cool kiddo. That is fine. See ya soon in Seattle," Elliot says while simultaneously making sorry faces to Kate to pacify her. "And yeah, Austin is coming to pick you," Elliot adds quickly and hangs up before Kriya could even say a word.

Kriya looks down at her phone in shock first and then shakes her head smiling as she looks out the window. "Reyansh," she barely whispers the name that she didn't dare take in the last seven years yet it was always there with her at the back of her mind not letting her move on completely. Her lips quivers as past memories threaten to haunt but she didn't dare let them win this time. Kriya digs out her headphones from her bag. Plugging them in her ear, she blasted music as she closes her eyes and puts her head back on the headrest hoping to calm herself down before she gets back to Seattle where memories of HIM are on every step.

4 Hours later...

Finally after a very long wait for luggage, Kriya walks out of the Amtrak station and patiently waits for Austin. Dressed casually in a simple black lace dress that comes down till her knees, she look extremely pretty. Her dress compliments her long silky black hair, which she has in a side french braid, and her beautiful dark brown, almost black eyes. She didn't had any make-up other than lipgloss. She had her bag strapped sideways on her front while she pulls one carry-on and one large bag behind her.

"Where on earth are you, Austin!" Kriya exclaims irritated as she fails to find her sister-in-law's brother. After waiting for about good fifteen minutes, Kriya has had enough so she decides to hail a cab as she knew the address, as well. Just as she turns to head towards the direction where all the cabs are, she hear somebody call out, "Ria." She stood there stun.

"NO FREAKING WAY!" she screams in her mind. "It can't be," she kept mumbling as she slowly turns around with a ghostly expression on her face. She scans the crowd for that one face that she could recognize even in millions. To her utter disappointment and relief, she didn't find that face. Shaking her head, she mumbles to herself, "Kriya, calm down. Just because you are in Seattle, it doesn't mean he is here also!" she mumbles to herself almost grudgingly.

"Who's this he that we are talking about? Anybody, I should know," a deep, rich voice whispers in Kriya's ear from behind her. Kriya flinches as her eyes gets big. She could feel him breathing on her neck that raised her temperature just a notch as did her heart rate. "No way. It can't be him. Elliot already told me that he is not coming," she continuous to chant to herself as she turns around slowly to look at him.

There he stands: Reyansh Sandras. One look at him, Kriya forgets what she was thinking. She could only gaze at him as her eyes drank in his outer appearance. He still looks drop-dead gorgeous only he is more manly, now. Kriya's eyes does a quick perusal from the top to the bottom.

He has dyed his hair, AGAIN. It is black this time, which suits him immensely, as it enhances his lighter skin tone. Than he has his trademark Korean bangs. Kriya chuckles in her mind quietly at the inside joke. Though they were trimmed, they were long enough as Kriya still had the itch to run her fingers through them. Moving down a little more, she finds his eyes which were apparently doing their perusal of her.

The realization of this sent a shock down her spine as she looks away quickly quietly noting that he looks so good even in simple black tee and black jeans. Shaking her head, she tries to find her voice that she clearly had lost somewhere in the past five minutes.

"H..how.. are you here?" she finally asks looking back up at him. She finds him looking at her with an amused expression.