Mission Impossible:(AK) Part 13, PG- 49 - Page 11

Beth told him that this man has been harassing her all evening. Now that she tried to confront herself, he started to physically abuse her. Kripa noticed how patiently Angad listened to both their stories and then explained to them how they could just end the entire matter and go their own ways. She was a little shocked when the man, taller, more buff than Angad, pushed him back. Angad controlled his temper, she noticed, and tried again by simply talking to the man. But, he only found himself punched in the mouth, and had it bleeding.

But she didn't notice the red gushing out of his lower lip.

Angry now, he took hold of the mans collar and pinned him to wall. Kripa ran to him when she noticed that of he wasn't stopped now, Angad could have killed the man who was helplessly begging Angad to leave him.

Kripa pulled his arm and yelled, "Security!" This wasn't supposed to be happening, she thought as security rushed between them and broke the fight. It was suppose to look like a small fight to simply damage Angad's image as a Casanova- and the concept obviously was not working.

"Angad." She yelled, then pulled him away furiously, when he tried to free his arm. "Stop. Lets go home." Like she knew him inside out, she searched his pockets of his car keys and pulled him out of the room, avoiding all press and media, to his car.

Outside, as she opened the passenger seat for him, they both heard the media in the background, struggling to get to Angad.

Praise the lord, Kripa thought slamming the door ones he was sitting, that the security was holding them off. This was not only going to ruin Angad's image, but ruin hers. She jammed the key into the ignition, cursing Ethan for making this bigger than it was meant. What was wrong with the man? She would have to talk to him and end this in a day or two. She had to leave the mission incomplete.

She drove them to his royal house in complete silence. She'd turned the radio loud, however, to prevent any conversations until they got home.

Once they did get home, she punched in the number at the gate for it to open and then proceeded to do the same at the doors. She was too angry and impatient to wait for one of the maids to open the doors for them.

He noticed her being this quite was going to get him in trouble.

She threw the doors open like she owned them, left them open for Angad to close them. She turned around the second the door clicked behind them both.

"What the hell was that?" She shouted and had him staring at her. "You created a scene for everyone." This wasn't only unexpected on his part, but even on her part. The original plan was, he would have a verbal fight with them, and she would be able to pull him away, without getting his mouth ripped open. Which, she noticed before yelling again and, to her shock, ran towards him.

"Your mouth is bleeding." Flustered, she covered her face with both her hands. "Sit down." She said moments later dragging him towards the sofa set. "I'll go get the first aid. Where is it?"

"In the first cabinet, left side of the kitchen door. Can I get some aspirin and water?"

"Yeah." She took her shoes off first, he noticed and then walked to the kitchen, the dress sweeping the floor.

She came back moments later to find Angad sitting the way he was when she left. Almost unsure of her own actions and thoughts, she sat down on her knees carefully. She'd pulled her hair out of that twist, he noticed as she dabbed a swab into rubbing alcohol.

"Hold your breathe," she mumbled. "It's going to sting."

But she pressed it against the corner of his mouth and heard him hissing and cursing.

"Sorry." Like she'd done this a thousand times before, she took out a small round bandage, some cotton, and more rubbing alcohol. She cleaned the cut once more with the cotton, before putting the bandage on. After that, she took out two pills of aspirin from its bottle and gave it to him with the water. Watched him take the pills, still looking at her.

"Thank you." He said giving her the glass back.

"Whatever. But I'm still angry."

"Kripa-"

"Listen to me." She snapped. "You aren't supposed to hit anyone in public, even if he does first. You have an image to protect." She couldn't even understand why she was saying all this, but she continued. "Just know how you're going to handle the press tomorrow morning. Does it hurt?" She asked touching his cheek.

"Huh?"

He hadn't heard a word she'd said, she realized by his response. Not a single word. Despite all that, she smiled. "Good night." Leaning over, she kissed his cheek, spontaneously, and walked away with the first-aid kit.

It didn't matter, however, how she felt anymore. She had taken an assignment and she had to finish at least this part of it. An entire page of the magazine was waiting for this article. That's what she did after taking a quick shower. She sat in nothing more than a bathrobe and skin under it, to write her article. She finished it around three in the morning, exhausted. Reviewed the entire thing thrice, send it to Ethan, and without changing into anything else, she slipped into a pair of fresh underwear and a tank top and tumbled into bed, falling dead sleep, around four-thirty.

She awoke the next morning to the door of her room opening. She rolled on to her back from her stomach and saw Angad standing in the doorway. Without a care she reached for the clock and read, one. Shocked out of her life, she sat up in her bed, then embarrassed at her the tank top that fell low, she pulled the blanket up.

"I'm sorry Angad. I need two minutes, please."

"I'm sorry myself, for coming like this. I was a little worried since you're normally awake before me." He looked at her, he had come to check on her last night around two, and when he'd found her lights on then and again later, he'd just gone back.

She showered in less than ten minutes and then rushed down stairs with her hair soaking wet. He was having lunch when she got downstairs already. Although she was starved, she first snatched the newspaper from the table and skipped to page three right away. Like she'd expected, the headlines in large font said, "Casanova Earns Black Belt!" She skimmed the article for major points and everything was published the way Ethan had planned, and at the end it said, "…. courtesy to Secret for the information."

She sat down on the sofa and calculated everything together. Angad Khanna, according to the lady Beth and the man with her, was trying to harass Beth. When the other man, his name: Roy, when Roy tried to stop Angad, Angad started arguing and Roy was compelled to hit Angad when Angad didn't budge and continued to harass Beth, they both broke into a physical fight. It was just the was just the way Ethan had changed the plan. There wasn't supposed to be a fight.

She lowered her head into her hands and tried to think of a reason why Ethan changed everything. And only one things kept coming to her mind. He was planning something more than just exploiting Angad Khanna. The game he was playing was much bigger than she was told. And for what? She thought tossing the paper on the table and throwing her head back on the sofa. She'd done a lot in her life to get where she was, but she'd never done anything wrong. If Ethan had promoted her to the position, it wasn't just because she was his girlfriend, but because she had worked hard for years before getting where she was now. For the first time in her life she was doing something not only that was very wrong, but even against her will.

"Kripa." She flinched and quickly opened her eyes.

"Yes, Angad." She stood quickly, hands linked tightly. "Oh damn. Your flight was an hour ago."
"I know. Have you read the papers yet?"

She saw the pain, the embarrassment, and the anger in his eyes now. And, ashamed of herself, she lowered her eyes and nodded. "I just did."

"They terminated the contract with me."

"Oh, Angad." She embraced him tightly, rubbing her hand on his back. But the gesture was more for herself than for him. This game was going to end now and after she gave Angad his respect back. "Everything is going to be okay," she whispered and drew away. "I'll be back in a few hours."

"But Kripa…" She was gone before he could stop her.

**********

"Ethan!" He was conducting a meeting when she threw the door open of the board room and stood in front of him arms crossed. "The meeting is dismissed." She told the staff and moved out of their way so they could leave the room. Once everyone was gone she slammed the door shut behind her and just looked at him. "I'm waiting for an explanation."

He sat down coolly on his chair and swirled the paperweight on the desk. "Explanation is not necessary, Kripa."

"We were exploiting Angad Khanna on truth."

He rolled his eyes, "You've never said that before, Kripa. We're supposed to be a gossip magazine, you reminded us about that in fact. Gossip, isn't always true."

"But, Ethan. Angad? He doesn't deserve this, he's not like every other star. He has a different personality. He's different."

"Are you sure you're the same Kripa Kapoor who left this place before the accident? I think your brain has been injured."

"Shut-up Ethan. There are so many ways we can bring our magazine to the top spot, this isn't one of them." She walked to him and framed his face in her hands. "Ethan, if he finds out I'm doing this he can ruin our magazine. What we are doing is illegal anyways. We need to stop it."

Her eyes were so soft and pleading like they had never before, Ethan noticed and nodded. "Fine, you should finish your job as his assistant and then say you got a job here in a few weeks, just so he doesn't suspect us."

"Thank you, Ethan." She kissed his cheek and then lowered herself into his lap. "I'm sorry for getting your hopes up, this just isn't right."

"Yeah. You should leave now."

She was surprised with his reactions and stood up. When he just went back to work, disappointed, Kripa left. She found the videos that had been recorded of the previous night and took them to her apartment with her. After she looked thought them, she clipped out the parts that showed Angad wasn't doing anything wrong and sent them to the news channels with a typed note, by anonymous, saying that she had witnessed everything. Basically that Angad hadn't done anything wrong. The video clips being the proof.

Once that was done, she knew she could breath without guilt on her shoulders.

The next morning, Angad was shocked by the apology letters he received through mail and in the newspapers. Every news channel, who had played with the topic, said sorry on air. His phone didn't stop ringing all day, and his inbox was full of Text Messages every thirty minutes. When he figured out it was all Kripa's doing, he went to her room. She was sitting on the floor, dressing her calf from the accident, when he walked into the room.

"Hi."

She looked up and smiled. "Hello. Did you need something?"

She frowned when she couldn't get the dressing around the horrible cut evenly and tried ones again. "Let me help you," he said sitting down in front of her.

She began to refuse but stopped when she noticed there was no point in stopping him. "Has everything cooled down about the other night?"

"No." He said tying a small knot at the end of the dressing and pulling her pant down her leg. He sat down on his but in front of her and smiled. "I'm bombarded with e-mails, texts, and letters. And, I want to thank you for doing this."

"It's my job."

"Thank you." There was a moment of silence after until he spoke again. "The company I was shooting with called. They are sorry and they want to do the shoot."

"That's great, Angad. When are you leaving?"

"We're leaving in two days. It gives enough time for the entire matter to cool down." He watched her tie her hair up in a high ponytail.

"Your previous assistant," She began cautiously. "Is she coming back?"

"Her daughter was having complication in her pregnancy. She called a few days ago, she won't be working anymore."

"Oh." Damn! She thought, what a waste.

"Anything wrong?" he asked reading the expression on her mind.

"No, I've just applied at a few places, I should be getting an answer in a month of so."

"Ok." Damn, he thought, grimly. Not cool. "I'm sure I'll be able to find someone else."

"Right." She nodded smiled. "Are you doing anything today, I mean any shoots planned at all?"

"No. There's a slight problem Kripa."

"What?" Oh god, she thought, what could it be now? Did Ethan do something.

"I won't be able to find a suitable assistant in the next month, it's going to be impossible. I was wondering if you could stay for at least two more months. I'll pay you more if that's what you need."

She saw so much hope in his eyes, it was nearly impossible for her to say no. "Ah." Was all she managed a minute later.

"It's okay." He smiled as he stood. "I understand."

"Angad."

He stopped at the door, glanced her his shoulder. "Yes?"

"Two months, nothing more."

He turned around at that with a wide smile on her face. "Thank you so much."

"Anything else?" She asked him when he stayed at the door.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me?" He read her unsure expression.

"Are you asking me on a date?" She asked with a grin.

"I guess. An outing, you could say. No pressure."

"It's not that. I'm seeing someone else right now. He doesn't live in New York," she added quickly, thinking he might wonder why she was staying with him if she had a boyfriend in the city.

"Oh. Better luck next time, Angad." He left the room, and left her smiling at him.

It wasn't going to be hard at all to leave Angad now, Kripa thought with a pleasant smile across her face, thinking about everything that had happened in the last few days. Angad was gone to meet someone for a few hours with gave her time to do anything. Dressed for her perfect outing, back to her office for a few hours, she turned on her beautiful plums and walked towards the door. As soon as he opened it, she found a man standing in front of her.

"Mr. Khanna?" He was from FedEx.

"You can give it to me." She took the packet and singed whatever she needed to. On the envelope it said, Urgent. She went and sat down on the table, she had the right to open his letters as his assistant and she was opening this one thinking it was profession as well.

A smaller package fell on the table, from packet first, followed by a white piece of paper. She unfolded it and found nice the letter handwritten. She scanned it once, and then began reading it.

Angad,

I know you're shocked to hear from me after such a long time.

A little confused now, she continued reading.

She left her address at the end. With tears in her eyes, she didn't know if they were of pain or disgust, she folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope. She opened the other package next, and looked through the bundle of photographs of Angad and this girl. She put everything back in and dropped her head on the table, unable to understand what had hurt her so much? Was she'd trusted this man so much? Or was it that she had trusted this man so much, to put her career on a short pause, and he'd broken it so terrible. Leaving a girl when she's pregnant. Tears wanted to come but dried in her eyes. And, she decided she would go see, Ethan. She put the package away in her room and left telling, Angad's cook, she was going to back in a few hours.

Hi guys,

Bye guys,

Neha😆